Prevod

Then the vizier Dandan said, “Know, O King, that when King Umar al-Numan returned from the hunt and entered the city, he asked after you both. Finding neither of you, he concluded that you had set out on the pilgrimage. This grieved him and filled him with anger and distress. For half a year he questioned every traveler who came or went, seeking news of you, but no one could tell him anything. Then one day, as we sat in his presence, a full year after your disappearance, an old woman came to us, bearing every outward sign of devotion. With her were five full-breasted virgin maidens, lovely as moons, whose beauty and grace were beyond the power of words to describe. Besides their perfect loveliness, they could recite the Quran and were versed in wisdom and the histories of bygone ages. The old woman asked leave to enter the king’s presence, and he granted it. She came in and kissed the ground before him. I was sitting at his side, and when she entered, he invited her to draw near, seeing upon her the marks of piety and asceticism. When she had settled herself beside him, she turned to him and said, ‘Know, O King, that I have with me five maidens whose like no king has ever possessed. They are endowed with intelligence, beauty, grace, and every accomplishment. They recite the Quran according to its various traditions and are versed in the sciences and the histories of ancient nations. Here they stand before you, at your service, O King of the Age. It is by being put to the test that a person is honored or put to shame.’ Your late father looked at the maidens and was delighted by the sight of them. He said to them, ‘Let each of you tell me something she knows of the histories of peoples and nations long past.’” But dawn overtook Shahrazad, and she fell silent, leaving her tale untold.

When it was the seventy-ninth night

She said, “It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the vizier Dandan said to King Daw al-Makan, ‘Your late father looked at the maidens and was delighted by the sight of them. He said to them, “Let each of you tell me something she knows of the histories of peoples and nations long past.”’”