breast-pearls that bedded in gold-mine lie.
Pure water on silvern bars is her brow, ✿ And her cheeks show
roses with rubies vie:
Meseems in her eyne that the violet's hue ✿ Lies purpling set in
the Ithmid's[196] dye.
When the lady saw Sharrkan, she stood up to him in honour and, taking
his hand, seated him by her side and asked, "O son of King Omar bin
al-Nu'uman, hast thou any cunning in the game of chess?" "Yes," he
answered, "but do not thou with me as said the poet:—
I speak and longing love upties me and unties me; ✿ Till with
her honey-dew of inner lip she plies me:
I brought the chess-board and my liefest lover plays me ✿ With
white and black,[197] but black-cum-white ne'er satisfies me:
'Twas as if King for Castle I were fain to place me ✿ Till wilful
loss of game atwixt two queens surprise me:
And if I seek to read intent in eyes that eye me ✿ Oh man! that
glance askance with hint of wish defies me."
Then she brought the chess-board and played with him; but Sharrkan,
instead of looking at her moves, kept gazing at her fair mouth, and
putting knight in place of elephant and elephant[198] in stead of
knight. She laughed and said to him, "If thy play be after this fashion,
thou knowest naught of the game." "This is only our first," replied he,
"judge not by this bout." When she beat him he replaced the pieces in
position and played again with her; but she beat him a second time, a
third, a fourth and a fifth. So she turned to him and said, "Thou art
beaten in everything;" and he replied, "O my lady, how should one
playing with the like of thee avoid being beaten?" Then she bade bring
food, and they ate and washed their hands; after which the wine was set
before them and they drank. Presently, she took the dulcimer, for her
hand was cunning in smiting it, and she began repeating to an
accompaniment these couplets:—
Twixt the close-tied and open-wide no medium Fortune knoweth; ✿
Now ebb and flow then flow and ebb this wise her likeness showeth:
Then drink her wine the syne she's thine and smiling thou dost
find her; ✿ Anon she'll fall and fare away when all thy good
forth goeth.
They ceased not to carouse till nightfall and this day was pleasanter
even than the first. When darkness set in, the lady betook her to her
dormitory, leaving him alone with the handmaids; so he threw himself on
the ground and slept till dawn, when the damsels came to him with
tambourines and other instruments according to custom. Seeing them he
roused him hastily and sat up; and they carried him to their mistress,
who came to meet him and, taking him by the hand, seated him by her
side. Then she asked him how he had passed his night, whereat he prayed
that her life be prolonged; and she took the lute and sang to it these
verses which she improvised:—
Ne'er incline thee to part ✿ Which embitters the heart;
E'en the sun when he sets ✿ Shall in pallor depart.
While they were solacing themselves after this fashion, behold, there
arose a great and sudden clamour, and a confused crowd of knights and
men rushed in, holding drawn swords that glittered and gleamed in their
hands, and cried aloud in the Grecian tongue, "Thou hast fallen into our
hands, O Sharrkan, so make thee sure of death!" When he heard this, he
said to himself, "By Allah, she hath entrapped me and held me in play,
till her men should come. These are the Knights with whom she threatened
me; but 'tis I who have thrown myself into this strait." Then he turned
towards the young lady to reproach her, but saw that she had changed
colour and her face was pale; and she sprang to her feet and asked the
crowd, "Who are ye?" "O most gracious Princess and peerless
union-pearl," answered the leading Knight, "dost thou weet who is yon
man by thy side?" "Not I," she replied, "who may he be?" Quoth the
Patrician, "This is of towns the highwayman! This is he who rideth in
the horseman's van! This is Sharrkan, son of King Omar bin al-Nu'uman!
This is he that forceth fortalice and penetrateth every impregnable
place! The news of him reached King Hardub, thy father, by report of the
ancient dame Zat al-Dawahi; and thy sire, our sovereign, hath made sure
that thou hast rendered good service to the army of the Greeks by taking
captive this ominous lion." When she heard this, she looked at the
Knight and asked him, "What be thy name?" and he answered, "I am
Masurah, son of thy slave Mausúrah bin Káshardah, Knight of Knights."
"And how?" quoth she, "durst thou enter my presence without leave?"
