Morn saith to Night, "withdraw and let me shine;" * So drain we
draughts that dull all pain and pine:[FN#244]
I doubt, so fine the glass, the wine so clear, * If 'tis the wine in
glass or glass in wine.
The King read my verse and said with a sigh, "Were these gifts[FN#245]
in a man, he would excel all the folk of his time and age!" Then he
called for the chess board, and said, "Say, wilt thou play with me?";
and I signed with my head, "Yes." Then I came forward and ordered the
pieces and played with him two games, both of which I won. He was
speechless with surprise; so I took the pen case and, drawing forth a
reed, wrote on the board these two couplets:—
Two hosts fare fighting thro' the livelong day * Nor is their battling
ever finished,
Until, when darkness girdeth them about, * The twain go sleeping in a
single bed.[FN#246]
The King read these lines with wonder and delight and said to his
Eunuch,[FN#247] "O Mukbil, go to thy mistress, Sitt al-Husn,[FN#248]
and say her, 'Come, speak the King who biddeth thee hither to take thy
solace in seeing this right wondrous ape!"' So the Eunuch went out and
presently returned with the lady who, when she saw me veiled her face
and said, "O my father! hast thou lost all sense of honour? How cometh
it thou art pleased to send for me and show me to strange men?" "O Sitt
al-Husn," said he, "no man is here save this little foot page and the
Eunuch who reared thee and I, thy father. From whom, then, dost thou
veil thy face?" She answered, "This whom thou deemest an ape is a young
man, a clever and polite, a wise and learned and the son of a King; but
he is ensorcelled and the Ifrit Jirjaris, who is of the seed of Iblis,
cast a spell upon him, after putting to death his own wife the daughter
of King Ifitamus lord of the Islands of Abnus." The King marvelled at
his daughter's words and, turning to me, said, "Is this true that she
saith of thee?"; and I signed by a nod of my head the answer, "Yea,
verily;" and wept sore. Then he asked his daughter, "Whence knewest
thou that he is ensorcelled?"; and she answered, "O my dear papa, there
was with me in my childhood an old woman, a wily one and a wise and a
witch to boot, and she taught me the theory of magic and its practice;
and I took notes in writing and therein waxed perfect, and have
committed to memory an hundred and seventy chapters of egromantic
formulas, by the least of which I could transport the stones of thy
city behind the Mountain Kaf and the Circumambient Main,[FN#249] or
make its site an abyss of the sea and its people fishes swimming in the
midst of it." "O my daughter," said her father, "I conjure thee, by my
life, disenchant this young man, that I may make him my Wazir and marry
thee to him, for indeed he is an ingenious youth and a deeply learned."
"With joy and goodly gree," she replied and, hending in hand an iron
knife whereon was inscribed the name of Allah in Hebrew characters, she
described a wide circle—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Fourteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Kalandar
continued his tale thus:—O my lady, the King's daughter hent in hand a
knife whereon were inscribed Hebrew characters and described a wide
circle in the midst of the palace hall, and therein wrote in Cufic
letters mysterious names and talismans; and she uttered words and
muttered charms, some of which we understood and others we understood
not. Presently the world waxed dark before our sight till we thought
that the sky was falling upon our heads, and lo! the Ifrit presented
himself in his own shape and aspect. His hands were like many pronged
pitch forks, his legs like the masts of great ships, and his eyes like
cressets of gleaming fire. We were in terrible fear of him but the
King's daughter cried at him, "No welcome to thee and no greeting, O
dog!" whereupon he changed to the form of a lion and said, "O
traitress, how is it thou hast broken the oath we sware that neither
should contraire other!" "O accursed one," answered she, "how could
there be a compact between me and the like of thee?" Then said he,
"Take what thou has brought on thyself;" and the lion opened his jaws
and rushed upon her; but she was too quick for him; and, plucking a
hair from her head, waved it in the air muttering over it the while;
and the hair straightway became a trenchant sword blade, wherewith she
smote the lion and cut him in twain. Then the two halves flew away in
air and the head changed to a scorpion and the Princess became a huge
serpent and set upon the accursed scorpion, and the two fought, coiling
and uncoiling, a stiff fight for an hour at least. Then the scorpion
changed to a vulture and the serpent became an eagle which set upon the
vulture, and hunted him for an hour's time, till he became a black tom
cat, which miauled and grinned and spat. Thereupon the eagle changed
into a piebald wolf and these two battled in the palace for a long
time, when the cat, seeing himself overcome, changed into a worm and
crept into a huge red pomegranate,[FN#250] which lay beside the jetting
fountain in the midst of the palace hall. Whereupon the pomegranate
swelled to the size of a water melon in air; and, falling upon the
marble pavement of the palace, broke to pieces, and all the grains fell
out and were scattered about till they covered the whole floor. Then
the wolf shook himself and became a snow white cock, which fell to
picking up the grains purposing not to leave one; but by doom of
destiny one seed rolled to the fountain edge and there lay hid. The
cock fell to crowing and clapping his wings and signing to us with his
beak as if to ask, ' Are any grains left?" But we understood not what
he meant, and he cried to us with so loud a cry that we thought the
palace would fall upon us. Then he ran over all the floor till he saw
the grain which had rolled to the fountain edge, and rushed eagerly to
pick it up when behold, it sprang into the midst of the water and
became a fish and dived to the bottom of the basin. Thereupon the cock
changed to a big fish, and plunged in after the other, and the two
disappeared for a while and lo! we heard loud shrieks and cries of pain
which made us tremble. After this the Ifrit rose out of the water, and
he was as a burning flame; casting fire and smoke from his mouth and
eyes and nostrils. And immediately the Princess likewise came forth
from the basin and she was one live coal of flaming lowe; and these
two, she and he, battled for the space of an hour, until their fires
entirely compassed them about and their thick smoke filled the palace.
