Part 12

Madam, said the calender, (always speaking to Zobeide,) as we had ten horses laden with baggage and other presents, that I was to carry to the Indian sultan from the king my father, and my retinue was but small, you may easily judge that these robbers came boldly up to us; and not being in a posture to make any opposition, we told them, that we were ambassadors belonging to the sultan of the Indies, and hoped they would attempt nothing contrary to that respect that is due to them, thinking by this means to save our equipage and our lives: but the robbers most insolently replied, For what reason would you have us show any respect to the sultan your master? We are none of his subjects, nor are we upon his territories. Having spoken thus, they surrounded and fell upon us: I defended myself as long as I could; but finding myself wounded, and seeing the ambassador, with his servants and mine, lying on the ground, I made use of what strength was yet remaining in my horse, who was also very much wounded, and separated myself from the crowd, and rode away as fast as he could carry me; but he happening all of a sudden to fall under me, by weariness and the loss of blood, he fell down dead. I got rid of him in a trice; and finding that I was not pursued, it made me judge the robbers were not willing to quit the booty they had got.

Scheherazade, perceiving day coming on, was obliged to stop here. O sister, said Dinarzade, to-morrow I shall be more diligent, in hopes you will make reparation to the sultan for the loss that his curiosity has sustained through my neglect. Schahriar arose without saying one word, and went to his usual consultation.

FORTY-SECOND NIGHT.

Dinarzade failed not to call the sultaness a good while before day. My dear sister, said she, if you be not asleep, I pray you resume the story of the calender. I consent to it, said Scheherazade; and so continued it in these words:

Here you see me, said the calender, alone, wounded, destitute of help, and in a strange country: I durst not betake myself to the high road, fearing I might fall again into the hands of these robbers. When I had bound up my wound, which was not dangerous, I walked on the rest of the day, and arrived at the foot of a mountain, where I perceived a passage into a cave; I went in, and staid there that night with little satisfaction, after I had eaten some fruits that I gathered by the way.

I continued my journey for several days following, without finding any place of abode; but after a month’s time, I came to a large town, well inhabited, and situated so much the more advantageously, as it was surrounded with several rivers, so that it enjoyed perpetual spring.

The pleasant objects which then presented themselves to my view afforded me some joy, and suspended for a time the sorrow with which I was overwhelmed to find myself in such a condition. My face, hands, and feet, were black and sun-burnt; and, by my long journey, my shoes and stockings were quite worn out, so that I was forced to walk bare-footed; and besides, my clothes were all in rags. I entered into the town to inform myself where I was, and addressed myself to a tailor that was at work in his shop; who, perceiving by my air that I was a person of more note than my outward appearance bespoke me to be, made me sit down by him, and asked me who I was, from whence I came, and what had brought me thither? I did not conceal any thing of all that had befallen me, nor made I any scruple to discover my quality.

The tailor listened with attention to my words; but after I had done speaking, instead of giving me any consolation, he augmented my sorrow. Take heed, said he, how you discover to any person what you have now declared to me; for the prince of this country is the greatest enemy that the king your father has, and he will certainly do you some mischief, when he comes to hear of your being in this city. I made no doubt of the tailor’s sincerity, when he named the prince: but since the enmity which is between my father and him has no relation to my adventures, I must beg your pardon, madam, if I pass it over with silence.

I returned the tailor thanks for his good advice, and showed myself inclinable wholly to follow his counsel, and assured him that his favours should never be forgotten by me. And as he believed I could not but be hungry, he ordered something to be brought for me to eat, and offered me at the same time a lodging in his house, which I accepted. Some days after, finding me pretty well recovered of the fatigue I had endured by a long and tedious journey, and reflecting that most princes of our religion did apply themselves to some art or calling that might be serviceable to them upon occasion, he asked me if I had learned any thing whereby I might get a livelihood, and not be burdensome to any man? I told him that I understood the laws, both divine and human; that I was a grammarian and poet; and above all, that I understood writing perfectly well. By all this, said he, you will not be able in this country to purchase yourself one morsel of bread: nothing is of less use here than those sciences; but if you will be advised by me, said he, dress yourself in a labourer’s habit; and since you appear to be strong, and of a good constitution, you shall go into the next forest, and cut fire wood, which you may bring to the market to be sold: and I can assure you it will turn to so good an account that you may live by it, without dependance upon any man; and by this means you will be in a condition to wait for the favourable minute, when Heaven shall think fit to dispel those clouds of misfortune that thwart your happiness, and oblige you to conceal your birth: I will take care to supply you with a rope and a hatchet.

The fear of being known, and the necessity I was under of getting a livelihood, made me agree to this proposal, notwithstanding all the meanness and hardships that attended it. The day following the tailor bought 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 brought me half a piece of gold, which is the money of that country: for though the wood is not far distant from the town, yet it was very scarce there, by reason that few or none would be at the trouble to go and cut it. I gained a good sum of money in a short time, and repaid my tailor what he had advanced for me.

I continued this way of living for a whole year; and one day, that by chance I was gone farther into the wood than usual, I happened to light on a very pleasant place, where I began to cut down wood; 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, saw stairs, which I went down, with my axe in my band.

When I was come to the bottom of the stairs, I found myself in a large palace, which put me into great consternation, because 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 massy gold; but seeing a lady of a noble and free air, and extremely beautiful, coming towards me, my eyes were taken off from beholding any other object but her alone.

Here Scheherazade stopped, because day appeared: but Dinarzade said, Dear sister, I confess I am extremely well pleased with what you have told us to-day, and I imagine that the following part must be no less surprising. --You are not mistaken, said the sultaness, for the remainder of this story of the second calender is better worth my ford the sultan’s attention, than all that he has hitherto heard. --I doubt that, said Schahriar, as he was getting up; but we shall know that to-morrow.

FORTY-THIRD NIGHT.

The sultaness being awakened as usual, gave the sultan an account that the second calender continued his story thus: Being desirous, said he, to spare the lady the trouble to come to me, I made haste to meet her: and as I was saluting her with a low bow, 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 these twenty-five years, and never saw any man but yourself during that time.

Her great beauty, which had already smitten me, and the sweetness and civility wherewith she received me, emboldened me to say to her, Madam, before I have the honour to satisfy your curiosity, give me leave to tell you, that I am infinitely satisfied 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 to make you also more happy than you are. I gave her a true account by what strange accident she saw me, the son of a king, in such a condition as then I appeared in her presence; and how fortune directed that I should discover the entrance into that magnificent prison where I had found her, but, 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 great Epitimarus, king of the isle of Ebene, so called from that precious wood it produces in abundance; I am the princess his daughter.

The king, my father, had chosen for me a husband, a prince that was my cousin: but, on my wedding-night, in the midst of the rejoicing that was in the court and the capital city of the kingdom of the isle of Ebene, before I was given to my husband, a genie took me away. I fainted at the same moment, and lost my senses; but when I came to myself again, I found myself in this place. I was a long time inconsolable, but time and necessity have accustomed me to see and receive the genie. Twenty-five years, as I told you before, I have continued in this place; where, I must confess, I have every thing that I can wish for necessary to life, and also every thing that can satisfy a princess fond of dress and fashions.

Every ten days, said the princess, the genie comes hither to lie 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 came to know how unfaithful he was to her. 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 keep me company, 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 it, to refuse so obliging a proffer. The princess made me go into a bagnio, which was the most handsome, the most commodious, and the most sumptuous that could be imagined; 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 look worthy to be in her company. We sat down on a sofa covered with rich tapestry, with cushions to lean upon of the rarest Indian brocade; and some time after she covered a table with several dishes of delicate meats. We ate together, and passed the remaining part of the day with much satisfaction; and at night she received me to her bed.

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, she drank some part of it with me. When my head grew hot with the agreeable liquor, Fair princess, said I, you have been too long thus buried alive: follow me, and enjoy the real day, from which you have been deprived so many years, and abandon this false light that you have here. --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 that ever was 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 a means, said she, to rum 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.

At these words Scheherazade perceiving day, grew silent, and the sultan got up, not doubting but the breaking of the talisman had some remarkable event, and therefore resolved to hear that story to the end.

FORTY-FOURTH NIGHT.

Dinarzade being awaked somewhat before day, said to the sultaness, Sister, if you are not asleep, I pray you acquaint us with what happened in the subterranean palace after the prince had broken the talisman. --I am just going to relate it, said Scheherazade. Upon which, resuming her narrative, she continued her discourse thus, in the person of the second calender.

The talisman was no sooner broken, but the palace began to shake, and was ready to fall, with a hideous noise like thunder, accompanied with flashes of lightning, and a great 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 in a fright, and without any concern for her own misfortune, Alas! you are undone, if you do not escape presently.

I followed her advice, and my fears were so great, that I forgot my hatchet and cords. I was scarcely got to the stairs by which I came down, 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 qualm at my stomach, 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 a liar: 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 and shouts of the princess, so cruelly abused: I had already laid off the suit she made me put on, and taken my own, which I had laid on the stairs the day before, when I came out of the bagnio: I made haste up stairs, 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 become 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 very much, by reason 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 thanked for your return. I thanked him for his zeal and affection, but not a word durst I say of what had passed, nor 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. An old man, said he, whom I do not know, brings me here your hatchet and cords, which he found in his way, as he tells me, and understood by your comrades that go along with you to the woods, that you lodge here; come out and speak to him, for he will deliver them to none but yourself.

At this discourse I changed colour, and fell a trembling. While the tailor was asking me the reason, my chamber door opened at once, and the old man, having no patience to stay, appeared to us with my hatchet and cords. This man 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, son of the daughter of Eblis, prince of genies: is not this your hatchet? said he, speaking to me, and are not these your cords?

Here Scheherazade saw day, and left off. The sultan found the story of the second calender too curious not to desire that he might hear it out; and therefore got up, with an intention to hear the rest next morning.

FORTY-FIFTH NIGHT.

The day following, Dinarzade called upon the sultaness, My dear sister, pray tell us how the genie treated the prince. --I wish to satisfy your curiosity, replied Scheherazade; and then resumed her story of the second calender thus:

The calender continuing his discourse to Zobeide, Madam, said he, 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 perceived I was got so high without being able to take notice of the way he carried me in so few moments. He descended again in like manner to the earth, which on a sudden he caused to open with a stroke of his foot, and so sunk down at once, where 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 dost not know him? --If I do not know him, said the princess, would you have me make a lie on purpose to ruin him? --Oh then, said the genie, pulling out a scimitar, and presenting it to the princess, if you never saw him before, take the scimitar and cut off his head. --Alas! replied the princess, how is it possible that I should execute what you would force me to do? 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 shown myself as faithful to the princess as she was to me, who had been the cause of her misfortunes; therefore I answered the genie, How should I know her, when I never saw her till now? --If it be so, said he, take the scimitar, and cut off her head: on this condition I will set thee at liberty, for then I shall be convinced that thou didst never see her till this very moment, as thou sayest. --With all my heart, replied I, and took the scimitar in my hand.

But sir, said Scheherazade, it is day, and I ought not to abuse your majesty’s patience. --These are wonderful events, said the sultan to himself. We shall know tomorrow if the prince was so cruel as to pay obedience to the genie’s command.

FORTY-SIXTH NIGHT.

When the night was near at an end, Dinarzade said to the sultaness, Sister, if you be not asleep, I would pray you to continue the story which you could not finish yesterday. --I will, says Scheherazade, and without loss of time you shall understand that the second calender went on thus:

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 shown her resolution to sacrifice her life for my sake, I would not refuse to sacrifice mine for her’s. 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 willing I was also to die for her. --Upon this, I stepped back and threw the scimitar on the ground. I shall forever, said I to the genie, be hateful to all mankind, should I be so base as to murder, I do not only say a person whom I do not know, but a lady like this, who is ready to give up the ghost: 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 outbrave me, and insult my jealousy; but both of you shall know, by the treatment I give you, what I am capable to do. At these words the monster took up the scimitar, and cut off one of her hands, which left her only so much of life as to give me a token with the other that she bid me adieu for ever: 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, Look ye, 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 to transform 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 to mollify 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 told him thus; and I believe, madam, you will not take it ill if I also relate it to you.

The Story of the envious Man, and of him that he envied.