When it was the fifth day, the fifth Wazir, whose name was
Jahrbaur,[182] came in to the king and prostrating himself before him,
said, “O king, it behoveth thee, an thou see or hear one look on thy
house,[183] that thou pluck out his eyes. How then should it be with him
whom thou sawest a middlemost thy palace and on thy royal bed, and he
suspected with thy Harim, and not of thy lineage or of thy kindred? So
do thou away this shame by putting him to death. Indeed, we urge thee
not to this, except for the assurance of thine empire and of our zeal
for thy loyal counselling and of our affection to thee. How can it be
lawful that this youth should live for a single hour?” Therewith the
king was filled with fury and cried, “Bring him forthright.” So they
fetched the youth whom they set before him in fetters, and the king said
to him, “Woe to thee! Thou hast sinned a great sin and the time of thy
survival hath been long;[184] but needs must we put thee to death,
because there is no ease for us in thy life till we take it.” Quoth the
youth, “Know O king, that I, by Allah, am guiltless, and by reason of
this I hope for life, for that he who is innocent of all offence goeth
not in fear of pains and penalties, neither greateneth his mourning and
his concern; but whoso hath sinned, needs must his sin be expiated upon
him, though his life be prolonged, and it shall overtake him, even as it
overtook Dádbín the king and his Wazir.” Asked Azadbakht, “How was
that?” and the youth said, “Hear, O King (whose days may Allah
increase!),
[Illustration]
_THE STORY OF KING DADBIN AND HIS WAZIRS_.”[185]
There was once a king in the land of Tabaristan,[186] by name Dádbín,
and he had two Wazirs, one called Zorkhan and the other Kárdán.[187] The
Minister Zorkhan had a daughter, there was not in her day a fairer than
she nor yet a chaster or a more pious, for she was a faster, a prayer
and an adorer of Allah the Almighty, and her name was Arwà.[188] Now
Dadbin, the king, heard tell of her praises; so his heart clave to her
and he called the Wazir her sire and said to him, “I desire of thee that
thou marry me to thy daughter.” Quoth Zorkhan, “O my liegest lord,
suffer me to consult her, and if she consent, I will marry thee with
her.” And the king said, “Haste thee with this.” So the Minister went in
to his daughter and said to her, “O my daughter, the king seeketh thee
of me and desireth to marry thee.” She said, “O my father, I desire not
a husband, and if thou wilt marry me, marry me not but with a mate who
shall be mine inferior in rank and I nobler than he, so he may not turn
to other than myself nor lift his eyes upon me,[189] and marry me not to
one who is nobler than I, lest I be with him as a slave-girl and a
serving-woman.” Accordingly the Wazir returned to the king and
acquainted him with that which his daughter had said, whenas he
redoubled in desire and love-longing for her, and said to her sire, “An
thou marry me not to her of good grace, I will take her in thy despite
and by force.” The Minister again betook himself to his daughter and
repeated to her the king’s words, but she replied, “I want no husband.”
So he returned to the king and told him what she said, and he was wroth
and threatened him, whereupon the father took his daughter and fled with
her. When this came to the king’s knowledge, he despatched troops in
pursuit of Zorkhan, to stop the road upon him, whilst he himself went
out and overtaking the Wazir, smote him on the head with his mace[190]
and slew him. Then he took his daughter by force and returning to his
dwelling place, went in to her and married her. Arwa resigned herself
with patience to that which betided her and committed her case to Allah
Almighty; and indeed she was used to serve Him night and day with a
goodly service in the house of King Dadbin her husband. It befel one day
that the king had occasion to make a journey; so he called his second
Wazir Kardan and said to him, “I have a charge to commit to thy care,
and it is yonder lady, my wife, the daughter of the Wazir Zorkhan, and I
desire that thou keep her and guard her thy very self, because I have
not in the world aught dearer than she.” Quoth Kardan in his mind, “Of a
truth, the king honoureth me with an exceeding honour in entrusting me
with this lady.” And he answered, “With love and all gladness.” When the
king had departed on his journey, Kardan said in himself, “Needs must I
look upon this lady whom the king loveth with all this love.” So he hid
himself in a place, that he might espy her, and saw her surpassing
description; wherefor he was confounded at her and his wit was wildered
and love gat the lordship of him, so that he sent to her, saying, “Have
pity on me, for indeed I perish for the love of thee.” She sent back to
him and replied, “O Wazir, thou art in the place of faith and
confidence, so do not thou betray thy trust, but make thine inward life
