al-Samad answered, “I saw ten maidens like Houris of Heaven,[135] and
they calling and signing[136]:—Come hither to us; and meseemed there was
below me a lake of water. So I thought to throw myself down, when
behold, I espied my twelve companions lying dead; so I restrained myself
and recited somewhat of Allah’s Book, whereupon He dispelled from me the
damsels’ witchlike wiles and malicious guiles and they disappeared. And
doubtless this was an enchantment devised by the people of the city, to
repel any who should seek to gaze upon or to enter the place. And it
hath succeeded in slaying our companions.” Then he walked on along the
wall, till he came to the two towers of brass aforesaid and saw therein
two gates of gold, without padlocks or visible means of opening. Hereat
he paused as long as Allah pleased[137] and gazed about him awhile, till
he espied in the middle of one of the gates, a horseman of brass with
hand outstretched as if pointing, and in his palm was somewhat written.
So he went up to it and read these words, “O thou who comest to this
place, an thou wouldst enter turn the pin in my navel twelve times and
the gate will open.” Accordingly, he examined the horseman and finding
in his navel a pin of gold, firm-set and fast fixed, he turned it twelve
times, whereupon the horseman revolved like the blinding lightning and
the gate swung open with a noise like thunder. He entered and found
himself in a long passage,[138] which brought him down some steps into a
guard-room furnished with goodly wooden benches, whereon sat men dead,
over whose heads hung fine shields and keen blades and bent bows and
shafts ready notched. Thence, he came to the main gate of the city; and,
finding it secured with iron bars and curiously wrought locks and bolts
and chains and other fastenings of wood and metal, said to himself,
“Belike the keys are with yonder dead folk.” So he turned back to the
guard-room and seeing amongst the dead an old man seated upon a high
wooden bench, who seemed the chiefest of them, said in his mind, “Who
knows but they are with this Shaykh? Doubtless he was the warder of the
city, and these others were under his hand.” So he went up to him and
lifting his gown, behold, the keys were hanging to his girdle; whereat
he joyed with exceeding joy and was like to fly for gladness. Then he
took them and going up to the portal, undid the padlocks and drew back
the bolts and bars, whereupon the great leaves flew open with a crash
like the pealing thunder by reason of its greatness and terribleness. At
this he cried out, saying, “Allaho Akbar—God is most great!” And the
folk without answered him with the same words, rejoicing and thanking
him for his deed. The Emir Musa also was delighted at the Shaykh’s
safety and the opening of the city-gate, and the troops all pressed
forward to enter; but Musa cried out to them, saying, “O folk, if we all
go in at once we shall not be safe from some ill-chance which may betide
us. Let half enter and other half tarry without.” So he pushed forwards
with half his men, bearing their weapons of war, and finding their
comrades lying dead, they buried them; and they saw the doorkeepers and
eunuchs and chamberlains and officers reclining on couches of silk and
all were corpses. Then they fared on till they came to the chief
market-place, full of lofty buildings whereof none overpassed the
others, and found all its shops open, with the scales hung out and the
brazen vessels ordered and the caravanserais full of all manner goods;
and they beheld the merchants sitting on the shop-boards dead, with
shrivelled skin and rotted bones, a warning to those who can take
warning; and here they saw four separate markets all replete with
wealth. Then they left the great bazar and went on till they came to the
silk market, where they found silks and brocades, orfrayed with red gold
and diapered with white silver upon all manner of colours, and the
owners lying dead upon mats of scented goats’ leather, and looking as if
they would speak; after which they traversed the market-street of pearls
and rubies and other jewels and came to that of the schroffs and
money-changers, whom they saw sitting dead upon carpets of raw silk and
dyed stuffs in shops full of gold and silver. Thence they passed to the
perfumers’ bazar where they found the shops filled with drugs of all
kinds and bladders of musk and ambergris and Nadd-scent and camphor and
other perfumes, in vessels of ivory and ebony and Khalanj-wood and
Andalusian copper, the which is equal in value to gold; and various
kinds of rattan and Indian cane; but the shopkeepers all lay dead nor
was there with them aught of food. And hard by this drug-market they
