"Look! these be the Islands of King Ghayur;" Kamar al-Zaman joyed with
exceeding joy and thanked him for what he had done and kissed him
between the eyes and strained him to his bosom. And after reaching the
Islands and entering the city they took up their lodging in a khan,
where they rested three days from the fatigues of their wayfare; after
which Marzawan carried Kamar al-Zaman to the bath and, clothing him in
merchant's gear, provided him with a geomantic tablet of gold,[299] with
a set of astrological instruments and with an astrolabe of silver,
plated with gold. Then he said to him, "Arise, O my lord, and take thy
stand under the walls of the King's palace and cry out:—I am the ready
Reckoner; I am the Scrivener; I am he who weeteth the Sought and the
Seeker; I am the finished man of Science; I am the Astrologer
accomplished in experience! Where then is he that seeketh? As soon as
the King heareth this, he will send after thee and carry thee in to his
daughter the Princess Budur, thy lover; but when about going in to her
do thou say to him:—Grant me three days' delay, and if she recover, give
her to me to wife; and if not, deal with me as thou dealtest with those
who forewent me. He will assuredly agree to this, so as soon as thou art
alone with her, discover thyself to her; and when she seeth thee, she
will recover strength and her madness will cease from her and she will
be made whole in one night. Then do thou give her to eat and drink, and
her father, rejoicing in her recovery, will marry thee to her and share
his kingdom with thee; for he hath imposed on himself this condition and
so peace be upon thee." Now when Kamar al-Zaman heard these words he
exclaimed, "May I never lack thy benefits!", and, taking the set of
instruments aforesaid, sallied forth from the caravanserai in the dress
of his order. He walked on till he stood under the walls of King
Ghayur's palace, where he began to cry out, saying, "I am the Scribe, I
am the ready Reckoner, I am he who knoweth the Sought and the Seeker; I
am he who openeth the Volume and summeth up the Sums;[300] who Dreams
can expound whereby the sought is found! Where then is the seeker?" Now
when the city people heard this, they flocked to him, for it was long
since they had seen Scribe or Astrologer, and they stood round him and,
looking upon him, they saw one in the prime of beauty and grace and
perfect elegance, and they marvelled at his loveliness, and his fine
stature and symmetry. Presently one of them accosted him and said,
"Allah upon thee, O thou fair and young, with the eloquent tongue! incur
not this affray; nor throw thy life away in thine ambition to marry the
Princess Budur. Only cast thine eyes upon yonder heads hung up; all
their owners have lost their lives in this same venture." Yet Kamar
al-Zaman paid no heed to them, but cried out at the top of his voice,
saying, "I am the Doctor, the Scrivener! I am the Astrologer, the
Calculator!" And all the townsfolk forbade him from this, but he
regarded them not at all, saying in his mind, "None knoweth desire save
whoso suffereth it." Then he began again to cry his loudest, shouting,
"I am the Scrivener, I am the Astrologer!"——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al-Zaman in
no wise heeded the words of the citizens, but continued to cry out, "I
am the Calculator! I am the Astrologer!" Thereupon all the townsfolk
were wroth with him and said to him, "Thou art nothing but an imbecile,
silly, self-willed lad! Have pity on thine own youth and tender years
and beauty and loveliness." But he cried all the more, "I am the
Astrologer, I am the Calculator! Is there any one that seeketh?" As he
was thus crying and the people forbidding him, behold, King Ghayur heard
his voice and the clamour of the lieges and said to his Wazir, "Go down
and bring me yon Astrologer." So the Wazir went down in haste, and
taking Kamar al-Zaman from the midst of the crowd led him up to the
King; and when in the presence he kissed the ground and began
versifying:—
Eight glories meet, all, all conjoined in thee, ✿ Whereby may Fortune
aye thy servant be:
Lere, lordliness, grace, generosity; ✿ Plain words, deep meaning,
honour, victory!
When the King looked upon him, he seated him by his side and said to
him, "By Allah, O my son, an thou be not an astrologer, venture not thy
life nor comply with my condition; for I have bound myself that whoso
goeth in to my daughter and healeth her not of that which hath befallen
her I will strike off his head; but whoso healeth her him I will marry
to her. So let not thy beauty and loveliness delude thee: for, by Allah!
