Antoine Galland, from the telling of Hannā Diyāb · Complete work
Morgiana Tells Her Master
Morgiana Tells Her Master of 14. Read it here for reference, or continue through the entire work without leaving the reader.
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Ali Baba cependant sortit avant le jour, et alla au bain suivi de son esclave, sans rien savoir de l’événement étonnant qui étoit arrivé chez lui pendant qu’il dormoit, au sujet duquel Morgiane n’avoit pas jugé à propos de l’éveiller, avec d’autant plus de raison, qu’elle n’avoit pas de temps à perdre dans le temps du danger, et qu’il étoit inutile de troubler son repos, après qu’elle l’eut détourné.
Lorsqu’il revint des bains, et qu’il rentra chez lui, le soleil étoit levé. Ali Baba fut si surpris de voir encore les vases d’huile dans leur place, et que le marchand ne se fût pas rendu au marché avec ses mulets, qu’il en demanda la raison à Morgiane qui lui étoit venue ouvrir, et qui avoit laissé toutes choses dans l’état où il les voyoit, pour lui en donner le spectacle, et lui expliquer plus sensiblement ce qu’elle avoit fait pour sa conservation.
« Mon bon maître, dit Morgiane en répondant à Ali Baba, Dieu vous conserve, vous et toute votre maison! Vous apprendrez mieux ce que vous desirez de savoir, quand vous aurez vu ce que j’ai à vous faire voir: prenez la peine de venir avec moi. »
Ali Baba suivit Morgiane. Quand elle eut fermé la porte, elle le mena au premier vase: « Regardez dans le vase, lui dit-elle, et voyez s’il y a de l’huile. »
Ali Baba regarda; et comme il eut vu un homme dans le vase, il se retira en arrière tout effrayé, avec un grand cri.
« Ne craignez rien, lui dit Morgiane, l’homme que vous voyez ne vous fera pas de mal; il en a fait, mais il n’est plus en état d’en faire, ni à vous, ni à personne: il n’a plus de vie. »
« Morgiane, s’écria Ali Baba, que veut dire ce que tu viens de me faire voir? Explique-le-moi. »
« Je vous l’expliquerai, dit Morgiane; mais modérez votre étonnement, et n’éveillez pas la curiosité des voisins d’avoir connoissance d’une chose qu’il est très-important que vous teniez cachée. Voyez auparavant tous les autres vases. »
Ali Baba regarda dans les autres vases l’un après l’autre, depuis le premier jusqu’au dernier ou il y avoit de l’huile, dont il remarqua que l’huile étoit notablement diminuée; et quand il eut fait, il demeura comme immobile, tantôt en jetant les yeux sur les vases, tantôt en regardant Morgiane, sans dire mot, tant la surprise où il étoit étoit grande! À la fin, comme si la parole lui fut revenue: « Et le marchand, demanda-t-il, qu’est-il devenu? »
«Le marchand, répondit Morgiane, est aussi peu marchand que je suis marchande. Je vous dirai qui il est, et ce qu’il est devenu. Mais vous apprendrez toute l’histoire plus commodément dans votre chambre; car il est temps, pour le bien de votre santé, que vous preniez un bouillon après être sorti du bain. »
Pendant qu’Ali Baba se rendit dans sa chambre, Morgiane alla à la cuisine prendre le bouillon; elle le lui apporta, et avant de le prendre, Ali Baba lui dit:
« Commence toujours à satisfaire l’impatience où je suis, et raconte-moi une histoire si étrange, avec toutes ses circonstances. »
Morgiane, pour obéir à Ali Baba, lui dit:
« Seigneur, hier au soir, quand vous vous fûtes retiré pour vous coucher, je préparai votre linge de bain, comme vous veniez de me le commander, et j’en chargeai Abdalla. Ensuite je mis le pot au feu pour le bouillon; et comme je l’écumois, la lampe, faute d’huile, s’éteignit tout-à-coup, et il n’y en avoit pas une goutte dans la cruche. Je cherchai quelques bouts de chandelle, et je n’en trouvai pas un. Abdalla, qui me vit embarrassée, me fit souvenir des vases pleins d’huile qui étoient dans la cour, comme il n’en doutoit pas non plus que moi, et comme vous l’avez cru vous-même. Je pris la cruche et je courus au vase le plus voisin. Mais comme je fus près du vase, il en sortit une voix qui me demanda: « Est-il temps? » Je ne m’effrayai pas; mais en comprenant sur le champ la malice du faux marchand, je