Part 16

“This mountain,” continued the pilot, “is very steep; and on the summit there is a large dome, made of fine bronze, which is supported upon columns of the same metal. Upon the top of the dome there is also a bronze horse with the figure of a man upon it. A plate of lead covers his breast, upon which there are some talismanic characters engraven: and there is a tradition, sire,” added he, “that this statue is the principal cause of the loss of so many vessels and men who have been drowned in this place, and will never cease from being destructive to all who shall have the misfortune to approach it, until it be overthrown.” The pilot, having finished his speech, renewed his tears, which excited those of the whole crew. As for myself, I did not doubt that I was now approaching the end of my days. Every individual began to think of his own preservation, and to try every possible means condusive to that end: and during the uncertainty of the event, they all appointed, by a sort of will, the survivors, if any should be saved, the heirs of the rest.

The next morning we distinctly perceived the black mountain; and the idea we had formed of it made it appear still more dreadful and horrid than it really was. About mid-day we found ourselves so near it, that we began to perceive what the pilot had foretold. We saw the nails, and every other piece of iron belonging to the vessels, fly towards the mountain, against which, by the violence of the magnetic attraction, they struck with a horrible noise. The vessels then immediately fell to pieces and sunk to the bottom of the sea; which was so deep in this place, that we could never discover the bottom by sounding. All my people were lost; but God had pity upon me, and suffered me to save myself by laying hold of a plank which was driven by the wind directly to the foot of the mountain. I did not experience the least harm, and had the good fortune to land in a place where there were steps which led to the summit. I was much rejoiced at sight of these steps, for there was not the least piece of land either to the right or left, upon which I could have set my foot to save myself. I returned thanks to God, and invoking his holy name, began to ascend the mountain. The path was narrow, and so steep and difficult, that had the wind been at all violent, it must have blown me into the sea. I arrived at last at the summit without any accident; and entering the dome, I prostrated myself on the ground, and offered my thanks to God for the favour he had shown me.

I passed the night under this dome; and while I was asleep, a venerable old man appeared to me, and said, “Agib, attend; when you awake, dig up the earth under your feet, and you will find a brazen bow with three leaden arrows, manufactured under certain constellations, in order to deliver mankind from many evils which continually menace them. Shoot these three arrows at the statue; the man will then fall into the sea, and the horse at your feet, which you must bury in the same spot from whence you take the bow and arrows. This being finished, the sea will begin to be agitated, and will rise as high as the foot of the dome at the top of the mountain. When it shall have risen thus high, you will see a small vessel come towards the shore with only one man in it, who holds an oar in each hand. This man will be of brass, but different from the one that was overthrown. Embark with him without pronouncing the name of God, and let him conduct you. In ten days he will have carried you into another sea, where you will find the means of returning to your own country in safety; provided, as I have already told you, you forbear from mentioning the name of God during the whole of your voyage.”

Such was the discourse of the old man. As soon as I was awake, I got up much consoled by this vision, and did not fail doing as the old man had ordered me. I uncovered the bow and the arrows, and shot them at the statue. With the third arrow I overthrew the man, who fell into the sea, while the horse lay at my feet. I buried it in the place where I found the bow and arrows, and while I was doing this, the sea rose by degrees till it reached the foot of the dome on the summit of the mountain. I perceived a vessel at a distance coming towards me. I offered my benedictions to God at thus seeing my dream in every respect proving a reality. The vessel at length approached the land, and I saw in it a man made of brass as had been described. I embarked, and took particular care not to pronounce the name of God. I did not even utter a single word. When I had sat down, the brazen figure began to row from the mountain. He continued doing so without intermission till the ninth day, when I saw some islands, which made me hope I should soon be free from every danger that I dreaded. The excess of my joy made me forget the order that had been given me as a security, “Blessed be God,” I cried out, “God be praised.”

I had hardly finished these words, when both the vessel and brazen man sunk to the bottom. I remained in the water, and swam during the rest of the day towards the nearest island. The night, which came on, was exceedingly dark: and as I no longer knew where I was, I continued swimming at a venture. My strength was at last quite exhausted, and I began to despair of being able to save myself, when the wind having much increased, a wave as large as a mountain, threw me upon a flat shallow place, and on retiring left me there. I immediately made haste to get farther on land for fear another wave should come and carry me back. The first thing I then did, was to undress and wring the water out of my clothes, and spread them upon the sand, which was still warm from the heat of the preceding day.

