away, the treasurer ran after it in huge concern, and ceased not running
to catch the runaway till it entered a thicket. He followed it whilst it
dashed through the wood, smiting the earth with its hoofs till it raised
a dust-cloud which towered high in air; and snorting and puffing and
neighing and waxing fierce and furious. Now there happened to be in this
thicket a lion of terrible might; hideous to sight, with eyes sparkling
light: his look was grim and his aspect struck fright into man's sprite.
Presently the treasurer turned and saw the lion making towards him; but
found no way of escape nor had he his sword with him. So he said in
himself, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the
Glorious, the Great! This strait is come upon me for no other cause but
because of Amjad and As'ad; and indeed this journey was unblest from the
first!" Meanwhile the two Princes were grievously oppressed by the heat
and grew sore athirst, so that their tongues hung out and they cried for
succour, but none came to their relief and they said, "Would to Heaven
we had been slain and were at peace from this pain! But we know not
whither the horse hath fled, that the treasurer is gone and hath left us
thus pinioned. If he would but come back and do us die, it were easier
to us than this torture to aby." Said As'ad, "O my brother, be patient,
and the relief of Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) shall assuredly
come to us; for the horse started not away save of His favour towards
us, and naught irketh us but this thirst." Upon this he stretched and
shook himself and strained right and left, till he burst his
pinion-bonds; then he rose and unbound his brother and catching up the
Emir's sword, said, "By Allah, we will not go hence, till we look after
him and learn what is become of him." Then they took to following on the
trail till it led them to the thicket and they said to each other, "Of a
surety, the horse and the treasurer have not passed out of this wood."
Quoth As'ad, "Stay thou here, whilst I enter the thicket and search it;"
and Amjad replied, "I will not let thee go in alone: nor will we enter
it but together; so if we escape, we shall escape together and if we
perish, we shall perish together." Accordingly both entered and found
that the lion had sprang upon the treasurer, who lay like a sparrow in
his grip, calling upon Allah for aid and signing with his hands to
Heaven. Now when Amjad saw this, he took the sword and, rushing upon the
lion, smote him between the eyes and laid him dead on the ground. The
Emir sprang up, marvelling at this escape and seeing Amjad and As'ad,
his master's sons, standing there, cast himself at their feet and
exclaimed, "By Allah, O my lords, it were intolerable wrong in me to do
you to death. May the man never be who would kill you! Indeed, with my
very life, I will ransom you"——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the
treasurer to Amjad and As'ad, "With my life will I ransom you both!"
Then he hastily rose and, at once embracing them, enquired how they had
loosed their bonds and come thither; whereupon they told him how the
bonds of one of them had fallen loose and he had unbound the other,
whereto they were helped by the purity of their intentions, and how they
had tracked his trail till they came upon him. So he thanked them for
their deed and went with them forth of the thicket; and, when they were
in the open country, they said to him, "O uncle, do our father's
bidding." He replied, "Allah forbid that I should draw near to you with
hurt! But know ye that I mean to take your clothes and clothe you with
mine; then will I fill two vials with the lion's blood and go back to
the King and tell him I have put you to death. But as for you two, fare
ye forth into the lands, for Allah's earth is wide; and know, O my
lords, that it paineth me to part from you." At this, they all fell
a-weeping; then the two youths put off their clothes and the treasurer
habited them with his own. Moreover he made two parcels of their dress
and, filling two vials with the lion's blood, set the parcels before him
on his horse's back. Presently he took leave of them and, making his way
to the city, ceased not faring till he went in to King Kamar al-Zaman
and kissed the ground between his hands. The King saw him changed in
face and troubled (which arose from his adventure with the lion) and,
deeming this came of the slaughter of his two sons, rejoiced and said to
him, "Hast thou done the work?" "Yes, O our lord," replied the treasurer
and gave him the two parcels of clothes and the two vials full of blood.
Asked the King, "What didst thou observe in them; and did they give thee
any charge?" Answered the treasurer, "I found them patient and resigned
to what came down upon them and they said to me:—Verily, our father is
excusable; bear him our salutation and say to him, Thou art quit of our
killing. But we charge thee repeat to him these couplets:—
Verily women are devils created for us. We seek refuge with God from the
artifice of the devils.
