Chapter Four, The First Dervish's Tale.
Then the first dervish came forward and said My lady, the cause of my eye being lost and my beard being shaved off is this.
My father was a king, and he had a brother who was also a king, and had a son and a daughter.
As the years went by, I used to visit my uncle every now and then.
Between my uncle's son and myself, there grew a great friendship.
One day I visited my cousin, and he treated me with unusual kindness.
He prepared a great feast and after we ate and drank our fill, he said Cousin, I would like to show you something, but you must keep it a secret.
I replied, with the greatest pleasure.
After he had me take an oath, he said, Come with me.
I followed him to a graveyard, where we came before a great tomb.
My cousin broke open the wall of the tomb, setting the stones to the side, and I followed him inside.
He showed me an iron plate the size of a small door.
He raised the plate and revealed a winding staircase.
Then he said to me, Cousin, there is one last favor I have to ask you.
After I go down into this place, set the iron plate back over me.
After I followed his instructions, I left and spent the rest of the night at my uncle's house.
When I woke up the next morning and remembered the events of the night before, I thought it was all a dream.
I asked about my cousin, but no one could tell me anything.
Then I went to the graveyard and looked for the tomb, but it had disappeared.
I spent a restless night back at my uncle's house and almost went insane with worry, but I had given my word not to say anything about what I had seen.
Finally, I decided to go back to my father's city.
As soon as I arrived within the gates, I was grabbed, beaten, and chained.
My father's vizier had plotted against him and taken control of the city.
His men carried me before the vizier, who was a great enemy of mine.
He burned my eye to punish me and then ordered one of my father's swordsmen to take me out into the woods and kill me.
The man followed the vizier's orders.
He tied me to the back of a horse and led me out into the wilderness.
Finally, he went to kill me, and I started weeping bitterly over what had happened.
He began to weep with me.
The swordsmen felt pity for me and set me free, saying Run for your life and never return to this land, for they will kill you and kill me with you.
Hardly believing my luck, I kissed his hand and thought that losing my eye was better than losing my life.
I traveled back to my uncle's city and told him about my father's betrayal.
He said to me, I, too, have great sadness.
My son is missing, and I do not know what has happened to him.
Then he wept.
I was unable to remain silent and told him the whole story of what I had seen and done.
I saw the king's sorrow turn to rage, which surprised me greatly.
But morning do near, Sarazad, and she fell silent.
Then Azad said to her sister, Sister, what an amazing story.
Sarazad replied, This is nothing compared with what I will tell you tomorrow, if I live.
THE FIFTEENTH NIGHT
The following night, when Sarazad was in bed, her sister Denarzad said Please sister, tell us more of this amazing tale.
The king added, Let it be the rest of the first dervish's tale.
Sarazad replied, Very well.
I heard, O happy king, that the first dervish said to the woman, My lady, when I saw that look...
On my uncle's face I felt terrible, and I said, For God's sake, uncle, don't make me feel worse.
I feel sorry enough for what happened to your son.
He replied, Nephew.
I know that this son of mine was madly in love with a demon and I often forbade him from seeing her, but he did not listen to me and now I see how he planned everything behind my back.
He built a secret dwelling under the tomb you speak of and went to meet his demon lover there.
Now I have lost him.
Then we both wept.
He looked at me and said, ''You are my son in his place.''
But there was hardly time for weeping before we had heard the banging of drums, the sounds of trumpets and the screaming of men giving orders for battle.
We asked what was happening and we were told that the vizier who had disposed of my father was now attacking the city with such mighty force.
No one could resist him.
It was a terrible battle that followed, and I just managed to escape.
I knew that if I fell into the vizier's hands, he would kill both me and my father's swordsmen, who had saved my life.
My sorrows were greater than ever.
I could think of no way to escape but by shaving my beard and eyebrows to change how I looked, and so that is what I did.
Pretending to be a dervish, I left the city undetected by anyone with the intention of reaching Baghdad.
I was hoping that I might find someone who would assist me to the Caliph, the leader of all faithful souls, so that I might tell him my tale.
I arrived this very night and as I stood by the city gate not knowing where I should go, this dervish by my side came over and greeted me.
As we were talking, this other dervish joined us at the gate.
The three of us walked until God led us to your home, and you were kind enough to let us in.
The woman said, Rise, you may go.
He replied, By God, I will not go until I hear the tales of the others.
But morning drew near Sarazad, and she fell silent.
Dinarzad said to her sister, Sister, what an amazing story.
Sarazad replied, This is nothing compared with what I will tell you tomorrow.
If the king lets me live.
