open; though he might immediately have entered, yet he thought it best
to knock. This he did at first softly, and waited for some time; but
seeing no one, and supposing he had not been heard, he knocked harder
the second time, and after that he knocked again and again, but no one
yet appearing, he was exceedingly surprised; for he could not think
that a castle in such repair was without inhabitants. "If there be no
one in it," said he to himself, "I have nothing to fear; and if it be
inhabited, I have wherewith to defend myself."
At last he entered, and when he came within the porch, he cried: "Is
there no one here to receive a stranger who comes in for some
refreshment as he passes by?" He repeated the same words two or three
times; but though he spoke very loud, he was not answered. The silence
increased his astonishment: he came into a spacious court, and looked on
every side for inhabitants, but discovered none.
Perceiving nobody in the court, he entered the grand halls, which were
hung with silk tapestry, the alcoves and sofas covered with stuffs of
Mecca, and the porches with the richest stuffs of India. He came
afterward into a superb saloon, in the middle of which was a fountain,
with a lion of massy gold at each angle: water issued from the mouths of
the four lions, and as it fell, formed diamonds and pearls resembling a
jet d'eau, which, springing from the middle of the fountain, rose nearly
to the top of a cupola painted in Arabesque.
The castle, on three sides, was encompassed by a garden, with parterres
of flowers and shrubbery; and to complete the beauty of the place, an
infinite number of birds filled the air with their harmonious notes, and
always remained there, nets being spread over the garden, and fastened
to the palace to confine them. The sultan walked from apartment to
apartment, where he found everything rich and magnificent. Being tired
with walking, he sat down in a veranda, which had a view over the
garden, reflecting upon what he had seen, when suddenly he heard the
voice of one complaining, in lamentable tones. He listened with
attention, and heard distinctly these words: "O fortune! thou who
wouldst not suffer me longer to enjoy a happy lot, forbear to persecute
me, and by a speedy death put an end to my sorrows. Alas! is it possible
that I am still alive, after so many torments as I have suffered!"
The sultan rose up, advanced toward the place whence he heard the voice,
and coming to the door of a great hall, opened it, and saw a handsome
young man, richly habited, seated upon a throne raised a little above
the ground. Melancholy was painted on his countenance. The sultan drew
near and saluted him; the young man returned his salutation, by an
inclination of his head, not being able to rise, at the same time
saying: "My lord, I should rise to receive you, but am hindered by sad
necessity, and therefore hope you will not be offended." "My lord,"
replied the sultan, "I am much obliged to you for having so good an
opinion of me: as to the reason of your not rising, whatever your
apology be, I heartily accept it. Being drawn hither by your complaints,
and afflicted by your grief, I come to offer you my help. I flatter
myself that you will relate to me the history of your misfortunes; but
inform me first of the meaning of the lake near the palace, where the
fish are of four colours; whose castle is this; how you came to be here;
and why you are alone."
Instead of answering these questions, the young man began to weep
bitterly. "How inconstant is fortune!" cried he; "she takes pleasure to
pull down those she has raised. Where are they who enjoy quietly the
happiness which they hold of her, and whose day is always clear and
serene?"
The sultan, moved with compassion to see him in such a condition, prayed
him to relate the cause of his excessive grief. "Alas! my lord," replied
the young man, "how is it possible but I should grieve, and my eyes be
inexhaustible fountains of tears?" At these words, lifting up his robe,
he showed the sultan that he was a man only from the head to the girdle,
and that the other half of his body was black marble.
The sultan was much surprised when he saw the deplorable condition of
the young man. "That which you show me," said he, "while it fills me
with horror, excites my curiosity, so that I am impatient to hear your
history, which, no doubt, must be extraordinary, and I am persuaded that
the lake and the fish make some part of it; therefore I conjure you to
relate it. You will find some comfort in so doing, since it is certain
that the unfortunate find relief in making known their distress." "I
will not refuse your request," replied the young man, "though I cannot
comply without renewing my grief. But I give you notice beforehand, to
prepare your ears, your mind, and even your eyes, for things which
surpass all that the imagination can conceive."