Quoth he, "O my lady, when I came to the gate, none forbade me, neither
chamberlain nor porter, but all the doorkeepers rose and forewent us as
of wont; although, when others come, they leave them standing at the
gate while they ask permission to admit them. But this is not a time for
long talking, when the King is expecting our return with this Prince,
the scorpion-sting[199] of the Islamitic host, that he may kill him and
drive back his men whither they came, without the bane of battling with
them." "These words be ill words," rejoined the Princess, "and Dame Zat
al-Dawahi lied, avouching an idle thing and a vain, whereof she weeteth
not the truth; for by the virtue of the Messiah, this man who is with me
is not Sharrkan, nor is he a captive, but a stranger who came to us
seeking our hospitality, and I made him my guest. So even were we
assured that this be Sharrkan and were it proved to us that it is he
beyond a doubt, I say it would ill befit mine honour that I should
deliver into your hands one who hath entered under my protection. So
make me not a traitor to my guest and a disgrace among men; but return
to the King, my father, and kiss the ground before him, and inform him
that the case is contrariwise to the report of the Lady Zat al-Dawahi."
"O Abrizah," replied Masurah, the Knight, "I cannot return to the King's
majesty without his debtor and enemy." Quoth she (and indeed she had
waxed very wroth), "Out on thee! Return to him with my answer, and no
blame shall befal thee!" Quoth Masurah, "I will not return without him."
Thereupon her colour changed and she exclaimed, "Exceed not in talk and
vain words; for verily this man had not come in to us, were he not
assured that he could of himself and single-handed make head against an
hundred riders; and if I said to him:—Thou art Sharrkan, son of King
Omar bin al-Nu'uman, he would answer, Yes. But 'tis not of your
competence to let or hinder him; for if you so do, he will not turn back
from you till he hath slain all that are in this place. Behold, here he
is by my side, and I will bring him before you sword and targe in hand."
"Albeit I were safe from thy wrath," answered Masurah the Knight, "I am
not safe from that of thy father, and when I see him, I shall sign to
the Knights to take him captive, and we will carry him to the King bound
and in abject sort." When she heard this, she said, "The matter shall
not pass thus, for 'twould be blazoning mere folly. This man is but one
and ye are an hundred Knights: so if you would attack him come out
against him, one after one, that it may appear to the King which is the
valiant amongst you."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Fiftieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Princess Abrizah
said to the Knight, "This man is but one, and ye are an hundred: so if
ye would attack him, come out against him, one after one, that it may
appear to the King which is the valiant." Quoth Masurah, the Knight, "By
the truth of the Messiah, thou sayest sooth, and none but I shall sally
out against him first." Quoth she, "Wait till I go to him and acquaint
him with the case and hear what answer he will make. If he consent, 'tis
well; but if he refuse, ye shall on no wise come to him, for I and my
handmaids and whosoever is in the convent will be his ransom." So she
went to Sharrkan and told him the news, whereat he smiled and knew that
she had not informed any of the Emirs; but that tidings of him had been
bruited and blazed abroad, till the report reached the King, against her
wish and intent. So he again began reproaching himself and said, "How
came I to adventure and play with my life by coming to the country of
the Greeks?" But hearing the young lady's proposal he said to her,
"Indeed their onset, one after one, would be overburdensome to them.
Will they not come out against me, ten by ten?" "That would be
villeiny," said she; "Let one have at one." When he heard this, he
sprang to his feet and made for them with his sword and battle-gear; and
Masurah, the Knight, also sprang up and bore down upon him. Sharrkan met
him like a lion and delivered a shoulder cut[200] which clove him to the
middle, and the blade came out gleaming and glittering from his back and
bowels. When the lady beheld that swashing blow, Sharrkan's might was
magnified in her sight and she knew that when she overthrew him in the
wrestle it was not by her strength but by her beauty and loveliness. So
she turned to the Knights and said, "Take wreak for your chief!"
Thereupon out came the slain man's brother, a fierce and furious Knight,
and rushed upon Sharrkan, who delayed not, but smote him also with the
shoulder-cut and the sword came out glittering from his vitals. Then
cried the Princess, "O ye servants of the Messiah, avenge your comrade!"
So they ceased not charging down upon him, one after one; and Sharrkan
also ceased not playing upon them with the blade, till he had slain
fifty knights, the lady looking on the while. And Allah cast a panic
into the hearts of the survivors, so that they held back and dared not
meet him in the duello, but fell upon him in a body; and he laid on load
with heart firmer than a rock, and smote them and trod them down like
straw under the threshing-sled,[201] till he had driven sense and soul
out of them. Then the Princess called aloud to her damsels, saying, "Who
is left in the convent?"; and they replied, "None but the gate-keepers;"
whereupon she went up to Sharrkan and took him to her bosom, he doing
the same, and they returned to the palace, after he had made an end of
the melée. Now there remained a few of the Knights hiding from him in
the cells of the monastery, and when the Princess saw this she rose from
Sharrkan's side and left him for a while, but presently came back clad
in closely-meshed coat of ring-mail and holding in her hand a fine
Indian scymitar. And she said, "Now by the truth of the Messiah, I will
not be a niggard of myself for my guest; nor will I abandon him though
for this I abide a reproach and a byword in the land of the Greeks."
