There was once a king of the kings, Sultan Ibrahim hight, to whom
the sovrans abased themselves and did obedience; but he had no
son and was straitened of breast because of that, fearing lest
the kingship go forth of his hand. He ceased not to long for a
son and to buy slave-girls and lie with them, till one of them
conceived, whereat he rejoiced with passing joy and gave great
gifts and the largest largesse. When the girl's months were
complete and the time of her lying-in drew near, the king
summoned the astrologers and they watched for the hour of
child-bearing and raised their astrolabes and carefully noted the
time. The hand-maid gave birth to a man-child, whereat the king
rejoiced exceedingly, and the people congratulated one another
with this glad news. Then the astrophils made their calculations
and looked into his nativity and his ascendant, whereupon their
colour changed and they were confounded. Quoth the king to them,
"Acquaint me with his horoscope and ye shall have assurance of
pardon and have naught to fear."[FN#223] They replied, "O king,
this princely child's nativity denoteth that, in the seventh year
of his age, there is fearful danger for him from a lion, which
shall attempt to rend him: and if he be saved from the lion,
there will betide a matter yet sorer and more grievous even than
that." Asked the king, "What is it?" and they answered, "We will
not speak, except the king command us and give us assurance from
fear." Quoth the king, "Allah assure you!" and quoth they, "An he
be saved from the lion, the king's destruction shall be at his
hand." When the king heard this, his complexion changed and his
breast was straitened; but he said to himself, "I will be
watchful and do my endeavour and suffer not the lion to eat him.
It cannot be that he will kill me, and indeed 'The astrologers
lied.'"[FN#224] Then he caused rear him among the wet-nurses and
the noble matrons;[FN#225] but withal he ceased not to ponder the
prediction of the astrophils and verily his life was troubled. So
he betook himself to the top of a high mountain and hollowed
there a deep excavation[FN#226] and made in it many
dwelling-places and rooms and filled it with all that was needful
of rations and raiment and what not else and laid in it
pipe-conduits of water from the mountain and lodged the boy
therein, with a nurse who should rear him. Moreover, at the first
of each month he used to go to the mountain and stand at the
mouth of the hollow and let down a rope he had with him and draw
up the boy to him and strain him to his bosom and kiss him and
play with him awhile, after which he would let him down again to
his place and return; and he was wont to count the days till the
seven years should pass by. Now when arrived the time of the Fate
foreordered and the Fortune graven on the forehead and there
remained for the boy but ten days till the seven years should be
complete, there came to that mountain hunters chasing wild beasts
and, seeing a lion, they attacked him. He fled from them and
seeking refuge in the mountain, fell into the hollow in its
midst. The nurse saw him forthwith and escaped from him into one
of the chambers; upon which the lion made for the lad and seizing
upon him, tare his shoulder, after which he sought the room
wherein was the nurse and falling upon her, devoured her, whilst
the boy lay in a swoon. Meanwhile, when the huntsmen saw that the
lion had fallen into the pit, they came to the mouth and heard
the shrieking of the boy and the woman; and after awhile the
cries died away, whereby they knew that the lion had slain them.
Presently, as they stood by the mouth of the excavation behold,
the lion came scrambling up the sides and would have issued
forth: but, as often as he showed his head, they pelted him with
stones, till they beat him down and he fell; whereupon one of the
hunters descended into the pit and despatched him and saw the boy
wounded; after which he went to the chamber, where he found the
woman dead, and indeed the lion had eaten his fill of her. Then
he noted that which was therein of clothes and what not else, and
notifying his mates, fell to passing the stuff up to them:
lastly, he took up the boy and bringing him forth of the pit,
carried him to their dwelling-place where they dressed his
wounds. He grew up with them, but acquainted them not with his
affair; and indeed, when they questioned him, he knew not what he
should say, because they let him down into the pit when he was a
little one. The hunters marvelled at his speech and loved him
with exceeding love and one of them took him to son and abode
rearing him by his side and training him in hunting and
horse-riding, till he reached the age of twelve and became a
brave, going forth with the folk to the chase and to the cutting
of the way. Now it chanced one day that they sallied forth to
stop the road and fell in with a caravan during the night: but
its stout fellows were on their guard; so they joined battle with
the robbers and overcame them and slew them and the boy fell
wounded and tarried cast down in that place till the morrow, when
he opened his eyes and finding his comrades slain, lifted himself
up and arose to walk the road. Presently, there met him a man, a
treasure-seeker, and asked him, "Whither away, O lad?" So he told
him what had betided him and the other said, "Be of good heart,
for that the tide of thy good fortune is come and Allah bringeth
thee joy and gladness. I am one who am in quest of a hidden
treasure, wherein is a mighty mickle of wealth. So come with me
that thou mayst help me, and I will give thee monies with which
thou shalt provide thyself all thy life long." Then he carried
the youth to his dwelling and dressed his wounds, and he tarried
with him some days till he was rested; when the treasure-seeker
took him and two beasts and all that he needed, and they fared on
till they came to a towering highland. Here the man brought out a
book and reading therein, dug in the crest of the mountain five
cubits deep, whereupon there appeared to him a stone. He pulled
it up and behold it was a trap-door covering the mouth of a pit.
