MUCH as the princess Peri-nuzzade and her consort strove to divert the prince by every amusement they could devise, he seemed to enjoy none; but with wet eyes and parched lips, courting solitude, lay like the sand upon the seashore, watching for some intelligence of the bark of that enchantress, who had plunged his heart into the eddy of uncertainty. At length, Peri-nuzzade one day respectfully approaching him, kissed his feet, and said, “O thou, the dust of whose footsteps is as a refreshing collyrium to the eye of my soul, and to whom I owe duty and submission, I have a request to make, which, if permitted, I will present.”
When she had obtained admittance into the retirement of confidence, she sat down on the carpet of respect, and thus continued: “Though gardens of beauteous flowers and shrubs bloom fragrantly in thy view, and every mean of festivity and delight is before thee, what can occasion thy mind to be shrunk up like the withered rose-bud, and thy heart to bleed like the tulip from the scars of sorrow? If any wish or object lies concealed in the gracious bosom, inform me of it, that I may with my utmost ability endeavour its attainment. My husband Manochere is also thy life-bestowed servant, who will not withhold his existence in thy service, but willingly offer his head a sacrifice to thy commands.”
The prince, when he perceived her generous sympathy, convinced of her sincerity, disclosed the secret sorrows of his bosom, related the arrival of the bark, the overwhelming of his heart in the deluge of love, his voluntary exile from his friends and country in the path of search, and his sufferings in winding the labyrinth of uncertainty and exploring the intricacies of doubt. Peri-nuzzade, on hearing this difficult dilemma, after being for some time immersed in thought, replied, “Alas! thou sultaun of the throne of madness, how can we find out the name or trace of an unknown charmer, or explore her habitation? The undertaking is most arduous, and requires supernatural skill, for in it the foot of speed is useless. Seek, then, the keys of patience, that the portals of success may be unlocked, for the wise have stiled patience the key to enjoyment. Look only for the favour of that God, who can bring forth from the concealment of mystery the object of desire.”
The prince, upon this, resolved to follow the advice of Peri-nuzzade, who girded the belt of friendship round the waist of her heart, and diligently sought a remedy for her friend. After much enquiry, she found out an old lady, who was an experienced professor in the arts of love, and had long carried the standard of superiority at the college of profound skill in the mysteries and intrigues of amour and gallantry.
This dame she instructed to explore every path, and find out, if possible, some trace of the lady who had passed in the boat without rowers.
The old lady, who was a perfect guide in the road of love, having received her instructions, followed the course of the river, till she came to a city situated upon the bank, named Hussunabad,a in every street of which beauty was seen in numerous assemblage. Dimpled maidens, with an hundred smiles and glances, advanced on every side, and in each quarter smiling fawns, self-fascinated with their charms, bounded in herds together. Here, after much enquiry, she found the object of her search, clear as the sun, and understood that she was a gem of a royal mine, and moon of an imperial sky, named Mherbanou; who, from her vivacity, often sailed in a boat alone, and like the sun, unattended, encircled the globe. Such was her beauty, that the moon might have borrowed radiance from her charms, and the rose fragrance and glow from the freshness of her cheek.
The old woman now, having hired a house in the city, assumed the character of a seller of flowers, and by this means made acquaintance with the wife of a gardener who served the palace with nosegays and garlands. Through her she was introduced to the princess, and, being assured she was the beauty she had looked for, speedily returned to her mistress, who informed the prince of her success, and refreshed his sense with the odour of encouraging hope. With rapture he uttered the following
Although the prince (the goblet of whose soul overflowed with the wine of desire) wished, that at the instant, borrowing the feet of the western breeze, he might like the lover’s tear hasten in the path of expedition, and as the nightingale, soar on the wings of love in the air of Hussunabad; yet Peri-nuzzade, having with much difficulty conducted the bark of his mind from the whirlpool of impatience to the shore of resignation for that day, consented that early on the morrow he should depart for the place of his intention. With much regret, the diver in the sea of love having submitted himself to remain, conferred valuable jewels in reward for the important services of the old lady; who, like the Hooddud,b had brought from the Saba of his desires welcome intelligence of his Bilkees-resembling charmer.