came upon a palace, imposingly edified and magnificently decorated; so
they entered and found therein banners displayed and drawn sword-blades
and strung bows and bucklers hanging by chains of gold and silver and
helmets gilded with red gold. In the vestibules stood benches of ivory,
plated with glittering gold and covered with silken stuffs, whereon lay
men, whose skin had dried up on their bones; the fool had deemed them
sleeping; but, for lack of food, they had perished and tasted the cup of
death. Now when the Emir Musa saw this, he stood still, glorifying Allah
the Most High and hallowing Him and contemplating the beauty of the
palace and the massiveness of its masonry and fair perfection of its
ordinance, for it was builded after the goodliest and stablest fashion
and the most part of its adornment was of green[139] lapis-lazuli; and
on the inner door, which stood open, were written in characters of gold
and ultramarine, these couplets:—
[Illustration]
Consider thou, O man, what these places to thee showed ✿ And be upon thy
guard ere thou travel the same road:
And prepare thee good provision some day may serve thy turn ✿ For each
dweller in the house needs must yede wi’ those who yode
Consider how this people their palaces adorned ✿ And in dust have been
pledged for the seed of acts they sowed:
They built but their building availed them not, and hoards ✿ Nor saved
their lives nor day of Destiny forslowed:
How often did they hope for what things were undecreed. ✿ And passed
unto their tombs before Hope the bounty showed:
And from high and awful state all a-sudden they were sent ✿ To the
straitness of the grave and oh! base is their abode:
Then came to them a Crier after burial and cried, ✿ What booted thrones
or crowns or the gold to you bestowed:
Where now are gone the faces hid by curtain and by veil, ✿ Whose charms
were told in proverbs, those beauties à-la-mode?
The tombs aloud reply to the questioners and cry, ✿ “Death’s canker and
decay those rosy cheeks corrode!”
Long time they ate and drank, but their joyaunce had a term; ✿ And the
eater eke was eaten, and was eaten by the worm.
When the Emir read this, he wept, till he was like to swoon away,——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Emir wept till
he was like to swoon away, and bade write down the verses, after which
he passed on into the inner palace and came to a vast hall, at each of
whose four corners stood a pavilion lofty and spacious, washed with gold
and silver and painted in various colours. In the heart of the hall was
a great jetting-fountain of alabaster, surmounted by a canopy of
brocade, and in each pavilion was a sitting-place and each place had its
richly-wrought fountain and tank paved with marble and streams flowing
in channels along the floor and meeting in a great and grand cistern of
many-coloured marbles. Quoth the Emir to the Shaykh Abd al-Samad, “Come,
let us visit yonder pavilion!” So they entered the first and found it
full of gold and silver and pearls and jacinths and other precious
stones and metals, besides chests filled with brocades, red and yellow
and white. Then they repaired to the second pavilion, and, opening a
closet there, found it full of arms and armour, such as gilded helmets
and Davidean[140] hauberks and Hindi swords and Arabian spears and
Chorasmian[141] maces and other gear of fight and fray. Thence they
passed to the third pavilion, wherein they saw closets padlocked and
covered with curtains wrought with all manner of embroidery. They opened
one of these and found it full of weapons curiously adorned with open
work and with gold and silver damascene and jewels. Then they entered
the fourth pavilion, and opening one of the closets there, beheld in it
great store of eating and drinking vessels of gold and silver, with
platters of crystal and goblets set with fine pearls and cups of
carnelian and so forth. So they all fell to taking that which suited
their tastes and each of the soldiers carried off what he could. When
they left the pavilions, they saw in the midst of the palace a door of
teak-wood marqueteried with ivory and ebony and plated with glittering
gold, over which hung a silken curtain purfled with all manner of
embroideries; and on this door were locks of white silver, that opened
by artifice without a key. The Shaykh Abd al-Samad went valiantly up
thereto and by the aid of his knowledge and skill opened the locks,
whereupon the door admitted them into a corridor paved with marble and
hung with veil-like[142] tapestries embroidered with figures of all
manner beasts and birds, whose bodies were of red gold and white silver
and their eyes of pearls and rubies, amazing all who looked upon them.
