The Arabian Nights Entertainments - Volume 01 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 770 pages of information about The Arabian Nights Entertainments.

The Arabian Nights Entertainments - Volume 01 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 770 pages of information about The Arabian Nights Entertainments.
the genius, if thou goest out from hence, or speakest a word till the sun rises, I will crush thy head to pieces; but then I give thee leave to go from hence:  I warn thee to hasten, and not to look back; but if thou hast the impudence to return, it shall cost thee thy life.  When the genius had done speaking, he transformed himself into the shape of a man, took Hump-back by the legs, and after having set him against the wall, with his head downwards, If thou stir, said he, before the sun rises, as I have told thee already, I will take thee by the heels again, and dash thy head in a thousand pieces against the wall.

To return to Bedreddin:  Being prompted by the genius and the presence of the fairy, he got into the hall again, from whence he slipped into the bride-chamber, where he sat down expecting the success of his adventure.  After a while the bride arrived, conducted by an old matron, who came no further than the door, exhorting the bridegroom to do his duty like a man, without looking to see if it was Hump-back or another; she then locked the door, and retired.  The young bride was mightily surprised, instead of Hump-back to find Bedreddin Hassan, who came up to her with the best grace in the world.  What! my dear friend, said she, by your being here at this time of night, you must be my husband’s comrade?  No, madam, said Bedreddin, I am of another sort of quality than that ugly hump-back.  But, said she, you do not consider that you speak degradingly of my husband.  He your husband, madam? replied he; can you retain these thoughts so long?  Be convinced of your mistake, madam, for so much beauty must never be sacrificed to the most contemptible of mankind:  It is I, madam, that am the happy mortal for whom it is reserved.  The sultan had a mind to make himself merry by putting this trick upon the vizier your father, but he chose me to be your real husband.  You might have observed how the ladies, the musicians, the dancers, your women, and all the servants of your family, were pleased with this comedy.  I have sent that hump-back fellow to his stable again, where he is just now eating a dish of cream; and you may rest assured that he will never appear any more before you.

At this discourse, the vizier’s daughter, who was more like one dead than alive when she came into the bride-chamber, put on a gay air, which made her so handsome that Bedreddin was perfectly charmed with her.  I did not expect, said she, to meet with so pleasing a surprise, and had condemned myself to live unhappy all my days; but my good fortune is so much the greater, as I possess in you a man that is worthy of my tenderest affection.  Having spoken thus, she undressed herself, and stepped into bed.  Bedreddin, overjoyed to see himself possessor of so many charms, made haste to follow her, and laid his clothes upon a chair, with a bag that he got from the Jew, which, notwithstanding all the money he pulled out, was still full.  He likewise threw off his

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The Arabian Nights Entertainments - Volume 01 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.