Part 26

The gardener had been informed on the preceding day, that the vessel, which sailed annually to the Isle of Ebony, was to depart in a very few days; but those who had given him this intelligence, could not acquaint him with the precise day; they promised, however, to do so on the morrow. He had been to gain the information he wanted, and returned with a countenance which displayed the joy he felt at being the bearer of such good news to Camaralzaman.” “My son,” said he to him, for by his great age he claimed the privilege of addressing the prince in such familiar terms, “rejoice, and hold yourself in readiness to embark in three days; the vessel will sail on that day without fail, and I have agreed with the captain about your passage and departure.”

“In my present situation,” replied Camaralzaman, “you could not announce to me any thing of so agreeable a nature. But, in return, I have to communicate to you also a piece of news, which will give you great pleasure. Take the trouble of following me, and you will see the good fortune that Heaven sends you.” Camaralzaman conducted the gardener to the spot, where he had rooted up the tree, and made him go down into the vault; when he had shown him the number of jars it contained, all filled with gold dust, he expressed his joy, that God had thus recompensed his virtue, and all the fatigue and pain he had undergone for so many years.

“What do you mean?” replied the gardener. “Do you suppose, then, that I will possess myself of all this treasure? No, it is all your own; I have no pretensions to any part of it. During eighty years that I have worked in this garden since my father’s death, I have never chanced to discover it. It is a sign that it was destined for you alone, since God permitted you to find it; it is more appropriate to a prince, like you, than to me, who am on the brink of the grave, and want nothing more. God sends it you very opportunely, at the time that you are about to return to the states which are to belong to you, and where you will make a good use of it.”

Prince Camaralzaman would not give up to the gardener in generosity, and they had a great contest on this point. He, at length, solemnly protested that he would not touch any of the gold, unless the gardener retained half for his share, to which he with some difficulty consented; and they divided the jars, twenty-five to each.

The division being made, “My son,” said the gardener, “this is not enough; we must now devise some plan for embarking these riches on the vessel, and taking them with you so secretly as not to give any suspicion of them, otherwise you might run a risk of losing them. There are no olives in the Isle of Ebony, and those, which are taken from here, are in great request. As you know I have a good provision of those I have gathered from my own garden, you must take the fifty jars, and fill them half way with the gold dust, and the other half with olives up to the top, and we will have them taken to the ship, when you yourself embark.

Camaralzaman adopted this advice, and employed himself the rest of the day in filling and arranging the fifty jars; and as he feared that he might lose the talisman of the princess Badoura by wearing it constantly on his arm, he had the precaution to put it in one of these jars, on which he set a mark to know it again. When he had completed his work, and the jars were ready for removal, as night was approaching, he went home with the gardener, and entering into conversation with him, related the battle of the two birds, and the circumstances attending this adventure, by which he had recovered the talisman of the princess Badoura; the gardener was not less surprised than rejoiced at this account, for his sake.

Whether it was on account of his great age, or that he had taken too much exercise on that day, the gardener passed a bad night; his illness increased on the following day, and on the third morning he found himself still worse. As soon as it was day, the captain of the vessel himself, together with some of his seamen, came and knocked at the garden gate. Camaralzaman opened it, and they inquired for the passenger who was to embark on board their vessel. “I am he,” replied the prince: “the gardener, who took my passage, is ill and cannot speak to you; however, pray come in and take away these jars of olives, together with my baggage, and I will follow you as soon as I have taken my leave of him.”

The seamen carried away his jars and baggage, and on leaving Camaralzaman desired him to follow them immediately; “The wind is fair,” added the captain, “and I only wait for you to set sail.”

As soon as the captain and seamen were gone, Camaralzaman returned to the gardener to bid him farewell, and thank him for all the good offices he had received from him; but he found him at the point of death, and he had scarcely obtained from him the profession of his faith, according to the custom of good mussulmen, on the article of death, than he saw him expire.

The prince being under the necessity of embarking immediately, used the utmost diligence in performing the last duties to the deceased. He washed the body, wrapped it in the sepulchral clothes, and having dug a grave in the garden, for as Mahometans were barely tolerated in the city of idolaters, they had no public cemetery, and buried it himself, which employed him till the close of the day. He then set out, without losing any more time, to embark; and to use great dispatch, he took the key of the garden with him, intending to deliver it to the proprietor; or, if he could not accomplish that, to give it to some trusty person, in the presence of witnesses, to remit it to him. But when he arrived at the harbour, he was informed that the ship had weighed anchor some time, and it was already out of sight. They added, that it had waited for him three full hours before it set sail.

