Shaving of

The Shaving of Shagpat; an Arabian entertainment — Complete

Name: The Shaving of Shagpat; an Arabian entertainment — Complete
Author: Meredith, George, 1828-1909

作者：Meredith, George, 1828-1909
体例：题　章数：175
字数：404,767　来源：Project Gutenberg

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原文溯源: cache/epub/4405/pg4405.txt（Project Gutenberg）

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章节目录

共 175 题

THE SHAVING OF SHAGPAT
By George Meredith
AN ARABIAN ENTERTAINMENT
CONTENTS:
THE SHAVING OF SHAGPAT
BOOK I.
THE THWACKINGS
So the old woman said, 'Tell me thy case.'
The King said, ''Tis commanded!'
Shagpat answered, 'That with thee!'
Shagpat answered, ''Tis well!'
Cried he, 'A proposal honourable to thee, and pleasant in the ear.'
She added, 'Provided thou marry me in sweet marriage.'
He answered, 'The edge is keen, the hand ready.'
Then said she, ''Tis well.'
Then said the Chief Vizier, 'O Shibli Bagarag, where now is thy tackle?'
If thou wouldst have thy achievement as high
And the youth answered, 'She is, O Vizier, that she is!'
AND THIS IS THE STORY OF BHANAVAR THE BEAUTIFUL
So he said, 'Seek not to hear of it, O my betrothed!'
Then she said, 'How came the Jewel there, in such a place?'
She cried, 'Surely precious?'
He answered, 'Beyond price!'
So she said, 'Thou fearest a risk?'
Then she wept, and pulled her veil close, murmuring, ''Tis well!'
Ruark stooped to her and said, 'Tell me thy name.'
She answered, 'Bhanavar is my name with that people.'
Now, the Chief leaned to her yet nearer, saying, 'Show me the Jewel.'
She cried, 'Is he here, the Prince, that I may speak with him?'
She replied, 'Ill-omened is it, this name of Bhanavar!'
She answered, 'As my lord willeth; I am his.'
Said he, 'And it is thy desire?'
And he replied, 'Even so.'
Said she, 'Hie over to the broker opposite, and bring him hither to me.'
Ukleet departed, saying, 'To hear is to obey.'
So Bhanavar cried to him, 'Fix a price for it, O thou broker!'
She answered, 'How, but by the Serpents!'
Almeryl beheld his danger, and he said, 'Is this so?'
So he told her, 'In the burial-ground of the great prison.'
I weep again?
Said Boolp, 'Hearing is compliance in such a case.'
How so? But let discreetness reign and security flourisheth!'
Cried he, 'Another?'
She rejoined,--
She continued,--
Then she cried, 'There's much ye know in common, ye two.'
Then she ran to him, and exclaimed, 'Fooled? For what cam'st thou to me?'
He peered at her inquiringly, echoing 'Why?'
And she repeated, as a child might repeat it, 'Why that?'
Cried she, 'And whither goeth my lord, and on what errand?'
So she cried, 'How? What say'st thou, Ruark? 'tis a riddle.'
So she said, ''Tis Bhanavar! hast thou forgotten her?'
But he replied, 'Nay! said I not my soul is thine?'
He remained still, saying, 'What thou hast been thou art.'
THE BETROTHAL
Then the Vizier, 'Let us hear: we listen.'
He answered, 'Fairest she who's likest to her lord.'
Said they, 'What fairer thing matched with them might prevail?'
The Sage austerely smiled, and said, 'Yon monkey's tail.'
He lifted his head and replied, 'Even so.'
She said, 'Joy in thy kiss, and that I have 'scaped Shagpat.'
Then he: 'Shagpat? How? had that wretch claim over thee ere I came?'
So he said, 'How so?'
And how have ye determined as to that first step?'
Shibli Bagarag said, 'How of that punishment, O Vizier?'
Quoth Khipil, 'To hear is to obey.'
Khipil said, 'Surely, O King, the chair is not yet executed.'
And the King said, 'How of my clemency in the matter of the chafing?'
THE GENIE KARAZ
Said the Vizier, 'Thou?'
And he replied, 'Surely, O Vizier! thou knowest little of my dexterity.'
She answered, 'Because of that; but 'tis the smallest opposer, that.'
Then the Vizier said, 'Let us consult.'
The Vizier assented, saying, 'Second, then, the Chief of Identicals?'
Shibli Bagarag said, ''Tis terrible! on my head be it!'
They both shouted, 'The whereabout of that sword, O Noorna!'
They answered, 'Our faith is in Allah, our confidence in thee.'
She answered, 'O my father! leave thou that to me. What says the poet?--
Noorna replied, 'I've need of thee!'
He said, 'What shape?'
