Gladsome and gay forget thine every grief * Full often grief the wisest
hearts outwore:
Thought is but folly in the feeble slave * Shun it and so be saved
evermore.
Said the King for sole return, "Knowest thou why I have summoned thee?"
and the Sage replied, "Allah Most Highest alone kenneth hidden things!"
But the King rejoined, "I summoned thee only to take thy life and
utterly to destroy thee." Duban the Wise wondered at this strange
address with exceeding wonder and asked, "O King, and wherefore
wouldest thou slay me, and what ill have I done thee?" and the King
answered, "Men tell me thou art a spy sent hither with intent to slay
me; and lo! I will kill thee ere I be killed by thee;" then he called
to his Sworder, and said, "Strike me off the head of this traitor and
deliver us from his evil practices." Quoth the Sage, "Spare me and
Allah will spare thee; slay me not or Allah shall slay thee." And he
repeated to him these very words, even as I to thee, O Ifrit, and yet
thou wouldst not let me go, being bent upon my death. King Yunan only
rejoined, "I shall not be safe without slaying thee; for, as thou
healedst me by something held in hand, so am I not secure against thy
killing me by something given me to smell or otherwise." Said the
physician, "This then, O King, is thy requital and reward; thou
returnest only evil for good." The King replied, "There is no help for
it; die thou must and without delay." Now when the physician was
certified that the King would slay him without waiting, he wept and
regretted the good he had done to other than the good. As one hath said
on this subject:—
Of wit and wisdom is Maymunah[FN#98] bare * Whose sire in wisdom all
the wits outstrippeth:
Man may not tread on mud or dust or clay * Save by good sense, else
trippeth he and slippeth.
Hereupon the Sworder stepped forward and bound the Sage Duban's eyes
and bared his blade, saying to the King, "By thy leave;" while the
physician wept and cried, "Spare me and Allah will spare thee, and slay
me not or Allah shall slay thee," and began repeating:—
I was kind and 'scaped not, they were cruel and escaped; * And my
kindness only led me to Ruination Hall,
If I live I'll ne'er be kind; if I die, then all be damned * Who follow
me, and curses their kindliness befal.
"Is this," continued Duban, "the return I meet from thee? Thou givest
me, meseems, but crocodile boon." Quoth the King,"What is the tale of
the crocodile?", and quoth the physician, "Impossible for me to tell it
in this my state; Allah upon thee, spare me, as thou hopest Allah shall
spare thee." And he wept with exceeding weeping. Then one of the King's
favourites stood up and said, "O King! grant me the blood of this
physician; we have never seen him sin against thee, or doing aught save
healing thee from a disease which baffled every leach and man of
science." Said the King, "Ye wot not the cause of my putting to death
this physician, and this it is. If I spare him, I doom myself to
certain death; for one who healed me of such a malady by something held
in my hand, surely can slay me by something held to my nose; and I fear
lest he kill me for a price, since haply he is some spy whose sole
purpose in coming hither was to compass my destruction. So there is no
help for it; die he must, and then only shall I be sure of my own
life." Again cried Duban, "Spare me and Allah shall spare thee; and
slay me not or Allah shall slay thee." But it was in vain. Now when the
physician, O Ifrit, knew for certain that the King would kill him, he
said, "O King, if there be no help but I must die, grant me some little
delay that I may go down to my house and release myself from mine
obligations and direct my folk and my neighbours where to bury me and
distribute my books of medicine. Amongst these I have one, the rarest
of rarities, which I would present to thee as an offering: keep it as a
treasure in thy treasury." "And what is in the book?" asked the King
and the Sage answered, "Things beyond compt; and the least of secrets
is that if, directly after thou hast cut off my head, thou open three
leaves and read three lines of the page to thy left hand, my head shall
speak and answer every question thou deignest ask of it." The King
wondered with exceeding wonder and shaking[FN#99] with delight at the
novelty, said, "O physician, dost thou really tell me that when I cut
off thy head it will speak to me?" He replied, "Yes, O King!" Quoth the
King, "This is indeed a strange matter!" and forthwith sent him closely
guarded to his house, and Duban then and there settled all his
obligations. Next day he went up to the King's audience hall, where
Emirs and Wazirs, Chamberlains and Nabobs, Grandees and Lords of Estate
were gathered together, making the presence chamber gay as a garden of
flower beds. And lo! the physician came up and stood before the King,
bearing a worn old volume and a little etui of metal full of powder,
like that used for the eyes.[FN#100] Then he sat down and said, "Give
me a tray." So they brought him one and he poured the powder upon it
and levelled it and lastly spake as follows: "O King, take this book
but do not open it till my head falls; then set it upon this tray, and
bid press it down upon the powder, when forthright the blood will cease
flowing. That is the time to open the book." The King thereupon took
the book and made a sign to the Sworder, who arose and struck off the
physician's head, and placing it on the middle of the tray, pressed it
down upon the powder. The blood stopped flowing, and the Sage Duban
unclosed his eyes and said, "Now open the book, O King!" The King
opened the book, and found the leaves stuck together; so he put his
finger to his mouth and, by moistening it, he easily turned over the
first leaf, and in like way the second, and the third, each leaf
opening with much trouble; and when he had unstuck six leaves he looked
over them and, finding nothing written thereon, said, "O physician,
there is no writing here!" Duban re plied, "Turn over yet more;" and he
turned over three others in the same way. Now the book was poisoned;
and before long the venom penetrated his system, and he fell into
strong convulsions and he cried out, "The poison hath done its work!"
