The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 4 - Sir Richard Francis Burton (robert munsch read aloud txt) 📗

rest more than an hundred and seventy crowns of pearls and jacinths and other gems of price; and he found a saloon, wherein horsemen might throw the spears, full of vessels of gold and silver, such as no description can comprise.

Moreover, he found there the table of food for the Prophet of Allah, Solomon, son of David (peace with both of them!), which is extant even now in a city of the Greeks, it is told that it was of grass-green emerald with vessels of gold and platters of jasper. Likewise he found the Psalms written in the old Ionian[FN#142] characters on leaves of gold bezel’d with jewels; together with a book setting forth the properties of stones and herbs and minerals, as well as the use of characts and talismans and the canons of the art of alchymy; and he found a third volume which treated of the art of cutting and setting rubies and other precious stones and of the preparation of poisons and theriacks.

There found he also a mappa mundi figuring the earth and the seas and the different cities and countries and villages of the world; and he found a vast saloon full of hermetic powder, one drachm of which elixir would turn a thousand drachms of silver into fine gold; likewise a marvellous mirror, great and round, of mixed metals, which had been made for Solomon, son of David (on the twain be peace!) wherein whoso looked might see the counterfeit presentment of the seven climates of the world; and he beheld a chamber full of Brahmini[FN#143] jacinths for which no words can suffice. So he despatched all these things to Walid bin Abd al-Malik, and the Arabs spread all over the cities of Andalusia which is one of the finest of lands. This is the end of the story of the City of Labtayt. And a tale is also told of

THE CALIPH HISHAM AND THE ARAB YOUTH.

 

The Caliph Hish�m bin Abd al-Malik bin Marwan, was hunting one day, when he sighted an antelope and pursued it with his dogs. As he was following the quarry, he saw an Arab youth pasturing sheep and said to him, “Ho boy, up and after yonder antelope, for it escapeth me!” The youth raised his head to him and replied, “O

ignorant of what to the deserving is due, thou lookest on me with disdain and speakest to me with contempt; thy speaking is that of a tyrant true and thy doing what an ass would do.” Quoth Hisham, “Woe to thee, dost thou not know me?” Rejoined the youth, “Verily thine unmannerliness hath made thee known to me, in that thou spakest to me, without beginning by the salutation.”[FN#144]

Repeated the Caliph, “Fie upon thee! I am Hisham bin Abd al-Malik.” “May Allah not favour thy dwelling-place,” replied the Arab, “nor guard thine abiding place! How many are thy words and how few thy generous deeds!” Hardly had he ended speaking, when up came the troop from all sides and surrounded him as the white encircleth the black of the eye, all and each saying, “Peace be with thee, O Commander of the Faithful!” Quoth Hisham, “Cut short this talk and seize me yonder boy.” So they laid hands on him; and when he saw the multitude of Chamberlains and Wazirs and Lords of State, he was in nowise concerned and questioned not of them, but let his chin drop on his breast and looked where his feet fell, till they brought him to the Caliph[FN#145] when he stood before him, with head bowed groundwards and saluted him not and spoke him not. So one of the eunuchs said to him, “O dog of the Arabs, what hindereth thy saluting the Commander of the Faithful?” The youth turned to him angrily and replied, “O

packsaddle of an ass, it was the length of the way that hindered me from this and the steepness of the steps and the profuseness of my sweat.” Then said Hisham (and indeed he was exceeding wroth), “O boy, verily thy days are come to their latest hour; thy hope is gone from thee and thy life is past out of thee.” He answered, “By Allah, O Hisham, verily an my life-term be prolonged and Fate ordain not its cutting short, thy words irk me not, be they long or short.” Then said the Chief Chamberlain to him, “Doth it befit thy degree, O vilest of the Arabs, to bandy words with the Commander of the Faithful?” He answered promptly, “Mayest thou meet with adversity and may woe and wailing never leave thee! Hast thou not heard the saying of Almighty Allah?, ‘One day, every soul shall come to defend itself.’”[FN#146]

Hereupon Hisham rose, in great wrath, and said, “O headsman, bring me the head of this lad; for indeed he exceedeth in talk, such as passeth conception.” So the sworder took him and, making him kneel on the carpet of blood, drew his sword above him and said to the Caliph, “O Commander of the Faithful, this thy slave is misguided and is on the way to his grave; shall I smite off his head and be quit of his blood?” “Yes,” replied Hisham. He repeated his question and the Caliph again answered in the affirmative. Then he asked leave a third time; and the youth, knowing that, if the Caliph assented yet once more, it would be the signal of his death, laughed till his wisdom-teeth showed; whereupon Hisham’s wrath redoubled and he said to him, “O boy, meseems thou art mad; seest thou not that thou art about to depart the world? Why then dost thou laugh in mockery of thyself?” He replied, “O Commander of the Faithful, if a larger life-term befell me, none can hurt me, great or small; but I have bethought me of some couplets, which do thou hear, for my death cannot escape thee.” Quoth Hisham, “Say on and be brief;” so the Arab repeated these couplets,

 

“It happed one day a hawk pounced on a bird, * A wildling sparrow driven by destiny;

And held in pounces spake the sparrow thus, * E’en as the hawk rose ready home to hie:—

‘Scant flesh have I to fill the maw of thee * And for thy lordly food poor morsel I.

