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"These new splendours raised in Abou Hassan's mind a still greater admiration than he felt before. At length he reached the table, and when he was seated at it and had surveyed the seven damsels with a sort of embarrassment which showed he could not tell to whom among them to give the preference, he ordered them all to lay aside their fans and to sit down and eat with him.
"When the damsels had taken their places on either side of Abou Hassan, he at once proceeded to inquire their names; and he found that their names also marked some excellence of mind or body by which they were distinguished from each other. This amused him extremely; and he showed his wit in the lively and appropriate speeches he used when he offered to each, in turn, some fruit of the different sorts before him. To her who was called Heart's-chain he gave a fig, saying: 'Eat this for my sake, and make the chains lighter which I have worn from the moment I first saw you.' And giving some grapes to Soul's-grief, he said, 'Take these grapes upon condition that you ease the grief I endure from the love with which you have inspired me;' and he addressed a similar compliment to each of the other damsels. By his behaviour on this occasion Abou Hassan made the caliph, who was much pleased with all he did and all he said, more and more delighted.
"When Abou Hassan had eaten of those sorts of fruit on the table which he liked best, he rose; and immediately Mesrour led him into a third saloon, furnished, decorated, and enriched in the same magnificent manner as the two former.
"There Abou Hassan found seven other bands of music, and seven other damsels, waiting round a table, set out with seven golden basins containing liquid sweetmeats of various sorts and colours. He walked up to the table amidst the loud harmony of the seven bands of music, which ceased when he had taken his seat. At his command the seven damsels also took their places at the table with him. And as he could not dispense these liquids with the same grace, and with the same polite attention he had shown in distributing the fruits, he begged that the ladies would themselves make choice of such as they liked best. He asked their names too; and he was not less pleased with these than with those of the former damsels.
"The day was drawing towards a close when Abou Hassan was conducted into a fourth saloon. This apartment was decorated like the rest with the most costly and most magnificent furniture. Abou Hassan found in this last saloon, as he had found in all the others, seven bands of female musicians. Here, too, he saw seven other damsels, who stood in waiting round a table. On this table glittered seven basins of gold, filled with cakes and pastry, with all sorts of dry sweetmeats, and with a number of other compounds, provocative of drinking. But Abou Hassan observed here what he had not seen in the other saloons; this was a sideboard, upon which were seven large flagons of silver filled with the most exquisite wines; and seven glasses of the finest rock crystal stood near each of these flagons.
"In the three first saloons Abou Hassan had drunk only water, in compliance with the custom observed at Bagdad, namely, to drink wine only at night. All those who drink it before evening are looked upon as dissipated persons; and they dare not appear in the day time.
"Abou Hassan entered this fourth saloon and walked up to the table. When he was seated he remained a long time in a kind of ecstasy of admiration at the seven damsels who stood about him, and whom he thought still more lovely than those he had seen in the other saloons. He had great desire to know the name of each of them.
"Thereupon he took the hand of the damsel who was nearest him on the right. He made her sit down, and after presenting her with a rich cake, he asked her name. 'Commander of the Faithful,' answered the damsel, 'I am called Cluster-of-Pearls.' 'You could not have a better name,' cried Abou Hassan, 'or one more expressive of your charms. I must think your beautiful teeth certainly surpass the finest-coloured pearls in the world. Cluster-of-Pearls,' added he, 'since that is your name, do me the favour to take a glass, fill it, and let me drink it from your fair hand.'
"The damsel went instantly to the sideboard, and came back with a glass of wine, which she presented to Abou Hassan with all imaginable grace. He took it, and looking at her tenderly said, 'Cluster-of-Pearls, I drink your health; I desire you would fill the glass for yourself and pledge me in return.' She quickly ran to the sideboard and returned with a glass in her hand; but before she drank Cluster-of-Pearls sang a song, which delighted her hearer.
"When Abou Hassan had drunk he took from the basins a supply of what he liked best, and presented it to another damsel, whom he desired to come and sit near him. He inquired her name also. She answered, that her name was Morning-Star. 'Your fine eyes,' resumed he, 'are brighter and more brilliant than the star whose name you bear. Go, and do me the favour to bring me a glass of wine;' she complied in a moment. He paid a similar compliment to the third damsel who was called Light-of-Day, as well as to all the rest.
