Now, when he awoke he found himself alone in that place, the moon shining
over the low meadows and flower-cups fair with night-dew. Odours of
night-flowers were abroad, filling the cool air with deliciousness, and
he heard in the gardens below songs of the bulbul: it was like a dream to
his soul, and he lay somewhile contemplating the rich loveliness of the
scene, that showed no moving thing. Then rose he and bethought him of the
words of Noorna, and of the City of Oolb, and the phial of the waters of
Paravid in his vest; and he drew it forth, and dropped a drop of it on
the rock where he had reclined. A deep harmony seemed suddenly to awake
inside the rock, and to his interrogation as to the direction of Oolb, he
heard, 'The path of the shadows of the moon.'
Thereupon he advanced to a prominent part of the rocks above the meadows,
and beheld the shadows of the moon thrown forward into dimness across a
waste of sand. And he stepped downward to the level of sand, and went the
way of the shadows till it was dawn. Then dropped he a drop of the waters
of the phial on a spike of lavender, and there was a voice said to him in
reply to what he questioned, 'The path of the shadows of the sun.'
The shadows of the sun were thrown forward across the same waste of sand,
and he turned and pursued his way, resting at noon beneath a date-tree,
and refreshing himself at a clear spring beside it. Surely he was joyful
as he went, and elated with high prospects, singing:
Sun and moon with their bright fingers
Point the hero's path;
If in his great work he lingers,
Well may they be wroth.
Now, the extent of the duration of his travel was four days and an equal
number of nights; and it was on the fifth morn that he entered the gates
of a city by the sea, even at that hour when the inhabitants were rising
from sleep: fair was the sea beyond it, and the harbour was crowded with
vessels, ships stored with merchandise--silks, dates, diamonds, Damascus
steel, huge bales piled on the decks for the land of Roum and other
lands. Shibli Bagarag thought, 'There's scarce a doubt but that one of
those sails will set for Oolb shortly. Wullahy! if I knew which, I'd
board her and win a berth in her.' Presently he thought, 'I'll go to the
public fountain and question it with the speech-winning waters.'
Thereupon he passed down the streets of the city and came to an open
space, where stood the fountain, and sprinkled it with Paravid; and the
fountain spake, saying, 'Where men are, question not dumb things.'
Cried he, 'Faileth Paravid in its power? Have I done aught to baffle
myself?'
Then he thought, ''Twere nevertheless well to do as the fountain
directeth, and question men while I see them.' And he walked about among
the people, and came to the quays of the harbour where the ships lay
close in, many of them an easy leap from shore, and considered whom to
address. So, as he loitered about the quays, meditating on the means at
the disposal of the All-Wise, and marking the vessels wistfully, behold,
there advanced to him one at a quick pace, in the garb of a sailor. He
observed Shibli Bagarag attentively a moment, and exclaimed as it were in
the plenitude of respect and with the manner of one that is abashed,
'Surely, thou art Shibli Bagarag, the nephew of the barber, him we watch
for.'
So Shibli Bagarag marvelled at this recognition, and answered, 'Am I then
already famous to that extent?'
And he that accosted him said, ''Tis certain the trumpet was blown before
thy steps, and there is not a man in this city but knoweth of thy
destination to the City of Oolb, and that thou art upon the track of
great things, one chosen to bring about imminent changes.'
Then said Shibli Bagarag, 'For this I praise Noorna bin Noorka, daughter
of Feshnavat, Vizier of the King that ruleth in the city of Shagpat! She
saw me, that I was marked for greatness. Wullahy, the eagle knoweth me
from afar, and proclaimeth me; the antelope of the hills scenteth the
coming of one not as other men, and telleth his tidings; the wind of the
desert shapeth its gust to a meaning, so that the stranger may wot Shibli
Bagarag is at hand!'
