Richard F. Burton - Arabian Nights, Vol. 6 (Chap. 3.26) lyrics

The Stolen Purse. Four merchants once owned in common a thousand gold pieces; so they laid them mingled together in one purse and set out to buy merchandise therewith. They happened as they wended their way on a beautiful garden; so they left the purse with a woman who had care of the garden, saying to here, "Mind thee, thou shalt not give it back save when all four of us in person demand it of thee." She agreed to this and they entered and strolled awhile about the garden-walks and ate and drank and made merry, after which one of them said to the others, "I have with me scented fuller's-earth; come, let us wash our heads therewith in this running water." Quoth another, "We lack a comb;" and a third, "Let us ask the keeper; belike she hath a comb." Thereupon one of them arose and accosting the care-taker, said to her, "Give me the purse." Said she, "Not until ye be all present or thy fellows bid me give it thee." Then he called to his companions (who could see him but not hear him) saying, "She will not give it me;" and they said to her, "Give it him," thinking he meant the comb. So she gave him the purse and he took it and made off as fast as he could. When the three others were wary of waiting, they went to the keeper and asked her, "Why wilt thou not give him the comb?" Answered she, "He demanded naught of me save the purse, and I gave not that same but with your consent, and he went his way with it." When they heard her words they buffeted their faces and, laying hands upon her, said, "We authorized thee only to give him the comb;" and she rejoined, "He named not a comb to me." Then they seized her and haled her before the Kazi, to whom they related their claim and he condemned her to make good the the purse and bound over sundry of her debtors to answer for her. —-And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say. When it was the Six Hundred and Sixth Night She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Kazi condemned the care-taker to make good the purse and bound over sundry of her debtors to answer for her. So she went forth, confounded and knowing not her way out of difficulty. Presently she met a five-year-old boy who, seeing her troubled, said to her, "What ails thee, O my mother?" But she gave him no answer, contemning him because of his tender age, and he repeated his question a second time and a third time till, at last, she told him all that had pa**ed,[ FN#254] not forgetting the condition that she was to keep the purse until all four had demanded it of her. Said the boy, "Give me a dirham to buy sweetmeats withal and I will tell the how thou mayst acquit thyself." So she gave him a silver and said to him, "What hast thou to say?" Quoth he, "Return to the Kazi, and say to him, It was agreed between myself and them that I should not give them the purse, except all four of them were present. Let them all four come and I will give them the purse, as was agreed." So she went back to the Kazi and said to him as the boy had counselled; and he asked the merchants, "Was it thus agreed between you and this woman?"; and they answered, "Yes." Quoth the Kazi, "Then bring me your comrade and take the purse." So they went in quest of their fellow, whilst the keeper came off scot-free and went her way without let or hindrance. And Allah is Omniscient![ FN#255] When the King and his Wazir and those present in the a**embly heard the Prince's words they said to his father, "O our lord the King, in very sooth thy son is the most accomplished man of his time;" and they called down blessings upon the King and the Prince. Then the King strained his son to his bosom and kissed him between the eyes and questioned him of what had pa**ed between the favourite and himself; and the Prince sware to him, by Almighty Allah and by His Holy Prophet that it was she who had required him of love which he refused, adding, "Moreover, she promised me that she would give thee poison to drink and k** the, so should the kingship be mine; whereupon I waxed wroth and signed to her, 'O accursed one, whenas I can speak I will requite thee!' So she feared me and did what she did." The King believed his words and sending for the favourite said to those present, "How shall we put this damsel to d**h?" Some counselled him to cut out her tongue and other some to burn it with fire; but, when she came before the King, she said to him, "My case with thee is like unto naught save the tale of the fox and the folk." "How so?" asked he; and she said, "I have heard, O King, tell a footnotes: [ FN#254] The text recounts the whole story over again - more than European patience can bear. [ FN#255] The usual formula when telling an improbable tale. But here it is hardly called for: the same story is told (on weak authority) of the Alewife, the Three Graziers and Attorney-General Nay (temp. James II. 1577-1634) when five years old (Journ. Asiat. Soc. N.S. xxx. 280). The same feat had been credited to Thomas Egerton, Lord Chancellor in A.D. 1540-1617 (Chalmers, Biographical Dictionary xxiii. 267-68). But the story had already found its way into the popular jest-books such as "Tales and Quick Answers, very Mery and Pleasant to Rede" (1530); "Jacke of Dover's Quest of Inquirie for the Foole of all Fooles" (1604) under the title "The Foole of Westchester", and in "Witty and Entertaining Exploits of George Buchanan, commonly called the King's Fool." The banker-bard Rogers (in Italy) was told a similar story concerning a widow of the Lambertini house (xivth centry). Thomas Wright (Introducition to the Seven Sages) says he had met the tale in Latin( xiiith-xivth centuries) and a variant in the "Nouveaux Contes à rire (Amsterdam 1737), under the title "Jugement Subtil du Duc d'Ossone contre Deux Marchands." Its origin is evidently the old Sindibád-namah translated from Syriac into Greek ("Syntipas," xith century); into Hebrew (Mishlé Sandabar, xiith century) and from the Arabian version into old Castilian, "Libro de los Engannos et los Asayamientos de las Mugeres" (A.D. 1255), whereof a translation is appended to Professor Comparetti's Socitey. The Persion metrical form (an elaboration of one much older) dates from 1375; and gave rise to a host of imitations such as the Turkish Tales of the Forty Wazirs and the Canarese "Kathá Manjari," where four persons contend about a purse. See also Gladwin's "Persian Moonshee," No. vi. of "Pleasing Stories;" and Mr. Clouston's paper, "The Lost Purse," in the Glasgow Evening Times. All are the Eastern form of Gavarni's "Enfants Terribles," showing the portentous precocity for which some children (infant phenomena, calculating boys, etc. etc.) have been famous.