The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night Volume III Part 25

"Fate hath commanded I become thy fere, *

O s.h.i.+ning like full moon when clearest clear!

All beauty dost embrace, all eloquence; *

Brighter than aught within our worldly sphere: Content am I my torturer thou be: *

Haply shalt alms me with one lovely leer!

Happy her death who dieth for thy love! *

No good in her who holdeth thee unclear!"

And also the following couplets,

"Unto thee, As'ad! I of pa.s.sion-pangs complain; *

Have ruth on slave of love so burnt with flaming pain: How long, I ask, shall hands of Love disport with me, *

With longings, dolour, sleepliness and bale and bane?

Anon I 'plain of sea in heart, anon of fire *

In vitals, O strange case, dear wish, my fairest fain!

O blamer, cease thy blame, and seek thyself to fly *

From love, which makes these eyne a rill of tears to rain.

How oft I cry for absence and desire, Ah grief! *

But all my crying naught of gain for me shall gain: Thy rigours dealt me sickness pa.s.sing power to bear, *

Thou art my only leach, a.s.sain me an thou deign!

O chider, chide me not in caution, for I doubt *

That plaguey Love to thee shall also deal a bout."

Then Queen Budur perfumed the letter-paper with a profusion of odoriferous musk and, winding it in her hairstrings which were of Iraki silk, with pendants of oblong emeralds, set with pearls and stones of price, delivered it to the old woman, bidding her carry it to Prince As'ad.[FN#361] She did so in order to pleasure her, and going in to the Prince, straightway and without stay, found him in his own rooms and delivered to him the letter in privacy; after which she stood waiting an hour or so for the answer. When As'ad had read the paper and knew its purport, he wrapped it up again in the ribbons and put it in his bosom-pocket: then (for he was wrath beyond all measure of wrath) he cursed false women and sprang up and drawing his sword, smote the old trot on the neck and cut off her pate. Thereupon he went in to his mother, Queen Hayat al-Nufus, whom he found lying on her bed in feeble case, for that which had betided her with Prince Amjad, and railed at her and cursed her; after which he left her and fore-gathered with his brother, to whom he related all that had befallen him with Queen Budur, adding, "By Allah, O my brother, but that I was ashamed before thee, I had gone in to her forthright and had smitten her head off her shoulders!" Replied Prince Amjad, "By Allah, O my brother, yesterday when I was sitting upon the seat of judgement, the like of what hath befallen thee this day befel me also with thy mother who sent me a letter of similar purport."

