Part 11

The porter, understanding that he might extricate himself from danger by telling his history, spoke first, and said, Madam, you know my history already, and the occasion of my coming hither; so that what I have to say will be very short. My lady, your sister there, called me this morning at the place where I plied as porter to see if any body would employ me, that I might get my bread. I followed her to a vintner’s, then to an herb-shop, then to one that sold oranges, lemons, and citrons, then to a grocer’s, next to a confectioner’s, and a druggist’s, with my basket upon my head as full as I was able to carry it: then I came hither, where you had the goodness to suffer me to continue till now, a favour that I shall never forget. This, madam, is my history.

When the porter had done, Zobeide said to him, Go, march, let us see you no more here. Madam, replied the porter, I beg you to let me stay: it would not be just, after the rest have had the pleasure to hear my history, that I should not also have the satisfaction to hear their’s. And, having spoken thus, sat down at the end of the sofa, glad at heart to have escaped the danger that had frightened him so much. After him, one of the three calenders, directing his speech to Zobeide, as the principal of the three ladies, and the person that commanded him to speak, began his story thus:--

The History of the First Calender, a King’s Son.

Madam, in order to inform you how I lost my right eye, and why I was obliged to put myself into a calender’s habit, I must tell you, that I am a king’s son born: the king my father had a brother that reigned, as he did, over a neighbouring kingdom; and the prince his son and I were nearly of the same age.

After I had learned my exercises, and the king my father granted me such liberty as suited my dignity, I went regularly every year to see my uncle, at whose court I amused myself for a month or two, and then returned again to my father’s. These several journies cemented a firm and intimate friendship between the prince my cousin and myself. The last time I saw him he received me with greater demonstrations of tenderness than he had done at any time before; and, resolving one day to give me a treat, he made great preparations for that purpose. We continued a long time at table; and after we had both supped, Cousin, said he, you will hardly be able to guess how I have been employed since your last departure from hence, now about a year past. I have had a great many men at work to perfect a design I have in my mind: I have caused an edifice to be built, which is now finished so as to be habitable; you will not be displeased if I show it you. But first you are to promise me, upon oath, that you will keep my secret, according to the confidence I repose in you.

The affection and familiarity that subsisted between us would not allow me to refuse him any thing. I very readily took the oath required of me: upon which he said to me, Stay here till I return --I will be with you in a moment; and accordingly he came with a lady in his hand, of singular beauty, and magnificently apparelled. He did not intimate who she was, neither did I think it was polite in me to inquire. We sat down again with this lady at table, where we continued some time, conversing upon indifferent subjects, and now and then filling a glass to each other’s health. After which the prince said, Cousin, we must lose no time; therefore pray oblige me by taking this lady along with you, and conducting her to such a place, where you will see a tomb newly built in form or a dome. You will easily know it, the gate is open; go in there together, and tarry till I come, which will be very speedily.

Being true to my oath, I made no farther inquiry, but took the lady by the hand, and, by the directions which the prince my cousin had given me, I brought her to the place, by the light of the moon, without missing one step of the way. We were scarcely got thither, when we saw the prince following after, carrying a little pitcher with water, a hatchet, and a little bag with plaster.

The hatchet served him to break down the empty sepulchre in the middle of the tomb; he took away the stones one after another, and laid them in a corner. When all this was taken away, he digged up the ground, where I saw a trap-door under the sepulchre, which he lifted up, and underneath perceived the head of a staircase leading into a vault. Then my cousin, speaking to the lady, said, Madam, it is by this way that we are to go to the place I told you of. Upon which the lady drew nigh, and went down, and the prince began to follow; but first, turning to me, said, My dear cousin, I am infinitely obliged to you for the trouble you have taken; I thank you. Adieu. I cried, Dear cousin, what is the meaning of this? Be content, replied he; you may return back the same way you came.

Scheherazade having proceeded thus far, saw day appear, which prevented her proceeding any farther. The sultan got up, but longed very much to know the design of the prince and his lady, who seemed as if they had a mind to bury themselves alive; and impatiently waited for next night, that he might be thoroughly informed of it.

THIRTY-EIGHTH NIGHT.

Dinarzade awaked the sultaness next night as usual, and prayed her to continue the history of the first calender. Schahriar having also signified to the sultaness, that it would be very pleasing to him, she resumed the thread of her discourse as follows:

Madam, said the calender to Zobeide, I could get nothing farther from him, but was obliged to take leave of him. As I returned to my uncle’s palace, the vapours of the wine got up into my head; however, I got to my apartment, and went to bed. Next morning, when I awaked, I began to reflect upon what had happened the night before; and after recollecting all the circumstances of such a singular adventure, I fancied it was nothing but a dream. Full of these thoughts, I sent to see if the prince, my cousin, was ready to receive a visit from me; but when they brought word back that he did not lie in his own lodgings that night, they knew not what was become of him, and were in much trouble about it, I conceived that the strange event of the tomb was but too true. I was sensibly afflicted at it; and stealing away privately from my people, I went to the public burying-place, where there was a vast number of tombs like that which I had seen. I spent the day in viewing them one after another, but could not find that I sought for, and thus I spent four days successively in vain.

You must know, that all this while the king my uncle was absent, and had been hunting for several days; and I grew weary of staying for him, and having prayed his ministers to make my apology to him at his return, I left his palace, and set out towards my father’s court, from which I had never been so long absent before. I left the ministers of the king my uncle in great trouble, to think what was become of the prince my cousin: but because of the oath I had made to keep his secret, I durst not tell them of any thing that I had seen or knew, in order to make them easy.

I arrived at my father’s capital, the usual place of his residence, where, contrary to custom, I found a great guard at the gate of the palace, who surrounded me as I entered. I asked the reason, and the commanding officer replied, Prince, the army has proclaimed the grand vizier king, instead of your father, who is dead, and I take you prisoner in the name of the new king. At these words the guards laid hold of me, and carried me before the tyrant. I leave you to judge, madam, how much I was surprised and grieved.

This rebel vizier had long entertained a mortal hatred against me, for this reason: when I was a stripling, I loved to shoot in a cross-bow; and being one day upon the terrace of the palace with my bow, a bird happening to come by, I shot, but missed him, and the ball by misfortune hit the vizier, who was taking the air upon the terrace of his own house, and put out one of his eyes. As soon as I understood it, I not only sent to make my excuses to him, but did it in person: yet he always resented it, and, as opportunity offered, made me sensible of it: but now, madam, that he had me in his power, he expressed his resentment in a very barbarous manner; for he came to me like a madman, as soon as ever he saw me, and thrusting his finger into my right eye, pulled it out himself; and so, madam, I became blind of one eye.

But the usurper’s cruelty did not stop here; he ordered me to be shut up in a box, and commanded the executioner to carry me into the country, to cut off my head, and leave me to be devoured by the birds of prey. The executioner and another man carried me thus shut up on horseback into the country, in order to execute the usurper’s barbarous sentence; but by my prayers and tears, I moved the executioner’s compassion. Go, said he to me, get you speedily out of the kingdom, and take heed of ever returning to it, otherwise you will certainly meet your own ruin, and be the cause of mine. I thanked him for the favour he did me; and as soon as I was left alone, I comforted myself for the loss of my eye, by considering that I had very narrowly escaped much greater danger.

Being in such a condition, I could not travel far at a time: I retired to remote places while it was day, and travelled as far by night as my strength would allow me. At last I arrived in the dominions of the king my uncle, and came to his capital.

I gave him a long detail of the tragical cause of my return, and of the sad condition he saw me in. Alas! cried he, was it not enough for me to have lost my son, but must I have news also of the death of a brother I loved so dearly, and see you also reduced to this deplorable condition? He told me how uneasy he was, that he could hear nothing of his son, notwithstanding all the diligence and inquiry he could make. At these words the unfortunate father burst out into tears, and was so much afflicted, that, pitying his grief, it was impossible for me to keep the secret any longer; so that, notwithstanding my oath to the prince my cousin, I told the king his father all that I knew.

His majesty listened to me with some sort of comfort; and when I had done, Nephew, said he, what you tell me gives me some hope. I knew that my son ordered that tomb to be built, and I can guess pretty near at the place; and with the idea you still have of it, I fancy we shall find it; but since he ordered it to be built privately, and you took your oath to keep his secret, I am of opinion that we ought to go in quest of it alone, without saying any thing. But he had another reason for keeping the matter secret, which he did not then tell me, and an important reason it was, as you will perceive by the sequel of my discourse.

We disguised ourselves, and went out by a door of the garden which opened into the field, and soon found what we sought for. I knew the tomb, and was the more rejoiced at it, because I had formerly sought it a long time in vain. We entered, and found the iron trap pulled down upon the entrance of the staircase; we had much ado to raise it, because the prince had fastened it on the inside with the water and plaster formerly mentioned, but at last we did get it up.

The king my uncle descended first, I followed, and we went down about fifty steps. When we came to the foot of the stairs, we found a sort of ante-chamber, full of a thick smoke, of an ill scent, which obscured the lamp that gave a very faint light.

