THE STORY OF THE PORTER WITH THE YOUNG LADIES
Harun al-Rashid
Source
The caliph Harun al-Rashid asks the eldest of the three young ladies, whose name is Zobeida, to tell her story.
So she explains all the troubles she had with her two other sisters who now are the two bitches.
ON THE TWENTY-SECOND NIGHT
Sheherazade said:
The young lady said to them all:
“I forgive you all, one and all. But go as soon as possible! »
And all of them went out and came to the street. Then the caliph Harun all-Rashid said to the saâlouks: “Comrades, where are you going?" They replied: "We don't know where we should go." And the caliph said to them: "Come and spend the night with us." And he said to Ja'far: "Take them home and bring them to me tomorrow, and we'll see what's to be done." And Ja'far did not fail to carry out the orders of the caliph.
So the caliph went up to his palace, and he could taste no sleep that night. Then in the morning he awoke and sat down on the throne of the kingdom, and brought in all the chiefs of his empire. Then, after all the chiefs of the empire had left, he turned to Ja'far and said to him: “Bring me here the three young ladies and the two bitches and the three saâlouks. And Ja'far immediately departed and brought them all into the hands of the caliph, and the maidens covered themselves with their veils and stood before the caliph. Then Ja'far said to them: “We hold you quits, because, without knowing us, you have forgiven us and you have done us good. And now you are in the hands of the fifth of the descendants of Abbas, the caliph Harun Al-Rashid! So you must only tell him the truth."
When the young ladies heard the words of Ja'far, who was speaking for the Prince of the Believers, the eldest came forward and said: "O Prince of the Believers, the story that is mine is so amazing that, if it were written, it would be a lesson to anyone who read it with respect!"
THE STORY OF ZOBEIDA
“O Prince of the Faithful, know that my name is Zobeida; my sister who opened the door to you is called Amina; and my youngest sister is called Fahima. We are all three born from the same father, but not from the same mother. As for these two bitches, they are my own sisters, from the same father and the same mother.
When our father died, he left us five thousand dinars which were divided equally between us; then my sister Amina and my sister Fahima left us to live in their mother's house; and I and my two other sisters stayed together, and I am the youngest of us three; but I am older than my sisters from the other mother, Amina and Fahima.
Shortly after our father's death, my two older sisters prepared for marriage and each married a man and continued to stay with me for some time, together in the same house. But soon their husbands prepared for a trading trip, took their wives' thousand dinars to buy goods, took their wives and all left together, and left me all alone.
They were absent like this for four years. During this time, the husbands of my sisters ruined themselves and lost all their goods, and went away leaving their wives to themselves in the middle of the land of foreigners. And my sisters endured all the miseries and ended up arriving at my house in the guise of poor beggars. At the sight of these two beggars, I was far from recognizing in them my sisters, and I moved away from them. But then they spoke to me and I recognized them and I said to them: “How is it, O my sisters, that you are in this state?" They answered me: “O our sister, now words can no longer avail, for the reed pen has run on what Allah had commanded!” At these words, my heart was full of pity for them, and I sent them to the hammam, and I dressed each of them in a beautiful new dress, and I said to them: “O my sisters, you are the two big ones and I am the little one! And I consider you as taking the place of father and mother! Moreover, the inheritance that has come to me and to you has been blessed by Allah and has increased considerably. You will eat the fruit of it with me, and our life will be respectable and honorable, and we will henceforth be together!"
And indeed I showered them with blessings, and they dwelt with me the length of a full year, and my good was their good. But, one day, they said to me: “In truth, marriage is better for us; we can no longer do without it, and our patience, thus alone, is exhausted." So I said to them: "O my sisters, you will find nothing good in marriage, for the truly honest and good man is a very rare thing these days! And haven't you ever tried marriage? And do you forget what you found there?"
But They did not listen to my words, and wanted, all the same, to marry without my consent. So I married them with my own money and made them the necessary trousseau. Then they left with their husbands.
But they had hardly been gone some time, when their husbands tricked them, took all that I had given them, and left them. So they came back to me, all naked. And they made many excuses to me and said to me: “Do not blame us, O sister! You are, it is true, the smallest in age among us, but the most perfect in reason. We promise you, by the way, never to say the word marriage again." So I said to them: “May your welcome in my home be hospitable to you, O my sisters! I have no one dearer than you two! And I embraced them, and I showered them with still more generosity."
We remained in this state for a whole year, after which I thought of loading a ship with goods and leaving to trade in Basra. And, indeed, I prepared a ship, and I loaded it with goods and purchases and all that could be necessary for me during the voyage of the ship, and I said to my sisters: "O my sisters, would you remain in my house during all the time that my journey lasts until my return, or would you prefer to leave with me?" And they answered me: "We will leave with you because we will never be able to bear your absence!" So I took them with me and we left.
