The next morning, before day, Dinarzade addressed herself to the
sultaness in these words; My dear sister, if you be not asleep, be
pleased to continue the adventures of the third calender. You must
know then, sister, said Scheherazade, that the prince went on with
the relation of his story to Zobeide and the company as follows:
After the old man and his slaves were gone with the vessel, I was
left alone upon the island. I lay that night in the subterranean
dwelling, which they had shut up; and when the day came, I walked
round the island, and stopped in such places as I thought most
proper to repose in.
I led this wearisome life for a whole month; after which I perceived
the sea to be mightily fallen, the island to be much larger, and the
main land seemed to be drawing near me. In fact, the water grew so
low, that there was but a small stream between me and the main land.
I crossed it, and the water did not come above the middle of my leg.
I walked so long upon the slime and sand, that I was very weary; at
last I got upon firm ground, and when at a good distance from the
sea, I saw a good way before me somewhat like a great fire, which
gave me some comfort; for I said to myself, I shall find somebody or
other, it not being possible that this fire should kindle of itself;
but when I came nearer hand, I found my error, and saw that what I
had taken for a fire was a castle of red copper, which the beams of
the sun made to look at a distance as if it had been in flames.
I stopped near the castle, and sat down to admire its admirable
structure, and to rest awhile: I had not taken such a full view of
this magnificent building as it deserved, when I saw ten handsome
young men coming along, as if they had been taking a walk; but what
most surprised me was, that they were all blind of the right eye:
they accompanied an old man, who was very tall, and of a venerable
aspect.
I could not but wonder at the sight of so many half-blind men all
together, and every one blind of the same eye; as I was thinking in
my mind by what adventure all these men could come together, they
came up to me, and seemed very glad to see me. After the first
compliments, they inquired what had brought me thither? I told them
my story would be somewhat tedious, but if they would take the
trouble to sit down, I would satisfy their request. They did so, and
I related to them all that had happened unto me since I left my
kingdom, which filled them with astonishment.
After I had ended my discourse, the young gentlemen prayed me to go
with them into the castle; I accepted the proffer, and we passed
through a great many halls, antechambers, bedchambers, and closets,
very well furnished, and came at last into a spacious hall, where
there were ten small blue sofas set round, separate from one
another, upon which they sat by day, and slept by night. In the
middle of this circle stood an eleventh sofa, not so high as the
rest, but of the same colour, upon which the old man before
mentioned sat down, and the young gentlemen made use of the other
ten; but as each sofa could only contain one man, one of the young
men said to me, Comrade, sit down upon that carpet in the middle of
the room, and do not inquire into any thing that concerns us, nor
the reason why we are all blind of the right eye; be content with
what you see, and let not your curiosity go any farther.
The old man having sat a little while, rose up and went out; but he
returned in a minute or two, brought in supper to those ten
gentlemen, distributed to each man his portion by himself, and
likewise brought me mine, which I eat by myself, as the rest did;
and when supper was almost ended, he presented to each of us a cup
of wine.
They thought my story so extraordinary, that they made me repeat it
after supper, and it furnished conversation for a good part of the
night. One of the gentlemen observing that it was late, said to the
old man, You see it is time to go to bed, and you do not bring us
that with which we may acquit ourselves of our duty. At these words
the old man arose, and went into a closet, from whence he brought
out upon his head ten basins one after another, all covered with
blue stuff: he set one before every gentleman, together with a light.
They uncovered their basins, in which there were ashes, coal-dust,
and lamp-black; they mixed all together, and rubbed and bedaubed
their faces with it, in such a manner that they looked very
frightful. After having thus blacked themselves they fell a weeping
and lamenting, beating their heads and breasts, and cried
continually, This is the fruit of our idleness and debauches.
They continued thus almost the whole night, and when they left off,
the old man brought them water, with which they washed their faces
and hands; they changed all their clothes, which were spoiled, and
put on others; so that they did not look in the least as if they had
been doing so strange an action.
You may judge, madam, how uneasy I was all the while: I wished a
thousand times to break the silence which those young gentlemen had
imposed upon me, and ask questions; nor was it possible for me to
sleep that night.
After we got up next day we went out to walk, when I told them,
Gentlemen, I declare to you, that I must renounce that law which you
prescribed to me last night, for I cannot observe it. You are men of
sense, and do not want wit; you have convinced me of this; yet I
have seen you do such actions as none but madmen could be capable
of. Whatever misfortune befals me, I cannot forbear asking, why you
bedaubed your faces with black? How it comes that each of you have
but one eye? Some singular circumstance must certainly be the cause
of it; therefore I conjure you to satisfy my curiosity. To these
pressing instances they answered only, that it was no business of
mine to ask such questions, and that I should do well to hold my
peace.
We passed that day in conversation upon indifferent subjects; and
when night was come, and every man had supped, the old man brought
in his blue basins, and the young gentlemen bedaubed their faces,
wept and beat themselves, crying, This is the fruit of our idleness
and debauches, as before, and continued the same actions the
following night. At last, not being able to resist my curiosity, I
earnestly prayed them to satisfy me, or show me how to return to my
own kingdom; for it was impossible for me to keep them company any
longer, and to see every night such an odd spectacle, without being
permitted to know the reason.
One of the gentlemen answered in behalf of the rest, Do not wonder
at our conduct in regard to yourself, and that hitherto we have not
granted your request: it is out of mere kindness to save you the
pain of being reduced to the same condition with us. If you have a
mind to try our unfortunate destiny, you need but speak, and we will
give you the satisfaction you desire. I told them I was resolved on
it, let what would be the consequence. Once more, said the same
gentleman, we advise you to restrain your curiosity: it will cost
you the loss of your right eye. No matter, said I; I declare to you,
that if such a misfortune befal me, I will not impute it to you but
to myself.
He farther represented to me, that when I had lost an eye, I must
not hope to stay with them, if I were so minded, because their
number was so complete, and no addition could be made to it. I told
them, that it would be a great satisfaction to me never to part from
such honest gentlemen, but if there were necessity for it, I was
ready to submit; and let it cost what it would, I begged them to
grant my request.
The ten gentlemen perceiving that I was so fixed in my resolution,
took a sheep and killed it, and after they had taken off the skin,
presented me with a knife, telling me it would be useful to me on a
certain occasion, which they should tell me of presently. We must
sew you into this skin, said they, and then leave you; upon which a
fowl of monstrous size, called a roc, will appear in the air, and
taking you to be a sheep, will come down upon you, and carry you up
to the very sky; but let not that frighten you; he will come down
with you again, and lay you on the top of a mountain. When you find
yourself upon the ground, cut the skin with the knife, and throw it
off. As soon as the roc sees you, he will fly away for fear, and
leave you at liberty: do not stay, but walk on till you come to a
prodigious large castle, covered with plates of gold, large
emeralds, and other precious stones: go up to the gate, which always
stands open, and walk in: we have been in the castle as long as we
have been here; we will tell you nothing of what we saw, or what
befel us there: you will learn it yourself; all that we can inform
you, is, that it hath cost each of us our right eye, and the penance
which you have been witness to, is what we are obliged to do,
because we have been there. The history of each of us in particular
is so full of extraordinary adventures, that a large volume would
not contain them. But we must explain ourselves no farther.
Here Scheherazade broke off the discourse, and said to the sultan of
the Indies, Sir, my sister called upon me this morning sooner than
ordinary; I fear I have wearied your majesty’s patience. But now
day appears in very good time, and commands my silence.
Schahriar’s curiosity still prevailed upon him to dispense with
his cruel oath.