Part 10

I avow to you, my lord, that I was enraged at these words; for in truth this cherished lover, this adored mortal, was not at all what you would imagine. He was a black Indian, one of the original inhabitants of this country. I was, as I have said, so enraged at this speech, that I suddenly shewed myself, and addressing myself in a similar manner to the tomb, I said, “Why dost thou not, O tomb, swallow up this monster, who is even disgusting to human nature? or rather, why dost thou not consume both the lover and the mistress?”

I had hardly finished these words, when the queen, who was seated near the black, started up like a fury, “Ah, wretch!” said she to me, “it is you who have been the cause of my grief; think not that I am ignorant of it. I have already dissembled too long. It was your barbarous hand which reduced the object of my affection to the miserable state he now is in. And have you the cruelty to come and insult my despair?” “Yes,” cried I, interrupting her, and transported with anger, “I have chastised the monster as he deserved, and I ought to treat thee in the same manner. I repent not having already done it, for thou hast too long abused my goodness.” In saying this, I drew my scimitar, and raised my arm to punish her. “Moderate thy rage,” said she to me with a disdainful smile, and regarding my motions with a tranquil air, and at the same instant she pronounced some words which I did not understand, and added, “By virtue of my enchantments, I command thee from this moment to become half marble and half man.” Immediately, my lord, I was changed to what you see me; already dead among the living, and living among the dead.

As soon as this cruel enchantress, for she is unworthy of bearing the title of queen, had thus transformed me, and by means of her magic had conveyed me to this apartment, she destroyed my capital, which was both flourishing and well inhabited; she annihilated the palaces, public places, and markets; turned the whole place into a lake, or pond, and rendered the country, as you may perceive, quite a desert. The four sorts of fish, which are in the pond, are four different classes of inhabitants, who professed different religions, and inhabited the capital. The white were Musselmen; the red, Persians, who worship fire; the blue, Christians; and the yellow, Jews; the four little hills were four islands; whence the name of the kingdom originated. I was informed of all this by the enchantress, who herself related the effects of her rage. Nor was even this all; she did not confine her fury to the destruction of my empire, and to my enchantment, for she comes every day and gives me a hundred blows with a thong, made of a bull’s hide, upon my shoulders, from whence she draws blood at every stroke. As soon as she has finished this punishment, she covers me with a thick stuff, made of goat’s hair; and puts a robe of rich brocade over it, not for the sake of honouring, but of mocking me.” In saying this, the young king of the Black Isles could not refrain from tears; and the sultan’s heart was so oppressed, he could not offer him any consolation. The young king then, lifting up his eyes towards Heaven, exclaimed, “I submit, O powerful Creator of all things, to thy judgments, and to the decrees of thy providence. Since it is thy pleasure, I patiently suffer every evil; yet I trust thy infinite goodness will one day recompense me.”

“Inform me,” cried the sultan, affected by the recital of so strange a story, and eager to revenge his injuries, “inform me where this perfidious enchantress resides, and where also is this infamous paramour, whom she has entombed before his death. “My lord,” answered the prince, “he, as I have before mentioned, is at the Palace of Tears, in a tomb, formed like a dome; and this palace has a communication with the castle on the side towards the entrance. I cannot exactly tell you to what spot the enchantress has retired; but she visits her lover every day at sun-rise, after having inflicted on me the sanguinary punishment I related: and you may easily judge, that I cannot defend myself from such great cruelty. She always brings with her a sort of liquor, which is the only thing that is able to keep him alive; and she never ceases to complain of the silence which he has invariably kept since he was wounded.”

“No one, prince,” replied the sultan, “deserves greater commisseration than yourself; nor can any one be more sensible of your misfortune than I am. A more extraordinary fate can never have happened to any; and they, who may hereafter compose your history, will be able to relate an event the most surprising of any hitherto recorded. One thing only is wanting to complete it, and that is for you to be revenged: nor will I leave any thing untried to accomplish it.” The sultan having first informed the prince who he was, and the reason of his entering the castle, consulted with him on the best means of affording him a just revenge; and a plan occurred to the sultan, which he directly communicated. They then agreed upon the steps it was necessary to take, in order to insure success; and they deferred the execution of the plan till the following day. In the mean time, as the night was far advanced, the sultan took some repose. The young prince, as usual, passed his time in continual watchfulness; for he was unable to sleep since his enchantment: the hopes, however slight, which he cherished of being soon relieved from his sufferings constantly occupied his thoughts.

