Now, while Shibli Bagarag gazed on Shagpat kindled by the beams of Aklis,
lo, the Genii Karavejis and Veejravoosh circling each other in swift
circles like two sapphire rings toward him, and they whirled to a point
above his head, and fell and prostrated themselves at his feet: so he
cried, 'O ye slaves of the Sword, my servitors! how of the whereabout of
Karaz?'
They answered, 'O Master of the Event, we found him after many circlings
far off, and 'twas by the borders of the Putrid Sea. We came not close on
him, for he is stronger than we without the Sword, but it seemed he was
distilling drops of an oil from certain substances, large thickened drops
that dropped into a phial.'
Then Shibli Bagarag said, 'The season of weakness with me is over, and
they that confide in my strength, my cunning, my watchfulness, my
wielding of the Sword, have nought to fear for themselves. Now, this is
my plot, O Feshnavat,--that part of it in which thou art to have a share.
'Tis that thou depart forthwith to the City yonder, and enter thy palace
by a back entrance, and I will see that thou art joined within an hour of
thy arrival there by Baba Mustapha, my uncle, the gabbler. He is there,
as I guess by signs; I have had warnings of him. Discover him speedily.
Thy task is then to induce him to make an attempt on the head of Shagpat
in all wiliness, as he and thou think well to devise. He will fail, as I
know, but what is that saying of the poet?
“Persist, if thou wouldst truly reach thine ends,
For failures oft are but advising friends.”
And he says:
“Every failure is a step advanced,
To him who will consider how it chanced.”
Wherefore, will I that this attempt be made, keeping the counsel that is
mine. Thou must tell Baba Mustapha I wait without the city to reward him
by my powers of reward with all that he best loveth. So, when he has
failed in his attempt on Shagpat, and blows fall plenteously upon him,
and he is regaled with the accustomed thwacking, as I have tasted it in
this undertaking, do thou waste no further word on him, for his part is
over, and as is said:
“Waste not a word in enterprise!
Against--or for--the minute flies.”
'Tis then for thee, O Feshnavat, to speed to the presence of the King in
his majesty, and thou wilt find means of coming to him by a disguise.
Once in the Hall of Council, challenge the tongue of contradiction to
affirm Shagpat other than a bald-pate bewigged. This is for thee to do.'
Quoth Feshnavat plaintively, after thought, 'And what becometh of me, O
thou Master of the Event?'
Shibli Bagarag said, 'The clutch of the executioner will be upon thee, O
Feshnavat, and a clamouring multitude around; short breathing-time given
thee, O father of Noorna, ere the time of breathing is commanded to
cease. Now, in that respite the thing that will occur, 'tis for thee to
see and mark; sure, never will reverse of things be more complete, and
the other side of the picture more rapidly exhibited, if all go as I
conceive and plot, and the trap be not premature nor too perfect for the
trappers; as the poet has declared:
“Ye that intrigue, to thy slaves proper portions adapt;
Perfectest plots burst too often, for all are not apt.”
And I witness likewise to the excellence of his saying:
“To master an Event,
Study men!
The minutes are well spent
Only then.”
Also 'tis he that says:
“The man of men who knoweth men, the Man of men is he!
His army is the human race, and every foe must flee.”
So have I apportioned to thee thy work, to Baba Mustapha his; reserving
to myself the work that is mine!'
Thereat Feshnavat exclaimed, 'O Master of the Event, may I be thy
sacrifice! on my head be it! and for thee to command is for me to obey!
but surely, this Sword of thine that is in thy girdle, the marvellous
blade--'tis alone equal to the project and the shave; and the matter
might be consummated, the great thing done, even from this point whence
we behold Shagpat visible, as 'twere brought forward toward us by the
beams! And this Sword swayed by thee, and with thy skill and strength and
the hardihood of hand that is thine, wullahy! 'twould shear him now, this
moment, taking the light of Aklis for a lather.'
Shibli Bagarag knotted the brows of impatience, crying, 'Hast thou
forgotten Karaz in thy calculations? I know of a surety what this Sword
will do, and I wot the oil he distilleth strengtheneth Shagpat but
against common blades. Yet shall it not be spoken of me, Shibli Bagarag,
that I was tripped by my own conceit; the poet counselleth:
“When for any mighty end thou hast the aid of heaven,
Mount until thy strength shall match those great means which are
given”:
nor that I was overthrown in despising mine enemy, forgetful of the
saying of the sage:
“Read the features of thy foe, wherever he may find thee,
Small he is, seen face to face, but thrice his size behind thee.”
Wullahy! this Karaz is a Genie of craft and resources, one of a mighty
stock, and I must close with Shagpat to be sure of him; and that I am not
deceived by semblances, opposing guile with guile, and guile deeper than
his, for that he awaiteth it not, thinking I have leaped in fancy beyond
the Event, and am puffed by the after-breaths of adulation, I!--thinking
I pluck the blossoms in my hunger for the fruit, that I eat the chick of
the yet unlaid egg, O Feshnavat. As is said, and the warrior beareth
witness to the wisdom of it:
“His weapon I'll study; my own conceal;
So with two arms to his one shall I deal.”
The same also testifieth:
“'Tis folly of the hero, though resistless in the field,
To stake the victory on his steel, and fling away the shield.”
And likewise:
“Examine thine armour in every joint,
For slain was the Giant, and by a pin's point.”
Wah! 'tis certain there will need subtlety in this undertaking, and a
plot plotted, so do thou my bidding, and fail not in the part assigned to
thee.'
Now, Feshnavat was persuaded by his words, and cried, 'In diligence,
discretion, and the virtues which characterize subordinates, I go, and I
delay not! I will perform the thing required of me, O Master of the
Event.' And he repeated in verse:
With danger beset, be the path crooked or narrow,
Thou art the bow, and I the arrow.
Then embraced he his daughter, kissing her on the forehead and the eyes,
and tightening the girdle of his robe, departed, with the name of Allah
on his lips, in the direction of the City.
So Shibli Bagarag called to him the two Genii, and his command was,
'Soar, ye slaves of the Sword, till the range of earth and its mountains
and seas and deserts are a cluster in the orb of the eye, Shiraz
conspicuous as a rose among garlands, and the ruby consorted with other
gems in a setting. In Shiraz or the country adjoining ye will come upon
one Baba Mustapha by name; and, if he be alone, ye may recognize him by
his forlorn look and the hang of his cheeks, his vacancy as of utter
abandonment; if in company, 'twill be the only talker that's he; seize on
him, give him a taste of thin air, and deposit him without speech on the
roof of a palace, where ye will see Feshnavat in yonder city: this do ere
the shadows of the palm-tree by the well in the plain move up the mounds
that enclose the fortified parts.'