THE STORY OF THE CUT WOMAN, THE THREE APPLES, AND THE NEGRO RIHAN
Harun al-Rashid
Source
The young man was the husband of the woman he cut in pieces, because of the lie of a negro. And that involves three apples that he got for his wife at a great expense of money and time.
ON THE SECOND NIGHT
Sheherazade said:
Then the sheik said: “O my child! you are still young, and you must love life! But I am old, and I have had enough of this world. And I will serve as a ransom for you, for the vizier and his cousins. So I repeat to you that I am the assassin. And it is towards me that we must retaliate."
Then Jia'far, with the consent of the chief of the guards, took the young man and the old man and went up with them to the caliph. And he said: “Emir of the Faithful, here before you is the murderer of the young woman! And the caliph asked: "Where is he?" Giafar said: “This young man pretends and affirms that he himself is the murderer, but this old man denies this and asserts in turn that he himself is the murderer." Then the caliph looked at the sheik and the young man and said to them: "Which of you two killed the young woman?" The young man answered: “It is I!" and the sheik said, “No! it's me alone!" Then the caliph, without asking for more, said to Jia'far: "Take the two and crucify them!" But Jia'far replied: "If there is only one murderer, the punishment of the second would be a great injustice!" Then the young man exclaimed: "I swear, by Him who raised the heavens to the height where they are and spread the earth to the depth where it is, that it was I alone who killed the young woman.! And here is the proof!" And then the young man described the crate found and known only to the caliph, Jia'far, and Massrour. Also, the caliph was convinced of the guilt of the young man and was in the most extreme astonishment, and he said to the young man: “But why this murder? Why this confession on your part without being forced to do so by beatings? And how come you ask to be punished in return?" Then the young man said:
“Know, O prince of the Believers, that the young woman was my wife, the daughter of this old sheik who is my father-in-law. I married her when she was very young and a virgin. So Allah granted me three male children from her. And she still continued to love and serve me; and I continued to notice nothing reprehensible about her.
But, at the beginning of this month, she fell seriously ill; and immediately I sent for the most knowledgeable doctors, who did not fail to cure her soon, with the help of Allah! And I, as I had not slept with her since the beginning of her illness, and as the desire came to me at that moment, I wanted to give her a bath first. But she told me: “Before entering the hammam, I have a desire that I want to satisfy." And I say to her: "And what is this desire?" She said to me: "I want an apple to smell it and take a bite out of it." And I immediately went to town to buy the apple, even if it cost a gold dinar! And I searched among all the fruit sellers but they had no apples! And I returned home very sad, and I dared not see my wife, and I spent the whole night thinking of how to find an apple. The next day, at dawn, I left my house and went to the gardens and began to visit them one by one, tree by tree, without result. But on my way, I met a garden keeper, an elderly man, and I asked him about apples. He said to me: “My child, it is a very rare thing to find, for the simple reason that it is nowhere to be found except in Basra, in the orchard of the Commander of the Faithful. But, there too, it is very difficult to have any, because the guardian reserves the apples carefully for the use of the caliph."
So I went back to my wife and told her the thing; but the love I had for her led me to prepare myself at once for the journey. And I set out, and it took me a fortnight, night and day, to go to Basra and come back; but fate favored me, and I returned to my wife, carrying three apples bought from the guardian of the orchard of Basra for the sum of three dinars.
So I entered very joyfully and offered the three apples to my wife; but she, at the sight of them, showed little sign of contentment, and threw them negligently beside her. I saw, however, that during my absence the fever had taken hold of my wife again, and very violently, and continued to grip her; and my wife remained ill another ten days during which I did not leave her for a moment. But, thanks to Allah, at the end of this time she recovered her health; and I could then go out and go to my shop; and I went back to selling and buying.
Now, while I was thus sitting in my shop, towards noon, I saw a negro pass in front of me, holding in his hand an apple with which he was playing. So I say, “Hey! my friend, where could you get this apple, tell me so that I too can go and buy similar ones? At my words, the negro laughed and said, "I took it from my lover! As I had gone to see her and had not seen her for some time, I found her indisposed, and beside her were three apples; and, as I questioned her, she said to me: "Imagine, O my darling, that this sad horned husband of mine has gone expressly to Basra to buy them for me, and he bought them for three gold dinars!" Then she gave me this apple that I have in my hand!"
At these words of the negro, O Prince of the Believers, my eyes saw the world black; and I immediately closed up my shop, and returned home after having, on the way, lost all my reason by the explosive force of my fury. And I looked on the bed, and I did not find, indeed, the third apple. And I then said to my wife: “But where is the third apple?" She replied, "I don't know, and I have no knowledge of it." So I checked the negro's words. So I rushed at her, knife in hand, put my knees on her belly and hacked her with a knife; I thus cut off her head and limbs, then I put the whole thing in the coffer, in all haste, then I covered it with the veil and the carpet and put it in the crate, which I nailed. I loaded the crate onto my mule and immediately threw it into the Tigris, and that with my own hands!
So then, O Commander of the Faithful, I beg you to hasten my death in punishment for my crime, which I will expiate in this way, for I am afraid to give an account of it on the day of Resurrection!
I threw her into the Tigris, without being seen by anyone, and I returned home. And I found my eldest son crying; and though I was sure he was unaware of his mother's death, yet I asked him: "Why are you crying?" He replied: "It was because I had taken one of the apples my mother had, and as I had gone down the street to play with my brothers, I saw a tall negro who passed by next to me and snatched the apple from my hands and said: "Where did this apple come from?" I replied: “It came to me from my father, who had left and had brought it back to my mother with two other similar ones bought at Basra for three dinars. Despite my words, the negro did not give me back the apple, he hit me and walked away with it! And now I'm afraid that my mother will hit me because of the apple!"
At these words of the child, I understood that the negro had uttered lies on behalf of the daughter of my stepfather and that thus I had unjustly killed her!
So I began to shed abundant tears, then my father-in-law, this venerable sheik who is here with me, arrived. And I told him the sad story. So he sat down next to me and started crying. And we both didn't stop crying until midnight. And we made the funeral ceremonies last for five daMoreoverover, until today we continued to lament over this death.
I, therefore, conjure you, O Prince of Believers, by the sacred memory of your ancestors, to hasten my execution and to use reprisals against me to avenge this murder!"
At this story, the caliph was full of astonishment and exclaimed: “By Allah! I only want to kill this perfidious negro!…”
At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.