Vathek; An Arabian Tale

by William Beckford

warmth! what can such a prodigy mean?”

  Nouronihar with diffidence answered:

  “You know my lord that I died on the night you honoured me with yourvisit; my cousin maintains it was from one of your glances, but I cannotbelieve him, for to me they seem not so dreadful. Gulchenrouz died withme, and we were both brought into a region of desolation, where we arefed with a wretched diet. If you be dead also, and are come hither tojoin us, I pity your lot, for you will be stunned with the clang of thedwarfs and the storks. Besides, it is mortifying in the extreme that youas well as myself should have lost the treasures of the subterraneanpalace.”

  At the mention of the subterranean palace, the Caliph suspended hiscaresses, which indeed had proceeded pretty far, to seek from Nouroniharan explanation of her meaning. She then recapitulated her vision—whatimmediately followed—and the history of her pretended death; adding alsoa description of the palace of expiation from whence she had fled; andall in a manner that would have extorted his laughter, had not thethoughts of Vathek been too deeply engaged. No sooner, however, had sheended, than he again clasped her to his bosom, and said:

  “Light of my eyes! the mystery is unravelled; we both are alive! Yourfather is a cheat, who for the sake of dividing hath deluded us both; andthe Giaour, whose design, as far as I can discover, is that we shallproceed together, seems scarce a whit better. It shall be some time atleast before he find us in his palace of fire. Your lovely little personin my estimation is far more precious than all the treasures of thepreadimite sultans, and I wish to possess it at pleasure, and in open dayfor many a moon, before I go to burrow under ground like a mole.”

  “Forget this little trifler Gulchenrouz, and”—

  “Ah, my lord,” interposed Nouronihar, “let me entreat that you do him noevil.”

  “No, no,” replied Vathek, “I have already bid you forbear to alarmyourself for him. He has been brought up too much on milk and sugar tostimulate my jealousy. We will leave him with the dwarfs, who by the byeare my old acquaintances; their company will suit him far better thanyours. As to other matters, I will return no more to your father’s. Iwant not to have my ears dinned by him and his dotards with the violationof the rights of hospitality; as if it were less an honour for you toespouse the sovereign of the world, than a girl dressed up like a boy.”

  Nouronihar could find nothing to oppose in a discourse so eloquent. Sheonly wished the amorous monarch had discovered more ardour for thecarbuncle of Giamschid; but flattered herself it would graduallyincrease, and therefore yielded to his will with the most bewitchingsubmission.

  When the Caliph judged it proper he called for Bababalouk, who was asleepin the cave of Meimoune, and dreaming that the phantom of Nouroniharhaving mounted him once more on her swing, had just given him such a jerkthat he one moment soared above the mountains, and the next sunk into theabyss. Starting from his sleep at the voice of his master, he rangasping for breath, and had nearly fallen backward at the sight, as hebelieved, of the spectre, by whom he had so lately been haunted in hisdream.

  “Ah my lord,” cried he, recoiling ten steps, and covering his eyes withboth hands, “do you then perform the office of a goule? ’Tis true youhave dug up the dead, yet hope not to make her your prey; for after allshe hath caused me to suffer, she is even wicked enough to prey uponyou.”

  “Cease thy folly,” said Vathek, “and thou shalt soon be convinced that itis Nouronihar herself, alive and well, whom I clasp to my breast. Goonly, and pitch my tents in the neighbouring valley. There will I fix myabode with this beautiful tulip, whose colours I soon shall restore.There exert thy best endeavours to procure whatever can augment theenjoyments of life, till I shall disclose to thee more of my will.”

  The news of so unlucky an event soon reached the ears of the emir, whoabandoned himself to grief and despair, and began, as did all his oldgreybeards, to begrime his visage with ashes. A total supineness ensued;travellers were no longer entertained, no more plasters were spread, andinstead of the charitable activity that had distinguished this asylum,the whole of its inhabitants exhibited only faces of a half cubit long,and uttered groans that accorded with their forlorn situation.

  Though Fakreddin bewailed his daughter as lost to him for ever, yetGulchenrouz was not forgotten. He despatched immediate instruction toSutlememe, Shaban, and the dwarfs, enjoining them not to undeceive thechild in respect to his state, but under some pretence to convey him farfrom the lofty rock at the extremity of the lake, to a place which heshould appoint, as safer from danger; for he suspected that Vathekintended him evil.

  Gulchenrouz in the mean while was filled with amazement at not findinghis cousin; nor were the dwarfs at all less surprised; but Sutlememe, whohad more penetration, immediately guessed what had happened. Gulchenrouzwas amused with the delusive hope of once more embracing Nouronihar inthe interior recesses of the mountains, where the ground, strewed overwith orange blossoms and jasamines, offered beds much more inviting thanthe withered leaves in their cabin, where they might accompany with theirvoices the sounds of their lutes, and chase butterflies in concert.Sutlememe was far gone in this sort of description when one of the foureunuchs beckoned her aside to apprise her of the arrival of a messengerfrom their fraternity, who had explained the secret of the flight ofNouronihar, and brought the commands of the emir. A council with Shabanand the dwarfs was immediately held. Their baggage being stowed inconsequence of it, they embarked in a shallop and quietly sailed with thelittle one, who acquiesced in all their proposals. Their voyageproceeded in the same manner, till they came to the place where the lakesinks beneath the hollow of the rock, but as soon as the bark had enteredit, and Gulchenrouz found himself surrounded with darkness, he was seizedwith a dreadful consternation, and incessantly uttered the most piercingoutcries; for he now was persuaded he should actually be damned forhaving taken too many little freedoms in his life-time with his cousin.

  But let us return to the Caliph, and her who ruled over his heart.Bababalouk had pitched the tents, and closed up the extremities of thevalley with magnificent screens of India cloth, which were guarded byEthiopian slaves with their drawn sabres. To preserve the verdure ofthis beautiful enclosure in its natural freshness, the white eunuchs wentcontinually round it with their red water vessels. The waving of fanswas heard near the imperial pavilion, where by the voluptuous light thatglowed through the muslins, the Caliph enjoyed at full view all theattractions of Nouronihar. Inebriated with delight, he was all ear toher charming voice which accompanied the lute; while she was not lesscaptivated with his descriptions of Samarah and the tower full ofwonders, but especially with his relation of the adventure of the ball,and the chasm of the Giaour with its ebony portal.

  In this manner they conversed for a day and a night; they bathed togetherin a basin of black marble, which admirably relieved the fairness ofNouronihar. Bababalouk, whose good graces this beauty had regained,spared no attention that their repasts might be served up with theminutest exactness: some exquisite rariety was ever placed before them;and he sent even to Schiraz for that fragrant and delicious wine whichhad been hoarded up in bottles prior to the birth of Mahomet. He hadexcavated little ovens in the rock to bake the nice manchets which wereprepared by the hands of Nouronihar, from whence they had derived aflavour so grateful to Vathek, that he regarded the ragouts of his otherwives as entirely maukish; whilst they would have died at the emir’s ofchagrin at finding themselves so neglected, if Fakreddin, notwithstandinghis resentment, had not taken pity upon them.

  The sultana Dilara, who till then had been the favourite, took thisdereliction of the Caliph to heart with a vehemence natural to hercharacter; for during her continuance in favour she had imbibed fromVathek many of his extravagant fancies, and was fired with impatience tobehold the superb tombs of Istakar, and the palace of forty columns;besides, having been brought up amongst the magi, she had fondlycherished the idea of the Caliph’s devoting himself to the worship offire; thus his voluptuous and desultory
life with her rival was to her adouble source of affliction. The transient piety of Vathek hadoccasioned her some serious alarms, but the present was an evil of fargreater magnitude. She resolved therefore without hesitation to write toCarathis, and acquaint her that all things went ill; that they had eaten,slept, and revelled at an old emir’s, whose sanctity was very formidable,and that after all the prospect of possessing the treasures of thepreadimite sultans was no less remote than before. This letter wasentrusted to the care of two woodmen who were at work on one of the greatforests of the mountains, and being acquainted with the shortest cuts,arrived in ten days at Samarah.

  The princess Carathis was engaged at chess with Morakanabad, when thearrival of these wood-fellers was announced. She, after some weeks ofVathek’s absence, had forsaken the upper regions of her tower, becauseeverything appeared in confusion among the stars, whom she consultedrelative to the fate of her son. In vain did she renew her fumigations,and extend herself on the roof to obtain