"When Abou Hassan had emptied as many glasses as there were damsels, Cluster-of-Pearls, to whom he had first spoken, went to the sideboard and took a glass which she filled with wine, after having thrown into it a little of the powder which the caliph had made use of the day before. Presently she came and presented it to him with these words: 'Commander of the Faithful, I entreat your majesty to take this glass of wine, and before you drink it to hear a song which I dare flatter myself will not be disagreeable to you.' 'I grant your request with pleasure,' said Abou Hassan, as he took the glass which she presented him.
"The damsel took her lute and sang a song, accompanying herself on the instrument with so much accuracy and expression, that she kept Abou Hassan entranced from beginning to end.
"When she had finished singing, Abou Hassan, who was desirous of praising her as she deserved, drank off at a draught the glass of wine she had filled for him. Then turning his head towards the damsel to speak to her, he was suddenly overcome by the effect of the powder which he had taken. Presently, like a man thoroughly overcome with sleep, he became as completely forgetful of all outward things as he had been the day before, when the caliph had administered the powder to him. The caliph, who had derived an amount of amusement beyond his expectation from the events of the day, came out of his closet and appeared in the saloon, quite delighted at having succeeded so well in his design. He first ordered that the caliph's habit in which Abou Hassan had been dressed in the morning, should be taken from him; and that he should be clothed again in the garments which he had worn twenty-four hours before. He ordered the slave to be called; and upon his appearing he said, 'Take charge once more of this man, and carry him back to his own bed as silently as you can; and when you come away be careful to leave the door open.'
"The slave took up Abou Hassan, carried him off by the secret door of the palace, and placed him in his own house as the caliph had ordered him. Then the caliph said: 'Abou Hassan wished to be in my place for one day only that he might punish the Iman of the mosque in his neighbourhood, and the four old men, whose conduct had displeased him; I have procured him the means of doing what he wished. Therefore he ought to be satisfied.'
"Abou Hassan, who had been deposited on his sofa by the slave, slept till very late the next day. Then, upon opening his eyes, he was very much surprised to find himself at his own house. 'Cluster-of-Pearls! Morning-Star! Break-of-day! Coral-lips!' cried he, calling the damsels of the palace who had been sitting with him. 'Where are you? Come to me!'
"Abou Hassan called as loudly as he could. His mother, who heard him from her apartment, came running up at the noise he made. 'What's the matter with you, my son?' she asked. 'What has befallen you?' At these words Abou Hassan raised his head, and, looking at his mother with an air of haughtiness and disdain, replied, 'Good woman, who is the person you call your son?' 'You are he,' answered the mother, with much tenderness; 'are you not my son, Abou Hassan? It would be the most extraordinary thing in the world if, in so short a time, you should have forgotten it.' 'I your son, you execrable old woman!' cried Abou Hassan, 'you know not what you are saying. You are a liar. I am the Commander of the Faithful.'
"'Be silent, my son,' rejoined the mother: 'to hear you talk men would take you for a madman.' 'You are yourself a mad old woman,' replied Abou Hassan, 'I am not out of my senses, as you suppose; I tell you again I am Commander of the Faithful, and vicar upon earth of the Lord of both worlds.' 'Ah, my son!' cried the mother, 'how comes it that I now hear you utter words which clearly prove that you are not in your right mind? What evil genius possesses you that you hold such language. You are my son, Abou Hassan, and I am your mother.'
"After having given him all the proofs she could think of in order to bring him to himself, she continued to expostulate in these words: 'Do you not see that the chamber you are now in is your own, and not the chamber of a palace fit for the Commander of the Faithful; and that living constantly with me you have dwelt in this house ever since you were born!'
"Abou Hassan heard these remonstrances of his mother with composure. He sat resting his head upon his hand, like a man who was recollecting himself, and trying to discover the truth of what he saw and heard: 'I believe you are right,' said he, to his mother, a few moments afterwards. 'It seems,' said he, 'that I am Abou Hassan, that you are my mother, and that I am in my own chamber. I cannot doubt it, nor can I conceive how I could take this fancy into my head.'