Passing onwards they came to a saloon builded all of polished marble,
inlaid with jewels, which seemed to the beholder as though the floor
were flowing water[143] and whoso walked thereon slipped. The Emir bade
the Shaykh strew somewhat upon it, that they might walk over it; which
being done, they made shift to fare forwards till they came to a great
domed pavilion of stone, gilded with red gold and crowned with a cupola
of alabaster, about which were set lattice-windows carved and jewelled
with rods of emerald,[144] beyond the competence of any King. Under this
dome was a canopy of brocade, reposing upon pillars of red gold and
wrought with figures of birds whose feet were of smaragd, and beneath
each bird was a network of fresh-hued pearls. The canopy was spread
above a jetting fountain of ivory and carnelian, plated with glittering
gold and thereby stood a couch set with pearls and rubies and other
jewels and beside the couch a pillar of gold. On the capital of the
column stood a bird fashioned of red rubies and holding in his bill a
pearl which shone like a star; and on the couch lay a damsel, as she
were the lucident sun, eyes never saw a fairer. She wore a tight-fitting
body-robe of fine pearls, with a crown of red gold on her head, filleted
with gems, and on her forehead were two great jewels, whose light was as
the light of the sun. On her breast she wore a jewelled amulet, filled
with musk and ambergris and worth the empire of the Cæsars; and around
her neck hung a collar of rubies and great pearls, hollowed and filled
with odoriferous musk. And it seemed as if she gazed on them to the
right and to the left.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the damsel seemed
to be gazing at the folk to the right and to the left. The Emir Musa
marvelled at her exceeding beauty and was confounded at the blackness of
her hair and the redness of her cheeks, which made the beholder deem her
alive and not dead, and said to her, “Peace be with thee, O damsel!” But
Talib ibn Sahl said to him, “Allah preserve thee, O Emir, verily this
damsel is dead and there is no life in her; so how shall she return thy
salam?”; adding, “Indeed, she is but a corpse embalmed with exceeding
art; her eyes were taken out after her death and quicksilver set under
them, after which they were restored to their sockets. Wherefore they
glisten and when the air moveth the lashes, she seemeth to wink and it
appeareth to the beholder as though she looked at him, for all she is
dead.” At this the Emir marvelled beyond measure and said, “Glory be to
God who subjugateth His creatures to the dominion of Death!” Now the
couch on which the damsel lay, had steps, and thereon stood two statues
of Andalusian copper representing slaves, one white and the other black.
The first held a mace of steel[145] and the second a sword of watered
steel which dazzled the eye; and between them, on one of the steps of
the couch, lay a golden tablet, whereon were written, in characters of
white silver, the following words: “In the name of God, the
Compassionating, the Compassionate! Praise be to Allah, the Creator of
mankind; and He is the Lord of Lords, the Causer of Causes! In the name
of Allah, the Never-beginning, the Everlasting, the Ordainer of Fate and
Fortune! O son of Adam! what hath befooled thee in this long esperance?
What hath unminded thee of the Death-day’s mischance? Knowest thou not
that Death calleth for thee and hasteneth to seize upon the soul of
thee? Be ready, therefore, for the way and provide thee for thy
departure from the world; for, assuredly, thou shalt leave it without
delay. Where is Adam, first of humanity? Where is Noah with his progeny?
Where be the Kings of Hind and Irak-plain and they who over earth’s
widest regions reign? Where do the Amalekites abide and the giants and
tyrants of olden tide? Indeed, the dwelling-places are void of them and
they have departed from kindred and home. Where be the Kings of Arab and
Ajem? They are dead, all of them, and gone and are become rotten bones.
Where be the lords so high in stead? They are all done dead. Where are
Kora and Haman? Where is Shaddad son of Ad? Where be Canaan and
Zu’l-Autád,[146] Lord of the Stakes? By Allah, the Reaper of lives hath
reaped them and made void the lands of them. Did they provide them
against the Day of Resurrection or make ready to answer the Lord of men?
