The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night Volume III Part 21

"Ask of my writ what wrote my pen in dole, *

And hear my tale of misery from this scroll; My hand is writing while my tears down flow, *

And to the paper 'plains my longing soul: My tears cease not to roll upon this sheet, *

And if they stopped I'd cause blood-gouts to roll."

And at the end he added this other verse,

"I've sent the ring from off thy finger bore *

I when we met, now deign my ring restore!"

Then Kamar al-Zaman set the Lady Budur's ring inside the letter and sealed it and gave it to the eunuch, who took it and went in with it to his mistress.--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Two Hundred and Fifth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al- Zaman, after setting the seal-ring inside the epistle, gave it to the eunuch who took it and went in with it to his mistress; and, when the Lady Budur opened it, she found therein her own very ring. Then she read the paper and when she understood its purport and knew that it was from her beloved, and that he in person stood behind the curtain, her reason began to fly and her breast swelled for joy and rose high; and she repeated these couplets,

"Long, long have I bewailed the sev'rance of our loves, *

With tears that from my lids streamed down like burning rain; And vowed that, if the days deign reunite us two, *

My lips should never speak of severance again: Joy hath o'erwhelmed me so that, for the very stress *

Of that which gladdens me to weeping I am fain.

Tears are become to you a habit, O my eyes, *

So that ye weep as well for gladness as for pain.''[FN#301]

And having finished her verse, the Lady Budur stood up forthwith and, firmly setting her feet to the wall, strained with all her might upon the collar of iron, till she brake it from her neck and snapped the chains. Then going forth from behind the curtain she threw herself on Kamar al-Zaman and kissed him on the mouth, like a pigeon feeding its young.[FN#302] And she embraced him with all the stress of her love and longing and said to him, "O my lord do I wake or sleep and hath the Almighty indeed vouchsafe] us reunion after disunion? Laud be to Allah who hath our loves repaired, even after we despaired!" Now when the eunuch saw her in this case, he went off running to King Ghayur and, kissing the ground before him, said, "O my lord, know that this Astrologer is indeed the Shaykh of all astrologers, who are fools to him, all of them; for verily he hath cured thy daughter while standing behind the curtain and without going in to her." Quoth the King, "Look well to it, is this news true?" Answered the eunuch, "O my lord, rise and come and see for thyself how she hath found strength to break the iron chains and is come forth to the Astrologer, kissing and embracing him." Thereupon the King arose and went in to his daughter who, when she saw him, stood up in haste and covered her head,[FN#303] and recited these two couplets,

"The toothstick love I not; for when I say, *

'Siwak,'[FN#304] I miss thee, for it sounds 'Siwa-ka'.

The caper-tree I love; for when I say, *

'Arak'[FN#305] it sounds I look on thee, 'Ara-ka.'"

Thereupon the King was so transported for joy at her recovery that he felt like to fly and kissed her between the eyes, for he loved her with dearest love; then, turning to Kamar al-Zaman, he asked him who he was, and said, "What countryman art thou?" So the Prince told him his name and rank, and informed him that he was the son of King Shahriman, and presently related to him the whole story from beginning to end; and acquainted him with what happened between himself and the Lady Budur; and how he had taken her seal-ring from her finger and had placed it on his own; whereat Ghayur marvelled and said, "Verily your story deserveth in books to be chronicled, and when you are dead and gone age after age be read." Then he summoned Kazis and witnesses forthright and married the Lady Budur to Prince Kamar al-Zaman; after which he bade decorate the city seven days long. So they spread the tables with all manner of meats, whilst the drums beat and the criers anounced the glad tidings, and all the troops donned their richest clothes; and they illuminated the city and held high festival. Then Kamar al-Zaman went in to the Lady Budur and the King rejoiced in her recovery and in her marriage; and praised Allah for that He had made her to fall in love with a goodly youth of the sons of Kings. So they unveiled her and displayed the bride before the bridegroom; and both were the living likeness of each other in beauty and comeliness and grace and love-allurement. Then Kamar al-Zaman lay with her that night and took his will of her, whilst she in like manner fulfilled her desire of him and enjoyed his charms and grace; and they slept in each other's arms till the morning. On the morrow, the King made a wedding-feast to which he gathered all comers from the Islands of the Inner and Outer Seas, and he spread the tables with choicest viands nor ceased the banquetting for a whole month. Now when Kamar al-Zaman had thus fulfilled his will and attained his inmost desire, and whenas he had tarried awhile with the Princess Budur, he bethought him of his father, King Shahriman, and saw him in a dream, saying, "O my son, is it thus thou dealest with me?" and recited in the vision these two couplets,