As for us we panted for breath, being well nigh suffocated, and we
longed to plunge into the water fearing lest we be burnt up and utterly
destroyed; and the King said, There is no Majesty and there is no Might
save in Allah the Glorious, the Great! Verily we are Allah's and unto
Him are we returning! Would Heaven I had not urged my daughter to
attempt the disenchantment of this ape fellow, whereby I have imposed
upon her the terrible task of fighting yon accursed Ifrit against whom
all the Ifrits in the world could not prevail. And would Heaven we had
never seen this ape, Allah never assain nor bless the day of his
coming! We thought to do a good deed by him before the face of
Allah,[FN#251] and to release him from enchantment, and now we have
brought this trouble and travail upon our heart." But I, O my lady, was
tongue tied and powerless to say a word to him. Suddenly, ere we were
ware of aught, the Ifrit yelled out from under the flames and, coming
up to us as we stood on the estrade, blew fire in our faces. The damsel
overtook him and breathed blasts of fire at his face and the sparks
from her and from him rained down upon us, and her sparks did us no
harm, but one of his sparks alighted upon my eye and destroyed it
making me a monocular ape; and another fell on the King's face
scorching the lower half, burning off his beard and mustachios and
causing his under teeth to fall out; while a third alighted on the
Castrato's breast, killing him on the spot. So we despaired of life and
made sure of death when lo! a voice repeated the saying, "Allah is most
Highest! Allah is most Highest! Aidance and victory to all who the
Truth believe; and disappointment and disgrace to all who the religion
of Mohammed, the Moon of Faith, unbelieve." The speaker was the
Princess who had burnt the Ifrit, and he was become a heap of ashes.
Then she came up to us and said, "Reach me a cup of water." They
brought it to her and she spoke over it words we understood not, and
sprinkling me with it cried, "By virtue of the Truth, and by the Most
Great name of Allah, I charge thee return to thy former shape." And
behold, I shook, and became a man as before, save that I had utterly
lost an eye. Then she cried out, "The fire! The fire! O my dear papa an
arrow from the accursed hath wounded me to the death, for I am not used
to fight with the Jann; had he been a man I had slain him in the
beginning. I had no trouble till the time when the pomegranate burst
and the grains scattered, but I overlooked the seed wherein was the
very life of the Jinni. Had I picked it up he had died on the spot, but
as Fate and Fortune decreed, I saw it not; so he came upon me all
unawares and there befel between him and me a sore struggle under the
earth and high in air and in the water; and, as often as I opened on
him a gate,[FN#252] he opened on me another gate and a stronger, till
at last he opened on me the gate of fire, and few are saved upon whom
the door of fire openeth. But Destiny willed that my cunning prevail
over his cunning; and I burned him to death after I vainly exhorted him
to embrace the religion of al-Islam. As for me I am a dead woman; Allah
supply my place to you!" Then she called upon Heaven for help and
ceased not to implore relief from the fire; when lo! a black spark shot
up from her robed feet to her thighs; then it flew to her bosom and
thence to her face. When it reached her face she wept and said, "I
testify that there is no god but the God and that Mahommed is the
Apostle of God!" And we looked at her and saw naught but a heap of
ashes by the side of the heap that had been the Ifrit. We mourned for
her and I wished I had been in her place, so had I not seen her lovely
face who had worked me such weal become ashes; but there is no
gainsaying the will of Allah. When the King saw his daughter's terrible
death, he plucked out what was left of his beard and beat his face and
rent his raiment; and I did as he did and we both wept over her. Then
came in the Chamberlains and Grandees and were amazed to find two heaps
of ashes and the Sultan in a fainting fit; so they stood round him till
he revived and told them what had befallen his daughter from the Ifrit;
whereat their grief was right grievous and the women and the slave
girls shrieked and keened,[FN#253] and they continued their
lamentations for the space of seven days. Moreover the King bade build
over his daughter's ashes a vast vaulted tomb, and burn therein wax
tapers and sepulchral lamps: but as for the Ifrit's ashes they
scattered them on the winds, speeding them to the curse of Allah. Then
the Sultan fell sick of a sickness that well nigh brought him to his
death for a month's space; and, when health returned to him and his
beard grew again and he had been converted by the mercy of Allah to
al-Islam, he sent for me and said, "O youth, Fate had decreed for us
the happiest of lives, safe from all the chances and changes of Time,
till thou camest to us, when troubles fell upon us. Would to Heaven we
had never seen thee and the foul face of thee! For we took pity on thee
and thereby we have lost our all. I have on thy account first lost my
daughter who to me was well worth an hundred men, secondly I have
suffered that which befel me by reason of the fire and the loss of my
teeth, and my Eunuch also was slain. I blame thee not, for it was out
of thy power to prevent this: the doom of Allah was on thee as well as
on us and thanks be to the Almighty for that my daughter delivered
thee, albeit thereby she lost her own life! Go forth now, O my son,
from this my city, and suffice thee what hath befallen us through thee,
even although 'twas decreed for us. Go forth in peace; and if I ever
see thee again I will surely slay thee." And he cried out at me. So I
