and his Mamelukes, having cut the wood and twisted the ropes for their
raft, made an end of it and launched it upon the sea; then, after
breaking their bonds with the axe, and loading the craft with fruits
plucked from the island-trees, they embarked at close of day; nor did
any wot of their intent. They put out to sea in their raft and paddled
on four months, knowing not whither the craft carried them, till their
provaunt failed them and they were suffering the severest extreme of
hunger and thirst, when behold, the sea waxed troubled and foamed and
rose in high waves, and there came forth upon them a frightful
crocodile,[407] which put out its claw and catching up one of the
Mamelukes swallowed him. At the sight of this horror Sayf al-Muluk wept
bitterly and he and the two men[408] that remained to him pushed off
from the place where they had seen the crocodile, sore affrighted. After
this they continued drifting on till one day they espied a mountain
terrible tall and spiring high in air, whereat they rejoiced, when
presently an island appeared. They made towards it with all their might
congratulating one another on the prospect of making land; but hardly
had they sighted the island on which was the mountain, when the sea
changed face and boiled and rose in big waves and a second crocodile
raised its head and putting out its claw caught up the two remaining
Mamelukes and swallowed them. So Sayf al-Muluk abode alone, and making
his way to the island, toiled till he reached the mountain-top, where he
looked about and found a copse, and walking among the trees fell to
eating of the fruits. Presently, he saw among the branches more than
twenty great apes, each bigger than a he-mule, whereat he was seized
with exceeding fear. The apes came down and surrounded him;[409] then
they forewent him, signing to him to follow them, and walked on, and he
too, till he came to a castle, tall of base and strong of build whose
ordinance was one brick of gold and one of silver. The apes entered and
he after them, and he saw in the castle all manner of rarities, jewels
and precious metals such as tongue faileth to describe. Here also he
found a young man, passing tall of stature with no hair on his cheeks,
and Sayf al-Muluk was cheered by the sight for there was no human being
but he in the castle. The stranger marvelled exceedingly at sight of the
Prince and asked him, “What is thy name and of what land art thou and
how camest thou hither? Tell me thy tale and hide from me naught
thereof.” Answered the Prince, “By Allah, I came not hither of my own
consent nor is this place of my intent; yet I cannot but go from place
to place till I win my wish.” Quoth the youth, “And what is thy
object?”; and quoth the other, “I am of the land of Egypt and my name is
Sayf al-Muluk son of King Asim bin Safwan”; and told him all that had
passed with him, from first to last. Whereupon the youth arose and stood
in his service, saying, “O King of the Age, I was erst in Egypt and
heard that thou hadst gone to the land of China; but where is this land
and where lies China-land?[410] Verily, this is a wondrous thing and
marvellous matter!” Answered the Prince, “Sooth thou speakest but, when
I left China-land, I set out, intending for the land of Hind and a
stormy wind arose and the sea boiled and broke all my ships”; brief, he
told him all that had befallen him till he came thither; whereupon quoth
the other, “O King’s son, thou hast had enough of strangerhood and its
sufferings; Alhamdolillah,—praised be Allah who hath brought thee
hither! So now do thou abide with me, that I may enjoy thy company till
I die, when thou shalt become King over this island, to which no bound
is known, and these apes thou seest are indeed skilled in all manner of
crafts; and whatso thou seekest here shalt thou find.” Replied Sayf
al-Muluk, “O my brother, I may not tarry in any place till my wish be
won, albeit I compass the whole world in pursuit thereof and make quest
of every one so peradventure Allah may bring me to my desire or my
course lead me to the place wherein is the appointed term of my days,
and I shall die my death.” Then the youth turned with a sign to one of
the apes, and he went out and was absent awhile, after which he returned
with other apes girt with silken zones.[411] They brought the trays and
set on near[412] an hundred chargers of gold and saucers of silver,
containing all manner of meats. Then they stood, after the manner of
servants between the hands of Kings, till the youth signalled to the
Chamberlains, who sat down, and he whose wont it was to serve stood,
whilst the two Princes ate their sufficiency. Then the apes cleared the
table and brought basins and ewers of gold, and they washed their hands
in rose water; after which they set on fine sugar and nigh forty
flagons, in each a different kind of wine, and they drank and took their
pleasure and made merry and had a fine time. And all the apes danced and
gambolled before them, what while the eaters sat at meat; which when
Sayf al-Muluk saw, he marvelled at them and forgot that which had
befallen him of sufferings.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Seven Hundred and Sixty-eighth Night,
She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Sayf
al-Muluk saw the gestures and gambols of the apes, he marvelled thereat
and forgot that which had betided him of strangerhood and its
sufferings. At nightfall they lighted waxen candles in candlesticks of
gold studded with gems and set on dishes of confections and fruits of
sugar-candy. So they ate; and when the hour of rest was come, the apes
spread them bedding and they slept. And when morning morrowed, the young
man arose, as was his wont, before sunrise and waking Sayf al-Muluk said
to him, “Put thy head forth of this lattice and see what standeth
beneath it.” So he put out his head and saw the wide waste and all the