"Indeed to watch the darkness-moon he blighted me, *

And to star-gaze through longsome night he plighted me: Easy, my heart! for haply he'll unite with thee; *

And patience, Sprite! with whatso ills he dight to thee."

Now after seeing his father in the dream and hearing his re preaches, Kamar al-Zaman awoke in the morning, afflicted and troubled, whereupon the Lady Budur questioned him and he told her what he had seen.--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Two Hundred and Sixth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Kamar al-Zaman acquainted the Lady Budur with what he had seen in his dream, she and he went in to her sire and, telling him what had pa.s.sed, besought his leave to travel. He gave the Prince the permission he sought; but the Princess said, "O my father, I cannot bear to be parted from him." Quoth Ghayur, her sire, "Then go thou with him," and gave her leave to be absent a whole twelvemonth and afterwards to visit him in every year once; so she kissed his hand and Kamar al-Zaman did the like. Thereupon King Ghayur proceeded to equip his daughter and her bridegroom for the journey, and furnished them with outfit and appointments for the march; and brought out of his stables horses marked with his own brand, blood-dromedaries[FN#306] which can journey ten days without water, and prepared a litter for his daughter, besides loading mules and camels with victual; moreover, he gave them slaves and eunuchs to serve them and all manner of travellinggear; and on the day of departure, when King Ghayur took leave of Kamar al-Zaman, he bestowed on him ten splendid suits of cloth of gold embroidered with stones of price, together with ten riding horses and ten she-camels, and a treasury of money;[FN#307] and he charged him to love and cherish his daughter the Lady Budur. Then the King accompanied them to the farthest limits of his Islands where, going in to his daughter Budur in the litter, he kissed her and strained her to his bosom, weeping and repeating,

"O thou who wooest Severance, easy fare! *

For love-embrace belongs to lover-friend: Fare softly! Fortune's nature falsehood is, *

And parting shall love's every meeting end."

Then leaving his daughter, he went to her husband and bade him farewell and kissed him; after which he parted from them and, giving the order for the march he returned to his capital with his troops. The Prince and Princess and their suite fared on without stopping through the first day and the second and the third and the fourth, nor did they cease faring for a whole month till they came to a s.p.a.cious champaign, abounding in pasturage, where they pitched their tents; and they ate and drank and rested, and the Princess Budur lay down to sleep. Presently, Kamar al-Zaman went in to her and found her lying asleep clad in a s.h.i.+ft of apricot-coloured silk that showed all and everything; and on her head was a coif of gold-cloth embroidered with pearls and jewels. The breeze raised her s.h.i.+ft which laid bare her navel and showed her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and displayed a stomach whiter than snow, each one of whose dimples would contain an ounce of benzoin- ointment.[FN#308] At this sight, his love and longing redoubled, and he began reating,

"An were it asked me when by h.e.l.l-fire burnt, *

When flames of heart my vitals hold and hem, 'Which wouldst thou chose, say wouldst thou rather them, *

Or drink sweet cooling draught?' I'd answer, 'Them!' "

Then he put his hand to the band of her petticoat-trousers and drew it and loosed it, for his soul l.u.s.ted after her, when he saw a jewel, red as dye-wood, made fast to the band. He untied it and examined it and, seeing two lines of writing graven thereon, in a character not to be read, marvelled and said in his mind, "Were not this bezel something to her very dear she had not bound it to her trousers-band nor hidden it in the most privy and precious place about her person, that she might not be parted from it.