From this ante-chamber we came into another, very large, supported by great columns, and lighted by several branched candlesticks. There was a cistern in the middle, and provisions of several sorts standing on one side of it; but we were very much surprised to see nobody. Before us there appeared an high sofa, which we mounted by several steps, and over this, there appeared a very large bed, with the curtains drawn close. The king went up, and opening the curtains, perceived the prince his son and the lady in bed together, but burnt and changed to a coal, as if they had been thrown into a great fire, and taken out again before they were consumed.

But what surprised me most of all was, that though this spectacle filled me with horror, the king my uncle, instead of testifying his sorrow to see the prince his son in such a frightful condition, spit on his face, and said to him with a disdainful air, ‘This is the punishment of this world, but that of the other will last to eternity;’ and not content with this, he pulled off his sandal, and gave his son a great blow on the cheek with it.

But, sir, said Scheherazade, it is day. I am sorry your majesty’s time will not allow you to hear me farther. This story appearing very strange to the sultan, he got up resolved to hear the rest of it next night.

THIRTY-NINTH NIGHT.

Dinarzade being awake sooner than ordinary, called her sister Scheherazade. My good sultaness, said she, I pray you make an end of your story of the first calender, for I am ready to die with impatience till I know the issue of it. Well then, said Scheherazade, you remember how the first calender continued his story to Zobeide: I cannot enough express, madam, said he, how much I was astonished when I saw the king my uncle abuse the prince his son thus after he was dead. Sir, said I, whatever grief this dismal sight is capable to impress upon me, I am forced to suspend it, on purpose to ask your majesty what crime the prince my cousin may have committed, that his corpse should deserve this sort of treatment? --Nephew, replied the king, I must tell you, that my son (who is unworthy of that name) loved his sister from his infancy, as she did him; I did not hinder their growing love, because I did not foresee the pernicious consequence of it. This tenderness increased as they grew in years to such a height, that I dreaded the end of it. At last I applied such remedies as were in my power. I not only gave my son a severe reprimand in private, laying before him the horrible nature of the passion he entertained, and the eternal disgrace he would bring upon my family, if he persisted in such criminal courses, but I also represented the same to my daughter; and I shut her up so close that she could have no conversation with her brother. But that unfortunate creature had swallowed so much of the poison, that all the obstacles which by my prudence I could lay in the way served only to inflame her love.

My son, being persuaded of his sister’s constancy, on pretence of building a tomb, caused this subterraneous habitation to be made, in hopes to find one day or other an opportunity to possess himself of that object which was the cause of his flame, and to bring her hither. He took advantage of my absence to enter by force into the place of his sister’s confinement; but this was a circumstance which my honour would not suffer me to make public: and after so damnable an action, he came and shut himself up with her in this place, which he has supplied, as you see, with all sorts of provisions, that he might enjoy his detestable pleasures for a long time, which ought to be a subject of horror to all the world; but God, who would not suffer such an abomination, has justly punished them both. At these words, he melted into tears, and I joined mine with his.

After a while, casting his eyes upon me, Dear nephew, cried he, embracing me, if I have lost that unworthy son, I shall haply find in you what will better supply his place. The reflections he made on the doleful end of the prince and princess his daughter, made us both fall into a new fit of weeping.

We went up the same stairs again, and departed at last from that dismal place. We let down again the trap-door, and covered it with earth, and such other materials as the tomb was built of, on purpose to hide, as much as lay in our power, so terrible an effect of the wrath of God.

We had not been very long got back to the palace, unperceived by any one, but we heard a confused noise of trumpets, drums, and other instruments of war. We soon understood by the thick cloud of dust, which almost darkened the air, that it was the arrival of a formidable army: and it proved to be the same vizier that had dethroned my father, and usurped his throne, who, with a vast number of troops, was also come to possess himself of that of the king my uncle.

That prince, who then had only his usual guards about him, could not resist so many enemies; they invested the city, and the gates being opened to them without any resistance, they very soon became masters of the city, and broke into the palace where the king my uncle was, who defended himself till he was killed, and sold his life at a dear rate: for my part, I fought as well as I could for a while; but seeing we were forced to submit to a superior power, I thought on my retreat and safety, which I had the good fortune to effect by some back ways, and got to one of the king’s servants, on whose fidelity I could depend.

Being thus surrounded with sorrows, and persecuted by fortune, I had recourse to a stratagem, which was the only means left me to save my life; I caused my beard and eyebrows to be shaved, and putting on a calender’s habit, I passed, unknown by any, out of the city; after that, by degrees, I found it easy to get out of my uncle’s kingdom, by taking the by-roads.

