登陆注册
12108700000043

第43章

When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-fifth Night,She said,It hath reached me,O auspicious King,that when Al Maamun,Prince of the Faithful,heard the words of Ahmad bin al-Khalid,he bowed his head and began repeating,'My tribe have slain that brother mine,Umaym,* Yet would shoot back what shafts at them I aim:

If I deal-pardon,noble pardon 'tis;*And if I shoot,my bones 'twill only maim.'[159]

And he also recited,'Be mild to brother mingling*What is wrong with what is right:

Kindness to him continue*Whether good or graceless wight:

Abstain from all reproaching,* An he joy or vex thy sprite:

Seest not that what thou lovest*And what hatest go unite?

That joys of longer life-tide *Ever fade with hair turned white?

That thorns on branches growing*For the plucks fruit catch thy sight?

Who never hath done evil,* Doing good for sole delight?

When tried the sons of worldli-* ness they mostly work upright.'

Quoth Ibrahim,'Now when I heard these couplets,I withdrew my woman's veil from my head and cried out,with my loudest voice,'Allah is Most Great! By Allah,the Commander of the Faithful pardoneth me!'Quoth he,'No harm shall come to thee,O uncle;'

and I rejoined,'O Commander of the Faithful,my sin is too sore for me to excuse it and thy mercy is too much for me to speak thanks for it.'And I chanted these couplets to a lively motive,'Who made all graces all collected He*In Adam's loins,our Seventh Imam,for thee;[160]

Thou hast the hearts of men with reverence filled,* Enguarding all with heart-humility Rebelled I never by delusion whelmed*For object other than thy clemency ;[161]

And thou hast pardoned me whose like was ne'er*Pardoned before,though no man pled my plea:

Hast pitied little ones like Kata's[162] young,* And mother's yearning heart a son to see.'

Quoth Maamun,'I say,following our lord Joseph (on whom and on our Prophet be blessing and peace!) let there be no reproach cast on you this day.Allah forgiveth you; for He is the most merciful of those who show mercy.[163] Indeed I pardon thee,and restore to thee thy goods and lands,O uncle,and no harm shall befall thee.'So I offered up devout prayers for him and repeated these couplets,'Thou hast restored my wealth sans greed,and ere*So didst,thou deignedest my blood to spare:

Then if I shed my blood and wealth,to gain*Thy grace,till even shoon from foot I tear,Twere but repaying what thou lentest me,* And what unloaned no man to blame would care:

Were I ungrateful for thy lavish boons,* Baser than thou'rt beneficent I were!'

Then Al-Maamun showed me honour and favour and said to me,'O uncle,Abu Ishak and Al-Abbas counselled me to put thee to death.'So I answered,'And they both counselled thee right,O Commander of the Faithful,but thou hast done after thine own nature and hast put away what I feared with what I hoped.'

Rejoined Al Maamun,'O uncle,thou didst extinguish my rancour with the modesty of thine excuse,and I have pardoned thee without making thee drink the bitterness of obligation to intercessors.'Then he prostrated himself in prayer a long while,after which he raised his head and said to me,'O uncle,knowest thou why I prostrated myself?'Answered I,'Haply thou didst this in thanksgiving to Allah,for that He hath given thee the mastery over thine enemy.'He replied,'Such was not my design,but rather to thank Allah for having inspired me to pardon thee and for having cleared my mind towards thee.Now tell me thy tale.'

So I told him all that had befallen me with the barber,the trooper and his wife and with my freed-woman who had betrayed me.

So he summoned the freed-woman,who was in her house,expecting the reward to be sent to her,and when she came before him he said to her,'What moved thee to deal thus with thy lord?'Quoth she,'Lust of money.'Asked the Caliph 'Hast thou a child or a husband?'; and she answered 'No;'whereupon he bade them give her an hundred stripes with a whip and imprisoned her for life.Then he sent for the trooper and his wife and the barber-surgeon and asked the soldier what had moved him to do thus.'Lust of money,'quoth he; whereupon quoth the Caliph,'It befitteth thee to be a barber-cupper,'[164] and committed him to one whom he charged to place him in a barber-cupper's shop,where he might learn the craft.But he showed honour to the trooper's wife and lodged her in his palace,saying,'This is a woman of sound sense and fit for matters of moment.'Then said he to the barber-cupper,'Verily,thou hast shown worth and generosity which call for extraordinary honour.'So he commanded the trooper's house and all that was therein to be given him and bestowed on him a dress of honour and in addition fifteen thousand dinars to be paid annually.And men tell the following tale concerning THE CITY OF MANY COLUMNED IRAM AND

