name is Ajíb son of Khazíb. When my father died I succeeded him; and I
ruled and did justice and dealt fairly by all my lieges. I delighted in
sea trips, for my capital stood on the shore, before which the ocean
stretched far and wide; and nearhand were many great islands with
sconces and garrisons in the midst of the main. My fleet numbered fifty
merchantmen, and as many yachts for pleasance, and an hundred and fifty
sail ready fitted for holy war with the Unbelievers. It fortuned that I
had a mind to enjoy myself on the islands aforesaid, so I took ship
with my people in ten keel; and, carrying with me a month's victual, I
set out on a twenty days voyage. But one night a head wind struck us,
and the sea rose against us with huge waves; the billows sorely
buffetted us and a dense darkness settled round us. We gave ourselves
up for lost and I said, "Whoso endangereth his days, e'en an he 'scape
deserveth no praise." Then we prayed to Allah and besought Him; but the
storm-blasts ceased not to blow against us nor the surges to strike us
till morning broke, when the gale fell, the seas sank to mirrory
stillness and the sun shone upon us kindly clear. Presently we made an
island where we landed and cooked somewhat of food, and ate heartily
and took our rest for a couple of days. Then we set out again and
sailed other twenty days, the seas broadening and the land shrinking.
Presently the current ran counter to us, and we found ourselves in
strange waters, where the Captain had lost his reckoning, and was
wholly bewildered in this sea; so said we to the look-out man,[256]
"Get thee to the mast-head and keep thine eyes open." He swarmed up the
mast and looked out and cried aloud, "O Rais, I espy to starboard
something dark, very like a fish floating on the face of the sea, and
to larboard there is a loom in the midst of the main, now black and now
bright." When the Captain heard the look-out's words he dashed his
turband on the deck and plucked out his beard and beat his face saying,
"Good news indeed! we be all dead men; not one of us can be saved." And
he fell to weeping and all of us wept for his weeping and also for our
lives; and I said, "O Captain, tell us what it is the look-out saw." "O
my Prince," answered he, "know that we lost our course on the night of
the storm, which was followed on the morrow by a two-days' calm during
which we made no way; and we have gone astray eleven days reckoning
from that night, with ne'er a wind to bring us back to our true course.
To-morrow by the end of the day we shall come to a mountain of black
stone, hight the Magnet Mountain;[257] for thither the currents carry
us willy-nilly. As soon as we are under its lea, the ship's sides will
open and every nail in plank will fly out and cleave fast to the
mountain; for that Almighty Allah hath gifted the loadstone with a
mysterious virtue and a love for iron, by reason whereof all which is
iron travelleth towards it; and on this mountain is much iron, how much
none knoweth save the Most High, from the many vessels which have been
lost there since the days of yore. The bright spot upon its summit is a
dome of yellow laton from Andalusia, vaulted upon ten columns; and on
its crown is a horseman who rideth a horse of brass and holdeth in hand
a lance of laton; and there hangeth on his bosom a tablet of lead
graven with names and talismans." And he presently added, "And, O King,
none destroyeth folk save the rider on that steed, nor will the
egromancy be dispelled till he fall from his horse."[258] Then, O my
lady, the Captain wept with exceeding weeping and we all made sure of
death-doom and each and every one of us farewelled his friend and
charged him with his last will and testament in case he might be saved.
We slept not that night and in the morning we found ourselves much
nearer the Loadstone Mountain, whither the waters drave us with a
violent send. When the ships were close under its lea they opened and
the nails flew out and all the iron in them sought the Magnet Mountain
and clove to it like a network; so that by the end of the day we were
all struggling in the waves round about the mountain. Some of us were
saved, but more were drowned and even those who had escaped knew not
one another, so stupefied were they by the beating of the billows and
the raving of the winds. As for me, O my lady, Allah (be His name
exalted!) preserved my life that I might suffer whatso He willed to me
of hardship, misfortune and calamity; for I scrambled upon a plank from
one of the ships, and the wind and waters threw it at the feet of the
Mountain. There I found a practicable path leading by steps carven out
of the rock to the summit, and I called on the name of Allah
Almighty[259]——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Fifteenth Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the third
Kalandar said to the lady (the rest of the party sitting fast bound and
the slaves standing with swords drawn over their heads):—And after
calling on the name of Almighty Allah and passionately beseeching Him,
I breasted the ascent, clinging to the steps and notches hewn in the
stone, and mounted little by little. And the Lord stilled the wind and
aided me in the ascent, so that I succeeded in reaching the summit.