"His mother thought in good earnest that her son was cured of the malady which disturbed his mind, and which she attributed to a dream. She was preparing to laugh with him, and question him about his dream, when on a sudden he sat up, and looking at her with an angry glance, cried: ‘Thou old witch, thou knowest not what thou art saying; I am not thy son, nor art thou my mother. I tell thee I am Commander of the Faithful, and thou shalt not make me believe otherwise.' 'For Heaven's sake, my son, put your trust in Allah, and refrain from this kind of language, lest some mischief befall you. Let us rather talk of something else. Allow me to tell you what happened yesterday to the Iman of our mosque, and to the four old men. The officer of the police caused them to be apprehended, and after having given them each in turn I know not how many strokes on the feet, he ordered it to be proclaimed by the crier that this was the punishment of men who meddled with affairs that did not concern them, and who made it their business to sow dissension among the families of their neighbours. Then he caused them to be led through all parts of the town, while the same proclamation was repeated before them, and he forbade them ever to set foot again in our neighbourhood.'
"Abou Hassan's mother, who could not imagine her son had any concern in the event she was relating, supposed that the narration of this affair would be a likely mode of effacing the whimsical delusion under which he laboured of being the Commander of the Faithful.
"But the effect proved quite otherwise, and the recital of his story, far from effacing the notion which he now entertained, that he was Commander of the Faithful, served only to recall it to his mind, and to impress still more deeply on his imagination the firm conviction that it was not a delusion, but a real fact. Thus, the moment his mother had finished her story, Abou Hassan exclaimed, 'I am no longer your son, nor Abou Hassan, I am assuredly the Commander of the Faithful, and it is not possible for me to have any further doubt after what you yourself have just told me. Know then that it was by my orders that the Iman and the four old men were punished in the manner you have related; I tell you, in good truth, I am the Commander of the Faithful. You have greatly pleased me by confirming what the officer of the police, to whom I gave the orders for the punishment you described, had already reported to me; that is to say, that my commands were punctually executed; and I am the more pleased at this because this Iman and these four old men were consummate hypocrites. I should be glad to know who it was that brought me here. The truth is this, that I am most assuredly the Commander of the Faithful, and all your reasoning will never persuade me to the contrary.'
"His mother, who could not guess or even imagine why her son maintained with so much confidence that he was the Commander of the Faithful, felt quite assured that he had lost his senses when she heard him assert things which in her mind were so entirely beyond all belief, though in that of Abou Hassan they had a good foundation. Under this persuasion she said, 'My son, I pray Heaven to pity and have mercy upon you. What would be said of you if you should be heard talking in this manner?'
"These remonstrances, far from softening Abou Hassan's anger, served only to irritate him still more. '0 old woman,' said he, 'I have already cautioned thee to be quiet. If thou continuest to talk any longer I will rise and chastise thee in a manner thou wilt remember all the rest of thy life. I am the caliph, the Commander of the Faithful, and thou art bound to believe me when I tell thee so.' Then the poor mother, seeing that Abou Hassan was wandering still farther and farther from his right mind, gave way to tears and lamentations. She uttered exclamations, which testified her astonishment and deep sorrow at seeing her son in such a dreadful position-lunatic and deprived of understanding.
"Abou Hassan, instead of being affected by his mother's tears, forgot himself so far as to lose all sort of natural respect for her. He rose and suddenly seizing a stick he carne towards her with his unlifted hand, raging like a madman. ‘Thou cursed old woman,' said he, in his fury, 'tell me this moment who I am!' ' My son,' answered his mother, looking most kindly at him, 'I do not believe you so far abandoned by Allah as not to know the woman who brought you into the world, or to know who you yourself are. I am perfectly sincere in telling you that you are my son Abou Hassan, and that you are quite wrong in claiming for yourself a title which belongs only to the Caliph Haroun Alraschid, your sovereign lord and mine; and this is the more culpable, at a time when our monarch has been heaping benefits upon both you and me, by the present he sent me yesterday. I have to tell you that the grand vizier Giafar took the trouble yesterday to come hither to me, and putting into my hands a purse of a thousand pieces of gold, he bade me pray to Allah to bless the Commander of the Faithful, who made me this present; and does not this liberality concern you more than me, seeing I have but a few days to live?'
