master, not however without often turning my head aside to look at the
incalculable riches spread around me. Fearing that I should fall a
prey to the seductions of wealth, my master took me by the hand and
led me out of the city. We quitted it by the path by which we came,
but more slowly than we approached. When we arrived at the crystal
precipice it opened before us, and we passed through it; when we had
done so, we looked about in vain for the wonderful plain and the
city,--they could no longer be seen. We found ourselves on the brink
of the river of quicksilver, and crossed the bridge. Our camels were
feeding on the flowery herbage, and I ran to mine with delight, as to
an old friend. After refastening our girths, we mounted and set out on
the road to Egypt. We were three months in reaching Cairo. During all
this time I suffered many privations; my health was destroyed, and I
endured every kind of evil. From some fatality, the cause of which was
unknown to me at the time, I alone was exposed to all the accidents of
the journey, while my companion continued in health and comfort,
passing safely through every danger. I discovered afterwards that all
my misfortunes arose from my having in my possession the enchanted
keys. This was one day towards the close of our journey, when the Arab
confessed to me that he was aware of this fatal quality of theirs, and
that it was in order to free himself from it that he purchased me.
When I wanted to throw away the accursed keys, he withheld me.
"Patience and resignation," said he, "and these virtues only, can
exhaust their evil influence, and for your own sake I would advise you
to keep them to the end. All will turn out eventually for your good."
A few days after receiving this communication we arrived at Cairo, and
I immediately ran to my home, the door of which was open and broken,
and the interior occupied by crowds of famished and prowling dogs, who
had taken up their abode there. A neighbour, who heard me calling out
in an agony of despair, opened her door, and said to me, "Hassan
Abdallah, is that you? Well may you be astounded! Know that some time
after your departure,--that is, about five months ago,--some thieves,
knowing that you were absent, and that there was no male slave left to
take care of your house, broke into your house during the night,
insulted the women, and went off with all the property that you had
left. Your mother died a few days after, in consequence. Your wife, in
her destitution, resolved to go to Alexandria, to her brother. The
caravan which she accompanied was attacked by the Arabs of the desert,
who, being enraged at the resistance they met with, put all to the
sword without mercy."
On hearing these sad tidings, I shed many tears, and returning to the
Arab, accused him with being the cause of all my misfortunes. "God is
the author and end of all things," he said to me, and then, taking me
by the hand, led me along with him. It appeared that on the same day
he had hired a magnificent palace, to this he now compelled me to
repair and reside with him; and for my consolation, he told me that he
would share with me the treasures of science, and teach me to read in
the book of alchemy.
Here we resided a long time: whenever his costly fancies caused him to
be in want of money, he used to have several hundred-weight of lead
conveyed secretly to him, and when it was melted he threw some small
portions of red sulphur into it, and in a moment the vile metal was
changed into the purest gold. In the midst of all this luxury, I
continued ill and unhappy; my feeble body was unable to support the
weight, or to endure the contact of the rich clothes and the precious
stuffs with which I was covered. The most delicate food was served up
to me in vain, and the most delicious wines; I only felt disgusted and
disinclined towards them all. I had superb apartments, beds formed of
sweet smelling and costly woods, and divans of purple; but sleep, in
spite of all, was a stranger to my eyes.
I called on death, but he refused to come to me. The Arab, on the
other hand, passed his time in pleasure and feasting.
The palace gardens extended to the banks of the Nile; they were
planted with the rarest trees, brought at a great expense from India,
Persia, China, and the isles. Machines, constructed with great skill,
raised the water of the Nile, and caused it to fall in fresh and
brilliant jets into marble reservoirs,
"'Mid orange groves and myrtle bowers, that breathed a gale
of fragrance round,"
mingled with the perfume of jasmines and roses; there were silken
pavilions, embroidered with gold, and supported on pillars of gold and
silver; brilliant lamps, enclosed in globes of crystal, shed over all
a light soft and effulgent as that of the moon.
There, on each returning night, the Arab received his companions, and
treated them with the utmost magnificence. His liberality made every
one who approached him his friend, and they styled him the Great, the
Magnificent.
