Now, he thought, 'She shall at least speak the thing that is, if she look
it not.' So he took the goblet, and contrived to drop a drop from the
phial of Paravid therein without her observing him; and he handed her the
goblet, she him; and they drank. Surely, the change that came over the
Queen was an enchantment, and her eyes shot lustre, her tongue was
loosed, and she laughed like one intoxicated, lolling in her seat, lost
to majesty and the sway of her magic, crying, 'O Abarak! Abarak! little
man, long my slave and my tool; ugly little man! And O Shibli Bagarag!
nephew of the barber! weak youth! small prince of the tackle! have I not
nigh fascinated thee? And thou wilt forfeit those two silly eyes of thine
to the sack. And, O Abarak, Abarak! little man, have I flattered thee? So
fetter I the strong with my allurements! and I stay the arrow in its
flight! and I blunt the barb of high intents! Wah! I have drunk a potent
stuff; I talk! Wullahy! I know there is a danger menacing Shagpat, and
the eyes of all Genii are fixed on him. And if he be shaved, what changes
will follow! But 'tis in me to delude the barber, wullahy! and I will
avert the calamity. I will save Shagpat!'
While the Queen Rabesqurat prated in this wise with flushed face, Shibli
Bagarag was smitten with the greatness of his task, and reproached his
soul with neglect of it. And he thought, 'I am powerful by spells as none
before me have been, and 'twas by my weakness the Queen sought to tangle
me. I will clasp the Seventh Pillar and make an end of it, by Allah and
his Prophet (praised be the name!), and I will reach Aklis by a short
path and shave Shagpat with the sword.'
So he looked up, and Abarak was before him, the lifted nostrils of the
little man wide with the flame of anger. And Abarak said, 'O youth,
regard me with the eyes of judgement! Now, is it not frightful to rate me
little?--an instigation of the evil one to repute me ugly?'
The promptings of wisdom counselled Shibli Bagarag to say, 'Frightful
beyond contemplation, O Abarak! one to shame our species! Surely, there
is a moon between thy legs, a pear upon thy shoulders, and the cock that
croweth is no match for thee in measure.'
Abarak cried, 'We be aggrieved, we two! O youth, son of my uncle, I will
give thee means of vengeance; give thou me means.'
Shibli Bagarag felt scorn at the Queen, and her hollowness, and he said,
''Tis well; take this Lily and hold it to her.'
Now, the Queen jeered Abarak, and as he approached her she shouted,
'What! thou small of build! mite of creation! sour mixture! thou puppet
of mine! thou! comest thou to seek a second kiss against the compact,
knowing that I give not the well-favoured of mortals beyond one, a
second.
Little delayed Abarak at this to put her to the test of the Lily, and he
held the flower to her, and saw the sight, and staggered back like one
stricken with a shaft. When he could get a breath he uttered such a howl
that Rabesqurat in her drunkenness was fain to save her ears, and the
hall echoed as with the bellows of a thousand beasts of the forest. Then,
to glut his revenge he ran for the sack, and emptied the contents of it,
the Queen's mirror, before her; and the sackful of eyes, they saw the
sight, and sickened, rolling their whites. That done, Abarak gave Shibli
Bagarag the bar of iron, and bade him smite the pillars, all save the
seventh; and he smote them strengthily, crumbling them at a blow, and
bringing down the great hall and its groves, and glasses and gems, lamps,
traceries, devices, a heap of ruin, the seventh pillar alone standing.
Then, while he pumped back breath into his body, Abarak said, 'There's no
delaying in this place now, O youth! Say, halt thou spells for the
entering of Aklis?'