In order to occupy his mind till such time as the Jonas of day should descend into the belly of the whale of the west, he engaged in a fishing party. The very first cast, a fish of great size was caught in the net; when the prince, pleased at so fine a prize, ordered it to be broiled on the spot, and wine to be set, as a relish to the treat. When the cook had opened the belly of the fish, a khulkaulc set with jewels, worthy of being a halo for the sun, fell out, like a dazzling star from the sign Pisces. The prince, astonished at such an event, examined eagerly the brilliant gems; but, upon handling the ornament, his pulse began to throb with sympathy, as a fish out of water, and the perfume of ecstacy to regale the perception of his soul. He exclaimed, “If I mistake not, this khulkaul must have kissed the feet of that moon, which the sun is desirous of possessing as a source of new light; for, if not, why do the flames of rapture glow suddenly in my heart?”
He instantly repaired to the old lady, and said, “Knowest thou aught of this khulkaul, so very valuable, that the rays of its brilliancy, like the moon, irradiate the surface of sight, or to what sun-resplendent maiden it belongs?” The deeply-skilled matron recollected it at first sight, and lighting up her countenance with the rays of gladness, said, “O thou active courser in the field of love, toss the cap of joy up to the sky of exultation, for this is the khulkaul of Mherbanou; and such unexpected good fortune forebodes that, in a short time, the blissful enjoyment of that cypress of the garden of beauty and elegance will be attained. To remain, therefore, any longer in this place, is not within the circle of prudence.”
The prince, by direction of the old lady, immediately taking leave of Manochere and Peri-nuzzade, without regard to provision for his journey, bound the burthen of travel on the steed of departure, and hastened towards the country of his beloved on the wings of expedition. Passing quickly over the distance, he soon reached the city of Hussunabad, with the old woman and his companions, and took up his lodging in a garden, disguised as a pilgrim. The experienced matron, as before, having set out her flower shop, displayed with fresh brilliancy the wares of artifice and goods of contrivance on the stall of cunning. With happy skill, and profound stratagem, having reared her ladder up to the battlement of the sky, she schemed to ensnare the moon into her hands. Having one day prepared a basket of the freshest and most blooming flowers, she repaired to the gardener’s wife, with whom she had tied the knot of sisterhood, whom she requested to accompany her to the presence of Mherbanou, in order that she might offer a peshcush of nosegays and wreaths, as an introductory present to the attendants on that shrub of the garden of beauty.
The gardener’s wife replied, “My dear sister, your request at present cannot be complied with; for, to gain admission to Mherbanou is impossible, because, on account of the loss of her favourite khulkaul, she has entwined grief as a wreath upon her neck. Some time back, having gone to the river, from the playfulness of youth, restless as the quicksilver, she plunged into the water to swim, and committed her flowing tresses, each lock of which is worth an hundred musk-bags of Khoten or Tartary, to the curling of the waves; when suddenly the khulkaul dropt from her ancle, and sunk.”
The old woman, regarding what she had heard as ominous of success, hastened rejoicing to the prince, and said, “Very shortly this moon will fall like a fish into thy net, and the khulkaul prove the means of thy attaining the jewel of thy desires. Policy now demands, that thou, with thy companions, quitting this garden, shouldst retire to some secluded spot, and remain in the strictest privacy. Let the venerable sage who is with thee, assuming the habit of a devout collinder, with bent stature and contemplative aspect, from which the minds of the public may be impressed with an opinion of his sanctity of heart, ask an audience of the Sultaun; and declaring himself sent by the sacred prophet Khizzer, thus say, Khizzer, (on whom be blessing) by divine command sends thee his greetings, and informs thee, that from the extreme favour of the Almighty towards Mherbanou, her jewel has been strung on the matrimonial thread of a young man, whose mind is independent of all earthly things, and the knot of marriage has been properly entwined in the upper regions. This highly distinguished personage will speedily arrive at thy heaven-resembling court, and the proof of his identity will be his having the khulkaul of Mherbanou, which having dropt into the water, was swallowed by a fish, from whose belly it was taken out by the holy Khizzer, according to divine commission, and delivered in trust to the young man. At whatever auspicious hour he may arrive, regard it as most fortunate, and neglecting not the least point of the rites of hospitality, shew thy gratitude for such heavenly bounty to the utmost extent of human power. Without hesitation or delay, unite this pearl of the casket of royalty, with that principal gem in the crown of virtue, for the losing of the khulkaul was ordained by the Almighty, who cannot err in his designs.