They are the source of all the misfortunes that have appeared among
mankind in the affairs of the world and of religion."[373]
When the King heard these words of the treasurer, he bowed his head
earthwards, a long while and knew his sons' words to mean that they had
been wrongfully put to death. Then he bethought himself of the perfidy
of women and the calamities brought about by them; and he took the two
parcels and opened them and fell to turning over his sons' clothes and
weeping,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when King Kamar
al-Zaman opened the two bundles and fell to turning over his sons'
clothes and weeping, it so came to pass that he found, in the pocket of
his son As'ad's raiment, a letter in the hand of his wife enclosing her
hair-strings; so he opened and read it and understanding the contents
knew that the Prince had been falsely accused and wrongously. Then he
searched Amjad's parcel of dress and found in his pocket a letter in the
handwriting of Queen Hayat al-Nufus enclosing also her hair-strings; so
he opened and read it and knew that Amjad too had been wronged;
whereupon he beat hand upon hand and exclaimed, "There is no Majesty and
there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! I have slain
my sons unjustly." And he buffeted his face, crying out, "Alas, my sons!
Alas, my long grief!" Then he bade them build two tombs in one house,
which he styled "House of Lamentations," and had graved thereon his
sons' names; and he threw himself on Amjad's tomb, weeping and groaning
and lamenting, and improvised these couplets:—
O moon for ever set this earth below, ✿ Whose loss bewail the stars
which stud the sky!
O wand, which broken, ne'er with bend and wave ✿ Shall fascinate the
ravisht gazer's eye;
These eyne for jealousy I 'reft of thee, ✿ Nor shall they till next life
thy sight descry:
I'm drowned in sea of tears for insomny ✿ Wherefore, indeed in
Sáhirah-stead[374] I lie.
Then he threw himself on As'ad's tomb, groaning and weeping and
lamenting and versifying with these couplets:—
Indeed I longed to share unweal with thee, ✿ But Allah than my will
willed otherwise:
My grief all blackens 'twixt mine eyes and space, ✿ Yet whitens all the
blackness from mine eyes:[375]
Of tears they weep these eyne run never dry, ✿ And ulcerous flow in
vitals never dries:
Right sore it irks me seeing thee in stead[376] ✿ Where slave with
sovran for once levelled lies.
And his weeping and wailing redoubled; and, after he had ended his
lamentations and his verse, he forsook his friends and intimates, and
denying himself to his women and his family, cut himself off from the
world in the House of Lamentations, where he passed his time in weeping
for his sons. Such was his case; but as regards Amjad and As'ad they
fared on into the desert eating of the fruits of the earth and drinking
of the remnants of the rain for a full month, till their travel brought
them to a mountain of black flint[377] whose further end was unknown;
and here the road forked, one line lying along the midway height and the
other leading to its head. They took the way trending to the top and
gave not over following it five days, but saw no end to it and were
overcome with weariness, being unused to walking upon the mountains or
elsewhere.[378] At last, despairing of coming to the last of the road,
they retraced their steps and, taking the other, that led over the
midway heights,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Princes Amjad and
As'ad returned from the path leading to the Mountain-head and took that
which ran along the midway heights, and walked through all that day till
nightfall, when As'ad, weary with much travel, said to Amjad, "O my
brother, I can walk no farther, for I am exceeding weak." Replied Amjad,
"O my brother, take courage! May be Allah will send us relief." So they
walked on part of the night, till the darkness closed in upon them, when
As'ad became weary beyond measure of weariness and cried out, "O my
brother, I am worn out and spent with walking," and threw himself upon
the ground and wept. Amjad took him in his arms and walked on with him,
bytimes sitting down to rest till break of day, when they came to the
mountain-top and found there a stream of running water and by it a
pomegranate-tree and a prayer-niche.[379] They could hardly believe
their eyes when they saw it; but, sitting down by that spring, drank of
its water and ate of the fruit of that granado-tree; after which they
lay on the ground and slept till sunrise, when they washed and bathed in
the spring and, eating of the pomegranates, slept again till the time of
mid-afternoon prayer. Then they thought to continue their journey, but
As'ad could not walk, for both his feet were swollen. So they abode
there three days till they were rested, after which they set out again
and fared on over the mountain days and nights, tortured by and like to
die of thirst, till they sighted a city gleaming afar off, at which they
rejoiced and made towards it. When they drew near it, they thanked Allah