The next morning, as soon as the sun had quite dried my dress, I put it on, and began to reconnoitre; and tried to discover where I was. I had not walked far, before I found out I was upon a small desert island, very pleasant, and where there were many sorts of fruit-trees as well as others; but I observed, that it was at a considerable distance from the main land, which rather lessened the joy I felt at having escaped from the sea. I nevertheless trusted in God to dispose of my fate according to his will: soon afterwards I discovered a very small vessel, which seemed to come full sail directly from the main land, with her prow towards the island where I was. As I had no doubt they were coming to anchor here, and as I knew not what sort of people they might be, whether friends or enemies, I determined at first not to show myself. I got up therefore, into a very thick tree, from whence I could examine their countenances without danger. The vessel soon sailed up a small creek or bay, where ten slaves landed with a spade and other instruments in their bands, for the purpose of digging the earth. They went towards the middle of the island, where I observed them stop and dig up the earth for some time; and by their actions they appeared to me to lift up a trap-door. They immediately returned to the vessel, from which they landed many sorts of provisions and furniture, and each taking a load, they carried them to the place where they had before dug up the ground. They then seemed to descend, which made me conjecture there was a subterraneous place. I saw them once more go to the vessel, and come back with an old man, who brought with him a youth, seemingly well made, and about fourteen or fifteen years old. They all descended at the spot where the trap-door had been lifted up. After they came out again, they shut down the door and covered it with earth as before; and then returned to the creek where their vessel lay; but I observed that the young man did not come back with them, whence I concluded that he remained in the subterraneous place. This circumstance very much excited my astonishment.

The old man and the slaves then embarked, and hoisting the sails, made way for the main land. When I found the vessel had got so far off that I could not be perceived by the crew, I came down from the tree and went directly to the place where I had seen them dig away the earth. I now did the same thing, and at last discovered a stone, two or three feet square. I lifted it up, and found that it concealed the entrance to a flight of stone stairs. I descended, and at the bottom perceived that I was in a large chamber, the floor of which was covered with a carpet, as was also a sofa and some cushions with a rich stuff, where I saw a young man sitting down with a fan in his hand. I distinguished all these things by the light of two torches, as I did also the fruits and pots of flowers which were near him. At the sight of me the young man was much alarmed; but in order to give him courage, I said to him on entering, “Whoever you are, fear nothing, sir: a king, and the son of a king, as I am, is not capable of doing you any injury. On the contrary, you may esteem it as a most fortunate circumstance that I am come here to deliver you from this tomb, where you seem to me to have been buried alive; but for what reasons I am unable to tell. What, however, most embarrasses me (for I will not conceal that I have been a witness to every thing that has passed since you landed on this island,) and what I cannot understand is, that you seem to have suffered yourself to have been buried here without making any resistance.”

The young man was much encouraged by this speech, and requested in a pleasing manner that I would take a seat near him. As soon as I was seated he said, “I am about, prince, to inform you of a circumstance, the singular nature of which will very much surprise you.

“My father is a jeweller, who has acquired, by his industry and skill in his profession, a very large fortune. He has a great number of slaves and factors, who make many voyages for him in his own vessels. He has also correspondents in many courts, which he supplies with all the precious stones and jewels they have occasion for. He had been married a long time without having any children, when one night he dreamed that he should have a son, whose life, however, would be but short. This dream, when he awoke, gave him great uneasiness. Some time after this, my mother informed him that she was with child and the very time when she thought she had conceived, agreed exactly with my father’s dream. At the end of nine months I was born, to the great joy of all the family. My father having observed with the greatest exactness the moment of my birth, consulted the astrologers, who answered, “Your son shall live without any accident or misfortune till he is fifteen, but he will then run a great risk of losing his life, and will not escape from it without much difficulty. If, however, he should have the good fortune not to perish, his life will continue many years. About this time too,” they added, “the equestrian statue of brass which stands on the top of the loadstone mountain will be overthrown by prince Agib, the son of king Cassib, and fall into the sea; and the stars also discover that fifty days afterwards your son will be killed by that prince.

“As this prediction agreed with my father’s dream, he was very much struck and afflicted by it. He did not, however, omit taking the greatest care of my education till the present moment, which is the fifteenth year of my age. He was yesterday informed that ten days ago the brazen figure was overthrown by the prince whom I mentioned to you: and this intelligence cost him so many tears and alarms, that he hardly looks like the same man.

