The high rank and honour which the King had bestowed upon me had but half expressed his heart towards me. I was yet to learn that he had a further favour in store. One day, while I was sitting at his right hand discussing affairs of state, he said to me, “O my son, seeing thou hast now become as one of us and we cannot part with thee, I desire that thou give ear to a matter which I have planned and which will bind thee more closely to us.” And I answered him, “For thy great kindness to me, O King, I am now and henceforth thy faithful servant. What dost thou desire me to do?” And he looked at me intently and said, “I would marry thee to a woman of high rank among us—one possessed of great beauty and wealth—so that thou mayest continue to dwell with us in pleasure and comfort and with a good heart. Thus shalt thou advantage greatly and receive every good thing at my hands; wherefore, refuse me not, nor oppose my wish.”
I remained silent, for I was overwhelmed by his proposal and the stress of bashfulness it brought to my face. Seeing this, he rallied me and said, “Art thou dumb? Is not thy heart with us?” Then of a sudden I replied, “O King! Thy words took away my breath. As thou commandest, so I obey.”
Pleased at my compliance the King immediately ordered his officials to bring the lady and the witnesses, and forthwith I was married to her with the King’s blessing and the acclamation of all his Court. She was of surpassing loveliness, and she brought me a dowry of abundant wealth and possessions. And to this the King added a magnificent house with servants and slaves, and assigned me a handsome salary. And I lived in ease and comfort, our days being full of delights. Gone was all thought of the perils and hardships I had endured, and gone was the fear of adversities in store. But there is no strength nor power but in God, and He orders the fates of men as He will. On an evil day a great fear suddenly came to me by reason of a thing which I will make known to you.
A companion of mine suffered a bereavement in that his wife died; whereupon I went to him, and mourned with him, saying, “Take heart, O brother; God will fill her place to thee with one far better.” But he continued to weep, saying, “Alas! How can I marry another when this very day I depart this life?” “Nay,” said I, “that is not within reason, for thou art in good health and not like to die.” He then raised his head and dried his tears, and said to me very slowly, “Hear me, O my brother! Knowest thou not that, to-day, they will bury my wife, and that they will bury me also in the same tomb with her? For such is our custom. When husband or wife is buried the other must be buried also, so that neither may continue to enjoy life alone.”
“By Allah!” said I, smiting palm on palm, “this custom is wholly vile, and it toucheth me closely.” Then, as we continued to discuss this matter, there came others who condoled with my companion, grieving not only for the loss of his wife, but also that they should never see him more. And, later in the day, came yet others bearing a bier; and on this they laid the woman and carried her forth prepared for burial with all her jewels and raiment and wealth. And the husband went with them.
Through sympathy with my companion, and to bid him a last farewell, I followed this funeral procession till it halted in a distant spot on the sea-shore. There a great stone was lifted and a vault exposed. Into this they threw the body of the woman, and then, by means of a stout cord, they lowered the husband gently till he rested by her side. A pitcher of water and seven cakes were then let down to him, and, when he had freed himself from the cord, they drew it up and closed the sepulchre and went their ways.
“By Allah!” said I within myself as I smote myself on my breast, “this manner of death is the worst of all!” And on my return I went in to the King with grief and fear gnawing at my heart. “O King!” I said, “Tell me why is this: that ye bury the living with the dead?” Said he, “O my son, it is the custom of our country and has descended to us from our ancestors: husband and wife are one, in death as in life.” And I answered him with a question that concerned me nearly. “O my lord,” I said, “and the stranger that sojourneth with thee: if his wife die, do ye treat him in like manner?” “Yea,” he replied, “in like manner, even as thou hast seen.” Then I departed from him in grief and mourning lest I should perchance be bereft of my wife. In vain did I say to myself, “Be comforted! Maybe thou wilt die before her—none knoweth.” In vain did I give myself up to my manifold occupations. The fear was not to be dispelled.
And, within a short time, what I had feared came to pass. My wife was stricken with a fever, and, when I had reason to hope she would recover, she suddenly relapsed and died. My grief at this was overwhelming, but, as if to add to it, there came many to condole with me on her death and to mingle their tears with mine for that I should soon be departing this life. The King himself came and commiserated with me on my most unhappy fate. And he said, “There is no strength nor power in any but God. Farewell, O my son!”
And they prepared my wife for burial, arraying her in her richest garments and her finest jewels. But, when they carried her to the burial place and cast her down into the pit, and all my companions pressed upon me to bid me farewell, my gorge rose and I cried out upon them that their custom was vile. Loudly I spoke my bitter mind on the abominable nature of this thing; they would not listen, but took me by force and lowered me into the pit, together with the seven cakes and the pitcher of water. And when I had reached the floor of a vast cavern they called down to me: “Untie the ropes that we may draw them up!” I answered, “Draw me up with them!” “Nay, nay;” they replied, “we do but follow our custom.” “To the ravens with you and your custom!” I retorted, for I had no stomach for this proceeding. Then, as I steadily refused to loose the ropes, they at last threw them down upon me, and, having closed the mouth of the pit, went their way.
Now was I in worse plight than I had ever been. On that cavern floor there were the bodies and bleached bones of those that had died a natural death cheek by jowl with those who had perished in the fulfilment of this abominable custom. And I said to myself, “Better to remain single and live, than to marry and be buried alive.”
Nevertheless, knowing not night from day, I kept myself from death by eating sparingly of the cakes and drinking some of the water, for I was in no mood to die in so vile a manner after having come through great perils by mountain and sea. At length, when I had eaten all the cakes and drunk all the water, and hunger and thirst began to cry out within me, I arose and wandered to and fro in the cavern, stumbling and falling over dead bodies and biting the dust of bones that had crumbled long since. By dint of much groping in the dark I at length found the wall of the cavern, and, selecting therein a cavity free from bones and corpses, I stretched myself and slept.
I was awakened later as if by hunger and thirst knocking at the door; and, while I sat in gloom thinking of the plenty in Baghdad—fool that I was to leave it!—I heard a sudden noise. Looking forth from my cavity, I saw that the stone had been removed from the opening of the cavern and a dead body was being lowered. It was the body of a man, and after him was let down the living body of his wife. She was weeping and wailing for him and for herself. Then the mouth of the cavern was closed again and all was dark and silent save for the wailing of the woman echoing through the cavern. “Alas!” she cried, “that I should die this lingering death! Had I the means to end my life, then would I do it. Would that there were one here to slay me!”
When I heard this I remembered that I had never been able to resist the pleadings of a woman. So I arose, and, taking a stout leg-bone in my hand, I slew her according to her desire. And I took her seven cakes and the pitcher of water, which she would no longer need, and, retiring to my cavity, I ate and drank. This thing occurred many times during my sojourn in that cavern, for a number of married men and women chanced to die. And, though they did not always cry out for me to slay them, I knew their prayer before-hand and answered it speedily. Thus the cakes and the water bequeathed to me stayed my spirit and I continued to live.
Time passed slowly, but yet it passed. I had no other means of measuring it except to call an hour a day and a day a year. And I was weary to death of it all when an unwonted thing occurred. I was awakened suddenly from sleep by a noise at the far end of the cavern. Then I heard footsteps as of some beast. I arose, and,