Now when it was the Nine Hundred and Eighty-fifth Night,
She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abdullah bin Fazil continued, “As they were thus, behold, Sa’idah alighted with me in the midst of the galleon and when my brothers saw me, they embraced me and rejoiced in me, saying, “O our brother, how hast thou fared in that which befel thee? Indeed our hearts have been occupied with thee.” Quoth Sa’idah, “Had ye any heart-yearnings for him or had ye loved him, ye had not cast him into the sea; but choose ye now what death ye will die.” Then she seized on them and would have slain them; but they cried out, saying, “In thy safeguard, O our brother!” Thereupon I interceded and said to her, “I claim of thine honour not to kill my brothers.” Quoth she, “There is no help but that I slay them, for they are traitors.” But I ceased not to speak her fair and conciliate her till she said, “To content thee, I will not kill them, but I will enchant them.” So saying, she brought out a cup and filling it with sea-water, pronounced over it words that might not be understood; then saying, “Quit this human shape for the shape of a dog;” she sprinkled them with the water, and immediately they were transmewed into dogs, as thou seest them, O Vicar of Allah.” Whereupon he turned to the dogs and said to them, “Have I spoken the truth, O my brothers?” And they bowed their heads, as they would say, “Thou hast spoken sooth.” At this he continued, “Then she said to those who were in the galleon:—Know ye that Abdullah bin Fazil here present is become my brother and I shall visit him once or twice every day: so, whoso of you crosseth him or gainsayeth his bidding or doth him hurt with hand or tongue, I will do with him even as I have done with these two traitors and bespell him to a dog, and he shall end his days in that form, nor shall he find deliverance.” And they all said to her, “O our lady, we are his slaves and his servants every one of us and will not disobey him in aught.” Moreover, she said to me, “When thou comest to Bassorah, examine all thy property and if there lack aught thereof, tell me and I will bring it to thee, in whose hands and in what place soever it may be, and will change him who took it into a dog. When thou hast magazined thy goods, clap a collar[533] of wood on the neck of each of these two traitors and tie them to the leg of a couch and shut them up by themselves. Moreover, every night, at midnight, do thou go down to them and beat each of them a bout till he swoon away; and if thou suffer a single night to pass without beating them, I will come to thee and drub thee a sound drubbing, after which I will drub them.” And I answered, “To hear is to obey.” Then said she, “Tie them up with ropes till thou come to Bassorah.” So I tied a rope about each dog’s neck and lashed them to the mast, and she went her way. On the morrow we entered Bassorah and the merchants came out to meet me and saluted me, and no one of them enquired of my brothers. But they looked at the dogs and said to me, “Ho, such and such,[534] what wilt thou do with these two dogs thou hast brought with thee?” Quoth I, “I reared them on this voyage and have brought them home with me.” And they laughed at them, knowing not that they were my brothers. When I reached my house, I put the twain in a closet and busied myself all that night with the unpacking and disposition of the bales of stuffs and jewels. Moreover, the merchants were with me being minded to offer me the salam; wherefore I was occupied with them and forgot to beat the dogs or chain them up. Then without doing them aught of hurt, I lay down to sleep, but suddenly and unexpectedly there came to me the Red King’s daughter Sa’idah and said to me, “Did I not bid thee clap chains on their necks and give each of them a bout of beating?” So saying, she seized me and pulling out a whip, flogged me till I fainted away, after which she went to the place where my brothers were and with the same scourge beat them both till they came nigh upon death. Then said she to me, “Beat each of them a like bout every night, and if thou let a night pass without doing this, I will beat thee;” and I replied, “O my lady, to-morrow I will put chains on their necks, and next night I will beat them nor will I leave them one night unbeaten.” And she charged me strictly to beat them and disappeared. When the morning morrowed it being no light matter for me to put fetters of iron on their necks, I went to a goldsmith and bade him make them collars and chains of gold. He did this and I put the collars on their necks and chained them up, as she bade me; and next night I beat them both in mine own despite.