O thou, if thou know me not, I will acquaint thee with my name: I am
Tadmurah,[147] daughter of the Kings of the Amalekites, of those who
held dominion over the lands in equity and brought low the necks of
humanity. I possessed that which never King possessed and was righteous
in my rule and did justice among my lieges; yea, I gave gifts and
largesse and freed bondsmen and bondswomen. Thus lived I many years in
all ease and delight of life, till Death knocked at my door and to me
and to my folk befel calamities galore; and it was on this wise. There
betided us seven successive years of drought, wherein no drop of rain
fell on us from the skies and no green thing sprouted for us on the face
of earth.[148] So we ate what was with us of victual, then we fell upon
the cattle and devoured them, until nothing was left. Thereupon I let
bring my treasures and meted them with measures and sent out trusty men
to buy food. They circuited all the lands in quest thereof and left no
city unsought, but found it not to be bought and returned to us with the
treasure after a long absence; and gave us to know that they could not
succeed in bartering fine pearls for poor wheat, bushel for bushel,
weight for weight. So, when we despaired of succour, we displayed all
our riches and things of price and, shutting the gates of the city and
its strong places, resigned ourselves to the deme of our Lord and
committed our case to our King. Then we all died,[149] as thou seest us,
and left what we had builded and all we had hoarded. This, then, is our
story, and after the substance naught abideth but the trace.” Then they
looked at the foot of the tablet and read these couplets:—
O child of Adam, let not hope make mock and flyte at thee, ✿ From all
thy hands have treasurèd, removèd thou shalt be;
I see thou covetest the world and fleeting worldly charms, ✿ And races
past and gone have done the same as thou I see.
Lawful and lawless wealth they got; but all their hoarded store, ✿ Their
term accomplished, naught delayed of Destiny’s decree.
Armies they led and puissant men and gained them gold galore; ✿ Then
left their wealth and palaces by Fate compelled to flee,
To straitness of the grave-yard and humble bed of dust ✿ Whence, pledged
for every word and deed, they never more win free:
As a company of travellers had unloaded in the night ✿ At house that
lacketh food nor is o’erfain of company:
Whose owner saith, ‘O folk, there be no lodging here for you;’ ✿ So
packed they who had erst unpacked and farèd hurriedly:
Misliking much the march, nor the journey nor the halt ✿ Had aught of
pleasant chances or had aught of goodly gree.
Then prepare thou good provision for to-morrow’s journey stored, ✿
Naught but righteous honest life shall avail thee with the Lord!
And the Emir Musa wept as he read, “By Allah, the fear of the Lord is
the best of all property, the pillar of certainty and the sole sure
stay. Verily, Death is the truth manifest and the sure behest, and
therein, O thou, is the goal and return-place evident. Take warning,
therefore, by those who to the dust did wend and hastened on the way of
the predestined end. Seest thou not that hoary hairs summon thee to the
tomb and that the whiteness of thy locks maketh moan of thy doom?
Wherefore be thou on the wake ready for thy departure and thine account
to make. O son of Adam, what hath hardened thy heart in mode abhorred?