He puffed his chest, and straightened his legs like the cock, and was as
a man upon whom the Sultan has bestowed a dress of honour, even as the
plumed peacock. Then the other said:
'Know that I am captain of yonder vessel, that stands farthest out from
the harbour with her sails slackened; and she is laden with figs and
fruits which I exchange for silks, spices, and other merchandise, with
the people of Oolb. Now, what says the poet?--
“Delay in thine undertaking
Is disaster of thy own making”;
and he says also:
“Greatness is solely for them that succeed;
'Tis a rotten applause that gives earlier meed.”
Therefore it is advisable for thee to follow me on board without loss of
time, and we will sail this very night for the City of Oolb.'
Now, Shibli Bagarag was ruled by the words of the captain albeit he
desired to stay awhile and receive the homage of the people of that city.
So he followed him into a boat that was by, and the twain were rowed by
sailors to the ship. Then, when they were aboard the captain set sail,
and they were soon in the hollows of deep waters. There was a berth in
the ship set apart for Shibli Bagarag, and one for the captain. Shibli
Bagarag, when he entered his berth, beheld at the head of his couch a
hawk; its eyes red as rubies, its beak sharp as the curve of a scimitar.
So he called out to the captain, and the captain came to him; but when he
saw the hawk, he plucked his turban from his head, and dashed it at the
hawk, and afterward ran to it, trying to catch it; and the hawk flitted
from corner to corner of the berth, he after it with open arms. Then he
took a sword, but the hawk flew past him, and fixed on the back part of
his head, tearing up his hair by the talons, and pecking over his
forehead at his eyes. And Shibli Bagarag heard the hawk scream the name
'Karaz,' and he looked closely at the Captain of the vessel, and knew him
for the Genie Karaz. Then trembled he with exceeding terror, cursing his
credulities, for he saw himself in the hands of the Genie, and nothing
but this hawk friendly to him on the fearful waters. When the hawk had
torn up a certain hair, the Genie stiffened, and glowed like copper in
the furnace, the whole length of him; and he descended heavily through
the bottom of the ship, and sank into the waters beneath, which hissed
and smoked as at a bar of heated iron. Then Shibli Bagarag gave thanks to
the Prophet, and praised the hawk, but the hawk darted out of the cabin,
and he followed it on deck, and, lo! the vessel was in flames, and the
hawk in a circle of the flames; and the flames soared with it, and left
it no outlet. Now, as Shibli Bagarag watched the hawk, the flames
stretched out towards him and took hold of his vestments. So he delayed
not to commend his soul to the All-merciful, and bore witness to his
faith, and plunged into the sea headlong. When he rose, the ship had
vanished, and all was darkness where it had been; so he buffeted with the
billows, thinking his last hour had come, and there was no help for him
in this world; and the spray shaken from the billows blinded him, the
great walls of water crumbled over him; strength failed him, and his
memory ceased to picture images of the old time--his heart to beat with
ambition; and to keep the weight of his head above the surface was
becoming a thing worth the ransom of kings. As he was sinking and turning
his eyes upward, he heard a flutter as of fledgling's wings, and the two
red ruby eyes of the hawk were visible above him, like steady fires in
the gloom. And the hawk perched on him, and buried itself among the wet
hairs of his head, and presently taking the Identical in its beak, the
hawk lifted him half out of water, and bore him a distance, and dropped
him. This the hawk did many times, and at the last, Shibli Bagarag felt
land beneath him, and could wade through the surges to the shore. He gave
thanks to the Supreme Disposer, kneeling prostrate on the shore, and fell
into a sleep deep in peacefulness as a fathomless well, unruffled by a
breath.
Now, when it was dawn Shibli Bagarag awoke and looked inland, and saw
plainly the minarets of a city shining in the first beams, and the front
of yellow mountains, and people moving about the walls and on the towers
and among the pastures round the city; so he made toward them, and
inquired of them the name of their city. And they stared at him, crying,
'What! know'st thou not the City of Oolb? the hawk on thy shoulder could
tell thee that much.' He looked and saw that the hawk was on his
shoulder; and its left wing was scorched, the plumage blackened. So he
said to the hawk, 'Is it profitable, O preserving bird, to ask of thee
questions?'
The hawk shook its wings and closed an eye.