THE STORY OF THE PORTER WITH THE YOUNG LADIES
Harun al-Rashid
Source
The efreet who saved Zobeida is summoned by Harun Al-Rashid. She changes back the two female dogs into young ladies and reveals to the caliph that the husband of Amina is one of his sons.
Then almost everybody gets married, including the three saâlouks!
And Sheherazade starts a new story.
ON THE TWENTY-NINTH NIGHT
Sheherazade said:
It has come to me, O fortunate King, that at the recounting of these two stories of the young ladies Zobeida and Amina, who were there with their younger sister Fahima and the two black bitches and the three saâlouks, the caliph Harun Al-Rachid was extremely amazed, and ordered that these two stories, as well as those of the three saâlouks, be written by the scribes of the offices, with very beautiful and well-kept handwriting, and that then the manuscripts be deposited in his archives.
Then he said to Zobeida: “And now, O lady full of nobility, have you heard no more of the efreet who bewitched your two sisters in the image of these two bitches? And Zobeida answered: "Emir of the Believers, I could know it, because she gave me a lock of her hair and said to me: "When you need me, you will only have to burn one of this hair, and immediately I will appear to you, in whatever distant place I may be, even if I were behind Mount Caucasus!" Then the caliphate said to her: “Oh! bring me that hair!" And Zobeida gave him the wick, and the caliph took a hair from it and burned it. And no sooner was the smell of burnt hair than there was a trembling throughout the palate, and a strong shaking, and suddenly the genie appeared in the form of a richly dressed maiden. As she was a Muslim, she did not fail to say to the caliph: “Peace be with you, O vicar of Allah!" And the caliph answered her: “And upon you descend peace, the mercy of Allah and his blessings!" So she said to him: “Know, O Prince of the Faithful, that this young lady, who has just made me appear at your desire, has done me a great service and has sown seeds in me which have germinated! Also, whatever I do for her, I will never be able to sufficiently acknowledge the good she has done me. As for his sisters, I have changed them into female dogs; if I did not put them to death, it was simply so as not to cause their sister too much grief. Now, if you, O Prince of the Faithful, desire their deliverance, I will deliver them for your sake and for their sister! And, besides, I do not forget that I am a Muslim!" So he said to her: “Certainly! I want you to deliver them! After that, we will examine the case of the young woman with the body bruised by beatings; and if I really found the truth of her story, I would defend her and avenge her on the one who had thus unjustly punished her!" Then the efreet said, "Emir of the Faithful, I, in a moment, will tell you who treated young Amina thus and oppressed her and took her wealth! Because know that he is the closest to you among humans!"
Then the efreet took a cup of water, and made conjurations over it; then she sprinkled it on the two female dogs and said to them: "Quickly return to your old human form!" And, at the same time, the two dogs became two beautiful young ladies to do honor to whoever created them!
Then the genie turned to the side of the caliph and said: “The author of all this mistreatment of young Amina is your own son El-Amin!" And she told him the story, which the caliph was thus able to check through the mouth of a second person, not a human, but a genie!
Then the caliph was very surprised, but concluded: “Praise be to Allah for the deliverance of these two female dogs through me!" Then he summoned his son El-Amin to his presence and asked him for an explanation, and El-Amin answered him telling him the truth. Then the caliphate had the kadis and the witnesses assembled in the same room where the three saâlouks, sons of kings, and the three young ladies were with their two sisters who had been bewitched.
And then, by the kadis and the witnesses, he remarried his son El-Amin with the young Amina; he married the young Zobeida with the first saâlouk, son of a king; he married the two other young women with the other two saâlouks, sons of kings; and, himself, and made his marriage contract with the youngest of the five sisters, the virgin Fahima, the agreeable and sweet provider!
And he built a palace for each couple and gave them all great riches so that they might live happily. And he himself, barely nightfall, hastened to lie down in the arms of young Fahima, with whom he spent that night very pleasantly!
“But,” Schahrazade continued, addressing King Schahriar, “don’t think, O fortunate King, that this story is more astonishing than the one that is to follow!"
THE STORY OF THE CUT WOMAN, THE THREE APPLES, AND THE NEGRO RIHAN
One night among the nights, the caliph Harun Al-Rachid said to Jia'far Al-Barmaki: “I want us to go down tonight towards the city, to inform us of the actions of the governors and the walis. And I have the firm intention to impeach all those against whom complaints would be brought to me!" And Jia'far answered: “I listen and I obey!"
At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.*
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Twenty-eighth Night
Next: The Story of the Cut Woman, the Three Apples, and the Negro Rihan