I avoided passing through towns, until I was got into the empire of the mighty governor of the mussulmen, the glorious and renowned Caliph Haroun Alraschid, when I thought myself out of danger; and considering what I was to do, I resolved to come to Bagdad, intending to throw myself at the feet of that monarch, whose generosity is every where applauded. I shall move him to compassion, said I to myself, by the relation of my extraordinary misfortunes, and without doubt he will take pity on such an unfortunate prince, and not suffer me to implore his assistance in vain.

In short, after a journey of several months, I arrived yesterday at the gate of this city, into which I entered about the dusk of the evening; and stopping a little while to revive my spirits, and to consider which way I was to turn, this other calender you see here next to me came up: he saluted me, and I him. --You appear, said I, to be a stranger, as I am. --You are not mistaken, replied he. He had no sooner returned this answer, but that third calender you see there overtook us. He saluted us, and told us he was a stranger newly come to Bagdad; so as brethren we joined together, resolving not to separate from one another.

Meanwhile it was late, and we knew not where to seek a lodging in the city, where we had no acquaintance, and had never been before. But good fortune having brought us before your gate, we made bold to knock, when you received us with so much kindness, that we are incapable to return you suitable thanks. This, madam, said he, is in obedience to your commands, the account I was to give you why I lost my right eye, wherefore my beard and eyebrows are shaved, and how I came to be with you at this present time.

It is enough, said Zobeide; you may retire to what place you think fit. The calender made his excuse, and begged the ladies’ leave to stay till he had heard the relations of his two comrades, whom I cannot, said he, leave with honour; and till he might also hear those of the three other persons that were in company.

Here Scheherazade said to the sultan, Sir, the daylight which you see prevents me from going on with the story of the second calender; but if your majesty will hear it to-morrow, you will find as much satisfaction in that as in the story of the first. To which the sultan gave consent, and so got up, in order to go to council.

FORTIETH NIGHT.

Dinarzade, not doubting to find as much delight in the story of the second calender as she had in the first, failed not to call upon the sultaness before day. If you be not asleep, sister, said she, I would pray you to begin the story that you promised me; upon which Scheherazade addressed her discourse to the sultan, and spoke as follows:

Sir, the story of the first calender seemed very strange to the whole company, but especially to the caliph; who, notwithstanding the slaves stood by with their scimeters in their hands, could not forbear whispering to the vizier --Many stories have I heard, but never any thing that came near the story of the calender. Whilst he was saying this, the second calender began, addressing his speech to Zobeide.

Story of the Second Calender, a King’s Son.

Madam, said he, to obey your command, and to show you by what strange accident I became blind of the right eye, I must of necessity give you the whole account of my life.

I was scarce past my infancy, when the king my father (for you must know, madam, I am a prince by birth) perceived that I was endowed with a great deal of sense, and spared nothing that was proper for improving it: he employed all the men in his dominions that excelled in science and art, to be constantly about me.

No sooner was I able to read and write, but I learnt the Alcoran from the beginning to the end by heart; that admirable book, which contains the foundation, the precepts, and the rules of our religion; and that I might be thoroughly instructed in it, I read the works of the most approved authors, by whose commentaries it had been explained. I added to this study that of all the traditions collected from the mouth of our prophet, by the great men that were contemporary with him. I was not satisfied with the knowledge of all that had any relation to our religion, but made also a particular search into our histories. I made myself perfect in polite learning, in the works of poets, and versification. I applied myself to geography, chronology, and to speak our Arabian language in its purity; not forgetting in the mean time all such exercises as were proper for a prince to understand. But one thing which I was fond of, and succeeded in to admiration, was, to form the characters of our Arabian language, wherein I surpassed all the writing masters of our kingdom that had acquired the greatest reputation.

Fame did me more honour than I deserved, for she not only spread the renown of my talents through all the dominions of the king my father, but carried it as far as the Indian court, whose potent monarch, desirous to see me, sent an ambassador with rich presents, to demand me of my father, who was extremely glad of this embassy for several reasons; he was persuaded that nothing could be more commendable in a prince of my age, than to travel and visit foreign courts; and he was very glad to gain the friendship of the Indian sultan. I departed with the ambassador, but with no great retinue, because of the length and difficulty of the journey.

When we had travelled about a month, we discovered at a distance a great cloud of dust, and under that we saw very soon fifty horsemen, well armed, that were robbers, coming towards us on full gallop. Scheherazade perceiving day, told the sultan of it, who got up; but desiring to know what passed between the fifty men on horseback and the Indian ambassador, this prince was somewhat impatient till next night came.

FORTY-FIRST NIGHT.

It was almost day when Dinarzade awoke next morning, and called to her sister, If you be not asleep, dear sister, I pray you continue the story of the second calender. Scheherazade began in this manner: