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The Tale Of The Bull And The Ass
KNOW, O my daughter, that there was once a merchant who owned much money
and many men, and who was rich in cattle and camels. He had also a wife
and family, and he dwelt in the country, being experienced in husbandry
and devoted to agriculture. Now Allah Most High had endowed him with
understanding the tongues of beasts and birds of every kind, but under
pain of death if he divulged the gift to any. So he kept it secret for
very fear. He had in his cow house a bull and an ass, each tethered in his
own stall, one hard by the other. As the merchant was sitting near-hand
one day with his servans and his children were playing about him, he heard
and bull say to the ass:
"Hail and health to thee O Father of Waking! for that thou enjoyest
rest and good ministering. All under thee is clean-swept and
fresh-sprinkled. Men wait upon thee and feed thee, and thy provaunt is
sifted barley and thy drink pure spring water, while I (unhappy creature!)
am led forth in the middle of the night, when they set on my neck the plow
and a something called yoke, and I tire at cleaving the earth from dawn of
day till set of sun. I am forced to do more than I can and to bear all
manner of ill-treatment from night to night. After which they take me back
with my sides torn, my neck flayed, my legs aching, and mine eyelids sored
with tears. Then they shut me up in the byre and throw me beans and
crushed straw mixed with dirt and chaff, and I lie in dung and filth and
foul stinks through the livelong night. But thou art ever in a place swept
and sprinkled and cleansed, and thou art always lying at ease, save when
it happens (and seldom enough!) that the master hath some business, when
he mounts thee and rides thee to town and returns with thee forthright. So
it happens that I am toiling and distrest while thou takest thine ease and
thy rest. Thou sleepest while I am sleepless, I hunger still while thou
eatest thy fill, and I win contempt while thou winnest goodwill."
When the bull ceased speaking, the ass turned toward him and said: "O
Broad-o'-Brow, O thou lost one! He lied not who dubbed thee bullhead, for
thou, O father of a bull, hast neither forethought nor contrivance. Thou
art the simplest of simpletons, and thou knowest naught of good advisers.
Hast thou not heard the saying of the wise?
"For others these hardships and labors I bear,
And theirs is the pleasure and mine is the care,
As the bleacher who blacketh his brow in the sun
To whiten the raiment which other men wear.
But thou, O fool, art full of zeal, and thou toilest and moilest before
the master, and thou tearest and wearest and slayest thyself for the
comfort of another. Hast thou never heard the saw that saith 'None to
guide and from the way go wide'? Thou wendest forth at the call to dawn
prayer and thou returnest not till sundown, and through the livelong day
thou endurest all manner hardships: to wit, beating and belaboring and bad
language.
"Now hearken to me, Sir Bull! When they tie thee to thy stinking
manger, thou pawest the ground with thy forehand and lashest out with thy
hind hoofs and pushest with thy horns and bellowest aloud, so they deem
thee contented. And when they throw thee thy fodder, thou fallest on it
with greed and hastenest to line thy fair fat paunch. But if thou accept
any advice, it will be better for thee, and thou wilt lead an easier life
even than mine. When thou goest afield and they lay the thing called yoke
on thy neck, be down and rise not again, though haply they swings thee.
And if thou rise, lie down a second time. And when they bring thee home
and offer thee thy beans, fall backward and only sniff at thy meat and
withdraw thee and taste it not, and be satisfied with thy crushed straw
and chaff. And on this wise feign thou art sick, and cease not doing thus
for a day or two days or even three days; so shalt thou have rest from
toil and moil."
When the Bull heard these words, he knew the ass to be his friend and
thanked him, saying, "Right is thy rede," and prayed that all
blessings might requite him, and cried: "O Father Wakener! Thou hast
made up for my failings." (Now the merchant, O my daughter,
understood all that passed between them.) Next day the driver took the
bull and, settling the plow on his neck, made him work as wont. But the
bull began to shirk his plowing, according to the advice of the ass, and
the plowman drubbed him till he broke the yoke and made off. But the man
caught him up and leathered him till he despaired of his life. Not the
less, however, would he do nothing but stand still and drop down till the
evening. Then the herd led him home and stabled him in his stall, but he
drew back from his manger and neither stamped nor ramped nor butted nor
bellowed as he was wont to do, whereat the man wondered. He brought him
the beans and husks, but he sniffed at them and left them and lay down as
far from them as he could and passed the whole night fasting. The peasant
came next morning and, seeing the manger full of beans, the crushed straw
untasted, and the ox lying on his back in sorriest plight, with legs
outstretched and swollen belly, he was concerned for him, and said to
himself, "By Allah, he hath assuredly sickened, and this is the cause
why he would not plow yesterday."
