Arthur

Chapter 22

Arthur, Prince of Wales; Ludlow Castle, Wales, England. January of 1502.

“Catalina?”

She smiled, still dizzy with pleasure, looking at me with her eyes semi-closed. “Yes?”

“Do you remember that night when you told me about Aladdin?”

“Oh how could I forget?” She replied.

“Do you know any other stories from the One Thousand and One Nights?”

Catalina thought for a moment. “Yes, quite a few, why?”

“Can you tell me another one?”

She laughed. “Are you trying to corrupt me by making me telling forbidden stories?”

“I suppose it is nothing compared to the fact that you are laying naked in bed with your husband on a day not set by the King.” I jested.

Immediately my wife made a disgusted face. “One thing is to sin against your grandmother’s will. A whole different thing is to sin against God.”

“Isn’t it a sin itself to know those stories?”

Finally, Catalina surrendered. “Oh, very well then!”

She sat up, revealing her pale and perfect flanks, stretching lazily with her eyes closed. Then, putting a blanket around her shoulders, she started narrating it:

“Once the Caliph Harun al-Rashid bought a locked chest from a fisherman. Believing it to be the recipient of some treasure, he ordered it to be opened; but for his horror, he found the sliced body of a woman inside.”

“Horrified, he summoned his vizier Jafar and ordered: ‘Find the responsible for such horrendous act in three days, or else I shall have your head instead!’ Immediately, Jafar went on a journey to find the murderer.”

“Three days had passed, and Jafar had not found anything. Obediently, he returned to the Caliph to seal his fate. As he was getting ready to be executed, two man suddenly appeared and yelled: ‘Stop right away! I am the murderer!’.”

“The Caliph, confused, heard both men arguing over the credits of the crime. In the end, the youngest one was able to describe the chest perfectly, and found to be the murderer. The Caliph, curious, asked why the eldest man was willing to take the guilt for something he had not done.”

“The youngest man said: ‘He is my father-in-law, and the woman you have found in the chest was once my beloved wife. He was trying to protect me. I will tell you the whole story’.”

“‘She was a most loving and devoted wife a man could ever wish for.’ The young man started. ‘Always so caring, dedicated and loyal to me, we lived a happy life. She gave me three precious children whom I treasure above anything in this world. One day, my wife fell terribly ill, and asked me to bring her a very rare apple from Basra, claiming it to be the one thing that would make her healthy again.’”

“‘After an exhausting journey to Basra, I found three of the apples my wife had asked me. But as I returned home, she told me she would not eat them, for she was helplessly ill.’”

“‘I respected her wish, and I went to work the next day. On my way, I found a slave with an apple that looked exactly like the ones I had given my wife. I asked him where had he found such beautiful apples, and he told me his lover had gifted him with one, after her foolish husband brought her three from Basra. ’”

“‘I was heartbroken; immediately, I returned to my house where I found my wife sitting on her bed. I asked her to see the apples I had brought her, and she showed me two. When I inquired about the third one, she said it went missing!’”