There was once a King of the Kings, a potent man and a proud, who
was devoted to the love of women and one day being in the privacy
of his palace, he espied a beautiful woman on the terraceroof of
her house and could not contain himself from falling consumedly
in love with her.
[FN#161] He asked his folk to whom the house and
the damsel belonged and they said, "This is the dwelling of the
Wazir such an one and she is his wife." So he called the Minister
in question and despatched him on an errand to a distant part of
the kingdom, where he was to collect information and to return;
but, as soon as he obeyed and was gone, the King contrived by a
trick to gain access to his house and his spouse. When the
Wazir's wife saw him, she knew him and springing up, kissed his
hands and feet and welcomed him. Then she stood afar off, busying
herself in his service, and said to him, "O our lord, what is the
cause of thy gracious coming? Such an honour is not for the like
of me." Quoth he, "The cause of it is that love of thee and
desire thee-wards have moved me to this. Whereupon she kissed
ground before him a second time and said, "By Allah, O our lord,
indeed I am not worthy to be the handmaid of one of the King's
servants; whence then have I the great good fortune to be in such
high honour and favour with thee?" Then the King put out his hand
to her intending to enjoy her person, when she said, "This thing
shall not escape us; but take patience, O my King, and abide with
thy handmaid all this day, that she may make ready for thee
somewhat to eat and drink." So the King sat down on his
Minister's couch and she went in haste and brought him a book
wherein he might read, whilst she made ready the food. He took
the book and, beginning to read, found therein moral instances
and exhortations, such as restrained him from adultery and broke
his courage to commit sin and crime. After awhile, she returned
and set before him some ninety dishes of different kinds of
colours, and he ate a mouthful of each and found that, while the
number was many, the taste of them was one. At this, he marvelled
with exceeding marvel and said to her, "O damsel, I see these
meats to be manifold and various, but the taste of them is simple
and the same." "Allah prosper the King!" replied she, "this is a
parable I have set for thee, that thou mayst be admonished
thereby." He asked, "And what is its meaning?"; and she answered,
"Allah amend the case of our lord the King!; in thy palace are
ninety concubines of various colours, but their taste is
one."
[FN#162] When the King heard this, he was ashamed and rising
hastily, went out, without offering her any affront and returned
to his palace; but, in his haste and confusion, he forgot his
signet-ring and left it under the cushion where he had been
sitting and albeit he remembered it he was ashamed to send for
it. Now hardly had he reached home when the Wazir returned and,
presenting himself before the King, kissed the ground and made
his report to him of the state of the province in question. Then
he repaired to his own house and sat down on his couch and
chancing to put his hand under the cushion, behold, he found the
King's seal-ring. So he knew it and taking the matter to heart,
held aloof in great grief from his wife for a whole year, not
going in unto her nor even speaking to her, whilst she knew not
the reason of his anger. --And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir
held aloof from his wife, whilst she knew not the cause of his
wrath. At last, being weary of the longsome neglect, she sent for
her sire and told him the case; whereupon quoth he, "I will
complain of him to the King, at some time when he is in the
presence." So, one day, he went in to the King and, finding the
Wazir and the Kazi of the army before him,
[FN#163] complained
thus saying, "Almighty Allah amend the King's case! I had a fair
flower-garden, which I planted with mine own hand and thereon
spent my substance till it bare fruit; and its fruitage was ripe
for plucking, when I gave it to this thy Wazir, who ate of it
what seemed good to him, then deserted it and watered it not, so
that its bloom wilted and withered and its sheen departed and its
state changed." Then said the Wazir, "O my King, this man saith
sooth. I did indeed care for and guard the garden and kept it in
good condition and ate thereof, till one day I went thither and I
saw the trail of the lion there, wherefore I feared for my life
and withdrew from the garden." The King understood him that the
trail of the lion meant his own seal-ring, which he had forgotten
in the woman's house; so he said, "Return, O Wazir, to thy
flower-garden and fear nothing, for the lion came not near it. It
hath reached me that he went thither; but, by the honour of my
fathers and forefathers, he offered it no hurt." "Hearkening and
obedience," answered the Minister and, returning home sent for
his wife and made his peace with her and thenceforth put faith in
her chastity. "This I tell thee, O King (continued the Wazir),
for no other purpose save to let thee know how great is their
craft and how precipitancy bequeatheth repentance.
[FN#164] And I
have also heard the following
Story of the Confectioner, his Wife, and the Parrot.
