The Arabian Nights Entertainments - Anonymous (best novels to read in english .TXT) 📗

story you began, but could not make an end of yesterday morning. I agree to it, replied the sultaness; hearken then.

You may easily imagine, continues she, that the sultan was strangely surprised when he saw the deplorable condition of the young man. That which you show me, says he, as it fills me with horror, whets my curiosity so, that I am impatient to hear your history, which no doubt is very strange, and I am persuaded that the pond and the fishes make some part of it; therefore I conjure you to tell it me. You will find some comfort in it, since it is certain that unfortunate people find some sort of ease in telling their misfortunes. I will not refuse you that satisfaction, replies the young man, though I cannot do it without renewing my grief. But I give you notice beforehand, to prepare your ears, your mind, and even your eyes, for things that surpass all that the most extraordinary imagination can conceive.

THE HISTORY OF THE YOUNG KING OF THE BLACK ISLES.

You must know, my lord, continued he, that my father, who was called Mahmoud, was king of this country. This is the kingdom of the Black Isles, which takes its name from the four little neighbouring mountains; for those mountains were formerly isles: The capital where the king my father had his residence, was where that pond you now see is. The sequel of my history will inform you of all those changes.

The king my father died when he was seventy years of age: I had no sooner succeeded him, but I married; and the lady I chose to share the royal dignity with me was my cousin. I had all the reason imaginable to be satisfied in her love to me; and, for my part, I had so much tenderness for her, that nothing was comparable to the good understanding betwixt us, which lasted five years, at the end of which time I perceived the queen my cousin had no more delight in me.

One day, while she was at bath, I found myself sleepy after dinner, and lay down upon a sofa; two of her ladies, who were then in my chamber, came and sat down, one at my head, and the other at my feet, with fans in their hands to moderate the heat, and to hinder the flies from troubling me in my sleep. They thought I was fast, and spoke very low; but I only shut my eyes, and heard every word they said.

One of them says to the other, Is not the queen much in the wrong not to love such an amiable prince as this? Ay, certainly, replies the other; for my part I do not understand it, and I know not how she goes out every night, and leaves him alone: is it possible that he does not perceive it? Alas! says the first, how would you have him to perceive it? She mixes every evening in his drink the juice of a certain herb, which makes him sleep so sound all night, that she has time to go where she pleases, and as day begins to appear, the comes and lies down by him again, and wakes him by the smell of something she puts under his nose.

You may guess, my lord, how much I was surprised at this discourse, and with what sentiments it inspired me; yet, whatever emotions it made within me, I had command enough over myself to dissemble it, and feigned myself to awake, without having heard one word of it.

The queen returned from the bath; we supped together, and, before we went to bed, she presented me with a cup of water such as I was accustomed to drink; but, instead of putting it to my mouth, I went to a window that stood open, and threw out the water so privately that she did not perceive it, and put the cup again into her hands, to persuade her I had drunk it.

We went to bed together, and soon after, believing that I was asleep, though I was not, she got up with so little precaution, that she said, so loud as I could hear distinctly, Sleep, and may you never awake again. She dressed herself speedily, and went out of the chamber. As Scheherazade spoke these words, she saw day appear, and stopped.

Dinarzade had heard, her sister with a great deal of pleasure; and Shahriar thought the history of the king of the Black Isles so worthy of his curiosity, that he rose up full of impatience for the rest of it.

The Twenty-third Night.

An hour before day, Dinarzade, being awake, failed not to call upon the sultaness, and said, Pray, dear sister, go on with the history of the young king of the Black Islands. Scheherazade, calling to mind where she left off, resumed ths story thus:

As soon as the queen my wife went out, continues the king of the Black Islands, I got up, dressed me in haste, took my scimitar, and followed her so quick that I soon heard the sound of her feet before me, and then walked softly after her, for fear of being heard. She passed through several gates, which opened upon her pronouncing some magical words; and the last she opened was that of the garden, which she entered: I stopped at the gate, that she might not perceive me, As she crossed a plot, and looking after her as far as I could in the night, I perceived that she entered a little wood, whose walks were guarded by thick palisadoes. I went thither by another way, and slipping behind the palisadoes of a long walk, I saw her walking there with a man.