THE HISTORY OF THE YOUNG KING OF THE BLACK ISLES
"You must know, my lord," said the wretched prisoner, "that my father,
named Mahmoud, was monarch of this country. This is the kingdom of the
Black Isles, which takes its name from the four small neighbouring
mountains; for those mountains were formerly isles, and the capital
where the king, my father, resided was situated on the spot now occupied
by the lake you have seen. The sequel of my history will inform you of
the reason for those changes.
"The king, my father, died when he was seventy years of age; I had no
sooner succeeded him than I married, and the lady I chose to share the
royal dignity with me was my cousin. I had so much reason to be
satisfied with her affection, and, on my part, loved her with so much
tenderness, that nothing could surpass the harmony of our union. This
lasted five years, at the end of which time I perceived the queen ceased
to delight in my attentions.
"One day, after dinner, while she was at the bath, I found myself
inclined to repose, and lay down upon a sofa. Two of her ladies, who
were then in my chamber, came and sat down, one at my head and the other
at my feet, with fans in their hands to moderate the heat, and to
prevent the flies from disturbing me. They thought I was asleep, and
spoke in whispers; but as I only closed my eyes, I heard all their
conversation.
"One of them said to the other, 'Is not the queen wrong, not to love so
amiable a prince?' 'Certainly,' replied her companion; 'I do not
understand the reason, neither can I conceive why she goes out every
night, and leaves him alone! Is it possible that he does not perceive
it?' 'Alas!' said the first, 'how should he? She mixes every evening in
his liquor the juice of a certain herb, which makes him sleep so sound
all night that she has time to go where she pleases, and as day begins
to appear she comes and wakes him by the smell of something she puts
under his nostrils.'
"You may guess, my lord, how much I was surprised at this conversation,
and with what sentiments it inspired me; yet whatever emotion it excited
I had sufficient self-command to dissemble, and feigned to awake without
having heard a word.
"The queen returned from the bath, we supped together, and she presented
me with a cup full of such liquid as I was accustomed to drink; but
instead of putting it to my mouth, I went to a window that was open,
threw out the water so quickly that she did not perceive it, and
returned.
"Soon after, believing that I was asleep, she arose with so little
precaution, that she whispered loud enough for me to hear her
distinctly, 'Sleep on, and may you never wake again!' and so saying, she
dressed herself, and went out of the chamber.
"As soon as the queen, my wife, was gone, I arose in haste, took my
cimeter, and followed her so quickly that I soon heard the sound of her
feet before me, and then walked softly after her. She passed through
several gates, which opened upon her pronouncing some magical words, and
the last she opened was that of the garden, which she entered. I stopped
at this gate, that she might not perceive me as she passed along a
parterre; then looking after her as far as the darkness of the night
permitted, I saw her enter a little wood, whose walks were guarded by
thick palisadoes. I went thither by another way, and concealing myself,
I saw her walking there with a man.
"I did not fail to lend the most attentive ear to their discourse, and
heard her address herself thus to her gallant: 'I do not deserve,' she
said, 'to be reproached by you for want of diligence. You well know the
reason; but if all the proofs of affection I have already given you be
not sufficient to convince you of my sincerity, I am ready to give you
others more decisive: you need but command me, you know my power; I
will, if you desire it, before sunrise convert this great city, and this
superb palace, into frightful ruins, inhabited only by wolves, owls, and
ravens. If you would have me transport all the stones of those walls so
solidly built, beyond Mount Caucasus, the bounds of the habitable world,
speak but the word, and all shall be changed.'
"As the queen finished this speech she and her companion came to the end
of the walk, turned to enter another, and passed before me. I had
already drawn my cimeter, and the man being next me, I struck him on the
neck, and brought him to the ground. I concluded I had killed him, and
therefore retired speedily without making myself known to the queen,
whom I chose to spare, because she was my kinswoman.
"The wound I had given her companion was mortal; but by her enchantments
she preserved him in an existence in which he could not be said to be
either dead or alive. As I crossed the garden to return to the palace, I
heard the queen loudly lamenting, and judging by her cries how much she
was grieved, I was pleased that I had spared her life.
