....Then said she, "Know that I mean to pass this night with thee, that I may tell thee what talk I have heard and console thee with stories of many passion-distraughts whom love hath made sick." "Nay," quoth he, "Rather tell me a tale that will gladden my heart and gar my cares depart." "With joy and good will," answered she; then she took seat by his side (and that poniard under her dress) and began to say: -- Know thou that the pleasantest thing my ears ever heard was
A certain man loved fair women, and spent his substance on them, till he became so poor that nothing remained to him; the world was straitened upon him and he used to go about the market-streets begging his daily bread. Once upon a time as he went along, behold, a bit of iron nail pierced his finger and drew blood; so he sat down and, wiping away the blood, bound up his finger. Then he arose crying out, and fared forwards till he came to a Hammam and entering took off his clothes, and when he looked about him he found it clean and empty. So he sat him down by the fountain-basin, and ceased not pouring water on his head, till he was tired. ---- And Sharazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
[1], swallowed it.
Presently the fumes mounted to his brain and he rolled over on to the
marble floor. Then the Hashish made him fancy that a great lord was
shampooing him and that two slaves stood at his head, one bearing a bowl
and the other washing gear and all the requisites of the Hammam. When he
saw this, he said to himself, "Meseemeth these here be mistaken in me; or
else they are of the company of us
Hashish-eaters."[2] Then he stretched out
his legs and he imagined that the bathman said to him, "O my master, the
time of thy going up to the Palace draweth near and it is to-day thy turn
of service." At this he laughed and said to himself, "As Allah willeth, O
Hashish!" Then he sat and said nothing, whilst the bathman arose and took
him by the hand and girt his middle with a waist-cloth of black silk, after
which the two slaves followed him with the bowls and gear; and they ceased
not escorting him till they brought him into a cabinet, wherein they set
incense and perfumes a-burning. He found the place full of various kinds
of fruits and sweet-scented flowers, and they sliced him a water-melon and
seated him on a stool of ebony, whilst the bathman stood to wash him and
the slaves poured water on him; after which they rubbed him down well and
said, "O our lord, Sir Wazir, health to thee forever!" Then they went out
and shut the door on him; and in the vanity of phantasy he arose and
removed the waist-cloth from his middle, and laughed till he well nigh
fainted. He gave not over laughing for some time and at last quoth he to
himself, "What aileth them to address me as if I were a Minister and style
me Master, and Sir? Haply they are now blundering; but after an hour they
will know me and say, This fellow is a beggar; and will take their fill of
cuffing me on the neck." Presently, feeling hot, he opened the door,
whereupon it seemed to him that a little white slave and an eunuch came in
to him carrying a parcel. Then the slave opened it and brought out three
kerchiefs of silk, one of which he threw over his head, a second over his
shoulders, and a third he tied round his waist. Moreover, the eunuch gave
him a pair of bath-clogs, and he put them on; after which in came white
slaves and eunuchs and supported him (and he laughing the while) to the
outer hall, which he found hung and spread with magnificent furniture, such
as beseemeth none but kings; and the pages hastened up to him and seated
him on the divan. Then they fell to kneading him till sleep overcame him;
and he dreamt that he had a girl in his arms. So he kissed her and set her
between his thighs; then, sitting to her as a man sitteth to a woman, he
took yard in hand and drew her towards him and weighed down upon her and
lo! he heard one saying to him, "Awake, thou ne'er-do-well! The noon-hour
is come and thou art still asleep." He opened his eyes and found himself
lying on the marge of the cold-water tank, amongst a crowd of people all
laughing at him; for his prickle was at point and the napkin had slipped
from his middle. So he knew that all this was but a confusion of dreams
and an illusion of the Hashish and he was vexed and said to him who had
aroused him, "Would thou hadst waited till I had put it in!" Then said the
folk, "Art thou not ashamed, O Hashish-eater, to be sleeping stark naked
with stiff-standing tool?" And they cuffed him till his neck was red. Now
he was starving, yet forsooth he savoured the flavour of pleasure in his
dream.
1. The Pers. "Bang"; Indian "Bhang";
Maroccan "Fasúkh" and S. African "Dakhá." (Pilgrimage
i. 64.) I heard of a "Hashish-orgie" in London which ended in half
the experimentalists being on their sofas for a week. The drug is
useful for stokers, having the curious property of making men
insensible to heat. Easterns also use it for "Imsák" prolonging
coition, of which I speak presently.
2. Arab. "Hashsháshín;"
whence Dr Sacy derived "assassin." A
notable effect of the Hashish preparation is wildly to excite the
imagination, a kind of delirium imaginans sive phantasticum.
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