“After this (continued the old woman) let him present the king with a little of the water of life, that the charmer of his declaration may have the ornaments of truth. Unless by this stratagem, there is no possibility of attaining thy desire, because the father of Mherbanou, from haughtiness, wishes not that any one should presume to aspire to his alliance as a son-in-law, and Mherbanou herself is also coy, and difficult to please. Many powerful princes have longed for an union with her, and wandered round the circle of desire; but, as yet, the goblet of no admirer’s hope has overflowed with the wine of acceptance; the heart of each suitor has been marked like the tulip, with the scars of disappointment.”
The prince, approving the scheme of the old lady, and following her directions, prevailed upon the friendly sage to repair to court; while he, with the rest of his companions, retired to the recess of concealment. The old man being admitted to an audience, delivered the message of the blessed Khizzer in a proper manner, and presented the water in a small phial sealed up, as an offering. The sultaun upon hearing such an astonishing message, having drawn up the feet of his heart beneath the skirt of amazement, remained in doubt as to its truth or falsehood; but as the loss of the khulkaul was circumstantially mentioned, he presumed not to contradict the messenger.
The courtiers who sat upon the carpet of respect, were lost in the mazes of wonder, and became dumb with surprize. At length, the sultaun opening the mouth of the phial, by way of experiment, poured a few drops of its contents over a fish which had been out of the water two whole days. Instantly it began to be agitated, like the pulse of a despairing lover upon a message from his mistress, and soon skipping about, fell into a basin of water, near which the sultaun sat, and began to swim. At sight of this miracle, a loud exclamation burst from the beholders, and all with one voice cried out, “O Lord, we believe.”d
Without asking permission of the sultaun, they seated the old man in the place highest respect, and bowed themselves before him. When he saw that the wine of his object was sufficiently fermented, and the impression of his wishes firmly stamped, he said, “As it is not allowable for dirveshes to remain in the company of kings longer than absolutely necessary, I will now lessen the trouble of the seated on the carpet of royal obedience.” Though pressed repeatedly to stay, he would not be prevailed upon, but stood firm on the bridge of departure; upon which the sultaun and all the courtiers, having attended him to the palace gates, took leave.
When he came into the street, the common people (of whom scripture says, “They are like a flock of sheep”) regarding their prince’s accompanying him as a sure proof of the dirvesh’s high sanctity, so crowded round him, that the old man was nearly stifled by the throng. When he had escaped from this calamity, from weakness and fatigue rising and falling, like straw born by an eddy of wind, he at least reached the prince, to whom he related the particulars of his embassy.
SOME days after this, the prince, having again repaired to the garden, dispatched the vizier’s son to the sultaun, with instructions to represent the following address at the foot of the throne.
“My glorious master, heir apparent to the crown and ring of the empire of Futtun, was commanded in a vision, that, repairing to the shore, he should cast his nets, and whatever might be taken from the belly of the fish first caught, he should, himself, without the intervention of another, bring to the presence of those who kiss the ground of this august court. It happened, that at the first draft was caught a large fish, out of which was taken a khulkaul, set with jewels of the greatest brilliancy and of most exquisite workmanship. The inconveniences and dangers which this head of an imperial house has sustained in his heaven-commanded journey, cannot any way be compressed into the mold of narration, or the conceptions of language; but they still hang upon his royal mind. Thanks, however, be to God, he has brought his sacred deposit safely; and if orders are issued, will acquire glory in a distinguishing interview with your majesty; but otherwise, having delivered up his trust to the imperial servants, will return instantly to his own country.”
When the vizier’s son had concluded his speech, signs of pleasure appeared upon the countenance of the king, who with great affability said, “Thy master is welcome, for he hath brought good fortune with him; but what can be the reason of the prince’s desiring in such haste to return home? It cannot be concealed from the intelligent of penetrating minds, that the chief of a royal house could not have been commissioned by divine revelation to undergo such difficulties, and to leave his kingdom, but for some important design of providence. Prior to thy arrival, a venerable personage dispatched by the prophet Khizzer (on whom be blessing) informed us of thy approach, and of the divine command to unite the light of the eye of royalty and the glory of the aspect of dignity. Praise be to God, therefore, that thy master is arrived in health and safety. It is among the most important of divine blessings, and most demanding of our gratitude, that the precious pearl of the prince belongs to the casket of royalty; for, at all events, there would have been no power to oppose, or ability to avert the heavenly dictates. Since, then, a personage of such pure nature is commissioned, there shall not be a moment’s delay in our obedience.”
The vizier’s son replied, “Since such are the divine commands, though the prince is of exalted mind and perfectly wise, so that he abstains from the company of woman on account of the levity peculiar to the sex, yet there is no remedy but to submit.” In short, the vizier’s son being dimissed, hastened to the presence of the prince, and with the grateful tidings of success gladdened his sense, as with the perfume of enjoyment.
Intelligence of the prince’s arrival being spread throughout the palace, Mherbanou was thrown into great agitation, lest the prince, who by divine interference had recovered her khulkaul, should not prove the object of her love, and worthy of union. While she was in this state of mind, the old woman, in company with her adopted sister having arranged some nosegays and wreaths of flowers in a fanciful taste, was introduced, and in the course of conversation, with much art (so that her intent should not be perceived) said,
“Happening to go this morning to gather flowers in a certain garden, I saw in it a young man of exquisite beauty, elegance of manners, readiness of wit, and eloquence of speech. The splendour of dignity and command shone upon his aspect, and the rays of the star of prosperity beamed upon his enlightened countenance. His attendants told me that he was the son of the emperor of Futtun, who for some important purpose, submitting to distant travel from that heaven-like city, after having undergone much toil and danger, had arrived here. I, during the whole of my life (now extended beyond threescore years) have never beheld a handsomer youth, one so highly accomplished, or so calculated to please high and low. They say too, that in strength, Rustum compared to him would have been, like myself, a mere Zaul,e and that his liberality exceeds that of Hatim Taie.f Without exaggeration, he is a vigorous shoot of the tree of love, and a fresh-growing cypress on the canal bank of beauty. All accomplishments in his princely person are combined, and the Almighty has conferred upon him every outward and internal grace. The following couplet seems just in his praise.
Mherbanou on hearing of the personal and mental accomplishments of the prince, though a Leila became a Mujjenou,g and from excessive impatience, giving the reins of self-controul from her hands, sent a message to the sultaun her father to this effect. “Regarding the hint from the blessed Khizzer, which has just arrived as a lamp to the path of our fates, it is necessary to hasten in obedience to it.” The sultaun at this, filled with delight, gave orders, that the marriage festivities should be prepared in a royal manner, the assembly of rejoicing be collected, and the drums of gladness resound, to announce that, in a fortunate instant, the cypress would be united to the graceful shumshade.
THE acquainted with the customs of the festivities of Jumshede, and informed in the ceremonials of the galas of Feredoon, having spread the carpets of mirth and joy in the royal palace, made ready the preparations for enjoyment and delight. The sound of the drums of prosperity reverberated thro’ the azure dome of the firmament, and the shouts of pleasure and rejoicing reached the extremities of the globe. The wine of gladness sparkled in the goblet of congratulation, and the sprightly melody of lively airs from the lute, eased the mind of care. In every apartment they strewed variety of flowers and sweetly-scented herbs, and mixed together whole bags of the musk of Azfir and essences of ambergris, to regale the senses of the joyous assembly. Fascinating vocal performers, like the Koomri, chaunted mirthful strains, and magic-sounding musicians, like Venus, drew forth the notes of delight. Jasmine-faced cup-bearers, with ruby-coloured wine, gave zest and brilliancy to the assemblage of pleasure, and sweetly-smiling flower girls with their varied attitudes drew the hearts of beholders into the snares of their platted tresses.
When the bridegroom illuming the assembly of the world added splendour to the nuptial chamber of the west, the attendants ushered the princess bride in the highest pomp and state royally adorned, to a throne brilliant as the heavens, with the usual rejcoicings. Having invested the prince with shining robes, and brought him in the splendour of Feredoon and magnificence of Keikobaud to the imperial palace, they enthroned him with the hoori-rivalling bride, and as it were conjoined in one mansion the sun and moon.
Shouts of congratulation now arose from the enjoyers of earthly festivity, and reached the assemblies of the heavens. The sounds of gladness and exultation resounded throughout the world; while so great was the nissarh of jewels and gold, that the cow of the globe bent under the weight, and the courts of the palace, from the scattering of numberless flowers and effusion of perfumes, became the envy of the plains of Khoten. When the nuptial ceremonies were concluded, and the company, like the birds of a garden, retired to rest, the nightingale was left to enjoy retirement with the beloved rose.
When the golden-robed monarch of the heavens, arising from the embraces of the amber-veiled bride of night, had quitted the chamber of the east, and, after the custom of the liberal, bestowing alms of light, scattered gold over the regions of the world, the prince left the apartment of purity; and, according to royal usage, gave splendour to the throne of public audience. Like the sovereign of spring, he diffused riches among the inhabitants of the world, and conferred many-coloured serpas and rich khelautsi on the attendants of the court, making them happy and delighted as the natives of the garden. The old lady, by whose fortunate stratagem the talisman of suspense was removed from the treasure of his desires, in reward for so great a service, he covered with gold and jewels, so as to raise her in her latter years from poverty to extreme wealth, and make her, like a serpent,k the guardian of a vast treasure.
The prince, when the usual time of nuptial festivities had expired, having formed the resolution of return to his own country, communicated his wish of taking leave to the sultaun, who, much against his will, consented. According to the custom of his ancestors, giving rein to the steed of genius in the course of liberality, he bestowed, by way of portion to his daughter, so many thousand horses, caskets of jewels, packages of musk, strings of camels male and female, bales of rich manufactures, and the rare productions of the seven regions of the globe, so many sun-resplendent female and ghillim-likek male slaves, that arithmetical skill, nay, arithmetic itself would in calculation feel the perspiration of inability on the forehead.
The prince, when with all this favour and bounty, having obtained permission of departure from the sultaun, he was honoured by audience of leave, placing Mherbanou in an houdije,l the canopy of which was set with jewels brilliant as the umbrella of Jumshede, and its koobbam radiant as the orbit of the sun, departed for the metropolis of Futtun, and swift as the moon pursued the stages of his route.
As it is the will of providence to conceal the fate of his creatures till the appointed time of disclosure, so now an astonishing event occurred on the plain of appearance, the particulars of which are as follow.
A young prince named Hoshung, whose heart had been long captivated in the curly tresses of Mherbanou, and who, though he strove incessantly in the path of her love, had not reached the stage of hope; at this time, when the gates of attainment were closed upon him, through the impulse of all powerful love, like Mujjenou, trod the wilds of madness, in hopes that, some time or other, a breeze from her musky locks might revive the perception of his soul. Like the dust, rising and falling, he pursued each day’s march, and appointed one of his dependents, an artful procuress, to watch for an opportunity of breaking the talisman of his longed-for treasure.
This woman, who was the most skilful of her day in charming the serpent of love, having prepared her incantations, one morning repaired, leaning upon crutches, to the tent of Mherbanou; to whom, with floods of tears, she complained of the cruelty of fortune and persecutions of mischance. The princess, commiserating her seeming wretchedness, having given her protection under the shade of her bounty, assigned her a daily allowance, and shortened the hand of the ravages of time from reaching the collar of her condition, but against the opinion of the prince, who said—
“My beloved Mherbanou, from what I observe in the manners of this old hag, I suspect the deluge of calamity rages in her oven,n and that disturbance is ambushed in her brain. To admit such a person under the shadow of your virtue, is to nourish a serpent in the sleeve and a wolf in the bosom. It is adviseable to discharge so artful an hypocrite, and not admit her again into the royal tents, for I cannot be secure against her wickedness.”
Mherbanou replied, “O prince, gracer of the throne of royalty and prosperity, from a wretched matron of such great age and infirmity, whose stature, from the depredations of time, is bent like a crescent; what room can there be for dread and apprehension? To push the hand of refusal against the breast of a supplicant, and deny the shade of consolation to the faint in the desart of wretchedness, is not the custom of the liberal.” In short, the whimsical coquet of vicissitude, taking airs upon herself, rent the curtain of circumspection, and the prince, on account of the importunity of Mherbanou, resigned his opinion to her pleasure.
Some days after this, the prince halted on a spot of much pleasantness and inviting verdure, where the freshness of the air and fragrance of the herbage afforded sensations of delight without the assistance of wine, so that high and low enjoyed ease and freedom from care. The prince observing variety of game, resolved to amuse himself, and went to hunt at a distance from camp with his attendants; of which the old woman, ever on the watch for opportunity, without delay informed Hoshung.
This desponding lover, who had always the treasure of his life prepared to sacrifice in the path of his beloved, and had devoted his head to the object of his desires, was night and day watching, like Mujjenou in the desart. Mounting without delay a lightning-paced charger, he came near the tents of the prince, leading with him another horse. The old hag now running with all haste into the princess’s tent, addressed her, saying, “The prince, like Bharam, has just struck a deer to the earth with his arrow, and commanded the assembly of mirth to be prepared in a garden, which, without exaggeration, is an emblem of paradise; but as, without the rays of thy beauty, the world seems dark in his eyes, the chamber of his heart has no light without the lamp of thy charms, and he cannot endure absence, he has hastened to fetch thee himself on the wings of speed, now waits at the serrapurdao with a led horse; rise quickly then, and extinguish the flames of his expectation with the water of thy smiles.”