(be His Name exalted!) and Amjad said to As'ad, "O my brother, sit here,
whilst I go to yonder city and see what it is and whose it is and where
we are in Allah's wide world, that we may know through what lands we
have passed in crossing this mountain, whose skirts had we followed, we
had not reached this city in a whole year. So praised be Allah for
safety!" Replied As'ad, "By Allah, O my brother, none shall go down into
that city save myself, and may I be thy ransom! If thou leave me alone,
be it only for an hour, I shall imagine a thousand things and be drowned
in a torrent of anxiety on thine account, for I cannot brook thine
absence from me." Amjad rejoined, "Go then and tarry not." So As'ad took
some gold pieces, and leaving his brother to await him, descended the
mountain and ceased not faring on till he entered the city. As he
threaded the streets he was met by an old man age-decrepit, whose beard
flowed down upon his breast and forked in twain;[380] he bore a
walking-staff in his hand and was richly clad, with a great red turband
on his head. When As'ad saw him, he wondered at his dress and his mien;
nevertheless, he went up to him and saluting him said, "Where be the way
to the market, O my master?" Hearing these words the Shaykh smiled in
his face and replied, "O my son, meseemeth thou art a stranger?" As'ad
rejoined, "Yes, I am a stranger."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Shaykh who met
As'ad smiled in his face and said to him, "O my son, meseemeth thou art
a stranger?" and As'ad replied, "Yes, I am a stranger." Then rejoined
the old man, "Verily, thou gladdenest our country with thy presence, O
my son, and thou desolatest thine own land by reason of thine absence.
What wantest thou of the market?" Quoth As'ad, "O uncle, I have a
brother, with whom I have come from a far land and with whom I have
journeyed these three months; and, when we sighted this city, I left
him, who is my elder brother, upon the mountain and came hither,
purposing to buy victual and what else, and return therewith to him,
that we might feed thereon." Said the old man, "Rejoice in all good, O
my son, and know thou that to-day I give a marriage-feast, to which I
have bidden many guests, and I have made ready plenty of meats, the best
and most delicious that heart can desire. So if thou wilt come with me
to my place, I will give thee freely all thou lackest without asking
thee a price or aught else. Moreover I will teach thee the ways of this
city; and, praised be Allah, O my son, that I, and none other have
happened upon thee." "As thou wilt," answered As'ad, "do as thou art
disposed, but make haste, for indeed my brother awaiteth me and his
whole heart is with me." The old man took As'ad by the hand and carried
him to a narrow lane, smiling in his face and saying, "Glory be to Him
who hath delivered thee from the people of this city!" And he ceased not
walking till he entered a spacious house, wherein was a saloon and
behold, in the middle of it were forty old men, well stricken in years,
collected together and forming a single ring as they sat round about a
lighted fire, to which they were doing worship and prostrating
themselves.[381] When As'ad saw this, he was confounded and the hair of
his body stood on end though he knew not what they were; and the Shaykh
said to them, "O Elders of the Fire, how blessed is this day!" Then he
called aloud, saying, "Hallo, Ghazbán!" Whereupon there came out to him
a tall black slave of frightful aspect, grim-visaged and flat nosed as
an ape who, when the old man made a sign to him, bent As'ad's arms
behind his back and pinioned them; after which the Shaykh said to him,
"Let him down into the vault under the earth and there leave him and say
to my slave-girl Such-an-one:—Torture him night and day and give him a
cake of bread to eat morning and evening against the time come of the
voyage to the Blue Sea and the Mountain of Fire, whereon we will
slaughter him as a sacrifice." So the black carried him out at another
door and, raising a flag in the floor, discovered a flight of twenty
steps leading to a chamber[382] under the earth, into which he descended
with him and, laying his feet in irons, gave him over to the slave-girl
and went away. Meanwhile, the old men said to one another, "When the day
of the Festival of the Fire cometh, we will sacrifice him on the
mountain, as a propitiatory offering whereby we shall pleasure the
Fire." Presently the damsel went down to him and beat him a grievous
beating, till streams of blood flowed from his sides and he fainted;
after which she set at his head a scone of bread and a cruse of brackish
water and went away and left him. In the middle of the night, he revived
and found himself bound and beaten and sore with beating: so he wept
bitter tears; and recalling his former condition of honour and
prosperity, lordship and dominion, and his separation from his sire and
his exile from his native land——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased to say her permitted say.