Whereupon the Sage Duban's head began to improvise:—
There be rulers who have ruled with a foul tyrannic sway * But they
soon became as though they had never, never been:
Just, they had won justice: they oppressed and were opprest * By
Fortune, who requited them with ban and bane and teen:
So they faded like the morn, and the tongue of things repeats * "Take
this for that, nor vent upon Fortune's ways thy spleen."
No sooner had the head ceased speaking than the King rolled over dead.
Now I would have thee know, O Ifrit, that if King Yunan had spared the
Sage Duban, Allah would have spared him, but he refused so to do and
decreed to do him dead, wherefore Allah slew him; and thou too, O
Ifrit, if thou hadst spared me, Allah would have spared thee. And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
say: then quoth Dunyazad, "O my sister, how pleasant is thy tale, and
how tasteful; how sweet, and how grateful!" She replied, "And where is
this compared with what I could tell thee this coming night, if I live
and the King spare me?" Said the King in himself, "By Allah, I will not
slay her until I hear the rest of her story, for truly it is wondrous."
They rested that night in mutual embrace until dawn: then the King went
forth to his Darbar; the Wazirs and troops came in and the audience
hall was crowded; so the King gave orders and judged and appointed and
deposed and bade and forbade the rest of that day, when the court broke
up, and King Shahryar entered his palace,
When it was the Sixth Night,
Her sister, Dunyazad, said to her,"Pray finish for us thy story;" and
she answered, "I will if the King give me leave." "Say on," quoth the
King. And she continued:—It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that
when the Fisherman said to the Ifrit, "If thou hadst spared me I would
have spared thee, but nothing would satisfy thee save my death; so now
I will do thee die by jailing thee in this jar and I will hurl thee
into this sea." Then the Marid roared aloud and cried, "Allah upon
thee, O Fisherman, don't! Spare me, and pardon my past doings; and, as
I have been tyrannous, so be thou generous, for it is said among
sayings that go current:—O thou who doest good to him who hath done
thee evil, suffice for the ill doer his ill deeds, and do not deal with
me as did Umamah to 'Atikah."[FN#101] Asked the Fisherman, "And what
was their case?" and the Ifrit answered, "This is not the time for
story telling and I in this prison; but set me free and I will tell
thee the tale." Quoth the Fisherman, "Leave this language: there is no
help but that thou be thrown back into the sea nor is there any way for
thy getting out of it for ever and ever. Vainly I placed myself under
thy protection,[FN#102] and I humbled myself to thee with weeping,
while thou soughtest only to slay me, who had done thee no injury
deserving this at thy hands; nay, so far from injuring thee by any evil
act, I worked thee nought but weal in releasing thee from that jail of
thine. Now I knew thee to be an evil doer when thou diddest to me what
thou didst, and know, that when I have cast thee back into the sea, I
will warn whomsoever may fish thee up of what hath befallen me with
thee, and I will advise him to toss thee back again; so shalt thou
abide here under these waters till the End of Time shall make an end of
thee." But the Ifrit cried aloud, "Set me free; this is a noble
occasion for generosity and I make covenant with thee and vow never to
do thee hurt and harm; nay, I will help thee to what shall put thee out
of want." The Fisherman accepted his promises on both conditions, not
to trouble him as before, but on the contrary to do him service; and,
after making firm the plight and swearing him a solemn oath by Allah
Most Highest he opened the cucurbit. Thereupon the pillar of smoke rose
up till all of it was fully out; then it thickened and once more became
an Ifrit of hideous presence, who forthright administered a kick to the
bottle and sent it flying into the sea. The Fisherman, seeing how the
cucurbit was treated and making sure of his own death, piddled in his
clothes and said to himself, "This promiseth badly;" but he fortified
his heart, and cried, "O Ifrit, Allah hath said[FN#103]:—Perform your
covenant; for the performance of your covenant shall be inquired into
