burton--1001-nights--sample

hard by his side; when behold, a second Shaykh approached them, and
with him were two dogs both of greyhound breed and both black. The
second old man after saluting them with the salam, also asked them of
their tidings and said “What causeth you to sit in this place, a dwelling
of the Jánn?” 14 So they told him the tale from beginning to end, and
their stay there had not lasted long before there came up a third
Shaykh, and with him a she-mule of bright bay coat; and he saluted
them and asked them why they were seated in that place. So they told
him the story from first to last: and of no avail, O my master, is a twicetold
tale!
There he sat down with them, and lo! a dust-cloud advanced and
a mighty sand-devil appeared amidmost of the waste. Presently the
cloud opened and behold, within it was that Jinni hending in hand
a drawn sword, while his eyes were shooting fire-sparks of rage. He
came up to them and, haling away the merchant from among them,
cried to him, “Arise that I may slay thee, as thou slewest my son, the
life-stuff of my liver.” 15 The merchant wailed and wept, and the three
old men began sighing and crying and weeping and wailing with their
companion. Presently the first old man (the owner of the gazelle) came
out from among them and kissed the hand of the Ifrit and said,
“O Jinni, thou Crown of the Kings of the Jann! were I to tell thee the
story of me and this gazelle and thou shouldst consider it wondrous
wouldst thou give me a third part of this merchant’s blood?”
Then quoth the Jinni “Even so, O Shaykh! if thou tell me this tale,
14
The word is mostly plural = Jinnís: it is also singular = a demon; and Ján bin Ján
has been noticed.
15
With us moderns “liver” suggests nothing but malady: in Arabic and Persian as
in the classic literature of Europe it is the seat of passion, the heart being that of
affection.
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