[Illustration]
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-eight Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when As'ad found
himself bound and beaten and sore with beating he recalled his whilome
condition of honour and prosperity and dominion and lordship, and he
wept and groaned aloud and recited these couplets:—
Stand by the ruined stead and ask of us; ✿ Nor deem we dwell there as
was state of us:
The World, that parter, hath departed us; ✿ Yet soothes not hate-full
hearts the fate of us:
With whips a cursèd slave-girl scourges us, ✿ And teems her breast with
rancorous hate of us:
Allah shall haply deign to unpart our lives, ✿ Chastise our foes, and
end this strait of us.
And when As'ad had spoken his poetry, he put out his hand towards his
head and finding there the crust and the cruse full of brackish water he
ate a bittock, just enough to keep life in him, and drank a little
water, but could get no sleep till morning for the swarms of bugs[383]
and lice. As soon as it was day, the slave-girl came down to him and
changed his clothes, which were drenched with blood and stuck to him, so
that his skin came off with the shirt; wherefor he shrieked aloud and
cried, "Alas!" and said, "O my God, if this be Thy pleasure, increase it
upon me! O Lord, verily Thou art not unmindful of him that oppresseth
me; do Thou then avenge me upon him!" And he groaned and repeated the
following verses:—
Patient, O Allah! to Thy destiny ✿ I bow, suffice me what Thou deign
decree:
Patient to bear Thy will, O Lord of me, ✿ Patient to burn on coals of
Ghazátree:
They wrong me, visit me with hurt and harm; ✿ Haply Thy grace from them
shall set me free:
Far be't, O Lord, from thee to spare the wronger ✿ O Lord of Destiny my
hope's in Thee!
And what another saith:—
Bethink thee not of worldly state, ✿ Leave everything to course of Fate;
For oft a thing that irketh thee ✿ Shall in content eventuate;
And oft what strait is shall expand, ✿ And what expanded is wax strait.
Allah will do what wills His will, ✿ So be not thou importunate!
But 'joy the view of coming weal ✿ Shall make forget past bale and bate.
And when he had ended his verse, the slave-girl came down upon him with
blows till he fainted again; and, throwing him a flap of bread and a
gugglet of saltish water, went away and left him sad and lonely, bound
in chains of iron, with the blood streaming from his sides and far from
those he loved. So he wept and called to mind his brother and the
honours he erst enjoyed——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that As'ad called to
mind his brother and the honours he erst enjoyed; so he wept and groaned
and complained and poured forth tears in floods and improvised these
couplets:—
Easy, O Fate! how long this wrong, this injury, ✿ Robbing each morn and
eve my brotherhood fro' me?
Is't not time now thou deem this length sufficiency ✿ Of woes and, O
thou Heart of Rock, show clemency?
My friends thou wrongedst when thou madst each enemy ✿ Mock and exult me
for thy wrongs, thy tyranny:
My foeman's heart is solaced by the things he saw ✿ In me, of
strangerhood and lonely misery:
Suffice thee not what came upon my head of dole, ✿ Friends lost for
evermore, eyes wan and pale of blee?
But must in prison cast so narrow there is naught ✿ Save hand to bite,
with bitten hand for company;
And tears that tempest down like goodly gift of cloud, ✿ And longing
thirst whose fires weet no satiety.
Regretful yearnings, singulfs and unceasing sighs, ✿ Repine, remembrance
and pain's very ecstacy:
Desire I suffer sore and melancholy deep, ✿ And I must bide a prey to
endless phrenesy:
I find me ne'er a friend who looks with piteous eye, ✿ And seeks my
presence to allay my misery:
Say, liveth any intimate with trusty love ✿ Who for mine ills will
groan, my sleepless malady?
To whom moan I can make and, peradventure, he ✿ Shall pity eyes that
sight of sleep can never see?
