Part 15

The monarch paid no attention to any of the writing, except mine, which pleased him so much, that he said to the officers, “Take the finest and most richly caparisoned horse from my stable, and also the most magnificent robe of brocade possible, in order to adorn the person of him who has written these six varieties, and bring him to me.” At this order of the sultan the officers could not forbear laughing, which irritated him so much, that he would have punished them, had they not said, “We entreat your majesty to pardon us; these were not written by a man, but by an ape.”--“What do you say?” cried the sultan, “are not these wonderful specimens of writing from the hand of a man?”--“No sire,” answered one of the officers, “we assure your majesty that we saw an ape write them.” This matter appeared too wonderful to the sultan, for him not to be desirous of seeing me. “Do as I command you,” said he to them, “and hasten to bring me this extraordinary ape.”

The officers returned to the vessel, and showed their order to the captain, who said the sultan should be obeyed. They immediately dressed me in a robe of very rich brocade, and carried me on shore; where they set me on the horse of the sultan, who was waiting in his palace for me, with a considerable number of people belonging to the court, whom he had assembled to do me the more honour. The march commenced: while the gate, the streets, public buildings, windows, and terraces of both the palaces and houses, were all filled with an immense number of persons of every age and sex, whom curiosity had drawn together from all quarters of the town to see me: for the report was spread in an instant, that the sultan had chosen an ape for his grand vizier. After having afforded so uncommon a sight to all these people, who ceased not to express their surprise by violent and continued shouting, I arrived at the sultan’s palace.

I found the prince seated on his throne, in the midst of the nobles of his court; I made him three low bows, and the last time I prostrated myself, kissed the earth by his feet. I then got up, and seated myself exactly like an ape. No part of the assembly could withhold their admiration; nor did they comprehend how it was possible for an ape to be so well acquainted with the form and respect attached to sovereigns; nor was the sultan the least astonished. The whole ceremony of audience would have been complete, if I had only been able to add speech to my actions; but apes never speak; and the advantage of having once been a man, did not now afford me that privilege.

The sultan took leave of the courtiers, and there remained with him only the chief of his eunuchs, a little young slave, and myself. He went from the hall of audience into his own apartment, where he ordered some food to be served up. While he was at table, he made me a sign to come and eat with him. As a mark of my obedience, I got up, kissed the ground, and then seated myself at table; I eat, however, with much modesty and forbearance.

Before they cleared the table, I perceived a writing-desk, which, by a sign, I requested them to bring me: as soon as I had got it, I wrote upon a large peach some lines of my own composition, which evinced my gratitude to the sultan. His astonishment at reading them, after I presented the peach to him, was still greater than before. When the things were taken away, they brought a particular sort of liquor, of which he desired them to give me a glass. I drank it, and then wrote some fresh verses, which explained the state in which I now found myself after so many sufferings. The sultan, having read these also, exclaimed, “A man who should be capable of doing thus, would be one of the greatest men that ever lived.” The prince then ordered a chess-board to be brought, and asked me, by a sign, if I could play, and would engage with him. I kissed the ground, and putting my hand on my head, I shewed him I was ready to receive that honour. He won the first game, but the second and third were in my favour; perceiving that this gave him some little pain, I wrote a stanza to amuse him, and presented it to him; in which I said, that two powerful armed bodies fought the whole day with the greatest ardour, but that they made peace in the evening, and passed the night together very tranquilly upon the field of battle.

All these circumstances appearing to the sultan much beyond what he had ever seen or heard of the address and ingenuity of apes, he wished to have more witnesses of these prodigies. He had a daughter, who was called the Queen of Beauty, he therefore desired the chief of the eunuchs to fetch her. “Go,” said he to him, “and bring your lady here, I wish her to partake of the pleasure I enjoy.” The chief of the eunuchs went, and brought back the princess with him. On entering, her face was uncovered, but she was no sooner within the apartment, than she instantly threw her veil over her, and said to the sultan, “Your majesty must have forgotten yourself. I am surprised that you order me to appear before men.” --“What is this, my daughter?” answered the sultan, “it seems that you are the person who has forgotten herself. There is no one here; but the little slave, the eunuch, your governor, and myself; and we are always at liberty to see your face. Why then do you put down your veil, and assert, that I have done wrong, in ordering you to come here?”--“Sire,” replied the princess, “your majesty will be convinced I am not mistaken. The ape which you see there, although under that form, is not an ape, but a young prince, the son of a great king. He has been changed into an ape by enchantment. A Genius, the son of the daughter of Eblis, has been guilty of this malicious action, after having cruelly killed the princess of the Isle of Ebony, daughter of king Epitimarus.”

