Arabian Nights Page #2

- He is sure to be taken again.

- What is that to me?

You have said it is written in your

stars that you will be a queen.

If Kamar leaves Bagdad now alone,

he will have a chance outside

the city to organize his followers,

to try again to seize

his brother's throne.

- Then you could be a queen indeed.

- I wonder.

It is the way, Sherazade,

the way of destiny.

Believe me.

You are right, Ali.

Well, what are you

waiting for, you fool?

Hurry, you fools! Come a running!

Sinbad, come! Hurry! Run!

Do something! Get the baskets!

What about the wounded one?

- He has nothing to do with us.

- Kamar's men tried to kill him.

If they return seeking you

and find him...

Very well.

He shall come with us.

Come! Move! Go!

- Here.

- If I only had my magic lamp.

One rub and out popped a genie

ten leagues high, my slave.

You've told that lamp story

so often, you believe it yourself!

Look, look. My lamp!

Oh, the genie at last!

This is no time for sleeping.

I told you to get the litter.

Come! Move!

Aladdin. Sinbad.

Forward, all of you. Bear that

litter. Move, you fools!

You, with the cart, forward!

Name of Allah, hurry!

Don't tire yourself

working so hard, Sinbad.

This calls to mind an experience

I had when I was a sailor.

We don't want to hear it.

I'd like less Sinbad the sailor,

more Sinbad the worker.

Stop your lies and lend a hand.

This particular voyage had

lasted for six long years.

Here's the body.

How do you know it's Haroun?

He wears a robe

and a ring of the Caliph.

Hail, O Kamar-Al-Zaman.

This day you shall mount the throne

of the Caliphs in your brother's stead.

My throne... and Sherazade's.

I have already sent the captain of

the guard to escort her here, my lord.

Nadan, you've helped me to

achieve my greatest happiness.

You'll not find me ungrateful.

To serve you loyally

is reward enough, my lord.

The captain has returned, my lord.

Let him enter.

Where's Sherazade?

I... I do not know, my lord.

- She has disappeared.

- You lie.

It is the truth, O mighty one.

The circus has gone

and all the players with it.

I can find no trace of them.

I tried, but...

Stop babbling like a fool.

The girl must be found. Take your men

and search every house in the city.

Find Sherazade and bring her here!

Captain, a word,

a word of interest to you.

I have great influence

with the Caliph.

I do not wish it to be

destroyed by a dancing girl.

Such a beautiful beard.

- He'll probably want to kill you!

- He'll thank me.

Oh, I still say we should have found

a doctor for that wound of his.

No, Aladdin, that's not it either.

Well? What are you doing?

Just what you told us,

keeping quiet and hiding.

Do you have to keep quiet so quietly?

There's work to be done.

Did you find out?

What of Kamar?

Allah protect us.

No one knows.

Bagdad is in such a turmoil and just

when we're doing so much business!

Is he still here?

Name of the prophet,

what have you done to him?

Anyway, who asked you to pick up

dying strangers in the street

- to share my quarters and eat my food?

- He's eaten none of your food.

Hear that? He's awakening.

Hungry, I'll wager my life.

Quiet, fat one.

Kamar.

- Kamar.

- Kamar is not here.

Who are you?

Who...

We are your friends.

But this place,

how have I come here?

I...

- Who dared?

- I was your barber, good sir.

It was necessary.

The followers of Kamar are everywhere.

Everywhere, are they?

Well, I'll...

You're weak from loss of blood.

I'm afraid I need food

and something to drink.

I knew it!

See? I told you. He's a beggar.

Now see here, you. If you would share

in our food, you must work.

What can you do?

Can you juggle, stand on your head?

That's it!

You... standing on your head.

- It wasn't a dream.

- No, it certainly was not.

- And afterwards, a girl.

- There was a girl?

Yes. Sherazade.

Sherazade.

Of course.

But where is she?

- In there, asleep.

- She nursed you most of the night.

Your shoulder.

All this is very nice, but my

question is still unanswered.

You, sir, are you in a position

to pay for all these ministrations?

Ahmad, be silent.

You shall be repaid,

all of you, many fold.

- But how soon?

- At once, today.

As soon as I return to my...

to my home.

- But what guarantee have I of all this?

- Please, Ahmad!

This man to me is but an unsampled

well on a strange oasis.

Why should I trust him?

My face is not enough?

A face is but a face.

Skin and bones with eyes.

Yours could be the face of a rogue,

a robber, a cutthroat!

How should I know?

Then suppose I swear to repay you?

Swear by the beard of the Caliph?

Would that suffice?

Of course it would!

I know I shall regret this.

But you...

Here.

Valda, bring him food and wine,

the new wine.

And the rest of you, because we all

must be idle, must you all be idle?

There's work to be done.

Go, go!

This calls to mind an experience

I had when I was a sailor.

- In farthermost...

- No tales, Sinbad.

Work, work. Here, take this.

Ingrate! Brother to the only brother

of an only brother of an idiot!

You must forgive Ahmad.

He is really kindhearted.

I know. And I'm grateful

to him and all of you.

- Hail, O Mighty Caliph.

- You know?

- Yes.

- But the others?

I was afraid to tell them.

They might have made too much fuss.

And I had problems enough.

You're a very old one for one so young.

What is your name?

Ali Ben Ali.

Your slave 'til death,

O Mighty Caliph.

Not my slave, Ali, my friend.

Who, from this hour forth, can ask

anything in my power to grant.

It is his.

Thank you, noble one.

It was Sherazade

who really saved you.

It was she who got Ahmad

to let us bring you here.

- The girl does not know?

- No.

Yet she... she cared for me

through half the night.

- Why?

- She is a woman.

And all women, like all mules,

are unpredictable.

Only Sherazade is

worse than any mule!

Sherazade!

We were just speaking about you.

Ahmad will be looking for me.

I better go help the others.

The tongue of Ali is swift,

too swift for his own good.

Will you sit with me while I eat?

I understand I have

much to thank you for.

It was the whim of Ali

that you should come with us.

I did not mind.

And last night... nursing me?

I could not sleep anyway.

You would really trouble yourself

for no man, except perhaps Kamar.

Everyone knows you promised to

marry him if he became Caliph.

And why not?

It is my destiny to marry a

king and rule a kingdom.

- Written in your stars.

- You don't believe it?

You think I am not worthy

to be a queen?

I think you're sublimely worthy.

There's one trouble.

What if your friend Kamar

never gains the throne?

Then he will do without me.

And if he loves you?

I do not desire love.

I desire power.

- You are sure of that, Sherazade?

- I am sure.

You say that with your lips.

There's a different answer in your eyes.

You are dreaming.

You are a woman to make men dream.

You could love a man for himself alone,

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