Then he went to the merchant and reported: "O my master, the bull is
ailing. He refused his fodder last night- nay, more, he hath not tasted a
scrap of it this morning." Now the merchant-farmer understood what
all this meant, because he had overheard the talk between the bull and the
ass, so quoth he, "Take that rascal donkey, and set the yoke on his
neck, and bind him to the plow and make him do bull's work."
Thereupon the plowman took the ass, and worked him through the livelong
day at the bull's task. And when be failed for weakness, he made him eat
stick till his ribs were sore and his sides were sunken and his neck was
rayed by the yoke. And when he came home in the evening he could hardly
drag his limbs along, either forehand or hind legs. But as for the bull,
he had passed the day lying at full length, and had eaten his fodder with
an excellent appetite, and he ceased not calling down blessings on the ass
for his good advice, unknowing what had come to him on his account.
So when night set in and the ass returned to the byre, the bull rose up
before him in honor, and said: "May good tidings gladden thy heart, O
Father Wakener! Through thee I have rested all this day, and I have eaten
my meat in peace and quiet." But the ass returned no reply, for wrath
and heartburning and fatigue and the beating he had gotten. And he
repented with the most grievous of repentance, and quoth he to himself:
"This cometh of my folly in giving good counsel. As the saw saith, I
was in joy and gladness, naught save my officiousness brought me this
sadness. And now I must take thought and put a trick upon him and return
him to his place, else I die." Then he went aweary to his manger
while the bull thanked him and blessed him.
And even so, O my daughter (said the Wazir) thou wilt die for lack of
wits. Therefore sit thee still and say naught and expose not thy life to
such stress, for, by Allah, I offer thee the best advice, which cometh of
my affection and kindly solicitude for thee. "O my father," she
answered, "needs must I go up to this King and be married to
him." Quoth he, "Do not this deed," and quoth she, "Of
a truth I will." Whereat he rejoined, "If thou be not silent and
bide still, I will do with thee even what the merchant did with his
wife." "And what did be?" asked she.
Know then (answered the Wazir) that after the return of the ass the
merchant came out on the terrace roof with his wife and family, for it was
a moonlit night and the moon at its full. Now the terrace overlooked the
cow house, and presently as he sat there with his children playing about
him, the trader heard the ass say to the bull, "Tell me, O Father
Broad-o'-Brow, what thou purposest to do tomorrow." The bull
answered: "What but continue to follow thy counsel, O Aliboron?
Indeed it was as good as good could be, and it hath given me rest and
repose, nor will I now depart from it one tittle. So when they bring me my
meat, I will refuse it and blow out my belly and counterfeit crank."
The ass shook his head and said, "Beware of so doing, O Father of a
Bull!" The buff asked, "Why?" and the ass answered,
"Know that I am about to give thee the best of counsel, for verily I
heard our owner say to the herd, 'If the bull rise not from his place to
do his work this morning and if he retire from his fodder this day, make
him over to the butcher that he may slaughter him and give his flesh to
the poor, and fashion a bit of leather from his hide.' Now I fear for thee
on account of this. So take my advice ere a calamity befall thee, and when
they bring thee thy fodder, eat it and rise up and bellow and paw the
ground, or our master will assuredly slay thee. And peace be with
thee!"
