Dinarzade had such a desire to hear out the story of the young
prince, that she awaked that night sooner than ordinary, and said,
Sister, pray go on with the story you began yesterday: I am much
concerned for the young prince, and ready to die for fear that he
was eaten up by the Ogress and her children. Schahriar having
signified that he had the same fear, the sultaness replies, Well,
sir, I will satisfy you immediately.
After the counterfeit Indian princess had bid the young prince
recommend himself to God, he could not believe she spoke sincerely,
but thought she was sure of him: and therefore, lifting up his hands
to heaven, said, “Almighty Lord, cast thine eyes upon me, and
deliver me from this enemy.” After this prayer, the Ogress entered
the ruins again, and the prince rode off with all possible haste. He
happily found his way again, and arrived safe and sound at his
father’s court, to whom he gave a particular account of the danger
he had been in through the vizier’s neglect: upon which the king,
being incensed against the minister, ordered him to be immediately
strangled.
Sir, continued the Grecian king’s vizier, to return to the
physician Douban, if you do not take care, the confidence you put in
him will be fatal to you: I am very well assured, that he is a spy
sent by your enemies to attempt your majesty’s life. He has cured
you, he will say: but alas! who can assure you of that? He has,
perhaps, cured you only in appearance, and not radically; who knows
but the medicine he has given you may, in time, have pernicious
effects?
The Grecian king, who had naturally very little sense, was not able
to discover the wicked design of his vizier, nor had he firmness
enough to persist in his first opinion. This discourse staggered
him. Vizier, says he, thou art in the right; he may be come on
purpose to take away my life, which he may easily do by the very
smell of some of his drugs. We must consider what is fit for us to
do in this case.
When the vizier found the king in such a temper as he wished, Sir,
said he, the surest and speediest method you can take to secure your
life, is to send immediately for the physician Douban, and order his
head to be cut off as soon as he comes. In truth, says the king, I
believe that is the way we must take to prevent his design. When he
had spoken thus, he called for one of his officers, and ordered him
to go for the physician; who, knowing nothing of the king’s
design, came to the palace in haste.
Know ye, says the king, when he saw him, why I sent for you; No,
sir, answers he; I wait till your majesty be pleased to inform me. I
sent for you, replied the king, to rid myself of you by taking your
life.
No man can express the surprise of the physician, when he heard the
sentence of death pronounced against him. Sir, said he, why would
your majesty take my life? What crime have I committed? I am
informed by good hands, replies the king, that you come to my court
only to attempt my life; but to prevent you, I will be sure of
yours. Give the blow, says he to the executioner, who was present,
and deliver me from a perfidious wretch, who came hither on purpose
to assassinate me.
When the physician heard this cruel order, he readily judged that
the honours and presents he had received from the king had procured
him enemies, and that the weak prince was imposed on. He repented
that he had cured him of his leprosy; but it was now too late. Is it
thus, replied the physician, that you reward me for curing you? The
king would not hearken to him, but a second time ordered the
executioner to strike the fatal blow. The physician then had
recourse to his prayers: Alas! sir, cries he, prolong my days, and
God will prolong yours; do not put me to death lest God treat you in
the same manner. The fisherman broke off his discourse here, to
apply it to the genie. Well, genie, says he, you see what passed
then betwixt the Grecian king and his physician Douban, is acted
just now betwixt us.
The Grecian king, continues he, instead of having regard to the
prayers of the physician, who begged him for God’s sake to spare
him, cruelly replied to him, No, no; I must of necessity cut you
off, otherwise you may take my life away with as much art as you
cured me. The physician melted into tears, and bewailing himself for
being so ill rewarded by the king, prepared for death. The
executioner bound up his eyes, tied his hands, and was going to draw
his scimitar.
Then the courtiers, who were present, being moved with compassion,
begged the king to pardon him, assuring his majesty that he was not
guilty of the crime laid to his charge, and that they would answer
for his innocence: but the king was inflexible, and answered them so
as they dared not to say any more of the matter.
The physician, being on his knees, his eyes tied up, and ready to
receive the fatal blow, addressed himself once more to the king:
Sir, says he, since your majesty will not revoke the sentence of
death, I beg at least, that you would give me leave to return to my
house, to give order about my burial, to bid farewell to my family,
to give alms, and to bequeath my books to those who are capable of
making good use of them. I have one particularly I would present to
your majesty: it is a very precious book, and worthy to be laid up
very carefully in your treasury. Well, replies the king, why is that
book so precious as you talk of? --Sir, says the physician, because
it contains an infinite number of curious things; of which the chief
is, that when you have cut off my head, if your majesty will give
yourself the trouble to open the book at the sixth leaf, and read
the third line of the left page, my head will answer all the
questions you ask it. The king being curious to see such a wonderful
thing, deferred his death till next day, and sent him home under a
strong guard.
The physician, during that time, put his affairs in order: and the
report being spread that an unheard-of prodigy was to happen after
his death, the viziers, emirs, officers of the guard, and, in a
word, the whole court, repaired next day to the hall of audience,
that they might be witnesses of it.
The physician Douban was soon brought in, and advanced to the foot
of the throne, with a great book in his hand: there he called for a
basin, upon which he laid the cover that the book was wrapped in,
and presented the book to the king. Sir, says he, take that book, if
you please, and as soon as my head is cut off, order that it be put
into the basin upon the cover of the book; as soon as it is put
there, the blood will stop: then open the book, and my head will
answer your questions. But, sir, says he, permit me once more to
implore your majesty’s clemency; for God’s sake grant my
request; I protest to you that I am innocent. Your prayers, answers
the king, are in vain; and, were it for nothing but to hear your
head speak after your death, it is my will you should die. As he
said this, he took the book out of the physician’s hand, and
ordered the executioner to do his duty.
The head was so dexterously cut off, that it fell into the basin,
and was no sooner laid upon the cover of the book, but the blood
stopped; then, to the great surprise of the king, and all the
spectators, it opened its eyes, and said, Sir, will your majesty be
pleased to open the book? The king opened it, and finding that one
leaf was as it were glued to another, that he might turn it with the
more ease, he put his finger to his mouth, and wet it with spittle.
He did so till he came to the 6th leaf, and finding no writing on
the place where he was bid to look for it, Physician, says he to the
head, there is nothing written. Turn over some more leaves, replies
the head. The king continued to turn over, putting always his finger
to his mouth, until the poison, with which each leaf was imbued,
coming to have its effect, the prince finding himself all of a
sudden taken with an extraordinary fit, his eye-sight failed, and he
fell down at the foot of the throne, in violent convulsions. At
these words, Scheherazade, perceiving day, gave the sultan notice of
it, and forbore speaking. Ah, dear sister, says Dinarzade, how
grieved am I that you have not time to finish the story: I should be
inconsolable if you lose your life to-day. Sister, replies the
sultaness, that must be as the sultan pleases; but I hope he will be
so good as to suspend my death till to-morrow. And accordingly,
Schahriar, far from ordering her death that day, expected the next
night with much impatience; so earnest was he to hear out the story
of the Grecian king, and the sequel of the fisherman and the genie.