Part 3

So they put a chain about her neck and fastened her to a window of the palace looking toward the sea, that so by the will of Allah her thoughts might have rest and her reason be restored. And the King, loving her tenderly and greatly distressed at the condition she had fallen into, caused a proclamation to be issued to all sages, astrologers, and men skilled in such matters saying, 'Whosoever shall cure my daughter of her present malady, to him will I give her hand in marriage together with the half of my kingdom; and whoso fails to cure her, having offered, his head will I strike off and set it above the gates of my palace as a warning to others.' This he continued to do till forty of the wisest physicians and astrologers had lost their heads. Then the supply foiled; and the Princess, whom the offer of any husband other than the one she sighed for threw into paroxysms of wrath, was as far from a cure at the end as at the beginning. Thus she remained for the space of three years, sitting at a window with a chain about her neck and looking out over the sea.

Now the nurse of the Princess Badoura had a son named Marzavan, who was a great traveller. He was foster-brother to the Princess; when they were children she had been to him as his own sister; and the two loved each other tenderly. So on the day when he returned from his travels he went to the palace to get tidings of the Princess, and there over the gates were ranged the heads of the forty wise men. This surprised him greatly, and when on inquiring into the matter he learned the cause, he heard also of the unhappy state into which the Princess had fallen. The news troubled him far more deeply than the death of forty wise men who had been found foolish, but, unwilling to trust to the judgment of others in such a case, being himself also well skilled in medicine, he besought his mother to obtain for him an interview with the Princess.

This was a difficult matter, for the door of the chamber was strictly guarded, and no one had access to it except the nurse herself. So urgent, however, was her son's entreaty, that at last she consented and set about finding the means. To this end she said to the eunuch who was on guard at the door, 'You know well my devotion to the Princess, and my desire to do anything that may alleviate her affliction, therefore I am come to ask you for a favour. I have a daughter whom my mistress from her earliest childhood, when I nursed them together, has ever regarded with the tenderest affection. She has lately married, and the Princess, hearing of this event, has expressed a wish to see her. Allow this to be; and do not doubt that Heaven will reward you for your goodness.'

The eunuch readily consented in spite of the strictness of his orders. 'Let her come at night,' he said, 'or bring her yourself, after the King has retired: then the door shall be open and no one need know of it.'

Accordingly, the next night, the nurse disguised Marzavan in woman's attire, and taking his hand in hers led him to the palace. The eunuch let them pass without suspicion; but as soon as they were in the Princess's presence, and the door shut behind them, the nurse said, 'O mistress, I have brought gladness to you to-night; for this is no woman but my son Marzavan, who, having returned from his travels, wished greatly to see you.' No sooner did the Princess hear the name of Marzavan than she sprang joyfully forward, the full length of her chain, and being held back by it, she stretched her hands toward him, crying, 'O brother, come to me!' When Marzavan beheld her in that unhappy plight, then for weeping he could not look at her, but turned away his head and covered his eyes. Then said Badoura, 'Dost thou also think that I am mad like the rest of them? Nay, hear my story and be undeceived, for it is true.'

Then she told Marzavan everything; and he, perceiving that she was in love, doubted no longer, for he knew that such passion and such a desire for beauty could arise neither out of madness nor of a dream. So when she besought his aid, he pondered deeply what he might do, and then said, 'O sister, have patience yet a little while, and I will go search through the world for thy missing friend. Be assured that if he lives I will find him.' Then they embraced as brother and sister in full affection; and Marzavan departed.

The next day he set out once more upon his travels, and continued to journey from city to city, and island to island for the space of some months. At first, wherever he went, he heard men speaking of the beauty of the Princess Badoura and of the strange malady that afflicted her; but presently, as he changed from country to country, her name ceased to be upon men's lips, and he heard instead of one by name Camaralzaman, a prince of the Islands of Khaledan, who for three years had suffered from a grievous affliction of body and a desolation of spirit to which there seemed no remedy.

Marzavan did not delay when he heard that story; but inquiring for the nearest route he took ship and sailed from the city of Torf, where these tidings had first reached him, to the islands of Khaledan, a whole month's voyage; and all the way he was glad so that his heart sang. But on the day when the ship approached the dominions of Shahzaman, there arose a great storm which broke the mast and carried away the sail and capsized the vessel.

Marzavan, thrown overboard with the rest, was caught by a strong current and carried shorewards; and as fate would have it, since the destiny of all are in the hands of the Most High, the current bore him toward that part of the coast where stood the palace of the King; and there at that time, in the pavilion looking toward the sea, sat Shahzaman attended by his Vizier; and the head of Camaralzaman lay upon his lap; and a eunuch was whisking the flies from him.

The Vizier, looking out from the terrace, saw in the water below him the shipwrecked Marzavan, tossed this way and that and unable to land; so his heart was moved with pity and he came running to the King and crying, 'Permit me, O my lord, to open the gates of the court and put forth my hand to save yonder man who is now drowning. For since a just action is never without reward, it may be he shall bring us good.'

Shahzaman replied, 'Thou art the cause of all our trouble, and I doubt not that coming by thy hand this drowning man will bring us more. Yet I cannot forbid thee to save his life: only be sure that he comes not near us to spy upon my son in his affliction and report it to others. If he do, his head and thine shall be forfeit.'

So the Vizier ran, and opening the gates of the court leaned down, and caught Marzavan by the hair and drew him up to dry land. And Marzavan came forth from the sea all lost to consciousness, his stomach filled with water and his eyes protruding. The Vizier waited till his spirit had returned to him; then he took from him his clothes and clad him in others and put on his head the turban of an attendant and said to him, 'Now, as I have saved thy life, do my bidding and save mine also. Cast down thine eyes, speak not, look not into any chamber as we go, but follow closely where I lead lest worse befall thee.'

Then said Marzavan, 'What is this peril that I am not to see?'

The Vizier answered, 'It is the King's son, who is sorely afflicted for the loss of a fair damsel that came to him but once and is gone again, none knows where. That is the story, and on pain of death all who hear it must believe it.' And the Vizier sighed heavily, for at this time life was hard to him and belief difficult.

When the half-drowned Marzavan heard that, his heart went up like a singing bird, and he skipt at the Vizier's heels like a squirrel. And when they came by the chamber where Camaralzaman was lying, with the King seated beside him, then Marzavan turned swiftly and went in and stood before him; and no sooner had he seen the Prince than, with an exclamation of joy, he cried: 'Extolled be the perfection of him who hath given beauty its pair! Lo, the eyes are hers, the complexion is hers, the lips and the cheeks are hers!'

At these words the knees of the Vizier went from under him, and he prayed succour of death: but on the heart of Camaralzaman there descended a coolness and a refreshment, and turning his tongue in his mouth, he signalled with his hand to Shahzaman to make the young man sit down.

The King seeing the look of joy upon his son's face easily forgave the intrusion which had earned death; and having placed Marzavan in the seat at the Prince's side, he bade him recount his history and whence and why he came.

So Marzavan told of the country from which he had come and of its King and people, and of all the events of his journey, but of the real cause which had brought him he said nothing. And the Prince listened and waited, for he saw that something was concealed: and all the while, since hope had returned to him, his countenance grew bright and his strength of body increased. So presently he made a sign for his father to raise him to a sitting posture; and the King, full of joy, lifted him, and placed cushions behind him and under him. Thus after three years of lying down did Camaralzaman sit up. So after a while Shahzaman, seeing how by the conversation of Marzavan the Prince was restored to health, went away and left them; and the Vizier departed also.

Then, seeing that they were alone, Marzavan spoke low in the ear of Camaralzaman saying, 'O Prince, thy sorrow is at an end; for she whom thou lovest is the Princess Badoura, daughter of the King of China and my own foster-sister: and I am come through the world seeking thee because of my devotion to her, who, for love of thee, now lieth in chains. All that hath happened unto thee with thy father hath happened to her also with her father, yea, and worse things also.' So he went on and told him all.

Now when Camaralzaman had heard the story of the Princess, and of her sufferings and constancy, and of all the useless cures for her malady that had been tried, his heart was divided in its joy by an overflowing of sorrow, even as a rich country is divided and broken by a stream when it floods its banks; and he said to Marzavan, 'Alas! how may I bring her the true cure, seeing that we dwell in such different parts of the world, and my father will not suffer me to be out of his sight even for one day?'

Marzavan answered, 'For thy health's sake he will allow thee that one, and it shall suffice. For to-morrow thou shalt say to him, "Let me go out into the hills for a day and a night, that I may hunt and recover my strength," and surely he shall not deny it to thee. And when thou hast found that for which thou art in search, I know that thou wilt return to him. But we will take with us two spare horses and saddlebags, with money sufficient for our journey, and when we have started upon our way I will provide, so that we may not be pursued and overtaken.'

At these words the Prince rejoiced greatly, and it all came about even as Marzavan had planned. For on the morrow the King, rejoicing that his son's health was so quickly restored, granted him the permission he sought, saying only, 'Be not absent, my son, longer than one night, for while thou art away from me I have no joy left.' Camaralzaman answered, 'The night of sorrow will end, then shall I return.' So he took leave of his father and departed.

For the whole of that day until the evening Camaralzaman and Marzavan went in the direction they had chosen, setting their laces for the open country and the seaport lying beyond. And when it was night they ate and drank, fed their beasts, and rested for a while; then they remounted and journeyed on. At daybreak they came to a spacious tract of forest; there Marzavan took one of the led horses and killed it, stripping the flesh from its bones; next he took the garments which Camaralzaman had worn on the previous day, and after tearing them this way and that daubed them with blood.

Camaralzaman inquired why he did this: and Marzavan answered, 'When we return not great search will be made for thee, and I doubt not, if it went far enough, we should be overtaken. But when the searchers come upon this they will suppose that a wild beast has fallen upon thee and devoured thee; and that I, fearing the King's wrath, have fled away. Doubtless the news will bring great sorrow to thy father's heart; but when thou returnest with thine errand safely accomplished, he shall be recompensed with joy.'

The Prince sorrowfully commended the plan which Marzavan had devised for the safety of their enterprise; and so they continued upon their way unmolested, and after much travelling by land and water, and many adventures not to be told of here, they arrived at the capital of the dominions of King Gaiour, where the Princess Badoura lay in captivity.

Marzavan did not take Camaralzaman to his own house, but to a public khan, where for three days they remained recovering from the fatigues of their journey. Then, having clothed the Prince in the garb of a merchant-doctor with all the signs and instruments of his calling, he conducted him to the gates of the palace; standing before which Camaralzaman began, on the instructions of Marzavan, to cry in a loud voice, 'Look at me, for I am learned! Marvel at me, for I am wise! I am the healer, the calculator, the astrologer; I know the cause of all maladies and their cure. If any one, be he king or peasant, is in affliction, let him come to me!'

The people were greatly astonished to hear once more an astrologer so bold of tongue; and pitying him for his youth and wondering at the beauty of his form, they pointed to the heads which were over the palace gates, saying, 'While there is time save thyself; for if the King hear thee thy head will be joined to those.'

Nevertheless Camaralzaman continued to cry with a loud voice; till at last the King heard him, and said to his Vizier, 'Go down, and bring this astrologer in.'

So the Vizier went out and fetched him, and Camaralzaman came and bowed himself before the King. And when the King looked at him, his heart also was moved with pity toward the stranger, as the heart of the people had been, because of his youth and the beauty of his form. And he said to him, 'My son, comply not with my conditions; for I have bound myself with an oath, and whoso goes in to visit my daughter but cannot cure her, his head must I strike off; and of a truth you have but to look over my palace gate to see that her malady is obstinate. Nevertheless if you can cure her she is yours, and the half of my kingdom is yours also.'

Camaralzaman said, 'To those conditions, O King, I am agreed!' Then the King, sighing heavily, sent for the eunuch and bade him conduct the astrologer to the apartment of the Princess.

The eunuch led the way; but when they were come to the corridor wherein Badoura's chamber was situated, so great was the joy of the Prince that he hastened and went before; and the eunuch called after him, 'Tarry, good sir, and be not so hasty before the event, for I alone have the key that shall bring thee to thy death! Never was any other astrologer in such haste to depart from life as thou.'

'Friend,' answered Camaralzaman, 'they had not such science as I have to make them glad: for they could not tell what the end would be, but I know it already, nay, even without entering that door of which thou hast the key I can cure the Princess of her malady.'

The eunuch, astonished to be met with so much confidence, ceased from his taunts, and admitted the Prince to the ante-chamber. 'If thou canst do that,' he said, 'thou art indeed the wonder of the world. Truly were I only permitted to see such a marvel accomplished, I should account myself rich.'

Thereupon Camaralzaman seated himself against the curtain which divided the outer from the inner chamber and wrote the following prescription:

'He whom estrangement hath afflicted is cured when the vow of the beloved is accomplished; and the heart of exile findeth restoration in union with that which was lost. Love alone can heal those whom love hath persecuted.'

Underneath this prescription he added the following words:

'From the distracted, the passionate, the perplexed, the famished with longing, the captive of transport and ardent desire, Camaralzaman, son of Shahzaman, King of Khaledan, to the peerless one of her age, the pre-eminent among Hooris, the Princess Badoura, daughter of Gaiour, King of the Isles of China and lord of the seven Palaces. Behold the slave of the ring who, sleepless and inflamed by love, now awaits the call of his Beloved.'

Then, having enclosed the ring which at their first meeting he had exchanged for his own, he sealed the missive, and putting it into the hands of the eunuch bade him carry it to his mistress.

No sooner had the Princess Badoura received the missive and the ring than she knew at once from whom it came. Whereupon joy overthrew her reason, and leaping up in a transport of exultation she pressed her feet against the wall, and breaking the chains which bound her ran forth and threw herself into the arms of Camaralzaman.

Speechless with joy she kissed him without ceasing; even as a pigeon when it feeds its young, so upon the lips of Camaralzaman fell the kisses of the Princess Badoura. Then came the nurse, crying aloud for gladness to behold the joy of her mistress and the healing of her malady accomplished; and presently after her came the King. For to him had run the eunuch in swift haste bringing tidings of the event--how that without entering her chamber the astrologer had cured her. 'What?' cried the King, 'can such news be true?' 'O my lord,' answered the eunuch, 'let thine own eyes look upon her and be blest; for she hath broken her chains of iron, and coming forth to the astrologer she falleth upon him and kisseth him, and never will she let him go.'

So Gaiour the King came and found it even as the eunuch had said. Full of joy to behold so sweet a sight, he embraced first the Princess and then the Prince, thanking him with tears of gratitude for the debt which he owed him. And when he inquired further and learned of Camaralzaman his name, and his true rank, and of the country from which he came, with all the strange story of his love and the grief of his separation, then his satisfaction and delight knew no bounds. And so on that very day the nuptials were celebrated, and word of rejoicing went forth through the whole of the King's dominions.

The hearts of Prince Camaralzaman and his bride were now so full of happiness that for many months they wist not the passing of time, and waking or sleeping it seemed to them as one day. But while their joy thus decked itself in the colours of immortality, the Prince one night had a dream, wherein he beheld his father, Shahzaman, lying as at the point of death. And in his dream it seemed that he heard him say, 'O my son, whom in thy grief I so tenderly cherished, wherefore hast thou acted thus, leaving me in my old age to die alone?'

So sharp was the sting of that dream upon his conscience that, sighing, the Prince woke; and his wife hearing him made inquiry as to his grief. 'Alas!' answered Camaralzaman, 'in my happiness with thee I had forgotten my father.' And thereupon he recounted his dream. So the next day the Princess Badoura went to her father, and having told him all, besought leave for Camaralzaman to return for a while to his own land so that he might comfort his father in his old age.

The King readily granted his daughter's request. Then said Badoura, 'If my husband goes I must go too.' 'Why so?' inquired her father. 'Because,' said she, 'if you separate us there is no power in the world that shall keep me alive.'

Now the King had learned during the years of his daughter's captivity, that anything which she said she meant. Therefore with much grief and reluctance at being so compelled, he granted her request; and having accorded them permission to be absent for a whole year, he made preparation for their departure. In order that they might appear at the court of Shahzaman in the splendour that became their rank, he presented them with many changes of costly apparel, and having provided a large train of horses, dromedaries, and attendants, he bade them an affectionate farewell, and with many tears watched them depart.

For a whole month Camaralzaman and his bride travelled in comfort and luxury by the route that they had chosen, and greatly was the Prince's heart rejoiced by the thought of seeing his father once more and presenting to his eyes the lovely and innocent cause of all their past affliction. Therefore, early and late they journeyed on, only stopping to rest at night and during the heat of each day.

And so it chanced that one day, about noon, they came to a spacious meadow shaded by trees, and there at the Prince's command the tents were pitched; and the Princess went into her pavilion and lay down to sleep.

Now when she lay down, the heat being very great, she took off her outer robe and her girdle. And the Prince, coming in later, saw the girdle lying, and knotted within its folds a large stone, red as blood, inscribed with strange characters which, in the darkness of the tent, he could not read. Being curious, therefore, to see what words were upon this talisman which the Princess carried so secretly in her apparel, he unfastened the knot, and taking the knot went forth from the tent to examine it.

Scarcely had he done so when, with a strange cry, a bird swooped down from the tree above his head, caught up the stone in its beak, and flew away with it. Camaralzaman, fearing to lose what, for all he knew, might be a precious talisman, ran after the bird, throwing up his arms, shouting and endeavouring in all possible ways to make it let go the stone. But the bird flew on from tree to tree, and from valley to valley, never so fast that Camaralzaman could not keep pace with it, but never coming within his reach, or letting go of the talisman. So the flight went on and so the chase continued, till several hours had passed and it began to grow dark. Then the bird, uttering once more its strange cry, went up to the topmost branch of a high tree and settled itself to roost.

The pursuit had now led Camaralzaman so far and in so many directions, that he no longer knew which way to turn. So, commending himself to Allah, he lay down at the foot of the tree and slept.

In the morning, with a loud rustling of feathers, the bird awakened him, and still carrying the stone in its beak, sprang out of the tree and continued its flight. And as Camaralzaman rose and followed, it presently became apparent that at whatever rate he went, the bird went too; so when he ran the bird flew fast, and when he could run no more it waited for him, flying from point to point and never disappearing from view.

'By Allah!' cried Camaralzaman, 'this is wonderful! This chase will lead me either to great fortune or to death.' So without giving up he went on; and thus he followed the bird for ten days, living upon roots and drinking of the streams that he crossed; and every night he slept at the foot of some tree while the bird perched in its topmost branches.