What hath seduced thee from the service of thy Lord? Where be the
peoples of old time? They are a warning to whoso will be warned! Where
be the Kings of Al-Sín and the lords of majestic mien? Where is Shaddad
bin Ad and whatso he built and he stablished? Where is Nimrod who
revolted against Allah and defied Him? Where is Pharaoh who rebelled
against God and denied Him? Death followed hard upon the trail of them
all, and laid them low sparing neither great nor small, male nor female;
and the Reaper of Mankind cut them off, yea, by Him who maketh night to
return upon day! Know, O thou who comest to this place, that she whom
thou seest here was not deluded by the world and its frail delights, for
it is faithless, perfidious, a house of ruin, vain and treacherous; and
salutary to the creature is the remembrance of his sins; wherefore she
feared her Lord and made fair her dealings and provided herself with
provaunt against the appointed marching-day. Whoso cometh to our city
and Allah vouchsafeth him competence to enter it, let him take of the
treasure all he can, but touch not aught that is on my body, for it is
the covering of my shame[150] and the outfit for the last journey;
wherefore let him fear Allah and despoil naught thereof; else will he
destroy his own self. This have I set forth to him for a warning from me
and a solemn trust to be; wherewith, peace be with ye and I pray Allah
to keep you from sickness and calamity.”——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-seventh Night,
She said, it hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Emir Musa
read this, he wept with exceeding weeping till he swooned away and
presently coming to himself, wrote down all he had seen and was
admonished by all he had witnessed. Then he said to his men, “Fetch the
camels and load them with these treasures and vases and jewels.” “O
Emir,” asked Talib, “shall we leave our damsel with what is upon her,
things which have no equal and whose like is not to be found and more
perfect than aught else thou takest; nor couldst thou find a goodlier
offering wherewithal to propitiate the favour of the Commander of the
Faithful?” But Musa answered, “O man, heardest thou not what the Lady
saith on this tablet? More by token that she giveth it in trust to us
who are no traitors.” “And shall we,” rejoined the Wazir Talib, “because
of these words, leave all these riches and jewels, seeing that she is
dead? What should she do with these that are the adornments of the world
and the ornament of the worldling, seeing that one garment of cotton
would suffice for her covering? We have more right to them than she.” So
saying he mounted the steps of the couch between the pillars, but when
he came within reach of the two slaves, lo! the mace-bearer smote him on
the back and the other struck him with the sword he held in his hand and
lopped off his head, and he dropped down dead. Quoth the Emir, “Allah
have no mercy on thy resting-place! Indeed there was enough in these
treasures; and greed of gain assuredly degradeth a man.” Then he bade
admit the troops; so they entered and loaded the camels with those
treasures and precious ores; after which they went forth and the Emir
commanded them to shut the gate as before. They fared on along the
sea-shore a whole month, till they came in sight of a high mountain
overlooking the sea and full of caves, wherein dwelt a tribe of blacks,
clad in hides, with burnooses also of hide and speaking an unknown
tongue. When they saw the troops they were startled like shying steeds
and fled into the caverns, whilst their women and children stood at the
cave-doors, looking on the strangers. “O Shaykh Abd al-Samad,” asked the
Emir, “what are these folk?” and he answered, “They are those whom we
seek for the Commander of the Faithful.” So they dismounted and setting
down their loads, pitched their tents; whereupon, almost before they had
done, down came the King of the blacks from the mountain and drew near
the camp. Now he understood the Arabic tongue; so, when he came to the
Emir he saluted him with the salam and Musa returned his greeting and
entreated him with honour. Then quoth he to the Emir, “Are ye men or
Jinn?” “Well, we are men,” quoth Musa; “but doubtless ye are Jinn, to
judge by your dwelling apart in this mountain which is cut off from
mankind, and by your inordinate bulk.” “Nay,” rejoined the black; “we
also are children of Adam, of the lineage of Ham, son of Noah (with whom
be peace!), and this sea is known as Al-Karkar.” Asked Musa, “O King,
what is your religion and what worship ye?”; and he answered, saying,
“We worship the God of the heavens and our religion is that of Mohammed,
whom Allah bless and preserve!” “And how came ye by the knowledge of
this,” questioned the Emir, “seeing that no prophet was inspired to
visit this country?” “Know, Emir,” replied the King, “that there
appeared to us whilere from out the sea a man, from whom issued a light
that illumined the horizons and he cried out, in a voice which was heard