The sultan was astonished at this speech; and turning to me, asked, but no longer by signs, whether what his daughter said was true. As I could not speak, I put my hand upon my head to show, that she had spoken the truth. “How came you to know, daughter,” said the king, “that this prince had been transformed into an ape by means of enchantment?”--“Sire,” replied the princess, “your majesty may recollect, that when I first came from the nursery, I had an old woman as one of my attendants. She was very well skilled in magic; and taught me seventy rules of that science; by virtue of which, I could instantly cause your capital to be transported to the middle of the ocean, nay beyond mount Caucasus. By means of this science, I know every person who is enchanted, the moment I behold them; not only who they are, but by whom also they were enchanted. Be not, therefore, surprised, that I have at first sight discovered this prince, in spite of the charm, which prevented him from appearing in your eyes such as he really is.”--“My dear daughter,” answered the sultan, “I did not think you were so skilful.”--“Sire,” added the princess, “these things are curious, and worthy of being known, but I do not think it becomes me to boast of them.”--“Since this is the case,” replied the sultan, “you can then dissolve the enchantment of this prince.” --“I can, sire,” said, she “and restore him to his own form.”--“Do so then,” interrupted the sultan, “for you cannot give me greater pleasure, as I wish to have him for my grand vizier and bestow you upon him for a wife.”--“I am ready, sire,” answered the princess, “to obey you in all things you please to command.”

The Queen of Beauty then went to her apartment, and returned with a knife which had some Hebrew characters engraved on the blade. She desired the sultan, the chief of the eunuchs, the little slave, and myself, to go down into a secret court of the palace; and then leaving us under a gallery which surrounded the court, she went into the middle of it, where she described a large circle, and traced several words both in the ancient Arabic characters, and those which are called the characters of Cleopatra.

When she had done this, and prepared the circle in the manner she wished, she went and placed herself in the midst of it, where she began making her abjurations, and repeating some verses from the koran. By degrees the air became obscure as if night was coming on, and the whole world was vanishing. We were seized with the greatest fright, and this was the more increased when we saw the Genius, the son of the daughter of Eblis, suddenly appear in the shape of a large dreadful lion.

The princess no sooner perceived this monster than she said to it, “Dog, instead of cringing before me, how darest thou present thyself under this horrible form, thinking to alarm me?”--“And how darest thou,” replied the lion, “break the treaty which we have made and confirmed by a solemn oath not to injure each other?”--“Ah, wretch,” added the princess, “thou art the person I am to reproach on that account.”--“Thou shalt pay dearly,” interrupted the lion, “for the trouble thou hast given me of coming here.” In saying this, he opened his horrible jaws and advanced forward to devour her. But she, being on her guard, jumped back, and had just time to pluck out a hair, and pronouncing two or three words, she changed it into a sharp scythe, with which she immediately cut the lion in pieces through the middle.

The two parts of the lion directly disappeared, and the head only remained, which changed into a large scorpion. The princess then took the form of a serpent, and began a fierce combat with the scorpion, which, finding itself in danger of being defeated, changed into an eagle and flew away. But the serpent then became another eagle, black, and more powerful, and went in pursuit of it. We now lost sight of them for some time.

Shortly after they had disappeared, the earth opened before us, and a black and white cat appeared, the hairs of which stood quite on end, and which made a most horrible mewing. A black wolf directly followed, and gave it no respite. The cat being hard pressed changed into a worm, and finding itself near a pomegranate which had fallen by accident from a tree that grew upon the bank of a deep but narrow canal, instantly made a hole in it, and concealed itself there. The pomegranate immediately began to swell, and became as large as a gourd, which then rose up as high as the gallery, and rolled backwards and forwards there several times; it then fell down to the bottom of the court, and broke into many pieces.