répondis sans hésiter: « Pas encore, mais bientôt. » Je passai au vase qui suivoit; et une autre voix me fit la même demande, à laquelle je répondis de même. J’allai aux autres vases l’un après l’autre: à pareille demande, pareille réponse, et je ne trouvai de l’huile que dans le dernier vase, dont j’emplis la cruche. Quand j’eus considéré qu’il y avoit trente-sept voleurs au milieu de votre cour, qui n’attendoient que le signal ou que le commandement de leur chef, que vous avez pris pour un marchand, et à qui vous aviez fait un si grand accueil, au point de mettre toute la maison en combustion, je ne perdis pas de temps, je rapportai la cruche, j’allumai la lampe; et après avoir pris la chaudière la plus grande de la cuisine, j’allai l’emplir d’huile. Je la mis sur le feu, et quand elle fut bien bouillante, j’en allai verser dans chaque vase où étoient les voleurs, autant qu’il en fallut pour les empêcher tous d’exécuter le pernicieux dessein qui les avoit amenés. La chose ainsi terminée de la manière que je l’avois méditée, je revins dans la cuisine, j’éteignis la lampe; et avant que je me couchasse, je me mis à examiner tranquillement par la fenêtre quel parti prendroit le faux marchand d’huile. Au bout de quelque temps, j’entendis que pour signal il jeta de sa fenêtre de petites pierres qui tombèrent sur les vases. Il en jeta une seconde et une troisième fois; et comme il n’aperçut ou n’entendit aucun mouvement, il descendit; et je le vis aller de vase en vase jusqu’au dernier; après quoi l’obscurité de la nuit fit que je le perdis de vue. J’observai encore quelque temps; et comme je vis qu’il ne revenoit pas, je ne doutai pas qu’il ne se fût sauvé par le jardin, désespéré d’avoir si mal réussi. Ainsi, persuadée que la maison étoit en sûreté, je me couchai. »
En achevant, Morgiane ajouta:
« Voilà quelle est l’histoire que vous m’avez demandée, et je suis convaincue que c’est la suite d’une observation que j’avois faite depuis deux ou trois jours, dont je n’avois pas cru devoir vous entretenir, qui est qu’une fois en revenant de la ville de bon matin, j’aperçus que la porte de la rue étoit marquée de blanc, et le jour d’après de rouge, après la marque blanche, et que chaque fois, sans savoir à quel dessein cela pouvoit avoit été fait, j’avois marqué de même et au même endroit, deux ou trois portes de nos voisins, au-dessus et au-dessous. Si vous joignez cela avec ce qui vient d’arriver, vous trouverez que le tout a été machiné par les voleurs de la forêt, dont je ne sais pourquoi la troupe est diminuée de deux. Quoi qu’il en soit, la voilà réduite à trois au plus. Cela fait voir qu’ils avoient juré votre perte, et qu’il est bon que vous vous teniez sur vos gardes, tant qu’il sera certain qu’il en restera quelqu’un au monde. Quant à moi, je n’oublierai rien pour veiller à votre conservation comme j’y suis obligée. »
Quand Morgiane eut achevé, Ali Baba pénétré de la grande obligation qu’il lui avoit, lui dit:
« Je ne mourrai pas que je ne t’aye récompensée, comme tu le mérites. Je te dois la vie; et pour commencer à t’en donner une marque de reconnoissance, je te donne la liberté dès-à-présent, en attendant que j’y mette le comble de la manière que je me le propose. Je suis persuadé avec toi que les quarante voleurs m’ont dressé ces embûches. Dieu m’a délivré par ton moyen. J’espère qu’il continuera de me préserver de leur méchanceté, et qu’en achevant de la détourner de ma tête, il délivrera le monde de leur persécution et de leur engeance maudite. Ce que nous avons à faire, c’est d’enterrer incessamment les corps de cette peste du genre humain, avec un si grand secret, que personne ne puisse rien soupçonner de leur destinée; et c’est à quoi je vais travailler avec Abdalla. »
Musean translation
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from Antoine Galland’s French text of “Histoire d’Ali Baba, et de quarante voleurs exterminés par une esclave” (Les Mille et une nuits, Le Normant edition of 1806, volume VI), paragraph for paragraph, and checked against the French before publication.
