The Eighth Night

During the eighth night Scheherazade continued with her interesting story:

"Oh auspicious king!"

"I have heard that the young man continued with his narration."

Continuation of the story of the seventh night...

I struck the slave with the intention of cutting off his head, but I failed to harm his jugular and only cut his gullet, skin and flesh. He let out a loud snort and as my wife stirred, I stepped back, returned the sword to its sheath and went back to the city, where I entered the palace and lay down on my bed until morning. My wife came and lay down on my bed. She was going to wake me, with her hair shorn, during the dawn.

Then, my bad wife said:

"Cousin don't question what I am doing. Sadly, I received news that my mother has died and my father was killed fighting the infidels, while one of my brothers has died due to a fatal sting and also the other by a fall."

"I must weep and grieve."

When I heard this, I did not tell her what I knew. However, I stated:

"Do what you think is right and I will not oppose you."

From the beginning to the end of one whole year, she remained sad, miserable and in mourning, and then my cousin told me:

"I want to build a tomb shaped like a dome beside the palace, which I shall set aside for grief and name it as the House of Sorrows."

I replied:

"You can do it!"

She built her House of Sorrows, with a dome over it, covering what looked like a tomb. Later, my wife brought the slave and installed him in it, but he could no longer be of any utility to her. He was fond of drinking wine, but since the day that I had wounded that slave, he could no longer speak and was alive only because his allotted end of time had not arrived.

Every day, at morning and evening, my wife went to the tomb weeping and lamenting for him, giving him wine and broth.

All this happened during the first year and the second year came. Of course, I had been suffering too much and had paid no attention to her, until one day, when I went to her room, unexpectedly, I found her exclaiming in tears:

"Why are you far from my sight, my heart's delighting?"

"Speak to me!"

"Oh my soul!"

"Speak to me!"

"My great darling!"

She continued the conversation, reciting:

"If you have found consolation, love has left me no resistance."

"My heart only loves you."

"Take my bones and my soul with you to any place you may go."

"And where you will be buried, bury me in front of you."

"Call my name on my grave and my bones will moan and answer, hearing the echo of your voice."

Then, she expressed:

"My wishes are fulfilled on those days that I am close to you."

"But, when you are far from me, the days of my doom appear."

"Maybe, I pass the nights with fear, threatened with the destruction."

"But, the union with you is kinder to myself than safety."

Next, my wife said:

"If every blessing and all of this entire world were for me."

"Including the empire of the Persian kings."

"For me this would not be worth a gnat's wing, if my eyes could not look over you."

When she had finished speaking and weeping, I said to her:

"Cousin…"

"No more sorrow!"

"Sorrow and weeping will do you no good!"

But, she answered:

"Don´t try to stop me!"

"Or…"

"I will kill myself."

I didn´t want to continue speaking and left her to satisfy her desires. She went on grieving, weeping and mourning for the second year and the third one.

One day, I went to her because something put me in bad mood. Also, I was tired of her violent weeping. I saw her going towards the tomb, and she said:

"Master, I don´t hear word from you."

"Master, why aren´t you answering me?"

Immediately, she recited:

"In this grave, the grave, have the beloved's beauties fell?"

"And has the brightness and the radiance disappeared?"

"Grave, grave, you aren´t earth or heaven for me."

"So, how do you hold the sun and the moon?"

When I heard all this, I became even angrier than before and I exclaimed:

"For how long will this sorrow last?"

Then, I recited:

"Grave, grave, has his blackness fallen?"

"And has the brightness and the foulness disappeared?"

"Grave, grave you aren´t a basin neither a pot."

"So, how do you hold charcoal and slime?"

When my wife heard this, she jumped and said:

"Damned dog!"

"You did this to me and wounded my heart's lover."

"You have infringed me pain and stolen his youth, so that in three years he hasn´t been dead neither alive."

I replied:

"Dirty and bad woman!"

"Filthiest of the fornicators of black slaves!"

"Yes, I did this!"

Then, I drew my sword and aimed a deadly blow at her, but when she realized my intentions, seeing that I was going to kill her, my wife burst out laughing and said:

"Out!"

"Damned dog!"

"The past can´t return and the dead can´t rise again. But by your great fault, there has been an unsupportable fire in my heart and a flame that cannot be extinguished."

In those moments, standing there, she said some unintelligible words and stated:

"By my magic, you will become half stone and half man!"

In this way, I became in this form, as you see me now, unable to stand or to sit, by my own means, regardless of being dead or alive. Next, she cast a spell over the whole city, including the markets and the gardens. There were four different groups of people: Muslims, Christians, Jews and Magicians; they were transformed into fish. The Muslims became white fish, the Magicians are red, the Christians became blue and the Jews are yellow. The four islands were transformed into four mountains that surround the pool. Every day, my wife tortures me by giving me a hundred lashes with her whip, until the blood flows down over my shoulders. Later, she dresses me in a hair shirt of this kind, which I am wearing on my upper half, and over this she places a great gown.

