THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHT (CONCLUDING PART) !
VERY INTERESTING CONCLUSION OF THE BOOK ARABIAN NIGHT; THE FOURTH NIGHT:_It is related, O happy King, that the first old man with the deer approached the demon and kissing his hands and feet, said," Fiend amd King of the demon Kings, if i tell you what happened to me and that deer, and you find it strange and amazing, indeed stranger and more amazing than what happened to you and the merchant, will you grant me a third of your claim on him for his crime and guilt?"The Demon replied, " I will."
The Old man said,", this deer is my cousin, my flesh and blood. I married her when I was very young , and she a girl of twelve, who reached womanhood only afterwards. For thirty years we lived together but I was not blessed with children, for she bore neither boy nor girl. Yet I continued to be kind to her, to care for her, and to treat her generously. Then I took a mistress and she bore me a son, who grew up to look like a slice of moon (beautiful). Meanwhile, my wife grew jelous of my mistress and my son. One day, when he was ten, I had to go on a journey. I entrusted b my wife, this one here, with my mistress and son, bade her take good care of them and was gone for a whole year.In my absence my wife, this cousin of mine, learned soothsaying and magic and caste a spell on my son and turned him into a young bull. Then she summoned my shepherded and gave my son to him and said, " tend this bull with rest of the cattle. The shepherd took him and tended him for for a while. Then she cast a spell on the mother, turning her into a cow and gave her also to shepherd.....
When I came back, after all this was done, and inquired about my mistress and my son, she answered, " Your mistress died and your son ran away two months ago, and i have had no news from him ever since." When I heard her, I grueved fior my mistress and with an anguished heart I mourned fir my son for nearly a year. When the Great Feast of the Immolation (feast of sacrifice which marks the end of the pilgrimage to Mecca and commemorates the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice, his son at God's command to celebrate it, sheep and cattle are slaughtered and offered to God) drew near, I summoned the shepherd and ordered him to bring me a fat cow for the sacrifice. The Cow he brought me was in reality my enchanted mistress. When I bound her and pressed against her to cut her throat, she wept and cried as if saying, " My son, My son," and her tears coursed down her cheeks. Astonished and seized with pity, I turned away and asked the shepherd to bring me a different cow. But my wife shouted, " Go on Butcher her fir he has none better and fatter. Let us enjoy her meat and feast time." I approached to cut her throat, and again she cried, as if saying, "My son , My son". Then I turned away from her and said to the shepherd, " Butcher her for me". The shepherd butchered her and when he skinned her, he found neither meat nor fat only skin and bone. I regretted having her butchered and said to the shepherd, " Take her for yourself or give her as alms to whomever you wish and find me a fat young bull from among the flock." The shepherd took her away and disappeared and I never knew what he did with her....
Then he brought me my son, my heart blood, in the guise of a fat young bull. When my son son saw me he shook his head loose from the rope, ran toward me and throwing himself at my feet, kept rubbing his head against me, I was astonished and touched with sympathy, pity and mercy, for the blood hearkened to the blood and the divine bound, and my heart throbbed within me when I saw tears coursing over the cheeks of my son the young bull, as he dug the earth with his hoofs, I turned away and said to the sheepherder" Let him go with the rest of the flock, and be kind to him." My wife, this deer shouted, " You shall sacrifice none but this bull.". I got angry and replied, " I listened to you and butchered the cow uselessly. I will not listen to you and kill this bull, for I have decided to to spare him.". But she pressed me, saying, "You must must butcher this bull" and I bound him and took the knife......."
BUT dawn broke, and morning overtook Shahrazad and she lapsed into silence, leaving the king all curiosity for the rest if the story. Then her sister Dinarzad said, " what an entertaining story!" Sharazad repklied, " Tomorrow night I shall tell you some thing even stanger, more winderful and more entertaining o if the king spares me and let me live."........................
- Concluded: Reference:---THE NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF WORLD RELIGIONS.