The sultan rose as soon as it was day; and having concealed his robe and external dress, which might incumber him, he went to the Palace of Tears. He found it illuminated by a multitude of torches of white wax; and a delicious perfume issuing from various beautiful golden vases, regularly arranged, struck his senses. As soon as he perceived the bed on which the black was laid, he drew his sabre, and destroyed, without resistance, the little remains of life in this wretch. He then dragged the body into the court of the castle, and threw it into a well. Having done this he returned, and laid down in the black’s place, hiding his sabre under the covering, and remained there in order to complete what he projected. The enchantress arrived soon after: her first business was to go into the apartment where the king of the Black Isles, her husband, was. She directly stripped him, and, with unexampled barbarity, began to inflict upon his shoulders the accustomed number of blows. The poor prince filled the whole building with his cries, and conjured her in the most pathetic manner to have pity on him: the wretch, however, ceased not to beat him till she had completed the hundred. “Thou hadst no compassion on my lover,” said she, “expect therefore none from me.” As soon as she had finished, she threw the coarse garment made of goat-skin over him, and then the robe of brocade. She next went to the Palace of Tears; and, on entering, began to renew her lamentations. When she approached the couch where she thought her lover always remained, she exclaimed, “What cruelty to have thus destroyed the tranquil joy of so tender and fond a mistress as I am! Cruel prince, thou reproachest me with being inhuman, when I make thee feel the effects of my resentment, and has not thy barbarity far exceeded my revenge? Hast thou not, traitor, in destroying almost the existence of so adorable an object, equally destroyed mine? Alas!” added she, addressing herself to the sultan, whom she took for the black, “will you always, light of my life, preserve this silence? Are you resolved to let me die without the consolation of hearing you again declare you love me. Utter, at least, one word, I conjure you.”

The sultan then, pretending to awake from a profound sleep, and imitating the language of the blacks, answered the queen in a solemn tone. “There is no strength or power, but in God alone, who is all-powerful.” At these words the enchantress, to whom they were unexpected, gave a violent scream through excess of joy. “My dear lord,” she exclaimed, “do you deceive me: is what I hear true? Is it really you who speak?”--“Wretched woman,” replied the sultan, “are you worthy of an answer?”--“What!” cried the queen, “do you reproach me?”--“The cries, the tears, the groans of thy husband,” answered the supposed black, “whom you every day beat with so much indignity and barbarity, continually prevent my rest: I should have been cured long since, and recovered the use of my tongue, if you had disenchanted him. This, and this only, is the cause of my silence, and of which you so severely complain.”--“Well then,” said the enchantress, “to satisfy you, I am ready to do what you command: do you wish him to reassume his first form?”--“Yes,” replied the sultan, “and hasten to set him free, that I may no longer be disturbed by his cries.”

The queen immediately went out from the Palace of Tears; and taking a vessel of water, she pronounced over it some words, which caused it instantly to boil, as if it had been placed on a fire. She proceeded to the apartment, where the young king, her husband, was; “If the creator of all things,” said she, throwing the water over him, “hath formed thee as thou now art, or if he is angry with thee, do not change; but if thou art in that state by virtue of my inchantment, reassume thy natural form, and become the same as before.” She had hardly concluded, when the prince, recovering his first shape, rose up with all possible joy, and returned thanks to God. “Go,” said the enchantress, addressing him, “hasten from this castle, and never return, lest it should cost you your life.” --The young king yielded to necessity, and left the queen without replying a word. He concealed himself in some secure spot, where he impatiently waited the completion of the sultan’s design, the commencement of which had been so successful.

The enchantress then returned to the Palace of Tears; and on entering said to him whom she supposed to be the black, “I have done, my love, what you ordered me; nothing, therefore, now prevents your getting up, and affording me the satisfaction I have so long been deprived of.” The sultan, still imitating the language of the blacks, answered in rather a sharp tone, “What you have yet done is not sufficient for my cure. You have destroyed only a part of the evil: but you must strike at the root.”--“What do you mean by the root, my amiable black?” answered she.--“What can I mean,” he cried, “but the city and its inhabitants, and the four isles, which you have destroyed by your magic? Every day towards midnight the fish constantly raise their heads out of the pond, and call for vengeance against us both. This is the real cause of the delay of my recovery. Go quickly and re-establish every thing in its former state; and on thy return I will give you my hand, and you shall assist me in rising.”

The queen, exulting in the expectations these words produced, joyfully exclaimed, “You shall soon then, my life, recover your health; for I will instantly go and do what you have commanded.” In fact she went the very next moment, and when she arrived on the border of the pond, she took a little water in her hand and scattered it about. She had no sooner done so, and pronounced certain words over the fish and the pond, than the city instantly appeared. The fish became men, women, and children; Mahometans, Christians, Persians, and Jews; freemen or slaves; in short, each took his natural form. The houses and shops became filled with inhabitants, who found every thing in the same situation and order in which they were previous to the change. The officers and attendants of the sultan, who were very numerous, and who were encamped directly where the great place, or square, happened to be, were astonished at finding themselves on a sudden in the midst of a large, well-built, and inhabited city.

But to return to the enchantress: as soon as she had completed this change she hastened back to the Palace of Tears, to enjoy the reward of her labours. “My dear lord,” she cried on entering, “I am returned to participate in the pleasure of your renewed health, for I have done all you have required of me; arise, and give me your hand.”--“Come near then,” said the sultan, still imitating the manner of the blacks. She did so. “Nearer still,” he cried. She obeyed. Then raising himself up, he seized her so suddenly by the arms, that she had no opportunity of recognizing who it was; and with one stroke of his sabre, he separated her body in two, which fell on each side of him. Having done this, he left the carcase in the same place, and went to seek for the prince of the Black Isles, who waited with the greatest impatience for him. “Rejoice, prince,” said he, embracing him, “you have nothing more to fear; for your cruel enemy no longer exists.”

The young prince thanked the sultan in a way which proved that his heart was truly penetrated with gratitude; and as a reward, for the important service he had rendered him, he wished him a long life and the greatest prosperity. “May you, too, live happily and at peace in your capital,” replied the sultan to him, “and should you hereafter have a wish to visit mine, which is so near, I shall receive you with the truest pleasure; and you shall be as highly honoured and respected as in your own.”--“Powerful monarch,” answered the prince, “to whom I am so much indebted, do you think you are very near your capital?”--“Certainly,” replied the sultan, “I think so, at least that I am not more than four or five hours journey.”--“It is a whole year’s journey,” added the prince, “although I believe you might come here in the time you mention, because mine was enchanted; but since it is no longer so, things are changed. This, however, shall not prevent my following you, were it necessary to go to the very extremity of the earth. You are my liberator; and to shew you every mark of my gratitude as long as I live, I shall freely accompany you and resign my kingdom without regret.”

The sultan was extremely surprised to find that he was so distant from his dominions, and could not comprehend how it happened; but the young king of the Black Isles convinced him so fully of the possibility, that he no longer doubted it.--“It matters not then,” resumed the sultan; “the trouble of returning to my dominions will be sufficiently recompensed by the satisfaction arising from having assisted you, and from having acquired a son in you; for, as you will do me the honor to accompany me, I shall look upon you as such; and having no children of my own, I from this moment make you my heir and successor.”--This interview between the sultan and the king of the Black Isles was terminated by the most affectionate embraces; after which the young prince prepared for his journey. In three weeks he was ready to depart, greatly regretted by his court and subjects, who received from his hands a near relation of his as their king.

At length the sultan and the prince set out with a hundred camels laden with inestimable riches, which had been selected from the treasury of the young king, who was accompanied by fifty handsome nobles, well mounted and equipped. Their journey was a pleasant one; and when the sultan, who had dispatched couriers to give notice of his arrival, and relate the reason of his delay, drew near to his capital, the principal officers, whom he had left there, came to receive him; and to assure him, that his long absence had not occasioned any change in his empire. The inhabitants, also, crowded to meet him, and welcome him with acclamations and every demonstration of joy, which lasted for several days.

The day after his arrival, the sultan assembled his courtiers, and gave them an ample detail of the occurrences, which, contrary to his wishes, had delayed his return: he then declared to them his intention of adopting the king of the four Black Isles, who had left a large kingdom to accompany and live with him; and at last, to reward the fidelity with which they served him, he bestowed presents on all, according to their rank and station.

With regard to the fisherman, as he had been the first cause of the deliverance of the young prince, the sultan overwhelmed him with rewards, and made him and his family happy and comfortable for the rest of their days.

THE HISTORY OF THREE CALENDERS, SONS OF KINGS, AND OF FIVE LADIES OF BAGDAD.

During the reign of the Caliph Haroun Alraschid there lived at Bagdad a porter, who, notwithstanding his low and laborious profession, was nevertheless a man of wit and humour. One morning, when he was standing with a large basket before him, in a place where he usually waited for employment, a young lady of a fine figure, covered with a large muslin veil, came up to him, and said with a pleasing air, “Porter, take up your basket and follow me.” The porter, delighted with these few words, pronounced in so agreeable a manner, put it on his head and went after the lady, saying, “Oh happy day! Oh happy meeting!”

The lady stopped at a closed door, and knocked. A venerable Christian, with a long white beard, opened it, and she put some money into his hands without saying a single word; but the Christian, who knew what she wanted, went in, and shortly after brought out a large jar of excellent wine. “Take this jar,” said the lady to the porter, “and put it in the basket.” This being done, she desired him to follow her, and walked on; the porter still exclaiming, “Oh day of happiness! Oh day of agreeable surprise and joy!”

The lady stopped at the shop of a seller of fruits and flowers, where she chose various sorts of apples, apricots, peaches, lemons, citrons, oranges, myrtles, sweet basil, lilies, jessamine, and some other sweet-scented flowers and plants. She told the porter to put all those things in his basket, and follow her. Passing by a butcher’s shop, she ordered five and twenty pounds of his finest meat to be weighed, which was also put into the porter’s basket.

