a livelihood, made me agree to this proposal, notwithstanding the
meanness and hardships that attended it. The day following the
tailor brought me a rope, a hatchet, and a short coat, and
recommended me to some poor people who gained their bread after
the same manner, that they might take me into their company. They
conducted me to the wood, and the first day I brought in as much
upon my head as procured me half a piece of gold, of the money of
that country; for though the wood was not far distant from the
town, yet it was very scarce, by reason that few would be at the
trouble of fetching it for themselves. I gained a good sum of
money in a short time, and repaid my tailor what he had advanced
to me.
I continued this way of living for a whole year. One day, having
by chance penetrated farther into the wood than usual, I happened
to light on a pleasant spot, where I began to cut; and in pulling
up the root of a tree, I espied an iron ring, fastened to a trap
door of the same metal. I took away the earth that covered it,
and having lifted it up, discovered a flight of stairs, which I
descended with my axe in my hand.
When I had reached the bottom, I found myself in a palace, and
felt great consternation, on account of a great light which
appeared as clear in it as if it had been above ground in the
open air. I went forward along a gallery, supported by pillars of
jasper, the base and capitals of messy gold: but seeing a lady of
a noble and graceful air, extremely beautiful, coming towards me,
my eyes were taken off from every other objets.
Being desirous to spare the lady the trouble of coming to me, I
hastened to meet her; and as I was saluting her with a low
obeisance, she asked me, "What are you, a man or a genie?" "A
man, madam," said I; "I have no correspondence with genies." "By
what adventure," said she, fetching a deep sigh, "are you come
hither? I have lived here twenty-five years, and you are the
first man I have beheld in that time."
Her great beauty, which had already smitten me, and the sweetness
and civility wherewith she received me, emboldened me to say,
"Madam, before I have the honour to satisfy your curiosity, give
me leave to tell you, that I am infinitely gratified with this
unexpected meeting, which offers me an occasion of consolation in
the midst of my affliction; and perhaps it may give me an
opportunity of making you also more happy than you are." I
related to her by what strange accident she beheld me, the son of
a sultan, in such a condition as I appeared in her presence; and
how fortune had directed that I should discover the entrance into
that magnificent prison where I had found her, according to
appearance, in an unpleasant situation.
"Alas! prince," said she, sighing once more, "you have just cause
to believe this rich and pompous prison cannot be otherwise than
a most wearisome abode: the most charming place in the world
being no way delightful when we are detained there contrary to
our will. It is not possible but you have heard of the sultan of
the isle of Ebene, so called from that precious wood which it
produces in abundance; I am the princess his daughter.
"The sultan, my father, had chosen for me a husband, a prince who
was my cousin; but on my wedding-night, in the midst of the
rejoicings of the court and capital, before I was conducted to my
husband, a genie took me away. I fainted with alarm, and when I
recovered, found myself in this place. I was long inconsolable,
but time and necessity have accustomed me to see and receive the
genie. Twenty-five years I have continued in this place, where, I
must confess, I have all that I can wish for necessary to life,
and also every thing that can satisfy a princess fond of dress
and splendour.
"Every ten days," continued the princess, "the genie comes
hither, and remains with me one night, which he never exceeds;
and the excuse he makes for it is, that he is married to another
wife, who would grow jealous if she should know his infidelity.
Meanwhile, if I have occasion for him by day or night, as soon as
I touch a talisman, which is at the entrance into my chamber, the
genie appears. It is now the fourth day since he was here, and I
do not expect him before the end of six more; so, if you please,
you may stay five days, and I will endeavour to entertain you
according to your quality and merit." I thought myself too
fortunate, to have obtained so great a favour without asking, to
refuse so obliging an offer. The princess made me go into a bath,
the most commodious, and the most sumptuous imaginable; and when
I came forth, instead of my own clothes I found another very
costly suit, which I did not esteem so much for its richness, as
because it made me appear worthy to be in her company. We sat
down on a sofa covered with rich tapestry, with cushions of the
rarest Indian brocade; and some time after she covered a table
with several dishes of delicate meats. We ate, and passed the
remaining part of the day with much satisfaction, as also the
evening, together.
