beard, “cut short the days of your faithful servant rather than force him
to depart from his word. Nouronihar, as her hands evince, is solemnly
promised to Gulchenrouz, the son of my bother, Ali Hassan; they are
united also in heart; their faith is mutually plighted; and affiances so
sacred cannot be broken.”
“What, then,” replied the Caliph bluntly, “would you surrender this
divine beauty to a husband more womanish than herself? And can you
imagine that I will suffer her charms to decay in hands so inefficient
and nerveless? No! she is destined to live out her life within my
embraces: such is my will: retire, and disturb not the night I devote to
the homage of her charms.”
The irritated emir drew forth his sabre, presented it to Vathek, and
stretching out his neck, said in a firm tone of voice:
“Strike your unhappy host my lord! he has lived long enough, since he
hath seen the prophet’s vicegerent violate the rights of hospitality.”
At his uttering these words, Nouronihar unable to support any longer the
conflict of her passions, sunk down in a swoon. Vathek, both terrified
for her life, and furious at an opposition to his will, bade Fakreddin
assist his daughter, and withdrew, darting his terrible look at the
unfortunate emir, who suddenly fell backward bathed in a sweat, cold as
the damp of death.
Gulchenrouz, who had escaped from the hands of Bababalouk, and was that
instant returned, called out for help as loudly as he could, not having
strength to afford it himself. Pale and panting, the poor child
attempted to revive Nouronihar by caresses, and it happened that the
thrilling warmth of his lips restored her to life. Fakreddin beginning
also to recover from the look of the Caliph, with difficulty tottered to
a seat, and after warily casting round his eye to see if this dangerous
prince were gone, sent for Shaban and Sutlememe, and said to them apart—
“My friends, violent evils require as violent remedies; the Caliph has
brought desolation and horror into my family, and how shall we resist his
power? Another of his looks will send me to my grave. Fetch then that
narcotic powder which the Dervise brought me from Aracan. A dose of it,
the effect of which will continue three days, must be administered to
each of these children. The Caliph will believe them to be dead, for
they will have all the appearance of death. We shall go as if to inter
them in the cave of Meimoune, at the entrance of the great desert of
sand, and near the cabin of my dwarfs. When all the spectators shall be
withdrawn, you, Shaban, and four select eunuchs shall convey them to the
lake, where provision shall be ready to support them a month; for, one
day allotted to the surprise this event will occasion, five to the tears,
a fortnight to reflection, and the rest to prepare for renewing his
progress, will, according to my calculation, fill up the whole time that
Vathek will tarry, and I shall then be freed from his intrusion.”
“Your plan,” said Sutlememe, “is a good one, if it can but be effected.
I have remarked that Nouronihar is well able to support the glances of
the Caliph, and that he is far from being sparing of them to her; be
assured therefore, notwithstanding her fondness for Gulchenrouz, she will
never remain quiet while she knows him to be here, unless we can persuade
her that both herself and Gulchenrouz are really dead, and that they were
conveyed to those rocks for a limited season to expiate the little faults
of which their love was the cause. We will add that we killed ourselves
in despair, and that your dwarfs whom they never yet saw will preach to
them delectable sermons. I will engage that every thing shall succeed to
the bent of your wishes.”
“Be it so,” said Fakreddin; “I approve your proposal; let us lose not a
moment to give it effect.” They forthwith hastened to seek for the
powder, which being mixed in a sherbet was immediately drunk by
Gulchenrouz and Nouronihar. Within the space of an hour both were seized
with violent palpitations, and a general numbness gradually ensued. They
arose from the floor, where they had remained ever since the Caliph’s
departure, and ascending to the sofa, reclined themselves at full length
upon it, clasped in each other’s embraces.
“Cherish me, my dear Nouronihar,” said Gulchenrouz; “put thy hand upon my
heart, for it feels as if it were frozen. Alas! thou art as cold as
myself! hath the Caliph murdered us both with his terrible look?”
“I am dying,” cried she in a faltering voice; “press me closer, I am
ready to expire!”
“Let us die then together,” answered the little Gulchenrouz, whilst his
breast laboured with a convulsive sigh; “let me at least breathe forth my
soul on thy lips.”
They spoke no more, and became as dead.