Would I knew what she cloth with this and what is the secret that is in it." So saying, he took it and went outside the tent to look at it in the light,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day, and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Two Hundred and Seventh Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when he took the bezel to look at it in the light, the while he was holding it behold, a bird swooped down on him and, s.n.a.t.c.hing the same from his hand, flew off with it and then lighted on the ground. There-upon Kamar al-Zaman fearing to lose the jewel, ran after the bird; but it flew on before him, keeping just out of his reach, and ceased not to draw him on from dale to dale and from hill to hill, till the night starkened and the firmament darkened, when it roosted on a high tree. So Kamar al-Zaman stopped under the tree confounded in thought and faint for famine and fatigue, and giving himself up for lost, would have turned back, but knew not the way whereby he came, for that darkness had overtaken him. Then he exclaimed, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious the Great!"; and laying him down under the tree (whereon was the bird) slept till the morning, when he awoke and saw the bird also wake up and fly away. He arose and walked after it, and it flew on little by little before him, after the measure of his faring; at which he smiled and said, "By Allah, a strange thing! Yesterday, this bird flew before me as fast as I could run, and to-day, knowing that I have awoke tired and cannot run, he flieth after the measure of my faring. By Allah, this is wonderful! But I must needs follow this bird whether it lead me to death or to life; and I will go wherever it goeth, for at all events it will not abide save in some inhabited land.[FN#309] So he continued to follow the bird which roosted every night upon a tree; and he ceased not pursuing it for a s.p.a.ce of ten days, feeding on the fruits of the earth and drinking of its waters. At the end of this time, he came in sight of an inhabited city, whereupon the bird darted off like the glance of the eye and, entering the town, disappeared from Kamar al-Zaman, who knew not what it meant or whither it was gone; so he marvelled at this and exclaimed, "Praise be to Allah who hath brought me in safety to this city!" Then he sat down by a stream and washed his hands and feet and face and rested awhile; and, recalling his late easy and pleasant life of union with his beloved and contrasting it with his present plight of trouble and fatigue and distress and strangerhood and famine and severance, the tears streamed from his eyes and he began repeating these cinquains,

"Pain had I hid thy handwork, but it showed, *

Changed sleep for wake, and wake with me abode: When thou didst spurn my heart I cried aloud *

Pate, hold thy hand and cease to gird and goad: In dole and danger aye my sprite I spy!

An but the Lord of Love were just to me, *

Sleep fro' my eyelids ne'er were forced to flee.

Pity, my lady, one for love o' thee *

Prom his tribes darling brought to low degree: Love came and doomed Wealth beggar-death to die.

The railers chide at thee: I ne'er gainsay, *

But stop my ears and dumbly sign them Nay: 'Thou lov'st a slender may,' say they; I say, *

'I've picked her out and cast the rest away:'

Enough; when Fate descends she blinds man's eye!"[FN#310]

And as soon as he had finished his poetry and had taken his rest, he rose and walked on little by little, till he entered the city.--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Two Hundred and Eighth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that as soon as Kamar al-Zaman had finished his poetry and had taken his rest, he arose and entered the city-gate[FN#311] not knowing whither he should wend. He crossed the city from end to end, entering by the land-gate, and ceased not faring on till he came out at the sea- gate, for the city stood on the sea-sh.o.r.e. Yet he met not a single one of its citizens. And after issuing from the land-gate he fared forwards and ceased not faring till he found himself among the orchards and gardens of the place; and, pa.s.sing among the trees presently came to a garden and stopped before its door; where-upon the keeper came out to him and saluted him. The Prince returned his greeting and the gardener bade him welcome, saying, "Praised be Allah that thou hast come off safe from the dwellers of this city! Quick, come into the garth, ere any of the townfolk see thee." Thereupon Kamar al-Zaman entered that garden, wondering in mind, and asked the keeper, "What may be the history of the people of this city and who may they be?" The other answered, "Know that the people of this city are all Magians: but Allah upon thee, tell me how thou camest to this city and what caused thy coming to our capital." Accordingly Kamar al-Zaman told the gardener all that had befallen him from beginning to end, whereat he marvelled with great marvel and said, "Know, O my son, that the cities of Al-Islam lie far from us; and between us and them is a four months' voyage by sea and a whole twelve months' journey by land. We have a s.h.i.+p which saileth every year with merchandise to the nearest Moslem country and which entereth the seas of the Ebony Islands and thence maketh the Khalidan Islands, the dominions of King Shahriman." Thereupon Kamar al- Zaman considered awhile and concluded that he could not do better than abide in the garden with the gardener and become his a.s.sistant, receiving for pay one fourth of the produce. So he said to him, "Wilt thou take me into thy service, to help thee in this garden?" Answered the gardener, "To hear is to consent;" and began teaching him to lead the water to the roots of the trees.

So Kamar al-Zaman abode with him, watering the trees and hoeing up the weeds and wearing a short blue frock which reached to his knees. And he wept floods of tears; for he had no rest day or night, by reason of his strangerhood and he ceased not to repeat verses upon his beloved, amongst others the following couplets,

"Ye promised us and will ye not keep plight? *

Ye said a say and shall not deed be dight?

We wake for pa.s.sion while ye slumber and sleep; *

Watchers and wakers claim not equal right: We vowed to keep our loves in secrecy, *

But spake the meddler and you spoke forthright: O friend in pain and pleasure, joy and grief, *

In all case you, you only, claim my sprite!

Mid folk is one who holds my prisoned heart; *

Would he but show some ruth for me to sight.

Not every eye like mine is wounded sore, *

Not every heart like mine love-pipings blight: Ye wronged me saying, Love is wrongous aye *

Yea! ye were right, events have proved that quite.

Forget they one love-thralled, whose faith the world *

Robs not, though burn the fires in heart alight: If an my foeman shall become my judge, *

Whom shall I sue to remedy his despight?

Had not I need of love nor love had sought, *

My heart forsure were not thus love-distraught."

Such was the case with Kamar al-Zaman; but as regards his wife, the Lady Budur, when she awoke she sought her husband and found him not: then she saw her petticoat-trousers undone, for the band had been loosed and the bezel lost, whereupon she said to herself, "By Allah, this is strange! Where is my husband? It would seem as if he had taken the talisman and gone away, knowing not the secret which is in it. Would to Heaven I knew whither can he have wended! But it must needs have been some extraordinary matter that drew him away, for he cannot brook to leave me a moment. Allah curse the stone and d.a.m.n its hour!" Then she considered awhile and said in her mind, "If I go out and tell the varlets and let them learn that my husband is lost they will l.u.s.t after me: there is no help for it but that I use stratagem. So she rose and donned some of her husband's clothes and riding- boots, and a turband like his, drawing one corner of it across her face for a mouth-veil.[FN#312] Then, setting a slave-girl in her litter, she went forth from the tent and called to the pages who brought her Kamar al-Zaman's steed; and she mounted and bade them load the beasts and resume the march. So they bound on the burdens and departed; and she concealed her trick, none doubting but she was Kamar al-Zaman, for she favoured him in face and form; nor did she cease journeying, she and her suite, days and nights, till they came in sight of a city overlooking the Salt Sea, where they pitched their tents without the walls and halted to rest. The Princess asked the name of the town and was told, "It is called the City of Ebony; its King is named Arma.n.u.s, and he hath a daughter Hayat al-Nufus[FN#313] hight,"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.