The flea and bug suck up my blood, as wight that drinks ✿ Wine from the
proffering hand of fair virginity:
Amid the lice my body aye remindeth me ✿ Of orphan's good in Kázi's claw
of villainy:
My home's a sepulchre that measures cubits three, ✿ Where pass I morn
and eve in chainèd agony:
My wines are tears, my clank of chains takes music's stead; ✿ Cares my
dessert of fruit and sorrows are my bed.
And when he had versed his verse and had prosed his prose, he again
groaned and complained and remembered what he had been and how he had
been parted from his brother. Thus far concerning him; but as regards
his brother Amjad, he awaited As'ad till mid-day yet he returned not to
him: whereupon Amjad's vitals fluttered, the pangs of parting were sore
upon him and he poured forth abundant tears,——And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Thirtieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Amjad awaited
his brother As'ad till mid-day and he returned not to him, Amjad's
vitals fluttered; the pangs of parting were sore upon him and he poured
forth abundant tears, exclaiming, "Alas, my brother! Alas, my friend!
Alas my grief! How I feared me we should be separated!" Then he
descended from the mountain-top with the tears running down his cheeks;
and, entering the city, ceased not walking till he made the market. He
asked the folk the name of the place and concerning its people and they
said, "This is called the City of the Magians, and its citizens are
mostly given to Fire-worshipping in lieu of the Omnipotent King." Then
he enquired of the City of Ebony and they answered, "Of a truth it is a
year's journey thither by land and six months by sea: it was governed
erst by a King called Armanus; but he took to son-in-law and made King
in his stead a Prince called Kamar al-Zaman distinguished for justice
and munificence, equity and benevolence." When Amjad heard tell of his
father, he groaned and wept and lamented and knew not whither to go.
However, he bought a something of food and carried it to a retired spot
where he sat down thinking to eat; but, recalling his brother, he fell
a-weeping and swallowed but a morsel to keep breath and body together,
and that against his will. Then he rose and walked about the city,
seeking news of his brother, till he saw a Moslem tailor sitting in his
shop; so he sat down by him and told him his story; whereupon quoth the
tailor, "If he have fallen into the hands of the Magians, thou shalt
hardly see him again: yet it may be Allah will reunite you twain. But
thou, O my brother," he continued, "wilt thou lodge with me?" Amjad
answered, "Yes"; and the tailor rejoiced at this. So he abode with him
many days, what while the tailor comforted him and exhorted him to
patience and taught him tailoring, till he became expert in the craft.
Now one day he went forth to the sea-shore and washed his clothes; after
which he entered the bath and put on clean raiment; then he walked about
the city, to divert himself with its sights and presently there met him
on the way a woman of passing beauty and loveliness, without peer for
grace and comeliness. When she saw him she raised her face-veil and
signed to him by moving her eyebrows and her eyes with luring glances,
and versified these couplets:—
I drooped my glance when seen thee on the way ✿ As though, O slim-waist!
felled by Sol's hot ray:
Thou art the fairest fair that e'er appeared, ✿ Fairer to-day than fair
of yesterday:[384]
Were Beauty parted, a fifth part of it ✿ With Joseph or a part of fifth
would stay;
The rest would fly to thee, thine ownest own; ✿ Be every soul thy
sacrifice, I pray!
When Amjad heard these her words, they gladdened his heart which
inclined to her and his bowels yearned towards her and the hands of love
sported with him; so he sighed to her in reply and spoke these
couplets:—
Above the rose of cheek is thorn of lance;[385] ✿ Who dareth pluck it,
rashest chevisance?
Stretch not thy hand towards it, for night long ✿ Those lances marred
because we snatched a glance!
Say her, who tyrant is and tempter too ✿ (Though justice might her
tempting power enhance):—
Thy face would add to errors were it veiled; ✿ Unveiled I see its guard
hath best of chance!
Eye cannot look upon Sol's naked face; ✿ But can, when mist-cloud dims
his countenance:
The honey-hive is held by honey-bee;[386] ✿ Ask the tribe-guards what
wants their vigilance?
An they would slay me, let them end their ire ✿ Rancorous, and grant us
freely to advance:
They're not more murderous, an charge the whole ✿ Than charging glance
of her who wears the mole.
And hearing these lines from Amjad she sighed with the deepest sighs
and, signing to him again, repeated these couplets:—