Daily Short Stories - Mystery & Suspense

The Craft of the Three Sharpers, from the Thousand and One Nights

Listen Ad Free https://www.solgood.org - Listen to hundreds of audiobooks, thousands of short stories, and meditative sounds.

Duration:: 24m
Broadcast on:: 13 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

The Takono Music and Spirits Festival returns to Centennial Park, Saturday, August 3rd from 2 to 10 p.m. And it's free! Live music from The Warren Treaty! ♪ Live music ♪ Chris Daniels and the Kings is Callie and More. Enjoy a Spirits Competition, Kids Zone and Fireworks presented by Oxy and the City of Dacono. Admission and parking are free! The Takono Music and Spirits Festival brought to you by Breckenridge Brewery and City of Dacono. Go to thecityofdacono.com for more information. What if you could have a career where the opportunities are as fast as our nation, where it's not about mission statements, but a shared mission? At U.S. Customs and Border Protection, we go beyond to protect more than borders, from ship to shore, air to ground, cities to local communities. CBP agents and officers are keeping people safe. Join U.S. Customs and Border Protection and go beyond for something far greater than yourself. Learn more at cbp.gov/careers. The Craft of the Three Sharpers, from the Arabic. There were in time of your three sharpers who were "want every day" in early morning, to prowl forth and to pray, rummaging among the mounds which outlay the city. Therein each would find you a silver bit of five paras, or its equivalent, after which the trio would foregather and buy what so sufficed them for supper. They would also expend two haftarums upon vast, which is bong, hashish, and purchase a wax and taper with the other silver bits. They had hired a cell in a flank of a "wakala," a caravansery without the walls, where they could sit at ease to sell us themselves and eat their hashish, after letting the candle, and enjoy their intoxication and consequent merriment till the noon or night. Then they would sleep, again awaking at day dawn, when they would arise and seek for spoil, according to their custom, and ransacked the heaps, where at times they would hit upon a silvering of five drums, and at other times a piece of four, and it even tied they would meet to spend together the dark hours, and they would expend everything they came by every day. For a length of time they pursued this path, until one day of the days, they made for the mounds as was their want, and went round searching the heaps from morning to evening, without finding even a half-pera. Wherefore they were troubled, and they went away and knitted in their cell without meat or drink. When the next day broke they arose and repaired for booty, changing the places wherein they were want to forage. But none of them found ought, and their breasts were straightened, for a lack of a find of drums were with to buy their supper. This lasted for three full-told, and following days, until hunger waxed hard upon them and vexation, so they said one to other, "Go we to the sultan, and let us serve him with a slight, and each of us three shall claim to be a past master of some craft. Happily a law almighty may incline his heart usward, and he may largess us with something to expend upon our necessities." Accordingly all three agreed to do on this wise, and they sought the sultan whom they found in the palace garden. They asked leave to go in to him, but the chamberlands refused admission, so they stood afar off, unable to approach the presence. Then Quathe one to other, to her better we fall to, and each smite his comrade, and cry aloud, and make a clamour, and as soon as he shall hear us he will send to summon us. Accordingly they jostled at one another, and each took to frapping his fellow, making the wild loud cries. The sultan hearing this turmoil said, "Bring me yonder whites," and the chamberlands and eunuchs ran out to them and seized them and set them between the hands of the sovereign. As soon as they stood in the presence, he asked them, "What be the cause of your wrath, one against other?" They answered, "O king of the age, we are past masters of crafts, each of us weeding and a special art." Quathe sultan, "What be your crafts?" And Quathe one of the trio, "O our lord, as for my part I am a jeweler by trade." The king exclaimed, "Passing strange, are sharper and a jeweler. This is a wondrous matter." And he questioned the second sharper, saying, "And thou, the other, what may be thy craft?" He answered, "I am a genealogist of the horsekind." So the king glanced at him in surprise, and said to himself, "A sharper, yet he claimth an astounding knowledge." Then he left them and put the same question to the third, who said to him, "O king of the age, verily my arch is more wondrous and marvelous than not thou hast heard from these twain. Their craft is easy, but mine is such that none say why I can discover the right direction, thereto, or know the first of it, from the last of it." The sultan inquired of him, "And what be thy craft?" Wherein, too, he replied, "My craft is the genealogy of the sons of Adam." Hearing these words, the sovereign wandered with extreme wonderment, and said in himself, "Verily he informeth with his secrets, the humblest of his creatures." Assuredly these men, and they speak truth, in all they say, and it proves sooth fast, are fit for not accept kingship. But I will keep them by me, until the occurrence of some nice contingency wherein I may test them. Then if they approve themselves good men and trustworthy of word, I will leave them on life. But if their speech be lying, I will do them die." Upon this he set apart for them apartments, and rationed them with three cakes of bread, and a dish of roast meat, and set over them his sentinels dreading lest they fly. This case continued for a while, till behold, there came to the sultan from the land of Ajahn, a present of rarities, among which were two gems, where of one was clear of water, and the other was clouded of colour. The sultan hand them in hand for a time, and fell to considering them straitly for the space of an hour. After which he called to mind the first of the three sharpers, the self-styled jeweler, and cried, "Bring me the jeweler, man!" Accordingly they went, and brought him, and set him before the sovereign, who asked him, "O man, art thou a lapitary?" And when the sharper answered, "Yes," he gave him the clear watered stone, saying, "What may be the price of this gem?" Then the sharper took the jewel in hand, and turned it rightward, and leftward, and considered the outside, and pried into the inside, after which he said to the sultan, "O my lord, verily this gem containedeth a worm bred within the heart thereof." Now when the king heard these words, he waxed wrath with exceeding wrath, and commanded the man's head to be stricken off, saying, "This jewel is clear of colour and free of flaw or other default; yet thou charged it falsely with containing a worm." Then he summoned the Linkman, who laid hands on the sharper, and pinioned his elbows, and trussed up his legs like a camel's, and was about to smite his neck when, behold, the wazir entered the presence, and, seeing the sovereign in high dudgeon, and the sharper under his skimter, asked what was to do. The sultan related to him what had happened, when he drew near to him and said, "O my lord, act not after this fashion, and thou determine upon the killing of yonder man, first break the gem; and if thou find there in a worm, then wilt know the white's word to have been varitical; but, and thou find it sound, then strike off his head." "Right is thy reed," queth the king. Then he took in hand the gem, and smote it with his mace; and when it break, behold, he found therein the worm a middlemost thereof. So he marveled at the sight, and asked the man, "What proved to thee that it harboured a worm?" "The sharpness of my sight," answered the sharper. Then the sultan pardoned him, and, admiring his power of vision, addressed his attendants, saying, "Bear him back to his comrades, and ration him with a dish of roast meat, and two cakes of bread." And they did as he bade them. After some time, on a day of the days, there came to the king the tribute of Ajam land, accompanied with presents, among which was a cult, whose robe, black as night, showed one shade in the sun, and another in the shadow. When the animal was displayed to the sultan, he fell in love with it, and set apart for it, a stall, and solaced himself at all times by gazing at it, and was wholly occupied with it, and sang its praises till they filled the whole countryside. Pressently he remembered the sharper who claimed to be a genealogist of the horsekind, and bade him to be summoned. So they fared forth, and brought him, and set him between the hands of the sovereign, who said to him, "Art thou he who knoweth the breed and descent of horses?" "Yay verily," said the man. Then cried the king, "By the truth of him who sent me upon the necks of his servants, and who sayeth to a thing be, and it becometh; and I find ought of error, or confusion in thy words, I will strike off thy head." "Harkening and obedience," Quoth a sharper. Then they led him to the cult, that he might consider his genealogy. He called aloud to the groom, and when they brought him, he bade the man back the cult for his inspection. So he mounted the animal, and made it paste to the right, and to the left, causing it now to prince, and curvet, and then to step leisurely, whether connoisseur looked on and after a time, Quathi to the groom, 'tis enough. Then he went in to the presence, and stood between the hands of the king who inquired, "What has now seen in the cult, O cash-mar?" replied the sharper. "By Allah, O king of the age, this cult is of pure and noble blood, on the side of the sire. Its action is excellent, and all its qualities are praiseworthy, save one; and but for this one, it had been perfect, in blood and breed, nor had there been on earth's face, its fellow in her splash. But its blemish remained at the secret. This Alton asked, "And what is the quality, which thou blamest?" And the sharper answered, "Its sire was noble; but its dam was of other strain. She it was that brought the blemish, and if thou, O my lord, allow me, I will notify it to thee." "Tis well, and needs must thou declare it," Quatha Salton. "Then," said the sharper, "its dam is a buffalo cow." When the king heard these words, he was wrath, with wrath exceeding, and he bade the Linkman, take the sharper and behead him, crying, "O dog, O accursed, how can a buffalo cow bear a horse?" The sharper replied, "O my lord, the Linkman is in the presence, but send and fetch him, who brought thee the colts, and of him, making query. If my words prove true, and rightly placed, my skill shall be established; but, and they be lies, let my head pay forfeit for my tongue. Here standeth the Linkman, and I am between thy hands; thou hast but to bid him strike off my head." Thereupon the king sent for the owner and breeder of the colts, and they brought him to the presence. And the Salton asked him, saying, "Tell me of the truth, and at the blood of this colt. Disth thou buy it or breed it, so that it was a rherling of thy homestead?" Said he, "By a law, O king of the age, I speak not, which is not sooth; for indeed, their hangeth by this colt, the strangest story, were it graven with graver needles upon the eye-corner's, it had been a warning, to whoso would be warned. And this it is. I had a stallion of purest strain, whose sire was of the steeds of the sea; and he was stabled in a stall apart for fear of the evil eye, his service being entrusted to trusty servants. But one day in springtide, the thighs took the horse into the open, and allowed him to mate with the buffalo cow. She conceived by him, and when her days were completed, and her throwing time came, she suffered sore pains, and bare yonder colt. And all who have seen it, or have heard of it, were astounded," said he, presently adding, "by a law, O king of the age, had it stand been of the marekind, the colt would have had no equal on earth's surface, or ought approaching it." Here at the Salton took thought, and marveled. Then, summoning the sharper, he said to him, when present, "Oh, man, thy speech is true, and thou art indeed a genealogist in horse-flash, and thou waddest it well." But I would know what proved to thee that the dam of these colts was a buffalo cow. Said he, "O king, my proof thereof was palpable, nor can it be concealed from any white of right wits and intelligence, and special knowledge. For the horse's hoof is round, while the hooves of buffaloes are elongated and duck-shaped, and here by eye-canned that his colt was a jumard, the issue of a buffalo cow." The Salton was pleased with his words, and said, "Rashing him with a plate of roast meat, and two cakes of bread." And they did as they were bitten. Now for a length of time the third charper was forgotten, till one day the Salton bethought him of the man who could explain the genealogy of Adam's sons. So he begged fetch him, and when they brought him into the presence he said, "Thou art he that knowest the cast and assent of men and women." And the other said, "Yes." Then he commanded the eunuchs, take him to his wife, and place him before her, and cause him declare her genealogy. So they let him in, and set him standing in her presence, and the charper considered her for a while, looking from right to left. Then he fared forth to the Salton who asked him, "What hast thou seen in the queen?" answered he. "O, my lord, I saw I somewhat adorned with loveliness and beauty and perfect grace, with fair stature of symmetrical trace, and with modesty and fine manners and skillful case. And she is one in whom all good qualities appear on every side. Nor is ought of accomplishments or knowledge concealed from her, and happily in her centre all desirable attributes. Nath the lasso king of the age, there is a curious point that dishonoreth her, from the witch were she free, none would outshine her of all the women of her generation." Now when the Salton heard the words of the sharper, he sprang hastily to his feet, and clapping hand upon hilt, a bear at his brand, and fell upon the man, purposeing to slay him. But the chamberlands and the eunuchs prevented him, saying, "O, our lord, kill him not, until his falsehood or his fact shall have been made manifest to thee." The Salton said to him, "What then appeared to thee in my queen?" "She is fairly fair," said the man, "but her mother is a dancing girl, a gypsy." The fury of the king increased her at, and he sent to summon the inmates of his harem, and cried to his father-in-law, "Unless thou speak me sooth concerning thy daughter, and her descent, and her mother, I," he replied, "by a law of king of the age, not sayeth a man save sooth fastness." Her mother was indeed a gazia. In past time a party of the tribe was passing by my abode, when a young maid strayed from her fellows and was lost. They asked no questions concerning her, so I lodged her and bred her in my homestead, till she grew up to be a great girl and the fairest of her time. My heart would not brook her wiving with any other, so I wedded her, and she bear me this daughter, whom thou, O king, has espoused. When the Salton heard these words, the flame in his heart was quenched, and he wondered at the subtlety of the sharper man. So he summoned him, and asked him, saying, "O wily one, tell me what certified to thee, that my queen had a dancing girl, a gypsy to mother." He answered, "O king of the age, verily the gazia raise hath eyeballs, intensely black, and bushy brows, whereas other women than the gazia have the reverse of this." One such wise the king was convinced of the man's skill, and he cried, ration him with a dish of roast meat and two scones. They did, as he bade, and the three sharpers carried with the Salton, a long time, till one day when the king said to himself, "Verily these three men have, by their skill, solved every question of genealogy which I proposed to them. First the jeweler proved his perfect knowledge of gems. Secondly, the genealogist of the horsekind showed himself as skillful. In the same was the case with the genealogist of mankind, for he discovered the origin of my queen, and the truth of his words appeared from all quarters. Now 'tis my desire that he do the same with me, and that I also may know my provenance." Accordingly they set the man between his hands, and he sent to him, "O fellow, hast thou the power to tell me mine origin?" Said the sharper, "Yes, O my lord, I can trace thy descent; but I will do so, only on a condition, to which, that thou promised me safety, after what I shall have told thee." For the Salle saith, whilst Salton siteth on throne, where his despite, inasmuch as none may be contumacious, when he saith smite. Thereupon the Salton told him, "Thou hast a promise of immunity, a promise which shall never be false." And the man said, "O king of the age, when as I acquainted thee with thy root and branch, let it be between us twain, lest these present eras." "Wherefore, O man," asked the Salton, and the sharper answered, "O, my lord, allow thee all might, hath among his names the valour." "Wherefore, the king bathed his chamberlands and eunuchs, retire, so that none remained in the place save those two." Then the sharper came forward, and said, "O, my lord, thou art not the son of a king." As soon as the king heard these words, his case changed, and his color waxed wan, and his limbs fell loose. He foamed at the mouth. He lost hearing and sight. He became as one drunken without wine. And he fell fainting to the ground. After a while he recovered and said to the sharper, "Now by the truth of him who hath set me upon the necks of his servants, and thy words be veritable, and I ascertain their sooth by proof positive, I will assuredly abdicate my kingdom, and resign my realm to thee, because none deserveth it save thou, and it becometh us least of all endeavoring. But, and I find thy speech lying, I will slay thee." He replied, hearing and obeying, and the sovereign, rising up without stay or delay, went inside to his mother, with a grip on Glaive, and said to her, "By the truth of him who uplifted the sky above the earth, and thou answer me not, with the whole truth in what so I ask thee, I will cut thee to little bits with this blade." She inquired, "What dost thou want with me?" And he replied, "Whose son am I, and what may be my descent?" She rejoined, "Although falsehood be an excuse, the fact and truth are superior and more saving. Though art indeed the very son of a cook, the sultan that was before thee took me to wife, but we had no issue, and he would mourn and groan from the core of his heart, for that he had no seat, nor girl, nor boy. Neither could he enjoy odds of sweet food or sleep. Now it chanced that the wife of the Kitchener bear him a boy, and I prevailed upon her to keep the birth secret, and my woman brought the child to me, and spread abroad that at last an heir was come. Now at that time the sultan was hunting and birding, and enjoying himself about the gardens, and when the bearer of good news went to him and announced the birth of a man-child, he hurried back to me, and forthright bade them decorate the capital, and he found the report true. So the city adorned itself for forty days in honor of its king, such is my case and my tale. Thereupon the king went forth from her to the sharper, and bade him doff his dress, and when this had been done he doffed his own raiment, and hapitated the man in royal gear, and hooded him with a talison, and asked him say, "What proof has to thou of my being baseborn?" The sharper answered, "O my lord, my proof was thy bidding or being rationed, after showing the perfection of our skill, with a dish of roast meat and two scones of bread, whereby I knew thee to be of cook's breed, for the kings be want in such case, to make presents of money and valuables, not of meat and bread, as thou didst, and this evidenced thee to be no king's son, about a cook's son." He replied, "Sue thou sayest," and then robed him with the rest of his robes, including the Kalinsuwa, or royal headdress under the hood, and seating him upon the throne of his estate, went forth from him, after abandoning all his women to him, and assumed the garb of Adarwaj, who wondered about the world, and formally abdicated his dominion to his successor. But when the sharper king saw himself in this condition, he reflected, and said to himself, "Some and I will him comrades, and see whether they recognize thee or not." So he caused them beset before him, and conversed with them, then, perceiving that none knew him, he gifted them and sent them to getting their gate, and he ruled his realm, and bade and forbade, and gave and took away, and was gracious and generous, to each and every of his legions, so that the people of that region, who were his subjects, blessed him and prayed for him. The Dacono Music and Spirits Festival returns to Centennial Park, Saturday, August 3rd from 2 to 10 p.m., and it's free! Live music from The Warren Treaty! Chris Daniels and the Kings is Cally and More. Enjoy a spirits competition, Kid Zone and fireworks presented by Oxy, and the City of Dacono. Admission and parking are free! The Dacono Music and Spirits Festival, brought to you by Breckenrich Brewery and City of Dacono. Go to the City of Dacono.com for more information. It is Ryan here, and I have a question for you. What do you do when you win? Like, are you a fist-pumper? A woohoo, a hand clap or a high-fiver? If you want to hone in on those winning moves, check out Chumba Casino. Choose from hundreds of social casino-style games, for your chance to redeem serious cash prizes. There are new game releases weekly, plus free daily bonuses, so don't wait. Start having the most fun ever at Chumba Casino.com. Sponsored by Chumba Casino, no purchase necessary. VGW Group, void word prohibited by law, 18 plus, terms and conditions apply.