went forth from his presence, O my lady, weeping bitterly and hardly
believing in my escape and knowing not whither I should wend. And I
recalled all that had befallen me, my meeting the tailor, my love for
the damsel in the palace beneath the earth, and my narrow escape from
the Ifrit, even after he had determined to do me die; and how I had
entered the city as an ape and was now leaving it a man once more. Then
I gave thanks to Allah and said, "My eye and not my life!" and before
leaving the place I entered the bath and shaved my poll and beard and
mustachios and eyebrows; and cast ashes on my head and donned the
coarse black woollen robe of a Kalandar. Then I fared forth, O my lady,
and every day I pondered all the calamities which had betided me, and I
wept and repeated these couplets:—
"I am distraught, yet verily His ruth abides with me, * Tho' round me
gather hosts of ills, whence come I cannot see:
Patient I'll be till Patience self with me impatient wax; * Patient for
ever till the Lord fulfil my destiny:
Patient I'll bide without complaint, a wronged and vanquisht man; *
Patient as sunparcht wight that spans the desert's sandy sea:
Patient I'll be till Aloe's[FN#254] self unwittingly allow * I'm
patient under bitterer things than bitterest aloë:
No bitterer things than aloes or than patience for mankind, * Yet
bitterer than the twain to me were Patience' treachery:
My sere and seamed and seared brow would dragoman my sore * If soul
could search my sprite and there unsecret secrecy:
Were hills to bear the load I bear they'd crumble 'neath the weight, *
'Twould still the roaring wind, 'twould quench the flame-tongue's
flagrancy,
And whoso saith the world is sweet certès a day he'll see * With more
than aloes' bitterness and aloes' pungency."
Then I journeyed through many regions and saw many a city intending for
Baghdad, that I might seek audience, in the House of Peace,[FN#255]
with the Commander of the Faithful and tell him all that had befallen
me. I arrived here this very night and found my brother in Allah, this
first Kalandar, standing about as one perplexed; so I saluted him with
"Peace be upon thee," and entered into discourse with him. Presently up
came our brother, this third Kalandar, and said to us, "Peace be with
you! I am a stranger;" whereto we replied, "And we too be strangers,
who have come hither this blessed night." So we all three walked on
together, none of us knowing the other's history, till Destiny drave us
to this door and we came in to you. Such then is my story and my reason
for shaving my beard and mustachios, and this is what caused the loss
of my eye. Said the house mistress, "Thy tale is indeed a rare; so rub
thy head and wend thy ways;" but he replied, "I will not budge till I
hear my companions' stories." Then came forward the third Kalandar, and
said, "O illustrious lady! my history is not like that of these my
comrades, but more wondrous and far more marvellous. In their case Fate
and Fortune came down on them unawares; but I drew down destiny upon my
own head and brought sorrow on mine own soul, and shaved my own beard
and lost my own eye. Hear then
The Third Kalandar’s Tale.
Know, O my lady, that I also am a King and the son of a King and my
name is Ajíb son of Kazíb. When my father died I succeeded him; and I
ruled and did justice and dealt fairly by all my lieges. I delighted in
sea trips, for my capital stood on the shore, before which the ocean
stretched far and wide; and near hand were many great islands with
sconces and garrisons in the midst of the main. My fleet numbered fifty
merchantmen, and as many yachts for pleasance, and an hundred and fifty
sail ready fitted for holy war with the Unbelievers. It fortuned that I
had a mind to enjoy myself on the islands aforesaid, so I took ship
with my people in ten keel; and, carrying with me a month's victual, I
set out on a twenty days' voyage. But one night a head wind struck us,
and the sea rose against us with huge waves; the billows sorely
buffetted us and a dense darkness settled round us. We gave ourselves
up for lost and I said, "Whoso endangereth his days, e'en an he 'scape
deserveth no praise." Then we prayed to Allah and besought Him; but the
storm blasts ceased not to blow against us nor the surges to strike us
till morning broke when the gale fell, the seas sank to mirrory
stillness and the sun shone upon us kindly clear. Presently we made an
island where we landed and cooked somewhat of food, and ate heartily
and took our rest for a couple of days. Then we set out again and
sailed other twenty days, the seas broadening and the land shrinking.
Presently the current ran counter to us, and we found ourselves in
strange waters, where the Captain had lost his reckoning, and was
wholly bewildered in this sea; so said we to the look out man,[FN#256]
"Get thee to the mast head and keep thine eyes open." He swarmed up the
mast and looked out and cried aloud, "O Rais, I espy to starboard
something dark, very like a fish floating on the face of the sea, and
to larboard there is a loom in the midst of the main, now black and now
bright." When the Captain heard the look out's words he dashed his
turband on the deck and plucked out his beard and beat his face saying,
"Good news indeed! we be all dead men; not one of us can be saved." And
he fell to weeping and all of us wept for his weeping and also for our
lives; and I said, "O Captain, tell us what it is the look out saw." "O
my Prince," answered he, "know that we lost our course on the night of
the storm, which was followed on the morrow by a two days' calm during
which we made no way; and we have gone astray eleven days reckoning
from that night, with ne'er a wind to bring us back to our true course.
