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

whilst the troops ordered the people in, saying, “Allah aid thee and make thy coming a blessing to the Moslems, O Sultan of all creatures! Allah establish thee, O King of the time and union-pearl of the day and the tide!” Asked Zumurrud, “What aileth you, O people of this city?” And the Head Chamberlain answered, “Verily, He hath given to thee who is no niggard in His giving; and He hath been bountiful to thee and hath made thee Sultan of this city and ruler over the necks of all who are therein; for know thou it is the custom of the citizens, when their King deceaseth leaving no son, that the troops should sally forth to the suburbs and sojourn there three days: and whoever cometh from the quarter whence thou hast come, him they make King over them. So praised be Allah who hath sent us of the sons of the Turks a well-favoured man; for had a lesser than thou presented himself, he had been Sultan.” Now Zumurrud was clever and well-advised in all she did: so she said, “Think not that I am of the common folk of the Turks! nay, I am of the sons of the great, a man of condition; but I was wroth with my family, so I went forth and left them. See these saddle-bags full of gold which I have brought under me that, by the way, I might give alms thereof to the poor and the needy.” So they called down blessings upon her and rejoiced in her with exceeding joy and she also joyed in them and said in herself, “Now that I have attained to this”—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

 

When it was the Three Hundred and Nineteenth Night, She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Zumurrud to herself, “Now that I have attained to this case, haply Allah will reunite me with my lord in this place, for He can do whatso He willeth.” Then the troops escorted her to the city and, all dismounting, walked before her to the palace. Here she alighted and the Emirs and Grandees, taking her under both armpits,[FN#301] carried her into the palace and seated her on the throne; after which they all kissed ground before her. And when duly enthroned she bade them open the treasuries and gave largesse to all the troops, who offered up prayers for the continuance of her reign, and all the townsfolk accepted her rule and all the lieges of the realm. Thus she abode awhile bidding and forbidding, and all the people came to hold her in exceeding reverence and heartily to love her, by reason of her continence and generosity; for taxes she remitted and prisoners she released and grievances she redressed; but, as often as she bethought her of her lord, she wept and besought Allah to reunite her and him; and one night, as she chanced to be thinking of him and calling to mind the days she had passed with him, her eyes ran over with tears and she versified in these two couplets, “My yearning for thee though long is fresh, * And the tears which chafe these eyelids increase

When I weep, I weep from the burn of love, * For to lover severance is decease.”[FN#302]

 

And when she had ended her verse, she wiped away her tears and repairing to the palace, betook herself to the Harim, where she appointed to the slave-girls and concubines separate lodgings and assigned them pensions and allowances, giving out that she was minded to live apart and devote herself to works of piety. So she applied herself to fasting and praying, till the Emirs said, “Verily this Sultan is eminently devout;” nor would she suffer any male attendants about her, save two little eunuchs to serve her. And on this wise she held the throne a whole year, during which time she heard no news of her lord, and failed to hit upon his traces, which was exceeding grievous to her; so, when her distress became excessive, she summoned her Wazirs and Chamberlains and bid them fetch architects and builders and make her in front of the palace a horse-course, one parasang long and the like broad. They hastened to do her bidding, and lay out the place to her liking; and, when it was completed, she went down into it and they pitched her there a great pavilion, wherein the chairs of the Emirs were ranged in due order. Moreover, she bade them spread on the racing-plain tables with all manners of rich meats and when this was done she ordered the Grandees to eat. So they ate and she said to them, “It is my will that, on seeing the new moon of each month, ye do on this wise and proclaim in the city that no man shall open his shop, but that all our lieges shall come and eat of the King’s banquet, and that whoso disobeyeth shall be hanged over his own door.”[FN#303] So they did as she bade them, and ceased not so to do till the first new moon of the second year appeared; when Zumurrud went down into the horse-course and the crier proclaimed aloud, saying, “Ho, ye lieges and people one and all, whoso openeth store or shop or house shall straight way be hanged over his own door; for it behoveth you to come in a body and eat of the King’s banquet.”