and again, by Allah! if thou cure her not, I will assuredly cut off thy
head." And Kamar al-Zaman replied, "This is thy right; and I consent,
for I wot of this ere came I hither." Then King Ghayur took the Kazis to
witness against him and delivered him to the eunuch, saying, "Carry this
one to the Lady Budur." So the eunuch took him by the hand and led him
along the passage; but Kamar al-Zaman outstripped him and pushed on
before, whilst the eunuch ran after him, saying, "Woe to thee! Hasten
not to thine own ruin: never yet saw I astrologer so eager for his
proper destruction; but thou weetest not what calamities are before
thee." Thereupon Kamar al-Zaman turned away his face from the
eunuch——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the eunuch
thus addressed Kamar al-Zaman, "Patience, and no indecent hurry!"; the
Prince turned away his face and began repeating these couplets:—
A Sage, I feel a fool before thy charms; ✿ Distraught, I wot not what
the words I say:
If say I "Sun," away thou dost not pass ✿ From eyes of me, while suns go
down with day:
Thou hast completed Beauty, in whose praise ✿ Speech-makers fail, and
talkers lose their way.
Then the eunuch stationed Kamar al-Zaman behind the curtain of the
Princess's door and the Prince said to him, "Which of the two ways will
please thee more; treat and cure thy lady from here or go in and heal
her within the curtain?" The eunuch marvelled at his words and answered,
"An thou heal her from here it were better proof of thy skill." Upon
this Kamar al-Zaman sat down behind the curtain and, taking out
ink-case, pen and paper, wrote the following: "This is the writ of one
whom passion swayeth. ✿ and whom longing waylayeth ✿ and wakeful misery
slayeth ✿ one who despaireth of living ✿ and looketh for naught but
dying ✿ with whose mourning heart ✿ nor comforter nor helper taketh part
✿ One whose sleepless eyes ✿ none succoureth from anxieties ✿ whose day
is passed in fire ✿ and his night in torturing desire ✿ whose body is
wasted for much emaciation ✿ and no messenger from his beloved bringeth
him consolation." And after this he indited the following couplets:—
I write with heart devoted to thy thought, ✿ And eyelids chafed by tears
of blood they bled;
And body clad, by loving pine and pain, ✿ In shirt of leanness, and worn
down to thread,
To thee complain I of Love's tormentry, ✿ Which ousted hapless Patience
from her stead:
_A toi!_ show favour and some mercy deign, ✿ For Passion's cruel hands
my vitals shred.
And beneath his lines he wrote these cadenced sentences, "The heart's
pain is removed ✿ by union with the beloved ✿ and whomso his lover
paineth ✿ only Allah assaineth! ✿ If we or you have wrought deceit ✿ may
the deceiver win defeat! ✿ There is naught goodlier than a lover who
keeps faith ✿ with the beloved who works him scathe." Then, by way of
subscription, he wrote, "From the distracted and despairing man ✿ whom
love and longing trepan ✿ from the lover under passion's ban ✿ the
prisoner of transport and distraction ✿ from this Kamar al-Zaman ✿ son
of Shahriman ✿ to the peerless one ✿ of the fair Houris the pearl-union
✿ to the Lady Budur ✿ daughter of King Al-Ghayur ✿ Know thou that by
night I am sleepless ✿ and by day in distress ✿ consumed with increasing
wasting and pain ✿ and longing and love unfain ✿ abounding in sighs ✿
with tear-flooded eyes ✿ by passion captive ta'en ✿ of Desire the slain
✿ with heart seared by the parting of us twain ✿ the debtor of
longing-bane, of sickness cup-companion ✿ I am the sleepless one, who
never closeth eye ✿ the slave of love, whose tears run never dry ✿ for
the fire of my heart is still burning ✿ and never hidden is the flame of
my yearning." Then on the margin Kamar al-Zaman wrote this admired
verse:—
Salam from graces hoarded by my Lord ✿ To her, who holds my heart and
soul in hoard!
And also these:—
Pray'ee grant me some words from your lips, belike ✿ Such mercy may
comfort and cool these eyne:
From the stress of my love and my pine for you, ✿ I make light of what
makes me despised, indign:
Allah guard a folk whose abode was far, ✿ And whose secret I kept in the
holiest shrine:
Now Fortune in kindness hath favoured me ✿ Thrown on threshold dust of
this love o' mine:
By me bedded I looked on Budúr, whose sun ✿ The moon of my fortunes hath
made to shine.
Then, having affixed his seal-ring to the missive, he wrote these
couplets in the place of address:—
Ask of my writ what wrote my pen in dole, ✿ And hear my tale of misery
from this scroll;
My hand is writing while my tears down flow, ✿ And to the paper 'plains
my longing soul:
My tears cease not to roll upon this sheet, ✿ And if they stopped I'd
cause blood-gouts to roll.
And at the end he added this other verse:—
I've sent the ring from off thy finger bore ✿ I when we met, now deign
my ring restore!