Thereupon the bull arose and lowed aloud and thanked the ass, and said,
"Tomorrow I will readily go forth with them." And he at once ate
up all his meat and even licked the manger. (All this took place and the
owner was listening to their talk.) Next morning the trader and his wife
went to the bull's crib and sat down, and the driver came and led forth
the bull, who, seeing his owner, whisked his tail and brake wind, and
frisked about so lustily that the merchant laughed a loud laugh and kept
laughing till he fell on his back. His wife asked him, "Whereat
laughest thou with such loud laughter as this?" and he answered her,
"I laughed at a secret something which I have heard and seen but
cannot say lest I die my death." She returned, "Perforce thou
must discover it to me, and disclose the cause of thy laughing even if
thou come by thy death!" But he rejoined, "I cannot reveal what
beasts and birds say in their lingo for fear I die." Then quoth she:
"By Allah, thou liest! This is a mere pretext. Thou laughest at none
save me, and now thou wouldest hide somewhat from me. But by the Lord of
the Heaven, an thou disclose not the cause I will no longer cohabit with
thee, I will leave thee at once." And she sat down and cried.
Whereupon quoth the merchant: "Woe betide thee! What means thy
weeping? Fear Allah, and leave these words and query me no more
questions." "Needs must thou tell me the cause of that
laugh," said she, and he replied: "Thou wettest that when I
prayed Allah to vouchsafe me understanding of the tongues of beasts and
birds, I made a vow never to disclose the secret to any under pain of
dying on the spot." "No matter!" cried she. "Tell me
what secret passed between the bull and the ass and die this very hour an
thou be so minded." And she ceased not to importune him till he was
worn-out and clean distraught. So at last he said, "Summon thy father
and thy mother and our kith and kin and sundry of our neighbors."
Which she did, and he sent for the kazi and his assessors, intending to
make his will and reveal to her his secret and die the death; for he loved
her with love exceeding because she was his cousin, the daughter of his
father's brother, and the mother of his children, and he had lived with
her a life of a hundred and twenty years.
Then, having assembled all the family and the folk of his neighborhood, he
said to them, "By me there hangeth a strange story, and 'tis such
that if I discover the secret to any, I am a dead man." Therefore
quoth every one of those present to the woman, "Allah upon thee,
leave this sinful obstinacy and recognize the right of this matter, lest
haply thy husband and the father of thy children die." But she
rejoined, "I will not turn from it till he tell me, even though he
come by his death." So they ceased to urge her, and the trader rose
from amongst them and repaired to an outhouse to perform the wuzu
ablution, and he purposed thereafter to return and to tell them his secret
and to die.
Now, Daughter Scheherazade, that merchant had in his outhouses some fifty
hens under one cock, and whilst making ready to farewell his folk he heard
one of his many farm dogs thus address in his own tongue the cock, who was
flapping his wings and crowing lustily and jumping from one hen's back to
another and treading all in turn, saying: "O Chanticleer! How mean is
thy wit and how shameless is thy conduct! Be he disappointed who brought
thee up. Art thou not ashamed of thy doings on such a day as this?"
"And what," asked the rooster, "hath occurred this
day?" when the dog answered; "Dost thou not know that our master
is this day making ready for his death? His wife is resolved that he shall
disclose the secret taught to him by Allah, and the moment he so doeth he
shall surely die. We dogs are all a-mourning, but thou clappest thy wings
and clarionest thy loudest and treadest hen after hen. Is this an hour for
pastime and pleasuring? Art thou not ashamed of thyself?"
"Then by Allah," quoth the cock, "is our master a lackwit
and a man scanty of sense. If he cannot manage matters with a single wife,
his life is not worth prolonging. Now I have some fifty dame partlets, and
I please this and provoke that and starve one and stuff another, and
through my good governance they are all well under my control. This our
master pretendeth to wit and wisdom, and she hath but one wife and yet
knoweth not how to manage her." Asked the dog, "What then, O
Cock, should the master do to will clear of his strait?" "He
should arise forthright," answered the cock, "and take some
twigs from yon mulberry tree and give her a regular back-basting and
ribroasting till she cry: 'I repent, O my lord! I will never ask thee a
question as Ion, as I live!' Then let him beat her once more and soundly,
and when he shall have done this, he shall sleep free from care and enjoy
life. But this master of ours owns neither sense nor judgment."