There I found no resting-place save the dome, which I entered, joying
with exceeding joy at my escape; and made the Wuzu-ablution[260] and
prayed a two-bow prayer[261] a thanksgiving to God for my preservation.
Then I fell asleep under the dome, and heard in my dream a mysterious
Voice[262] saying, "O son of Khazib! when thou wakest from thy sleep
dig under thy feet and thou shalt find a bow of brass and three leaden
arrows, inscribed with talismans and characts. Take the bow and shoot
the arrows at the horseman on the dome-top and free mankind from this
sore calamity. When thou hast shot him he shall fall into the sea, and
the horse will also drop at thy feet: then bury it in the place of the
bow. This done, the main will swell and rise till it is level with the
mountain-head, and there will appear on it a skiff carrying a man of
laton (other than he thou shalt have shot) holding in his hand a pair
of paddles. He will come to thee and do thou embark with him but beware
of saying Bismillah or of otherwise naming Allah Almighty. He will row
thee for a space of ten days, till he bring thee to certain Islands
called the Islands of Safety, and thence thou shalt easily reach a port
and find those who will convey thee to thy native land; and all this
shall be fulfilled to thee so thou call not on the name of Allah." Then
I started up from my sleep in joy and gladness and, hastening to do the
bidding of the mysterious Voice, found the bow and arrows and shot at
the horseman and tumbled him into the main, whilst the horse dropped at
my feet; so I took it and buried it. Presently the sea surged up and
rose till it reached the top of the mountain; nor had I long to wait
ere I saw a skiff in the offing coming towards me. I gave thanks to
Allah; and, when the skiff came up to me, I saw therein a man of brass
with a tablet of lead on his breast inscribed with talismans and
characts; and I embarked without uttering a word. The boatman rowed on
with me through the first day and the second and the third, in all ten
whole days, till I caught sight of the Islands of Safety; whereat I
joyed with exceeding joy and for stress of gladness exclaimed, "Allah!
Allah! In the name of Allah! There is no god but _the_ God and Allah is
Almighty."[263] Thereupon the skiff forthwith upset and cast me upon
the sea; then it righted and sank deep into the depths. Now I am a fair
swimmer, so I swam the whole day till nightfall, when my forearms and
shoulders were numbed with fatigue and I felt like to die; so I
testified to my Faith, expecting naught but death. The sea was still
surging under the violence of the winds, and presently there came a
billow like a hillock; and, bearing me up high in air, threw me with a
long cast on dry land, that His will might be fulfilled. I crawled up
the beach and doffing my raiment wrung it out to dry and spread it in
the sunshine: then I lay me down and slept the whole night. As soon as
it was day, I donned my clothes and rose to look whither I should walk.
Presently I came to a thicket of low trees; and, making a cast round
it, found that the spot whereon I stood was an islet, a mere holm, girt
on all sides by the ocean; whereupon I said to myself, "Whatso freeth
me from one great calamity casteth me into a greater!" But while I was
pondering my case and longing for death behold, I saw afar off a ship
making for the island; so I clomb a tree and hid myself among the
branches. Presently the ship anchored and landed ten slaves,
blackamoors, bearing iron hoes and baskets, who walked on till they
reached the middle of the island. Here they dug deep into the ground,
until they uncovered a plate of metal which they lifted, thereby
opening a trap-door. After this they returned to the ship and thence
brought bread and flour, honey and fruits, clarified butter,[264]
leather bottles containing liquors and many household stuffs; also
furniture, table-service and mirrors; rugs, carpets and in fact all
needed to furnish a dwelling; and they kept going to and fro, and
descending by the trap-door, till they had transported into the
dwelling all that was in the ship. After this the slaves again went on
board and brought back with them garments as rich as may be, and in the
midst of them came an old old man, of whom very little was left, for
Time had dealt hardly and harshly with him, and all that remained of
him was a bone wrapped in a rag of blue stuff, through which the winds
whistled west and east. As saith the poet of him:—
Time gars me tremble Ah, how sore the baulk! ✿ While Time in pride of
strength doth ever stalk:
Time was I walked nor ever felt I tired, ✿ Now am I tired albe I never
walk!