But, before my departure, I had taken care to divide my money into two parts: I took half of it with me, and I hid the second half, saying to myself: "It is possible that something bad will happen to the ship. and that we may live. In that case, when we return, if we ever return, we will find something useful there."
We kept traveling day and night; but, unfortunately, the captain lost his way...
At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.
First Night - Second Night - Third Night - Fourth Night - Fifth Night - Sixth Night - Seventh Night
Eighth Night - Ninth Night - Tenth Night - Eleventh Night - Twelfth Night - Thirteenth Night
Fourteenth Night - Fifteen Night - Sixteenth Night - Seventeenth Night - Eighteenth Night
Nineteenth Night - Twentieth Night - Twenty-first Night
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Wow! Zoebeida must be a very good kind-hearted person. Despite the The fact that her two elder sisters failed to learn from their mistakes, she welcomed them with open arms.
Their foolish acts were all to the detriment of zoebida because she was the one they'd always run to in times of trouble. She was the youngest, yet, the wittiest of them all.
Stashing about half of her savings away before her voyage was one of the wiset thing she could do. That's a sign that someone is thinking!
In reality, it's somewhat difficult to find someone of zoebida's nature. Someone who is loving and accomodating. Most people would have told the sisters to find their path and not bring problems upon them.
Well, I do look forward to seeing what happens after the ship loses its way. Nice💯✨
I remember when the caliph and Jafar arrived at the three ladies doorstep and agreed to the "no questions asked" condition, I had doubts that the caliph would be able to hold his peace. After reading the beginning of this chapter, I was right! The caliph used his status to bring the ladies to him and this way, they would be forced to say the truth.
I've been curious about the two black dogs and now everything makes sense.
Such words of wisdom from Zobeida, the youngest! This just affirms my belief that wisdom and maturity has nothing to do with age. The oldest can behave like a child while the youngest can display mature attitude and take responsibility.
The two older sisters were irresponsible and squandered their wealth and help they received from Zobeida. I wonder why they were desperate on the issue of marriage. A good man/woman is very rare these days. After failing once, smart women would have made the best of the lives with their sister rather than step into marriage again. This mean their choice of husband were wrong.
Zobeida displays her smartness in trading with her inheritance and also leaving half of it behind. I guess that sea journey would be an adventure where the two older sisters would display their wickedness and ingratitude, hence the bewitchment. I'm looking forward to the next chapter. Thanks for these translations.
Foresight is the true courage and the little sister seems to have the gift and mind to consider that. Being precautious is a gift and one should be guided by this in his or her life. There is also a Romanian idiom on this that sounds like this.
"Thinking of his earthly life,
A cautious thought bends him.
Accept an equestrian statue,
But with an umbrella the rain don't touch him!"
The sister's nobility is unsurpassable, the mere fact of giving a home to her sisters after everything that happened, besides the fact that they remarried without her consent, and she receives them again, that speaks very well of her, but above all of the feelings she has, for that reason and for her intelligence in business is that she did very well, she was even cautious in keeping and hiding the other half of her money, only thinking about what could happen.
I will be very attentive to the next installment.
I never had the opportunity to read the full stories that Scheherazade told to entertain the sultan. They are full of good values, customs and a lot of brotherly love. I love them, I'm glad the teacher @lanzjoseg made me turn my gaze to read you
Nunca tuve la oportunidad de leer completas las historias que contaba Sherezade para entretener al sultan. Están llenas de buenos valores, costumbres y mucho amor de hermanos. Me encantan me alegro que el profe me hizo voltear la mirada a leerte.
Now it is the sisters who are going to tell their story. Zobeida begins, explaining that in reality there are not 3 sisters but 5, the bitches she beat are her older sisters.
They are taken in the presence of The caliph Harun all-Rashid so that they can tell their story and clear up those who were their guests the night before.
We will see in the next chapter where the journey will take Zobeida and her older sisters.
Hmmm... Only posted twenty minutes ago and already has multiple parts.
I looked at that wrong. I need to go back to the first. 😁😁
I too was surprised at the Saâlouks leaving because I know they just entered the town and has no place to go but I thought as much and concluded that Wanderers always have a way of sorting out their problems.... I'm still glad they were offered space.
ZOBEIDA was a very humble, caring and loving one right from onset.... Many sisters in our world today would have left their sisters in that state despite meeting them in an unexpected state.
Hehehe... She needed to spit it on their face to probably correct their brains and take them back to when they were in marriage and how it ended.. I guess Zobeida was just trying to avoid a second occurrence.
Wow.. this is really the practical way to life.
She expected the worst and made plans for it... If it all ends up well, fine but if it doesn't and they happen to live, it won't be them starting from the scratch since she already made counter plans.
This is a great thing to do