Then the King threatened him, saying, 'There is a virtue in each of the
things thou seest: the China jar is brimmed with wine, and remaineth so
though a thousand drink of it; the dress of Samarcand rendereth the
wearer invisible; yet thou refusest to exchange them for thy hawk!'
And the King swore by the beard of his father he would seize perforce the
hawk and shut up Shibli Bagarag in the vault, if he fell not into his
bargain. Shibli Bagarag was advised by the hawk to accept the China jar
and the dress of Samarcand, and handed the hawk to the King in exchange
for these things. So the King took the hawk upon his wrist and departed
with it to the apartments of his daughter, and Shibli Bagarag went to the
chamber prepared for him in the palace.
Now, when it was night, Shibli Bagarag heard a noise at his lattice, and
he arose and peered through it, and lo! the hawk was fluttering without;
so he let it in, and caressed it, and the hawk bade him put on his silken
dress and carry forth his China jar, and go the round of the palace, and
offer drink to the sentinels and the slaves. So he did as the hawk
directed, and the sentinels and slaves were aware of a China jar brimmed
with wine that was lifted to their lips, but him that lifted it they saw
not: surely, they drank deep of the draught of astonishment.
Then the hawk flew before him, and he followed it to a chamber lit with
golden lamps, gorgeously hung, and full of a dusky splendour and the
faint sparkle of gems, ruby, amethyst, topaz, and beryl; in it there was
the hush of sleep, and the heart of Shibli Bagarag told him that one
beautiful was near. So he approached on tiptoe a couch of blue silk,
bordered with gold-wire, and inwoven with stars of blue turquoise stones,
as it had been the heavens of midnight. On the couch lay one, a woman,
pure in loveliness; the dark fringes of her closed lids like living
flashes of darkness, her mouth like an unstrung bow and as a double
rosebud, even as two isles of coral between which in the clear
transparent watery beds the pearls shine freshly.
And the hawk said to Shibli Bagarag, 'This is the Princess Goorelka, the
daughter of the King of Oolb, a sorceress, the Guardian of the Lily of
the Enchanted Sea. Beneath her pillow is the cockle-shell; grasp it, but
gaze not upon her.'
He approached and slid his arm beneath the pillow of the Princess, and
grasped the cockle-shell; but ere he drew it forth he gazed upon her, and
the lustre of her countenance transfixed him as with a javelin, so that
he could not stir, nor move his eyes from the contemplation of her
sweetness of feature. The hawk darted at him fiercely, and pecked at him
to draw his attention from her, and he stepped back, yet he continued
taking fatal draughts from the magic cup of her beauty. Then the hawk
screamed a loud scream of anguish, and the Princess awoke, and started
half-way from the couch, and stared about her, and saw the bird in
agitation. As she looked at the bird a shudder passed over her, and she
snatched a veil and drew it over her face, murmuring, 'I dream, or I am
under the eye of a man.' Then she felt beneath the pillow, and knew that
the cockle-shell had been touched; and in a moment she leapt from her
couch, and ran to a mirror and saw herself as she was, a full-moon made
to snare the wariest and sit singly high on a throne in the hearts of
men. At the sight of her beauty she smiled and seemed at peace, murmuring
still, 'I am under the eye of a man, or I dream.' Now, while she so
murmured she arrayed herself, and took the cockle-shell, and passed
through the ante-room among her women sleeping; and Shibli Bagarag
tracked her till she came to the vault; and she entered it and walked to
the corner from which had hung the dress of Samarcand. When she saw it
gone her face waxed pale, and she gazed slowly at all points, muttering,
'There is no further doubt but that I am under the eye of a man!'
Thereupon she ran hastily from the vault, and passed between the
sentinels of the palace, and saw them where they lay drowsy with
intoxication: so she knew that the China jar and the dress of Samarcand
had been used that night, and for no purpose friendly to her wishes. Then
she passed down the palace steps, and through the gates of the palace and
the city, till she came to the shore of the sea; there she launched the
cockle-shell and took the wind in her garments, and sat in it, filling it
to overflowing, yet it floated. And Shibli Bagarag waded to the
cockle-shell and took hold of it, and was drawn along by its motion
swiftly through the waters, so that a foam swept after him; and Goorelka
marked the foam. Now, they had passage over the billows smoothly, and
soon the length of the sea was darkened with two high rocks, and between
them there was a narrow channel of the sea, roughened with moonlight. So
they sped between the rocks, and came upon a purple sea, dark-blue
overhead, with large stars leaning to the waves. There was a soft
whisperingness in the breath of the breezes that swung there, and many
sails of charmed ships were seen in momentary gleams, flapping the mast
idly far away. Warm as new milk from the full udders were the waters of
that sea, and figures of fair women stretched lengthwise with the
current, and lifted a head as they rushed rolling by. Truly it was
enchanted even to the very bed!