ABDULLAH SON OF ABI KILABAH.[165]

It is related that Abdullah bin Abi Kilabah went forth in quest of a she-camel which had strayed from him; and,as he was wandering in the deserts of Al-Yaman and the district of Saba,[166] behold,he came upon a great city girt by a vast castle around which were palaces and pavilions that rose high into middle air.He made for the place thinking to find there folk of whom he might ask concerning his she-camel; but,when he reached it,he found it desolate,without a living soul in it.So (quoth he) 'I alighted and,hobbling my dromedary,'--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-sixth Night,She said,It hath reached me,O auspicious King,that Abdullah bin Abi Kilabah continued,'I dismounted and hobbling my dromedary,and composing my mind,entered into the city.Now when I came to the castle,I found it had two vast gates (never in the world was seen their like for size height) inlaid with all manner of jewels and jacinths,white and red,yellow and green.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 万木之邦

    万木之邦

    木为万物之泽,看一介废柴如何成就万木之邦!惊憾天下!
  • 星破武坤

    星破武坤

    在星破大陆之中,有着许多纷争,在这混乱的地方里,只有力量为王。
  • 呆萌配腹黑凌少的心头肉

    呆萌配腹黑凌少的心头肉

    “凌云!你在吵,我就吃了你!”陌诺雪被吵醒,起床气还没有消下去,一个高大的黑影覆盖了她,空中飘来种磁性有好听的声音:“噢~昨天晚上还没满足你吗?小馋猫,好啊,你来吃我。”陌诺雪大囧,果然被吃的连渣也不剩,陌诺雪看着这个“吃饱”的人,不禁在心中抱怨起来,现在这个腹黑男是谁呀?还我以前那个温柔体贴的凌哥哥~~~~~~~~~七~~~
  • exo之罂粟绽放

    exo之罂粟绽放

    吴晚心,中你的毒,我心甘情愿。世勋吴晚心,你已走进我心里,拿不出来了。亦凡吴晚心,我想再叫一次你的名字。灿烈吴晚心,时光荏苒,我爱你如初。鹿晗吴晚心,二十年前我夺取了你的记忆,二十年后,你抢走了我的心。钟仁
  • 穿越时空之六道

    穿越时空之六道

    “本系统为最腻害的系统,也是最好的系统,绝对不坑爹”幽冥拍着胸口说道。“不坑爹!但是坑宿主啊!”殷项在系统空间里抱怨。穿越各个位面逐渐强大……
  • 猎艳大宗师

    猎艳大宗师

    我是大学毕业没有工作的宅男,可我有聪明的头脑和让人嫉妒的桃花运,我不是富二代,但我要成为富一代。我就是窦乐乐,一个让黑道闻风丧胆,让商界万人景仰的猎艳大宗师。寒风刺骨忆思愁,牡丹花下也风流。<轻松搞笑,内涵深厚。新群:200168483欢迎入驻桃花岛,有惊喜你懂的。>
  • 湮灭之路

    湮灭之路

    “靠!老娘当年摆弄半天造的那个灵魂扔哪旮瘩去了!”来自某顺子女神的怒吼。“老大,你又丢东西了?”某个蹭吃蹭喝的搜查官。“滚蛋!听你前辈瞎扯,不就一个星球忘了放哪儿了吗!”某女神。“炸弹人前辈还是挺靠谱的,话说,好久没见到了。”某审查官啃着苹果说。“你丫又顺我东西吃。算了,找到了!赶紧赶紧!我先让他穿一下。”女神打发道,“帮忙考核一下,应该蛮轻松的,你就当休假了吧。去去去,老娘还有报告要写咧!”PS:别看标题,那是我中二期写的-_-||
  • 狗腿子的崛起

    狗腿子的崛起

    我是一猥琐的胖子,职业是大明帝国的狗腿子。我平常贼眉鼠眼,眉飞色舞,生冷不忌……
  • 太监翻身:皇后太妖娆

    太监翻身:皇后太妖娆

    她是拥有超强大脑的神医,因为研制生化武器而被各路追杀,意外混进宫里,成了第一‘太监’!他是闻风丧胆的暴君,俊美邪肆,却身含剧毒,后宫无一妃。不就嘲笑他不举么?结果。。。。。:“皇上!奴才卖艺不卖身呐!”(女主很腐、很腹黑,男主很帅、很霸道,绝对的一对一结局))
  • 缝天之平行世界

    缝天之平行世界

    人生到处是危险,人生到处是机遇,也许一个不小心你就成了整个世界的救世主!