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My fourth brother, Alnaschar, was cropped of his ears, O Prince of the Faithful [ 1 ]. He was a pauper, who begged alms by night and subsisted upon what he thus acquired by day; and our father was a very old man, and he fell
sick and died, leaving to us seven hundred pieces of silver, of which each of us took his portion, namely, a hundred pieces.
Now my fifth brother, when he had received his share, was
perplexed, not knowing what to do with it; but while he was in
this state it occurred to his mind to buy with it all kind of
articles of glass, and to sell them and make profit. So he bought
glass with his hundred pieces of silver, and put it in a large
tray, and sat upon an elevated place to sell it, leaning his back
against a wall.
And as he sat he meditated, and said within himself:
"Verily, my whole stock consisteth of this glass. I will sell
it for two hundred pieces of silver, and with the two hundred I
will buy other glass, which I will sell for four hundred; and
thus will I continue buying and selling until I have acquired
great wealth. Then with this I will purchase all kinds of
merchandise, and essences, and jewels, and so obtain vast gain.
After that I will buy a handsome house, and mamlouks, and horses,
and gilded saddles; and I will eat and drink, and I will not
leave in the city a single singer, but I will have him brought to
my house that I may hear his songs."
All this he calculated with the tray of glass lying before
him. "Then," said he, "I will send to seek in marriage for
me the daughters of kings and viziers, and I will demand as my
wife the daughter of the Chief Vizier, for I have heard that she
is endowed with perfect beauty and surprising loveliness; and I
will give as her dowry a thousand pieces of gold. If her father
consent, my wish is attained; and if he consent not, I will take
her by force, in spite of him.
"Then I will purchase the apparel of kings and sultans, and
cause to be made for me a saddle of gold set with jewels; after
which I will ride every day upon a horse, with slaves behind me
and before me, and go about through the streets and markets to
amuse myself, while the people will salute me and pray for me.
"Then I will pay a visit to the Vizier, who is the father of
the maiden, with mamlouks behind me and before me and on my right
and on my left; and when he seeth me he will rise to me in
humility and seat me in his own place, and he himself will sit
down below me, because I am his son-in-law. I will then order one
of the servants to bring a purse containing the pieces of gold
which compose the dowry, and he will place it before the Vizier,
and I will add to it another purse, that he may know my manly
spirit and excessive generosity, and that the world is
contemptible in my eye; and when he adresseth me with ten words I
will answer him with two.
"And I will return to my house; and when any person cometh
to me from the house of the Vizier I will clothe him with a rich
dress; but if any come with a present I will return it; I will
certainly not accept it. Then, on the day of the wedding, I will
attire myself in the most magnificent of my dresses, and sit upon
a mattress covered with silk; and when my wife cometh to me, like
the full moon, decked with her ornaments and apparel, I will
command her to stand before me, as stand the timid and the
abject; and I will not look at her on account of the haughtiness
of my spirit and the gravity of my wisdom.
"Then the maids will say: ‘This, thy wife, or, rather, thy
handmaid, awaiteth thy kind regard, and is standing before thee;
then graciously bestow on her one glance, and again incline my
head downward.
"Then I will look at her through the corner of my eye, and
command her to remain standing before me, that she may taste the
savour of humiliation, and know that I am the Sultan of the Age.
Then her mother will say to me: ‘Oh my master, this is thy
handmaid! Have compassion upon her and be gracious to her.’ And
she will order her to fill a cup with wine, and to put it to my
mouth. So her daughter will say: ‘Oh my lord, I beg thee that
thou reject not the cup from thy slave; for verily I am thy
slave.’ But I will make her no reply; and she will urge me to
take it, and will say, ‘It must be drunk,’ and will put it to
my mouth; and upon this I will shake my hand in her face, and
spurn her with my foot, and do thus."
So saying he kicked the tray of glass, which, being upon a
place elevated above the ground, fell, and all that was in it
broke; there escaped nothing; and he cried out and said: "All
this is the result of my pride!" And he slapped his face and
tore his clothes, the passengers gazing at him while he wept and
exclaimed: "Ah, oh my grief!"
[ 1 ] Haroun-al-Raschid, Caliph of Bagdad, to whom the story was told.
From the "Arabian Nights."
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