At another shop she bought some capers, tarragon, small cucumbers, parsley, and other herbs, pickled in vinegar: at another, some pistachios, walnuts, hazel-nuts, almonds, kernels of the pine, and other similar fruits: at a third she purchased all sorts of almond patties. The porter, in putting all these things into his basket, which began to fill it, said; “My good lady, you should have told me, that you intended buying so many things, and I would have provided a horse, or rather a camel, to carry them. I shall have more than I can lift, if you add much to what is already here.” The lady laughed at this speech, and again desired him to follow her.

She then went into a druggist’s, where she furnished herself with all sorts of sweet-scented waters, with cloves, nutmeg, pepper, ginger, a large piece of ambergris, and several other Indian spices, which completely filled the porter’s basket, whom she still ordered to follow her. He did so, till they arrived at a magnificent house, the front of which was ornamented with handsome columns, and at the entrance was a door of ivory. Here they stopped, and the lady gave a gentle knock at the door. While they waited for it to be opened, the porter’s mind was filled with a thousand different thoughts. He was surprised that a lady dressed as this was, should perform the office of housekeeper, for he conceived it impossible for her to be a slave. Her air was so noble, that he supposed her free, if not a person of distinction. He was wishing to ask her some questions concerning her quality and situation, but just as he was preparing to speak, another female who opened the door, appeared to him so beautiful, that he was silent through astonishment, or rather he was so struck with the brilliancy of her charms, that he was very near letting his basket and all that was in it fall; so much did this object make him forget himself. He thought he had never seen any beauty in his whole life that equalled her who was before him. The lady who had brought the porter, observed the disturbed state of his mind, and well knew the cause of it. This discovery diverted her; and she took so much pleasure in examining the countenance of the porter, that she forgot the door was open. “Come in, sister,” said the beautiful portress, “what do you wait for? Don’t you see that this poor man is so heavily laden he can hardly bear it?”

As soon as she and the porter were come in, the lady who opened the door shut it; and all three, after passing through a handsome vestibule, crossed a very spacious court, surrounded by an open gallery, or corridor, which communicated with many magnificent apartments, all on the same floor. At the bottom of this court there was a sort of cabinet, richly furnished, with a throne of amber in the middle, supported by four ebony pillars, enriched with diamonds and pearls of an extraordinary size, and covered with red satin, relieved by a bordering of Indian gold, of admirable workmanship. In the middle of the court there was a large basin lined with white marble, and full of the finest transparent water, which rushed from the mouth of a lion of gilt bronze.

Although the porter was so laden it did not prevent him from admiring the magnificence of this house, and the neatness and regularity with which every thing was arranged; but what principally attracted his attention, was a third lady, who appeared still more beautiful than the second, and who was seated on the throne before mentioned. As soon as she perceived the other two females, she came down from the throne, and advanced towards them. The porter conjectured, from the looks and behaviour of the two first ladies, that this was the principal personage; and he was not mistaken. This lady was called Zobeidè; she who opened the door was called Safiè, and the name of the one who had been for the provisions, was Aminè.

“You do not, my dear sisters,” said Zobeidè, accosting the other two, “perceive that this man is almost fainting under his load? Why do you not discharge him?” Aminè and Safiè then took the basket, one before and the other behind; Zobeidè also assisted, and all three put it on the ground. They then began to empty it, and when they had done, the agreeable Aminè took out her purse, and rewarded the porter very liberally. He was well satisfied with what he received, and was taking up his basket to go, but could not muster sufficient resolution, so much was he delighted by the sight of three such rare beauties, who now appeared to him equally charming; for Aminè had also taken off her veil, and he found her quite as handsome as the others. The thing that puzzled him most, was not seeing any man in the house; and yet a great part of the provisions he brought, such as dried fruits, cakes, and sweetmeats, were most adapted to those who wish to drink much and feast.

Zobeidè at first thought the porter was waiting to get breath, but observing him remain a long time, she asked him what he waited for, and whether he was sufficiently paid. “Give him something more,” added she, speaking to Aminè, “and let him be satisfied.” --“Madam,” answered the porter, “it is not that which detains me; I am already almost too well paid for my trouble. I know very well that I am guilty of an incivility in staying where I ought not; but I hope you will have the goodness to pardon it, from the astonishment I experience in observing no man among three ladies of such uncommon beauty. A party of ladies without men is as melancholy and stupid as a party of men without ladies.” To this he added some pleasantries in proof of what he advanced. He did not forget to repeat what they say at Bagdad, that there was no comfort at table unless there were four; and he concluded by saying that as they were three, they had the greatest want of a fourth.