wine and fresh fruits, and sat to drink. They sat for a long time, eating,
drinking, engaging in refined conversation, bantering, and laughing, and
joking, when suddenly they heard a knocking at the door. Without showing
much concern, one of the girls rose, went to the door, and returned after a
while, saying, “Sisters, if you listen to me, you will spend a delightful night, a
night to remember.” They asked, “How so?” She replied, “At this very
moment, three one-eyed dervishes
7
are standing at the door, each with a
shaven head, shaven beard, and shaven eyebrows, and each blind in the right
eye. It is a most amazing coincidence. They have just arrived in Baghdad
from their travel, as one can see from their condition, and this is their first
time in our city. Night overtook them and, being strangers with no one to go
to and unable to find a place to sleep, they knocked at our door, hoping that
someone would give them the key to the stable or offer them a room for the
night. Sisters, each one of them is a sight, with a face that would make a
mourner laugh. Would you agree to let them in for this one time, so that we
may amuse ourselves with them tonight and let them go early tomorrow
morning?” She continued to persuade her sisters until they consented, saying,
“Let them in, but make it a condition that they ‘speak not of what concerns
them not, lest they hear what pleases them not.’”
Pleased, she disappeared for a while and returned, followed by three
one-eyed dervishes, who greeted them, bowed, and stood back. The three
girls rose to greet them, extended welcomes, expressed delight at their visit,
and congratulated them on their safe arrival. The three dervishes thanked
them and again saluted with bows, and when they saw the beautiful hall, the
well-set table laden with wine, nuts, and dried fruits, the burning candles, the
smoking incense, and the three girls, who had thrown off all restraint, they
exclaimed with one voice, “By God, this is fine.” When they turned and
looked at the Porter, who, sore from the beating and slapping and intoxicated
with the wine, lay almost unconscious, they said, “Whether an Arab or a
foreigner, he is a brother dervish.” The porter sat up and, fixing his eyes on
them, said, “Sit here without meddling. Haven’t you read the inscription on
the door, which is quite clearly written, ‘Speak not of what concerns you not,
lest you hear what pleases you not’? Yet as soon as you come in you wag
your tongues at us.” They replied, “O mendicant, we ask for God’s
forgiveness. Our heads are in your hands.” The girls laughed and made peace