"As soon as I had reached my apartment, I went to bed, and being
satisfied with having punished the villain who had injured me, fell
asleep.
"Next morning I arose, went to my closet, and dressed myself. I
afterward held my council. At my return, the queen, clad in mourning,
her hair dishevelled, and part of it torn off, presented herself before
me, and said: 'I come to beg your majesty not to be surprised to see me
in this condition. My heavy affliction is occasioned by intelligence of
three distressing events which I have just received.' 'Alas! what are
they, madam?' said I. 'The death of the queen, my dear mother,' she
replied, 'that of the king, my father, killed in battle, and of one of
my brothers, who has fallen down a precipice.'
"I was not displeased that she used these pretexts to conceal the true
cause of her grief. 'Madam,' said I, 'so far from blaming, I assure you
I heartily commiserate your sorrow. I should feel surprise if you were
insensible to such heavy calamities: weep on; your tears are so many
proofs of your tenderness; but I hope that time and reflection will
moderate your grief.'
"She retired into her apartment, where, giving herself wholly up to
sorrow, she spent a whole year in mourning and lamentation. At the end
of that period, she begged permission to erect a burying-place for
herself, within the bounds of the palace, where she would continue, she
told me, to the end of her days: I consented, and she built a stately
edifice, and called it the Palace of Tears. When it was finished, she
caused the object of her care to be conveyed thither; she had hitherto
prevented his dying, by potions which she had administered to him; and
she continued to convey them to him herself every day after he came to
the Palace of Tears.
"Yet, with all her enchantments, she could not cure the wretch; he was
not only unable to walk or support himself, but had also lost the use of
his speech, and exhibited no sign of life except in his looks.
"Every day the queen made him two long visits. I was well apprised of
this, but pretended ignorance. One day my curiosity induced me to go to
the Palace of Tears, to observe how my consort employed herself, and
from a place where she could not see me, I heard her thus address the
wounded ruffian: 'I am afflicted to the highest degree to behold you in
this condition,' she cried, 'I am as sensible as yourself of the
tormenting pain you endure; but, dear soul, I am continually speaking to
you, and you do not answer me: how long will you remain silent? Speak
only one word: alas! the sweetest moments of my life are these I spend
here in partaking of your grief.'
"At these words, which were several times interrupted by her sighs, I
lost all patience: and discovering myself, came up to her, and said,
'Madam, you have wept enough, it is time to give over this sorrow, which
dishonours us both; you have too much forgotten what you owe to me and
to yourself.' 'Sire,' said she, 'if you have any kindness or compassion
for me left, I beseech you to put no restraint upon me; allow me to
indulge my grief, which it is impossible for time to assuage.'
"When I perceived that my remonstrance, instead of restoring her to a
sense of duty, served only to increase her anguish, I ceased speaking
and retired. She continued every day to visit her charge, and for two
whole years abandoned herself to grief and despair.
"I went a second time to the Palace of Tears, while she was there. I
concealed myself again, and heard her thus cry out: 'It is now three
years since you spoke one word to me; you answer not the proofs I give
you of my devotion by my sighs and lamentations. Is it from
insensibility, or contempt? O tomb! tell me by what miracle thou
becamest the depository of the rarest treasure the world ever
contained.'
"I must confess, my lord, I was enraged at these expressions; for, in
truth, this adored mortal was by no means what you would imagine him to
have been. He was a black Indian, one of the original natives of this
country. I was so enraged at the language addressed to him, that I
discovered myself, and apostrophising the tomb in my turn, I cried, 'O
tomb! why dost thou not swallow up that monster so revolting to human
nature, or rather why dost thou not swallow up this pair of monsters?'