And the Shaykh held by the hand a youth cast in beauty's mould, all
elegance and perfect grace; so fair that his comeliness deserved to be
proverbial; for he was as a green bough or the tender young of the roe,
ravishing every heart with his loveliness and subduing every soul with
his coquetry and amorous ways.[265] It was of him the poet spake when
he said:—
Beauty they brought with him to make compare; ✿ But Beauty hung her
head in shame and care:
Quoth they, "O Beauty, hast thou seen his like?" ✿ And Beauty cried,
"His like? not anywhere!"
They stinted not their going, O my lady, till all went down by the
trap-door and did not reappear for an hour, or rather more; at the end
of which time the slaves and the old man came up without the youth and,
replacing the iron plate and carefully closing the door-slab, as it was
before, they returned to the ship and made sail and were lost to my
sight. When they turned away to depart, I came down from the tree and,
going to the place I had seen them fill up, scraped off and removed the
earth; and in patience possessed my soul till I had cleared the whole
of it away. Then appeared the trap-door which was of wood, in shape and
size like a millstone; and when I lifted it up it disclosed a winding
staircase of stone. At this I marvelled and, descending the steps till
I reached the last, found a fair hall, spread with various kinds of
carpets and silk stuffs, wherein was a youth sitting upon a raised
couch and leaning back on a round cushion with a fan in his hand and
nosegays and posies of sweet scented herbs and flowers before him;[266]
but he was alone and not a soul near him in the great vault. When he
saw me he turned pale; but I saluted him courteously and said, "Set thy
mind at ease and calm thy fears; no harm shall come near thee; I am a
man like thyself and the son of a King to boot; whom the decrees of
Destiny have sent to bear thee company and cheer thee in thy
loneliness. But now tell me, what is thy story and what causeth thee to
dwell thus in solitude under the ground?" When he was assured that I
was of his kind and no Jinni, he rejoiced and his fine colour returned;
and, making me draw near to him he said, "O my brother, my story is a
strange story and 'tis this. My father is a merchant-jeweller possessed
of great wealth, who hath white and black slaves travelling and trading
on his account in ships and on camels, and trafficking with the most
distant cities; but he was not blessed with a child, not even one. Now
on a certain night he dreamed a dream that he should be favoured with a
son, who would be short lived; so the morning dawned on my father
bringing him woe and weeping. On the following night my mother
conceived and my father noted down the date of her becoming
pregnant.[267] Her time being fulfilled she bare me; whereat my father
rejoiced and made banquets and called together the neighbours and fed
the Fakirs and the poor, for that he had been blessed with issue near
the end of his days. Then he assembled the astrologers and astronomers
who knew the places of the planets, and the wizards and wise ones of
the time, and men learned in horoscopes and nativities;[268] and they
drew out my birth scheme and said to my father:—Thy son shall live to
fifteen years, but in his fifteenth there is a sinister aspect; an he
safely tide it over he shall attain a great age. And the cause that
threateneth him with death is this. In the Sea of Peril standeth the
Mountain Magnet hight; on whose summit is a horseman of yellow laton
seated on a horse also of brass and bearing on his breast a tablet of
lead. Fifty days after this rider shall fall from his steed thy son
will die and his slayer will be he who shoots down the horseman, a
Prince named Ajib son of King Khazib. My father grieved with exceeding
grief to hear these words; but reared me in tenderest fashion and
educated me excellently well till my fifteenth year was told. Ten days
ago news came to him that the horseman had fallen into the sea and he
who shot him down was named Ajib son of King Khazib. My father
thereupon wept bitter tears at the need of parting with me and became
like one possessed of a Jinni. However, being in mortal fear for me, he
built me this place under the earth; and, stocking it with all required
for the few days still remaining, he brought me hither in a ship and
left me here. Ten are already past and, when the forty shall have gone
by without danger to me, he will come and take me away; for he hath
done all this only in fear of Prince Ajib. Such, then, is my story and
the cause of my loneliness." When I heard his history I marvelled and
said in my mind, "I am the Prince Ajib who hath done all this; but as
Allah is with me I will surely not slay him!" So said I to him, O my
lord, far from thee be this hurt and harm and then, please Allah, thou
