The Thousand and One Nights, Vol. I. Commonly Called the...

All this was done while he was asleep, unconscious of what was passing; and when he awoke, and found himself in an illuminated vestibule, he said, within himself, Am I bewildered by dreams, or am I awake? Then rising, he advanced a little way to an inner door, and looked, and lo, he was in the house in which the bride had been displayed, and he beheld the bride-chamber and the couch and his turban and clothes. Confounded at the sight of these things, he took one step forwards and another backwards, thinking, Am I asleep or awake? And he began to wipe his forehead, and exclaimed in his astonishment,

By Allah, this is the dwelling of the bride who was here displayed before me: and yet I was just now in a chest. And while he was addressing himself, behold Sitt-el-Ḥosn lifted up the corner of the musquito curtain, and said, O my master, wilt thou not come in? for thou hast loitered since thou withdrewest from me this night. When he heard these words he looked at her face, and laughed, and said, Verily, these appearances are bewildering illusions of a dream! Then entering, he sighed; and as he reflected upon what had happened to him, he was perplexed at his situation, and his case seemed involved in obscurity. Looking at his turban and trousers, and the purse containing the thousand pieces of gold, he exclaimed, Allah is all-knowing!—but it seemeth to me that I am bewildered by dreams!—And he was confounded in the excess of his astonishment. Upon this, therefore, Sitt-el-Ḥosn said to him, Wherefore do I behold thee thus astonished and perplexed? Thou wast not so in the commencement of the night.—And he laughed, and asked her, How many years have I been absent from thee?—Allah preserve thee! she exclaimed. The name of Allah encompass thee!65 Thou hast only withdrawn to yonder apartment.

What hath passed in thy mind?—On hearing this he smiled, and replied, Thou hast spoken truth; but when I withdrew from thee, sleep overcame me, and I dreamt that I was a cook in Damascus, and that I lived there twelve years;66 and I thought that a youth of the sons of the great came to me, accompanied by a eunuch,—and he proceeded to relate what had happened to him in consequence of this youth's visit: then drawing his hand over his forehead, he felt the scar occasioned by the blow, and exclaimed, By Allah, O my mistress, it seemeth as though it were true; for he struck me with a stone upon my forehead, and cut it open: it seemeth, therefore, as though this had really happened when I was awake: but probably this dream occurred when we were both asleep. I imagined in my dream that I was transported to Damascus, without ṭarboosh or turban or trousers, and that I followed the occupation of a cook.—And again, for a while, he remained utterly confounded. He then said, By Allah, I imagined that I made a confection of pomegranate-grains containing but little pepper. Verily I must have been asleep, and in my sleep have seen all this.—I conjure thee by Allah, said Sitt-el-Ḥosn, tell me what more thou sawest? And he related to her the whole; and added, If I had not awaked, they would have crucified me upon a wooden cross.—On account of what? said she.

He answered, On account of the deficiency of pepper in the confection of pomegranate-grains; and I imagined that they demolished my shop, and broke all my vessels, and put me in a chest, and brought the carpenter to make a cross of wood; for they intended to crucify me upon it. Praise be to God, therefore, who caused all this to occur to me in sleep, and caused it not to happen to me when I was awake!—Sitt-el-Ḥosn, laughing at his words, pressed him to her bosom, and he in like manner embraced her. Then reflecting again, he said, By Allah, it seems as if it had happened when I was awake; and I knew not the reason, nor the truth of the case.—And he composed himself to sleep, perplexed with his case, and sometimes saying, I saw it in my sleep,—and other times, I experienced it awake.

Thus he continued until the morning, when his uncle, the Wezeer Shems-ed-Deen, came in to him, and saluted him; and Bedr-ed-Deen, as soon as he beheld him, exclaimed, I conjure thee by Allah, tell me art not thou he who gave orders to bind my hands behind me, and to nail up my shop, on account of the confection of pomegranate-grains, because it was deficient in pepper? The Wezeer answered, Know, O my son, that the truth hath appeared, and what was hidden hath been manifested. Thou art the son of my brother; and I did not this but to know if thou wert he who visited my daughter on that night. I was not convinced of this until I saw that thou knewest the house, and thy turban and trousers and gold, and the two papers; namely, the one which thou wrotest, and that which thy father, my brother, wrote: for I had never seen thee before, and therefore knew thee not; and as to thy mother, I have brought her with me from El-Baṣrah.—Having thus said, he threw himself upon him, and wept; and Bedr-ed-Deen, full of astonishment at his uncle's words, embraced him, and in like manner wept from excess of joy. The Wezeer then said to him, O my son, the cause of all this was what passed between me and thy father. And he related to him the circumstances of their case, and the cause of his father's departure to El-Baṣrah; after which he sent for 'Ajeeb; and when the father of the youth saw him, he exclaimed, This is he who threw the stone at me.—This, said the Wezeer, is thy son. And Bedr-ed-Deen cast himself upon him, and recited the following verses:—

Long have I wept on account of our disunion; the tears overflowing from my eyelids;And I vowed that if Providence should bring us together, I would never again mention our separation.Joy hath overcome me to such a degree that by its excess it hath made me weep.O eye, thou hast become so accustomed to tears that thou weepest from happiness as from grief.67

She afterwards related to him everything that had happened to her; and he also acquainted her with all that he had suffered; and they offered up thanks to God for their union. The Wezeer then went up to the Sulṭán, and informed him of these occurrences; and the King was astonished, and ordered that a statement of them should be inserted in the records, to be preserved to future ages. And the Wezeer resided with his brother's son, and his own daughter and her son, and with the wife of his brother; and all of them passed their lives in the enjoyment of the utmost happiness until they were visited by the terminator of delights, and the separator of companions.69

Such, O Prince of the Faithful, said Jaạfar, were the events that happened to the Wezeer Shems-ed-Deen and his brother Noor-ed-Deen.—By Allah, exclaimed the Khaleefeh Hároon Er-Rasheed, this story is wonderful! And he gave one of his own concubines to the young man who had killed his wife, and appointed him a regular maintenance; and the young man became one of his companions at the table.