"Now, Daughter Scheherazade," continued the Wazir, "I will
do to thee as did that husband to that wife." Said Scheherazade,
"And what did he do?" He replied, "When the merchant heard
the wise words spoken by his cock to his dog, he arose in haste and sought
his wife's chamber, after cutting for her some mulberry twigs and hiding
them there. And then he called to her, "Come into the closet, that I
may tell thee the secret while no one seeth me, and then die." She
entered with him and he locked the door and came down upon her with so
sound a beating of back and shoulders, ribs, arms, and legs, saying the
while "Wilt thou ever be asking questions about what concerneth thee
not?" that she was well-nigh senseless. Presently she cried out:
"I am of the repentant! By Allah, I will ask thee no more questions,
and indeed I repent sincerely and wholesomely." Then she kissed his
hand and feet and he led her out of the room submissive, as a wife should
be. Her parents and all the company rejoiced and sadness and mourning were
changed into joy and gladness.
Thus the merchant learnt family discipline from his cock and he and his
wife lived together the happiest of lives until death. And thou also, O my
daughter! continued the Wazir, unless thou turn from this matter I will do
by thee what that trader did to his wife. But she answered him with much
decision: "I will never desist, O my father, nor shall this tale
change my purpose. Leave such talk and tattle. I will not listen to thy
words and if thou deny me, I will marry myself to him despite the nose of
thee. And first I will go up to the King myself and alone and I will say
to him: 'I prayed my father to wive me with thee, but he refused, being
resolved to disappoint his lord, grudging the like of me to the like of
thee'." Her father asked, "Must this needs be?" and she
answered, "Even so."
Hereupon the Wazir, being weary of lamenting and contending, persuading
and dissuading her, all to no purpose, went up to King Shahryar and, after
blessing him and kissing the ground before him, told him all about his
dispute with his daughter from first to last and how he designed to bring
her to him that night. The King wondered with exceeding wonder, for he had
made an especial exception of the Wazir's daughter, and said to him:
"O most faithful of counsellors, how is this? Thou wettest that I
have sworn by the Raiser of the Heavens that after I have gone into her
this night I shall say to thee on the morrow's 'Take her and slay her!'
And if thou slay her not, I will slay thee in her stead without
fail." "Allah guide thee to glory and lengthen thy life, O King
of the Age," answered the Wazir. "It is she that hath so
determined. All this have I told her and more, but she will not hearken to
me and she persisteth in passing this coming night with the King's
Majesty." So Shahryar rejoiced greatly and said, "'Tis well. Go
get her ready, and this night bring her to me." The Wazir returned to
his daughter and reported to her the command, saying, "Allah make not
thy father desolate by thy loss!"
But Scheherazade rejoiced with exceeding joy and get ready all she
required and said to her younger sister, Dunyazade: "Note well what
directions I entrust to thee! When I have gone into the King I will send
for thee, and when thou comest to me and seest that he hath had his carnal
will of me, do thou say to me: 'O my sister, an thou be not sleepy, relate
to me some new story, delectable and delightsome, the better to speed our
waking hours.' And I will tell thee a tale which shall be our deliverance,
if so Allah please, and which shall turn the King from his bloodthirsty
custom." Dunyazade answered "With love and gladness."
So when it was night, their father the Wazir carried Scheherazade to the
King, who was gladdened at the sight and asked, "Hast thou brought me
my need?" And he answered, "I have." But when the King took
her to his bed and fell to toying with her and wished to go in to her, she
wept, which made him ask, "What aileth thee?" She replied,
"O King of the Age, I have a younger sister, and lief would I take
leave of her this night before I see the dawn." So he sent at once
for Dunyazade and she came and kissed the ground between his hands, when
he permitted her to take her seat near the foot of the couch. Then the
King arose and did away with his bride's maidenhead and the three fell
asleep.
But when it was midnight Scheherazade awoke and signaled to her sister
Dunyazade, who sat up and said, "Allah upon thee, O my sister, recite
to us some new story, delightsome and delectable, wherewith to while away
the waking hours of our latter night." "With joy and goodly gree,"
answered Scheherazade, "if this pious and auspicious King permit
me." "Tell on," quoth the King, who chanced to be sleepless
and restless and therefore was pleased with the prospect of hearing her
story. So Scheherazade rejoiced, and thus, on the first night of the
Thousand Nights and a Night, she began
her recitations.
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