wold filled with apes, whose number none knew save Allah Almighty. Quoth
he, “Here be great plenty of apes, for they cover the whole country: but
why are they assembled at this hour?” Quoth the youth, “This is their
custom. Every Sabbath,[413] all the apes in the island come hither, some
from two and three days’ distance, and stand here till I awake from
sleep and put forth my head from this lattice, when they kiss ground
before me and go about their business.” So saying, he put his head out
of the window; and when the apes saw him, they kissed the earth before
him and went their way. Sayf al-Muluk abode with the young man a whole
month when he farewelled him and departed, escorted by a party of nigh a
hundred apes, which the young man bade escort him. They journeyed with
him seven days, till they came to the limits of their islands,[414] when
they took leave of him and returned to their places, while Sayf al-Muluk
fared on alone over mount and hill, desert and plain, four months’
journey, one day anhungered and the next satiated, now eating of the
herbs of the earth and then of the fruits of the trees, till he repented
him of the harm he had done himself by leaving the young man; and he was
about to retrace his steps to him, when he saw a something black afar
off and said to himself, “Is this a city or trees? But I will not turn
back till I see what it is.” So he made towards it and when he drew
near, he saw that it was a palace tall of base. Now he who built it was
Japhet son of Noah (on whom be peace!) and it is of this palace that God
the Most High speaketh in His precious Book, whenas He saith, “And an
abandoned well and a high-builded palace.”[415] Sayf al-Muluk sat down
at the gate and said in his mind, “Would I knew what is within yonder
palace and what King dwelleth there and who shall acquaint me whether
its folk are men or Jinn? Who will tell me the truth of the case?” He
sat considering awhile, but, seeing none go in or come out, he rose and
committing himself to Allah Almighty entered the palace and walked on,
till he had counted seven vestibules; yet saw no one. Presently looking
to his right he beheld three doors, while before him was a fourth, over
which hung a curtain. So he went up to this and raising the curtain,
found himself in a great hall[416] spread with silken carpets. At the
upper end rose a throne of gold whereon sat a damsel, whose face was
like the moon, arrayed in royal raiment and beautified as she were a
bride on the night of her displaying; and at the foot of the throne was
a table of forty trays spread with golden and silvern dishes full of
dainty viands. The Prince went up and saluted her, and she returned his
salam, saying, “Art thou of mankind or of the Jinn?” Replied he, “I am a
man of the best of mankind;[417] for I am a King, son of a King.” She
rejoined, “What seekest thou? Up with thee and eat of yonder food, and
after tell me thy past from first to last and how thou camest hither.”
So he sat down at the table and removing the cover from a tray of meats
(he being hungry) and ate till he was full; then washed his right hand
and going up to the throne, sat down by the damsel who asked him, “Who
art thou and what is thy name and whence comest thou and who brought
thee hither?” He answered, “Indeed my story is a long but do thou first
tell me who and what and whence thou art and why thou dwellest in this
place alone.” She rejoined, “My name is Daulat Khátún[418] and I am the
daughter of the King of Hind. My father dwelleth in the Capital-city of
Sarandíb and hath a great and goodly garden, there is no goodlier in all
the land of Hind or its dependencies; and in this garden is a great
tank. One day, I went out into the garden with my slave-women and I
stripped me naked and they likewise and, entering the tank, fell to
sporting and solacing ourselves therein. Presently, before I could be
ware, a something as it were a cloud swooped down on me and snatching me
up from amongst my handmaids, soared aloft with me betwixt heaven and
earth, saying, “Fear not, O Daulat Khatun, but be of good heart.” Then
he flew on with me a little while, after which he set me down in this
palace and straightway without stay or delay became a handsome young man
daintily apparelled, who said to me:—Now dost thou know me? Replied
I:—No, O my lord; and he said:—I am the Blue King, Sovran of the Jann;
my father dwelleth in the Castle Al-Kulzum[419] hight, and hath under
his hand six hundred thousand Jinn, flyers and divers. It chanced that
while passing on my way I saw thee and fell in love with thee for thy
lovely form: so I swooped down on thee and snatched thee up from among
the slave-girls and brought thee to this the High-builded Castle, which
is my dwelling-place. None may fare hither be he man or be he Jinni, and
from Hind hither is a journey of an hundred and twenty years: wherefore
do thou hold that thou wilt never again behold the land of thy father
and thy mother; so abide with me here, in contentment of heart and
peace, and I will bring to thy hands whatso thou seekest.” Then he
embraced me and kissed me,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Seven Hundred and Sixty-ninth Night,
She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the damsel said
to Sayf al-Muluk, “Then the King of the Jann, after he had acquainted me
with his case, embraced me and kissed me, saying:—Abide here and fear
nothing; whereupon he went away from me for an hour and presently
returned with these tables and carpets and furniture. He comes to me
every Third[420] and abideth with me three days and on Friday, at the
time of mid-afternoon prayer, he departeth and is absent till the
following Third. When he is here, he eateth and drinketh and kisseth and
huggeth me, but doth naught else with me, and I am a pure virgin, even
as Allah Almighty created me. My father’s name is Táj al-Mulúk, and he
wotteth not what is come of me nor hath he hit upon any trace of me.
This is my story: now tell me thy tale.” Answered the Prince, “My story
is a long and I fear lest while I am telling it to thee the Ifrit come.”
Quoth she “He went out from me but an hour before thy entering and will
not return till Third: so sit thee down and take thine ease and hearten
thy heart and tell me what hath betided thee, from beginning to end.”
And quoth he, “I hear and I obey.” So he fell to telling her all that
had befallen him from commencement to conclusion but, when she heard
speak of Badi’a al-Jamal, her eyes ran over with railing tears and she
cried, “O Badi’a al-Jamal, I had not thought this of thee! Alack for our
luck! O Badi’a al-Jamal, dost thou not remember me nor say:—My sister
Daulat Khatun whither is she gone?” And her weeping redoubled, lamenting
for that Badi’a al-Jamal had forgotten her.[421] Then said Sayf
al-Muluk, “O Daulat Khatun, thou art a mortal and she is a Jinniyah: how
then can she be thy sister?” Replied the Princess, “She is my sister by
fosterage and this is how it came about. My mother went out to solace
herself in the garden, when labour-pangs seized her and she bare me. Now
the mother of Badi’a al-Jamal chanced to be passing with her guards,
when she also was taken with travail-pains; so she alighted in a side of
the garden and there brought forth Badi’a al-Jamal. She despatched one
of her women to seek food and childbirth-gear of my mother, who sent her
what she sought and invited her to visit her. So she came to her with
Badi’a al-Jamal and my mother suckled the child, who with her mother
tarried with us in the garden two months. And before wending her ways
the mother of Badi’a al-Jamal gave my mother somewhat,[422] saying:—When
thou hast need of me, I will come to thee a middlemost the garden, and
departed to her own land; but she and her daughter used to visit us
every year and abide with us awhile before returning home. Wherefore an
I were with my mother, O Sayf al-Muluk, and if thou wert with me in my
own country and Badi’a al-Jamal and I were together as of wont, I would
devise some device with her to bring thee to thy desire of her: but I am
here and they know naught of me; for that an they kenned what is become
of me, they have power to deliver me from this place; however, the
matter is in Allah’s hands (extolled and exalteth be He!) and what can I
do?” Quoth Sayf al-Muluk, “Rise and let us flee and go whither the
Almighty willeth;” but, quoth she, “We cannot do that: for, by Allah,
though we fled hence a year’s journey that accursed would overtake us in
an hour and slaughter us.” Then said the Prince, “I will hide myself in
his way, and when he passeth by I will smite him with the sword and slay
him.” Daulat Khatun replied, “Thou canst not succeed in slaying him save
thou slay his soul.” Asked he, “And where is his soul?”; and she
answered, “Many a time have I questioned him thereof but he would not
tell me, till one day I pressed him and he waxed wroth with me and said
to me:—How often wilt thou ask me of my soul? What hast thou to do with
my soul? I rejoined:——O Hátim,[423] there remaineth none to me but thou,
except Allah; and my life dependeth on thy life and whilst thou livest,
all is well for me; so, except I care for thy soul and set it in the
apple of this mine eye, how shall I live in thine absence? An I knew
where thy soul abideth, I would never cease whilst I live, to hold it in
mine embrace and would keep it as my right eye. Whereupon said he to
me:——What time I was born, the astrologers predicted that I should lose
my soul at the hands of the son of a king of mankind. So I took it and
set it in the crop of a sparrow, and shut up the bird in a box. The box
I set in a casket, and enclosing this in seven other caskets and seven
chests, laid the whole in a alabastrine coffer,[424] which I buried
within the marge of yon earth-circling sea; for that these parts are far
from the world of men and none of them can win hither. So now see I have
told thee what thou wouldst know, and do thou tell none thereof, for it
is a secret between me and thee.”——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased to say her permitted say.
[Illustration]
Now when it was the Seven Hundred and Seventieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Daulat Khatun
acquainted Sayf al-Muluk with the whereabouts of the soul of the Jinni
who had carried her off and repeated to him his speech ending with, “And
this is a secret between me and thee!” “I rejoined,” quoth she:—“To whom
should I tell it, seeing that none but thou cometh hither with whom I
may talk thereof?” adding, “By Allah, thou hast indeed set thy soul in
the strongest of strongholds to which none may gain access! How should a
man win to it, unless the impossible be fore-ordained and Allah decree
like as the astrologers predicted?” Thereupon the Jinni:—Peradventure
one may come, having on his finger the seal-ring of Solomon son of David
(on the twain be peace!) and lay his hand with the ring on the face of
the water, saying:—“By the virtue of the names engraven upon this ring,
let the soul of such an one come forth! Whereupon the coffer will rise
to the surface and he will break it open and do the like with the chests
and caskets, till he come to the little box, when he will take out the
sparrow and strangle it, and I shall die.” Then said Sayf al-Muluk, “I
am the King’s son of whom he spake, and this is the ring of Solomon
David-son on my finger: so rise, let us go down to the sea-shore and see
if his words be leal or leasing!” Thereupon the two walked down to the
sea-shore and the Princess stood on the beach, whilst the Prince waded
into the water to his waist and laying his hand with the ring on the
surface of the sea, said, “By the virtue of the names and talismans
engraven on this ring, and by the might of Sulayman bin Dáúd (on whom be
the Peace!), let the soul of Hatim the Jinni, son of the Blue King, come
forth!” Whereat the sea boiled in billows and the coffer of alabaster
rose to the surface. Sayf al-Muluk took it and shattered it against the
rock and broke open the chests and caskets, till he came to the little
box and drew thereout the sparrow. Then the twain returned to the castle
and sat down on the throne; but hardly had they done this, when lo and
behold! there arose a dust-cloud terrifying and some huge thing came
flying and crying, “Spare me, O King’s son, and slay me not; but make me
thy freedman, and I will bring thee to thy desire!” Quoth Daulat Khatun,
“The Jinni cometh; slay the sparrow, lest this accursed enter the palace
and take it from thee and slaughter me and slaughter thee after me.” So
the Prince wrung the sparrow’s neck and it died, whereupon the Jinni
fell down at the palace-door and became a heap of black ashes. Then said
Daulat Khatun, “We are delivered from the hand of yonder accursed; what
shall we do now?”; and Sayf al-Muluk replied, “It behoveth us to ask aid
of Allah Almighty who hath afflicted us; belike He will direct us and
help us to escape from this our strait.” So saying, he arose and pulling
up[425] half a score of the doors of the palace, which were of
sandal-wood and lign-aloes with nails of gold and silver, bound them
together with ropes of silk and floss[426]-silk and fine linen and
wrought of them a raft, which he and the Princess aided each other to
hale down to the sea-shore. They launched it upon the water till it
floated and, making it fast to the beach, returned to the palace, whence
they removed all the chargers of gold and saucers of silver and jewels
and precious stones and metals and what else was light of load and
weighty of worth and freighted the raft therewith. Then they embarked
after fashioning two pieces of wood into the likeness of paddles and
casting off the rope-moorings, let the raft drift out to sea with them,
committing themselves to Allah the Most High, who contenteth those that
put their trust in Him and disappointeth not them who rely upon Him.
They ceased not faring on thus four months until their victual was
exhausted and their sufferings waxed severe and their souls were
straitened; so they prayed Allah to vouchsafe them deliverance from that
danger. But all this time when they lay down to sleep, Sayf al-Muluk set
Daulat Khatun behind him and laid a naked brand at his back, so that,
when he turned in sleep the sword was between them.[427] At last it
chanced one night, when Sayf al-Muluk was asleep and Daulat Khatun
awake, that behold, the raft drifted landwards and entered a port
wherein were ships. The Princess saw the ships and heard a man, he being
the chief and head of the captains, talking with the sailors; whereby
she knew that this was the port of some city and that they were come to
an inhabited country. So she joyed with exceeding joy and waking the
Prince said to him, “Ask the captain the name of the city and harbour.”
Thereupon Sayf al-Muluk arose and said to the captain, “O my brother,
how is this harbour hight and what be the names of yonder city and its
King?” Replied the Captain, “O false face![428] O frosty beard! an thou
knew not the name of this port and city, how camest thou hither?” Quoth
Sayf al-Muluk, “I am a stranger and had taken passage in a merchant ship
which was wrecked and sank with all on board; but I saved myself on a
plank and made my way hither; wherefore I asked thee the name of the
place, and in asking is no offence.” Then said the captain, “This is the
city of ’Amáriyah and this harbour is called Kamín al-Bahrayn.”[429]
When the Princess heard this she rejoiced with exceeding joy and said,
“Praised be Allah!” He asked, “What is to do?”; and she answered, “O
Sayf al-Muluk, rejoice in succour near hand; for the King of this city
is my uncle, my father’s brother.”——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Seven Hundred and Seventy-first Night,