Tomorrow by the end of the day we shall come to a mountain of black
stone, hight the Magnet Mountain;[FN#257] for thither the currents
carry us willy-nilly. As soon as we are under its lea, the ship's sides
will open and every nail in plank will fly out and cleave fast to the
mountain; for that Almighty Allah hath gifted the loadstone with a
mysterious virtue and a love for iron, by reason whereof all which is
iron travelleth towards it; and on this mountain is much iron, how much
none knoweth save the Most High, from the many vessels which have been
lost there since the days of yore. The bright spot upon its summit is a
dome of yellow laton from Andalusia, vaulted upon ten columns; and on
its crown is a horseman who rideth a horse of brass and holdeth in hand
a lance of laton; and there hangeth on his bosom a tablet of lead
graven with names and talismans." And he presently added, “And, O King,
none destroyeth folk save the rider on that steed, nor will the
egromancy be dispelled till he fall from his horse.”[FN#258] Then, O my
lady, the Captain wept with exceeding weeping and we all made sure of
death doom and each and every one of us farewelled his friend and
charged him with his last will and testament in case he might be saved.
We slept not that night and in the morning we found ourselves much
nearer the Loadstone Mountain, whither the waters drave us with a
violent send. When the ships were close under its lea they opened and
the nails flew out and all the iron in them sought the Magnet Mountain
and clove to it like a network; so that by the end of the day we were
all struggling in the waves round about the mountain. Some of us were
saved, but more were drowned and even those who had escaped knew not
one another, so stupefied were they by the beating of the billows and
the raving of the winds. As for me, O my lady, Allah (be His name
exalted!) preserved my life that I might suffer whatso He willed to me
of hardship, misfortune and calamity; for I scrambled upon a plank from
one of the ships, and the wind and waters threw it at the feet of the
Mountain. There I found a practicable path leading by steps carven out
of the rock to the summit, and I called on the name of Allah
Almighty"[FN#259]—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
say her permitted say.
When it was the Fifteenth Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the third
Kalandar said to the lady (the rest of the party sitting fast bound and
the slaves standing with swords drawn over their heads):—And after
calling on the name of Almighty Allah and passionately beseeching Him,
I breasted the ascent, clinging to the steps and notches hewn in the
stone, and mounted little by little. And the Lord stilled the wind and
aided me in the ascent, so that I succeeded in reaching the summit.
There I found no resting place save the dome, which I entered, joying
with exceeding joy at my escape; and made the Wuzu-ablution[FN#260] and
prayed a two bow prayer,[FN#261] a thanksgiving to God for my
preservation. Then I fell asleep under the dome, and heard in my dream
a mysterious Voice[FN#262] saying, "O son of Khazib! when thou wakest
from thy sleep dig under thy feet and thou shalt find a bow of brass
and three leaden arrows, inscribed with talismans and characts. Take
the bow and shoot the arrows at the horseman on the dome top and free
mankind from this sore calamity. When thou hast shot him he shall fall
into the sea, and the horse will also drop at thy feet: then bury it in
the place of the bow. This done, the main will swell and rise till it
is level with the mountain head, and there will appear on it a skiff
carrying a man of laton (other than he thou shalt have shot) holding in
his hand a pair of paddles. He will come to thee and do thou embark
with him but beware of saying Bismillah or of otherwise naming Allah
Almighty. He will row thee for a space of ten days, till he bring thee
to certain Islands called the Islands of Safety, and thence thou shalt
easily reach a port and find those who will convey thee to thy native
land; and all this shall be fulfilled to thee so thou call not on the
name of Allah." Then I started up from my sleep in joy and gladness
and, hastening to do the bidding of the mysterious Voice, found the bow
and arrows and shot at the horseman and tumbled him into the main,
whilst the horse dropped at my feet; so I took it and buried it.
Presently the sea surged up and rose till it reached the top of the
mountain; nor had I long to wait ere I saw a skiff in the offing coming
towards me. I gave thanks to Allah; and, when the skiff came up to me,
I saw therein a man of brass with a tablet of lead on his breast
inscribed with talismans and characts; and I embarked without uttering
a word. The boatman rowed on with me through the first day and the
second and the third, in all ten whole days, till I caught sight of the
Islands of Safety; whereat I joyed with exceeding joy and for stress of
gladness exclaimed, “Allah! Allah! In the name of Allah! There is no
god but the God and Allah is Almighty.”[FN#263] Thereupon the skiff
forthwith upset and cast me upon the sea; then it righted and sank deep
into the depths. Now I am a fair swimmer, so I swam the whole day till
nightfall, when my forearms and shoulders were numbed with fatigue and
I felt like to die; so I testified to my faith, expecting naught but
death. The sea was still surging under the violence of the winds, and
presently there came a billow like a hillock; and, bearing me up high
in air, threw me with a long cast on dry land, that His will might be
fulfilled. I crawled up the beach and doffing my raiment wrung it out
to dry and spread it in the sunshine: then I lay me down and slept the
whole night. As soon as it was day, I donned my clothes and rose to
look whither I should walk. Presently I came to a thicket of low trees;
and, making a cast round it, found that the spot whereon I stood was an
islet, a mere holm, girt on all sides by the ocean; whereupon I said to
myself, "Whatso freeth me from one great calamity casteth me into a
greater!" But while I was pondering my case and longing for death
behold, I saw afar off a ship making for the island; so I clomb a tree
and hid myself among the branches. Presently the ship anchored and
landed ten slaves, blackamoors, bearing iron hoes and baskets, who
walked on till they reached the middle of the island. Here they dug
deep into the ground, until they uncovered a plate of metal which they
lifted, thereby opening a trap door. After this they returned to the
ship and thence brought bread and flour, honey and fruits, clarified
butter,[FN#264] leather bottles containing liquors and many household
stuffs; also furniture, table service and mirrors rugs, carpets and in
fact all needed to furnish a dwelling; and they kept going to and fro,
and descending by the trap door, till they had transported into the
dwelling all that was in the ship. After this the slaves again went on
board and brought back with them garments as rich as may be, and in the
midst of them came an old, old man, of whom very little was left, for
Time had dealt hardly and harshly with him, and all that remained of
him was a bone wrapped in a rag of blue stuff through which the winds
whistled west and east. As saith the poet of him:—
Time gars me tremble Ah, how sore the baulk! * While Time in pride of
strength doth ever stalk:
Time was I walked nor ever felt I tired, * Now am I tired albe I never
walk!