hereafter. Thou hast made a vow to me and hast sworn an oath not to
play me false lest Allah play thee false, for verily he is a jealous
God who respiteth the sinner, but letteth him not escape. I say to thee
as said the Sage Duban to King Yunan, "Spare me so Allah may spare
thee!" The Ifrit burst into laughter and stalked away, saying to the
Fisherman, "Follow me;" and the man paced after him at a safe distance
(for he was not assured of escape) till they had passed round the
suburbs of the city. Thence they struck into the uncultivated grounds,
and crossing them descended into a broad wilderness, and lo! in the
midst of it stood a mountain tarn. The Ifrit waded in to the middle and
again cried, "Follow me;" and when this was done he took his stand in
the centre and bade the man cast his net and catch his fish. The
Fisherman looked into the water and was much astonished to see therein
vari coloured fishes, white and red, blue and yellow; however he cast
his net and, hauling it in, saw that he had netted four fishes, one of
each colour. Thereat he rejoiced greatly and more when the Ifrit said
to him, "Carry these to the Sultan and set them in his presence; then
he will give thee what shall make thee a wealthy man; and now accept my
excuse, for by Allah at this time I wot none other way of benefiting
thee, inasmuch I have lain in this sea eighteen hundred years and have
not seen the face of the world save within this hour. But I would not
have thee fish here save once a day." The Ifrit then gave him Godspeed,
saying, Allah grant we meet again;"[FN#104] and struck the earth with
one foot, whereupon the ground clove asunder and swallowed him up. The
Fisherman, much marvelling at what had happened to him with the Ifrit,
took the fish and made for the city; and as soon as he reached home he
filled an earthen bowl with water and therein threw the fish which
began to struggle and wriggle about. Then he bore off the bowl upon his
head and repairing to the King's palace (even as the Ifrit had bidden
him) laid the fish before the presence; and the King wondered with
exceeding wonder at the sight, for never in his lifetime had' he seen
fishes like these in quality or in conformation. So he said, "Give
those fish to the stranger slave girl who now cooketh for us," meaning
the bond maiden whom the King of Roum had sent to him only three days
before, so that he had not yet made trial of her talents in the
dressing of meat. Thereupon the Wazir carried the fish to the cook and
bade her fry them[FN#105] saying, "O damsel, the King sendeth this say
to thee:—I have not treasured thee, O tear o' me! save for stress time
of me; approve, then, to us this day thy delicate handiwork and thy
savoury cooking; for this dish of fish is a present sent to the Sultan
and evidently a rarity." The Wazir, after he had carefully charged her,
returned to the King, who commanded him to give the Fisherman four
hundred dinars: he gave them accordingly, and the man took them to his
bosom and ran off home stumbling and falling and rising again and
deeming the whole thing to be a dream. However, he bought for his
family all they wanted and lastly he went to his wife in huge joy and
gladness. So far concerning him; but as regards the cookmaid, she took
the fish and cleansed them and set them in the frying pan, basting them
with oil till one side was dressed. Then she turned them over and,
behold, the kitchen wall crave asunder, and therefrom came a young
lady, fair of form, oval of face, perfect in grace, with eyelids which
Kohl lines enchase.[FN#106] Her dress was a silken head kerchief
fringed and tasseled with blue: a large ring hung from either ear; a
pair of bracelets adorned her wrists; rings with bezels of priceless
gems were on her fingers; and she hent in hand a long rod of rattan
cane which she thrust into the frying pan, saying, "O fish! O fish! be
ye constant to your covenant?" When the cookmaiden saw this apparition
she swooned away. The young lady repeated her words a second time and a
third time, and at last the fishes raised their heads from the pan, and
saying in articulate speech "Yes! Yes!" began with one voice to
recite:—
Come back and so will I! Keep faith and so will I! * And if ye fain
forsake, I'll requite till quits we cry!
After this the young lady upset the frying pan and went forth by the
way she came in and the kitchen wall closed upon her. When the cook
maiden recovered from her fainting fit, she saw the four fishes charred
black as charcoal, and crying out, "His staff brake in his first
bout,"[FN#107] she again fell swooning to the ground. Whilst she was in
this case the Wazir came for the fish and looking upon her as
insensible she lay, not knowing Sunday from Thursday, shoved her with
his foot and said, "Bring the fish for the Sultan!" Thereupon
recovering from her fainting fit she wept and informed him of her case
and all that had befallen her. The Wazir marvelled greatly and
exclaiming, "This is none other than a right strange matter!", he sent
after the Fisherman and said to him, "Thou, O Fisherman, must needs
fetch us four fishes like those thou broughtest before." Thereupon the
man repaired to the tarn and cast his net; and when he landed it, lo!
four fishes were therein exactly like the first. These he at once
carried to the Wazir, who went in with them to the cook maiden and
said, "Up with thee and fry these in my presence, that I may see this
business." The damsel arose and cleansed the fish, and set them in the
frying pan over the fire; however they remained there but a little
while ere the wall clave asunder and the young lady appeared, clad as
before and holding in hand the wand which she again thrust into the
frying pan, saying, "O fish! O fish! be ye constant to your olden
covenant?" And behold, the fish lifted their heads, and repeated "Yes!
Yes!" and recited this couplet:
Come back and so will I! Keep faith and so will I! * But if ye fain
forsake, I'll requite till quits we cry!
And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
say.
When it was the Seventh Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
fishes spoke, and the young lady upset the frying pan with her rod, and
went forth by the way she came and the wall closed up, the Wazir cried
out, "This is a thing not to be hidden from the King." So he went and
told him what had happened, where upon quoth the King, "There is no
help for it but that I see this with mine own eyes." Then he sent for
the Fisherman and commanded him to bring four other fish like the first
and to take with him three men as witnesses. The Fisherman at once
brought the fish: and the King, after ordering them to give him four
hundred gold pieces, turned to the Wazir and said, "Up and fry me the
fishes here before me!" The Minister, replying "To hear is to obey,"
bade bring the frying pan, threw therein the cleansed fish and set it
over the fire; when lo! the wall clave asunder, and out burst a black
slave like a huge rock or a remnant of the tribe Ad[FN#108] bearing in
hand a branch of a green tree; and he cried in loud and terrible tones,
"O fish! O fish! be ye all constant to your antique covenant?"
whereupon the fishes lifted their heads from the frying pan and said,
"Yes! Yes ! we be true to our vow;" and they again recited the couplet:
Come back and so will I! Keep faith and so will I! * But if ye fain
forsake, I'll requite till quits we cry!
Then the huge blackamoor approached the frying pan and upset it with
the branch and went forth by the way he came in. When he vanished from
their sight the King inspected the fish; and finding them all charred
black as charcoal, was utterly bewildered and said to the Wazir,
"Verily this is a matter whereanent silence cannot be kept, and as for
the fishes, assuredly some marvellous adventure connects with them." So
he bade bring the Fisherman and asked him, saying "Fie on thee, fellow!
whence came these fishes?" and he answered, "From a tarn between four
heights lying behind this mountain which is in sight of thy city."
Quoth the King, "How many days' march?" Quoth he, "O our lord the
Sultan, a walk of half hour." The King wondered and, straight way
ordering his men to march and horsemen to mount, led off the Fisherman
who went before as guide, privily damning the Ifrit. They fared on till
they had climbed the mountain and descended unto a great desert which
they had never seen during all their lives; and the Sultan and his
merry men marvelled much at the wold set in the midst of four
mountains, and the tarn and its fishes of four colours, red and white,
yellow and blue. The King stood fixed to the spot in wonderment and
asked his troops and all present, "Hath any one among you ever seen
this piece of water before now?" and all made answer, "O King of the
age never did we set eyes upon it during all our days." They also
questioned the oldest inhabitants they met, men well stricken in years,
but they replied, each and every, "A lakelet like this we never saw in
this place." Thereupon quoth the King, "By Allah I will neither return
to my capital nor sit upon the throne of my forbears till I learn the
truth about this tarn and the fish therein." He then ordered his men to
dismount and bivouac all around the mountain; which they did; and
summoning his Wazir, a Minister of much experience, sagacious, of
penetrating wit and well versed in affairs, said to him, "'Tis in my
mind to do a certain thing whereof I will inform thee; my heart telleth
me to fare forth alone this night and root out the mystery of this tarn
and its fishes. Do thou take thy seat at my tent door, and say to the
Emirs and Wazirs, the Nabobs and the Chamberlains, in fine to all who
ask thee:—The Sultan is ill at ease, and he hath ordered me to refuse
all admittance;[FN#109] and be careful thou let none know my design."
And the Wazir could not oppose him. Then the King changed his dress and
ornaments and, slinging his sword over his shoulder, took a path which
led up one of the mountains and marched for the rest of the night till
morning dawned; nor did he cease wayfaring till the heat was too much
for him. After his long walk he rested for a while, and then resumed
his march and fared on through the second night till dawn, when
suddenly there appeared a black point in the far distance. Hereat he
rejoiced and said to himself, "Haply some one here shall acquaint me
with the mystery of the tarn and its fishes." Presently drawing near
the dark object he found it a palace built of swart stone plated with
iron; and, while one leaf of the gate stood wide open, the other was
shut, The King's spirits rose high as he stood before the gate and
rapped a light rap; but hearing no answer he knocked a second knock and
a third; yet there came no sign. Then he knocked his loudest but still
no answer, so he said, "Doubtless 'tis empty." Thereupon he mustered up
resolution and boldly walked through the main gate into the great hall
and there cried out aloud, "Holla, ye people of the palace! I am a
stranger and a wayfarer; have you aught here of victual?" He repeated
his cry a second time and a third but still there came no reply; so
strengthening his heart and making up his mind he stalked through the
vestibule into the very middle of the palace and found no man in it.
Yet it was furnished with silken stuffs gold starred; and the hangings
were let down over the door ways. In the midst was a spacious court off
which set four open saloons each with its raised dais, saloon facing
saloon; a canopy shaded the court and in the centre was a jetting fount
with four figures of lions made of red gold, spouting from their mouths
water clear as pearls and diaphanous gems. Round about the palace birds
were let loose and over it stretched a net of golden wire, hindering
them from flying off; in brief there was everything but human beings.
The King marvelled mightily thereat, yet felt he sad at heart for that
he saw no one to give him account of the waste and its tarn, the
fishes, the mountains and the palace itself. Presently as he sat
between the doors in deep thought behold, there came a voice of lament,
as from a heart grief spent and he heard the voice chanting these
verses:—
I hid what I endured of him[FN#110] and yet it came to light, * And
nightly sleep mine eyelids fled and changed to sleepless night:
Oh world! Oh Fate! withhold thy hand and cease thy hurt and harm * Look
and behold my hapless sprite in colour and affright:
Wilt ne'er show ruth to highborn youth who lost him on the way * Of
Love, and fell from wealth and fame to lowest basest wight.
Jealous of Zephyr's breath was I as on your form he breathed * But
whenas Destiny descends she blindeth human sight[FN#111]
What shall the hapless archer do who when he fronts his foe * And bends
his bow to shoot the shaft shall find his string undight?
When cark and care so heavy bear on youth[FN#112] of generous soul *
How shall he 'scape his lot and where from Fate his place of flight?
Now when the Sultan heard the mournful voice he sprang to his feet;
and, following the sound, found a curtain let down over a chamber door.
He raised it and saw behind it a young man sitting upon a couch about a
cubit above the ground; and he fair to the sight, a well shaped wight,
with eloquence dight; his forehead was flower white, his cheek rosy
bright, and a mole on his cheek breadth like an ambergris mite; even as
the poet doth indite:—
A youth slim waisted from whose locks and brow * The world in blackness
and in light is set.
Throughout Creation's round no fairer show * No rarer sight thine eye
hath ever met:
A nut brown mole sits throned upon a cheek * Of rosiest red beneath an
eye of jet.[FN#113]
The King rejoiced and saluted him, but he remained sitting in his
caftan of silken stuff purfled with Egyptian gold and his crown studded
with gems of sorts; but his face was sad with the traces of sorrow. He
returned the royal salute in most courteous wise adding, "O my lord,
thy dignity demandeth my rising to thee; and my sole excuse is to crave
thy pardon."[FN#114] Quoth the King, "Thou art excused, O youth; so
look upon me as thy guest come hither on an especial object. I would
thou acquaint me with the secrets of this tarn and its fishes and of
this palace and thy loneliness therein and the cause of thy groaning
and wailing." When the young man heard these words he wept with sore
weeping;[FN#115] till his bosom was drenched with tears and began
reciting—
Say him who careless sleeps what while the shaft of Fortune flies * How
many cloth this shifting world lay low and raise to rise?
Although thine eye be sealed in sleep, sleep not th' Almighty's eyes *
And who hath found Time ever fair, or Fate in constant guise?