Then she took reckoning of the dead and found that he had slain
fourscore of the Knights, and other twenty had taken to flight.[202]
When she saw what work he had made with them she said to him, "Allah
bless thee, O Sharrkan! The Cavaliers may well glory in the like of
thee." Then he rose and wiping his blade clean of the blood of the slain
began reciting these couplets:—
How oft in the mellay I've cleft the array, ✿ And given their
bravest to lions a prey:
Ask of me and of them when I proved me prow ✿ O'er creation, on days
of the foray and fray:
When I left in the onslaught their lions to lie ✿ On the sands of
the lowlands[203] in fieriest day.
When he ended his verse, the Princess came up to him with smiles and
kissed his hand; then she doffed her hauberk and he said to her, "O lady
mine, wherefore didst thou don that coat of mail and bare thy brand?"
"To guard thee against these caitiffs,"[204] she replied. Then she
summoned the gate-keepers and asked them, "How came ye to admit the
King's Knights into my dwelling without leave of me?"; and they
answered, "O Princess, it is not our custom to ask leave of thee for the
King's messengers, and especially for the chief of his Knights." Quoth
she, "I think ye were minded only to disgrace me and murder my guest;"
and bade Sharrkan smite their necks. He did so and she cried to the rest
of her servants, "Of a truth, they deserved even more than that!" Then
turning to Sharrkan, she said to him, "Now that there hath become
manifest to thee what was concealed, thou shalt be made acquainted with
my history. Know, then, that I am the daughter of King Hardub of Roum;
my name is Abrizah and the ancient dame, yclept Zat al-Dawahi, is my
grandmother by the sword side. She it certainly is who told my father of
thee, and as surely she will compass a sleight to slay me, more by token
as thou hast slain my father's chivalry and it is noised abroad that I
have separated myself from the Nazarenes and have become no better than
I should be with the Moslems. Wherefore it were wiser that I leave this
dwelling while Zat al-Dawahi is on my track; but I require of thee the
like kindness and courtesy I have shown thee, for enmity will presently
befal between me and my father on thine account. So do not thou neglect
to do aught that I shall say to thee, remembering all this betided me
not save by reason of thee." Hearing her words, Sharrkan joyed greatly;
his breast broadened and his wits flew from him for delight, and he
said, "By Allah, none shall come at thee, while life is in my bosom! But
hast thou patience to bear parting from thy parents and thy people?"
"Even so," she answered; and Sharrkan swore to her and the two plighted
their troth. Then said she, "Now is my heart at ease; but there
remaineth one other condition for thee." "What is it?" asked he and she
answered, "It is that thou return with thy host to thine own country."
Quoth he, "O lady mine, my father, King Omar bin al-Nu'uman, sent me to
wage war upon thy sire, on account of the treasure he plundered from the
King of Constantinople, and amongst the rest three great jewels, noted
givers of good fortune." Quoth she, "Cheer thy heart and clear thine
eyes: I will tell thee the whole of the tale and the cause of our feud
with the King of Constantinople. Know that we have a yearly festival,
hight the Convent-Feast, whereat Kings from all quarters and the noblest
women are wont to congregate; thither also come merchants and traders
with their wives and families, and the visitors abide there seven days.
