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THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT - VOLUME 10
THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT - VOLUME 10 RICHARD F. BURTON London July 12 1886.
Contents of the Tenth Volume
169. Ma'aruf the Cobbler and His Wife Fatimah
Conclusion
Terminal Essay
Appendix I.--
1. Index to the Tales and Proper Names
2. Alphabetical Table of the Notes (Anthropological &c.)
3. Alphabetical Table of First lines--
a. English
b. Arabic
4. Table of Contents of the Various Arabic Texts--
a. The Unfinished Calcutta Edition (1814-1818)
b. The Breslau Text
c. The Macnaghten Text and the Bulak Edition
d. The same with Mr. Lane's and my Version
Appendix II--
Contributions to the Bibliography of the Thousand and
One Nights and their Imitations By W. F. Kirby
The Book Of The
THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT
MA'ARUF THE COBBLER AND HIS WIFE
There dwelt once upon a time in the God-guarded city of Cairo a
cobbler who lived by patching old shoes.[FN#1] His name was
Ma'aruf[FN#2] and he had a wife called Fatimah whom the folk had
nicknamed "The Dung;"[FN#3] for that she was a whorish worthless
wretch scanty of shame and mickle of mischief. She ruled her
spouse and abused him; and he feared her malice and dreaded her
misdoings; for that he was a sensible man but poor-conditioned.
When he earned much he spent it on her and when he gained
little she revenged herself on his body that night leaving him
no peace and making his night black as her book;[FN#4] for she
was even as of one like her saith the poet:--
How manifold nights have I passed with my wife * In the saddest
plight with all misery rife:
Would Heaven when first I went in to her * With a cup of cold
poison I'd ta'en her life.
One day she said to him "O Ma'aruf I wish thee to bring me this
night a vermicelli-cake dressed with bees' honey."[FN#5] He
replied "So Allah Almighty aid me to its price I will bring it
thee. By Allah I have no dirhams to-day but our Lord will make
things easy."[FN#6] Rejoined she--And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Nine Hundred and Ninetieth Night
She resumed It hath reached me O auspicious King that Ma'aruf
the Cobbler said to his spouse "By Allah I have no dirhams
to-day but our Lord will make things easy to me!" She rejoined
"I wot naught of these words; look thou come not to me save with
the vermicelli and bees' honey; else will I make thy night black
as thy fortune whenas thou fellest into my hand." Quoth he
"Allah is bountiful!" and going out with grief scattering itself
from his body prayed the dawn-prayer and opened his shop. After
which he sat till noon but no work came to him and his fear of
his wife redoubled. Then he arose and went out perplexed as to
how he should do in the matter of the vermicelli-cake seeing he
had not even the wherewithal to buy bread. Presently he came to
the shop of the Kunafah-seller and stood before it whilst his
eyes brimmed with tears. The pastry-cook glanced at him and said
"O Master Ma'aruf why dost thou weep? Tell me what hath befallen
thee." So he acquainted him with his case saying "My wife would
have me bring her a Kunafah; but I have sat in my shop till past
mid-day and have not gained even the price of bread; wherefore I
am in fear of her." The cook laughed and said "No harm shall
come to thee. How many pounds wilt thou have?" "Five pounds"
answered Ma'aruf. So the man weighed him out five pounds of
vermicelli-cake and said to him "I have clarified butter but no
bees' honey. Here is drip-honey[FN#7] however which is better
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