And he told him all that had pa.s.sed, adding, "By Allah, O my brother, naught but respect for thee withheld me from going in to her and dealing with her even as I dealt with the eunuch!" They pa.s.sed the rest of the night conversing and cursing womankind, and agreed to keep the matter secret, lest their father should hear of it and kill the two women. Yet they ceased not to suffer trouble and foresee affliction. And when the morrow dawned, the King returned with his suite from hunting and sat awhile in his chair of estate; after which he sent the Emirs about their business and went up to his palace, where he found his two wives lying a-bed and both exceeding sick and weak. Now they had made a plot against their two sons and concerted to do away their lives, for that they had exposed themselves before them and feared to be at their mercy and dependent upon their forbearance. When Kamar al-Zaman saw them on this wise, he said to them, "What aileth you?" Whereupon they rose to him and kissing his hands answered, perverting the case and saying "Know, O King, that thy two sons, who have been reared in thy bounty, have played thee false and have dishonoured thee in the persons of thy wives." Now when he heard this, the light became darkness in his sight, and he raged with such wrath that his reason fled: then said he to them, "Explain me this matter." Replied Queen Budur, "O King of the age, know that these many days past thy son As'ad hath been in the persistent habit of sending me letters and messages to solicit me to lewdness and adultery while I still forbade him from this, but he would not be forbidden; and, when thou wentest forth to hunt, he rushed in on me, drunk and with a drawn sword in his hand, and smiting my eunuch, slew him. Then he mounted on my breast, still holding the sword, and I feared lest he should slay me, if I gainsaid him, even as he had slain my eunuch; so he took his wicked will of me by force. And now if thou do me not justice on him, O King, I will slay myself with my own hand, for I have no need of life in the world after this foul deed." And Queen Hayat al-Nufus, choking with tears, told him respecting Prince Amjad a story like that of her sister-wife.--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Two Hundred and Twentieth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Queen Hayat al-Nufus told her husband, King Kamar al-Zaman, a story like that of her sister in wedlock, Budur, and, quoth she, "The same thing befel me with thy son Amjad;" after which she took to weeping and wailing and said, "Except thou do me justice on him I will tell my father, King Arma.n.u.s." Then both women wept with sore weeping before King Kamar al-Zaman who, when he saw their tears and heard their words, concluded that their story was true and, waxing wroth beyond measure of wrath, went forth thinking to fall upon his two sons and put them to death. On his way he met his father- in-law, King Arma.n.u.s who, hearing of his return from the chase, had come to salute him at that very hour and, seeing him with naked brand in hand and blood dripping from his nostrils, for excess of rage, asked what ailed him. So Kamar al-Zaman told him all that his sons Amjad and As'ad had done and added, "And here I am now going in to them to slay them in the foulest way and make of them the most shameful of examples." Quoth King Arma.n.u.s (and indeed he too was wroth with them), "Thou dost well, O my son, and may Allah not bless them nor any sons that do such deed against their father's honour. But, O my son, the sayer of the old saw saith, 'Whoso looketh not to the end hath not Fortune to friend.' In any case, they are thy sons, and it befitteth not that thou kill them with s.h.i.+ne own hand, lest thou drink of their death-agony,[FN#362] and anon repent of having slain them whenas repentance availeth thee naught. Rather do thou send them with one of thy Mamelukes into the desert and let him kill them there out of thy sight, for, as saith the adage, 'Out of sight of my friend is better and pleasanter.'[FN#363] And when Kamar al-Zaman heard his father-in-law's words, he knew them to be just; so he sheathed his sword and turning back, sat down upon the throne of his realm. There he summoned his treasurer, a very old man, versed in affairs and in fortune's vicissitudes, to whom he said, "Go in to my sons, Amjad and As'ad; bind their hands behind them with strong bonds, lay them in two chests and load them upon a mule. Then take horse thou and carry them into mid desert, where do thou kill them both and fill two vials with their blood and bring the same to me in haste." Replied the treasurer, "I hear and I obey," and he rose up hurriedly and went out forthright to seek the Princes; and, on his road, he met them coming out of the palace-vestibule, for they had donned their best clothes and their richest; and they were on their way to salute their sire and give him joy of his safe return from his going forth to hunt.

Now when he saw them, he laid hands on them, saying, "Omy sons, know ye that I am but a slave commanded, and that your father hath laid a commandment on me; will ye obey his commandment?"

They said, "Yes"; whereupon he went up to them and, after pinioning their arms, laid them in the chests which he loaded on the back of a mule he had taken from the city. And he ceased not carrying them into the open country till near noon, when he halted in a waste and desolate place and, dismounting from his mare, let down the two chests from the mule's back. Then he opened them and took out Amjad and As'ad; and when he looked upon them he wept sore for their beauty and loveliness; then drawing his sword he said to them, "By Allah, O my lords, indeed it is hard for me to deal so evilly by you; but I am to be excused in this matter, being but a slave commanded, for that your father King Kamar al-Zaman hath bidden me strike off your heads." They replied, "O Emir, do the King's bidding, for we bear with patience that which Allah (to Whom be Honour, Might and Glory!) hath decreed to us; and thou art quit of our blood." Then they embraced and bade each other farewell, and As'ad said to the treasurer, "Allah upon thee, O uncle, spare me the sight of my brother's death-agony and make me not drink of his anguish, but kill me first, for that were the easier for me." And Amjad said the like and entreated the treasurer to kill him before As'ad, saying, "My brother is younger than I; so make me not taste of his anguish. And they both wept bitter tears whilst the treasurer wept for their weeping;--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-first Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the treasurer wept for their weeping; then the two brothers embraced and bade farewell and one said to the other, "All this cometh of the malice of those traitresses, my mother and thy mother; and this is the reward of my forbearance towards thy mother and of thy for bearance towards my mother! But there is no Might and there is no Majesty save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!