Immediately the most piercing cries were heard through the harem, whilst
Shaban and Sutlememe personated with great adroitness the parts of
persons in despair. The emir, who was sufficiently mortified to be
forced into such untoward expedients, and had now for the first time made
a trial of his powder, was under no necessity of counterfeiting grief.
The slaves, who had flocked together from all quarters, stood motionless
at the spectacle before them. All lights were extinguished save two
lamps, which shed a wan glimmering over the faces of these lovely
flowers, that seemed to be faded in the spring-time of life. Funeral
vestments were prepared; their bodies were washed with rose water; their
beautiful tresses were braided and incensed; and they were wrapped in
symars whiter than alabaster. At the moment that their attendants were
placing two wreaths of their favourite jasamines on their brows, the
Caliph, who had just heard the tragical catastrophe, arrived. He looked
not less pale and haggard than the goules that wander at night among
graves. Forgetful of himself and every one else, he broke through the
midst of the slaves, fell prostrate at the foot of the sofa, beat his
bosom, called himself “atrocious murderer,” and invoked upon his head a
thousand imprecations. With a trembling hand he raised the veil that
covered the countenance of Nouronihar, and uttering a loud shriek fell
lifeless on the floor. The chief of the eunuchs dragged him off with
horrible grimaces, and repeated as he went:
“Aye, I foresaw she would play you some ungracious turn.”
No sooner was the Caliph gone than the emir commanded biers to be
brought, and forbade that any one should enter the harem. Every window
was fastened; all instruments of music were broken; and the Imams began
to recite their prayers. Towards the close of this melancholy day Vathek
sobbed in silence, for they had been forced to compose with anodynes his
convulsions of rage and desperation.
At the dawn of the succeeding morning the wide folding doors of the
palace were set open, and the funeral procession moved forward for the
mountain. The wailful cries of “La Ilah illa Alla,” reached to the
Caliph, who was eager to cicatrize himself and attend the ceremonial; nor
could he have been dissuaded, had not his excessive weakness disabled him
from walking. At the few first steps he fell on the ground, and his
people were obliged to lay him on a bed, where he remained many days in
such a state of insensibility as excited compassion in the emir himself.
When the procession was arrived at the grot of Meimoune, Shaban and
Sutlememe dismissed the whole of the train excepting the four
confidential eunuchs who were appointed to remain. After resting some
moments near the biers which had been left in the open air, they caused
them to be carried to the brink of a small lake whose banks were
overgrown with a hoary moss. This was the great resort of herons and
storks, which preyed continually on little blue fishes. The dwarfs,
instructed by the emir, soon repaired thither, and with the help of the
eunuchs began to construct cabins of rushes and reeds, a work in which
they had admirable skill. A magazine also was contrived for provisions,
with a small oratory for themselves, and a pyramid of wood neatly piled,
to furnish the necessary fuel, for the air was bleak in the hollows of
the mountains.
At evening two fires were kindled on the brink of the lake, and the two
lovely bodies taken from their biers were carefully deposited upon a bed
of dried leaves within the same cabin. The dwarfs began to recite the
koran with their clear shrill voices, and Shaban and Sutlememe stood at
some distance anxiously waiting the effects of the powder. At length
Nouronihar and Gulchenrouz faintly stretched out their arms, and
gradually opening their eyes began to survey with looks of increasing
amazement every object around them. They even attempted to rise, but for
want of strength fell back again. Sutlememe on this administered a
cordial which the emir had taken care to provide.
Gulchenrouz thoroughly aroused sneezed out aloud, and raising himself
with an effort that expressed his surprise, left the cabin, and inhaled
the fresh air with the greatest avidity.
“Yes,” said he, “I breathe again! again do I exist! I hear sounds! I
behold a firmament spangled over with stars!”
Nouronihar catching these beloved accents extricated herself from the
leaves, and ran to clasp Gulchenrouz to her bosom. The first objects she
remarked were their long symars, their garlands of flowers, and their
naked feet: she hid her face in her hands to reflect. The vision of the
enchanted bath, the despair of her father, and more vividly than both,
the majestic figure of Vathek recurred to her memory. She recollected
also, that herself and Gulchenrouz had been sick and dying; but all these
images bewildered her mind. Not knowing where she was, she turned her
eyes on all sides, as if to recognise the surrounding scene. This
singular lake, those flames reflected from its glassy surface, the pale
hues of its banks, the romantic cabins, the bull-rushes that sadly waved
their drooping heads, the storks whose melancholy cries blended with the
shrill voices of the dwarfs, every thing conspired to persuade them that
the angel of death had opened the portal of some other world.