THE WELL OF PARAVID
O Noorna, thou art wise above women: great and glorious over them.'
THE HORSE GARRAVEEN
So she said, 'Thou beginnest to feel my worth?'
So he said, 'And I--whither go I?'
She answered, 'To the City of Oolb straightway.'
Then he, 'But I know not its bearing from this spot: how reach it?'
Said he, 'Is it so?'
She answered, 'Even so.'
THE TALKING HAWK
So he said, 'Do I well in entering this city?'
He answered, 'Native, O King, to Shiraz; newly from the City of Shagpat.'
And the King asked, 'How is it with that hairy wonder?'
He answered, 'The dark forest flourisheth about him.'
GOORELKA OF OOLB
And the hawk bade him say, 'The loan of thy cockleshell.'
Upon that the King said, 'Follow me!'
But Shibli Bagarag said, 'Nought save a loan of the cockle-shell, King!'
THE LILY OF THE ENCHANTED SEA
But the Genie said, 'Nay, there will come a time for that, traitress!'
She said, 'On our way to Aklis.'
So she said, 'And now give ear to the following':--
Then I said to him, 'Lov'st thou Goorelka?'
So I cried, 'And tell me how he may be disenchanted.'
He said, 'Swear first to be mine unreluctantly.'
Then I said, 'What is thy oath?'
He answered, 'I swear, when I swear, by the Identical.'
So I cried, ''Tis well! carry me back to Oolb.'
And I said, 'Must it live in a head, the Identical?'
Cried he, 'Woe to what else holdeth it!'
THE WILES OF RABESQURAT
But she exclaimed, 'Ah, worse to feign forgetfulness!'
Thereupon she cried, 'Said I not so? and I the betrothed.'
Still he exclaimed, 'I cannot think it! Wullahy, it were a wonder!'
She answered, 'The voice of my lord is music in the ear of the bride.'
Thereat, she shook her head, saying, 'I know nought of that one.'
She said, 'Clean shorn!'
She cried, 'No wonders, my life! I am sated with them.'
She answered, 'Too truly so!'
He answered, 'Three!'
Quoth Shibli Bagarag, 'Thou?'
He answered, 'No word of it now. Is't agreed?'
So Shibli Bagarag cried, 'Even so.'
THE PALACE OF AKLIS
He cried, 'The Sword of Aklis! nought save the Sword!'
He answered, 'We will prove how that may be.'
So Shibli Bagarag cried, 'Surely he is before thee, in Aklis.'
THE SONS OF AKLIS
He answered, 'Paravid; Garraveen; and the Lily of the Sea!'
And another called, 'Admittance for his people!'
They answered, 'A King in mightiness! Sultan of a race!'
But they said only, 'The burden of his crown is for the King.'
They answered, 'Our King!'
And he said, 'How so?'
They answered, 'By the crowning of the brides of Aklis.'
Then he said, 'What be ye, O my subjects?'
And he said, 'How that?'
They answered, 'By a touch of the gall of the Roc on his forehead.'
So she said, ''Tis well; I wot of it.'
And they heard the Voice answer from a depth, ''Twere well it rust not!'
And they heard the Voice answer, 'Even so!'
THE SWORD OF AKLIS
KOOROOKH
So the Princess exclaimed, 'A kite! Koorookh is match for a kite!'
THE VEILED FIGURE
They answered, 'Karavejis and Veejravoosh, slaves of the Sword.'
Abarak said, 'How then shall the Master leave Aklis?'
THE BOSOM OF NOORNA
Said Abarak, 'To hear is to obey!'
THE REVIVAL
Then said he, staring at them, 'Who be ye? What is this?'
They said, 'To hear is to obey.'
THE PLOT
Cried Karavejis and Veejravoosh, 'To hear is to obey.'
So he said, 'What of the sorrows of Gulrevaz? Tell me of them.'
Then he: 'Make it clear to me.'
They answered, 'In faithfulness.'
THE DISH OF POMEGRANATE GRAIN
Then he, in a voice like claps of thunder, 'Out with it!'
So, out with it, thou Kadza!'
Cried Kadza, 'The flea that hoppeth!'
She answered, 'On my head be it, and my eyes!'
Now, she laughed, and said, 'What am I, O Baba Mustapha?'
So they said, 'To hear is to obey.'
So Feshnavat smoothed his face, and said, 'Is't not also written?--
Said Noorna, 'O Luloo, have I boxed those little ears of thine this day?'
Said Noorna, 'Even so.'
Luloo muttered, 'Great is the Dispenser of our fates!'
Wullahy! I like not this talk of the grain of Shiraz.'
She answered, 'Listen with the ear and the eye and all the senses.'
THE BURNING OF THE IDENTICAL
THE FLASHES OF THE BLADE
And have I not been over-merciful in thy case?'
CONCLUSION
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