like unto thine outward[191] and occupy thyself with thy wife and that
which is lawful to thee. As for this, ’tis mere lust and women are all
of one and the same taste.[192] And if thou wilt not be forbidden from
this talk, I will make thee a byword and a reproach among folk.” When
the Minister heard her answer, he knew that she was chaste of soul and
body; wherefore he repented with the utmost of repentance and feared for
himself from the king and said, “Needs must I devise a device whereby I
may destroy her; else shall I be disgraced with the king.” Now when the
king returned from his journey, he questioned Kardan of the affairs of
his kingdom, and the Wazir answered, “All is right well, O king, save a
vile matter, which I have espied here and with which I am ashamed to
confront the sovran; but, if I hold my peace thereof, I fear lest other
than I discover it and I shall have played traitor to the king in the
matter of my warning and my trust.” Quoth Dadbin, “Speak, for to me thou
art none other than a truth-teller, a trustworthy and a loyal counsellor
in whatso thou sayest, undistrusted in aught.” And the Minister said, “O
king, this woman to whose love thy heart cleaveth and of whose piety
thou talkest and her fasting and her praying, I will plainly prove to
thee that this is craft and guile.” Hereat the king was troubled and
said, “What may be the matter?” and the Wazir replied, “I would have
thee wot that some days after thy departure, one came to me and said to
me, Come, O Wazir, and look. So I went to the door of the queen’s
sleeping-chamber and behold, she was sitting with Abu al-Khayr, her
father’s page, whom she favoureth, and she did with him what she did,
and such is the manner of that which I saw and heard.” When Dadbin heard
this, he burnt with rage and said to one of his eunuchs,[193] “Go and
slay her in her chamber.” But the eunuch said to him, “O king, Allah
prolong thy life! Indeed, the killing of her may not be in this way
neither at this time; but do thou bid one of thine Castratos take her up
on a camel and carry her to one of the trackless wolds and cast her down
there; so, if she be guilty, Allah shall cause her to perish, and if she
be innocent, He will deliver her, and the king shall be free from
default against her; for that this lady is dear to thee and thou slewest
her father by reason of thy love for her.” Quoth the king, “By Allah,
thou sayst sooth!” Then he bade one of his eunuchs carry her on a camel
to one of the far-off wilds and cut-off wolds and there leave her and
wend his ways, and he forbad her torment to be prolonged. So he took her
up and betaking himself with her to the desert, left her there without
provaunt or water and returned, whereupon she made for one of the hills,
and ranging stones before her in form of prayer-niche, stood praying.
Now it chanced that a camel-driver, belonging to Kisrà[194] the king,
lost certain camels, and his lord threatened him, if he found them not,
that he would slay him. Accordingly he set out and plunged into the
wastes till he came to the place where the lady was, and seeing her
standing at prayer utterly alone, waited till she had made an end of her
orisons, when he went up to her and saluted her with the salam, saying,
“Who art thou?” Quoth she, “I am a hand-maid of the Almighty.” He asked,
“What doest thou in this desolate place?” and she answered, “I serve
Allah the Most High.” When he saw her beauty and loveliness, he fell in
love with her, and said to her, “Harkye! Do thou take me to mate and I
will be tender to thee and use thee with exceeding ruth, and I will
further thee in obedience to Allah Almighty.” But she answered, saying,
“I have no need of wedlock and I desire to abide here alone with my Lord
and His worship; but an thou wouldst have ruth upon me and further me in
the obedience of Allah the Most High, carry me to a place where there is
water and thou wilt have done me a kindness.” Thereupon he took her to a
place wherein was running water and setting her down on the ground, left
her and went his ways, marvelling at her. After he left her, he found
his camels, by her blessing, and when he returned, King Kisra asked him,
“Hast thou found the camels?” He answered “Yes,” and acquainted him with
the affair of the damsel, and detailed to him her beauty and loveliness:
whereupon the king’s heart clave to her and he mounted with a few men
and betook himself to that place, where he found the lady and was amazed
at her, because he saw her surpassing the description wherewith the
camel-driver had described her to him. So he accosted her and said to
her, “I am King Kisra, greatest of the kings. Wilt thou not have me to
husband?” Quoth she, “What wilt thou do with me, O king, and I a woman
abandoned in the waste?” And quoth he, “Needs must this be, and if thou
wilt not consent to me, I will take up my abode here and devote myself
to Allah’s service and thy service, and with thee worship the Almighty.”
Then he bade set up for her a tent and another for himself, facing hers,
so he might adore Allah with her, and fell to sending her food; and she
said in herself, “This is a king, and ’tis not lawful for me that I
suffer him for my sake to forsake his lieges and his land.” Presently
she said to the serving-woman, who used to bring her the food, “Speak
the king that he return to his women, for he hath no need of me, and I
desire to abide in this place, so I may worship therein Allah the Most
High.” The slave-girl returned to the king and told him this, whereupon
he sent back to her, saying, “I have no need of the kingship and I also
desire to tarry here and worship Allah with thee in this waste.” When
she found this earnestness in him, she fell in with his wishes, and
said, “O king, I will consent to that which thou desirest and will be to
thee a wife, but on condition that thou bring me Dadbin the king and his
Wazir Kardan and his Chamberlain the chief Eunuch, and that they be
present in thine assembly, so I may speak a word with them in thy
presence, to the intent that thou mayst redouble in affection for me.”
Quoth Kisra, “And what is thy want unto this?” So she related to him her
story from first to last, how she was the wife of Dadbin the king and
how the Wazir Kardan had misspoken of her honour. When King Kisra heard
this, he redoubled in love-longing for her and affection and said to
her, “Do whatso thou willest:” then he let bring a litter[195] and
carrying her therein to his dwelling-place, entreated her with the
utmost honour and espoused her. Presently he sent a great army to King
Dadbin and fetching him and his Wazir Kardan and the Eunuch-chamberlain,
caused bring them before him, they unknowing the while what he might
purpose to do with them. Moreover, he caused set up for Arwa a
pavilion[196] in the courtyard of his palace, and she entered it and let
down the curtain before herself. When the servants had set their seats
and they had seated themselves, Arwa raised a corner of the curtain and
said, “O Kardan, rise to thy feet, for it besitteth not that thou sit in
the like of this assembly, before this mighty King Kisra.” When the
Wazir heard these words, his heart fluttered and his joints were
loosened and he rose to his feet of his fear. Then said she to him, “By
the virtue of Him who hath made thee stand up to judgment in this
standing-stead, and thou abject and humiliated, I conjure thee speak the
truth and say what egged thee on to lie against me and drive me from my
home and from the land of my husband and made thee practise thus against
a man and a Moslem so as to slay him.[197] This is no place wherein
lying availeth nor may artifice be herein.” When the Wazir was ’ware
that she was Arwa and heard her speech, he knew that it behoved him not
to lie and that naught would avail him save truth; so he bowed his head
groundwards and wept and said, “Whoso doth evil, needs must he incur it,
albe his day be prolonged. By Allah, I am he who hath sinned and
transgressed, and naught prompted me unto this but fear and
overmastering desire and the misery writ upon my brow.[198] And indeed
this woman is pure and chaste and free from all fault.” When King Dadbin
heard this, he beat his face and said to Kardan, his Wazir, “Allah slay
thee![199] ’Tis thou that hast parted me and my wife and wronged me!”
But Kisra the king said to him, “Allah shall assuredly slay thee,
because thou hastenedst and lookedst not into thine affair, and knewest
not the guilty from the guiltless. Hadst thou wrought deliberately, the
unright had been made manifest to thee from the right; so when this
villain Wazir purposed thy ruin, where was thy judgment and whither went
thy sight?” Then he asked Arwa, “What wilt thou that I do with them?”
and she answered, “Accomplish on them the ordinance of Almighty
Allah:[200] let the slayer be slain and the transgressor transgressed
against, even as he transgressed against us; yea, and to the well-doer
weal shall be done even as he did unto us.” So she gave her officers
order concerning Dadbin and they smote him on the head with a mace and
slew him, and she said, “This is for the slaughter of my sire.” Then she
bade set the Wazir on a beast and bear him to the desert whither he had
caused her to be borne, and leave him there without provaunt or water;
and she said to him, “An thou be guilty, thou shalt suffer the
punishment of thy guilt and die in the desert of hunger and thirst; but
an there be no guilt in thee, thou shalt be delivered, even as I was
delivered.” As for the Eunuch-chamberlain, who had counselled King
Dadbin not to slay her, but to cause carry her to the desert, she
bestowed on him a costly robe of honour and said to him, “The like of
thee it befitteth kings to hold in favour and promote to high place, for
that thou spakest loyally and well, and a man is requited according to
his deed.” And Kisra the King made him Wali in a certain province of his
empire. “Know, therefore, O king” (continued the youth), “that whoso
doeth good is requited with good, and he who is guiltless of sin and
offence feareth not the issue of his affair. And I, O my liege lord, am
free from guilt, wherefore I hope in Allah that He will show forth the
truth to mine auspicious king, and vouchsafe me the victory over enemies
and enviers.” When the king heard this, his wrath subsided and he said,
“Return him to the prison till the morrow, so we may look into his
case.”
The Sixth Day.