Gulchenrouz on his part, lost in wonder, clung to the neck of his cousin.
He believed himself in the region of phantoms, and was terrified at the
silence she preserved. At length addressing her:
“Speak,” said he; “where are we! do you not see those spectres that are
stirring the burning coals? Are they the Monker and Nakir, come to throw
us into them? Does the fatal bridge cross this lake, whose solemn
stillness perhaps conceals from us an abyss, in which for whole ages we
shall be doomed incessantly to sink?”
“No my children,” said Sutlememe going towards them; “take comfort, the
exterminating angel who conducted our souls hither after yours, hath
assured us that the chastisement of your indolent and voluptuous life
shall be restricted to a certain series of years, which you must pass in
this dreary abode, where the sun is scarcely visible, and where the soil
yields neither fruits nor flowers. These,” continued she, pointing to
the dwarfs, “will provide for our wants; for souls so mundane as ours
retain too strong a tincture of their earthly extraction. Instead of
meats, your food will be nothing but rice, and your bread shall be
moistened in the fogs that brood over the surface of the lake.”
At this desolating prospect the poor children burst into tears, and
prostrated themselves before the dwarfs, who perfectly supported their
characters, and delivered an excellent discourse of a customary length
upon the sacred camel, which after a thousand years was to convey them to
the paradise of the faithful.
The sermon being ended and ablutions performed, they praised Alla and the
prophet, supped very indifferently, and retired to their withered leaves.
Nouronihar and her little cousin consoled themselves on finding that,
though dead, they yet lay in one cabin. Having slept well before, the
remainder of the night was spent in conversation on what had befallen
them; and both, from a dread of apparitions, betook themselves for
protection to one another’s arms.
In the morning, which was lowering and rainy, the dwarfs mounted high
poles like minarets, and called them to prayers. The whole congregation,
which consisted of Sutlememe, Shaban, the four eunuchs, and some storks,
were already assembled. The two children came forth from their cabin
with a slow and dejected pace. As their minds were in a tender and
melancholy mood, their devotions were performed with fervour. No sooner
were they finished than Gulchenrouz demanded of Sutlememe and the rest,
“how they happened to die so opportunely for his cousin and himself.”
“We killed ourselves,” returned Sutlememe, “in despair at your death.”
On this, said Nouronihar, who notwithstanding what was past, had not yet
forgotten her vision:
“And the Caliph, is he also dead of his grief? and will he likewise come
hither?”
The dwarfs, who were prepared with an answer, most demurely replied:
“Vathek is damned beyond all redemption!”
“I readily believe so,” said Gulchenrouz; “and am glad from my heart to
hear it, for I am convinced it was his horrible look that sent us hither,
to listen to sermons and mess upon rice.”
One week passed away on the side of the lake unmarked by any variety;
Nouronihar ruminating on the grandeur of which death had deprived her,
and Gulchenrouz applying to prayers and to panniers along with the
dwarfs, who infinitely pleased him. Whilst this scene of innocence was
exhibiting in the mountains, the Caliph presented himself to the emir in
a new light. The instant he recovered the use of his senses, with a
voice that made Bababalouk quake, he thundered out:
“Perfidious Giaour! I renounce thee for ever! it is thou who hast slain
my beloved Nouronihar! and I supplicate the pardon of Mahomet, who would
have preserved her to me had I been more wise. Let water be brought to
perform my ablutions, and let the pious Fakreddin be called to offer up
his prayers with mine, and reconcile me to him. Afterwards we will go
together and visit the sepulchre of the unfortunate Nouronihar. I am
resolved to become a hermit, and consume the residue of my days on this
mountain, in hope of expiating my crimes.”