Verily, we are Allah's and unto Him we are returning."[FN#364]

And As'ad em braced his brother, sobbing and repeating these couplets,

"O Thou to whom sad trembling wights in fear complain! *

O ever ready whatso cometh to sustain!

The sole resource for me is at Thy door to knock, *

At whose door knock an Thou to open wilt not deign?

O Thou whose grace is treasured in the one word, Be![FN#365] *

Favour me, I beseech, in Thee all weals contain."

Now when Amjad heard his brother's weeping he wept also and pressing him to his bosom repeated these two couplets,

"O Thou whose boons to me are more than one! *

Whose gifts and favours have nor count nor bound!

No stroke of all Fate's strokes e'er fell on me, *

But Thee to take me by the hand I found."

Then said Amjad to the treasurer, "I conjure thee by the One, Omnipotent, the Lord of Mercy, the Beneficent! slay me before my brother As'ad, so haply shall the fire be quencht in my heart's core and in this life burn no more." But As'ad wept and exclaimed, "Not so: I will die first;" whereupon quoth Amjad, "It were best that I embrace thee and thou embrace me, so the sword may fall upon us and slay us both at a single stroke." Thereupon they embraced, face to face and clung to each other straitly, whilst the treasurer tied up the twain and bound them fast with cords, weeping the while. Then he drew his blade and said to them, "By Allah, O my lords, it is indeed hard to me to slay you!

But have ye no last wishes that I may fulfil or charges which I may carry out, or message which I may deliver?" Replied Amjad, "We have no wish; and my only charge to thee is that thou set my brother below and me above him, that the blow may fall on me first, and when thou hast killed us and returnest to the King and he asketh thee, 'What heardest thou from them before their death?'; do thou answer, 'Verily thy sons salute thee and say to thee, Thou knewest not if we were innocent or guilty, yet hast thou put us to death and hast not certified thyself of our sin nor looked into our case.' Then do thou repeat to him these two couplets,

'Women are Satans made for woe o' men; *

I fly to Allah from their devilish scathe: Source of whatever bale befel our kind, *

In wordly matters and in things of Faith.'"

Continued Amjad, "We desire of thee naught but that thou repeat to our sire these two couplets."--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was ad the Two Hundred and Twenty-second Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Amjad added, speaking to the treasurer, "We desire of thee naught but that thou repeat to our sire these two couplets which thou hast just now heard; and I conjure thee by Allah to have patience with us, whilst I cite to my brother this other pair of couplets."

Then he wept with sore weeping and began,

"The Kings who fared before us showed *

Of instances full many a show: Of great and small and high and low *

How many this one road have trod!"

Now when the treasurer heard these words from Amjad, he wept till his beard was wet, whilst As'ad's eyes brimmed with tears and he in turn repeated these couplets,

"Fate frights us when the thing is past and gone; *

Weeping is not for form or face alone[FN#366]: What ails the Nights?[FN#367] Allah blot out our sin, *

And be the Nights by other hand undone!

Ere this Zubayr-son[FN#368] felt their spiteful hate, *

Who fled for refuge to the House and Stone: Would that when Kharijah was for Amru slain[FN#369] *

They had ransomed Ali with all men they own."

Then, with cheeks stained by tears down railing he recited also these verses,

"In sooth the Nights and Days are charactered *

By traitor falsehood and as knaves they lie; The Desert-reek[FN#370] recalls their teeth that s.h.i.+ne; *

All horrid blackness is their K of eye: My sin anent the world which I abhor *

Is sin of sword when sworders fighting hie."

Then his sobs waxed louder and he said,

"O thou who woo'st a World[FN#371] unworthy, learn *

'Tis house of evils, 'tis Perdition's net: A house where whoso laughs this day shall weep *

The next: then perish house of fume and fret!

Endless its frays and forays, and its thralls *

Are ne'er redeemed, while endless risks beset.

How many gloried in its pomps and pride, *

Till proud and pompous did all bounds forget, Then showing back of s.h.i.+eld she made them swill[FN#372] *

Full draught, and claimed all her vengeance debt.

For know her strokes fall swift and sure, altho' *

Long bide she and forslow the course of Fate: So look thou to thy days lest life go by *

Idly, and meet thou more than thou hast met; And cut all chains of world-love and desire *

And save thy soul and rise to secrets higher."