"I had scarcely uttered these words, when the queen, who sat by the
black, rose up like a fury: 'Miscreant!' said she, 'thou art the cause
of my grief; do not think I am ignorant of this, I have dissembled too
long. It was thy barbarous hand that brought the object of my fondness
into this lamentable condition; and thou hast the cruelty to come and
insult me.' 'Yes,' said I, in a rage, 'it was I who chastised that
monster, according to his desert; I ought to have treated thee in the
same manner; I now repent that I did not; thou hast too long abused my
goodness.' As I spoke these words, I drew out my cimeter, and lifted up
my hand to punish her; but regarding me steadfastly, she said with a
jeering smile, 'Moderate thine anger.' At the same time she pronounced
words I did not understand; and afterward added, 'By virtue of my
enchantments, I command thee to become half marble and half man.'
Immediately, my lord, I became what you see, a dead man among the
living, and a living man among the dead. After this cruel sorceress,
unworthy of the name of queen, had metamorphosed me thus, and brought me
into this hall, by another enchantment she destroyed my capital, which
was very flourishing and populous; she annihilated the houses, the
public places and markets, and reduced the site of the whole to the lake
and desert plain you have seen; the fishes of four colours in the waters
are the four kinds of inhabitants, of different religions, which the
city contained. The white are the Mussulmans; the red, the Persians, who
worship fire; the blue, the Christians; and the yellow, the Jews. The
four little hills were the four islands that gave name to this kingdom.
I learned all this from the enchantress, who, to add to my affliction,
related to me these effects of her rage. But this is not all; her
revenge not being satisfied with the destruction of my dominions, and
the metamorphosis of my person, she comes every day, and gives me over
my naked shoulders a hundred lashes with a whip until I am covered with
blood. When she has finished this part of my punishment, she throws over
me a coarse stuff of goat's hair, and over that this robe of brocade,
not to honour, but to mock me."
When he came to this part of his narrative, the young king could not
restrain his tears; and the sultan was himself so affected by the
relation, that he could not find utterance for any words of consolation.
Shortly after, the young king, lifting up his eyes to heaven, exclaimed,
"Mighty creator of all things, I submit myself to Thy judgments, and to
the decrees of Thy providence: I endure my calamities with patience,
since it is Thy will that things should be as they are; but I hope that
Thy infinite goodness will ultimately reward me."
The sultan, greatly moved by the recital of this affecting story, and
anxious to avenge the sufferings of the unfortunate prince, said to him:
"Inform me whither this perfidious sorceress retires, and where may be
found the vile wretch, who is entombed before his death." "My lord,"
replied the prince, "the Indian, as I have already told you, is lodged
in the Palace of Tears, in a superb tomb constructed in the form of a
dome: this palace joins the castle on the side in which the gate is
placed. As to the queen, I cannot tell you precisely whither she
retires, but every day at sunrise she goes to visit her charge, after
having executed her bloody vengeance upon me; and you see I am not in a
condition to defend myself. She carries to him the potion with which she
has hitherto prevented his dying, and always complains of his never
having spoken to her since he was wounded."
"Prince," said the sultan, "your condition can never be sufficiently
deplored: no one can be more sensibly affected by your misfortune than I
am. Never did anything so extraordinary befall any man! One thing only
is wanting; the revenge to which you are entitled, and I will omit
nothing in my power to effect it."
In his subsequent conversation with the young prince the sultan told him
who he was, and for what purpose he had entered the castle; and
afterward informed him of a mode of revenge which he had devised. They
agreed upon the measures they were to take for accomplishing their
design, but deferred the execution of it till the following day. In the
meantime, the night being far spent, the sultan took some rest; but the
young prince passed the night as usual, without sleep, never having
slept since he was enchanted.
[Illustration]
_When he came to this part of his narrative the young king could not
restrain his tears._
Next morning the sultan arose with the dawn, and prepared to execute his
design, by proceeding to the Palace of Tears. He found it lighted up
with an infinite number of flambeaux of white wax, and perfumed by a
delicious scent issuing from several censers of fine gold of admirable
workmanship. As soon as he perceived the bed where the Indian lay, he
drew his cimeter and deprived him of his wretched life, dragged his
corpse into the court of the castle, and threw it into a well. After
this he went and lay down in the black's bed, placed his cimeter under
the covering, and waited to complete his design.