Then Kamar al-Zaman set the Lady Budur's ring inside the letter and
sealed it and gave it to the eunuch, who took it and went in with it to
his mistress.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al-Zaman,
after setting the seal-ring inside the epistle, gave it to the eunuch
who took it and went in with it to his mistress; and, when the Lady
Budur opened it, she found therein her own very ring. Then she read the
paper and when she understood its purport and knew that it was from her
beloved, and that he in person stood behind the curtain, her reason
began to fly and her breast swelled for joy and rose high; and she
repeated these couplets:—
Long, long have I bewailed the sev'rance of our loves, ✿ With tears that
from my lids streamed down like burning rain;
And vowed that, if the days deign reunite us two, ✿ My lips should never
speak of severance again:
Joy hath o'erwhelmed me so that, for the very stress ✿ Of that which
gladdens me to weeping I am fain.
Tears are become to you a habit, O my eyes, ✿ So that ye weep as well
for gladness as for pain.[301]
And having finished her verse, the Lady Budur stood up forthwith and,
firmly setting her feet to the wall, strained with all her might upon
the collar of iron, till she brake it from her neck and snapped the
chains. Then going forth from behind the curtain she threw herself on
Kamar al-Zaman and kissed him on the mouth, like a pigeon feeding its
young.[302] And she embraced him with all the stress of her love and
longing and said to him, "O my lord, do I wake or sleep and hath the
Almighty indeed vouchsafed us reunion after disunion? Laud be to Allah
who hath our loves repaired, even after we despaired!" Now when the
eunuch saw her in this case, he went off running to King Ghayur and,
kissing the ground before him, said, "O my lord, know that this
Astrologer is indeed the Shaykh of all astrologers, who are fools to
him, all of them; for verily he hath cured thy daughter while standing
behind the curtain and without going in to her." Quoth the King, "Look
well to it, is this news true?" Answered the Eunuch, "O my lord, rise
and come and see for thyself how she hath found strength to break the
iron chains and is come forth to the Astrologer, kissing and embracing
him." Thereupon the King arose and went in to his daughter who, when she
saw him, stood up in haste and covered her head,[303] and recited these
two couplets:—
The tooth-stick love I not; for when I say, ✿ "Siwák,"[304] I miss thee,
for it sounds "Siwá-ka":
The caper-tree I love; for when I say, ✿ "Arák"[305] it sounds I look on
thee, "Ará-ka."
Thereupon the King was so transported for joy at her recovery that he
felt like to fly and kissed her between the eyes, for he loved her with
dearest love; then, turning to Kamar al-Zaman, he asked him who he was,
and said, "What countryman art thou?" So the Prince told him his name
and rank, and informed him that he was the son of King Shahriman, and
presently related to him the whole story from beginning to end; and
acquainted him with what happened between himself and the Lady Budur;
and how he had taken her seal-ring from her finger and had placed it on
his own; whereat Ghayur marvelled and said, "Verily your story deserveth
in books to be chronicled, and when you are dead and gone age after age
be read." Then he summoned Kazis and witnesses forthright and married
the Lady Budur to Prince Kamar al-Zaman; after which he bade decorate
the city seven days long. So they spread the tables with all manner of
meats, whilst the drums beat and the criers announced the glad tidings,
and all the troops donned their richest clothes; and they illuminated
the city and held high festival. Then Kamar al-Zaman went in to the Lady
Budur and the King rejoiced in her recovery and in her marriage; and
praised Allah for that He had made her to fall in love with a goodly
youth of the sons of Kings. So they unveiled her and displayed the bride
before the bridegroom; and both were the living likeness of each other
in beauty and comeliness and grace and love-allurement. Then Kamar
al-Zaman lay with her that night and took his will of her, whilst she in
like manner fulfilled her desire of him and enjoyed his charms and
grace; and they slept in each other's arms till the morning. On the
morrow, the King made a wedding-feast to which he gathered all comers
from the Islands of the Inner and Outer Seas, and he spread the tables
with choicest viands nor ceased the banquetting for a whole month. Now
when Kamar al-Zaman had thus fulfilled his will and attained his inmost
desire, and whenas he had tarried awhile with the Princess Budur, he
bethought him of his father, King Shahriman, and saw him in a dream,
saying, "O my son, is it thus thou dealest with me?" and reciting in the
vision these two couplets:—
Indeed to watch the darkness-moon he blighted me, ✿ And to star-gaze
through longsome night he plighted me:
Easy, my heart! for haply he'll unite with thee; ✿ And patience, Sprite!
with whatso ills he dight to thee.