“Upon this prediction of the astrologers, my father tried every means to deceive my horoscope, and preserve my life. For a long time past he has taken the precaution to have this habitation built, in order to conceal me for the fifty days after he learnt that the statue had been overthrown. It was on this account, that as soon as he knew what had happened ten days since, he came here for the purpose of concealing me during the forty days that remain; and he has promised, at the expiration of that time, to come and take me back. As for myself,” he added, “I have the greatest hopes, for I do not believe that prince Agib will come and look for me under ground in the midst of a desert island. This, my lord, is all I had to inform you of.”

While the son of the jeweller was relating his history to me, I inwardly laughed at those astrologers, who had predicted that I should take away his life; and I felt myself so very unlikely to verify their prediction, that he had scarcely finished speaking before I exclaimed with transport, “Have confidence, my dear sir, in the goodness of God, and fear nothing. Esteem it only as a debt you had to pay, and that from this hour you are free from it. I am delighted at finding myself so fortunate as to be here, after having been shipwrecked, in order to guard you against those who would attempt your life. I will not quit you for a moment during the forty days which the vain and absurd conjectures of the astrologers have made you apprehensive of. During this time, I will render you every service in my power, and afterwards I will take advantage, with your and your father’s permission, of embarking in your vessel, in order to return to the continent; and when I shall have got back to my kingdom, I shall never forget the obligation I am under to you, and will endeavour to prove my gratitude by every means in my power.”

I encouraged him by this discourse, and thus gained his confidence. I took care, from the fear of alarming him, not to inform him that I was the very person whom he dreaded; nor give him the least suspicion of it. We conversed about various things till night; and I easily discovered that the young man possessed a sensible and well-informed mind.--We eat together out of his store of provisions, which were so abundant that they would have lasted more than the forty days, had there been other guests beside myself. We continued our conversation some time after supper, and then retired to rest.

When he got up the next morning, I presented him with a bason and some water. He washed himself while I prepared the dinner, which I served up at a proper time. After our repast, I invented a sort of game to amuse us, not only during that day, but for the following. I prepared the supper in the same way I had done the dinner; we then supped and retired to rest, the same as the preceding day.

We had sufficient time to contract a friendship for each other. I perceived that he had an inclination for me, and on my side the regard was so strong, that I often said to myself, “the astrologers who have predicted to the father, that his son should be slain by my hands were impostors, for it was impossible I could commit so horrid a crime.” In short, we passed thirty-nine days in the pleasantest manner possible in this subterraneous habitation.

At length the fortieth arrived. The youth, when he was getting up, said to me in a transport of joy which he could not restrain, “Behold me now, prince, on the fortieth day, and thank God and your good society, I am not dead. My father will not fail very soon to acknowledge his obligation, and furnish you with every means and opportunity in his power which may be necessary for you to return to your kingdom. But while we are waiting,” added he, “I beg of you to have the goodness to warm some water that I may wash my whole body in the portable bath. I wish to cleanse myself and change my dress, in order to receive my father with the greater propriety.” I put the water on the fire, and when it was just warm I filled the portable bath. The young man got in: I both washed and rubbed him myself. He then got out, and went into the bed I had prepared for him, and I threw the cover over him. After he had reposed himself and slept for some time, he said to me, “Oblige me, my prince, and bring me a melon and some sugar. I want to eat something to refresh me.”

I chose one of the melons which remained, and put it on a plate, and as I could not find a knife to cut it, I asked the youth if he knew where there was one. “There is one,” he replied, “upon the cornice over my head.” I looked up and perceived one there; but I strained myself so much in endeavouring to get it, that at the very moment I had it in my hand, my foot by some means got so entangled in the covering of the bed, that I unfortunately fell down on the young man and pierced him to the heart with the knife. He expired the very same instant.

At this sight I cried most bitterly; I beat my head and breast. I tore my habit, and threw myself on the ground in grief and despair, “Alas!” I cried, “a few hours only remained for him to be out of the danger against which he sought an asylum; and at the very moment I thought the danger past, I am become the assassin, and have caused the prediction to come to pass. But I ask thy pardon, O Lord,” I added, raising my head and hands towards heaven, “and if I am guilty of his death, I desire to live no longer.”

After this misfortune death would have been very acceptable to me, and I should have met it without dread. But we are neither afflicted with evil nor blessed with good fortune always at the moment we may desire it.

In the mean time reflecting that neither my tears nor sorrow could revive the youth, and that as the forty days were now concluding, I should be surprised by the father, I went out of this subterraneous building, and ascended to the top of the stairs. I replaced the large stone over the entrance, and covered it with the earth. I had scarcely finished, when looking towards the main land, I perceived the vessel which was coming for the young man. Meditating what plan I should pursue, I said to myself, “If I let them see me, it is probable the old man will seize me and order his slaves to murder me, when he shall have discovered his son in the state in which I left him. Whatever I could allege in my own justification would never persuade him of my innocence. It is surely better, then, to withdraw myself from his sight, while I have the power, than expose myself to his resentment.”