I gave good heed to their discourse, and heard her say thus; I do not deserve, says the queen to her gallant, to be upbraided by you for want of diligence; you know very well what hinders me; but if all the marks of love that I have already given you be not enough, I am ready to give you greater marks of it: You need but command me; you know my power. I will, if you desire it, before sun-rising, change this great city, and this fine palace, into frightful ruins, which shall be inhabited by nothing but wolves, owls, and ravens. Would you have me to transport all the stones of those walls, so solidly built, beyond mount Caucasus, and out of the bounds of the habitable world? Speak but the word, and all those places shall be changed.

As the queen finished these words, her gallant and she came to the end of the walk, turned to enter another, and passed before me. I had already drawn my scimitar, and her gallant being next me, I struck him in the neck, and made him fall to the ground. I thought I had killed him, and therefore retired speedily without making myself known to the queen, whom I had a mind to spare, because she was my kinswoman.

In the mean time, the blow I had given her gallant was mortal, but she preserved his life by the force of her enchantments, in such a manner, however, that he could not be said to be either dead or alive. As I crossed the garden to return to the palace, I heard the queen cry out lamentably, and, judging by that how much she was grieved, I was pleased that I had spared her life.

When I returned to her apartment, I went to bed, and being satisfied with having punished the villain that did me the injury, I went to sleep; and when I awaked next morning, found the queen lying by me. Scheherazade was obliged to stop here, because she saw day.

O Heaven! sister, says Dinarzade, how it troubles me that you can say no more! Sister, replies the sultaness, you ought to have awaked me sooner; it is your fault. I will make amends next night, replies Dinarzade; for I doubt not but the sultan will be as willing to hear out the story as I am; and I hope he will be so good as to let you live one day more.

The Twenty-fourth Night.

Dinarzade was actually as good as her word; she called the sultaness very early, saying, Dear sister, if you be not asleep, pray make an end of the agreeable history of the king of the Black Isles; I am ready to die with impatience to know how he came to be changed into marble. You shall hear it, replies Scheherazade, if the sultan will give me leave.

I found the queen lying by me, then, says the king of the Black Islands; I cannot tell you whether she slept or not; but I got up without making any noise, and went to my closet, where I made an end of dressing myself. I afterwards went and held my council, and, at my return, the queen was clad in mourning, her hair hanging about her eyes, and part of it pulled off. She presented herself before me, and said, Sir, I come to beg your majesty not to be surprised to see me in this condition; three afflicting pieces of news that I have just now received all at once are the cause of my heavy grief, of which the tokens you see are but very faint resemblances. Alas! what is that news, madam, said I? The death of the queen, my dear mother, said she; that of the king my father killed in battle; and that of one of my brothers, who is fallen headlong into it.

I was not ill pleased that she made use of this pretext to hide the true cause of her grief, and I thought she had not suspected me to have killed her gallant. Madam, said I, I am so far from blaming your grief, that I assure you I am willing to bear what share of it is proper for me. I should very much wonder if you were insensible of so great a loss. Mourn on, your tears are so many proofs of your good-nature; but I hope, however, that time and reason will moderate your grief.

She retired into her apartment, where, giving herself wholly up to sorrow, she spent a whole year in mourning and afflicting herself. At the end of that time, she begged leave of me to build a burying-place for herself within the bounds of the palace, where she would continue, she told me, to the end of her days. I agreed to it, and she built a stately palace, with a cupola, that may be seen here, and she called it the Palace of Tears. When it was finished, she caused her gallant to be brought thither from the place that she made him to be carried the same night that I wounded him; she had hindered his dying by the drink she gave him, and carried to him herself every day after he came to the Palace of Tears.

Yet, with all her enchantments, she could not cure the wretch; he was not only unable to walk, and to help himself, but had also lost the use of his speech, and gave no sign of life but only by his looks. Though the queen had no other consolation but to see him, and to say to him all that her foolish passion could inspire her with, yet every day she made him two long visits; I was very well informed of all this, but pretended to know nothing of it.

One day I went out of curiosity to the Palace of Tears to see how the princess employed herself, and, going to a place where she could not see me, I heard her speak thus to her gallant: I am afflicted to the highest degree to see you in this condition; I am as sensible as you are yourself of the tormenting grief you endure; but, dear soul, I always speak to you, and you do not answer me. How long will you be silent? speak only one word: Alas! the sweetest moments of my life are those I spend here in partaking of your grief. I cannot live at a distance