The next day, as she contrived every means to please me, she
brought in, at dinner, a bottle of old wine, the most excellent
that ever was tasted, and out of complaisance drank some part of
it with me. When my head grew warm with the agreeable liquor,
"Fair princess," said I, "you have been too long thus buried
alive; follow me, enjoy the real day, of which you have been
deprived so many years, and abandon this artificial though
brilliant glare." "Prince," replied she, with a smile, "leave
this discourse; if you out of ten days will grant me nine, and
resign the last to the genie, the fairest day would be nothing in
my esteem." "Princess," said I, "it is the fear of the genie that
makes you speak thus; for my part, I value him so little, that I
will break in pieces his talisman, with the conjuration that is
written about it. Let him come, I will expect him; and how brave
or redoubtable soever he be, I will make him feel the weight of
my arm: I swear solemnly that I will extirpate all the genies in
the world, and him first." The princess, who knew the
consequence, conjured me not to touch the talisman. "For that
would be the means," said she, "of ruining both you and me; I
know what belongs to genies better than you." The fumes of the
wine did not suffer me to hearken to her reasons; but I gave the
talisman a kick with my foot, and broke it in several pieces.
The talisman was no sooner broken than the palace began to shake,
and seemed ready to fall, with a hideous noise like thunder,
accompanied with flashes of lightning, and alternate darkness.
This terrible noise in a moment dispelled the fumes of my wine,
and made me sensible, but too late, of the folly I had committed.
"Princess," cried I, "what means all this?" She answered, without
any concern for her own misfortune, "Alas! you are undone, if you
do not fly immediately."
I followed her advice, but my fears were so great, that I forgot
my hatchet and cords. I had scarcely reached the stairs by which
I had descended, when the enchanted palace opened at once, and
made a passage for the genie: he asked the princess in great
anger, "What has happened to you, and why did you call me?" "A
violent spasm," said the princess, "made me fetch this bottle
which you see here, out of which I drank twice or thrice, and by
mischance made a false step, and fell upon the talisman, which is
broken, and that is all."
At this answer, the furious genie told her, "You are a false
woman, and speak not the truth; how came that axe and those cords
there?" "I never saw them till this moment," said the princess.
"Your coming in such an impetuous manner has, it may be, forced
them up in some place as you came along, and so brought them
hither without your knowing it."
The genie made no other answer but what was accompanied with
reproaches and blows, of which I heard the noise. I could not
endure to hear the pitiful cries of the princess so cruelly
abused. I had already taken off the suit she had presented to me,
and put on my own, which I had laid on the stairs the day before,
when I came out of the bagnio: I made haste upstairs, the more
distracted with sorrow and compassion, as I had been the cause of
so great a misfortune; and by sacrificing the fairest princess on
earth to the barbarity of a merciless genie, I was becoming the
most criminal and ungrateful of mankind. "It is true," said I,
"she has been a prisoner these twenty-five years; but, liberty
excepted she wanted nothing that could make her happy. My folly
has put an end to her happiness, and brought upon her the cruelty
of an unmerciful devil." I let down the trap-door, covered it
again with earth, and returned to the city with a burden of wood,
which I bound up without knowing what I did, so great was my
trouble and sorrow.
My landlord, the tailor, was very much rejoiced to see me: "Your
absence," said he, "has disquieted me much, as you had entrusted
me with the secret of your birth, and I knew not what to think; I
was afraid somebody had discovered you; God be praised for your
return." I thanked him for his zeal and affection, but not a word
durst I say of what had passed, nor of the reason why I came back
without my hatchet and cords.
I retired to my chamber, where I reproached myself a thousand
times for my excessive imprudence: "Nothing," said I, "could have
paralleled the princess's good fortune and mine, had I forborne
to break the talisman."
While I was thus giving myself over to melancholy thoughts, the
tailor came in and said, "An old man, whom I do not know, brings
your hatchet and cords, which he found in his way as he tells me,
and says he understood from your comrades that you lodge here;
come out and speak to him, for he will deliver them to none but
yourself."
At these words I changed colour, and fell a trembling. While the
tailor was asking me the reason, my chamber-door opened, and the
old man, having no patience to stay, appeared to us with my
hatchet and cords. This was the genie, the ravisher of the fair
princess of the isle of Ebene, who had thus disguised himself,
after he had treated her with the utmost barbarity. "I am a
genie," said he, speaking to me, "son of the daughter of Eblis,
prince of genies: is not this your hatchet, and are not these
your cords?"
After the genie had put the question to me, he gave me no time to
answer, nor was it in my power, so much had his terrible aspect
disordered me. He grasped me by the middle, dragged me out of the
chamber, and mounting into the air, carried me up to the skies
with such swiftness, that I was not able to take notice of the
way he conveyed me. He descended again in like manner to the
earth, which on a sudden he caused to open with a stroke of his
foot, and sunk down at once, when I found myself in the enchanted
palace, before the fair princess of the isle of Ebene. But, alas!
what a spectacle was there! I saw what pierced me to the heart;
this poor princess was quite naked, weltering in her blood, and
laid upon the ground, more like one dead than alive, with her
cheeks bathed in tears.
"Perfidious wretch!" said the genie to her, pointing at me, "is
not this your gallant?" She cast her languishing eyes upon me,
and answered mournfully, "I do not know him, I never saw him till
this moment." "What!" said the genie, "he is the cause of thy
being in the condition thou art justly in; and yet darest thou
say thou cost not know him?" "If I do not know him," said the
princess, "would you have me lie on purpose to ruin him?" "Oh
then," said the genie, pulling out a cimeter and presenting it to
the princess, "if you never saw him before, take this, and cut
off his head." "Alas," replied the princess, "how is it possible
that I should execute such an act? My strength is so far spent
that I cannot lift up my arm; and if I could, how should I have
the heart to take away the life of an innocent man, and one whom
I do not know?" "This refusal," said the genie to the princess,
"sufficiently informs me of your crime." Upon which, turning to
me, "And thou," said he, "dost thou not know her?"
I should have been the most ungrateful wretch, and the most
perfidious of all mankind, if I had not strewn myself as faithful
to the princess as she had been to me, who had been the cause of
her misfortunes. I therefore answered the genie, "How should I
know her, when I never saw her till now?" "If it be so," said he,
"take the cimeter and cut off her head: on this condition I will
set thee at liberty, for then I shall be convinced that thou hast
never seen her till this moment, as thou gayest." "With all my
heart," replied I, and took the cimeter in my hand.
Do not think, madam, that I drew near to the fair princess of the
isle of Ebene to be the executioner of the genie's barbarity. I
did it only to demonstrate by my behaviour, as much as possible,
that as she had strewn her resolution to sacrifice her life for
my sake, I would not refuse to sacrifice mine for hers. The
princess, notwithstanding her pain and suffering, understood my
meaning; which she signified by an obliging look, and made me
understand her willingness to die for me; and that she was
satisfied to see how ready I was also to die for her. Upon this I
stepped back, and threw the cimeter on the ground. "I should for
ever," said I to the genie, "be hateful to all mankind were I to
be so base as to murder, not only a person whom I do not know,
but a lady like this, who is already on the point of expiring: do
with me what you please, since I am in your power; I cannot obey
your barbarous commands."
"I see," said the genie, "that you both out-brave me, and insult
my jealousy; but both of you shall know by my treatment of you of
what I am capable." At these words the monster took up the
cimeter and cut off one of her hands, which left her only so much
life as to give me a token with the other that she bade me for
ever adieu. For the blood she had lost before, and that which
gushed out then, did not permit her to live above one or two
moments after this barbarous cruelty; the sight of which threw me
into a fit. When I was come to myself again, I expostulated with
the genie, why he made me languish in expectation of death:
"Strike," cried I, "for I am ready to receive the mortal blow,
and expect it as the greatest favour you can show me." But
instead of agreeing to that, "Behold," said he, "how genies treat
their wives whom they suspect of unfaithfulness; she has received
thee here, and were I certain that she had put any further
affront upon me, I would put thee to death this minute: but I
will content myself with transforming thee into a dog, ape, lion,
or bird; take thy choice of any of these, I will leave it to
thyself."
These words gave me some hopes of being able to appease him: "O
genie," said I, "moderate your passion, and since you will not
take away my life, give it me generously. I shall always remember
your clemency, if you pardon me, as one of the best men in the
world pardoned one of his neighbours that bore him a mortal
hatred." The genie asked me what had passed between those two
neighbours, and said, he would have patience till he heard the
story, which I related to him; and I believe, madam, you will not
be displeased if I now repeat it.
The Story of the Envious Man, and of him that he Envied.
In a considerable town two persons dwelt in adjoining houses. One
of them conceived such a violent hatred against the other, that
the hated party resolved to remove to a distance, being persuaded
that their being neighbours was the only cause of this animosity;
for though he had done him several pieces of service, he found
that his hatred was not diminished; he therefore sold his house,
with what goods he had left, and retired to the capital city of a
kingdom which was not far distant. Here he bought a little spot
of ground, which lay about half a league from the city; where he
had a convenient house, with a garden, and a pretty spacious
court, wherein there was a deep well, which was not in use.
The honest man having made this purchase put on a dervise's
habit, intending to lead a retired life, and caused several cells
to be made in the house, where in a short time he established a
numerous society of dervises. He soon came to be publicly known
by his virtue, through which he acquired the esteem of many
people, as well of the commonalty as of the chief of the city. In
short, he was much honoured and courted by all ranks. People came
from afar to recommend themselves to his prayers; and all who
visited him, published what blessings they received through his
means.
The great reputation of this honest man having spread to the town
from whence he had come, it touched the envious man so much to
the quick, that he left his house and affairs with a resolution
to ruin him. With this intent he went to the new convent of
dervises, of which his former neighbour was the head, who
received him with all imaginable tokens of friendship. The
envious man told him that he was come on purpose to communicate a
business of importance, which he could not do but in private; and
"that nobody may hear us, let us," said he, "take a walk in your
court; and seeing night begins to draw on, command your dervises
to retire to their cells." The chief of the dervises did as he
was required.
When the envious man saw that he was alone with this good man, he
began to tell him his errand, walking side by side in the court,
till he saw his opportunity; and getting the good man near the
brink of the well, he gave him a thrust, and pushed him into it,
without being seen by any one. Having done thus, he returned, got
out at the gate of the convent without being known, and reached
his own house well satisfied with his journey, being fully
persuaded that the object of his hatred was no more; but he found
himself mistaken.
This old well was inhabited by fairies and genies, which happened
luckily for the relief of the head of the convent; for they
received and supported him, and carried him to the bottom, so
that he got no hurt. He perceived that there was something
extraordinary in his fall, which must otherwise have cost him his
life; but he neither saw nor felt anything. He soon heard a
voice, however, which said, "Do you know what honest man this is,
to whom we have done this piece of service?" Another voice
answered, "No." To which the first replied, "Then I will tell
you. This man out of charity, the purest ever known, left the
town he lived in, and has established himself in this place, in
hopes to cure one of his neighbours of the envy he had conceived
against him; he had acquired such a general esteem, that the
envious man, not able to endure it, came hither on purpose to
ruin him; and he would have accomplished his design, had it not
been for the assistance we have given this honest man, whose
reputation is so great, that the sultan, who keeps his residence
in the neighbouring city, was to pay him a visit to-morrow, to
recommend the princess his daughter to his prayers."
Another voice asked, "What need had the princess of the dervise's
prayers?" To which the first answered, "You do not know, it
seems, that she is possessed by genie Maimoun, the son of Dimdim,
who is fallen in love with her. But I well know how this good
head of the dervises may cure her; the thing is very easy, and I
will explain it to you. He has a black cat in his convent, with a
white spot at the end of her tail, about the bigness of a small
piece of Arabian money; let him only pull seven hairs out of the
white spot, burn them, and smoke the princess's head with the
fume, she will not only be immediately cured, but be so safely
delivered from Maimoun, the son of Dimdim, that he will never
dare to approach her again."
The head of the dervises remembered every word of the
conversation between the fairies and the genies, who remained
silent the remainder of the night. The next morning, as soon as
daylight appeared, and he could discern the nature of his
situation, the well being broken down in several places, he saw a
hole, by which he crept out with ease.
The other dervises, who had been seeking for him, were rejoiced
to see him; he gave them a brief account of the wickedness of the
man to whom he had given so kind a reception the day before, and
retired into his cell. Shortly after the black cat, which the
fairies and the genies had mentioned the night before, came to
fawn upon her master, as she was accustomed to do; he took her
up, and pulled seven hairs from the white spot that was upon her
tail, and laid them aside for his use when occasion should serve.
Soon after sunrise the sultan, who would leave no means untried
that he thought likely to restore the princess to perfect health,
arrived at the gate of the convent. He commanded his guards to
halt, whilst he with his principal officers went in. The dervises
received him with profound respect.
The sultan called their chief aside, and said, "Good Sheik, you
may probably be already acquainted with the cause of my visit."
"Yes, Sir," replied he gravely, "if I do not mistake, it is the
disease of the princess which procures me this unmerited honour."
"That is the real case," replied the sultan. "You will give me
new life if your prayers, as I hope they may, restore my
daughter's health." "Sir," said the good man, "if your majesty
will be pleased to let her come hither, I am in hopes, through
God's assistance and favour, that she will be effectually cured."
The prince, transported with joy, sent immediately for his
daughter, who soon appeared with a numerous train of ladies and
eunuchs, but veiled, so that her face was not seen. The chief of
the dervises caused a pall to be held over her head, and he had
no sooner thrown the seven hairs upon the burning coals, than the
genie Maimoun, the son of Dimdim, uttered a great cry, and
without being seen, left the princess at liberty; upon which, she
took the veil from her face, and rose up to see where she was,
saying, "Where am I, and who brought me hither?" At these words
the sultan, overcome with excess of joy, embraced his daughter,
and kissed her eyes; he also kissed the chief of the dervises'
hands, and said to his officers, "What reward does he deserve
that has thus cured my daughter?" They all cried, "He deserves
her in marriage." "That is what I had in my thoughts," said the
sultan; "and I make him my son-in-law from this moment." Some
time after the prime vizier died, and the sultan conferred the
place on the dervise. The sultan himself also died without heirs
male; upon which the religious orders and the militia consulted
together, and the good man was declared and acknowledged sultan
by general consent.
The honest dervise, having ascended the throne of his father-in-law,
as he was one day in the midst of his courtiers on a march, espied the
envious man among the crowd that stood as he passed along, and calling
one of the viziers that attended him, whispered him in his ear, "Go,
bring me that man you see there; but take care you do not frighten
him." The vizier obeyed, and when the envious man was brought into his
presence, the sultan said, "Friend, I am extremely glad to see you."
Upon which he called an officer, "Go immediately," said he, "and cause
to be paid to this man out of my treasury, one hundred pieces of gold:
let him have also twenty loads of the richest merchandize in my
storehouses, and a sufficient guard to conduit him to his house."
After he had given this charge to the officer, he bade the envious man
farewell, and proceeded on his march.
When I had finished the recital of this story to the genie, the
murderer of the princess of the isle of Ebene, I made an
application of it to himself: "O genie!" said I, "this bountiful
sultan was not satisfied with merely overlooking the design of
the envious man to take away his life, but also treated him
kindly, and sent him back loaded with the favours I have
enumerated." In short, I employed all my eloquence to persuade
him to imitate so good an example, and to grant me pardon; but it
was impossible to move his compassion.
"All that I can do for thee," said he, "is, to grant thee thy
life; but do not flatter thyself that I will allow thee to return
safe and well; I must let thee feel what I am able to do by my
enchantments." So saying, he seized me violently, and carried me
through the arched roof of the subterraneous palace, which opened
to give him passage; he ascended with me into the air to such a
height, that the earth appeared like a little white cloud; he
then descended again like lightning, and alighted upon the summit
of a mountain.