Mherbanou not suspecting the stratagem, having cast the reins of caution from her hands, arose without delay, and throwing a long veil over her moon-like person, commanded all the attendants to retire. Like Shereen,p having mounted the breeze-speeding courser, and unsuspecting that parti-coloured time, like Ferhaad, was striking her foot with its mattock, she supposed Hoshung was Khoosroo, and rode pleased by his side. When he saw that heaven, favouring his schemes, had cast the phœnix from the sky of exaltation into his net, he speeded on like the gale; and holding the reins of Mherbanou’s horse, posted swifter than the storm, till he reached a broad and rapid river; which having crossed, he sunk the boat to impede pursuit, and followed the route to his own kingdom.
When they had travelled a considerable distance, and far beyond what she had expected, Mherbanou, much fatigued and alarmed, exclaimed, “Where hastenest thou in such hurry, O my prince? Let us rest awhile, for my limbs are full of pain from such excessive motion.” As Hoshung did not think it prudent yet to discover himself, he remained silent. Upon this, alarm overcame the mind of Mherbanou, and dread prevailed in her heart, lest a ghole, having ensnared her, should be leading her into the wilds of destruction. She threw off her veil that she might see Hoshung, and know who was her betrayer into the path of error, and what was his object. On beholding the face of a stranger, she trembled like the reed, and became motionless and pale as a statue, from apprehension lest the fair shrub of her purity should be defiled by the owl, or the rose-bush of chastity become the prey of the ill-boding raven.
At length she addressed Hoshung, saying, “Who art thou, and what art thou called? In thy company horror fills my mind, and the bird of my soul is ready to fly away from its elemental nest.” Hoshung replied, “I am thy unpurchased slave, who have given up the wealth of my patience and understanding in pursuit of thy enjoyment; and regardless of life, in quest of thy love, have preferred servitude to royalty and beggary to dominion. I have made the dust of thy path a collyrium for the eyes of my soul, and cast the head of sovereignty as clay at thy feet. Tho’ I am a king, I glory in being thy slave; and tho’ a free prince, I wish not for an instant deliverance from thy captivity.
“In such circumstances, why art thou disgusted at me, and wherefore wilt thou not accept a sovereign like myself for thy slave?”
Mherbanou, when informed of the state of affairs, advanced with a smiling aspect, and said, “Ah! crown of my head, the desire of my soul is, that I should bow the forehead of gratitude on the earth of obligation, and offer myself a sacrifice to the dust of thy feet. Long have I born the dart of thy love in my bosom, and long have the flames of passion consumed my heart. When the kings of the world sought my alliance, and wrote to my father, I rolled up their epistles, and inscribed thy name on the tablet of my heart; but as the padlock of the chain of controul was not in my power, helpless as the tulip, the impression of affection remained in my mind, and, like the sunbul, my soul was tortured by distress. Surely my wakeful star has performed a miracle, and heaven has favoured my desires, for my eye enjoys fresh light from the beauty of thy countenance, and my heart exults from the wine of thy interview.
“Praised be God, that what I wished is accomplished to the height of my desires! But I have still a difficulty which is afflicting to my heart, and makes my soul tremble. I had made a vow to the Deity, who is the assistant of the distressed and healer of the wounds of the troubled in spirit, that if, through the aid of my stars and kindly help of fortune, I should gather the flowers of enjoyment from the garden of success, and have my eye gratified with the sight of thy beauty, I would seclude myself for four months in the retirement of devotion, fasting and prayer; and every evening when I should break my fast, in gratitude for such unhoped for mercies, give to the poor and destitute strangers bounteous alms and comfortable meals. I dread, lest thou wilt not assist me in the performance of my vow, the breach of which would be a sin against religion, and that thy impatience to gather the flowers of enjoyment may make me criminal.”