I was wont to be one of them; but, when there befel enmity between us,
my father forbade me to be present at the festival for the space of
seven years. One year, it chanced that amongst the daughters of the
great who resorted to the patron, as was their custom, came a daughter
of the King of Constantinople, a beautiful girl called Sophia. They
tarried at the monastery six days and on the seventh the folk went their
ways;[205] but Sophia said, I will not return to Constantinople save by
water. So they equipped for her a ship in which she embarked with her
suite; and making sail they put out to sea; but as they were voyaging
behold, a contrary wind caught them and drove the vessel from her course
till, as Fate and Fortune would have it, she fell in with a Nazarene
craft from the Camphor Island[206] carrying a crew of five hundred armed
Franks, who had been cruising about a long time. When they sighted the
sails of the ship, wherein Sophia and her women were, they gave chase in
all haste and in less than an hour they came up with her, when they laid
the grappling-irons aboard her and captured her. Then taking her in tow
they made all sail for their own island and were but a little distant
from it when the wind veered round and, splitting their sails, drove
them on to a shoal which lies off our coast. Thereupon we sallied forth
and, looking on them as spoil driven to us by Fate,[207] boarded and
took them; and, slaying the men, made prize of the wreck, wherein we
found the treasures and rarities in question and forty maidens, amongst
whom was the King's daughter, Sophia. After the capture we carried the
Princess and her women to my father, not knowing her to be a daughter of
King Afridun of Constantinople; and he chose out for himself ten
including her; and divided the rest among his dependants. Presently he
set apart five damsels, amongst whom was the King's daughter, and sent
them to thy father, King Omar bin al-Nu'uman, together with other gifts,
such as broadcloth[208] and woollen stuffs and Grecian silks. Thy father
accepted them and chose out from amongst the five girls Sophia, daughter
of King Afridun; nor did we hear more of her till the beginning of this
year, when her father wrote to my father in words unfitting for me to
repeat, rebuking him with menaces and saying to him:—Two years ago, you
plundered a ship of ours which had been seized by a band of Frankish
pirates in which was my daughter Sophia, attended by her maidens
numbering some threescore. Yet ye informed me not thereof by messenger
or otherwise; nor could I make the matter public, lest reproach befal me
amongst the Kings, by reason of my daughter's honour. So I concealed my
case till this year, when I wrote to certain Frankish corsairs and
sought news of my daughter from the Kings of the Isles. They replied:—By
Allah we carried her not forth of thy realm; but we have heard that King
Hardub rescued her from certain pirates. And they told me the whole
tale. Then he added in the writing which he writ to my father:—Except
you wish to be at feud with me and design to disgrace me and dishonour
my daughter, you will, the instant my letter reacheth you, send my
daughter back to me. But if you slight my letter and disobey my
commandment, I will assuredly make you full return for your foul dealing
and the baseness of your practices.[209] When my father read this letter
and understood the contents,[210] it vexed him and he regretted not
having known that Sophia, King Afridun's daughter, was among the
captured damsels, that he might have sent her back to her sire; and he
was perplexed about the case because, after so long a time, he could not
send to King Omar bin al-Nu'uman and demand her back from him,
especially as he had lately heard that Heaven had granted him boon of
babe by this Sophia. So when we pondered that truth, we knew that this
letter was none other than a grievous calamity; and my father found
nothing for it but to write an answer to King Afridun, making his
excuses and swearing to him by strong oaths that he knew not his
daughter to be among the bevy of damsels in the ship and setting forth
how he had sent her to King Omar bin al-Nu'uman, who had gotten the
blessing of issue by her. When my father's reply reached King Afridun he
rose up and sat down,[211] and roared and foamed at the mouth
crying:—What! shall he take captive my daughter and even her with
slave-girls and pass her on from hand to hand sending her for a gift to
Kings, and they lie with her without marriage-contract? By the Messiah
and the true Faith, said he, I will not desist till I have taken my
blood-vengeance for this and have wiped out my shame; and indeed I will
do a deed which the chroniclers shall chronicle after me! So he bided
his time till he devised a device and laid notable toils and snares,
when he sent an embassy to thy father, King Omar, to tell him that which
thou hast heard: accordingly thy father equipped thee and an army with
thee and sent thee to King Afridun, whose object is to seize thee and
thine army to boot. As for the three jewels whereof he told thy father
when asking his aid, there was not one soothfast word in that matter,
for they were with Sophia, his daughter; and my father took them from
her, when he got possession of her and of her maidens, and gave them to
me in free gift, and they are now with me. So go thou to thy host and
turn them back ere they be led deep into, and shut in by, the land of
the Franks and the country of the Greeks; for as soon as you have come
far enough into their interior, they will stop the roads upon you and
there will be no escape for you till the Day of retribution and
retaliation. I know that thy troops are still halting where thou leftest
them, because thou didst order a three days' rest; withal they have
missed thee all this time and they wot not what to do." When Sharrkan
heard her words, he was absent awhile in thought; then he kissed
Princess Abrizah's hand and said, "Praise be to Allah who hath bestowed
thee on me and appointed thee to be the cause of my salvation and the
salvation of whoso is with me! But 'tis grievous to me to part from thee
and I know not what will become of thee after my departure." "Go now to
thine army," she replied, "and turn them back, while ye are yet near
your own country. If the envoys be still with them, lay hands on them
and keep them, that the case may be made manifest to you; and, after
three days, I will be with you all and we will enter Baghdad together."
As he turned to depart she said, "Forget not the compact which is
between me and thee;" then she rose to bid[212] him farewell and embrace
him and quench the fire of desire, so she took leave of him and,
throwing her arms round his neck, wept with exceeding weeping, and
repeated these verses:—
I bade adieu, my right hand wiped my tears away, ✿ The while my
left hand held her in a close embrace:
"Fearest thou naught," quoth she, "of shame?" I answered "Nay, ✿
The lover's parting day is lover's worst disgrace."