of men far and near, saying:—O children of Ham, reverence to Him who
seeth and is not seen and say ye, There is no god but _the_ God, and
Mohammed is the messenger of God! And he added:—I am Abu al-Abbás
al-Khizr. Before this we were wont to worship one another, but he
summoned us to the service of the Lord of all creatures; and he taught
us to repeat these words, There is no god save _the_ God alone, who hath
for partner none, and His is the kingdom and His is the praise. He
giveth life and death and He over all things is Almighty. Nor do we draw
near unto Allah (be He exalted and extolled!) except with these words,
for we know none other; but every eve before Friday[151] we see a light
upon the face of earth and we hear a voice saying, Holy and glorious,
Lord of the Angels and the Spirit! What He willeth is, and what He
willeth not, is not. Every boon is of His grace and there is neither
Majesty nor is there Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!” “But
ye,” quoth the King, “who and what are ye and what bringeth you to this
land?” Quoth Musa, “We are officers of the Sovereign of Al-Islam, the
Commander of the Faithful, Abd al-Malik bin Marwan, who hath heard tell
of the lord Solomon, son of David (on whom be peace!) and of that which
the Most High bestowed upon him of supreme dominion; how he held sway
over Jinn and beast and bird and was wont when he was wroth with one of
the Marids, to shut him in a cucurbite of brass and, stopping its mouth
on him with lead, whereon he impressed his seal-ring, to cast him into
the sea of Al-Karkar. Now we have heard tell that this sea is nigh your
land; so the Commander of the Faithful hath sent us hither, to bring him
some of these cucurbites, that he may look thereon and solace himself
with their sight. Such, then, is our case and what we seek of thee, O
King, and we desire that thou further us in the accomplishment of our
errand commanded by the Commander of the Faithful.” “With love and
gladness,” replied the black King, and carrying them to the guest-house,
entreated them with the utmost honour and furnished them with all they
needed, feeding them upon fish. They abode thus three days, when he bade
his divers fetch from out the sea some of the vessels of Solomon. So
they dived and brought up twelve cucurbites, whereat the Emir and the
Shaykh and all the company rejoiced in the accomplishment of the
Caliph’s need. Then Musa gave the King of the blacks many and great
gifts; and he, in turn, made him a present of the wonders of the deep,
being fishes in human form,[152] saying “Your entertainment these three
days hath been of the meat of these fish.” Quoth the Emir, “Needs must
we carry some of these to the Caliph, for the sight of them will please
him more than the cucurbites of Solomon.” Then they took leave of the
black King and, setting out on their homeward journey, travelled till
they came to Damascus, where Musa went in to the Commander of the
Faithful and told him all that he had sighted and heard of verses and
legends and instances, together with the manner of the death of Talib
bin Sahl; and the Caliph said, “Would I had been with you, that I might
have seen what you saw!” Then he took the brazen vessels and opened
them, cucurbite after cucurbite, whereupon the devils came forth of
them, saying, “We repent, O Prophet of Allah! Never again will we return
to the like of this thing; no never!” And the Caliph marvelled at this.
As for the daughters of the deep presented to them by the black King,
they made them cisterns of planks, full of water, and laid them therein;
but they died of the great heat. Then the Caliph sent for the spoils of
the Brazen City and divided them among the Faithful,——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph
marvelled much at the cucurbites and their contents; then he sent for
the spoils and divided them among the Faithful, saying, “Never gave
Allah unto any the like of that which he bestowed upon Solomon
David-son!” Thereupon the Emir Musa sought leave of him to appoint his
son Governor of the Province in his stead, that he might betake himself
to the Holy City of Jerusalem, there to worship Allah. So the Commander
of the Faithful invested his son Harun with the government and Musa
repaired to the Glorious and Holy City, where he died. This, then, is
all that hath come down to us of the story of the City of Brass, and God
is All-knowing!——Now (continued Shahrazad) I have another tale to tell
anent the
-----
Footnote 104:
This is a true “City of Brass.” (Nuhás asfar = yellow copper), as we
learn in Night dcclxxii. It is situated in the “Maghrib” (Mauritania),
the region of magic and mystery; and the idea was probably suggested
by the grand Roman ruins which rise abruptly from what has become a
sandy waste. Compare with this tale “The City of Brass” (Night
cclxxii). In Egypt Nuhás is vulg. pronounced Nihás.
Footnote 105:
The Bresl. Edit. adds that the seal-ring was of stamped stone and
iron, copper and lead. I have borrowed copiously from its vol. vi. pp.
343, _et seq._
Footnote 106: