"My name," said the old man, "is Abdurrahman, and fourscore and three
years ago I was born in this city, not very far from the spot where I now
dwell. My father, who was a merchant, and fairly prosperous, furnished
me, when I was twenty years of age, with a stock of goods with which to
commence to trade, and, as young merchants are wont to do, I departed to
try my fortune in foreign countries.
"The first country I visited was Persia, and arriving at Shiraz, the
capital, I remained for many months engaged in selling, at the best
profit I could obtain for them, the goods I had brought with me from
Bagdad.
"At length, having disposed of almost all my stock, I began to consider
what kind of merchandize it would be most advisable that I should buy to
take back with me, and trade with on my return.
"But as I sat one day in the shop of a jeweller of my acquaintance in the
bazaar, a circumstance occurred which at once put to flight all ideas of
an early return to my native land.
"A young lady entered, whose fine apparel and elegant bearing immediately
attracted my attention. Two slaves waited on her, and stopped outside
the shop while she entered.
"Why I should have been especially attracted by this young lady I should
probably have found it difficult at that moment to explain. But my eyes
were no longer under my control, and I thought surely no one ever moved
more gracefully. I was young then, and a young man's imagination, like a
high-mettled steed, soon runs away with him. Yet, being young, and
probably in those days not altogether ill-looking, it is not unlikely
that the lady was, on her side, not at all displeased to observe my very
evident admiration; and taking pity upon me, or rather, I should say,
determined instantly to complete her conquest, she contrived, as though
by accident, to remove her veil for one moment, exposing thus to my
astonished gaze a countenance of the most surpassing beauty.
"After purchasing sundry articles from my friend the jeweller, and giving
them to her slaves to carry home for her, she left the shop, not without
bestowing upon me a parting glance, which penetrated my heart and filled
me with the most delicious and indescribable excitement.
"As soon as she was gone I inquired eagerly of my friend who this
dazzling young beauty was, and whereabouts she lived.
"'She is,' he said, 'the daughter of Mazoudi Khan, a very rich man, who
lives in a fine house not far from the palace of the Shah himself. I
should advise you,' he added, 'to forget as soon as possible that you
have ever seen her, for you know the proverb, "He who lifts his eyes too
high, is apt to fall and break his neck."'
"The advice was no doubt good, but as well might a man in a fever be
advised to keep cool. As well might a man parched with thirst be advised
to shun water and to think no more of it. I had seen her face, the face
of the first beautiful woman it had ever been my lot to behold. I was
twenty-one years of age, and my prudent acquaintance advised me to forget
her!
"My lord, you may guess how I lay awake all that night, and how I
returned as early next day as I decently could to the shop of my friend,
in the ardent, if rash, hope of again meeting the object that now
constantly engrossed me.
"The young lady, who was nowise disposed to avoid me or break my heart,
came to the shop still earlier than on the previous day, and, while
examining some jewels, she listened, without any sign of disapproval, to
the few but passionate words of admiration and love which I ventured to
address to her.
"'Sir,' she answered, 'if I should say that I feel displeased at what you
tell me, it would not be true; but, alas! it is useless for you thus to
address me. My father is about to marry me to a friend of his, who is
very rich and nearly as old as himself.'
"With that the lovely creature shed tears, and presently choosing some
jewels, she went away, leaving me full of grief and distracted with anger
and jealousy.
"After this I met her again several times in the same place, and, to my
utmost consternation, learned at length that her marriage with Mirza Aga,
her father's old friend, would take place in a fortnight.
"At first I implored her in my desperation to fly with me from Persia,
and accompany me to my home at Bagdad. But with much good sense she
pointed out that this was impossible; that we should both infallibly be
caught before we could get three parasangs away from Shiraz, and be
brought back to certain death.
"I was altogether at a loss what to do, but finally I bought a large,
old-fashioned house, situated in a very retired and lonely position in
the suburbs of the city, and determined, if possible, to persuade my
charmer to retire with me to that retreat, where I doubted not we might
remain undiscovered until the fury of her father should abate.
"The house I bought was surrounded by a very high wall, and had a large
quadrangle within laid out as a garden, with fruit-trees and fountains of
clear water. I furnished the place handsomely, and bought several slaves
to attend upon us. But, alas! I could find no opportunity to take the
lady thither, she being always accompanied by at least two of her
father's slaves, who jealously guarded her.
"The day fixed for her marriage with the ancient bridegroom having
arrived, I loitered about ready to follow and observe the bridal
procession, being in a state of mingled rage and despair not easy to
describe.
"Now among the Persians it is the custom when the wedding-day arrives
that the friends of the bride shall escort her from her home towards the
house of her husband, while he, on his part, comes with his friends to
meet her. As soon as he sees his bride he throws an orange or other
fruit at her, and rides off again towards his house, and whosoever
catches him before he arrives there, is entitled to his horse and clothes
or a ransom in lieu of them.
"The distance which the bridegroom thus advances to meet his bride,
varies in each case according to circumstances.
"The lady Perizadeh, being the daughter of so influential a man as
Mazoudi Khan, it was arranged that Mirza Aga, who was her inferior in
rank, should advance two-thirds of the distance that had to be traversed.
"It thus happened that when the two cavalcades encountered each other,
and the bridegroom, according to custom, threw the orange and rode off,
he had some considerable distance to ride. As your Majesty is aware, the
Persians are to be reckoned among the best horsemen in the world; but
Mirza Aga was no longer young; and whether it were owing to that, or
whether his horse was in fault, I know not, but before he had ridden far,
with all the members of the two parties pursuing him at the top of their
speed, his horse suddenly stumbled, and he was thrown upon his head and
killed on the spot.
"During the scene of confusion which followed, while all were crowding
round the fallen man, to render help or to endeavour to ascertain the
nature and extent of his injuries, the bride was left for the moment
alone and unguarded. Seizing the opportunity, I sprang up behind her on
her horse, and turning at once down a side street, was in a few seconds
out of sight, and reached in safety the house I had bought, and which I
had, as I have said, prepared for our reception.
"As soon as the bride was missed--which, owing to the excitement and
confusion, did not occur immediately--it was of course assumed that she
had, when frightened by the accident, turned round and ridden back again
to her father's house. Mazoudi Khan therefore went home at once to see
and console her; but when he found that she had not returned, he
despatched his whole retinue in different directions, to scour the
country in search of the robbers who had, as he supposed, carried off his
daughter.
"Even when his followers came back unsuccessful, he still expected
shortly to recover his child, as he entertained no doubt that the bandits
would find means before long to communicate with him respecting her
ransom.
"Meanwhile, we lived with the utmost privacy in the house I had
purchased, never going outside the walls, or doing anything whatever to
attract attention to us.
"In this way a whole year passed by. A son was born to us, and I named
him Diraz. And the lovely Perizadeh and myself continued as enamoured of
each other, and as happy in each other's society, as we had been at first.
"About a twelvemonth after the day--ever memorable to me--on which I had
effected the capture of the destined bride of the unfortunate Mirza Aga,
I happened to hear that Mazoudi Khan was seriously ill, the loss of his
daughter, whom he tenderly loved, having depressed his spirits to an
alarming degree.
"After much debate we determined that Perizadeh, taking her baby with
her, should go to her father and implore his forgiveness for both of us.
I sent her, clad as handsomely as I could afford, with a slave to carry
the baby, and two other slaves to attend upon her; and I waited the
result of the interview between her and her father with no little anxiety.
"I knew that a proud and wealthy man like Mazoudi Khan would have
rejected, with much disdain, a young and unknown merchant like myself,
had I demanded his daughter in marriage; but I hoped now, that the sight
of his child whom he mourned as lost, and of his grandchild--towards whom
a grandfather's heart is always especially open--would soften him, and
cause him to relent. In this I was not disappointed.
"He sent for me, forgave me, welcomed me as his son-in-law, and appointed
us a house near to his own.
"And not long afterwards he obtained for me an official post at the
Persian Court, where I remained happy and contented for the space of
twenty years.
"By that time, both my father-in-law and my lovely Perizadeh had died,
and my son Diraz, now grown a fine young man, was entered as a gholam,
that is, one of the royal body-guard.
"Ten years more passed by uneventfully, and I looked forward confidently
hoping to see my son appointed to the government of a province, or some
other position of dignity and emolument. But, alas! just when this
seemed most certain, an indiscretion, an act of madness on the part of my
unhappy son, brought ruin on us both.
"Among the women at that time in the harem of his Majesty the Shah, was a
very beautiful slave, who had been captured during a war which had been
waged against an infidel nation, whose territory extends beyond the
northern frontier of the Shah's dominions.
"This slave, beautiful as the full moon, Diraz, rash and presumptuous
youth that he was, managed to catch sight of, and immediately he became
desperately, recklessly enamoured of her.
"Forgetting the duty we owed to our master the Shah, and taking advantage
of his official position as gholam shahee, which enabled and authorized
him to travel by post at speed, pressing horses as he went, he managed to
steal the beautiful slave, and got such a start before her loss and his
absence were discovered, that he was not overtaken, but escaped with her
out of the kingdom.
"When the Shah heard of the matter, he very naturally was furious----"
"Very naturally, indeed," said the Caliph, with a grim smile.
"Well, very naturally also," continued Abdurrahman, "his Majesty sent for
me, upbraided me for having such a son, and ordering all that I had to be
confiscated, commanded me to leave his kingdom forthwith, and find and
bring back my son and his slave.
"In great grief I retraced my steps mechanically to my house, but a
gholam, bearing the royal edict, had arrived there before me, and my own
slave repulsed me from my own door.
"I set out, therefore, at once on my journey northwards, travelling not
like my son had done, by relays of the swiftest horses that could be
forced into the service, but slowly and wearily on foot. It took me many
weeks to accomplish the distance he had traversed in a few days; but not
to inflict upon you the tedious incidents of my journey, I will only say
that I arrived at length in that region to which I believed my son had
carried the beautiful slave. Not without considerable risk, on account
of the hatred felt by all the people of that infidel nation, against true
believers, I succeeded in reaching the capital, where I soon learnt on
inquiry, that a gholam of the Shah of Persia had arrived recently,
bringing with him a lady of extreme beauty, who was, it appeared, the
daughter of the king of that country.
"The king had received his daughter, and my son also for her sake, with
every demonstration of joy and satisfaction. And the young people,
married, and very happy, were now living in the royal palace.
"I managed soon to let my son know of my arrival, and he came at once to
the khan where I was staying, and welcomed me with much affectionate
delight; all the more because since his departure from Shiraz he had
begun too late to consider the vengeance with which the incensed Shah
might only too probably visit me in consequence of his misdoing.
"He conducted me forthwith to the palace, and introduced me to my
daughter-in-law, the beautiful slave with whom he had eloped; and also to
his father-in-law, the king of that country, who received me very
graciously, and bestowed upon me, in recompense for the loss I had
sustained, a fine house and a thousand purses of gold.
"The country in which we now were was a mountainous one, and very bleak
and cold in the winter; and my son Diraz had not been there six months
before he took so violent a chill that he died after a few days' illness.
"About a month later the princess, my daughter-in-law, gave birth to a
female child. Nothing now was so dear to me as my little granddaughter,
and when, five years afterwards, both my daughter-in-law and the king her
father were carried off by a fever which was very prevalent and fatal in
that country, I determined to return with my grandchild to my native
city, there to spend my remaining years in peace.
"We journeyed very slowly, stopping for months together in many of the
cities on our way. At length we arrived safely in Bagdad, and settled
down in the little house and garden by the river, where I live in peace
and contentment with my granddaughter as my only companion; she is my
treasure and the brightness of my house."
"The young lady," said the Caliph, "must by this time be old enough to be
married: if I find her a husband will you provide her a dower?"
"Sire," said Abdurrahman, "when I die, and I am now old, what little I
have will be hers, but till then her only dower consists of two small
jars of ointment."
"What jars are those?" asked the Caliph; "and where did you get them?"
"The jars," answered Abdurrahman, "were entrusted to me by my
daughter-in-law just before her death.
"'Preserve them carefully,' she said, 'and unopened, for the ointment
they contain is most precious, and of a rare and even magical efficacy.
When my little girl is old enough for marriage offer them for sale, but
take not less than a thousand pieces of gold for the one jar, and not
less than ten thousand pieces for the other. If no one can be found
willing to pay that price for them do not part with them, keep them
rather, and direct that they be buried with you.'
"I have never yet," continued the old man, "offered the jars of ointment
for sale, and truly it seems so improbable that any one will ever be
inclined to pay so preposterous a price for them, that doubtless they
will be interred with me as the princess, my daughter-in-law, requested."
"By Allah, not so!" said the Caliph; "I will buy them myself. And your
granddaughter, who I take it on your word is a very charming young lady,
I give with her dower of eleven thousand pieces of gold to the son of
Giafer."
The Grand Vizier and Abdurrahman bowed and touched their foreheads in
token of entire submission to the will of the Prince of the Faithful.
The Caliph then dismissed them with the injunction to make preparations
for solemnizing the marriage as soon as possible.
The Caliph and the First Jar of Ointment.