Arabian Nights

by abc

  The case, with me inside it, was accordingly placed on a horse,

  and the executioner, accompanied by another man, rode into the country

  until they found a spot suitable for the purpose. But their hearts

  were not so hard as they seemed, and my tears and prayers made

  them waver.

  "Forsake the kingdom instantly," said the executioner at last,

  "and take care never to come back, for you will not only lose

  your head, but make us lose ours." I thanked him gratefully,

  and tried to console myself for the loss of my eye by thinking

  of the other misfortunes I had escaped.

  After all I had gone through, and my fear of being recognised

  by some enemy, I could only travel very slowly and cautiously,

  generally resting in some out-of-the-way place by day, and walking

  as far as I was able by night, but at length I arrived in the kingdom

  of my uncle, of whose protection I was sure.

  I found him in great trouble about the disappearance of his son,

  who had, he said, vanished without leaving a trace; but his own grief

  did not prevent him sharing mine. We mingled our tears, for the loss

  of one was the loss of the other, and then I made up my mind that it

  was my duty to break the solemn oath I had sworn to the prince.

  I therefore lost no time in telling my uncle everything I knew,

  and I observed that even before I had ended his sorrow appeared to be

  lightened a little.

  "My dear nephew," he said, "your story gives me some hope.

  I was aware that my son was building a tomb, and I think I can find

  the spot. But as he wished to keep the matter secret, let us go

  alone and seek the place ourselves."

  He then bade me disguise myself, and we both slipped out of a

  garden door which opened on to the cemetery. It did not take

  long for us to arrive at the scene of the prince's disappearance,

  or to discover the tomb I had sought so vainly before.

  We entered it, and found the trap-door which led to the staircase,

  but we had great difficulty in raising it, because the prince had

  fastened it down underneath with the plaster he had brought with him.

  My uncle went first, and I followed him. When we reached the bottom

  of the stairs we stepped into a sort of ante-room, filled with

  such a dense smoke that it was hardly possible to see anything.

  However, we passed through the smoke into a large chamber,

  which at first seemed quite empty. The room was brilliantly lighted,

  and in another moment we perceived a sort of platform at one end,

  on which were the bodies of the prince and a lady, both half-burned,

  as if they had been dragged out of a fire before it had quite

  consumed them.

  This horrible sight turned me faint, but, to my surprise, my uncle

  did not show so much surprise as anger.

  "I knew," he said, "that my son was tenderly attached to this lady,

  whom it was impossible he should ever marry. I tried to turn

  his thoughts, and presented to him the most beautiful princesses,

  but he cared for none of them, and, as you see, they have now been

  united by a horrible death in an underground tomb." But, as he spoke,

  his anger melted into tears, and again I wept with him.

  When he recovered himself he drew me to him. "My dear nephew,"

  he said, embracing me, "you have come to me to take his place,

  and I will do my best to forget that I ever had a son who could act

  in so wicked a manner." Then he turned and went up the stairs.

  We reached the palace without anyone having noticed our absence,

  when, shortly after, a clashing of drums, and cymbals, and the blare

  of trumpets burst upon our astonished ears. At the same time a thick

  cloud of dust on the horizon told of the approach of a great army.

  My heart sank when I perceived that the commander was the vizir

  who had dethroned my father, and was come to seize the kingdom

  of my uncle.

  The capital was utterly unprepared to stand a siege, and seeing

  that resistance was useless, at once opened its gates. My uncle

  fought hard for his life, but was soon overpowered, and when he

  fell I managed to escape through a secret passage, and took refuge

  with an officer whom I knew I could trust.

  Persecuted by ill-fortune, and stricken with grief, there seemed

  to be only one means of safety left to me. I shaved my beard

  and my eyebrows, and put on the dress of a calender, in which it

  was easy for me to travel without being known. I avoided the towns

  till I reached the kingdom of the famous and powerful Caliph,

  Haroun-al-Raschid, when I had no further reason to fear my enemies.

  It was my intention to come to Bagdad and to throw myself at the feet

  of his Highness, who would, I felt certain, be touched by my sad story,

  and would grant me, besides, his help and protection.

  After a journey which lasted some months I arrived at length at the

  gates of this city. It was sunset, and I paused for a little to look

  about me, and to decide which way to turn my steps. I was still

  debating on this subject when I was joined by this other calender,

  who stopped to greet me. "You, like me, appear to be a stranger,"

  I said. He replied that I was right, and before he could say more

  the third calender came up. He, also, was newly arrived in Bagdad,

  and being brothers in misfortune, we resolved to cast in our

  lots together, and to share whatever fate might have in store.

  By this time it had grown late, and we did not know where to spend

  the night. But our lucky star having guided us to this door,

  we took the liberty of knocking and of asking for shelter,

  which was given to us at once with the best grace in the world.

  This, madam, is my story.

  "I am satisfied," replied Zobeida; "you can go when you like."

  The calender, however, begged leave to stay and to hear the histories

  of his two friends and of the three other persons of the company,

  which he was allowed to do.

  The Story of the Second Calendar, Son of a King

  "Madam," said the young man, addressing Zobeida, "if you wish

  to know how I lost my right eye, I shall have to tell you the story

  of my whole life."

  I was scarcely more than a baby, when the king my father,

  finding me unusually quick and clever for my age, turned his

  thoughts to my education. I was taught first to read and write,

  and then to learn the Koran, which is the basis of our holy religion,

  and the better to understand it, I read with my tutors the ablest

  commentators on its teaching, and committed to memory all the

  traditions respecting the Prophet, which have been gathered from

  the mouth of those who were his friends. I also learnt history,

  and was instructed in poetry, versification, geography, chronology,

  and in all the outdoor exercises in which every prince should excel.

  But what I liked best of all was writing Arabic characters,

  and in this I soon surpassed my masters, and gained a reputation

  in this branch of knowledge that reached as far as India itself.

  Now the Sultan of the Indies, curious to see a young prince

  with such strange tastes, sent an ambassa
dor to my father,

  laden with rich presents, and a warm invitation to visit his court.

  My father, who was deeply anxious to secure the friendship of so

  powerful a monarch, and held besides that a little travel would

  greatly improve my manners and open my mind, accepted gladly,

  and in a short time I had set out for India with the ambassador,

  attended only by a small suite on account of the length of the journey,

  and the badness of the roads. However, as was my duty, I took

  with me ten camels, laden with rich presents for the Sultan.

  We had been travelling for about a month, when one day we saw a cloud

  of dust moving swiftly towards us; and as soon as it came near,

  we found that the dust concealed a band of fifty robbers.

  Our men barely numbered half, and as we were also hampered by

  the camels, there was no use in fighting, so we tried to overawe

  them by informing them who we were, and whither we were going.

  The robbers, however, only laughed, and declared that was none

  of their business, and, without more words, attacked us brutally.

  I defended myself to the last, wounded though I was, but at length,

  seeing that resistance was hopeless, and that the ambassador

  and all our followers were made prisoners, I put spurs to my horse

  and rode away as fast as I could, till the poor beast fell dead

  from a wound in his side. I managed to jump off without any injury,

  and looked about to see if I was pursued. But for the moment I

  was safe, for, as I imagined, the robbers were all engaged in

  quarrelling over their booty.

  I found myself in a country that was quite new to me, and dared

  not return to the main road lest I should again fall into the

  hands of the robbers. Luckily my wound was only a slight one,

  and after binding it up as well as I could, I walked on for the

  rest of the day, till I reached a cave at the foot of a mountain,

  where I passed the night in peace, making my supper off some fruits

  I had gathered on the way.

  I wandered about for a whole month without knowing where I was going,

  till at length I found myself on the outskirts of a beautiful city,

  watered by winding streams, which enjoyed an eternal spring.

  My delight at the prospect of mixing once more with human beings was

  somewhat damped at the thought of the miserable object I must seem.

  My face and hands had been burned nearly black; my clothes were all

  in rags, and my shoes were in such a state that I had been forced to

  abandon them altogether.

  I entered the town, and stopped at a tailor s shop to inquire

  where I was. The man saw I was better than my condition,

  and begged me to sit down, and in return I told him my whole story.

  The tailor listened with attention, but his reply, instead of giving

  me consolation, only increased my trouble.

  "Beware," he said, "of telling any one what you have told me,

  for the prince who governs the kingdom is your father's greatest enemy,

  and he will be rejoiced to find you in his power."

  I thanked the tailor for his counsel, and said I would do whatever

  he advised; then, being very hungry, I gladly ate of the food he

  put before me, and accepted his offer of a lodging in his house.

  In a few days I had quite recovered from the hardships I had undergone,

  and then the tailor, knowing that it was the custom for the princes

  of our religion to learn a trade or profession so as to provide for

  themselves in times of ill-fortune, inquired if there was anything

  I could do for my living. I replied that I had been educated

  as a grammarian and a poet, but that my great gift was writing.

  "All that is of no use here," said the tailor. "Take my advice,

  put on a short coat, and as you seem hardy and strong, go into

  the woods and cut firewood, which you will sell in the streets.

  By this means you will earn your living, and be able to wait till

  better times come. The hatchet and the cord shall be my present."

  This counsel was very distasteful to me, but I thought I could not

  do otherwise than adopt it. So the next morning I set out with a

  company of poor wood-cutters, to whom the tailor had introduced me.

  Even on the first day I cut enough wood to sell for a tolerable sum,

  and very soon I became more expert, and had made enough money

  to repay the tailor all he had lent me.

  I had been a wood-cutter for more than a year, when one day I

  wandered further into the forest than I had ever done before,

  and reached a delicious green glade, where I began to cut wood.

  I was hacking at the root of a tree, when I beheld an iron ring fastened

  to a trapdoor of the same metal. I soon cleared away the earth,

  and pulling up the door, found a staircase, which I hastily made up

  my mind to go down, carrying my hatchet with me by way of protection.

  When I reached the bottom I discovered that I was in a huge palace,

  as brilliantly lighted as any palace above ground that I had ever seen,

  with a long gallery supported by pillars of jasper, ornamented with

  capitals of gold. Down this gallery a lady came to meet me,

  of such beauty that I forgot everything else, and thought only

  of her.

  To save her all the trouble possible, I hastened towards her,

  and bowed low.

  "Who are you? Who are you?" she said. "A man or a genius?"

  "A man, madam," I replied; "I have nothing to do with genii."

  "By what accident do you come here?" she asked again with a sigh.

  "I have been in this place now for five and twenty years, and you are

  the first man who has visited me."

  Emboldened by her beauty and gentleness, I ventured to reply,

  "Before, madam, I answer your question, allow me to say how grateful I

  am for this meeting, which is not only a consolation to me in my own

  heavy sorrow, but may perhaps enable me to render your lot happier,"

  and then I told her who I was, and how I had come there.

  "Alas, prince," she said, with a deeper sigh than before, "you have

  guessed rightly in supposing me an unwilling prisoner in this

  gorgeous place. I am the daughter of the king of the Ebony Isle,

  of whose fame you surely must have heard. At my father's desire I was

  married to a prince who was my own cousin; but on my very wedding day,

  I was snatched up by a genius, and brought here in a faint.

  For a long while I did nothing but weep, and would not suffer

  the genius to come near me; but time teaches us submission,

  and I have now got accustomed to his presence, and if clothes and

  jewels could content me, I have them in plenty. Every tenth day,

  for five and twenty years, I have received a visit from him,

  but in case I should need his help at any other time, I have only

  to touch a talisman that stands at the entrance of my chamber.

  It wants still five days to his next visit, and I hope that during

  that time you will do me the honour to be my guest."

  I was too much dazzled by her beauty to dream of refusing her offer,

  and accordingly the princess had me conducted to the bath,

  and a rich dress befitting my rank was provided for me.

  Then a feast of the most delicat
e dishes was served in a room

  hung with embroidered Indian fabrics.

  Next day, when we were at dinner, I could maintain my patience

  no longer, and implored the princess to break her bonds, and return

  with me to the world which was lighted by the sun.

  "What you ask is impossible," she answered; "but stay here with

  me instead, and we can be happy, and all you will have to do

  is to betake yourself to the forest every tenth day, when I am

  expecting my master the genius. He is very jealous, as you know,

  and will not suffer a man to come near me."

  "Princess," I replied, "I see it is only fear of the genius that

  makes you act like this. For myself, I dread him so little that I

  mean to break his talisman in pieces! Awful though you think him,

  he shall feel the weight of my arm, and I herewith take a solemn

  vow to stamp out the whole race."

  The princess, who realized the consequences of such audacity,

  entreated me not to touch the talisman. "If you do, it will be the

  ruin of both of us," said she; "I know genii much better than you."

  But the wine I had drunk had confused my brain; I gave one kick

  to the talisman, and it fell into a thousand pieces.

  Hardly had my foot touched the talisman when the air became as dark

  as night, a fearful noise was heard, and the palace shook to its

  very foundations. In an instant I was sobered, and understood

  what I had done. "Princess!" I cried, "what is happening?"

  "Alas!" she exclaimed, forgetting all her own terrors in anxiety

  for me, "fly, or you are lost."

  I followed her advice and dashed up the staircase, leaving my

  hatchet behind me. But I was too late. The palace opened and the

  genius appeared, who, turning angrily to the princess, asked indignantly,