He would sometimes come to see me at the pavilion, where my illness
compelled me to remain, a solitary prisoner. On one such occasion, he
paid me his visit after a night of pleasure, early in the morning. He
was heated with wine, his face red, and his eyes shining with a
strange lustre. He sat down beside me, and taking hold of my hand,
began singing, and when he had concluded, shut his eyes, leaned his
head on his breast, and appeared to fall asleep. Alarmed at length at
his unnatural stillness, I leaned over to him; his breathing had
ceased, he had expired.
Perceiving that all help was useless, I began to rummage his pockets,
his girdle, and his turban, in the hope of finding the keys of
happiness and of wisdom, but could not discover them. I thereupon, in
spite of my bad state of health, and without losing a moment, laid
hold of the casket containing the book of alchemy and the red sulphur;
and considering that I might lawfully regard myself as the legitimate
proprietor, I carried it secretly to my former house, which I had
previously caused to be rebuilt and provided with new furniture.
Returning to the palace just as I had left it, I began to cry aloud,
and to ask for help; the slaves and servants ran immediately to know
what was the matter, and I then sent them to bring the best physician,
even the caliph's, if he could be found. When the medical men came
they declared that the stranger had died by the will of God. I then
gave orders for the funeral.
His body, attired in the richest vestments, was placed, exposed to
view, in a coffin of aloe-wood, lined with gold. A cloth of a
marvellously fine tissue, which had been manufactured for a Persian
prince, served for a coverlet. Fifty servants, all dressed in mourning
attire, bore, in turns, the coffin on their shoulders; and every good
mussulman who passed by, hastened to lend his assistance, if it were
only by a helping hand.
A considerable number of women, hired for the purpose, followed the
bier, uttering plaintive cries.
The keepers of the mosque sung sacred verses, and the crowd repeated,
"God is God! There is no God but God! He alone is eternal." In this
order, accompanied by numerous friends whom the Arab had made by his
generosity, we proceeded to the cemetery, southward of the city, and
near to the gate of Bab-el-Masr (the gate of victory). I gave a purse
of gold to a skilful architect, with orders to raise a tomb to the
memory of my master.
Returning to the palace, it fell to my lot, of course, to preside at
the funeral repast. This painful duty was scarcely over, when I saw
some officers from the caliph arrive, who were commanded by his order
to take possession of the wealth contained in the palace, and which
belonged to him, as a stranger's heir. I was driven away, and left the
palace, taking with me, in appearance, nothing but the dress which I
wore, but, in reality, the owner of an inestimable treasure.
Betaking myself to my house, I resolved to live there an unknown and
peaceful life, passing the time in the study of the sciences, and only
using the red sulphur to impart benefit to others in secret.
A curious and jealous neighbour having ascended the terrace of my
house one evening, and seen me at work, effecting the transmutation of
the lead into gold, told my secret to his wife, who repeated it at the
bath, and next morning all Cairo was acquainted with it.
The report reached the ears of the caliph, Theilon, who sent for me,
and told me that he knew I possessed the great secret of knowledge,
and that if I would share it with him, he would overwhelm me with
honours, and associate me with him in rank. I refused to the impious
man the distinguished favour which God had denied to him. Transported
with rage, he caused me to be loaded with chains, and thrown into a
gloomy dungeon; and being baffled in his attempts to penetrate my
secret, he placed the casket and the book under the care of a person
on whose fidelity he could depend, hoping to force the secret from me
by the sufferings which he made me endure. In this state I have lived
for forty years. By my persecutor's orders, I have been made to
undergo all kinds of privations and tortures, and only knew of his
death by my being relieved from punishment.
This morning, when kneeling on the ground at my devotions, I put my
hand on a strange and hard substance. Looking at it, I perceived that
it was the fatal keys which I had years ago buried under the floor of
my dungeon. They were so worn by rust and damp, that they crumbled
into powder in my hand, and I then thought that God intended to have
pity upon me, and that my afflictions were about to end, either by
death or the alleviation of my sufferings. A few moments after, your
officers came and set me at liberty.
"Now, O king!" continued the old man, "I have lived long enough, since
I have been permitted to approach the greatest and most upright of
monarchs."
