The Shaving of Shagpat; an Arabian entertainment — Complete

by George Meredith

  KOOROOKH

  Now, they sped from the Cave of Chrysolites by another passage than thatby which they entered it, and nothing but the light of the Sword to guidethem. By that light Shibli Bagarag could distinguish glimmering shapes,silent and statue-like, to the right and the left of them, their visageshidden in a veil of heavy webs; and he saw what seemed in the dusk broadhalls, halls of council, and again black pools and black groves, andcolumns of crowded porticoes,--all signs of an underground kingdom. Theycame to some steps and mounted these severally, coming to a platform, inthe middle of which leapt a fountain, the top spray of it touched with abeam of earth and the air breathed by men. Here he heard the youthsdabble with the dark waters, and he discerned Gulrevaz tossing it in hertwo hands, calling, 'Koorookh! Koorookh!' Then they said to him, 'Stirthis fountain with the Sword, O Master of the Event!' So he stirred thefountain, and the whole body of it took a leap toward the light that waslike the shoot of a long lance of silver in the moon's rays, and lo! inits place the ruffled feathers of a bird. Then the seven youths and thePrincess and Shibli Bagarag got up under its feathers like a brood ofwater-fowl; and the bird winged straight up as doth a blinded bee,ascending, and passing in the ascent a widening succession of windingterraces, till he observed the copper sun of Aklis and the red landsbelow it. Thrice, in the exuberance of his gladness, he waved the Sword,and the sun lost that dulness on its disk and took a bright flame, andthrew golden arrows everywhere; and the pastures were green, the streamsclear, the sands sparkling. The bird flew, and circled, and hung poised amoment, presently descending on the roof of the palace. Now, there washere a piece of solid glass, propped on two crossed bars of gold, and itwas shaped like an eye, and might have been taken for one of the eyesinhabiting the head of some monstrous Genie. Shibli Bagarag ran to itwhen he was afoot, and peered through it. Surely, it was the first objectof his heart that he beheld--Noorna, his betrothed, pale on the pillar;she with her head between her hands and her hair scattered by the storm,as one despairing. Still he looked, and he save swimming round the pillarthat monstrous fish, with its sole baleful eye, which had gulped themboth in the closed shell of magic pearl; and he knew the fish for Karaz,the Genie, their enemy. Then he turned to the Princess, with an imploringvoice for counsel how to reach her and bring her rescue; but she said,'The Sword is in thy hands, none of us dare wield it'; and the sevenyouths answered likewise. So, left to himself, he drew the Sword from hisgirdle, and hissed on the heads of the serpents, at the same time holdingit so that it might lengthen out inimitably. Then he leaned it over theeye of the glass, in the direction of the pillar besieged by the billows,and lo! with one cut, even at that distance, he divided the fishymonster, and with another severed the chains that had fettered Noorna;and she arose and smiled blissfully to the sky, and stood upright, andsignalled him to lay the point of the blade on the pillar. When he haddone this, knowing her wisdom, she put a foot boldly upon the blade andran up it toward him, and she was half-way up the blade, when suddenly akite darted down upon her, pecking at her eyes, to confuse her. She waxedunsteady and swayed this way and that, balancing with one arm anddefending herself from the attacks of the kite with another. It seemed toShibli Bagarag she must fall and be lost; and the sweat started on hisforehead in great drops big as nuts. Seeing that and the agitation of hislimbs, Gulrevaz cried, 'O Master of the Event, let us hear it!'

  But he shrieked, 'The kite! the kite! she is running up the blade, andthe kite is at her eyes! and she swaying, swaying! falling, falling!'

  So the Princess exclaimed, 'A kite! Koorookh is match for a kite!'

  Then she smoothed the throat of Koorookh, and clasped round it a collarof bright steel, roughened with secret characters; and she took a hoop ofgold, and passed the bird through it, urging it all the while with onestrange syllable; and the bird went up with a strong whirr of the wingtill he was over the sea, and caught sight of Noorna tottering beneathhim on the blade, and the kite pecking fiercely at her. Thereat hefluttered eagerly a twinkle of time, and the next was down with his beakin the neck of the kite, crimsoned in it. Now, by the shouts andexclamations of Shibli Bagarag, the Princess and the seven youths, herbrothers, knew that the bird had performed well his task, and that thefight was between Koorookh and the kite. Then he cried gladly to them,'Joy for us, and Allah be praised! The kite is dropping, and she leanethon one wing of Koorookh!'

  And he cried in anguish, 'What see I? The kite is become a white ball,rolling down the blade toward her; and it will of a surety destroy her.'And he called to her, thinking vainly his voice might reach her. So thePrincess said, 'A white ball? 'tis I that am match for a white ball!'

  Now, she seized from the corner of the palace-roof a bow and an arrow,and her brothers lifted her to a level with the hilt of the Sword,leaning on the eye of glass. Then she planted one foot on the shoulder ofShibli Bagarag as he bent peering through the eye, and fitted the arrowto a level of the Sword, slanting its slant, and let it fly, doubling thebow. Shibli Bagarag saw the ball roll to within a foot of Noorna, when itwas as if stricken by a gleam of light, and burst, and was a black cloudveined with fire, swathing her in folds. He lost all sight of Noorna; andwhere she had been were vivid flashes, and then a great flame, and in themidst a red serpent and a green serpent twisted as in the death-struggle.So he cried, 'A red serpent and a green serpent!'

  And the sons of Aklis exclaimed, 'A red serpent? 'Tis we that are matchfor a red serpent!'

  Thereupon they descended steps through the palace roof, and while thefight between those two serpents was rageing, Shibli Bagarag beheld sevensmall bright birds, bee-catchers, that entered the flame, bearing intheir bills slips of a herb, and hovering about the heal of the redserpent, distracting it. Then he saw the red serpent hiss and snap atone, darting out its tongue, and lo! on the fork of its tongue the littlebird let fall the slip of herb in its bill, and in an instant the serpentchanged from red to yellow and from yellow to pale-spotted blue, and fromthat to a speckled indigo-colour, writhing at every change, and hissingfire from its open jaws. Meantime the green serpent was released and wasmaking circles round the flame, seeking to complete some enchantment,when suddenly the whole scene vanished, and Shibli Bagarag again beheldNoorna steadying her steps on the blade, and leaning on one wing ofKoorookh. She advanced up the blade, coming nearer and nearer; and hethought her close, and breathed quick and ceased looking through theglass. When he gazed abroad, lo! she was with Koorookh, on a far hillbeyond the stream in outer Aklis. So he said to the Princess Gulrevaz, 'OPrincess, comes she not to me here in the palace?'

  But the Princess shook her head, and said, 'She hath not a spell! Shewaiteth for thee yonder with Koorookh. Now, look through the glass oncemore.'

  He looked through the glass, and there on a plain, as he had first seenit when Noorna appeared to him, was the City of Shagpat, and in thestreets of the city a vast assembly, and a procession passing on, itsfront banner surmounted by the Crescent, and bands with curled and curvedinstruments playing, and slaves scattering gold and clashing cymbals,every demonstration and evidence of a great day and a high occasion inthe City of Shagpat! So he peered yet keenlier through the glass, andbehold, the Vizier Feshnavat, father of Noorna, walking in fetters,subject to the jibes and evil-speaking of the crowds of people, histurban off, and he in a robe of drab-coloured stuff, in the scornedcondition of an unbeliever. Shibli Bagarag peered yet more earnestlythrough the glass eye, and in the centre of the procession, cladgorgeously in silks and stuffs, woven with gold and gems, a crown uponhis head, and the appanages of supremacy and majesty about him, wasShagpat. He paced upon a yellow flooring that was unrolled before himfrom a mighty roll; and there were slaves that swarmed on all sides ofhim, supporting upon gold pans and platters the masses of hair thatspread bushily before and behind, and to the right and left of him. Trulythe gravity of his demeanour exceeded that which is attained by Sheiksand Dervishes after much drinking of the waters of wisdom, and fasting,and abnegation of the pleasures that betray us to folly
in this world!Now, when he saw Shagpat, the soul of Shibli Bagarag was quickened to dohis appointed work upon him, shear him, and release the Vizier Feshnavat.Desire to shave Shagpat was as a salt thirst rageing in him, as the dreamof munching to one that starveth; even as the impelling of violenttempests to skiffs on the sea; and he hungered to be at him, crying, ashe peered, ''Tis he! even he, Shagpat!'

  Then he turned to the Princess Gulrevaz, and said, ''Tis Shagpat,exalted, clothed with majesty, O thou morning star of Aklis!'

  She said, 'Koorookh is given thee, and waiteth to carry ye both; and forme I will watch that this glass send forth a beam to light ye to thatcity; so farewell, O thou that art loved! And delay in nothing to finishthe work in hand.'

  Now, when he had set his face from the Princess he descended through theroof of the palace, and met the seven youths returning, and theyaccompanied him through the halls of the palace to that hall where thedamsels had duped him. He was mindful of his promise to the old mancrowned, and flashed the Sword a strong flash, so that he who looked onit would be seared in the eyelashes. Then the doors of the recesses flewapart, eight-and-ninety in number, and he beheld divers sitters onthrones, with the diadem of asses' ears stiffened upright, and monkeys'skulls grinning with gems; they having on each countenance the look ofsovereigns and the serenity of high estate. Shibli Bagarag laughed atthem, and he thought, 'Wullahy! was I one of these? I, the beloved ofNoorna, destined Master of the Event!' and he thought, 'Of a surety, ifthese sitters could but laugh at themselves, there would be a release forthem, and the crown would topple off which getteth the homage of assesand monkeys!' He would have spoken to them, but the sons of Aklis said,'They have seen the flashing of the Sword, and 'twere well they wakenot.' As they went from the hall the seven youths said, 'Reflect upon theage of these sitters, that have been sitting in the chairs from three toeleven generations back! And they were searchers of the Sword like thee,but were duped! In like manner, the hen sitteth in complacency, but shebringeth forth and may cackle; 'tis owing to the aids of Noorna that thouart not one of these sitters, O Master of the Event!' Now, they pacedthrough the hall of dainty provender, and through the hall of thejewel-fountains, coming to the palace steps, where stood Abarak leaningon his bar. As they advanced to Abarak, there was a clamour in the hallsbehind, that gathered in noise like a torrent, and approached, andpresently the Master was ware of a sharp stroke on his forehead with ahairy finger, and then a burn, and the Crown that had clung to himtoppled off; surely it fell upon the head of the old monkey, the cautiousand wise one, he that had made a study of Shibli Bagarag. Thereupon thatmonkey stalked scornfully from them; and Abarak cried, 'O Master of theEvent! it was better for me to keep the passage of the Seventh Pillar,than be an ape of this order. Wah! the flashing of the Sword scorcheththem, and they scamper.'