shalt not suffer cark nor care nor aught disquietude, for I will tarry
with thee and serve thee as a servant, and then wend my ways; and,
after having borne thee company during the forty days, I will go with
thee to thy home where thou shalt give me an escort of some of thy
Mamelukes with whom I may journey back to my own city; and the Almighty
shall requite thee for me. He was glad to hear these words, when I rose
and lighted a large wax-candle and trimmed the lamps and the three
lanterns; and I set on meat and drink and sweetmeats. We ate and drank
and sat talking over various matters till the greater part of the night
was gone; when he lay down to rest and I covered him up and went to
sleep myself. Next morning I arose and warmed a little water, then
lifted him gently so as to awake him and brought him the warm water
wherewith he washed his face[269] and said to me, "Heaven requite thee
for me with every blessing, O youth! By Allah, if I get quit of this
danger and am saved from him whose name is Ajib bin Khazib, I will make
my father reward thee and send thee home healthy and wealthy; and, if I
die, then my blessing be upon thee." I answered, "May the day never
dawn on which evil shall betide thee; and may Allah make my last day
before thy last day!" Then I set before him somewhat of food and we
ate; and I got ready perfumes for fumigating the hall, wherewith he was
pleased. Moreover I made him a Mankalah-cloth;[270] and we played and
ate sweetmeats and we played again and took our pleasure till
nightfall, when I rose and lighted the lamps, and set before him
somewhat to eat, and sat telling him stories till the hours of darkness
were far spent. Then he lay down to rest and I covered him up and
rested also. And thus I continued to do, O my lady for days and nights,
and affection for him took root in my heart and my sorrow was eased,
and I said to myself, The astrologers lied[271] when they predicted
that he should be slain by Ajib bin Khazib: by Allah, I will not slay
him. I ceased not ministering to him and conversing and carousing with
him and telling him all manner tales for thirty-nine days. On the
fortieth night[272] the youth rejoiced and said, "O my brother,
Alhamdolillah!—praise be to Allah—who hath preserved me from death and
this is by thy blessing and the blessing of thy coming to me; and I
pray God that He restore thee to thy native land. But now, O my
brother, I would thou warm me some water for the Ghusl-ablution and do
thou kindly bathe me and change my clothes." I replied, "With love and
gladness;" and I heated water in plenty and carrying it in to him
washed his body all over, the washing of health,[273] with meal of
lupins[274] and rubbed him well and changed his clothes and spread him
a high bed whereon he lay down to rest, being drowsy after bathing.
Then said he, "O my brother, cut me up a water-melon, and sweeten it
with a little sugar-candy."[275] So I went to the store-room and
bringing out a fine water-melon I found there, set it on a platter and
laid it before him saying, "O my master hast thou not a knife?" "Here
it is," answered he, "over my head upon the high shelf." So I got up in
haste and taking the knife drew it from its sheath; but my foot slipped
in stepping down and I fell heavily upon the youth holding in my hand
the knife which hastened to fulfil what had been written on the Day
that decided the destinies of man, and buried itself, as if planted, in
the youth's heart. He died on the instant. When I saw that he was slain
and knew that I had slain him, maugre myself, I cried out with an
exceeding loud and bitter cry and beat my face and rent my raiment and
said, "Verily we be Allah's and unto Him we be returning, O Moslems! O
folk fain of Allah! there remained for this youth but one day of the
forty dangerous days which the astrologers and the learned had foretold
for him; and the predestined death of this beautiful one was to be at
my hand. Would Heaven I had not tried to cut the water-melon. What dire
misfortune is this I must bear lief or loath? What a disaster! What an
affliction! O Allah mine, I implore thy pardon and declare to Thee my
innocence of his death. But what God willeth let that come to
pass."[276]——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
her permitted say.
Now when it was the Sixteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ajib thus
continued his tale to the lady:—When I was certified that I had slain
him, I arose and ascending the stairs replaced the trap-door and
covered it with earth as before. Then I looked out seawards and saw the
ship cleaving the waters and making for the island, wherefore I was
afeard and said, "The moment they come and see the youth done to death,
they will know 'twas I who slew him and will slay me without respite."
