THE STORY OF THE PORTER WITH THE YOUNG LADIES
Harun al-Rashid
Source
And who is knocking on the door? The caliph of Baghdad, Harun al-Rachid, who was accompanied by his vizier and his sword-bearer.
And they enter and were served food and drink.
Then, a strange scene starts that involved two female dogs that were beaten, then kissed!
Note:
Harun al-Rachid appears often in the 1,001 Nights tales.
ON THE FOURTH NIGHT
Sheherazade said:
Meanwhile, a knock was heard again at the door. And the doorwoman rose to see who was at the door.
Now, here is what was the cause of the knocking at the door:
That night the caliph Harun al-Rachid had descended to roam his city to see and hear for himself the things that could happen; and he was accompanied by his vizier Ja'far al-Barmaki and his sword-bearer Massrour, the executor of his vengeance. He had gotten into the habit of often disguising himself as a merchant.
So while he was walking that night through the streets of the city, he found this dwelling on his way and he heard the sound of the instruments and the noise of the party. And the caliph said to Ja'far: “I want us to enter this house to see whose voices these belong to." But Ja'far replied, "It must be a drunken gang. So we are careful not to enter for fear that some bad trick will happen to us." But the caliph said: "It is absolutely necessary that we enter. And I want you to find a workaround that allows us to come in and surprise them." And Ja'far, to this order, answered: “I listen and I obey." Then Ja'far came forward and knocked on the door. And that's when the door opened.
The young portress, therefore, opened the door, and Ja'far said to her: “O my mistress! we are merchants of Tiberias. It has been ten days since we came to Baghdad with merchandise, and we are staying in the merchants' khan. So one of the khan's merchants had invited us to his home that night and offered us a meal. After the meal, which lasted an hour and during which he had made us eat well and drink well, he left us free to go. So we went out, but it was night and we were strangers, so we lost the way to the khan where we were staying. And now we fervently appeal to your generosity to allow us to enter and spend the night in your home. And Allah will give you credit for this good deed! "
Then the portress looked at them and found that they looked like merchants and were very respectable in appearance. So she went to find her two sisters and asked their opinion. They said to her: “Let them in!" Then she returned to open the door for them; and they asked her: "May we come in, with your permission?" She said: "Come in!" Then the caliph and Ja'far and Massrour came in, and at the sight of them, the maidens stood up and went to their service and said to them: "Welcome, and let the welcome here be wide and friendly to you! Make yourself comfortable, our guests! But we have to set you a condition: "Do not talk about what does not concern you, otherwise you will hear things that will not please you!" They answered: “Yes, of course!" And they sat down, and they were invited to drink and pass the cup among themselves. Then the caliph looked at the three saâlouks and saw that they were blind in the left eye, and he was greatly surprised. He then looked at the maidens and saw all their beauty and graces, and he was greatly puzzled and surprised. But the young ladies continued to converse with the guests and to invite them to drink with them; then they presented an exquisite wine to the caliph; but he refused, saying: "I am a good hajji!" Then the portress got up and placed before him a small finely inlaid table, on which she put a Chinese porcelain cup: she poured into the cup spring water which she refreshed with a piece of snow, and mixed it all with sugar and rose water, then presented it to the caliph. He accepted it and thanked the young lady very much, and said to himself: “Tomorrow I must reward her for her action and all the good she does!"
The young girls continued to fulfill their duties of hospitality and to serve drinks. But, when the wine produced its effects, the mistress of the house rose, again asked their orders, then she took the provider by the hand and said to her: “O my sister, arise, let us accomplish our duties!" She replied, "At your command!" So the doorwoman got up, told the saâlouks to get up from the middle of the room and line up against the doors, removed everything that was in the middle of the room, and cleaned it. As for the other two young ladies, they called the porter and said to him: “Allah! how ineffective is your friendship! Let's see! you are not a stranger here, you are of the house!" Then the porter rose, lifted the tails of his robe, tightened his waist, and said: "Order and I obey!" And they said to him: “Wait here!" After a few moments, the provider said to him: “Follow me and come help me!” And he followed her out of the room, and he saw two female dogs of the black hound species, and they had chains around their necks. The porter picked them up and led them to the middle of the room. Then the mistress of the house approached, rolled up her sleeves, took a whip, and said to the porter: "Bring here one of the female dogs!" And he dragged one of the female dogs by pulling her by her chain and made her approach and the female dog began to cry and raise her head towards the young lady. But the young lady, without taking it into account, fell on her, hitting her with the whip on the head, and the dog screamed and cried; and the girl did not stop hitting her until her arms were weary. Then she threw the whip from her hand, and took the bitch in her arms, hugged her to her bosom, wiped away her tears, and kissed her head, holding her between her two hands. Then she said to the porter: "Take her back, and bring me the second!" And the porter made the other dog come nearer, and the young girl treated her as she had treated the first.
Then the caliph felt his heart fill with pity and his chest shrink with sadness, and he winked at Ja'far to tell him to ask the girl about it. But Ja'far replied with signs that it was better to be silent.
Then the mistress of the house turned to her sisters and said to them: “Come on! let's do what we used to do." They answered: “We obey." Then the mistress of the house climbed onto her bed of marble laminated with gold and silver and said to the portress and the purveyor: “Now let us see what you know." Then the portress got up and climbed onto the bed beside her sister, and the provider went out, went to her apartment, and brought back a satin bag with green silk fringes; she stopped in front of the young girls, opened the bag, and took out a lute. She handed it to the portress who granted it and, pinching it, sang stanzas on love and its sadness:
“Please! restore to my eyelids the sleep that has fled, and tell me where my reason has gone!
When I consented to lodge love in my dwelling, then sleep became angry with me and forsook me!"
They answered me: "What have you done, our friend, you, whom we know to be one of those
Who walks in the straight and sure way? Tell us who was able to mislead you."
I say to them: “It is not I, but she who will enlighten you!
I will always answer you that my blood, all my blood, belongs to her.
I will always answer you that I much prefer to spread it for her
Than to keep it in me in its heaviness!
I have chosen a woman to put my thoughts in her,
My thoughts reflect her very image!
Also, if I banned this image, I would set fire to my entrails, a devouring fire.
You would excuse me for seeing her! For Allah Himself has crafted this jewel,
With the liquor of life; and, with what remained of this liquor,
He formed the pomegranate and the pearls!"
They said to me: “Do you really find, O naïve, in your beloved object,
Anything other than complaints, tears, sorrows, and rare pleasures?
Don't you know that looking at yourself in the clear water,
You would only see the shadow of yourself! You drink from a spring
Where you are satisfied before you can even taste it."
I answered them: "Don't think that it was by drinking it that intoxicated me,
But it was only by looking at it! And that alone drove sleep from my eyes forever!
And it is not past things that have consumed me thus,
But only her past! And it is not the loved things from which
I have separated that have put me in this state, but only her separation from me.
And now, to turn my gaze to another, how could I do it?
I, whose whole soul is attached to her perfumed body,
To the amber and musk perfumes of her body!"
— At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.