Nouronihar was not altogether so content, for though she felt a fondness
for Gulchenrouz, who to augment the attachment, had been left at full
liberty with her, yet she still regarded him as but a bauble that bore no
competition with the carbuncle of Giamschid. At times she indulged
doubts on the mode of her being, and scarcely could believe that the dead
had all the wants and the whims of the living. To gain satisfaction,
however, on so perplexing a topic, she arose one morning whilst all were
asleep with a breathless caution from the side of Gulchenrouz, and after
having given him a soft kiss, began to follow the windings of the lake
till it terminated with a rock whose top was accessible though lofty.
This she clambered up with considerable toil, and having reached the
summit, set forward in a run like a doe that unwittingly follows her
hunter. Though she skipped along with the alertness of an antelope, yet
at intervals she was forced to desist, and rest beneath the tamarisks to
recover her breath. Whilst she, thus reclined, was occupied with her
little reflections on the apprehension that she had some knowledge of the
place, Vathek, who finding himself that morning but ill at ease, had gone
forth before the dawn, presented himself on a sudden to her view.
Motionless with surprise, he durst not approach the figure before him,
which lay shrouded up in a symar extended on the ground, trembling and
pale, but yet lovely to behold. At length Nouronihar, with a mixture of
pleasure and affliction, raising her fine eyes to him, said:
“My lord, are you come hither to eat rice and hear sermons with me?”
“Beloved phantom!” cried Vathek, “dost thou speak? hast thou the same
graceful form? the same radiant features? art thou palpable likewise?”
and eagerly embracing her he added, “here are limbs and a bosom animated
with a gentle warmth! what can such a prodigy mean?”
Nouronihar with diffidence answered:
“You know my lord that I died on the night you honoured me with your
visit; my cousin maintains it was from one of your glances, but I cannot
believe him, for to me they seem not so dreadful. Gulchenrouz died with
me, and we were both brought into a region of desolation, where we are
fed with a wretched diet. If you be dead also, and are come hither to
join us, I pity your lot, for you will be stunned with the clang of the
dwarfs and the storks. Besides, it is mortifying in the extreme that you
as well as myself should have lost the treasures of the subterranean
palace.”
At the mention of the subterranean palace, the Caliph suspended his
caresses, which indeed had proceeded pretty far, to seek from Nouronihar
an explanation of her meaning. She then recapitulated her vision—what
immediately followed—and the history of her pretended death; adding also
a description of the palace of expiation from whence she had fled; and
all in a manner that would have extorted his laughter, had not the
thoughts of Vathek been too deeply engaged. No sooner, however, had she
ended, than he again clasped her to his bosom, and said:
“Light of my eyes! the mystery is unravelled; we both are alive! Your
father is a cheat, who for the sake of dividing hath deluded us both; and
the Giaour, whose design, as far as I can discover, is that we shall
proceed together, seems scarce a whit better. It shall be some time at
least before he find us in his palace of fire. Your lovely little person
in my estimation is far more precious than all the treasures of the
preadimite sultans, and I wish to possess it at pleasure, and in open day
for many a moon, before I go to burrow under ground like a mole.”
“Forget this little trifler Gulchenrouz, and”—
“Ah, my lord,” interposed Nouronihar, “let me entreat that you do him no
evil.”
“No, no,” replied Vathek, “I have already bid you forbear to alarm
yourself for him. He has been brought up too much on milk and sugar to
stimulate my jealousy. We will leave him with the dwarfs, who by the bye
are my old acquaintances; their company will suit him far better than
yours. As to other matters, I will return no more to your father’s. I
want not to have my ears dinned by him and his dotards with the violation
of the rights of hospitality; as if it were less an honour for you to
espouse the sovereign of the world, than a girl dressed up like a boy.”
Nouronihar could find nothing to oppose in a discourse so eloquent. She
only wished the amorous monarch had discovered more ardour for the
carbuncle of Giamschid; but flattered herself it would gradually
increase, and therefore yielded to his will with the most bewitching
submission.
When the Caliph judged it proper he called for Bababalouk, who was asleep
in the cave of Meimoune, and dreaming that the phantom of Nouronihar
having mounted him once more on her swing, had just given him such a jerk
that he one moment soared above the mountains, and the next sunk into the
abyss. Starting from his sleep at the voice of his master, he ran
gasping for breath, and had nearly fallen backward at the sight, as he
believed, of the spectre, by whom he had so lately been haunted in his
dream.
