书城公版Volume Five
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第94章

So saying,he went forthright and made keys for the padlocks;wherewith he opened the door and the shackles,and loosing the irons from their legs,carried them forth and guided them to the Kazi's mansion.Then Hubub did off the hair-cloth garments from her lady's body and carried her to the Hammam,where she bathed her and attired her in silken raiment,and her colour returned to her.Now it happened,by exceeding good fortune,that her husband was abroad at a bride-feast in the house of one of the merchants;

so Zayn al-Mawasif,the Adornment of Qualities,adorned herself with the fairest ornaments and repaired to the Kazi,who at once on espying her rose to receive her.She saluted him with softest speech and winsomest words,shooting him through the vitals the while with the shafts of her glances,and said,'May Allah prolong the life of our lord the Kazi and strengthen him to judge between man and man!'Then she acquainted him with the affair of the blacksmith and how he had done nobly by them,whenas the Jew had inflicted on her and her women heart-confounding torments;

and how his victims deathwards he drave,nor was there any found to save.'O damsel,'quoth the Kazi,'what is thy name?''My name is Zayn al Mawasif,--Adomment of Qualities--and this my handmaid's name is Hubub.''Thy name accordeth with the named and its sound conformeth with its sense.'Whereupon she smiled and veiled her face,and he said to her,'O Zayn al-Mawasif,hast thou a husband or not?''I have no husband';'And what Is thy Faith?''That of Al-Islam,and the religion of the Best Of Men.'

'Swear to me by Holy Law replete with signs and instances that thou ownest the creed of the Best of Mankind.'So she swore to him and pronounced the profession of the Faith.Then asked the Kazi,'How cometh it that thou wastest thy youth with this Jew?'

And she answered,'Know,O Kazi (may Allah prolong thy days in contentment and bring thee to thy will and thine acts with benefits seal!),that my father left me,after his death,fifteen thousand dinars,which he placed in the hands of this Jew,that he might trade therewith and share his gains with me,the head of the property[360] being secured by legal acknowledgment.When my father died,the Jew coveted me and sought me in marriage of my mother,who said,'How shall I drive her from her Faith and cause to become a Jewess? By Allah,I will denounce thee to the rulers!' He was affrighted at her words and taking the money;fled to the town of Adan.[361] When we heard where he was,we came to Adan in search of him,and when we foregathered with him there,he told us that he was trading in stuffs with the monies and buying goods upon goods.So we believed him and he ceased not to cozen us till he cast us into jail and fettered us and tortured us with exceeding sore torments;and we are strangers in the land and have no helper save Almighty Allah and our lord the Kazi.'When the judge heard this tale he asked Hubub the nurse;'Is this indeed thy lady and are ye strangers and is she unmarried?',and she answered,'Yes.'Quoth he,'Marry her to me and on me be incumbent manumission of my slaves and fasting and pilgrimage and almsgiving of all my good an I do you not justice on this dog and punish him for that he hath done!'And quoth she;'I hear and obey.'Then said the Kazi,'Go,hearten thy heart and that of thy lady;and to-morrow,Inshallah,I will send for this miscreant and do you justice on him and ye shall see prodigies of his punishment.'So Hubub called down blessings upon him and went forth from him with her mistress,leaving him with passion and love-longing fraught and with distress and desire distraught.

Then they enquired for the house of the second Kazi and presenting themselves before him,told him the same tale.On like wise did the twain,mistress and maid with the third and the fourth,till Zayn al-Mawasif had made her complaint to all the four Kazis,each of whom fell in love with her and besought her to wed him,to which she consented with a'Yes';nor wist any one of the four that which had happened to the others.All this passed without the knowledge of the Jew,who spent the night in the house of the bridefeast.And when morning morrowed,Hubub arose and gat ready her lady's richest raiment;then she clad her therewith and presented herself with her before the four Kazis in the court of justice.As soon as she entered,she veiled her face and saluted the judges,who returned her salam and each and every of them recognised her.One was writing,and the reed-pen dropped from his hand,another was talking,and his tongue became tied;and a third was reckoning and blundered in his reckoning;and they said to her,'O admirable of attributes and singular among beauties! be not thy heart other than hearty,for we will assuredly do thee justice and bring thee to thy desire.'So she called down blessings on them and farewelled them and went her ways.--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Eight Hundred and Fifty-ninth Night; She continued,It hath reached me,O auspicious King,that the Kazis said to Zayn al-Mawasif,'O admirable of attributes and singular among beauties! Be not thy heart other than hearty for our doing thy desire and thy winning to thy will.'So she called down blessings on them and farewelled them and went her ways,the while her husband abode with his friends at the marriage-banquet and knew naught of her doings.Then she proceeded to beseech the notaries and scribes and the notables and the Chiefs of Police to succour her against that unbelieving miscreant and deliver her from the torment she suffered from him.Then she wept with sore weeping and improvised these couplets;'Rain showers of torrent tears,O Eyne and see * An they will quench the fires that flame in me:

After my robes of gold-embroidered silk * I wake to wear the frieze of monkery:

And all my raiment reeks of sulphur-fumes * When erst my shift shed musky fragrancy: