Part 103

The princess, who presently knew the sound of the voice, and the upper features of his face, notwithstanding he had let his beard grow so long, grew calm at once, and a secret joy and pleasure overspread her face, the effect of seeing the person she so much desired so unexpectedly. Her agreeable surprise deprived her for some time of the use of her speech, and gave prince Firouz Schah time to tell her as briefly as possible how despair seized him when he saw the Indian carry her away; the resolution he took afterwards, to leave every thing to find her out wherever she was, and never to return home till he had found her, and forced her out of the hands of the perfidious wretch; and by what good fortune at last, after a long and fatiguing journey, he had the satisfaction to find her in the palace of the sultan of Caschmire. He then desired the princess to inform him of all that happened to her from the time she was taken away till that moment when he had the happiness to converse with her, telling her, that it was of the greatest importance to know this, that he might take the most proper measures to deliver her from the tyranny of the sultan of Caschmire.

The princess of Bengal told the prince how she was delivered from the Indian’s violence by the sultan of Caschmire, as he was returning home from hunting; but how ill she was treated the next day, by a declaration he had made of his precipitate design to marry her that very day, without the least civil office of asking her consent; that this violent and tyrannical conduct put her into a swoon; after which, she thought she had no other way than what she had taken to preserve herself for a prince to whom she had given her heart and faith, or die rather than marry the sultan, whom she neither loved, nor ever could love.

Then the prince of Persia asked her if she knew what was become of the horse after the Indian’s death. To which she answered, that she knew not what orders the sultan had given about it; but believed, after the account she had given him of it, he would take care of it.

As prince Firouz Schah never doubted but that the sultan had the horse, he communicated to the princess his design of making use of it to carry them both back into Persia; and after they had consulted together on the measures they were to take, and that nothing might prevent the execution of them, they agreed that the princess should dress herself the next day, and receive the sultan civilly when he brought him to her, but without speaking to him.

The sultan of Caschmire was overjoyed when the prince of Persia gave him an account what effect his first visit had towards the cure of the princess of Bengal. And the next day, when the princess received him after such a manner as persuaded him her cure was far advanced, he looked upon him as the greatest physician in the world; and seeing her in this state, contented himself with telling her how rejoiced he was to see her so likely soon to recover her health completely. He exhorted her to follow the directions of so thoughtful a physician, to complete what he had so well begun; and then retired, without waiting for her answer.

The prince of Persia, who attended the sultan of Caschmire out of the princess’s chamber, as he accompanied him, asked him if, without failing in due respect, he misfit inquire, How the princess of Bengal came into the dominions of Caschmire thus alone, since her own country lies so far off? This he said on purpose to introduce some discourse about the enchanted horse, and to know what was become of it.

The sultan of Caschmire, who could not penetrate into the prince of Persia’s motive for asking that question, concealed nothing from him; but told him much the same story as the princess of Bengal had done; adding, that he had ordered the enchanted horse to be kept safe in his treasury as a great curiosity, though he knew not the use of it.

Sir, replied the pretended physician, the information which your majesty gives me affords me a means of curing the princess. As she was brought hither on this horse, and the horse is enchanted, she hath contracted something of the enchantment, which can be dissipated only by certain incense which I am acquainted with. If your majesty would be pleased to entertain yourself, your court, and the people of your capital, with the most surprising sight that ever was seen, let the horse be brought into the great square before the palace, and leave the rest to me. I promise to show you, and all that assembly, in a few moments’ time, the princess of Bengal as well in body and mind as ever she was in her life. But, the better to effect what I propose, it would be proper that the princess should be dressed as magnificently as possible, and adorned with the best jewels your majesty has. The sultan would have undertaken much more difficult things to have arrived at the enjoyment of his desires, as he expected to do soon.

The next day the enchanted horse was, by his order, taken out of the treasury, and placed early in the great square before the palace. A report was spread through the town, that there was something extraordinary to be seen, and crowds of people flocked thither from all parts, insomuch that the sultan’s guards were placed to prevent disorder, and to keep space enough round the horse.

The sultan of Caschmire, surrounded with all his nobles and ministers of state, was placed on a scaffold erected on purpose. The princess of Bengal, attended by a vast number of ladies which the sultan had assigned her, went up to the enchanted horse, and the women helped her to get upon its back. When she was fixed in the saddle, and had the bridle in her hand, the pretended physician placed round the horse a great many vessels full of fire, which he had ordered to be brought, and going round it, he cast a strong and grateful perfume into those pots; then, collected in himself, with downcast eyes, and his hands upon his breast, he ran three times about the horse, making as if he pronounced certain words. The moment the pots sent forth a dark cloud of pleasant smell, which so surrounded the princess, that neither she nor the horse were to be discerned, watching his opportunity, the prince jumped nimbly up behind her, and, reaching his hand to the peg, turned it; and just as the horse rose with them into the air, he pronounced these words, which the sultan heard distinctly: Sultan of Caschmire, when you would marry princesses who implore your protection, learn first to obtain their consent.

Thus the prince of Persia recovered and delivered the princess of Bengal, and carried her that same day to the capital of Persia, where he alighted in the midst of the palace, before the king his father’s apartment, who deferred the solemnization of the marriage no longer than till he could make the preparations necessary to render the ceremony pompous and magnificent, and express the interest he took in it.

After the days appointed for the rejoicing were over, the king of Persia’s first care was to name and appoint an ambassador to go to give the king of Bengal an account of what was past, and to demand his approbation and ratification of the alliance contracted by this marriage; which the king of Bengal took as an honour, and granted with great pleasure and satisfaction.

The Story of Prince Ahmed, and the Fairy Pari Banou. [103]

There was a sultan who had peaceably filled the throne of India many years, and had the satisfaction in his old age to have three sons, the worthy imitators of his virtues, who, with the princess his niece, were the ornaments of his court. The eldest of the princes was called Houssain, the second Ali, the youngest Ahmed, and the princess his niece Nouronnihar. [104]

The princess Nouronnihar was the daughter of the younger brother of the sultan, to whom the sultan in his lifetime allowed a considerable revenue. But that prince had not been married long before he died, and left the princess very young. The sultan, in consideration of the brotherly love and friendship that had always subsisted between them, besides a great attachment to his person, took upon himself the care of his daughter’s education, and brought her up in his palace with the three princes; where her singular beauty and personal accomplishments, joined to a lively wit and irreproachable virtue, distinguished her among all the princesses of her time.

The sultan, her uncle, proposed to marry her when she arrived at a proper age, and to contract an alliance with some neighbouring prince by that means; and was thinking seriously on that affair, when he perceived that the three princes his sons loved her passionately. He was very much concerned, but his grief did not proceed from a consideration that their passion prevented his forming the alliance he designed, but the difficulty he foresaw to make them agree, and that the two youngest should consent to yield her up to their elder brother. He spoke to each of them apart; and after having remonstrated on the impossibility of one princess being the wife of three persons, and the troubles they would create if they persisted in their passion, he did all he could to persuade them to abide by a declaration of the princess in favour of one of them; or to desist from their pretensions, and to think of other matches, which he left them free liberty to choose, and suffer her to be married to a foreign prince. But as he found them obstinate, he sent for them altogether, and said to them, Children, since for your good and quiet I have not been able to persuade you no longer to aspire to marry the princess your cousin; and as I have no inclination to make use of my authority, to give her to one preferable before the other two, I fancy I have thought of a proper expedient which will please you all, and preserve the union among you, if you will but hear me, and follow my advice. I think it would not be amiss, if every one travelled separately into different countries, so that you might not meet each other: and as you know I am very curious, and delight in every thing that is rare and singular, I promise my niece in marriage to him that shall bring me the most extraordinary rarity; so that as chance may lead you to form your own judgment of the singularity of the things which you bring, by the comparison you make of them, you will have no difficulty to do yourselves justice by yielding the preference to him who has deserved it; and for the expense of travelling, I will give each of you a sum agreeable to your birth, and the purchase of the rarity you shall go in search after; which shall not be laid out in an equipage and attendants, which by discovering who you are, would not only deprive you of the liberty to acquit yourselves of the inquiry you go about, but prevent your observing those things which merit your attention, and may be most useful to you.

As the three princes were always submissive and obedient to the sultan’s will, and each flattered himself fortune might prove favourable to him, and give him the possession of the princess Nouronnihar, they all consented to it. The sultan gave them the money he promised them; and that very day they issued orders for the preparations for their travels, and took leave of the sultan, that they might be ready to set out early next morning. They all went out at the same gate of the city, each dressed like a merchant, attended by a trusty officer, dressed like a slave, and all well mounted and equipped. They went the first day’s journey together, and slept at the first inn, where the road divided into three different tracks. At night when they were at supper together, they all agreed to travel for a year, and to make that inn their rendezvous; and that the first that came should wait for the rest; that as they had all three taken leave together of the sultan, they might all return together. The next morning by break of day, after they had embraced and wished each other reciprocally good success, they mounted their horses, and took each a different road.

Prince Houssain, the eldest brother, who had heard wonders of the extent, strength, riches, and splendour of the kingdom of Bisnagar, bent his course towards the Indian coast; and, after three months’ travelling, joining himself to different caravans, sometimes over deserts and barren mountains, and sometimes through populous and fertile countries, arrived at Bisnagar, the capital of the kingdom of that name, and the residence of its king. He lodged at a khan appointed for foreign merchants, and having learnt that there were four principal divisions where merchants of all sorts kept their shops, in the midst of which stood the castle, or rather the king’s palace, on a large extent of ground, as the centre of the city, and surrounded with three courts, and each gate distant two leagues from the other, he went to one of these quarters the next day.

Prince Houssain could not view this quarter without admiration. It was large, and divided into several streets, all vaulted and shaded from the sun, and yet very light. The shops were all of the same size and proportion; and all that dealt in the same sort of goods, as well as all the artists, lived in one street.

The multitude of shops stocked with all kinds of merchandises, such as the finest linens from several parts of India, some painted in the most lively colours, and representing men, landscapes, trees, and flowers; silks and brocades, from Persia, China, and other places; porcelain from Japan and China; foot carpets of all sizes; surprised him so much, that he knew not how to believe his own eyes; but when he came to the shops of the goldsmiths and jewellers, (for those two trades were exercised by the same merchants,) he was in a kind of ecstasy, to behold such prodigious quantities of wrought gold and silver, and was dazzled by the lustre of the pearls, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and other precious stones exposed to sale. But if he was amazed at seeing so many riches in one place, he was much more surprised when he came to judge of the wealth of the whole kingdom, by considering, that except the bramins, and ministers of the idols, who profess a life retired from worldly vanity, there was not an Indian man or woman, through the extent of that kingdom, but wore necklaces, bracelets, and ornaments about their legs and feet, made of pearls, and other precious stones, which appeared with the greater lustre, as they were blacks, which colour admirably set off their brilliancy.

Another thing prince Houssain particularly admired, was the great number of rose sellers, who crowded the streets; for the Indians are so great lovers of that flower, that not one will stir without a nosegay of them in his hand, or a garland of them on his head; and the merchants keep them in pots in the shops, so that the air of the whole quarter, however large, is perfectly perfumed.

After prince Houssain had run through that quarter, street by street, his thoughts fully employed on the riches he had seen, he was very much tired; which a merchant perceiving, civilly invited him to sit down in his shop. He accepted his offer; but had not been seated long before he saw a crier pass by with a piece of carpet on his arm, about six feet square, and cry it at thirty purses. The prince called to the crier, and asked to see the carpeting, which seemed to him to be valued at an exorbitant price, not only for the size of it, but the meanness of the stuff. When he had examined it well, he told the crier, that he could not comprehend how so small a piece of carpeting, and of so indifferent an appearance, could be set at so high a price.

The crier, who took him for a merchant, replied, Sir, if this price seems so extravagant to you, your amazement will be greater when I tell you I have orders to raise it to forty purses, and not to part with it under. Certainly, answered prince Houssain, it must have something very extraordinary in it, which I know nothing of. You have guessed it, sir, replied the crier, and will own it when you come to know, that whoever sits on this piece of carpeting may be transported in an instant wherever he desires to be, without being stopped by any obstacle. [105]

At this discourse of the crier, the prince of the Indies, considering that the principal motive of his travel was to carry the sultan his father home some singular rarity, thought that he could not meet with any which would give more satisfaction. If the carpeting, said he to the crier, has the virtue you assign it, I shall not think it too much; but shall make you a present besides. Sir, replied the crier, I have told you the truth; and it will be an easy matter to convince you of it, as soon as you have made the bargain for forty purses, on condition I show you the experiment. But as I suppose you have not so much with you, and to receive them I must go with you to the khan where you lodge, with the leave of the master of the shop, we will go into the back shop, and I will spread the carpeting; and when we have both sat down, and you have formed the wish to be transported into your apartment at the khan, if we are not transported thither it shall be no bargain, and you shall be at your liberty. As to your present, as I am paid for my trouble by the seller, I shall receive it as a favour, and be very much obliged to you for it.