Near the subterraneous cavern there was a large tree, the thick foliage of which seemed to me well adapted for concealment. I immediately got up into it, and had no sooner placed myself so as not to be seen, than I observed the vessel come to land in the same place it had before done. The old man and the slaves instantly came on shore, and approached the subterraneous dwelling in a manner that showed they had some hopes. But when they saw that the ground had been lately disturbed, they changed colour, especially the old man. They then lifted up the stone and descended the stairs. They called the young man by his name, but no answer was returned. Their fears redoubled. They searched about, and at last found him stretched on his couch with the knife through his heart, for I had not had the courage to draw it out. On seeing this they uttered such lamentable cries that my tears flowed afresh. The old man fainted, and the slaves brought him out in their arms, that he might feel the air, and for this purpose they placed him at the foot of the very tree in which I was. Notwithstanding all their cares, this unfortunate father remained so long in this state, that they more than once despaired of his life.

He at length recovered from this long fainting fit. The slaves then went down and brought up the body of his son, clothed in his finest garments, and as soon as the grave which they made was ready, they put the body in. The old man, supported by two slaves, with his face bathed in tears, threw in the first piece of earth, after which the slaves filled up the grave. This being done, the furniture and remainder of the provisions were put on board the vessel. The old man, overcome with sorrow, was unable to support himself, and was therefore carried to the vessel in a sort of litter by the slaves, and they immediately put to sea. They soon got to a considerable distance from the island, and I lost sight of them.

I now remained alone in the island, and passed the following night in the subterraneous dwelling, which had not been again shut up; and the next day I took a survey of the whole island; resting in those places most adapted to the purpose whenever I felt myself weary. I passed a whole month in this unpleasant manner; at the end of which time I perceived the sea considerably diminish, the island appeared to become sensibly larger, and the main land approached nearer. In truth, the water decreased so much, that there was now only a small channel between me and the continent, and I passed over without being deeper than the middle of my leg. I then walked so far on the flat sand, that I was greatly fatigued. I at last reached firmer ground, and was already at a considerable distance from the sea, when I saw before me something that appeared like a large fire. At this I was much rejoiced; “For here,” said I to myself, “I shall certainly find some persons, as a fire cannot light itself.” But as I went nearer, my mistake began to clear up, and I soon found out that what I had taken for a fire was a sort of castle of red copper, from which the rays of the sun were reflected in such a manner as to make it appear in flames.

I stopped near this castle and sat down, as well to consider the beauty of the building, as in some degree to recover from my fatigue. I had not yet bestowed all the attention upon this magnificent house which it deserved, when I perceived ten well-made young men come out for the purpose, as it appeared, of walking; but what seemed to me more surprising was, that they were all blind of the right eye; an old man of rather a large stature, whose appearance was very venerable, accompanied them.

I was very much astonished at meeting so many people at the same time who were not only blind of one eye, but had also lost the same eye. While I was endeavouring to discover in my own mind for what purpose, or by what circumstance they were thus collected together, they accosted me; and showed signs of great joy at seeing me. After the first compliments had passed, they inquired of me what brought me there: I told them that my history was rather long; but if they would take the trouble to sit down, I would afford them the satisfaction they wished. They seated themselves, and I related to them every thing that had happened to me, from the moment I had left my own kingdom till that instant. This narration greatly excited their surprise. When I had finished my story, they entreated me to come with them into the castle. I accepted their offer, and passing through a long suit of halls, antichambers, saloons, and cabinets, all very well furnished, we came at length to a large and magnificent apartment, where there were ten small blue sofas placed in a circle, but unconnected, which served both to sit on and repose during the day, and also to sleep upon in the night. In the midst of this circle there was another sofa, less raised, but of the same colour, upon which the old man, whom I have spoken of, sat, while the young ones seated themselves upon the other ten. As each sofa held only one person, one of the young men said to me, “sit down, my friend, upon the carpet in the middle of this place; and do not endeavour to inform yourself of any thing that regards us, nor the reason why we are all blind of the right eye; be satisfied with what you see, and do not carry your curiosity any farther. The old man did not remain long seated: he got up and went out, but very soon returned, bringing with him a supper for the ten young men; to each of whom he distributed a certain portion. He gave me mine in the same way, which, like the rest, I eat alone. As soon as it was finished, the old man presented each of us with a cup of wine.