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

says he, was the cause of my grief; pray judge whether I had not reason enough to give myself up to it.

Oh! my brother, says the sultan, (in a tone which showed that he had the same sentiments of the matter with the king of Tartary,) what a horrible story do you tell me! How impatient was I till I heard it out! I commend you for punishing the traitors who put such an outrage upon you. Nobody can blame you for that action: it was just; and for my part, had the case been mine, I could scarce have been so moderate as you, I should not have satisfied myself with the life of one woman; I verily think I should have sacrificed a thousand to my fury. I cease now to wonder at your melancholy. The cause of it was too sensible, and too mortifying, not to make you yield to it. O heaven! what a strange adventure! nor do I believe the like of it ever befel any man but yourself. But, in short, I must bless God, who has comforted you; and since I doubt not but your consolation is well grounded, be so good as let me know what it is, and conceal nothing from me. Schahzenan was not so easily prevailed upon in this point as he had been in the other, because of his brother's concern in it; but, being obliged to yield to his pressing instances, answered, I must obey you then, since your command is absolute; yet am afraid that my obedience will occasion your trouble to be greater than ever mine was. But you must blame yourself for it, since you force me to reveal a thing which I should have otherwise buried in eternal oblivion. What you say, answers Schahriar, serves only to increase my curiosity. Make haste to discover the secret, whatever it may be. The king of Tartary, being no longer able to refuse, gave him the particulars of all that he had seen of the blacks in disguise, of the lewd passion of the sultaness and her ladies; and, to be sure, he did not forget Masoud. After having been witness to those infamous actions, says he, I believed all women to be that way naturally inclined, and that they could not resist those violent desires. Being of this opinion, it seemed to me to be an unaccountable weakness in men to make themselves uneasy at their infidelity. This reflection brought many others along with it; and, in short, I thought the best thing I could do was to make myself easy. It cost me some pain indeed, but at last I effected it; and, if you will take my advice, you shall follow my example.

Though the advice was good, the sultan could not take it, but fell into a rage. What! says he, is the sultaness of the Indies capable of prostituting herself in so base a manner? No, brother, I cannot believe what you say,—unless I saw it with my eyes: yours must needs have deceived you; the matter is so important, that I must be satisfied of it myself. Dear brother, answers Schahzenan, that you may without much difficulty. Appoint another hunting-match, and when we are out of town with your court and mine, we will stop under our pavilions, and at night let you and I return alone to my apartment. I am certain that next day you will see what I saw. The sultan, approving the stratagem, immediately appointed a new hunting-match; and that same day the pavilions were set up at the place appointed.

Next day the two princes set out with all their retinue; they arrived at the place of encampment, and staid there till night. Then Schahriar called his grand vizier, and, without acquainting him of his design, commanded him to stay in his place during his absence, and to suffer no person to go out of the camp upon any occasion whatever. As soon as he had given this order, the king of Grand Tartary and he took horse, passed through the camp incognito, returned to the city, and went to Schahzenan's apartment. They had scarce placed themselves in the same window where the king of Tartary had seen the disguised blacks act their scene, but the secret gate opened, the sultaness and her ladies entered the garden with the blacks, and she having called upon Masoud, the sultan saw more than enough to convince him plainly of his dishonour and misfortune.

O heavens! cried he, what indignity! what horror! Can the wife of a sovereign, such as I am, be capable of such an infamous action? After this let no prince boast of his being perfectly happy. Alas! my brother, continues he, (embracing the king of Tartary,) let us both renounce the world; honesty is banished out of it; if it flatter us the one day, it betrays us the next; let us abandon our dominions and grandeur; let us go into foreign countries, where we may lead an obscure life, and conceal our misfortune. Schahzenan did not at all approve of such a resolution, but did not think fit to contradict Schahriar in the heat of his passion. Dear brother, says he, your will shall be mine; I am ready to follow you whither you please; but promise that you will return, if we can meet with any one that is more unhappy than ourselves. I agree to it, says the sultan, but doubt much whether we shall. I am not of your mind in this, replied the king of Tartary; I fancy our journey will be but short. Having said this, they went secretly out of the palace by another way than they came. They travelled as long as it was day, and lay the first night under the trees; and getting up about break of day, they went on till they came to a fine meadow upon the banks of the sea, in which meadow there were tufts of great trees at some distance from one another. They sat down under those trees to rest and refresh themselves, and the chief subject of their conversation was the lewdness of their wives.