So he waited till the foul air[FN#227] was come forth from the
midst of the pit, when he bound a rope about the lad's middle and
let him down bucket-wise to the bottom, and with him a lighted
waxen taper. The boy looked and beheld, at the upper end of the
pit, wealth abundant; so the treasure-seeker let down a rope and
a basket and the boy fell to filling and the man to drawing up,
till the fellow had got his sufficiency, when he loaded his
beasts and ceased working, whilst the boy looked for him to let
down the rope and draw him up; but he rolled a great stone to the
mouth of the pit and went his ways. When the boy saw what the
treasure-seeker had done with him, he relied upon Allah (extolled
and exalted be He!) and abode perplexed concerning his case and
said, "How bitter be this death!" for indeed the world was
darkened on him and the pit was blinded to him. So he fell
a-weeping and saying, "I escaped the lion and the robbers and now
is my death to be in this pit, where I shall die by slow
degrees." And he abode perplexed and looked for nothing but
death. But as he stood pondering, behold, he heard a sound of
water rushing with a thunderous noise; so he arose and walked in
the pit, following the sound, till he came to a corner and heard
the mighty coursing of water. Then he laid his ear to the sound
of the current and hearing it rushing in great strength, said to
himself, "This is the flowing of a mighty watercourse and needs
must I depart life in this place, be it to-day or to-morrow; so I
will throw myself into the stream and not die a slow death in
this pit." Thereupon he called up his courage and gathering up
his skirts, cast himself into the water, and it bore him along
with force exceeding and carrying him under the earth, stayed not
till it brought him out into a deep Wady, adown which ran a great
river, that welled up from under the ground. When he found
himself on the face of earth, he abode dazed and a-swoon all that
day; after which he came to himself and rising, fared on along
that valley; and he ceased not his wayfare, praising Almighty
Allah the while, till he came to an inhabited land and a great
village in the reign of the king his sire. So he entered and
foregathered with the villagers, who questioned him of his case;
whereupon he told them his tale, and they admired how Allah had
delivered him from all those dangers. Then he took up his abode
with them and they loved him much. On this wise happened it to
him; but as regards the king, his father, when he went to the
pit, as was his wont, and called the nurse, she returned him no
answer, whereat his breast was straitened and he let down a man
who found the woman dead and the boy gone and acquainted
therewith the king, who when he heard this, buffeted his head and
wept with sore weeping and descended into the midst of the pit
that he might see how the case stood. There he espied the nurse
slain and the lion dead, but beheld not the boy; so he returned
and acquainted the astrologers with the soothfastness of their
saying, and they replied, "O king, the lion hath eaten him;
destiny hath been wroughten upon him and thou art delivered from
his hand; for, had he been saved from the lion, we indeed, by
Allah, had feared for thee from him, because the king's
destruction would have been at his hand." So the king ceased to
sorrow for this and the days passed by and the affair was
forgotten. Meanwhile the boy grew up and abode with the people of
the village, and when Allah willed the accomplishing of His
commandment, which no endeavour availeth to avert, he went forth
with a party of the villagers to cut the way. The folk complained
to King Ibrahim his father, who sallied out with a company of his
men and surrounded the highwaymen. Now that boy was with them,
and he drew forth an arrow and launched it at them, and it smote
the king and wounded him in a mortal place. So they carried him
to his palace, after they had laid hands upon the youth and his
comrades and brought them before the sovran, saying, "What
biddest us to do with them?" Quoth he, "I am presently in trouble
for myself, so bring me the astrologers." Accordingly, they
brought them before him and he said to them, "Ye said to me Thy
death shall be by slaying at the hand of thy son: how, then,
befalleth it that I have got my death-hurt by yonder thieves?"
The astrologers marvelled and said to him, "O king, 'tis not
beyond the lore of the stars, together with the doom of Allah,
that he who hath smitten thee should be thy son." When King
Ibrahim heard this, he bade fetch the thieves and said to them,
"Tell me truly, which of you shot the shaft that wounded me."
Said they, "'Twas this youth that is with us." Whereupon the king
fell to considering him and said, "O youth, acquaint me with thy
case and tell me who was thy father and thou shalt have assurance
of safety from Allah." The youth replied, "O my lord, I know no
father; as for me, my father lodged me in a pit, with a nurse to
rear me, and one day, there fell in upon us a lion, which tare my
shoulder, then left me and occupied himself with the nurse and
rent her in pieces; and Allah vouchsafed me one who brought me
forth the pit." Then he related to him all that had befallen him,
first and last; which when King Ibrahim heard, he cried out and
said, "By Allah, this is my son!" presently adding, "Bare thy
shoulder." So he uncovered it, and behold, it was scarred. Then
the king assembled his lords and lieges and the astrologers and
said to them, "Know that what Allah hath writ upon the forehead,
be it fair fortune or misfortune, none may efface, and all that
is decreed to a man must perforce befal him. Indeed, this my
care-taking and my endeavour profited me naught, for what weird
Allah decreed for my son, he hath dreed and whatso He decreed to
me I have endured. Nevertheless, I praise Allah and thank Him
because this was at my son's hand, and not at the hand of
another, and Alhamdolillah—laud to the Lord—for that the
kingship is come to my son!" And he strained the youth to his
bosom and embraced him and kissed him, saying "O my son, this
matter was after such fashion, and of my watchfulness over thee
from Fate, I lodged thee in that pit; but caretaking availed
not." Then he took the crown of the kingship and set it on his
son's head and caused the lieges and the people do homage to him
and commended the subjects to his care and enjoined to him
justice and equity. And he farewelled him that night and died and
his son reigned in his stead.[FN#228] "On like wise, O king"
(continued the young treasurer), "'tis with thee. If Allah have
written aught on my forehead, needs must it befal me and my
speech to the king shall not avail me; no, nor my illustrating it
to him with instances, against the doom of Allah. And so it is
with these Wazirs, for all their eagerness and endeavour for my
destruction, this shall not profit them; because, if Allah
determine to save me, He will give me the victory over them."
When the king heard these words he became perplexed and said,
"Return him to the prison till the morrow, so we may look into
his affair, for the day draweth to an end and I mean to do him
dead in foulest sort, and to-morrow we will visit him with that
which he meriteth."
The Tenth Day.
Of the Appointed Term,[FN#229] Which, if it be Advanced, may
not be Deferred, and if it be Deferred, may not be Advanced.
When it was the tenth day (now this day was called
Al-Mihrján[FN#230] and it was the day of the coming in of the
folk, gentle and simple, to the king, so they might give him joy
and salute him and go forth), the council of the Wazirs agreed
that they should speak with a company of the city notables. So
they said to them, "When ye go in today to the king and salute
him, do ye say to him, 'O king, (to the Lord be the laud!) thou
art praiseworthy of policy and procedure and just to all thy
subjects; but respecting this youth whom thou hast favoured and
who nevertheless hath reverted to his base origin and done this
foul deed, what is thy purpose in his continuance? Indeed, thou
hast prisoned him in thy palace, and every day thou hearest his
palaver and thou knowest not what the folk say.'" And they
answered, "Hearing is obeying." Accordingly, when they entered
with the folk and had prostrated themselves before the king and
congratulated his majesty, he raised their several degrees. Now
it was the custom of the folk to salute and go forth; but they
took seat, and the king knew that they had a word they would fain
address to him: so he turned to them (the Wazirs being also
present) and said, "Ask your need." Therefore they repeated to
him all that the Ministers had taught them and the Wazirs also
spoke with them; and Azadbakht said to them, "O folk, I would
have it known to you that there is no doubt with me concerning
this your speech proceeding from love and loyal counsel to me,
and ye ken that, were I inclined to kill half these folk, I could
do them die and this would not be hard to me; so how shall I not
slay this youth and he in my power and in the hending of my hand?
Indeed, his crime is manifest and he hath incurred death penalty;
and I have deferred it only by reason of the greatness of the
offence; for, an I do this with him and my proof against him be
strengthened, my heart is healed and the heart of my whole folk;
and if I slay him not to-day, his slaying shall not escape me
to-morrow." Then he bade fetch the youth who, when present
between his hands, prostrated to him and blessed him; whereupon
quoth the king, "Woe to thee! How long shall the folk upbraid me
on thine account and blame me for delaying thy death? Even the
people of my city reproach me because of thee, so that I am grown
a prating-stock amongst them, and indeed they come in to me and
reproach me for not putting thee to death. How long shall I delay
this? Verily, this very day I mean to shed thy blood and rid the
folk of thy prattling." The youth replied, "O king, an there have
betided thee talk because of me, by Allah, and again by Allah the
Great, those who have brought on thee this talk from the folk are
none but these wicked Wazirs, who chatter with the crowd and tell
them foul tales and ill things in the king's house, but I hope in
the Most High that He will cause their malice to recoil upon
their own heads. As for the king's menace of slaying me, I am in
the grip of his hand; so let not the king occupy his mind with my
slaughter, because I am like the sparrow in the grasp of the
fowler; if he will, he cutteth his throat, and if he will, he
letteth him go. As for the delaying of my death, 'tis not from
the king, but from Him in whose hand is my life; for, by Allah, O
king, an the Almighty willed my slaughter, thou couldst not
postpone it; no, not for a single hour. And, indeed, man availeth
not to fend off evil from himself, even as it was with the son of
King Sulayman Shah, whose anxiety and carefulness for the winning
of his wish in the matter of the new-born child availed him
naught, for his last hour was deferred how many a time! and Allah
saved him until he had accomplished his period and had fulfilled
his life-term." Cried the king, "Fie upon thee, how great is thy
craft and thy talk! Tell me, what was their tale." And the youth
said, "Hear, O king,