“Alas!” answered her husband, “I have only a year to live.” “Tell us, I pray you,” said his wife, “what has happened.” But instead of embracing them he began to weep so bitterly that they soon guessed that something terrible was the matter. When he arrived home his wife and children received him with the greatest joy. The merchant, having recovered from his fright, mounted his horse and went on his road. On this the Genie left him near the fountain and disappeared. “I promise you that to-morrow twelvemonth, I shall be waiting under these trees to give myself up to you.” “I ask you for a year’s grace,” replied the merchant. “How long do you require?” asked the Genie. “I give you my word of honour,” answered the merchant, “that I will come back without fail.” “But,” said the Genie, “if I grant you the delay you ask, I am afraid that you will not come back.” When I have done this I will come back here, and you shall kill me.” Grant me a little delay just a short time to go home and bid my wife and children farewell, and to make my will. When the merchant saw that the Genie was determined to cut off his head, he said: “One word more, I entreat you. The Sultana told a story, and the Sultan let her live to finish it. “Finish,” said he, “the story of the Genie and the merchant. The Sultan did not wait for Scheherazade to ask his leave. The next morning, before the day broke, Dinarzade said to her sister, “Dear sister, if you are awake I pray you to go on with your story.” But he was much delighted when he saw the Sultan enter the council-chamber without giving the terrible command that he was expecting. Schahriar, who had been listening to Scheherazade with pleasure, said to himself, “I will wait till to-morrow I can always have her killed when I have heard the end of her story.”Īll this time the grand-vizir was in a terrible state of anxiety. “The rest is still more wonderful,” replied Scheherazade, “and you would say so, if the sultan would allow me to live another day, and would give me leave to tell it to you the next night.” “Indeed, sister,” said Dinarzade, “this is a wonderful story.” Scheherazade, at this point, seeing that it was day, and knowing that the Sultan always rose very early to attend the council, stopped speaking. The Genie, with his raised scimitar, waited till he had finished, bit was not in the least touched.
The merchant, protesting his innocence, bewailed his wife and children, and tried pitifully to avert his fate. “No,” said the Genie, “I shall kill you as you killed my son,” and so saying, he seized the merchant by the arm, threw him on the ground, and lifted his sabre to cut off his head. “But I killed your son quite unintentionally, so I implore you to spare my life.” “I will have no mercy on you,” answered the Genie. “Ah, sir, forgive me!” cried the merchant. “Then,” said the Genie, “I tell you you have killed my son, for whilst you were throwing about the stones, my son passed by, and one of them struck him in the eye and killed him. “Yes,” said the merchant, “I certainly did so.”
“When you arrived here did you not sit down on the ground?” asked the Genie, “and did you not take some dates from your wallet, and whilst eating them did not you throw the stones about?” “But,” said the merchant, “How can I have killed your son? I do not know him, and I have never even seen him.”
“I shall kill you,” repeated the Genie, “as you have killed my son.” The merchant, quite as much terrified at the hideous face of the monster as at his words, answered him tremblingly, “Alas, good sir, what can I have done to you to deserve death?” “Arise,” he cried in a terrible voice, “and let me kill you as you have killed my son!”Īs he uttered these words he gave a frightful yell. When he was thus employed he saw an enormous Genie, white with rage, coming towards him, with a scimitar in his hand. When he had finished this frugal mean he washed his face and hands in the fountain. He dismounted, fastened his horse to a branch of the tree, and sat by the fountain, after having taken from his wallet some of his dates and biscuits. He found at the foot of a large walnut-tree a fountain of clear and running water. On the fourth day of his journey, the heat of the sun being very great, he turned out of his road to rest under some trees. He arrived without any mishap, and, having finished his business, set out on his return. One day, having to go a long way from home, he mounted his horse, taking with him a small wallet in which he had put a few biscuits and dates, because he had to pass through the desert where no food was to be got. He was obliged from time to time to take journeys to arrange his affairs. Sire, there was once upon a time a merchant who possessed great wealth, in land and merchandise, as well as in ready money.
0 kommentar(er)