Then, the young man wept and recited:

"Oh Allah!"

"I must endure your trail and decrees."

"If that pleases You, I shall do this!"

"Despots have wronged and oppressed me in this place."

"But, maybe the Paradise will be my recompense."

"My pain and sufferings have left me in sad straits."

"But Allah's choice as His favored Prophet can intercede for me."

The king turned to the young man and expressed:

"Although you have freed me from one concern, you have added another worry to my consideration."

"Where is the woman?"

"And where is the tomb with the wounded slave?"

The youth said:

"The slave is lying in the tomb beneath the dome."

"And..."

"She is in the chamber opposite to the door."

"My bad wife comes out once each day at sunrise."

"Every day, the first thing she does is to strip and give me a hundred lashes."

"Of course! I weep and cry but I am unable to move and defend myself."

"After she has tortured me, this witch takes wine and broth to the slave. In this regard, she will come early tomorrow."

The king said:

"By Allah!"

"I shall help you, for which I shall be remembered until the End of Time."

He sat talking to him until nightfall, when they both slept.

Near to dawning, the king woke up, stripped off his clothes, drew his sword and went to where the slave lay, surrounded by candles, lamps, perfumes and unguents. He looked for the slave and killed him with only one blow. Next, he carried the slave on his back and threw him down, in a well of the palace. Later, he used the slave's clothes and lay down in the tomb, hiding the naked sword by one side. In the following hour, the damned witch arrived, but before entering the tomb, she first stripped her cousin of clothes, took whips and beat him. He cried suffering too much pain and said:

"Cousin!"

"This state of punishment is more than enough for me."

"Have pity for me."

She asked:

"Did you have pity for me?"

"And did you leave me in peace, my supposed beloved one?"

The witch beat him until she was tired and the blood flowed down his sides. Then, she dressed him with a hair shirt under his robe, and went to bring a cup of wine and a bowl of broth for the slave.

Over the tomb, she wept and wailed, expressing:

"Master, speak to me!"

"Master, speak to me!"

Then, she then recited:

"How long will you turn away, treating me badly?"

"Have I not shed enough tears for you?"

"How do you intend to abandon me?"

"If your issue is the envious, the envy has been cured."

Shedding tears, she repeated:

"Master, speak to me!"

"Master, speak to me!"

The bold king lowered his voice, twisted his tongue, and speaking in the accent of the black men, he said:

"Oh! Oh! There is no Might and no Power except in Allah, the Exalted, the Omnipotent!"

When hearing these words, she cried with joy and fainted. When recovering, she expressed:

"Master, is this true?"

Using a weak voice, the king said:

"You damned woman!"

"Do you deserve that anyone should talk or speak with you?"

She asked:

"What happens?"

The king replied:

"It is for this… Because all day you torture your husband, he cries for help, and from dusk to dawn, he doesn't allow me to sleep as he cries and curses me and you. He disturbs and harms me, and but for this, I haven´t been cured."

"It is that keeps me from answering you."

She replied:

"With your permission, I shall release him…."

The king expressed:

"Do it!"

"Allow me to rest!"

The witch answered:

"I hear and obey."

She went from the tomb, took a bowl, filled it with water and spoke some words over it. As the water boiled and bubbled, like a pot boiling on the fire, she sprinkled her husband with these liquids and said:

"I conjure you by the words that I have recited, if you are in this state due to my magic, revert from this form to the primitive one that you were before."

Next, a sudden shudder ran through the young man and he rose to his feet, happy for his release, calling out:

"I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is the Prophet of God."

"May Allah bless and give peace."

The wife shouted at him, saying:

"Go, and don't come back or I will kill you!"

He left and she went back to the tomb, saying:

"Master, come out to me, so that I may see your beautiful form."

With a weak voice, the king replied:

"What have you done?"

"You have brought me relief from the branch but not from the roots."

She continued the conversation:

"My beloved one!"

"My black darling!"

"What are the roots?"

"Do I have to curse you, beloved, my black darling?"

He replied:

"Damned woman!"

"It is about the people of the city and of the four islands."

"Every night, during midnight the fish raise their heads, begging for help and cursing me and you."

"This is stopping my recovery!"

"Free them quickly and come back, take my hand and help me to get up."

"I am on the way to recovery."

By hearing these words and thinking that the king was the slave, the witch was delighted and was ready to obey her command. She got up and ran happy to the pool, from which she took a little water…

To be continued during the ninth night…