Transcriber’s Note
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Her Majesty the King
[Illustration:
_Her Majesty the King_
]
[Illustration:
HER MAJESTY
THE KING
A Romance of the Harem
_Done into American
from the Arabic_
By
JAMES JEFFREY ROCHE
_With Illustrations by_
OLIVER HERFORD
[Illustration: Decoration]
NEW YORK
R. H. RUSSELL
1902
]
_Copyright, 1898, by_
JAMES JEFFREY ROCHE
_Copyright, 1902, by_
ROBERT HOWARD RUSSELL
UNIVERSITY PRESS · JOHN WILSON
AND SON · CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.
DEDICATION.
[Illustration: Decoration]
_To the lineal descendant of the Lady Kayenna, who told me this true
history, the while I could but marvel and admire the teller; for, of
a truth, since Scheherezade there hath been none to approach her in
goodliness and wit and wisdom and all comeliness of mind and person
and, especially, in a proper and intelligent appreciation of_
THE ILLUSTRIOUS AUTHOR.
FOREWARNING.
[Illustration: Decoration]
(YEAR OF THE HEGIRA 1276.)
Many, and in sooth foolish, are they who writing books send them forth
to the world with humiliating disparagement of their contents and
servile appeals for mercy to those who may read them. Now a man who
hath dates, or coffee, or rice to sell goeth not into the market-place
crying out, “Lo! the merchandise which I offer for sale is poor and
mouldy and unworthy stuff; yet of your charity, good people, I pray you
to buy,” seeking yet to cajole his hearers with coarse flattery. As if
any man were silly enough to buy damaged goods because, forsooth, the
vendor praised the good judgment of the buyer!
I, who have made the pilgrimage and kissed the Kaaba which endowed with
truth, am not as the Franks who trust to the beguilement of the Stone
of Bel-Ârni. This volume, containing the surprising adventures of
the good Kayenna and the marvellous wisdom of Shacabac, the Wayfarer,
needeth no apology. If it excelleth all other works of history in lofty
thought, in rich imagery, in polished style, and in perfect diction, it
is only because I have made it to do so. Had it existed in the days of
the good Caliph Omar, wisest of all censors, it would not have shared
the fate of that mass of unworthy literature by him justly condemned to
the flames. Rather would it have been commended to all the faithful as
a work not to be hastily skimmed by the light and thoughtless who seek
transitory knowledge in the public libraries, but to be _bought_ and
preserved for careful and frequent study by the discriminating reader.
While the work of no mortal is perfect, the only defect in this book is
its brevity. Its merits are as many as its words. If any man fail to
recognize them, let him wisely be silent, and, returning the book to
him from whom he borrowed it, pray Allah for better judgment and mourn
the hour in which he, unworthy, ever learned to read.
CONTENTS.
[Illustration: Decoration]
PAGE
FOREWARNING v
CHAPTER I. 13
He that repenteth too late may some time worry too
soon.—_The Kâtâmarana._