When it was the seventh day, the seventh Wazir, whose name was
Bihkamál,[205] came in to the king and prostrating himself to him, said,
“O king, what doth thy long-suffering with this youth profit thee?
Indeed the folk talk of thee and of him. Why, then, dost thou postpone
the putting him to death?” The Minister’s words aroused the anger of the
king, and he bade bring the youth. So they fetched him before, him in
fetters, and Azadbakht said to him, “Ho, woe to thee! By Allah, after
this day there abideth no deliverance for thee from my hand, by reason
that thou hast outraged mine honour, and there can be no forgiveness for
thee.” The youth replied, “O king, there is no great forgiveness save in
case of a great default, for according as the offence is great in so
much magnified is mercy; and it is no grace to the like of thee if he
spare the like of me. Verily, Allah knoweth that there is no crime in
me, and indeed He commandeth to clemency, and no clemency is greater
than that which spareth from slaughter, for that thy pardon of him whom
thou purposest to put to death is as the quickening of a dead man; and
whoso doth evil shall find it before him, even as it was with King
Bihkard.” Asked the king, “And what is the story of King Bihkard?” And
the youth answered, “Hear, O king,
_THE STORY OF KING BIHKARD_.”[206]
There was once a king named Bihkard and he had mickle of wealth and many
troops; but his deeds were evil and he would punish for a slight
offence, and he never forgave any offender. He went forth one day to
hunt and a certain of his pages shot a shaft, which lit on the king’s
ear and cut it off. Bihkard cried, “Who shot that arrow?” So the guards
brought him in haste the misdemeanant, whose name was Yatrú,[207] and he
of his fear fell down on the ground in a fainting fit. Then quoth the
king, “Slay him;” but Yatru said, “O king, this which hath befallen was
not of my choice nor of my knowledge; so do thou pardon me, in the hour
of thy power over me, for that mercy is of the goodliest of deeds and
belike it shall be in this world a provision and a good work for which
thou shalt be repaid one of these days, and a treasure laid up to thine
account with Allah in the world to come. Pardon me, therefore, and fend
off evil from me, so shall Allah fend off from thee the like evil.” When
the king heard this, it pleased him and he pardoned the page, albeit he
had never before pardoned any. Now this page was of the sons of the
kings and had fled from his sire on account of a sin he had committed:
then he went and took service with Bihkard the king, and there happened
to him what happened. After a while, it chanced that a man recognized
him and went and told his father, who sent him a letter, comforting his
heart and mind and calling upon him to return to him. Accordingly he
returned to his father, who came forth to meet him and rejoiced in him,
and the Prince’s affairs were set right with his sire. Now it befel, one
day of the days, that king Bihkard shipped him in a ship and put out to
sea, so he might fish: but the wind blew on them and the craft sank. The
king made the land upon a plank, unknown of any, and came forth,
mother-naked, on one of the coasts; and it chanced that he landed in the
country whereof the father of the page aforesaid was king. So he came in
the night to the gate of the sovran’s capital, and finding it shut,
lodged him in a burying-place there. When the morning morrowed and the
folk came forth of the city, behold, they found a man lately murthered
and cast down in a corner of the burial ground, and seeing Bihkard
there, doubted not but it was he who had slain him during the night; so
they laid hands on him and carried him up to the king and said to him,
“This fellow hath slain a man.” The king bade imprison him; whereupon
they threw him in jail, and he fell to-saying in himself, what while he
was in the prison, “All that hath befallen me is of the abundance of my
sins and my tyranny, for, indeed, I have slain much people unrighteously
and this is the requital of my deeds and that which I have wrought
whilome of oppression.” As he was thus pondering in himself, there came
a bird and lighted down on the pinnacle of the prison, whereupon, of his
passing eagerness in the chase, he took a stone and threw it at the
bird. Now the king’s son was playing in the exercise-ground with the
ball and the bat,[208] and the stone lit on his ear and cut it off,
whereupon the Prince fell down in a fit. So they enquired who had thrown
the stone and finding that it was Bihkard, took him and carried him
before the king’s son, who bade do him die. Accordingly, they cast the
turband from his head and were about to fillet his eyes, when the Prince
looked at him and seeing him cropped of an ear, said to him, “But for
thy villainies thine ear had not been cut off.” Said Bihkard, “Not so,
by Allah! Nay, but the story of the loss of my car is so and so, and I
pardoned him who smote me with an arrow and cut off my ear.” When the
prince heard this, he looked in his face and knowing him, cried out and
said, “Art thou not Bihkard the king?” “Yes,” replied he, and the Prince
said to him, “What ill chance threw thee here?” Thereupon he told him
all that had betided him and the folk wondered and extolled the
perfection of the Almighty, crying “Subhána ’llah!—laud to the Lord!”
Then the Prince rose to him and embraced him and kissed him and,
entreating him with respect, seated him in a chair and bestowed on him a
robe of honour; and he turned to his sire and said to him, “This be the
king who pardoned me and this be his ear which I cut off with a shaft;
and indeed he deserveth my pardon by having pardoned me.” Then said he
to Bihkard, “Verily, the issue of mercy hath been a provision for thee
in such hour as this.” And they entreated him with the utmost kindness
and sent him back to his own country in all honour. “Know, then, O king”
(continued the youth), “that there is no goodlier quality than mercy and
that all thou dost of clemency, thou shalt find before thee a treasure
for thee treasured up.” 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 Eighth Day.