The queen arrived shortly after. She first went into the chamber of her
husband, the king of the Black Islands, stripped him, and with
unexampled barbarity gave him a hundred stripes. The unfortunate prince
filled the palace with his lamentations, and conjured her in the most
affecting tone to take pity on him; but the cruel wretch ceased not till
she had given the usual number of blows. "You had no compassion," said
she, "and you are to expect none from me."
After the enchantress had given her husband a hundred blows with the
whip, she put on again his covering of goat's hair, and his brocade gown
over all; she went afterward to the Palace of Tears, and as she entered
renewed her tears and lamentations; then approaching the bed, where she
thought the Indian lay: "Alas!" said she, addressing herself to the
sultan, conceiving him to be the black, "My sun, my life, will you
always be silent? Are you resolved to let me die without affording me
the comfort of hearing your voice?"
The sultan, as if he had awaked out of a deep sleep, and counterfeiting
the pronunciation of the blacks, answered the queen with a grave tone:
"There is no strength or power but in God alone, who is almighty." At
these words the enchantress, who did not expect them, uttered a loud
exclamation of joy. "My dear lord," cried she, "do I not deceive myself;
is it certain that I hear you, and that you speak to me?" "Unhappy
woman," said the sultan, "art thou worthy that I should answer thee?"
"Alas!" replied the queen, "why do you reproach me thus?" "The cries,"
returned the sultan, "the groans and tears of thy husband, whom thou
treatest every day with so much indignity and barbarity, prevent my
sleeping night or day. Hadst thou disenchanted him, I should long since
have been cured, and have recovered the use of my speech. This is the
cause of my silence, of which you complain." "Well," said the
enchantress, "to pacify you, I am ready to execute your commands; would
you have me restore him?" "Yes," replied the sultan; "make haste to set
him at liberty, that I be no longer disturbed by his lamentations." The
enchantress went immediately out of the Palace of Tears; she took a cup
of water, and pronounced some words over it, which caused it to boil, as
if it had been on the fire. She afterward proceeded to the young king,
and threw the water upon him, saying: "If the Creator of all things did
form thee as thou art at present, or if He be angry with thee, do not
change; but if thou art in that condition merely by virtue of my
enchantments, resume thy natural shape, and become what thou wast
before." She had scarcely spoken these words when the prince, finding
himself restored to his former condition, rose up and returned thanks to
God. The enchantress then said to him, "Get thee from this castle, and
never return on pain of death." The young king, yielding to necessity,
went away without replying a word, and retired to a remote place, where
he patiently awaited the event of the design which the sultan had so
happily begun. Meanwhile the enchantress returned to the Palace of
Tears, and supposing that she still spoke to the black, said, "Dear
love, I have done what you required; nothing now prevents your rising
and giving me the satisfaction of which I have so long been deprived."
The sultan, still counterfeiting the pronunciation of the black, said:
"What you have now done is by no means sufficient for my cure; you have
only removed a part of the evil; you must cut it up by the root." "My
lovely black," resumed the queen, "what do you mean by the root?"
"Wretched woman," replied the sultan, "understand you not that I allude
to the town and its inhabitants, and the four islands, destroyed by thy
enchantments? The fish every night at midnight raise their heads out of
the lake, and cry for vengeance against thee and me. This is the true
cause of the delay of my cure. Go speedily, restore things to their
former state, and at thy return I will give thee my hand, and thou shalt
help me to arise."
The enchantress, inspired with hope from these words, cried out in a
transport of joy, "My heart, my soul, you shall soon be restored to your
health, for I will immediately do as you command me." Accordingly she
went that instant, and when she came to the brink of the lake she took a
little water in her hand, and sprinkling it, she pronounced some words
over the fish and the lake, and the city was immediately restored. The
fish became men, women, and children; Mohammedans, Christians, Persians,
or Jews; freemen or slaves, as they were before: every one having
recovered his natural form. The houses and shops were immediately filled
with their inhabitants, who found all things as they were before the
enchantment. The sultan's numerous retinue, who found themselves
encamped in the largest square, were astonished to see themselves in an
instant in the middle of a large, handsome, well-peopled city.