4 The First Dervish’s Tale

CHAPTER 4 The First Dervish's Tale Then the first dervish came forward and said: My lady, the cause of my eye being lost and my beard being shaved off is this: My father was a king, and he had a brother who was also a king and had a son and a daughter. As the years went by, I used to visit my uncle every now and then.

Between my uncle's son and myself, there grew a great friendship. One day, I visited my cousin, and he treated me with unusual kindness. He prepared a great feast, and after we ate and drank our fill, he said, "Cousin I would like to show you something, but you must keep it a secret." I replied, "With the greatest pleasure." After he had me take an oath, he said, "Come with me." I followed him to a graveyard, where we came before a great tomb. My cousin broke open the wall of the tomb, setting the stones to the side, and I followed him inside. He showed me an iron plate the size of a small door. He raised the plate and revealed a winding staircase. Then he said to me, "Cousin, there is one last favor I have to ask you. After I go down into this place, set the iron plate back over me." After I followed his instructions, I left and spent the rest of the night at my uncle's house. When I woke up the next morning and

remembered the events of the night before, I thought it was all a dream. I asked about my cousin, but no one could tell me anything. Then I went to the graveyard and looked for the tomb, but it had disappeared. I spent a restless night back at my uncle's house and almost went insane with worry, but I had given my word not to say anything about what I had seen. Finally, I decided to go back to my father's city. As soon as I arrived within the city gates, I was grabbed, beaten, and chained. My father's vizier had plotted against him and taken control of the city. His men carried me before the vizier, who was a great enemy of mine. He burned my eye to punish me, and then ordered one my father's swordsman to take me out into the woods and kill me. The man followed the vizier's orders. He tied me to the back of a horse and led me out into the wilderness. Finally, he went to kill me, and I started weeping bitterly over what had happened. He began weep to with

me. The swordsman felt pity for me and set me free, saying, "Run for your life and never return to this land, for they will kill you and kill me with you." Hardly believing my luck, I kissed his hand, and thought that losing my eye was better than losing my life. I traveled back to my uncle's city and told him about my father's betrayal. He said to me, "I, too, have great sadness. My son is missing and I do not know what has happened to him." Then he wept. I was unable to remain silent and told him the whole story of what I had seen and done. I saw the king's sorrow turn to rage, which surprised me greatly. But morning drew near Scheherazade, and she fell silent. Dinarzad said to her sister, "Sister, what an amazing story!" Scheherazade replied, "This is nothing compared with what I will tell you tomorrow, if I live."

THE FIFTEENTH NIGHT The following night, when Scheherazade was in bed, her sister Dinarzad said, "Please, sister, tell us more of this amazing tale." The king added, "Let it be the rest of the first dervish's tale." Scheherazade replied, "Very well!" I heard, O happy King, that the first dervish said to the woman: My lady, when I saw that look on my uncle's face, I felt terrible, and I said, "For God's sake, Uncle, don't make me feel worse. I feel sorry enough for what has happened to your son." He replied, "Nephew, know that this son of mine was madly in love with a demon, and I often forbade him from seeing her, but he did not

listen to me and now I see how he planned everything behind my back. He built a secret dwelling under the tomb you speak of and went to meet his demon lover there. Now I have lost him." Then we both wept. He looked at me and said, "You are my son in his place." But there was hardly time for weeping before we heard the banging of drums, the sounds of trumpets, and the screaming of men giving orders for battle. We asked what was happening and were told that the vizier who had disposed of my father was now attacking the city with such mighty force, no one could resist him. It was a terrible battle that followed, and I just managed to escape. I knew that if I fell into the vizier's hands, he would kill both me and my father's swordsman, who had saved my life. My sorrows were greater than ever. I could think of no way to escape but by shaving my beard and eyebrows to change how I