A certain man had longed all his life to look upon the Night of
Power,
[FN#216] and one night it befel that he gazed at the sky
and saw the angels, and Heaven's gates thrown open; and he beheld
all things prostrating themselves before their Lord, each in its
several stead. So he said to his wife, "Harkye, such an one,
verily Allah hath shown me the Night of Power, and it hath been
proclaimed to me, from the invisible world, that three prayers
will be granted unto me; so I consult thee for counsel as to what
shall I ask." Quoth she, "O man, the perfection of man and his
delight is in his prickle; therefore do thou pray Allah to
greaten thy yard and magnify it." So he lifted up his hands to
heaven and said, "O Allah, greaten my yard and magnify it."
Hardly had he spoken when his tool became as big as a column and
he could neither sit nor stand nor move about nor even stir from
his stead; and when he would have carnally known his wife, she
fled before him from place to place. So he said to her, "O
accursed woman, what is to be done? This is thy list, by reason
of thy lust." She replied, "No, by Allah, I did not ask for this
length and huge bulk, for which the gate of a street were too
strait. Pray Heaven to make it less." So he raised his eyes to
Heaven and said, "O Allah, rid me of this thing and deliver me
therefrom." And immediately his prickle disappeared altogether
and he became clean smooth. When his wife saw this, she said, "I
have no occasion for thee, now thou are become pegless as a
eunuch, shaven and shorn;" and he answered her, saying, "All this
comes of thine ill-omened counsel and thine imbecile judgment. I
had three prayers accepted of Allah, wherewith I might have
gotten me my good, both in this world and in the next, and now
two wishes are gone in pure waste, by thy lewd will, and there
remaineth but one." Quoth she, "Pray Allah the Most High to
restore thee thy yard as it was." So he prayed to his Lord and
his prickle was restored to its first estate. Thus the man lost
his three wishes by the ill counsel and lack of wit in the woman;
"And this, O King" (said the Wazir), "have I told thee, that thou
mightest be certified of the thoughtlessness of women and their
inconsequence and silliness and see what cometh of hearkening to
their counsel. Wherefore be not persuaded by them to slay thy
son, thy heart's core, who shall cause thy remembrance to survive
thee." The King gave ear to his Minister's words and forbore to
put his son to death; but, on the seventh day, the damsel came
in, shrieking, and after lighting a great fire in the King's
presence, made as she would cast herself therein; whereupon they
laid hands on her and brought her before him. He asked her, "Why
hast thou done this?"; and she answered, "Except thou do me
justice on thy son, I will cast myself into this very fire and
accuse thee of this on the Day of Resurrection, for I am a-weary
of my life, and before coming into thy presence I wrote my last
will and testament and gave alms of my goods and resolved upon
death. And thou wilt repent with all repentance, even as did the
King of having punished the pious woman who kept the Hammam."
Quoth the King, "How was that?" and quoth she, "I have heard
tell, O King, this tale concerning
The Stolen Necklace.