Mohammed, overjoyed at performing an act of justice, thanked Heaven
for having sent him such a treasure, and being desirous to prove its
reality, he caused one thousand hundred-weight of lead to be melted in
immense caldrons; and having mixed some of the red powder in the fiery
mass, and pronounced over it the magical words dictated to him by the
old man, the base metal was instantly changed into pure gold.
The caliph, in order to propitiate the favour of Heaven, resolved to
employ this treasure in the building of a mosque which should
transcend by its magnificence every other in the world. He collected
architects from all the neighbouring countries, laid before them the
plan of a vast edifice, unfettered by the difficulties or expense of
its execution.
The architects traced out an immense quadrangle, the sides of which
faced the four cardinal points of the heavens. At each corner a tower
of prodigious height was placed, of admirable proportions; the top of
the structure was surrounded with a gallery and crowned with a dome of
gilt copper. On each side of the edifice one thousand pillars were
raised, supporting arches of an elegant curve and solid construction,
and on the arches terraces were laid out with balustrades of gold of
exquisite workmanship. In the centre of the edifice an immense
pavilion was erected, whose construction was of so light and elegant a
nature, that one would have thought it reached from earth to heaven.
The vault was inlaid with azure-coloured enamel and studded with
golden stars. Marbles of the rarest kinds formed the pavement, and the
walls consisted of a mosaic formed of jasper, porphyry, agate,
mother-of-pearl, sapphires, rubies, and other precious stones. The
pillars and arches were covered with arabesques and verses from the
Koran, carved in relief, and painted. No wood was employed in the
building of this wonderful edifice, which was therefore fire-proof.
Mohammed spent seven years in erecting this celebrated mosque, and
expended on it a sum of two millions of dinars.
Although so old, Hassan Abdallah recovered his health and strength,
and lived to be a hundred years of age, honoured with the esteem and
the friendship of the caliph.
The mosque built by the caliph Mohammed is still to be seen at Cairo,
and is the largest and the finest of all the mosques of that great
city.
* * * * *
One day, very shortly after the completion of the mosque, the caliph
and Hassan Abdallah were absent for three days on a journey. Mohammed
communicated to no one but his first vizir his intention; but on his
return he assembled his whole court, and informed them that the object
of the expedition had been to bury the casket, with the book and the
powder, where it was impossible they could ever be discovered. "I have
done," added Mohammed, "what I could to consecrate this wonderful
treasure, but I would not trust even myself any longer with so
dangerous a temptation."
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Most of our readers will also recognize in the Story of the
Princess Schirine the groundwork of one of Hans Andersen's beautiful
Danish Tales, "The Flying Trunk."
II.
SOLIMAN BEY AND THE THREE STORY-TELLERS.
Soliman Bey, passing one day along a street in Cairo, saw three
common-looking men seated at the door of a coffee-house and sipping
their cup of mocha. From their dull and meaningless looks he
conjectured that they were under the influence of haschich[2]. After
looking at them attentively, the bey saluted them, and was pursuing
his way, when he suddenly found himself obliged to stop, as a long
train of camels, heavily laden, blocked up the street and prevented
him from passing on. The bey, having nothing better to do, amused
himself by scrutinizing attentively the eaters of haschich, who were
old men. A warm discussion seemed to be going on among them; they
raised their arms, vied with each other who should cry the loudest,
and made the strangest possible grimaces; but owing to the distance at
which he stood, he was unable to hear what they said. On his return
home, being curious to know the subject of their dispute, he sent his
officer to beg these three originals to wait upon him.
When they arrived, he said to them, "What were you disputing about, my
friends, when I passed you?"
"May Allah prolong your days!" replied one of them; "we were
disputing about which of us it was to whom the salutation belonged
that your highness addressed to us, for each of us took that honour to
himself."
The bey burst out laughing. "I greeted," he said, after a moment's
reflection, "him among you who did the greatest number of foolish
things while intoxicated by the haschich."
"It was I, my lord," they all at once exclaimed.
"Stop," replied the bey; "let each of you tell me one of the tricks
played him by the haschich, and the honour of my greeting shall be his
who shall have committed the greatest act of folly; and do you begin,"
added the bey, pointing to one of the men.
THE FIRST STORY-TELLER.
