The Story of the Merchant with the Efreet
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The first sheikh finishes his story and the efreet grants him a third of the blood of the merchant.
Then the second sheikh starts his story, without making a deal with the efreet. But he assumes that if the efreet likes his story he will grant him another third of the blood of the merchant.
ON THE SECOND NIGHT
Sheherazade said:
Doniazade said to his sister Schahrazade: “O my sister, finish us, I beg you, the tale which is the story of the merchant with the efreet! And Schahrazade answered: "With all my heart and as due homage! — if, however, the King permits me." Then the king said to her: "You can speak!" »
She says :
It has come down to me, O fortunate King, O gifted of just and upright ideas, that when the merchant saw the calf crying, his heart was moved with pity, and that he said to the shepherd: "Leave this calf among the cattle! »
All of this! And the efreet was prodigiously astonished by this story. Then the sheikh, master of the gazelle, continued:
“O lord of the kings of the genies, all this has happened! And my uncle's daughter, this gazelle, was there looking and saying, “Oh! we must sacrifice this calf because it is so fat!" But I could not, out of pity, make up my mind to sacrifice him; and I ordered the shepherd to take him back, and he took him back and went with him.
On the second day, I was sitting when the shepherd came to me and said to me: “O my master, I will tell you something that will make you happy, and the good news of which will bring me a reward." I replied, "Certainly." He said: “O illustrious merchant, I have my daughter who is a witch and learned sorcery from an old woman who lodged with us. Now, yesterday, when you gave me the calf, I went with it to my daughter's house. Hardly had she seen him than she covered her face with her veil, and began to cry, and then to laugh. Then she said to me: “O father, has my value sunk so low in your eyes that you thus allow foreign men to enter my home?" I said to her: "But where are they, these foreign men? And why did you cry and then laugh?" She said to me: "This calf, which is with you, is the son of our master the merchant, but he is bewitched. And it was his mother-in-law who thus bewitched him, and his mother with him. And it was his calf-like appearance that I couldn't help laughing at. And if I cried, it was because of the mother of the calf sacrificed by the father." At these words of my daughter, I was prodigiously surprised, and I waited impatiently for the return of the morning to come and tell you about it."
When, O mighty efreet, continued the sheikh, I heard the words of this shepherd, I hastily went out with him, and I felt drunk without wine, by the amount of joy and bliss that happened to me to see my son. So when I came to the shepherd's house, the young girl welcomed me and kissed my hand. Then the calf came to me and rolled at my feet. So I said to the shepherd's daughter: “Is it true what you say about this calf?" She said: "Yes, certainly, O my master! He is your son, the flame of your heart!" I said to her: “O kind and helpful adolescent girl if you deliver my son, I will give you all the cattle and property I have under your father’s hand!” She smiled at my words and said to me: “O my master, I only want to accept wealth on these two conditions: the first is that I will marry your son! and the second is that you will let me bewitch and imprison whoever I want! Otherwise, I cannot answer for the effectiveness of my intervention against your wife's perfidy."
When I heard, O mighty efreet, the words of the shepherd's daughter, I said to her: "So be it! and, on top of that, you will have the riches that are under your father's hand! As for my uncle's daughter, I allow you to dispose of her blood!"
When she had heard my words, she took a small copper basin, filled it with water, and pronounced magic conjurations over the water; then she sprinkled it on the calf, and said to him: “If Allah has created you a calf, remain a calf without changing your form! But if you are enchanted, return to your first created form, and this with the permission of Allah Most High!"
She says. And immediately the calf began to toss and shake and became a human being again. So I threw myself on him, kissing him. Then I said to him: “By Allah upon you! tell me what my uncle's daughter did with you and your mother!" And he told me everything that had happened to them. I then said: “O my child, Allah Master of Destinies reserved someone for you to save!"
After which, O good efreet, I married my son to the shepherd's daughter. And she, by her knowledge of sorcery, bewitched my uncle's daughter and transformed her into this gazelle you see! And I, as I passed by this place, I saw these good people assembled, I asked them what they were doing, and I heard from them what had happened to this merchant, and I sat down to see what might happen. "And such is my story!" »
Then the efreet exclaimed: “This story is quite astonishing: so I grant you in grace a third of the blood requested."
At this moment the second sheikh, the master of the two greyhounds, came forward and said:
TALE OF THE SECOND SHEIKH
“Know, O lord of the kings of the genies, that these two dogs are my brothers, and I am the third. Now, when our father died, he left us an inheritance of three thousand dinars. And I, with my share, opened a shop where I began to sell and to buy. And one of my brothers began to travel to trade, and was away from us for a year-long, with the caravans. When he returned, he had nothing left. So I said to him: “O my brother, did I not advise you not to travel?" So he began to cry and said, “O my brother, Allah, who is mighty and great, has permitted this to happen to me. So now your words can no longer benefit me, for I no longer possess anything." So I took him with me to the shop, then I took him to the hammam, and gave him a magnificent dress of the first quality. Then we sat together to eat; then I said to him: “O my brother, I will count the profit of my shop from one year to the next; and, without touching the capital, I will divide this gain by half between me and you!" And, in fact, I counted the gain brought in by the money from the shop, and I found for that year a profit of a thousand dinars. So I thanked Allah, who is mighty and great, and rejoiced with the most intense joy. Then I divided the gain into two equal parts between my brother and me. And we stayed together for days and days.
But again my brothers decided to leave, and they wanted me to leave with them. But I did not accept, and said to them: “What have you gained, you guys, by traveling, that I am tempted to imitate you?" Then they began to reproach me; but with no success, because I did not obey them. On the contrary, we continued to stay in our respective shops, selling and buying, for an entire year. But then they started to offer me the trip again, and I continued to refuse — and it went on like that for six whole years. Finally, I end up agreeing with them for the departure and say to them: “O my brothers, let us count what money we have. We counted and found a total of six thousand dinars. So I tell them, “Let’s bury half of it underground, so we can use it if something bad happens to us. And let's each take a thousand dinars to trade on a small scale. They replied, "May Allah favor the idea!" So I took the money, I divided it into two equal parts, I buried three thousand dinars, and, as for the other three thousand, I distributed them judiciously to each of us three. Then we did our shopping for miscellaneous goods, we hired a ship, we transported all our effects there, and we left.
— At this point in her narration, Scheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.