“Ah my lord,” cried he, recoiling ten steps, and covering his eyes with
both hands, “do you then perform the office of a goule? ’Tis true you
have dug up the dead, yet hope not to make her your prey; for after all
she hath caused me to suffer, she is even wicked enough to prey upon
you.”
“Cease thy folly,” said Vathek, “and thou shalt soon be convinced that it
is Nouronihar herself, alive and well, whom I clasp to my breast. Go
only, and pitch my tents in the neighbouring valley. There will I fix my
abode with this beautiful tulip, whose colours I soon shall restore.
There exert thy best endeavours to procure whatever can augment the
enjoyments of life, till I shall disclose to thee more of my will.”
The news of so unlucky an event soon reached the ears of the emir, who
abandoned himself to grief and despair, and began, as did all his old
greybeards, to begrime his visage with ashes. A total supineness ensued;
travellers were no longer entertained, no more plasters were spread, and
instead of the charitable activity that had distinguished this asylum,
the whole of its inhabitants exhibited only faces of a half cubit long,
and uttered groans that accorded with their forlorn situation.
Though Fakreddin bewailed his daughter as lost to him for ever, yet
Gulchenrouz was not forgotten. He despatched immediate instruction to
Sutlememe, Shaban, and the dwarfs, enjoining them not to undeceive the
child in respect to his state, but under some pretence to convey him far
from the lofty rock at the extremity of the lake, to a place which he
should appoint, as safer from danger; for he suspected that Vathek
intended him evil.
Gulchenrouz in the mean while was filled with amazement at not finding
his cousin; nor were the dwarfs at all less surprised; but Sutlememe, who
had more penetration, immediately guessed what had happened. Gulchenrouz
was amused with the delusive hope of once more embracing Nouronihar in
the interior recesses of the mountains, where the ground, strewed over
with orange blossoms and jasamines, offered beds much more inviting than
the withered leaves in their cabin, where they might accompany with their
voices the sounds of their lutes, and chase butterflies in concert.
Sutlememe was far gone in this sort of description when one of the four
eunuchs beckoned her aside to apprise her of the arrival of a messenger
from their fraternity, who had explained the secret of the flight of
Nouronihar, and brought the commands of the emir. A council with Shaban
and the dwarfs was immediately held. Their baggage being stowed in
consequence of it, they embarked in a shallop and quietly sailed with the
little one, who acquiesced in all their proposals. Their voyage
proceeded in the same manner, till they came to the place where the lake
sinks beneath the hollow of the rock, but as soon as the bark had entered
it, and Gulchenrouz found himself surrounded with darkness, he was seized
with a dreadful consternation, and incessantly uttered the most piercing
outcries; for he now was persuaded he should actually be damned for
having taken too many little freedoms in his life-time with his cousin.
But let us return to the Caliph, and her who ruled over his heart.
Bababalouk had pitched the tents, and closed up the extremities of the
valley with magnificent screens of India cloth, which were guarded by
Ethiopian slaves with their drawn sabres. To preserve the verdure of
this beautiful enclosure in its natural freshness, the white eunuchs went
continually round it with their red water vessels. The waving of fans
was heard near the imperial pavilion, where by the voluptuous light that
glowed through the muslins, the Caliph enjoyed at full view all the
attractions of Nouronihar. Inebriated with delight, he was all ear to
her charming voice which accompanied the lute; while she was not less
captivated with his descriptions of Samarah and the tower full of
wonders, but especially with his relation of the adventure of the ball,
and the chasm of the Giaour with its ebony portal.
In this manner they conversed for a day and a night; they bathed together
in a basin of black marble, which admirably relieved the fairness of
Nouronihar. Bababalouk, whose good graces this beauty had regained,
spared no attention that their repasts might be served up with the
minutest exactness: some exquisite rariety was ever placed before them;
and he sent even to Schiraz for that fragrant and delicious wine which
had been hoarded up in bottles prior to the birth of Mahomet. He had
excavated little ovens in the rock to bake the nice manchets which were
prepared by the hands of Nouronihar, from whence they had derived a
flavour so grateful to Vathek, that he regarded the ragouts of his other
wives as entirely maukish; whilst they would have died at the emir’s of
chagrin at finding themselves so neglected, if Fakreddin, notwithstanding
his resentment, had not taken pity upon them.