Now after seeing his father in the dream and hearing his reproaches,
Kamar al-Zaman awoke in the morning, afflicted and troubled, whereupon
the Lady Budur questioned him and he told her what he had seen——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Kamar
al-Zaman acquainted the Lady Budur with what he had seen in his dream,
she and he went in to her sire and, telling him what had passed,
besought his leave to travel. He gave the Prince the permission he
sought; but the Princess said, "O my father, I cannot bear to be parted
from him." Quoth Ghayur, her sire, "Then go thou with him," and gave her
leave to be absent a whole twelvemonth and afterwards to visit him in
every year once; so she kissed his hand and Kamar al-Zaman did the like.
Thereupon King Ghayur proceeded to equip his daughter and her bridegroom
for the journey, and furnished them with outfit and appointments for the
march; and brought out of his stables horses marked with his own brand,
blood-dromedaries[306] which can journey ten days without water, and
prepared a litter for his daughter, besides loading mules and camels
with victual; moreover, he gave them slaves and eunuchs to serve them
and all manner of travelling gear; and on the day of departure, when
King Ghayur took leave of Kamar al-Zaman, he bestowed on him ten
splendid suits of cloth of gold embroidered with stones of price,
together with ten riding horses and ten she-camels, and a treasury of
money;[307] and he charged him to love and cherish his daughter the Lady
Budur. Then the King accompanied them to the farthest limits of his
Islands where, going in to his daughter Budur in the litter, he kissed
her and strained her to his bosom, weeping and repeating:—
O thou who wooest Severance, easy fare! ✿ For love-embrace belongs to
lover-friend:
Fare softly! Fortune's nature falsehood is, ✿ And parting shall love's
every meeting end.
Then leaving his daughter, he went to her husband and bade him farewell
and kissed him; after which he parted from them and, giving the order
for the march he returned to his capital with his troops. The Prince and
Princess and their suite fared on without stopping through the first day
and the second and the third and the fourth; nor did they cease faring
for a whole month till they came to a spacious champaign, abounding in
pasturage, where they pitched their tents; and they ate and drank and
rested, and the Princess Budur lay down to sleep. Presently, Kamar
al-Zaman went in to her and found her lying asleep clad in a shift of
apricot-coloured silk that showed all and everything; and on her head
was a coif of gold-cloth embroidered with pearls and jewels. The breeze
raised her shift which laid bare her navel and showed her breasts and
displayed a stomach whiter than snow, each one of whose dimples would
contain an ounce of benzoin-oinment.[308] At this sight, his love and
longing redoubled, and he began reciting:—
An were it asked me when by hell-fire burnt, ✿ When flames of heart my
vitals hold and hem,
"Which wouldst thou chose, say wouldst thou rather them, ✿ Or drink
sweet cooling draught?" I'd answer, "Them!"
Then he put his hand to the band of her petticoat-trousers and drew it
and loosed it, for his soul lusted after her, when he saw a jewel, red
as dye-wood, made fast to the band. He untied it and examined it and,
seeing two lines of writing graven thereon, in a character not to be
read, marvelled and said in his mind, "Were not this bezel something to
her very dear she had not bound it to her trousers-band nor hidden it in
the most privy and precious place about her person, that she might not
be parted from it. Would I knew what she doth with this and what is the
secret that is in it." So saying, he took it and went outside the tent
to look at it in the light,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day,
and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when he took the
bezel to look at it in the light, the while he was holding it behold, a
bird swooped down on him and, snatching the same from his hand, flew off
with it and then lighted on the ground. Thereupon Kamar al-Zaman fearing
to lose the jewel, ran after the bird; but it flew on before him,
keeping just out of his reach, and ceased not to draw him on from dale
to dale and from hill to hill, till the night starkened and the
firmament darkened, when it roosted on a high tree. So Kamar al-Zaman
stopped under the tree confounded in thought and faint for famine and
fatigue, and giving himself up for lost, would have turned back, but
knew not the way whereby he came, for that darkness had overtaken him.