And the Shaykh held by the hand a youth cast in beauty's mould, all
elegance and perfect grace; so fair that his comeliness deserved to be
proverbial; for he was as a green bough or the tender young of the roe,
ravishing every heart with his loveliness and subduing every soul with
his coquetry and amorous ways.[FN#265] It was of him the poet spake
when he said:—
Beauty they brought with him to make compare, * But Beauty hung her
head in shame and care:
Quoth' they, "O Beauty, hast thou seen his like?" * And Beauty cried,
"His like? not anywhere!"
They stinted not their going, O my lady, till all went down by the trap
door and did not reappear for an hour, or rather more; at the end of
which time the slaves and the old man came up without the youth and,
replacing the iron plate and carefully closing the door slab as it was
before, they returned to the ship and made sail and were lost to my
sight. When they turned away to depart, I came down from the tree and,
going to the place I had seen them fill up, scraped off and removed the
earth; and in patience possessed my soul till I had cleared the whole
of it away. Then appeared the trap door which was of wood, in shape and
size like a millstone; and when I lifted it up it disclosed a winding
staircase of stone. At this I marvelled and, descending the steps till
I reached the last, found a fair hall, spread with various kinds of
carpets and silk stuffs, wherein was a youth sitting upon a raised
couch and leaning back on a round cushion with a fan in his hand and
nosegays and posies of sweet scented herbs and flowers before
him;[FN#266] but he was alone and not a soul near him in the great
vault. When he saw me he turned pale; but I saluted him courteously and
said, "Set thy mind at ease and calm thy fears; no harm shall come near
thee; I am a man like thyself and the son of a King to boot; whom the
decrees of Destiny have sent to bear thee company and cheer thee in thy
loneliness. But now tell me, what is thy story and what causeth thee to
dwell thus in solitude under the ground?" When he was assured that I
was of his kind and no Jinni, he rejoiced and his fine colour returned;
and, making me draw near to him he said, "O my brother, my story is a
strange story and 'tis this. My father is a merchant-jeweller possessed
of great wealth, who hath white and black slaves travelling and trading
on his account in ships and on camels, and trafficking with the most
distant cities; but he was not blessed with a child, not even one. Now
on a certain night he dreamed a dream that he should be favoured with a
son, who would be short lived; so the morning dawned on my father
bringing him woe and weeping. On the following night my mother
conceived and my father noted down the date of her becoming
pregnant.[FN#267] Her time being fulfilled she bare me; whereat my
father rejoiced and made banquets and called together the neighbours
and fed the Fakirs and the poor, for that he had been blessed with
issue near the end of his days. Then he assembled the astrologers and
astronomers who knew the places of the planets, and the wizards and
wise ones of the time, and men learned in horoscopes and
nativities,[FN#268] and they drew out my birth scheme and said to my
father, "Thy son shall live to fifteen years, but in his fifteenth
there is a sinister aspect; an he safely tide it over he shall attain a
great age. And the cause that threateneth him with death is this. In
the Sea of Peril standeth the Mountain Magnet hight; on whose summit is
a horseman of yellow laton seated on a horse also of brass and bearing
on his breast a tablet of lead. Fifty days after this rider shall fall
from his steed thy son will die and his slayer will be he who shoots
down the horseman, a Prince named Ajib son of King Khazib." My father
grieved with exceeding grief to hear these words; but reared me in
tenderest fashion and educated me excellently well until my fifteenth
year was told. Ten days ago news came to him that the horseman had
fallen into the sea and he who shot him down was named Ajib son of King
Khazib. My father thereupon wept bitter tears at the need of parting
with me and became like one possessed of a Jinni. However, being in
mortal fear for me, he built me this place under the earth; and,
stocking it with all required for the few days still remaining, he
brought me hither in a ship and left me here. Ten are already past and,
when the forty shall have gone by without danger to me, he will come
and take me away; for he hath done all this only in fear of Prince
Ajib. Such, then, is my story and the cause of my loneliness." When I
heard his history I marvelled and said in my mind, "I am the Prince
Ajib who hath done all this; but as Allah is with me I will surely not
slay him!" So said I to him, "O my lord, far from thee be this hurt and
harm and then, please Allah, thou shalt not suffer cark nor care nor
aught disquietude, for I will tarry with thee and serve thee as a
servant, and then wend my ways; and after having borne thee company
during the forty days, I will go with thee to thy home where thou shalt
give me an escort of some of thy Mamelukes with whom I may journey back
to my own city; and the Almighty shall requite thee for me." He was
glad to hear these words, when I rose and lighted a large wax candle
and trimmed the ramps and the three lanterns; and I set on meat and
drink and sweetmeats. We ate and drank and sat talking over various
matters till the greater part of the night was gone; when he lay down
to rest and I covered him up and went to sleep myself. Next morning I
arose and warmed a little water, then lifted him gently so as to awake
him and brought him the warm water wherewith he washed his face[FN#269]
and said to me, "Heaven requite thee for me with every blessing, O
youth! By Allah, if I get quit of this danger and am saved from him
whose name is Ajib bin Khazib, I will make my father reward thee and