As you may suppose, Sire, Camaralzaman was vexed and distressed to the utmost degree, at finding himself obliged to remain in a country, where he had no motive for wishing to form any acquaintance, and to wait another year before the opportunity he had just lost, would again present itself. What mortified him still more was, that he had parted with the talisman of the princess Badoura, which he now gave up for lost. He had no other method to pursue, but to return to the garden he had left, to rent it of the landlord to whom it belonged, and to continue the cultivation of it, while he deplored his misfortune. As he could not support the fatigue of all the labour it required, he hired a boy to assist him; and that he might not lose the other share of the treasure, which came to him by the death of the gardener, who had died without heirs, he put the gold dust into fifty other jars, and covered them with olives as he had done before, that he might take them with him, when the time came for him to embark.

While prince Camaralzaman was beginning another year of pain, sorrow, and impatience, the vessel continued its voyage with a favorable wind, and arrived without any misfortune al the capital of the Isle of Ebony.

As the palace was on the sea-shore, the new king, or rather the princess Badoura, who perceived the vessel, while sailing into port, with all its flags flying, inquired what ship it was, and was told, that it came every year from the city of idolaters at that season, and that it was in general laden with very rich merchandize.

The princess, who in the midst of all the state and splendor that surrounded her, had her mind constantly occupied with the idea of Camaralzaman, conceived, that he might have embarked on board that vessel, and the thought occurred to her of going to meet him when he landed, not intending to make herself known to him, for she was convinced he would not recognise her, but to observe him, and take the measures she thought most proper for their mutual discovery. Under pretence therefore of inspecting the merchandize, and even of being the first to see and to choose the most valuable for herself, she ordered a horse to be brought her. She went to the harbour, accompanied by several officers, who happened to be with her, and she arrived at the moment that the captain came on shore. She desired him to come to her, and inquired of him from whence he had sailed, how long he had been at sea, what good or unfortunate incidents he had met with during his voyage, if he had amongst his passengers any stranger of distinction, and above all with what his vessel was laden.

The captain gave satisfactory answers to all these questions; as for the passengers, he assured her there were none besides the merchants, who were accustomed to trade thither, and that they brought very rich stuffs from different countries, linens of the finest texture, painted as well as plain, precious stones, musk, ambergris, camphor, civet, spices, medicinal drugs, olives, and several other articles.

The princess Badoura happened to be passionately fond of olives. She had no sooner heard them mentioned, than she said to the captain, “I will take all you have on board; order them to be unladen immediately, that I may make the bargain for them. As for the other merchandize, you will inform the owners to bring me the most beautiful and valuable of their goods, before they show them to any one.”

“Sire,” replied the captain, who took her for the king of the Isle of Ebony, which in fact she was, in her feigned character, “there are fifty large jars of olives, but they belong to a merchant, who remained behind. I had informed him of my departure, and even waited for him some time. But as I found he did not come, and that his delay prevented my profiting by a favorable wind, I lost all patience, and set sail.”--“Let them be put ashore nevertheless,” replied the princess, “this shall not prevent our making the bargain.”

The captain sent his boat to the ship, and it soon returned, bringing the jars of olives. The princess inquired what the value of the fifty jars might be in the Isle of Ebony; “Sire,” replied the captain, “the merchant is very poor; your majesty will confer a great obligation on him by giving him a thousand pieces of silver.”--“That he may be perfectly satisfied,” said the princess, “and in consideration of his great poverty, you shall have a thousand pieces of gold counted out to you, which you will take care to give him.” She gave orders for the payment of this sum, and after she had desired the jars to be taken away, she returned to the palace.

As night approached, the princess Badoura retired to the interior palace, and went to the apartment of the princess Haiatalnefous, where she had the fifty jars of olives brought to her. She had opened one to taste them, and to eat of them herself; and poured some into a dish, when, conceive her astonishment, at finding the olives mixed with gold dust. “What a wonderful adventure!” exclaimed she. She immediately ordered the other jars to be opened, and emptied in her presence by the women of Haiatalnefous, and her surprise increased, as she perceived that the olives in each jar were mixed with the gold dust. But when that was emptied in which Camaralzaman had deposited the talisman, her emotions on seeing it were so strong, that she was quite overcome, and fainted away.

The princess Haiatalnefous and her women ran to her assistance, and by throwing water on her face, at length brought her to herself. When she had recovered her senses, she took up the talisman, and kissed it several times; but as she did not choose to say any thing before the princess’s women, who were ignorant of her disguise, and as it was time to retire to rest, she dismissed them. “Princess,” said she to Haiatalnefous, as soon as they were alone, “after what I have related to you of my adventures you no doubt guessed, that it was on beholding this talisman that I fainted. It is mine, and the fatal cause of the separation that has taken place between my beloved husband, prince Camaralzaman, and myself. It was the occasion of an event so painful for both, and I am certain it will be the means of our speedy re-union.”

The next morning, as soon as day had appeared, the princess Badoura sent for the captain of the vessel. When he was come, she said to him, “I beg you to give me a more satisfactory account of the merchant, to whom the olives belonged, that I bought yesterday. I think you told me, that you left him behind in the city of idolaters; can you inform me what was his occupation there?”

“Sire,” replied the captain, “I can acquaint your majesty with it, as I know it for certain. I had agreed about his passage with a gardener, who was extremely old, and he told me that I should find him in his garden, the situation of which he pointed out to me, where he worked under him; this made me say to your majesty, that he was poor. I went to this very garden to seek him, and tell him that I was going to embark, and spoke to him myself.”

“If this be the case,” said the princess, “you must set sail again to-day, and return to the city of idolaters, to search for this young gardener, and bring him here, for he is my debtor; if you refuse, I declare that I will confiscate not only all the goods which belong to you, and those of the merchants you have on board, but will also make your life and that of the merchants responsible for it. At this moment, they are going by my command to place the seal on the magazines where they are deposited, and which shall not be taken off until you have delivered into my hands the young man I require. This is what I had to say to you. Go, and obey my orders.”

The captain had nothing to reply to this command, the non-execution of which was to involve him and the merchants in so severe a punishment. He imparted it to them, and they were no less anxious than himself for the immediate departure of the vessel: he stored it with water and provisions for the voyage, which was done with so much expedition, that he set sail on that very day.

The ship had a very good voyage, and the captain managed so well, as to arrive by night at the city of idolaters. When he was as near land as he thought necessary, he did not cast anchor, but while the vessel lay to, he got into his boat, and rowed to shore at a spot a little distance from the harbour, from whence he went to the garden of Camaralzaman, accompanied by six of his most resolute seamen.

The prince was not asleep; his separation from the beautiful princess of China overwhelmed him as usual with affliction, and he detested and cursed the moment when he had suffered himself to be tempted by curiosity even to touch, much more to examine her girdle. He passed, in this manner, the hours which should have been dedicated to repose, when he heard a knocking at the gate of the garden. He went half dressed to open it, and he had scarcely presented himself, when the captain and sailors, without speaking a word, seized and conducted him by main force to the boat, and took him to the ship, which set sail again as soon as they had re-embarked.

Camaralzaman, who had till then preserved a profound silence, as well as the captain and seamen, now asked the captain, whose features he recollected, what reason he had for dragging him away with so much violence. “Are you not a debtor to the king of the Island of Ebony?” inquired the captain in his turn. “I a debtor to the king of the Island of Ebony!” exclaimed Camaralzaman, with amazement, “I do not know him, I never had any dealings with him, nor even ever set my foot in his dominions.”--“You must know that matter better than I can,” replied the captain, “but you will speak to him yourself; however, remain here quietly, and have patience.”

The vessel had as successful a voyage in conducting Camaralzaman to the Isle of Ebony, as it had experienced in going for him to the city of idolaters. Although night had closed when they got into port, the captain nevertheless did not delay going on shore to take prince Camaralzaman to the palace, where he requested to be presented to the king.

The princess Badoura, who had already retired into the inner palace, was no sooner informed of his return, and of the arrival of Camaralzaman, than she went out to speak to him. As soon as she had cast her eyes on her beloved prince, for whom she had shed so many tears since their separation, she instantly recognised him, even in his labourer’s dress. As for the prince, who trembled in the presence of a king, as he believed him to be, to whom he was to answer for an imaginary debt; he had not the least idea that he was then in her presence, whom he desired so ardently to rejoin. Had the princess followed her inclinations, she would have run to him, and discovered herself by her tender embraces; but she restrained her emotions, as she thought it for the interest of both that she should continue to sustain the character of king for some time longer, before she made herself known. She contented herself with recommending him particularly to the care of an officer, who was present, charging him to be attentive, and treat him well until the following day.

When the princess Badoura had ordered every thing that related to prince Camaralzaman, she turned towards the captain, to recompence him for the important service he had rendered her, by desiring another officer to go immediately and take off the seal which had been placed on his merchandise, as well as that of the merchants, and dismissed him with a present of a rich and precious diamond, which fully repaid him the expence of the second voyage. She told him also, that he might keep the thousand pieces of gold, which had been paid for the jars of olives, and that she should know how to settle the matter with the merchant he had just brought her.

She at length returned to the apartment of the princess of the Isle of Ebony, to whom she related the subject of her joy; begging her nevertheless not to disclose the secret, and entrusting her with the measures she thought it necessary to adopt, before she discovered herself to prince Camaralzaman, or acknowledged who he himself was. “There is,” added she, “so great a distance between the rank of a great prince as he is, and that of a gardener, that there might be some danger attending his passing from one of the lowest degrees of the people to the very highest, however justice might demand such an act.” Far from being faithless to her promise, the princess of the Isle of Ebony concurred with her in the design she had formed. She even assured her, that she would contribute all in her power to forward it, if she would inform her of what she wished her to do.

The next day the princess of China, under the name, habit, and authority of king of the Isle of Ebony, after taking care to have prince Camaralzaman conducted to the bath very early in the morning, and dressed in the robe of an emir, or governor of a province, introduced him into the council, where he attracted the attention of all the nobles, who were present, by his elegant and majestic air, and well-formed person.

The princess Badoura herself was charmed to see him again, as amiable as he had so often appeared to her; and she felt additional interest in extolling him to the council. After he had taken his place in the rank of emirs, according to her directions: “My lords,” said she, addressing the other emirs, “Camaralzaman, whom I this day present to you as your colleague, is not unworthy of the situation he occupies amongst you. I have had sufficient experience of his worth in my travels, to be able to answer for him; and I can assure you, that he will make himself known to, and admired by you, as much for his valour, and a thousand other good and amiable qualities, as by the superior greatness of his mind.

Camaralzaman was extremely surprised, when he heard the king of the Isle of Ebony, whom he little suspected to be a woman, much less his adored princess, call him by his name; and assure the assembly that he knew him, when he was himself convinced, that he had never met him in any place: he was still more astonished at the unexpected praise the king bestowed on him.

This praise, however, although pronounced by royal lips, did not disconcert him; he received it with a modesty that proved he deserved it, but that it did not excite his vanity. He prostrated himself before the throne of the king, and when he arose, he said, “Sire, I cannot find words to express my thanks to your majesty for the great honor you have conferred on me, much less for all your kindness. I will exert myself, to the utmost of my abilities, to deserve both the one and the other.”

When he left the council, the prince was conducted by an officer to a large mansion, which the princess Badoura had already ordered to be furnished, and prepared for his reception. He there found officers and servants ready to receive his commands, and a stable filled with very fine horses; the whole suited to the dignity of an emir, which had just been conferred on him; and when he went into his closet, his steward presented him with a coffer full of gold for his expenses. The less he was able to guess from what quarter this good fortune came, the greater was his surprise and admiration: but he never entertained the least suspicion that it was his own princess who was the cause of the whole.

At the end of two or three days, the princess Badoura, to afford Camaralzaman more frequent access to her person, as well as to raise him to higher distinction, bestowed on him the office of grand treasurer, which had become vacant. He acquitted himself in this new office with so much integrity, at the same time conferring obligations on every one, that he acquired not only the friendship of all the nobles about the court, but also won the hearts of the common people by his rectitude and generosity.

Camaralzaman would have been the happiest of men, to find himself in such high favour with a king, who, as he supposed, was an entire stranger to him, and thus to obtain the esteem of every one, which daily increased, had he possessed his princess also. But in the midst of all his splendour he never ceased lamenting her loss, and that he could gain no information respecting her in a country, where he concluded she must have passed some time, since he had been separated from her by an accident, so unfortunate for both. He might have suspected something, if the princess Badoura had retained the name of Camaralzaman, which she assumed with his dress. But when she ascended the throne, she changed it for that of Armanos, in compliment to the former king, her father-in-law. So that she was now known only by the name of King Armanos the younger, and there were only a few courtiers who remembered the name of Camaralzaman, which she bore on her first arrival at the Island of Ebony. Camaralzaman had not yet had sufficient intercourse with them to learn this circumstance; but he might in the end have been informed of it.

As the princess Badoura feared that it might so happen; and as she wished Camaralzaman to be indebted to her only for the discovery, she resolved at length to put an end to her own torments, and to those she well knew he suffered. In fact, she had remarked, that whenever she conversed with him on the affairs relating to his office, he frequently heaved deep sighs, which could only be silent addresses to her. She herself lived in a state of constant restraint, which she was determined to put a period to without further delay. Besides which, the friendship of the nobles, the zeal and affection of the people, every thing contributed to persuade her that the crown of the Island of Ebony might be placed on his head without any obstacle.