Then he exclaimed, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in
Allah, the Glorious, the Great!"; and laying him down under the tree
(whereon was the bird) slept till the morning, when he awoke and saw the
bird also wake up and fly away. He arose and walked after it, and it
flew on little by little before him, after the measure of his faring; at
which he smiled and said, "By Allah, a strange thing! Yesterday, this
bird flew before me as fast as I could run, and to-day, knowing that I
have awoke tired and cannot run, he flieth after the measure of my
faring. By Allah, this is wonderful! But I must needs follow this bird
whether it lead me to death or to life; and I will go wherever it goeth,
for at all events it will not abide save in some inhabited land."[309]
So he continued to follow the bird which roosted every night upon a
tree; and he ceased not pursuing it for a space of ten days, feeding on
the fruits of the earth and drinking of its waters. At the end of this
time, he came in sight of an inhabited city, whereupon the bird darted
off like the glance of the eye and, entering the town, disappeared from
Kamar al-Zaman, who knew not what it meant or whither it was gone; so he
marvelled at this and exclaimed, "Praise be to Allah who hath brought me
in safety to this city!" Then he sat down by a stream and washed his
hands and feet and face and rested awhile; and, recalling his late easy
and pleasant life of union with his beloved and contrasting it with his
present plight of trouble and fatigue and distress and strangerhood and
famine and severance, the tears streamed from his eyes and he began
repeating these cinquains:—
Fain had I hid thy handwork, but it showed, ✿ Changed sleep for wake,
and wake with me abode:
When thou didst spurn my heart I cried aloud ✿ Fate, hold thy hand and
cease to gird and goad:
In dole and danger aye my sprite I spy!
An but the Lord of Love were just to me, ✿ Sleep fro' my eyelids ne'er
were forced to flee.
Pity, my lady, one for love o' thee ✿ From his tribe's darling brought
to low degree:
Love came and doomed Wealth beggar-death to die.
The railers chide at thee: I ne'er gainsay, ✿ But stop my ears and
dumbly sign them Nay:
"Thou lov'st a slender may," say they; I say, ✿ "I've picked her out and
cast the rest away:"
Enough; when Fate descends she blinds man's eye![310]
And as soon as he had finished his poetry and had taken his rest, he
rose and walked on little by little, till he entered the city——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that as soon as Kamar
al-Zaman had finished his poetry and had taken his rest, he arose and
entered the city-gate[311] not knowing whither he should wend. He
crossed the city from end to end, entering by the land-gate, and ceased
not faring on till he came out at the sea-gate, for the city stood on
the sea-shore. Yet he met not a single one of its citizens. And after
issuing from the land-gate he fared forwards and ceased not faring till
he found himself among the orchards and gardens of the place; and,
passing among the trees presently came to a garden and stopped before
its door; whereupon the keeper came out to him and saluted him. The
Prince returned his greeting and the gardener bade him welcome, saying,
"Praised be Allah that thou hast come off safe from the dwellers of this
city! Quick, come into the garth, ere any of the townfolk see thee."
Thereupon Kamar al-Zaman entered that garden, wondering in mind, and
asked the keeper, "What may be the history of the people of this city
and who may they be?" The other answered, "Know that the people of this
city are all Magians: but Allah upon thee, tell me how thou camest to
this city and what caused thy coming to our capital." Accordingly Kamar
al-Zaman told the gardener all that had befallen him from beginning to
end, whereat he marvelled with great marvel and said, "Know, O my son,
that the cities of Al-Islam lie far from us; and between us and them is
a four months' voyage by sea and a whole twelve months' journey by land.
We have a ship which saileth every year with merchandise to the nearest
Moslem country and which entereth the seas of the Ebony Islands and
thence maketh the Khalidan Islands, the dominions of King Shahriman."
Thereupon Kamar al-Zaman considered awhile and concluded that he could
not do better than abide in the garden with the gardener and become his
assistant, receiving for pay one fourth of the produce. So he said to
him, "Wilt thou take me into thy service, to help thee in this garden?"
Answered the gardener, "To hear is to consent;" and began teaching him
to lead the water to the roots of the trees. So Kamar al-Zaman abode
with him, watering the trees and hoeing up the weeds and wearing a short
blue frock which reached to his knees. And he wept floods of tears; for
he had no rest day or night, by reason of his strangerhood and he ceased
not to repeat verses upon his beloved, amongst others the following
couplets:—
Ye promised us and will ye not keep plight? ✿ Ye said a say and shall
not deed be dight?
We wake for passion while ye slumber and sleep; ✿ Watchers and wakers
claim not equal right:
We vowed to keep our loves in secrecy, ✿ But spake the meddler and you
spoke forthright:
O friend in pain and pleasure, joy and grief, ✿ In all case you, you
only, claim my sprite!
'Mid folk is one who holds my prisoned heart; ✿ Would he but show some
ruth for me to sight.
Not every eye like mine is wounded sore, ✿ Not every heart like mine
love-pinings blight:
Ye wronged me saying, Love is wrongous aye ✿ Yea! ye were right, events
have proved that quite.
Forget they one love-thralled, whose faith the world ✿ Robs not, though
burn the fires in heart alight:
If an my foeman shall become my judge, ✿ Whom shall I sue to remedy his
despight?
Had not I need of love nor love had sought, ✿ My heart forsure were not
thus love-distraught.