send thee home healthy and wealthy; and, if I die, then my blessing be
upon thee." I answered, "May the day never dawn on which evil shall
betide thee; and may Allah make my last day before thy last day!" Then
I set before him somewhat of food and we ate; and I got ready perfumes
for fumigating the hall, wherewith he was pleased. Moreover I made him
a Mankalah-cloth;[FN#270] and we played and ate sweetmeats and we
played again and took our pleasure till nightfall, when I rose and
lighted the lamps, and set before him somewhat to eat, and sat telling
him stories till the hours of darkness were far spent. Then he lay down
to rest and I covered him up and rested also. And thus I continued to
do, O my lady, for days and nights and affection for him took root in
my heart and my sorrow was eased, and I said to myself, "The
astrologers lied[FN#271] when they predicted that he should be slain by
Ajib bin Khazib: by Allah, I will not slay him." I ceased not
ministering to him and conversing and carousing with him and telling
him all manner tales for thirty nine days. On the fortieth
night[FN#272] the youth rejoiced and said, "O my brother, Alhamdo,
lillah!—praise be to Allah—who hath preserved me from death and this is
by thy blessing and the blessing of thy coming to me and I pray God
that He restore thee to thy native land. But now, O my brother, I would
thou warm me some water for the Ghusl ablution and do thou kindly bathe
me and change my clothes." I replied, "With love and gladness;" and I
heated water in plenty and carrying it in to him washed his body all
over the washing of health,[FN#273] with meal of lupins[FN#274] and
rubbed him well and changed his clothes and spread him a high bed
whereon he lay down to rest, being drowsy after bathing. Then said he,
"O my brother, cut me up a water melon, and sweeten it with a little
sugar candy."[FN#275] So I went to the store room and bringing out a
fine water melon I found there, set it on a platter and laid it before
him saying, "O my master hast thou not a knife?" "Here it is," answered
he, "over my head upon the high shelf." So I got up in haste and taking
the knife drew it from its sheath; but my foot slipped in stepping down
and I fell heavily upon the youth holding in my hand the knife which
hastened to fulfil what had been written on the Day that decided the
destinies of man, and buried itself, as if planted, in the youth's
heart. He died on the instant. When I saw that he was slain and knew
that I had slain him, maugre myself, I cried out with an exceeding loud
and bitter cry and beat my face and rent my raiment and said, “Verily
we be Allah's and unto Him we be returning, O Moslems! O folk fain of
Allah! there remained for this youth but one day of the forty dangerous
days which the astrologers and the learned had foretold for him; and
the predestined death of this beautiful one was to be at my hand. Would
Heaven I had not tried to cut the watermelon. What dire misfortune is
this I must bear lief or loath? What a disaster! What an affliction! O
Allah mine, I implore thy pardon and declare to Thee my innocence of
his death. But what God willeth let that come to pass.”[FN#276]—And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted
say.
When it was the Sixteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ajib thus
continued his tale to the lady:—When I was certified that I had slain
him, I arose and ascending the stairs replaced the trapdoor and covered
it with earth as before. Then I looked out seawards and saw the ship
cleaving the waters and making for the island, wherefore I was afeard
and said, "The moment they come and see the youth done to death, they
will know 'twas I who slew him and will slay me without respite." So I
climbed up into a high tree and concealed myself among its leaves; and
hardly had I done so when the ship anchored and the slaves landed with
the ancient man, the youth's father, and made direct for the place and
when they removed the earth they were surprised to see it soft.[FN#277]
Then they raised the trap door and went down and found the youth lying
at full length, clothed in fair new garments, with a face beaming after
the bath, and the knife deep in his heart. At the sight they shrieked
and wept and beat their faces, loudly cursing the murderer; whilst a
swoon came over the Shaykh so that the slaves deemed him dead, unable
to survive his son. At last they wrapped the slain youth in his clothes
and carried him up and laid him on the ground covering him with a
shroud of silk. Whilst they were making for the ship the old man
revived; and, gazing on his son who was stretched out, fell on the
ground and strewed dust over his head and smote his face and plucked
out his beard; and his weeping redoubled as he thought of his murdered
son and he swooned away once more. After awhile a slave went and
fetched a strip of silk whereupon they lay the old man and sat down at
his head. All this took place and I was on the tree above them watching
everything that came to pass; and my heart became hoary before my head
waxed grey, for the hard lot which was mine, and for the distress and
anguish I had undergone, and I fell to reciting:—
"How many a joy by Allah's will hath fled * With flight escaping sight
of wisest head!
How many a sadness shall begin the day, * Yet grow right gladsome ere
the day is sped!
How many a weal trips on the heels of ill, * Causing the mourner's
heart with joy to thrill!"[FN#278]
But the old man, O my lady, ceased not from his swoon till near sunset,
when he came to himself and, looking upon his dead son, he recalled
what had happened, and how what he had dreaded had come to pass; and he
beat his face and head and recited these couplets:—
"Racked is my heart by parting fro' my friends * And two rills ever
fro' my eyelids flow:
With them[FN#279] went forth my hopes, Ah, well away! * What shift
remaineth me to say or do?