So I climbed up into a high tree and concealed myself among its leaves;
and hardly had I done so when the ship anchored and the slaves landed
with the ancient man, the youth's father, and made direct for the place
and when they removed the earth they were surprised to see it
soft.[277] Then they raised the trap-door and went down and found the
youth lying at full length, clothed in fair new garments with a face
beaming after the bath, and the knife deep in his heart. At the sight
they shrieked and wept and beat their faces, loudly cursing the
murderer; whilst a swoon came over the Shaykh so that the slaves deemed
him dead, unable to survive his son. At last they wrapped the slain
youth in his clothes and carried him up and laid him on the ground
covering him with a shroud of silk. Whilst they were making for the
ship the old man revived; and, gazing on his son who was stretched out,
fell on the ground and strewed dust over his head and smote his face
and plucked out his beard; and his weeping redoubled as he thought of
his murdered son and he swooned away once more. After awhile a slave
went and fetched a strip of silk whereupon they lay the old man and sat
down at his head. All this took place and I was on the tree above them
watching everything that came to pass; and my heart became hoary before
my head waxed grey, for the hard lot which was mine, and for the
distress and anguish I had undergone, and I fell to reciting:—
"How many a joy by Allah's will hath fled ✿ With flight escaping sight
of wisest head!
How many a sadness shall begin the day, ✿ Yet grow right gladsome ere
the day is sped!
How many a weal trips on the heels of ill, ✿ Causing the mourner's
heart with joy to thrill!"[278]
But the old man, O my lady, ceased not from his swoon till near sunset,
when he came to himself and, looking upon his dead son, he recalled
what had happened, and how what he had dreaded had come to pass; and he
beat his face and head and recited these couplets:—
"Racked is my heart by parting fro' my friends ✿ And two rills ever
fro' my eyelids flow:
With them[279] went forth my hopes, Ah, well away! ✿ What shift
remaineth me to say or do?
Would I had never looked upon their sight, ✿ What shift, fair sirs,
when paths e'er straiter grow?
What charm shall calm my pangs when this wise burn ✿ Longings of love
which in my vitals glow?
Would I had trod with them the road of Death! ✿ Ne'er had befel us
twain this parting-blow:
Allah: I pray the Ruthful show me ruth ✿ And mix our lives nor part
them evermo'e!
How blest were we as 'neath one roof we dwelt ✿ Conjoined in joys nor
recking aught of woe;
Till Fortune shot us with the severance shaft; ✿ Ah who shall patient
bear such parting throe?
And dart of Death struck down amid the tribe ✿ The age's pearl that
Morn saw brightest show:
I cried the while his case took speech and said:—✿ Would Heaven, my
son, Death mote his doom foreslow!
Which be the readiest road wi' thee to meet ✿ My Son! for whom I would
my soul bestow?
If sun I call him no! the sun doth set; ✿ If moon I call him, wane the
moons; Ah no!
O sad mischance o' thee, O doom of days, ✿ Thy place none other love
shall ever know:
Thy sire distracted sees thee, but despairs ✿ By wit or wisdom Fate to
overthrow:
Some evil eye this day hath cast its spell ✿ And foul befal him as it
foul befel!"
Then he sobbed a single sob and his soul fled his flesh. The slaves
shrieked aloud "Alas, our lord!" and showered dust on their heads and
redoubled their weeping and wailing. Presently they carried their dead
master to the ship side by side with his dead son and, having
transported all the stuff from the dwelling to the vessel, set sail and
disappeared from mine eyes. I descended from the tree and, raising the
trap-door, went down into the underground dwelling where everything
reminded me of the youth; and I looked upon the poor remains of him and
began repeating these verses:—
Their tracks I see, and pine with pain and pang ✿ And on deserted
hearths I weep and yearn:
And Him I pray who doomèd them depart ✿ Some day vouchsafe the boon of
safe return.[280]
Then, O my lady, I went up again by the trap-door, and every day I used
to wander round about the island and every night I returned to the
underground hall. Thus I lived for a month, till at last, looking at
the western side of the island, I observed that every day the tide
ebbed, leaving shallow water for which the flow did not compensate; and
by the end of the month the sea showed dry land in that direction. At
this I rejoiced making certain of my safety; so I arose and fording
what little was left of the water got me to the main land, where I fell
in with great heaps of loose sand in which even a camel's hoof would
sink up to the knee.[281] However I emboldened my soul and wading
through the sand behold, a fire shone from afar burning with a blazing
light.[282] So I made for it hoping haply to find succour and broke out
into these verses:—
"Belike my Fortune may her bridle turn ✿ And Time bring weal although
he's jealous hight;
Forward my hopes, and further all my needs, ✿ And passèd ills with
present weals requite."