One Thousand and One Nights

Author: Translator: Zhong Jikun, Liu Guangmin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: They gave me food and let me eat to my heart's content, they gave me clothes to wear and took me on a ship. We sailed day and night, and fate brought us to a city where the buildings were tall and all faced the sea, known as Monkey City. Every night, the residents of the city would leave their homes to go out to sea, staying overnight on large ships or small boats, fearing that monkeys would come down from the mountains to disturb them. I landed and entered the city to explore, but before I could return, the ship had already left. I truly regretted going into the city to play, remembering the experience of encountering a baboon before and the fate of my companions, I was so sad that I couldn't help but cry. A local person walked up to me and said, "Sir, you seem to be a stranger." I said, "Yes, I am a stranger, a poor one. I arrived here by ship, I went ashore to explore, and when I came back, the ship had already left." He said, "Get up, go to the small boat to spend the night. If you stay in the city at night, the monkeys will kill you." I listened to his advice, stood up, and followed him to the small boat. Everyone rowed the small boat out to sea, staying one li away from the coast overnight. The next morning, they rowed back into the city and went about their own business. According to custom, they spent every night this way. No one dared to stay in the city at night, otherwise the monkeys would harm them. During the day, the monkeys all went outside the city, to the orchards to eat fruit, and to the mountains to sleep. At night, they came into the city to cause trouble. This city was located at the edge of the Sudanese Kingdom, and in this city, I encountered something very strange. That night, the person I stayed overnight with on the small boat said to me, "Sir, you are a stranger, so what do you do during the day?" I said, "Brother, I have nothing to do. I don't know what to do either. I was originally a wealthy merchant, I had a large ship full of money and goods, but unexpectedly, the ship sank midway, and both people and goods fell into the sea. Thanks to the mercy of Allah, I grabbed a piece of the ship's plank and was saved." The man stood up and gave me a cloth bag, saying, "Here, go into the city and pick up some stones to put in this bag. Go, join the others going into the city, I will ask them to accompany you, do whatever they do, and maybe you will find something, which you can take home with you." Then, this man took me out of the city, and I filled the cloth bag with small stones until it was full. At this time, a group of people came out of the city, and this man instructed them, "This is a stranger, take him with you, teach him, and let him earn some food to eat, you will be rewarded for it." Those people agreed, "We will do as you command." These people welcomed me, took care of me, and took me along. Each of them carried a bag of stones, just like the one I had. Soon, we came to a wide valley, where the trees were tall and numerous, and no one could climb them. There were many monkeys in the valley, and as soon as they saw us, they quickly climbed the trees. My companions took out stones from their bags and threw them at the monkeys in the trees. The monkeys retaliated by picking fruit from the trees. I watched everyone do this and walked up to a large tree with monkeys on it, imitating what they did and throwing stones at the monkeys. The monkeys immediately picked off coconuts from the tree and threw them at me in return. I picked up the coconuts just like the others did. When my stones were all thrown, I had collected many coconuts. By this time, my companions had also thrown all their stones and had exchanged them for coconuts, each trying to take as many coconuts as possible. In the afternoon, we returned to the city, and I found the friend who had introduced me to these companions. I gave him the coconuts as a thank you for his kindness to me. He said to me, "Take these coconuts with you, sell them, and earn some money to use." He also gave me a key to a room in his house and said, "You can put the leftover coconuts in this small room. Every day, you can go with the others and do as you did today, sell the coconuts you collect, and use the money yourself. Maybe you can save enough to pay for your journey home." I said, "May Allah bless you." I did as he said: every day, I carried a bag of stones, went out with my companions, and did as they did. They would help me find trees with plenty of coconuts, and I could collect as many coconuts as the monkeys threw down. I did this for a while, collecting many high-quality coconuts, selling them, and earning money. I bought things I liked and needed, and my life in this city improved. One day, I was lingering by the sea when I saw a ship coming towards the city and docking at the shore. There were merchants and their goods on the ship, and they went ashore to do business, buying nothing but coconuts. I immediately went to find my friend and told him: a large ship had come, and I wanted to take it home. He said, "It's your own decision." I bid him farewell and thanked him for all his kindness. That same day, I went to the large ship, met the captain, and agreed on the terms for renting the ship. I moved my coconuts and other goods onto the ship and set sail. The ship took us across the sea, from one island to another, from one sea to another, docking at different shores to do business. I sold coconuts, and I also exchanged coconuts for other goods, earning a lot of money, more than enough to compensate for my previous losses. We passed another island that produced cinnamon and pepper. Someone had told us that they had seen a large leaf covering each string of pepper, protecting it from the rain; when the rain stopped, the leaf would turn over and hang to the side. I exchanged coconuts for a lot of cinnamon and pepper. We passed the Happy Island, which produced Kamari aloeswood. After five days of sailing, we passed another large island rich in Chinese aloeswood. Chinese aloeswood was more expensive than Kamari aloeswood, but the people on the island lived in worse conditions and had poorer religious beliefs, being morally corrupt, drunkards who did not understand the call to prayer or supplications. After that, we arrived at the pearl-producing area, and I gave the divers many coconuts in exchange for pearls. I said to them, "You are diving for me this time, to see how things turn out for me?" They dived into the water and brought up many expensive large pearls.