The wolf in the mean time transformed itself into a cock, ran to the seeds of the pomegranate, and began swallowing them one after the other as fast as possible. When it could see no more, it came to us with its wings extended, and making a great noise, as if to inquire of us whether there were any more seeds. There was one lying on the border of the canal, which the cock in going back perceived, and ran towards it as quick as possible; but at the very instant in which its beak was upon it, the seed rolled into the canal and changed into a small fish. The cock then flew into the canal, and becoming a pike, pursued the little fish. They were both two hours under water, and we knew not what was become of them, when we heard the most horrible cries, that made us tremble. Soon after we saw the genius and the princess all on fire. They threw the flames against each other with their breath, and at last came to a close attack. Then the fire increased, and every thing about was encompassed with smoke and flame to a great height. We were afraid, and not without reason, that the whole palace would be burnt: but we soon had a much more dreadful cause for terror; for the Genius having disengaged himself from the princess, came towards the gallery where we were, and blew his flames all over us. This would have destroyed us, if the princess, running to our assistance, had not compelled him, by her cries, to retreat to a distance and guard himself against her. In spite, however, of all the haste she made, she could not prevent the sultan from having his head singed and his face scorched; the chief of the eunuchs, too, was stifled and consumed on the spot; and a spark flew into my right eye and blinded me. Both the sultan and myself expected to perish, when we suddenly heard the cry of “Victory, victory!” and the princess immediately appeared to us in her own form, while the Genius was reduced to a heap of ashes.

The princess approached us, and in order to lose no time, she asked for a cupfull of water, which was brought by the young slave whom the fire had not injured. She took it, and after pronouncing some words over it, she threw some of the water upon me, and said, “If thou art an ape by inchantment, change thy figure and take that of a man which thou hadst before.” She had hardly concluded, when I again became a man, the same as before I was changed, except with the loss of one eye.

I was preparing to thank the princess, but she did not give me time before she said to the sultan, her father, “I have gained, sire, the victory over the Genius, as your majesty may see, but it is a victory which has cost me dear. I have but a few moments to live, and you will not have the satisfaction of completing the marriage you intended. The fire in this dreadful combat has penetrated my body, and I feel that it will soon consume me. This would not have happened if I had perceived the last seed of the pomegranate when I was in the shape of a cock, and had swallowed it as I did the others. The Genius had fled to it as his last retreat; and on that depended the success of the combat, which would then have been fortunate and without danger to me. This omission obliged me to have recourse to fire, and fight with that powerful weapon between heaven and earth, as you saw me. In spite of this dreadful power and experience, I convinced him that my knowledge and art were greater than his. I have at length conquered and reduced him to ashes; but I cannot avoid the death which I feel approaching.”

The princess had no sooner finished this account of the battle, than the sultan, in a tone of voice which showed how much he was agitated by this recital, answered, “You see, my daughter, the state in which your father is. Alas! I am only astonished that I am still alive. The eunuch, your governor, is dead; and the prince whom you have delivered from enchantment, has lost an eye.” He could say no more, for his tears and sobs stopped his utterance. Both his daughter and myself were extremely affected at his sufferings, and mingled our tears with his.

While we were each of us indulging in this excess of sorrow, the princess suddenly exclaimed, “I burn, I burn.” She perceived that the fire which consumed her, had at last seized her whole body, and she did not cease calling out, “I burn,” till death put an end to her almost insupportable sufferings. The effect of this fire was so extraordinary, that in a few minutes she was reduced, like the Genius, to a heap of ashes.

I need not say how much this dreadful and melancholy sight affected us. I would rather have continued an ape or a dog my whole life, than have seen my benefactress perish in such a horrid manner. The sultan too, on his part, was beyond measure afflicted. It is almost impossible to conceive what lamentable cries he uttered, beating himself at the same time most violently on his head and breast, till at last, yielding to despair, he fainted, and I feared even his life would fall a sacrifice.

In the mean time the cries of the sultan brought the eunuchs and officers to his assistance, and they found great difficulty in recovering him. There was no occasion for either the prince or myself giving them a very long detail of this adventure, to convince them of the propriety of our sorrow; the two heaps of ashes to which the princess and the Genius had been reduced, were quite sufficient. As the sultan could scarcely support himself, he was obliged to lean upon them in order to get to his apartment.

As soon as the knowledge of an event so tragical was spread through the palace and the city, every one lamented the melancholy fate of the princess, surnamed the Queen of Beauty; and joined in the grief of the sultan. They put on mourning for seven days, and performed many ceremonies; the ashes of the Genius they scattered in the wind, but collected those of the princess in a costly vase, and preserved them: this vase was then deposited in a superb mausoleum, which was erected on the very spot where the ashes had been found.

The grief which preyed upon the sultan for the loss of his daughter, was the origin of a disease, that confined him to his bed for a whole month. He had not quite recovered his health when he called me to him, and said, “Listen, prince, and attend to the order which I am going to give you; if you fail to execute it your life will be the forfeit.” I assured him I would obey. Resuming then the discourse, he added, “I have always lived in a state of the greatest happiness; nor had any unfortunate event ever occurred. Your arrival has destroyed this enjoyment. My daughter is dead; her governor is no more; and I have escaped with my life only by a miracle. You are the cause of all these misfortunes, for which I am incapable of consolation. These are the reasons which induce me to desire you would leave me in peace: but go immediately, for, if you remain here any longer, it will be the cause of my death also; since I am persuaded your presence is productive only of misfortune. This is all I have to say to you. Go, and take care you never again appear in my kingdom; if you do, no consideration shall prevent my making you repent of it.” I wished to speak, but he prevented me by uttering some angry words, and I was obliged to leave his palace.