Ali Baba, meanwhile, went out before daybreak and went to the baths followed by his slave, knowing nothing of the astonishing event that had taken place in his house while he slept. Morgiana had not thought it right to wake him, all the more reasonably because she had had no time to lose while the danger lasted, and it was useless to disturb his rest once she had turned it aside.
When he came back from the baths and entered his house, the sun was up. Ali Baba was so surprised to see the oil jars still in their places, and that the merchant had not gone to market with his mules, that he asked the reason of Morgiana, who had come to open the door for him. She had left everything as he now saw it, to set the sight before him and explain more vividly what she had done to save him.
"My good master," Morgiana said in answer to Ali Baba, "God keep you and all your house! You will better understand what you wish to know when you have seen what I have to show you. Please come with me."
Ali Baba followed Morgiana. When she had shut the door, she led him to the first jar. "Look into the jar," she said to him, "and see whether there is oil in it."
Ali Baba looked, and when he saw a man in the jar, he drew back in terror with a great cry.
"Don't be afraid," Morgiana said to him. "The man you see will do you no harm. He has done harm, but he is in no state to do any more, to you or to anyone. He is no longer alive."
"Morgiana," cried Ali Baba, "what does this mean that you have just shown me? Explain it to me."
"I will explain it," said Morgiana, "but check your astonishment, and do not rouse the neighbors' curiosity to learn of a thing it is very important for you to keep hidden. First, look at all the other jars."
Ali Baba looked into the other jars one after another, from the first to the last, where there was oil, and he noticed that its oil had gone down considerably. When he had done, he stood as if frozen, now casting his eyes on the jars, now looking at Morgiana, without a word, so great was his surprise. At last, as though speech had returned to him, he asked, "And the merchant, what has become of him?"
"The merchant," Morgiana answered, "is no more a merchant than I am. I will tell you who he is and what has become of him. But you will hear the whole story more comfortably in your room, for it is time, for the good of your health, that you took some broth after coming out of the bath."
While Ali Baba went to his room, Morgiana went to the kitchen for the broth. She brought it to him, and before taking it, Ali Baba said to her:
"Begin at once to satisfy my impatience, and tell me so strange a story with all its details."
To obey Ali Baba, Morgiana said to him:
"Master, last night, when you had gone to bed, I got your bathing linen ready as you had just told me to, and gave it to Abdalla. Then I put the pot on the fire for the broth, and as I was skimming it, the lamp went out all at once for lack of oil, and there was not a drop in the jug. I looked for some candle ends and could not find a single one. Abdalla, seeing me at a loss, reminded me of the jars full of oil in the courtyard, for he had no more doubt of it than I had, and as you believed yourself. I took the jug and ran to the nearest jar. But as I came near the jar, a voice came out of it and asked me, 'Is it time?' I was not frightened, but understanding at once the false merchant's wickedness, I answered without hesitating, 'Not yet, but soon.' I went on to the next jar, and another voice asked me the same thing, and I answered the same way. I went to the other jars one after another: the same question, the same answer. I found oil only in the last jar, and with it I filled the jug. When I had considered that there were thirty-seven robbers in the middle of your courtyard, waiting only for the signal or the command of their chief, whom you took for a merchant and had welcomed so warmly, to set the whole house ablaze, I lost no time. I brought back the jug and lit the lamp, and taking the largest cauldron in the kitchen, I went and filled it with oil. I set it on the fire, and when it was boiling hard, I went and poured into each jar where the robbers were as much as was needed to keep them all from carrying out the deadly plan that had brought them. When the thing was finished as I had planned it, I came back into the kitchen and put out the lamp, and before going to bed I set myself to watch quietly from the window what the false oil merchant would do. After some time I heard him throw little stones from his window as a signal, and they fell on the jars. He threw them a second time and a third, and seeing and hearing no movement, he came down, and I saw him go from jar to jar as far as the last, after which I lost sight of him in the darkness of the night. I watched a while longer, and when I saw that he did not come back, I had no doubt he had escaped through the garden, in despair at having failed so badly. So, satisfied that the house was safe, I went to bed."
As she finished, Morgiana added:
"That is the story you asked me for, and I am convinced it follows from something I had noticed two or three days ago, which I did not think I needed to trouble you with. Once, coming back from the city early in the morning, I saw that our street door was marked in white, and the next day in red, next to the white mark, and each time, without knowing for what purpose it could have been done, I marked two or three of our neighbors' doors, above and below, the same way and in the same place. If you put that together with what has just happened, you will find the whole thing was plotted by the robbers of the forest, whose band, I don't know why, is two men short. Be that as it may, it is now reduced to three at most. This shows that they had sworn to destroy you, and that you would do well to stay on your guard as long as it is certain that any of them is left in the world. As for me, I will spare nothing to watch over your safety, as I am bound to do."
When Morgiana had finished, Ali Baba, deeply moved by how much he owed her, said to her:
"I will not die before I have rewarded you as you deserve. I owe you my life, and to begin to show you my gratitude, I give you your freedom from this moment, until I crown it in the way I intend. I am convinced, as you are, that the forty robbers laid this trap for me. God has delivered me through you. I hope He will go on protecting me from their malice, and that in turning it wholly away from my head, He will deliver the world from their persecution and their accursed breed. What we must do now is bury the bodies of this plague of mankind without delay, and in such secrecy that no one can suspect anything of their fate. That is what I am going to see to with Abdalla."
Plain English translation
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from the same French text of Galland’s 1806 Le Normant edition, paragraph for paragraph.
Meanwhile, before sunrise, Ali Baba went out to the baths with his slave. He had no idea about the amazing thing that had happened in his house while he was asleep. Morgiana hadn't thought it was a good idea to wake him. She had good reasons. While the danger was going on, she had no time to lose. And once she had stopped it, there was no point in disturbing his sleep.
By the time he came back from the baths and got home, the sun was up. Ali Baba was very surprised to see the oil jars still in the same place. The oil seller hadn't gone to the market with his mules. Morgiana had come to open the door for him, so he asked her why. She had left everything the way he found it on purpose. She wanted him to see it for himself so she could explain more clearly what she had done to save him.
"My good master," Morgiana answered, "may God protect you and everyone in your house! You'll understand what you want to know much better once you've seen what I have to show you. Please come with me."
Ali Baba followed Morgiana. She shut the door and took him to the first jar. "Look inside the jar," she said, "and see if there's any oil in it."
Ali Baba looked. When he saw a man in the jar, he jumped back, terrified, and let out a loud cry.
"Don't be scared," Morgiana told him. "The man you see won't hurt you. He's done harm before, but he can't do any more, to you or to anybody. He's dead."
"Morgiana," Ali Baba cried, "what is this you've just shown me? Explain it to me."
"I'll explain," Morgiana said. "But try not to look so shocked. You don't want the neighbors getting curious and finding out about something that it's very important to keep hidden. First, go look at all the other jars."
Ali Baba looked into the other jars, one after another, from the first to the last, the one that held oil. He noticed that there was a lot less oil in it. When he was done, he just stood there, as if he couldn't move. He looked at the jars, then at Morgiana, then back again, without saying a word. He was that surprised. Finally, as if he had found his voice again, he asked, "And the oil seller? What happened to him?"
"The oil seller," Morgiana answered, "is no more an oil seller than I am. I'll tell you who he is and what happened to him. But it'll be easier to hear the whole story in your room. After a bath, it's time for you to have some soup. It's good for your health."
Ali Baba went to his room, and Morgiana went to the kitchen to get the soup. She brought it to him. Before he ate it, Ali Baba said:
"Start right now. I can't wait. Tell me this strange story, with every detail."
Morgiana did as he asked. She said:
"Sir, last night, after you went to bed, I got your bath towels ready, like you told me, and gave them to Abdalla. Then I put the pot on the fire for your soup. While I was skimming it, the lamp suddenly went out because it had run out of oil. There wasn't a drop left in the oil jug. I looked for some candle stubs and couldn't find a single one. Abdalla saw that I didn't know what to do. He reminded me about the jars full of oil in the yard. He was sure they had oil in them, the same as I was and the same as you were. I took the jug and hurried to the closest jar. When I got near it, a voice came out of it and asked me, 'Is it time?' I didn't panic. Right away I understood the fake oil seller's evil trick. I answered without stopping to think, 'Not yet, but soon.' I went to the next jar. Another voice asked me the same thing, and I gave the same answer. I went to the other jars, one after another. Every time I got the same question, and every time I gave the same answer. The only jar with oil in it was the last one, and I filled the jug from it. I realized that there were thirty-seven robbers in the middle of your yard. They were only waiting for the signal or the order from their leader. You thought he was an oil seller, and you had been so welcoming to him. They were going to turn the whole house upside down. I didn't waste any time. I took the jug back and lit the lamp. I took the biggest pot in the kitchen and went and filled it with oil. I put it on the fire. When it was boiling hard, I went and poured it into every jar that had a robber in it. I poured in as much as it took to stop all of them from carrying out the evil plan that had brought them here. Once it was done the way I had planned, I came back into the kitchen and put out the lamp. Before I went to bed, I watched quietly from the window to see what the fake oil seller would do. After a while I heard him throw small stones from his window as a signal. They landed on the jars. He threw some a second time and a third time. When he didn't see or hear anything move, he came down. I saw him go from jar to jar, all the way to the last one. Then it was too dark and I couldn't see him anymore. I kept watching for a little longer. When I saw he wasn't coming back, I was sure he had gotten away through the garden. He must have been desperate at how badly it had gone for him. So I was sure the house was safe, and I went to bed."
When she finished, Morgiana added:
"That's the story you asked for. I'm sure it has to do with something I noticed two or three days ago. I didn't think I needed to bother you about it. One morning I was coming back early from town, and I saw that the door to our house had a white mark on it. The next day it had a red mark next to the white one. Both times I didn't know why anyone would do that, so I made the same mark in the same place on two or three of our neighbors' doors on either side. If you put that together with what just happened, you'll see that the robbers from the forest planned the whole thing. There are two fewer of them than before. I don't know why. Anyway, now there are three of them left at the very most. It shows they had sworn to kill you. You should stay on guard as long as you know for sure that any of them are still alive. As for me, I'll do everything I can to keep you safe. It's my duty."
When Morgiana finished, Ali Baba felt how much he owed her. He said:
"I won't die before I've rewarded you the way you deserve. I owe you my life. To start showing you how grateful I am, I'm setting you free, starting right now. Later I'll add to it in the way I have in mind. I agree with you. The forty robbers set this trap for me. God saved me through you. I hope he'll keep protecting me from their evil. I hope he'll turn it away from me completely and free the world from these cursed people and the harm they do. What we have to do now is bury the bodies of these monsters right away. We have to do it so secretly that nobody can guess what happened to them. I'm going to take care of that with Abdalla."