And when the proclamation became known, they laid the tables and the subjects came in hosts; so she bade them sit down at the trays and eat their fill of all the dishes. Accordingly they sat down and she took place on her chair of state, watching them, whilst each who was at meat said to himself, “Verily the King looketh at none save me.” Then they fell to eating and the Emirs said to them, “Eat and be not ashamed; for this pleaseth the King.” So they ate their fill and went away, blessing the Sovereign and saying, one to the other, “Never in our days saw we a Sultan who loved the poor as doth this Sultan.” And they wished him length of life. Upon this Zumurrud returned to her palace,—

And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

 

When it was the Three Hundred and Twentieth Night, She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Queen Zumurrud returned to her palace, rejoicing in her device and saying to herself, “Inshallah, I shall surely by this means happen on news of my lord Ali Shar.” When the first day of the second month came round, she did as before and when they had spread the tables she came down from her palace and took place on her throne and commanded the lieges to sit down and fall to. Now as she sat on her throne, at the head of the tables, watching the people take their places company by company and one by one, behold her eye fell on Barsum, the Nazarene who had bought the curtain of her lord; and she knew him and said in her mind, “This is the first of my joy and the winning of my wish.” Then Barsum came up to the table and, sitting down with the rest to eat, espied a dish of sweet rice, sprinkled with sugar; but it was far from him, so he pushed up to it through the crowd and, putting out his hand to it, seized it and set it before himself. His next neighbour said to him, “Why dost thou not eat of what is before thee? Is not this a disgrace to thee? How canst thou reach over for a dish which is distant from thee? Art thou not ashamed?”

Quoth Barsum, “I will eat of none save this same.” Rejoined the other, “Eat then, and Allah give thee no good of it!” But another man, a Hashish-eater, said, “Let him eat of it, that I may eat with him.” Replied his neighbour, “O unluckiest of Hashish-eaters, this is no meat for thee; it is eating for Emirs. Let it be, that it may return to those for whom it is meant and they eat it.” But Barsum heeded him not and took a mouthful of the rice and put it in his mouth; and was about to take a second mouthful when the Queen, who was watching him, cried out to certain of her guards, saying, “Bring me yonder man with the dish of Sweet rice before him and let him not eat the mouthful he hath read but throw it from his hand.”[FN#304] So four of the guards went up to Barsum and haled him along on his face, after throwing the mouthful of rice from his hand, and set him standing before Zumurrud, whilst all the people left eating and said to one another, By Allah, he did wrong in not eating of the food meant for the likes of him.” Quoth one, “For me I was content with this porridge[FN#305] which is before me.” And the Hashish-eater said, “Praised be Allah who hindered me from eating of the dish of sugared rice for I expected it to stand before him and was waiting only for him to have his enjoyment of it, to eat with him, when there befel him what we see.” And the general said, one to other, “Wait till we see what shall befal him.” Now as they brought him before Queen Zumurrud she cried, “Woe to thee, O blue eyes! What is thy name and why comest thou to our country?” But the accursed called himself out of his name having a white turband[FN#306] on, and answered, “O King, my name is Ali; I work as a weaver and I came hither to trade.” Quoth Zumurrud, “Bring me a table of sand and a pen of brass,” and when they brought her what she sought, she took the sand and the pen, and struck a geomantic figure in the likeness of a baboon; then, raising her head, she looked hard at Barsum for an hour or so and said to him, “O dog, how darest thou lie to Kings? Art thou not a Nazarene, Barsum by name, and comest thou not hither in quest of somewhat? Speak the truth, or by the glory of the Godhead, I will strike off thy head!” At this Barsum was confounded and the Emirs and bystanders said, “Verily, this King understandeth geomancy: blessed be He who hath gifted him!” Then she cried out upon the Christian and said, ‘Tell me the truth, or I will make an end of thee!” Barsum replied, “Pardon, O King of the age; thou art right as regards the table, for the far one[FN#307] is indeed a Nazarene,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

 

When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-first Night, She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Barsum replied, “Pardon, O King of the age; thou art right as regards the table, for thy slave is indeed a Nazarene.” Whereupon all present, gentle and simple, wondered at the King’s skill in hitting upon the truth by geomancy, and said, “Verily this King is a diviner, whose like there is not in the world.” Thereupon Queen Zumurrud bade flay the Nazarene and stuff his skin with straw and hang it over the gate of the race-course. Moreover, she commended to dig a pit without the city and burn therein his flesh and bones and throw over his ashes offal and ordure. “We hear and obey,” answered they, and did with him all she bade; and, when the folk saw what had befallen the Christian, they said, “Serve him right; but what an unlucky mouthful was