"Be it known to you, my lord," said the first story-teller, "that a
short time ago I had in my purse a thousand piastres, which were
enough for my expenses, and I was contented with my lot. One day,
however, I had been taking a walk, and on my return I sat down to rest
and chewed a bit of haschich, took my coffee, and lit my pipe; in two
or three hours my head began to buzz. I went out again and walked
about the streets. In front of a coffee-house I noticed some men
collected round an _improvisatore_, who was singing and accompanying
himself on the timbrel. I sat down in the circle and asked for coffee.
I lighted my pipe and commenced listening. The improvisatore depicted
a young girl. Oh, how beautiful she was! it was impossible not to love
her. Compared with her Iyleika[3] was but as a star in the presence of
the sun, and Ablia[3] but as the dirt of the street. I was so
captivated by his description of the beautiful girl, that when he
ceased I gave him all the money I had about me.
"Next day, at the same hour, while the haschich was boiling in my
brain, I ran to the coffee-house, where the improvisatore was
commencing the continuation of his yesterday's story. He now told how
paladins and padishahs disputed for the possession of my adorable
Haridee, and how she disdained their love and refused their offers. I
became more distracted this time than before, and the improvisatore
got from me twice as much as he did the day before. I gave him all
that I had, even to the last farthing.
"Next day I never left my little seat at the _cafe_. The improvisatore
struck his tambourine this time with more vehemence while singing the
charms of the beautiful Haridee. He then began to relate how Haridee
was in love with a certain worthless fellow. At this it was impossible
to tell what I felt; the hydra of jealousy devoured my heart and
poured a maddening poison through my veins. I became as one deprived
of all sense and feeling. But stop; the parents have separated the
lovers and plunged them in an ocean of tears. I again breathed more
freely, and emptied my pockets to fill the purse of the improvisatore.
"Thus were passed many days in succession. The flame of love and the
stings of jealousy tormented me without ceasing. The haschich did its
part unremittingly, and threw me at one moment into fire, and at
another into ice and snow, hurling me from the height of bliss into
the depths of misery. My fortunes fell with me, and I soon became
totally destitute. But my thoughts were otherwise taken up than with
eating or drinking; my love for Haridee had become the only source to
me of life and action. In this way, with empty stomach and purse, I
went one day to the _cafe_ after having paid a few paras for a little
haschich. I listened--the voice of the improvisatore trembled; in
truth he wept, and grief was depicted on his features.
"'What has happened?' I asked, drawing near to him.
"'Poor Haridee!' he replied.
"'What is the matter? What has taken place?' I exclaimed.
"'She is dead!' he muttered.
"I wept, I tore my clothes, and fled I scarce knew where. When the
first transports of my despair had subsided, I saw pass before my
eyes, still under the influence of the haschich, the funeral of
Haridee. The mournful cry of 'There is no God but God, and Mahomet is
his prophet,' echoed in my ears, amidst the outcries and the
lamentations of the women. I ran like a madman from street to street,
while the crowd followed on my path with the coffin of Haridee, and
the frightful groans and cries burst forth louder and louder on my
ears. At length, worn out, and sore all over, I fell down in a state
of complete unconsciousness, and when I came to myself, I perceived
that I was at the threshold of my own home. I arose, and endeavoured
to recal past events, which as they woke up in my memory caused me to
feel the utmost surprise. My purse was empty, my heart broken, and the
blood was flowing down my face, for in my fall I had cut open my head.
After remaining a whole day in the house, I took a small piece of
haschich and went to a coffee-house near at hand, where my friend the
landlord poured me out a cup of mocha, and gave me a pipe. It was
there that I met my two friends, and received from you, my gracious
lord, a look, and a nod."
"This story is not a bad one," replied Soliman Bey, "but do not too
hastily take to yourself the honour of my greeting; let me hear first
what the others have to say."
THE SECOND STORY-TELLER.