Then smiled the hawk in flattered vanity * And pride, so set the sparrow free to fly.

 

At this Hisham smiled and said, “By the truth of my kinship to the Apostle of Allah (whom Allah bless and keep!), had he spoken this speech at first and asked for aught except the Caliphase, verily I would have given it to him. Stuff his mouth with jewels,[FN#147] O eunuch and entreat him courteously;” so they did as he bade them and the Arab went his way. And amongst pleasant tales is that of

 

IBRAHIM BIN AL-MAHDI AND THE BARBER-SURGEON.

 

They relate that Ibrah�m, son of al-Mahd�,[FN#148] brother of Harun al-Rashid, when the Caliphate devolved to Al-Maamun, the son of his brother Harun, refused to acknowledge his nephew and betook himself to Rayy[FN#149]; where he claimed the throne and abode thus a year and eleven months and twelve days. Meanwhile his nephew, Al-Maamun, awaited his return to allegiance and his accepting a dependent position till, at last, despairing of this, he mounted with his horsemen and footmen and repaired to Rayy in quest of him. Now when the news came to Ibrahim, he found nothing for it but to flee to Baghdad and hide there, fearing for his life; and Maamun set a price of a hundred thousand gold pieces upon his head, to be paid to whoso might betray him. (Quoth Ibrahim) “When I heard of this price I feared for my head”—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

 

When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-third Night, She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ibrahim continued, “Now when I heard of this price I feared for my head and knew not what to do: so I went forth of my house in disguise at mid-day, knowing not whither I should go. Presently I entered a broad street which was no thoroughfare and said in my mind, ‘Verily, we are Allah’s and unto Him we are returning! I have exposed my life to destruction. If I retrace my steps, I shall arouse suspicion.’ Then, being still in disguise I espied, at the upper end of the street, a negro-slave standing at his door; so I went up to him and said to him, ‘Hast thou a place where I may abide for an hour of the day?’ ‘Yes,’ answered he, and opening the door admitted me into a decent house, furnished with carpets and mats and cushions of leather. Then he shut the door on me and went away; and I misdoubted me he had heard of the reward offered for me, and said to myself, ‘He hath gone to inform against me.’

But, as I sat pondering my case and boiling like cauldron over fire, behold, my host came back, accompanied by a porter loaded with bread and meat and new cooking-pots and gear and a new jar and new gugglets and other needfuls. He made the porter set them down and, dismissing him, said to me, ‘I offer my life for thy ransom! I am a barber-surgeon, and I know it would disgust thee to eat with me’ because of the way in which I get my livelihood;[FN#150] so do thou shift for thyself and do what thou please with these things whereon no hand hath fallen.’ (Quoth Ibrahim), Now I was in sore need of food so I cooked me a pot of meat whose like I remember not ever to have eaten; and, when I had satisfied my want, he said to me, ‘O my lord, Allah make me thy ransom! Art thou for wine?; for indeed it gladdeneth the soul and doeth away care.’ ‘I have no dislike to it,’ replied I, being desirous of the barber’s company; so he brought me new flagons of glass which no hand had touched and a jar of excellent wine, and said to me, ‘Strain for thyself, to thy liking;’ whereupon I cleared the wine and mixed me a most delectable draught. Then he brought me a new cup and fruits and flowers in new vessels of earthenware; after which he said to me, ‘Wilt thou give me leave to sit apart and drink of my own wine by myself, of my joy in thee and for thee?’ ‘Do so,’ answered I. So I drank and he drank till the wine began to take effect upon us, when the barber rose and, going to a closet, took out a lute of polished wood and said to me, ‘O my lord, it is not for the like of me to ask the like of thee to sing, but it behoveth thine exceeding generosity to render my respect its due; so, if thou see fit to honour thy slave, thine is the high decision.’ Quoth I (and indeed I thought not that he knew me), ‘How knowest thou that I excel in song?’ He replied, ‘Glory be to Allah, our lord is too well renowned for that! Thou art my lord Ibrahim, son of Al-Mahdi, our Caliph of yesterday, he on whose head Al-Maamun hath set a price of an hundred thousand dinars to be paid to thy betrayer: but thou art in safety with me.’ (Quoth Ibrahim), When I heard him say this, he was magnified in my eyes and his loyalty and noble nature were certified to me; so I complied with his wish and took the lute and tuned it, and sang. Then I bethought me of my severance from my children and my family and I began to say, ‘Belike Who