"At these last words Abou Hassan lost all command over himself. The circumstances of the caliph's liberality assured him he did not deceive himself, and convinced him more firmly than ever that he himself was the caliph, because the vizier had carried the purse by his own order. 'What! thou old sorceress!' cried he, ‘wilt thou not be convinced when I tell thee that I am the person who sent these thousand pieces of gold by my grand vizier Giafar, who merely executed the order which I gave him as Commander of the Faithful? Nevertheless, instead of believing me thou art seeking to make me lose my senses by maintaining that I am thy son. But I will not suffer thy insolence to be long unpunished.' Upon this, in the height of his frenzy, he was so unnatural as to beat her most unmercifully.
"When his poor mother found herself beaten, she began to cry out for help as loudly as she could; and as the neighbours came crowding round, Abou Hassan never ceased striking her, calling out at every stroke, 'Am I the Commander of the Faithful?' And each time the mother returned, 'You are my son.'
"Abou Hassan's rage began to abate a little when the neighbours came to his chamber. The first who appeared at once threw himself between his mother and him; and snatching the stick from his hand cried out, ‘What are you doing, Abou Hassan; have you lost all sense of duty, or are you mad? And are you not ashamed thus to ill-treat her who so tenderly loves you?'
"Abou Hassan, still raging with fury, looked at the person who spoke without giving him any answer. Then casting his wild eyes on each of the others who had come in, he demanded, 'Who is this Abou Hassan you are speaking of? Is it me you call by that name?' This question somewhat disconcerted the neighbours. 'How!' replied the man who had just spoken, 'do you not acknowledge this woman for your mother?' 'You are very impertinent,' replied Abou Hassan; 'I know neither her nor you. I am not Abou Hassan, I am the Commander of the Faithful; and if you do not know it yet, I will make you know it to your cost.'
"At this speech the neighbours were all convinced that he had lost his senses. And to prevent his repeating towards others the outrageous conduct he had been guilty of towards his mother, they seized him, and bound him hand and foot, and deprived turn of the power of doing any mischief. But though he was thus bound, and apparently unable to hurt anybody, they did not think it right to leave him alone with his mother. Two of the company hastened immediately to the hospital for lunatics, to inform the keeper of what had happened. That officer came directly, followed by a considerable number of his people, who brought with them chains, handcuffs, and a whip made of thongs of leather, for the purpose of restraining the supposed lunatic.
"On their arrival, Abou Hassan, who did not in the least expect such vigorous proceedings, made great efforts to free himself, but the keeper, who was prepared to use his whip, soon quieted him by two or three strokes well applied to his shoulders. This treatment had such an effect upon Abou Hassan that he soon lay motionless, and the keeper and his assistants chained him, and put handcuffs and fetters on him; and took him to the hospital for lunatics.
"Abou Hassan was no sooner in the street than he found himself surrounded by a great crowd of people. One gave him a blow with the fist, and others reproached him in the most abusive language, treating him as a fool and a madman.
"While he was suffering all this bad treatment he said to himself: 'There is no greatness and strength but in Allah. It is determined that I am a madman, although I am certainly in my senses; I bear these injuries and suffer all this indignity, resigned to the will of Heaven.
"Thus Abou Hassan was conveyed to the hospital appropriated to madmen. There he was bound and shut up in an iron cage. But before he was left to himself the keeper belaboured his back and shoulders most unmercifully with fifty strokes of his whip; and for more than three weeks he continued to give him every day the same number of blows, always repeating these words: 'Recover your senses, and tell me whether you are still Commander of the Faithful.' 'I have no need of your correction,' answered Abou Hassan, 'I am no madman; but if I were likely to go mad, nothing would so quickly bring that misfortune upon me as the blows you give me.'
"Abou Hassan's mother came constantly to see her son; and she could not refrain from tears when she saw him daily losing his flesh and strength, and heard his sighs and lamentations at the sufferings he endured. His mother was desirous of conversing with him, endeavouring to console him, and to find out whether he continued in the same state of mind on the subject of his pretended dignity of caliph and Commander of the Faithful. But every time she opened her mouth to touch upon this point, he contradicted what she said with so much rage and fury, that she was forced to yield and quit the subject.