"Know, my lord," replied the second, "that I was formerly a rich and
respected merchant, with a beautiful wife and fine children. My life
was like a morning of spring-time--clear, peaceful, and balmy. But
haschich has ruined the structure of my happiness, and destroyed it
from the roof to the foundations. One day when I had imbibed a little
of this fatal poison, I was reclining, after the labours of the day,
on my sofa, sipping from time to time a mouthful of coffee, and
inhaling a whiff of perfumed _latakia_. My wife was occupied at my
side in embroidery, and my children were at play in the room, which
they made ring again with their shrill voices. At length, my brain
becoming overpowered by the vapours of the haschich, the thickening
fancies began to chase each other in quick succession, and my
imagination at length became morbidly excited. The cries of my
children seemed insupportable to me. I ordered them several times to
be quiet, but the brats, wild with their games and noise, paid no
attention to me. At last I lost patience, laid hold of my stick, and
rapped angrily on the floor, ordering them sternly to be quiet. In the
midst of this fit of anger, I stopped short, all of a sudden. The
floor of my apartment emitted a hollow sound, as if there were a vault
beneath it. The haschich suggested to me that there might be hidden
treasure down below. 'Oh, oh,' I said to myself, 'I must not be in a
hurry. If I should discover the treasure in my wife's presence, she
will foolishly run and trumpet it about to all our neighbours. What
good would that do? Let me consider, then, what I shall do to get her
away.' Intoxicated as I was, there was no need to deliberate long. I
darted from my seat, exclaiming, 'Woman! thou art separated from me by
a triple divorce!'[4]
"My wife became pale as death. She threw aside her embroidery, and
rose up.
"'What is the matter, my dear husband? What has happened? Of what have
I been guilty?'
"'Don't say a word! And hasten this moment to leave the house, with
your children.'
"'But pray inform me, my lord and master, when and how I have given
you any cause of complaint? We have now lived together twelve years in
perfect peace and harmony, and never been but on the most affectionate
terms; tell me.'
"'No more explanations,' I replied; 'here are a thousand
_grouches_[5]. Go to your room, and take of the furniture as much as
you require, and return to your father's house.'
"Sadly and sorrowfully she thereupon proceeded to collect her wearing
apparel, uttering mournful cries and lamentations, and taking her
children with her, left the house.
"'Now!' I exclaimed, with satisfaction, 'now, I am quite alone.'
"'Silence, Abou-Kalif,' whispered the haschich to me; 'don't be in
such haste. Suppose you find this treasure, who knows but that at the
first meeting of haschich-eaters, you will disclose your discovery to
all the world. Put yourself to the proof beforehand, by some effectual
means, and thus find out if your tongue have sufficient self-command
to keep still, and not say one word too much.'
"Faithful to the voice of my inward monitor, I arose, and taking from
my chest the sum of five hundred grouches, went to pay a visit to the
vali[6].
"'Here,' said I to him, 'take this money, and give me on the soles of
my feet five hundred blows with a leathern thong, and, while laying
them on, ask me if I have seen, found, or discovered any thing?'
"The man was extremely surprised at my request, and refused to comply
with it; but the people about him said that my body was my own, and
that I was at liberty to dispose of it as I thought proper. 'Take his
money,' they said to him, 'and give him a hearty flogging.'
"The vali, shrugging his shoulders, gave the signal; I was laid on the
ground, my feet were tied together, and the lash whistled and sung on
my bare feet. At each blow, the question I had suggested was asked,
and I replied in the negative. This system of question and answer went
on till the last blow. Fairly exhausted with the pain, I fell down the
moment I attempted to stand up. I therefore crawled along on my knees,
and reached my ass, on whose back I managed, somehow or other, to
raise myself, and thus reached my home.
"A few days' rest having restored me in some measure, I resolved to
prosecute my search for the hidden treasure. But the haschich, to
which I had not forgotten on that day to pay my usual respects,
stopped me in my intention. 'O Abou-Kalif,' it muttered in my ear,
'you have not yet put yourself sufficiently to the proof. Are you now
in a fit state to resist all attempts to make you disclose your
secret? Submit to another trial, my good fellow!' This suggestion was
all-powerful, and I submitted forthwith. I drew from my strong-box one
thousand grouches, and went to the aga of the Janissaries. 'Take this
money,' I said to him, 'and give me in exchange for it a thousand
stripes with a thong on the bare back; asking me between the blows,
Have you seen any thing? have you found any thing? have you discovered
any thing?' The aga did not keep me waiting long for a reply,--and
having pocketed the money, bestowed upon me most faithfully the full
complement of the lashes desired.