书城公版Volume Six
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第55章

And the Badawi ceased not to console her heart and coax her,till she trusted in him and agreed to serve him.Then he walked on before her and,when she followed him,he winked to his men to go in advance and harness the dromedaries and load them with their packs and place upon them water and provisions,ready for setting out as soon as he should come up with the camels.Now this Badawi was a base born churl,a highway thief and a traitor to the friend he held most fief,a rogue in grain,past master of plots and chicane.He had no daughter and no son and was only passing through the town when,by the decree of the Decreer,he fell in with this unhappy one.And he ceased not to hold her in converse on the highway till they came without the city of Jerusalem and,when outside,he joined his companions and found they had made ready the dromedaries.So the Badawi mounted a camel,having seated Nuzhat al-Zaman behind him and they rode on all night.Then she knew that the Badawi's proposal was a snare and that he had tricked her;and she continued weeping and crying out the whole night long,while they journeyed on making for the mountains,in fear any should see them.Now when it was near dawn,they dismounted from their dromedaries and the Badawi came up to Nuzhat al-Zaman and said to her,'O city strumpet,what is this weeping?By Allah,an thou hold not thy peace,I will beat thee to death,O thou town filth!'When she heard this she loathed life and longed for death;so she turned to him and said,'O accursed old man,O gray beard of hell,how have I trusted thee and thou hast played me false,and now thou wouldst torture me?'When he heard her reply he cried out,'O lazy baggage,dost thou dare to bandy words with me?'And he stood up to her and beat her with a whip,saying,'An thou hold not thy peace,I will kill thee!'So she was silent awhile,then she called to mind her brother and the happy estate she had been in and she shed tears secretly.Next day,she turned to the Badawi and said to him,'How couldst thou play me this trick and lure me into these bald and stony mountains,and what is thy design with me?'When he heard her words he hardened his heart and said to her,'O lazy baggage of ill omen and insolent!wilt thou bandy words with me?'and he took the whip and came down with it on her back till she felt faint.Then she bowed down over his feet and kissed[242] them;and he left beating her and began reviling her and said,'By the rights of my bonnet,[243] if I see or hear thee weeping,I will cut out thy tongue and stuff it up thy coynte,O thou city filth!'So she was silent and made him no reply,for the beating pained her;but sat down with her arms round her knees and,bowing her head upon her collar,began to look into her case and her abasement after her lot of high honour;and the beating she had endured;and she called to mind her brother and his sickness and forlorn condition,and how they were both strangers in a far country,which crave her tears down her cheeks and she wept silently and began repeating,'Time hath for his wont to upraise and debase,Nor is lasting condition for human race:

In this world each thing hath appointed turn;Nor may man transgress his determined place:

How long these perils and woes?Ah woe For a life,all woeful in parlous case!

Allah bless not the days which have laid me low I' the world,with disgrace after so much grace!

My wish is baffled,my hopes cast down,And distance forbids me to greet his face:

O thou who passeth that dear one's door,Say for me,these tears shall flow evermore!'

When she had finished her verses,the Badawi came up to her and,taking compassion on her,bespoke her kindly and wiped away her tears.Then he gave her a barley scone and said,'I love not one who answereth at times when I am in wrath: so henceforth give me no more of these impertinent words and I will sell thee to a good man like myself,who will do well with thee,even as I have done.''Yes;whatso thou doest is right,'answered she;and when the night was longsome upon her and hunger burnt her,she ate very little of that barley bread.In the middle of the night the Badawi gave orders for departure,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Fifty-sixth Night,She said,It hath reached me,O auspicious King,that when the Badawi gave the barley scone to Nuzhat al-Zaman and promised he would sell her to a good man like himself,she replied,'Whatso thou doest is right!'and,about midnight when hunger burned her,[244] she ate a very little of that barley bread and the Badawi ordered his party to set out;so they loaded their loads and he mounted a camel setting Nuzhat al-Zaman behind him.Then they journeyed and ceased not journeying for three days,till they entered the city of Damascus and alighted at the Sultan's Khan,hard by the Viceroy's Gate.Now she had lost her colour by grief and the fatigue of such travelling,and she ceased not to weep over her misfortunes.So the Badawi came up to her and said,'O thou city filth,by the right of my bonnet,if thou leave not this weeping,I will sell thee to none but a Jew!'Then he arose and took her by the hand and carried her to a chamber,and walked off to the bazar,and he went round to,the merchants who dealt in slave girls,and began to parley with them,saying,'I have brought a slave girl whose brother fell ill,and I sent him to my people about Jerusalem,that they might tend him till he is cured.As for her I want to sell her,but after the dog her brother fell sick,the separation from him was grievous to her,and since then she doth nothing but weep,and now I wish that whoso is minded to buy her of me speak softly to her and say,'Thy brother is with me in Jerusalem ill';and I will be easy with him about her price.'Then one of the merchants came up to him and asked,'How old is she?'He answered 'She is a virgin,just come to marriageable age,and she is endowed with sense and breeding and wit and beauty and loveliness.But from the day I sent her brother to Jerusalem,her heart hath been yearning for him,so that her beauty is fallen away and her value lessened.'