THE STORY OF THE PORTER WITH THE YOUNG LADIES

Harun al-Rashid
Source

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As you may have guessed, Amina is not killed as she is the one telling her story. She is simply badly beaten. After she recovers, with her younger sister Fahima, they go to live with Zobeida.

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ON THE TWENTY-EIGHTH NIGHT

Sheherazade continued the story of Amina:

My husband said to me: “And you, now, say your act of faith out loud. Then remember a little all the things and clothes and effects that belong to you and make your will: for it is the end of your life!" So I said to him: “O servant of Allah Most Good! just give me time to make my act of faith and my will!" Then I raised my head to heaven, I lowered it to myself and I began to consider myself and to reflect on the miserable and ignominious state in which I was, and the tears came to me and I wept, and I recited these stanzas:

You kindled the passion in my insides, only to stay cold!
You kept my eyes awake for long nights, only to put you to sleep!
But I had put you in a place between my heart and my eyes!
So how could my heart forget you or my eyes stop crying for you?...
You swore to me an inexhaustible constancy;
But hardly had you conquered my heart than you recovered yourself!
And now you don't want to take pity on this heart or sympathize with my sadness!
Were you born only to cause my misfortune and that of all youth?
- O my friends, I conjure you by Allah! when I die, write on the stone of my tomb:
“Here is a great culprit! He loved!"
— In this way, the afflicted passerby who knows the sufferings of love,
Looking at my tomb, will cast a look of compassion on it!

And, having finished these verses, I wept again. When he heard my verses and saw my tears, my husband was even more furious and more excited, and he spoke these stanzas to me:

If I left the one whom my heart loved, it was not out of boredom or weariness!
She made a mistake that deserves abandonment!
She wanted to associate me with another in our common passion,
While my heart and my senses and my reason could not lean towards such an association!

When he had finished these verses, I began to cry again, to touch him, and I said to myself: “I am going to be submissive and humble. And I'm going to soften my terms. And perhaps in this way, he will spare me death, even if it means taking all the wealth that belongs to me! And I began to implore him and gently recited these stanzas to him:

In truth, I swear to you, if you wanted to be fair, you would not kill me!
But we know that the one who deemed the separation inevitable never knew how to be fair!
You made me bear the full weight of the consequences of love,
When my shoulders could barely bear the weight of the thin shirt, or lighter weight even!
And yet it is not at my death that I am surprised,
But I am simply surprised to see my body, after the breakup, continue to desire you!

When I had finished these verses, I wept. Then he looked at me, violently pushed me away with a gesture, insulted me much, and recited these lines to me:

You occupied yourself with a completely different friendship from mine,
Ad you made me feel all your abandonment! Is this how we were?
But I will forsake you, as you have forsaken me and despised my desire!
And for you I will have the same patience that you have shown!
And I will be passionate about someone other than you since you have bowed to someone else!
And forever the break between us will not be because of me, but because of you alone.

And when he had finished these verses, he hailed the negro and said to him: "Cut her in two halves!" She is nothing to us anymore! »

When the Negro came towards me, I was certain of my death and I despaired of my life, and I only thought of entrusting my fate to Allah Most High. And, at the same moment, I saw the old woman enter who threw herself at the feet of the young man, began to kiss them, and said to him: "O my child, I conjure you, me your nurse, in the name of the cares that I gave you, to forgive this young woman, because she did not commit a fault that deserves such a punishment! Besides, you are still young, and I fear her curse will fall upon you!" Then the old woman began to cry, and to continue to urge him with prayers to convince him until he had said to her: "Well, because of you, I am pardoning him! But I still have to make a mark on her that will appear on her for the rest of her life!"

At these words, he gave orders to the negroes, who immediately stripped me of my clothes, and thus exposed me quite naked. Then he took a flexible twig of the quince tree, fell on me, and began to thrash my whole body, and especially my back, my chest, and my sides, and so much and so hard and so furiously that I lost consciousness, having lost all hope of surviving such beatings. He then ceased to hit me, and went away, leaving me lying on the ground and ordering the slaves to leave me in this state until nightfall, and then, under cover of the darkness, transport me to my old home and throw me there like an inert thing. And the slaves did so, and threw me into my old house, according to the order of their master.

When I came back to life, I was unable to move for a long time because of my bruises; then I treated myself with various medicines, and little by little I ended up recovering; but the traces of the blows and the scars remained on my limbs and my flesh as if I had been beaten with thongs and whips! And you have all seen these traces.

When, after four months of treatment, I finally recovered, I wanted to take a look at the side of the palace where I had suffered this violence; but it was entirely ruined, and also the whole street where it was located, from one end to the other; and instead of all these marvels, there were only heaps of garbage accumulated by the waste of the city. And, despite all my research, I was unable to get any news of my husband.

It was then that I returned to my youngest sister Fahima, who was still a young virgin; and we both went to visit our sister of the same father, our sister Zobeida, the same one who told you her story with her two sisters changed into female dogs. And she told me her story, and I told her my story, but after the usual greetings! And then my sister Zobeida said to me: “O my sister, no one in this world is exempt from the misfortunes of fate! But, thank Allah! we are both still alive! So let's stay together now. And above all that the word marriage is never mentioned again, and we even have to lose the memory of it!"

And also our younger sister Fahima stayed with us. And it is she who fills the house with the office of provider, who goes down to the souk to do the market every day and buy us all the necessary things; I am specially charged with opening the door to knockers and receiving our guests; as for our big sister Zobéida, she is the one who tidies up the things in the house.

And we continued to live like this very happily, without men, until the day when our sister Fahima brought us the porter loaded with a large quantity of things and we invited her to rest with us for a moment. And it was then that the three saâlouks entered and told us their stories; and then you, in the guise of three merchants. And you know what happened, and how we were brought into your hands, O Prince of the Believers!

And such is my story!

Then the caliph was extremely amazed, and...

At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.*

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