Would I had never looked upon their sight, * What shift, fair sirs,
when paths e'er strainer grow?
What charm shall calm my pangs when this wise burn * Longings of love
which in my vitals glow?
Would I had trod with them the road of Death! * Ne'er had befel us
twain this parting blow:
Allah: I pray the Ruthful show me ruth * And mix our lives nor part
them evermo'e!
How blest were we as 'neath one roof we dwelt * Conjoined in joys nor
recking aught of woe;
Till Fortune shot us with the severance shaft; * Ah who shall patient
bear such parting throe?
And dart of Death struck down amid the tribe * The age's pearl that
Morn saw brightest show:
I cried the while his case took speech and said:—* Would Heaven, my
son, Death mote his doom foreslow!
Which be the readiest road wi' thee to meet * My Son! for whom I would
my soul bestow?
If sun I call him no! the sun doth set; * If moon I call him, wane the
moons; Ah no!
O sad mischance o' thee, O doom of days, * Thy place none other love
shall ever know:
Thy sire distracted sees thee, but despairs * By wit or wisdom Fate to
overthrow:
Some evil eye this day hath cast its spell * And foul befal him as it
foul befel!"
Then he sobbed a single sob and his soul fled his flesh. The slaves
shrieked aloud, "Alas, our lord!" and showered dust on their heads and
redoubled their weeping and wailing. Presently they carried their dead
master to the ship side by side with his dead son and, having
transported all the stuff from the dwelling to the vessel, set sail and
disappeared from mine eyes. I descended from the tree and, raising the
trap-door, went down into the underground dwelling where everything
reminded me of the youth; and I looked upon the poor remains of him and
began repeating these verses:—
“Their tracks I see, and pine with pain and pang * And on deserted
hearths I weep and yearn:
And Him I pray who doomed them depart * Some day vouchsafe the boon of
safe return.”[FN#280]
Then, O my lady, I went up again by the trap-door, and every day I used
to wander round about the island and every night I returned to the
underground hall. Thus I lived for a month, till at last, looking at
the western side of the island, I observed that every day the tides
ebbed, leaving shallow water for which the flow did not compensate; and
by the end of the month the sea showed dry land in that direction. At
this I rejoiced making certain of my safety; so I arose and fording
what little was left of the water got me to the mainland, where I fell
in with great heaps of loose sand in which even a camel's hoof would
sink up to the knee.[FN#281] However I emboldened my soul and wading
through the sand behold, a fire shone from afar burning with a blazing
light.[FN#282] So I made for it hoping haply to find succour, and broke
out into these verses:—
"Belike my Fortune may her bridle turn * And Time bring weal although
he's jealous hight;
Forward my hopes, and further all my needs, * And passed ills with
present weals requite."
And when I drew near the fire aforesaid lo! it was a palace with gates
of copper burnished red which, when the rising sun shone thereon,
gleamed and glistened from afar showing what had seemed to me a fire. I
rejoiced in the sight, and sat down over against the gate, but I was
hardly settled in my seat before there met me ten young men clothed in
sumptuous gear and all were blind of the left eye which appeared as
plucked out. They were accompanied by a Shaykh, an old, old man, and
much I marvelled at their appearance, and their all being blind of the
same eye. When they saw me, they saluted me with the Salam and asked me
of my case and my history; whereupon I related to them all what had
befallen me, and what full measure of misfortune was mine. Marvelling
at my tale they took me to the mansion, where I saw ranged round the
hall ten couches each with its blue bedding and coverlet of blue
stuff[FN#283] and amiddlemost stood a smaller couch furnished like them
with blue and nothing else. As we entered each of the youths took his
seat on his own couch and the old man seated himself upon the smaller
one in the middle saying to me, "O youth, sit thee down on the floor
and ask not of our case nor of the loss of our eyes." Presently he rose
up and set before each young man some meat in a charger and drink in a
large mazer, treating me in like manner; and after that they sat
questioning me concerning my adventures and what had betided me: and I
kept telling them my tale till the night was far spent. Then said the
young men, "O our Shaykh, wilt not thou set before us our ordinary? The
time is come." He replied, "With love and gladness," and rose and
entering a closet disappeared, but presently returned bearing on his
head ten trays each covered with a strip of blue stuff. He set a tray
before each youth and, lighting ten wax candles, he stuck one upon each
tray, and drew off the covers and lo! under them was naught but ashes
and powdered charcoal and kettle soot. Then all the young men tucked up
their sleeves to the elbows and fell a weeping and wailing and they
blackened their faces and smeared their clothes and buffetted their
brows and beat their breasts, continually exclaiming, "We were sitting
at our ease but our frowardness brought us unease! " They ceased not to
do this till dawn drew nigh, when the old man rose and heated water for
them; and they washed their faces, and donned other and clean clothes.
Now when I saw this, O my lady, for very wonderment my senses left me
and my wits went wild and heart and head were full of thought, till I
forgot what had betided me and I could not keep silence feeling I fain
must speak out and question them of these strangenesses; so I said to
them, "How come ye to do this after we have been so open hearted and
frolicksome? Thanks be to Allah ye be all sound and sane, yet actions
such as these befit none but mad men or those possessed of an evil
spirit. I conjure you by all that is dearest to you, why stint ye to
tell me your history, and the cause of your losing your eyes and your
blackening your faces with ashes and soot?" Hereupon they turned to me
and said, "O young man, hearken not to thy youthtide's suggestions and
question us no questions." Then they slept and I with them and when
they awoke the old man brought us somewhat of food; and, after we had
eaten and the plates and goblets had been removed, they sat conversing
till night fall when the old man rose and lit the wax candles and lamps
and set meat and drink before us. After we had eaten and drunken we sat
conversing and carousing in companionage till the noon of night, when
they said to the old man, "Bring us our ordinary, for the hour of sleep
is at hand!" So he rose and brought them the trays of soot and ashes;
and they did as they had done on the preceding night, nor more, nor
less. I abode with them after this fashion for the space of a month
during which time they used to blacken their faces with ashes every
night, and to wash and change their raiment when the morn was young;
and I but marvelled the more and my scruples and curiosity increased to
such a point that I had to forego even food and drink. At last, I lost
command of myself, for my heart was aflame with fire unquenchable and
lowe unconcealable and I said, "O young men, will ye not relieve my
trouble and acquaint me with the reason of thus blackening your faces
and the meaning of your words:—We were sitting at our ease but our
frowardness brought us unease?" Quoth they "'Twere better to keep these
things secret." Still I was bewildered by their doings to the point of
abstaining from eating and drinking and, at last wholly losing
patience, quoth I to them, There is no help for it: ye must acquaint me
with what is the reason of these doings." They replied, "We kept our
secret only for thy good: to gratify thee will bring down evil upon
thee and thou wilt become a monocular even as we are." I repeated
"There is no help for it and, if ye will not, let me leave you and
return to mine own people and be at rest from seeing these things, for
the proverb saith:—
Better ye 'bide and I take my leave: * For what eye sees not heart
shall never grieve."
Thereupon they said to me, "Remember, O youth, that should ill befal
thee we will not again harbour thee nor suffer thee to abide amongst
us;" and bringing a ram they slaughtered it and skinned it. Lastly they
gave me a knife saying, "Take this skin and stretch thyself upon it and
we will sew it around thee, presently there shall come to thee a
certain bird, hight Rukh,[FN#284] that will catch thee up in his
pounces and tower high in air and then set thee down on a mountain.
When thou feelest he is no longer flying, rip open the pelt with this
blade and come out of it; the bird will be scared and will fly away and
leave thee free. After this fare for half a day, and the march will
place thee at a palace wondrous fair to behold, towering high in air
and builded of Khalanj[FN#285], lign-aloes and sandal-wood, plated with
red gold, and studded with all manner emeralds and costly gems fit for
seal rings. Enter it and thou shalt win to thy wish for we have all
entered that palace; and such is the cause of our losing our eyes and
of our blackening our faces. Were we now to tell thee our stories it
would take too long a time; for each and every of us lost his left eye
by an adventure of his own." I rejoiced at their words and they did
with me as they said; and the bird Rukh bore me off end set me down on
the mountain. Then I came out of the skin and walked on till I reached
the palace. The door stood open as I entered and found myself in a
spacious and goodly hall, wide exceedingly, even as a horse-course; and
around it were an hundred chambers with doors of sandal and aloes woods
plated with red gold and furnished with silver rings by way of
knockers.[FN#286] At the head or upper end[FN#287] of the hall I saw
forty damsels, sumptuously dressed and ornamented and one and all
bright as moons; none could ever tire of gazing upon them and all so
lovely that the most ascetic devotee on seeing them would become their
slave and obey their will. When they saw me the whole bevy came up to
me and said "Welcome and well come and good cheer[FN#288] to thee, O
our lord! This whole month have we been expecting thee. Praised be
Allah who hath sent us one who is worthy of us, even as we are worthy
of him!" Then they made me sit down upon a high divan and said to me,
"This day thou art our lord and master, and we are thy servants and thy
hand-maids, so order us as thou wilt." And I marvelled at their case.
Presently one of them arose and set meat before me and I ate and they
ate with me; whilst others warmed water and washed my hands and feet
and changed my clothes and others made ready sherbets and gave us to
drink; and all gathered around me being full of joy and gladness at my
coming. Then they sat down and conversed with me till nightfall, when
five of them arose and laid the trays and spread them with flowers and
fragrant herbs and fruits, fresh and dried, and confections in
profusion. At last they brought out a fine wine service with rich old
wine; and we sat down to drink and some sang songs and others played
the lute and psaltery and recorders and other instruments, and the bowl
went merrily round. Hereupon such gladness possessed me that I forgot
the sorrows of the world one and all and said, "This is indeed life; O
sad that 'tis fleeting!" I enjoyed their company till the time came for
rest; and our heads were all warm with wine, when they said, "O our
lord, choose from amongst us her who shall be thy bed-fellow this night
and not lie with thee again till forty days be past." So I chose a girl
fair of face and perfect in shape, with eyes Kohl-edged by nature's
hand;[FN#289] hair long and jet black with slightly parted
teeth[FN#290] and joining brows: 'twas as if she were some limber
graceful branchlet or the slender stalk of sweet basil to amaze and to
bewilder man's fancy, even as the poet said of such an one—
To even her with greeny bough were vain * Fool he who finds her
beauties in the roe:
When hath the roe those lively lovely limbs * Or honey dews those lips
alone bestow?
Those eyne, soul piercing eyne, which slay with love, * Which bind the
victim by their shafts laid low?
My heart to second childhood they beguiled * No wonder: love sick-man
again is child!