Driven about, rejected and abandoned by every one, I knew not what was become of me. Before I left the city I went into a bath, I got my beard and eye-brows shaved, and put on the dress of a calender. I then began my journey, lamenting less my own miserable condition, than the death of the two beautiful princesses which I had been the occasion of. I travelled through many countries without making myself known; at last I resolved to visit Bagdad, in hopes of being able to present myself to the Commander of the Faithful, and excite his compassion by the recital of so strange a history. I arrived here this evening, and the first person I met was the calender, my brother, who has already related his life. You are acquainted, madam, with the sequel, and how I came to have the honour of being at your house.

When the second calender had finished his history, Zobeidè, to whom he had addressed himself, said, “You have done well, and I give you leave to go whenever you please.” But instead of taking his departure, he entreated her to grant him the same favour she had done the other calender, near whom he went and took his place. Then the third calender, knowing it was his turn to speak, addressed himself like the others to Zobeidè, and began his history as follows.

THE HISTORY OF THE THIRD CALENDER, THE SON OF A KING.

What I am going to relate, most honourable lady, is of a very different nature from what you have already heard. The two princes who have recited their histories, have each of them lost an eye as it were by destiny; while my loss has been the consequence of my own fault, in searching after my misfortune, as you will find by what I am going to mention.

I am called Agib, and am the son of a king, whose name was Cassib. After his death I took possession of his throne, and established my residence in the same city which he had made his capital. This city, which is situated on the sea-coast, has a remarkable handsome and safe harbour, with an arsenal sufficiently extensive to supply an armament of a hundred and fifty vessels of war always lying ready for service on any occasion; and to equip fifty merchant-men, and as many sloops and yachts for the purpose of amusement and pleasure on the water. My kingdom was composed of many beautiful provinces, and also a number of considerable islands, almost all of which were situated within sight of my capital.

The first thing I did was to visit the provinces; I then made them arm and equip my whole fleet, and went round to all my islands in order to conciliate the affections of my subjects, and to confirm them in their duty and allegiance. After having been at home some time, I went again; and these voyages, by giving me some slight knowledge of navigation, infused such a taste for it in my mind, that I resolved to go in search of discoveries beyond my islands. For this purpose I equipped only ten ships; and embarking in one of them, we set sail.

During forty days our voyage was prosperous; but on the night of the forty-first the wind became adverse, and so violent, that we were driven at the mercy of the tempest, and thought we should have been lost. At break of day, however, the wind abated, the clouds dispersed, and the sun brought fine weather back with it. We now landed on an island, where we remained two days to take in some provisions. Having done this, we again put to sea. After ten days sail we began to hope to see land; for since the storm we had encountered, I had altered my intention, and determined to return to my kingdom, but I then discovered that my pilot knew not where we were. In fact, a sailor on the tenth day, who was ordered to the mast-head for the purpose of making discoveries, reported, that to the right and left he could perceive only the sky and sea, which bounded the horizon, but that straight before him he observed a great blackness.

At this intelligence the pilot changed colour, and throwing his turban on the deck with one hand, he struck his face with the other, and then cried out, “Ah, sire, we are lost; not one of us can possibly escape the danger in which we are; and with all my experience, it is not in my power to ensure the safety of any individual.” Having said this, he began to weep like one who thought his destruction inevitable, and his despair spread an alarm and fear through the whole vessel. I asked him what reason he had for this despair. “Alas, sire,” he answered, “the tempest which we have gone through, has so driven us from our track, that by mid-day to-morrow we shall find ourselves near that blackness, which is nothing but a black mountain, consisting entirely of a mass of loadstone, that will soon attract our fleet, on account of the bolts and nails in the ships. To-morrow, when we shall come within a certain distance, the power of the loadstone will be so violent, that all the nails will be drawn out and fasten to the mountain: our ships will then fall in pieces and sink. As it is the property of a loadstone to attract iron, and at the same time to increase its own power by this attraction, the mountain towards the sea is entirely covered with the nails that belonged to the infinite number of ships which it has been the destruction of; and this at the same time both preserves and augments its power or virtue.