They had not sat long, before they heard a frightful noise, and a terrible cry from the sea, which filled them with fear; then the sea opening, there rose up a thing like a great black column, which reached almost to the clouds. This redoubled their fear, made them rise speedily, and climb up into a tree to hide themselves. They had scarce got up, till, looking to the place from whence the voice came, and where the sea opened, they observed that the black column advanced, winding about towards the shore, cleaving the water before it. They could not at first think what it should be; but in a little time they found that it was one of those malignant genie that are mortal enemies to mankind, and always doing them mischief. He was black, frightful, had the shape of a giant, of a prodigious stature, and carried on his head a great glass box, shut with four locks of fine steel. He entered the meadow with his burden, which he laid down just at the foot of the tree where the two princes were, who looked upon themselves to be dead men. Meanwhile the genie sat down by his box, and opening it with four keys that he had at his girdle, there came out a lady magnificently apparelled, of a majestic stature, and a complete beauty. The monster made her sit down by him; and eying her with an amorous look, Lady (says he) nay, most accomplished of all ladies who are admired for their beauty my charming mistress, whom I carried off on your wedding-day, and have loved so constantly ever since, let me sleep a few moments by you; for I found myself so very sleepy, that I came to this place to take a little rest. Having spoken thus, he laid down his huge head on the lady's knees; and stretching out his legs, which reached as far as the sea, he fell asleep, and snored so, that he made the banks to echo again.

The lady, happening at the same time to look up to the tree, saw the two princes and made a sign to them with her hand to come down without making any noise. Their fear was extraordinary when they found themselves discovered, and they prayed the lady, by other signs, to excuse them; but she, after having laid the monster's head softly down, rose up, and spoke to them with a low but quick voice to come down to her; she would take no denial. They made signs to her that they were afraid of the genie, and would fain have been excused. Upon which she ordered them to come down, and, if they did not make haste, threatened to awake the giant, and bid him kill them.

These words did so much intimidate the princes, that they began to come down with all possible precaution, lest they should awake the genie. When they came down, the lady took them by the hand, and going a little farther with them under the trees, made a very urgent proposal to them. At first they rejected it, but she obliged them to accept it by her threats. Having obtained what she desired, she perceived that each of them had a ring on his finger, which she demanded of them. As soon as she received them, she went and took a box out of the bundle, where her toilet was, pulled out a string of other rings of all sorts, which she showed them, and asked them if they knew what those jewels meant? No, say they, we hope you will be pleased to tell us. They are, replies she, the rings of all the men to whom I have granted my favour; There are full fourscore and eighteen of them, which I keep in token to remember them; and asked yours for the same reason, to make up my hundred. So that, continues she, I have had a hundred gallants already, notwithstanding the vigilance of this wicked genie, that never leaves me. He is much the nearer for locking me up in this glass box, and hiding me in the bottom of the sea; I find a way to cheat him for all his care. You may see by this, that when a woman has formed a project, there is no husband or gallant that can hinder her from putting it in execution. Men had better not put their wives under such restraint, if they have a mind they should be chaste. Having spoken thus to them, she put their rings upon the same string with the rest, and, sitting down by the monster as before, laid his head again upon her lap, and made a sign for the princes to be gone.

They returned immediately by the same way they came; and when they were out of sight of the lady and the genie, Schahriar says to Schahzenan, Well, brother, what do you think of this adventure? has not the genie a very faithful mistress? And do not you agree that there is no wickedness equal to that of women? Yes, brother, answers the king of Great Tartary; and you must. agree that the monster is more unfortunate, and has more reason to complain, than we. Therefore, since we have found what we sought for, let us return to our dominions, and let not this hinder us to marry again. For my part, I know a method by which I think I shall keep inviolable the faith that any woman shall plight to me. I shall say no more of it at present, but you will hear of it in a little time, and I am sure you will follow my example. The sultan agreed with his brother; and, continuing their journey, they arrived in the camp the third night after they left it.

The news of the sultan's return being spread, the courtiers came betimes in the morning before his pavilion to wait on him. He ordered them to enter, received them with a more pleasant air than formerly, and gave each of them a gratification; after which he told them he would go no further, ordered them to take horse, and returned speedily to his palace.

As soon as he arrived, he ran to the sultaness's apartment, commanded her to be bound before him, and delivered her to his grand vizier, with an order to strangle her; which was accordingly executed by that minister, without inquiring into her crime. The enraged prince did not stop here; he cut off the heads of all the sultaness's ladies with his own hand. After this rigorous punishment, being persuaded that no woman was chaste, he resolved, in order to prevent the disloyalty of such as he should afterwards marry, to