"The strong and lively recollections which were impressed upon the mind of Abou Hassan, of having actually discharged the office of the caliph, of having been obeyed and treated in all respects as the caliph-all these facts which had persuaded him, upon his awaking from sleep, that he actually was Commander of the Faithful, and had made him persevere so long in his error, began now insensibly to wear out. 'If I were caliph and Commander of the Faithful,' said he sometimes to himself, 'why should I have found myself after my sleep at my own house, and dressed in my own clothes? Why should I not have seen myself surrounded by the chief eunuch and his fellows, and by the very large assembly of damsels? Why should the grand vizier Giafar, whom I have seen at my feet, and all those emirs, governors of provinces, and other officers by whom I have seen myself surrounded-why should they all have deserted me? They would certainly long since have delivered me from the wretched situation in which I am now if I still retained any authority over them. All this has been only a dream. I certainly ordered an officer of the police to punish the Iman and the four old men, and I ordered the grand vizier Giafar to carry a thousand pieces of gold to my mother, and my orders were obeyed. This makes me hesitate, and I cannot understand these things. I refer all to Allah, who knows and who can guide everything.'
"Abou Hassan was one day absorbed in these thoughts and reflections when his mother came in. She saw him so emaciated and so weak that her tears fell more abundantly than ever. In the midst of her sobs she addressed him in the usual way, and Abou Hassan returned her salutation with a humility he had never shown since his arrival at the hospital. She thought this a good omen. 'Well, my son,' said she, 'how do I find you to-day? Have you given up all those fancies and that language which the evil spirit suggested to you.' 'O my dear mother,' answered Abou Hassan, 'I acknowledge my error, and I entreat you to forgive the horrid treatment to which I have subjected you, and of which I sincerely repent. I also crave pardon of our neighbours for the offence which I have given them. I have been deceived by a dream; but this dream was so extraordinary and so like reality, that I would engage that any other person who happened to dream it would be as much deluded by it as I was.
"'I must acknowledge my error, and cannot but continue to think it a dream, or an illusion. I am even convinced that I am not Commander of the Faithful, but your son Abou Hassan. O my mother, whom I have always honoured till that fatal day, the recollection of which covers me with confusion; I honour you now, and ever will honour you in a manner worthy of myself as long as I live.'
"At these coherent and sensible words, the tears of grief, of compassion and distress, which Abou Hassan's mother had been shedding during a long time, were changed into tears of joy. 'O my son,' cried she, in a transport of delight, 'I am as joyful and happy to hear you talk so rationally as if I had just now brought you into the world a second time. I must tell you my opinion of your adventure, and call your attention to a circumstance which, perhaps, you have overlooked. The stranger whom you brought home to supper with you one night, went away without, as you desired him, shutting your chamber door; and that, I believe, gave an opportunity to the evil spirit to come in and throw you into that dreadful illusion under which you have laboured. Therefore, my son, you are bound to thank Heaven for having given you this deliverance, and to pray that you may be preserved from again falling into the snares of this demon.'
"'You have discovered the source of my misfortune,' answered Abou Hassan; 'and it was on that very night that I had the dream which has so turned my head. In the name of Allah, my mother, since through His mercy I am perfectly restored to my senses, I entreat you to deliver me as soon as may be out of this place of torment, and rescue me from the hand of the barbarous keeper.'
"Perfectly comforted at seeing her son entirely recovered from the mad fancy of being caliph, Abou Hassan's mother went immediately to seek the keeper who had brought him to the madhouse, and who had till then the management of him; and when she had assured him that her son was perfectly restored to his reason, he released him.
"Abou Hassan returned to his house, and remained there many days to recover his health, and recruit his strength. But as soon as he had a little recovered his spirits, and no longer felt the bad effects of the hard usage he had experienced during his confinement, he began to think it tiresome
to pass his evenings without company. For this reason he soon returned to his usual way of life; and presently began again to provide a banquet every day to entertain a new guest at night.
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