On the credit of the crier, the prince accepted the conditions, and concluded the bargain; and having obtained the master’s leave, they went into his back-shop: they both sat down on the carpeting; and as soon as the prince formed his wish to be transported into his apartment at the khan, he presently found himself and the crier there in the same situation; and as he wanted not a more sufficient proof of the virtue of the carpeting, he counted to the crier forty purses of gold, and gave him twenty pieces for himself.

In this manner prince Houssain became the possessor of the carpeting, and was overjoyed that at his arrival at Bisnagar he had found so rare a piece, which he never doubted would gain the possession of Nouronnihar. In short, he looked upon it as an impossible thing for the princes, his younger brothers, to meet with any thing to be compared with it. It was in his power, by sitting on this carpeting, to be at the place of rendezvous that very day; but as he was obliged to stay there for his brothers, as they had agreed, and as he was curious to see the king of Bisnagar and his court, and to inform himself of the strength, laws, customs, and religion of the kingdom, he chose to make a longer abode there, and to spend some months in satisfying his curiosity.

It was a custom of the king of Bisnagar to give all strange merchants access to his person once a week; and by that title prince Houssain, who would not be known, saw him often: and as this prince was handsome, witty, and extremely polite, he easily distinguished himself among the merchants, and was preferred before them all by the sultan, who addressed himself to him, to be informed of the person of the sultan of the Indies, and of the government, strength, and riches of his dominions.

The rest of his time the prince spent in seeing what was most remarkable in and about the city; and among those things which were most worthy of admiration, he visited a temple of idols, remarkable for being built all of brass. It was ten cubits square, and fifteen high; and the greatest ornament to it was an idol of the height of a man, of massy gold; its eyes were two rubies, set so artificially, that it seemed to look at those who looked at it, on which side soever they turned: besides this, there was another not less curious, in a village, in the midst of a plain of about ten acres, which was a delicious garden full of roses and the choicest flowers, surrounded with a small wall breast high, to keep the cattle out. In the midst of this plain was raised a terrace, a man’s height, so nicely paved, that the whole pavement seemed to be but one single stone. A temple was erected in the middle of this terrace, with a dome about fifty cubits high, which might be seen for several leagues round. It was thirty cubits long, and twenty broad, built of red marble, highly polished. The inside of the dome was adorned with three rows of fine paintings, in good taste; and there was not a place in the whole temple but what was embellished with paintings, basso relievos, and figures of idols from top to bottom.

Every night and morning there were superstitious ceremonies performed in this temple, which were always succeeded by sports, concerts of music, dancing, singing, and feasts. The ministers of the temple, and the inhabitants of the place, had nothing to subsist on but the offerings of pilgrims, who came in crowds from the most distant parts of the kingdom to perform their vows.

Prince Houssain was also spectator of a solemn feast, which was celebrated every year at the court of Bisnagar, at which all the governors of provinces, commanders of fortified places, all governors and judges of towns, and the bramins most celebrated for their learning, were obliged to be present; and some lived so far off that they were four months in coming. This assembly, composed of such innumerable multitudes of Indians, met in a plain of vast extent, was a glorious sight, as far as the eye could reach. In the centre of this plain was a square of great length and breadth, closed on one side by a large scaffolding of nine stories, supported by forty pillars, raised for the king and his court, and those strangers he admitted to audience once a week; within it was adorned and furnished magnificently; and on the outside were painted fine landscapes, wherein all sorts of beasts, birds, and insects, even flies and gnats, were drawn very naturally. Other scaffolds of at least four or five stories, and painted almost all alike, formed the other three sides. But what was more particular in these scaffolds, they could turn them, and make them change their situation and decorations every hour.

On each side of the square, at some little distance from each other, were ranged 1000 elephants, sumptuously harnessed, and each having upon his back a square wooden castle, finely gilt, in which were musicians and stage-players. The trunks, ears, and bodies of these elephants were painted with cinnabar and other colours, representing grotesque figures.

But what prince Houssain most of all admired, as a proof of the industry, address, and inventive genius of the Indians, was to see the largest of these elephants stand with his four feet on a post fixed into the earth, and standing out of it above two feet, playing and beating time with his trunk to the music. Besides this, he admired another elephant as big as this, set upon a board, which was laid across a strong beam about ten feet high, with a great weight at the other end, which balanced him, while he kept time, by the motions of his body and trunk, with the music, as well as the other elephant. The Indians, after having fastened on the counterpoise, had drawn the other end of the board down to the ground, and made the elephant get upon it.