Hoshung, when he heard such affectionate expressions from Mherbanou, exulted with delight, and expanded in heart like the rose at the waving of the zephyr. Prostrating the forehead of gratitude on the dust of thanksgiving, and offering up prayers at the throne of the self-existing God, he replied, “O thou, to whose soul-delighting eloquence my heart and life are a ready sacrifice, and my kingdom and treasures an offering to thy love; wherefore should I, who am a martyr to the sword of affection, and a votary of thy religion, withhold my wealth, or disobey thy commands? Thy orders direct my life, and my being is subject to thy pleasure. Lovers have no power over themselves. Whatever is commanded, that will I do. Let not, then, thy mind be sorrowful, but per form thy vow; for whatever thou desirest I will procure, and submit my neck to whatever thou mayest command.” In short, he conducted Mherbanou to his kingdom, and, agreeably to her desire placed her in a temple distant about half a fersung from the metropolis. He ordered the necessary accommodations for entertaining the poor and needy travellers, assigned her proper attendants to await her commands, and placed guards around the temple for protection, with such strict orders, that not even a bird dared to extend the wing in the air near it.
He himself, now drawing the thorn of sorrow from his foot, rejoiced; and having ordered festivities at his palace, conferred favours upon all his subjects. Until the expiration of the avowed time, he tried to amuse himself after the manner of princes, in hunting excursions; but the ball of his wishes was held in the mace of the princess, and the bird of his soul captivated in the talons of the eagle eyebrow of that moon of the sky of beauty. From excess of desire, pleased by no amusement, hour after hour, he, like astronomers, waited anxiously the rising of his expected star.
WHEN the unfortunate prince, on his return from hunting, became acquainted of the disastrous event, and was told that his musky fawn had become the prey of the lion, and the exulting peacock of his hopes was taken in the talons of the falcon; the fire of sorrow seized his bosom, and the flames of madness glowed in his brain. In the agony of despair, rolling as grass upon the ground, like the rose, he rent his garments, scattered dust upon his head, and shed a flood of scalding tears. Now, like the frantic, he uttered heart-rending lamentations, and asked of the breeze to wave him an odour from the garden of his beloved; and now besought the gale, with piteous entreaties, to bear a message to the cypress of his favourite stream: and sometimes, like Mujjenou, he would loudly lament at remembrance of his Leila. Relish for sustenance deserted his palate, sleep fled from his eyes, and every instant he quarrelled with the winds, demanding of them tidings of Mherbanou, and exclaiming, “For whom now does she arrange her musky tresses, and before whom does she expand in smiles the rose-bud of her lips? On whom does she fix the intoxicating nergus of her eye, and for whom does she spread the snare with the amber moles that spot her moon-bright face? For heaven’s sake, O breeze, shouldst thou haply pass by the abode of my beloved, communicate to her hearing the fate of me, tormented and struggling on the blood-stained ground; tell her that, from longing desire, I am fallen from the throne of royalty into the abyss of wretchedness; that, instead of princely robes, I wear the garb of beggary; that I have cast away my crown, and made the mark of her footsteps my throne; that, from incessant lamentation, I have no longer power to bewail, and from constant search after her, my foot is become incapable of farther exertion. Beg her to have compassion on my unhappy state, and visit me, to cast her cypress-like shade over my pillow, and lift my head from the dust affliction. Tell her to hasten while yet a spark of life is remaining, or she will behold only my lifeless clay, which the wind perhaps may have scattered on every quarter.
In short, when he could find no trace of his beloved partner, madness subdued his senses, and from the distraction of his mind, he uttered incoherent expressions, which affected the hearts of acquaintance and strangers, and the bosoms of friends and enemies were rent by his sorrows.
At length, the vizier’s son lifted him up, and said, “Lord of my fate, ah! what can be effected by this violent passion and of what use are these cries and exclamations! Fortify thy heart, nor give thyself up to irresolution. In this world of production and decay, which is a source of vicissitudes, many such cases as thine have befallen the dependants on the table of mortality, and numberless afflictions constantly occur. In every revolution of the azure skies, thousands of accidents are involved; and in each fold of the heavenly umbrella lie concealed innumerable changes. It is the distinguishing superiority of heroes in the field of resolution, that striving to attain perfect reliance on God, and, like the mountain, planting their feet on the base of fortitude, they are not to be moved by any storms. At a period when adversity arrives and calamity descends, they do not sink in the waves of despondency; but having formed some approved plan, they by noble exertions reach the shore of repose and safety from the whirlpool of misfortune.
“At present, reason (which is the guide of the bewildered in the path of perplexity) suggests, that our companion, the young fisherman, who is singularly skilled in finding out paths and tracing the footsteps of passengers, having bound fast the girdle of assistance, should explore the road, so that a direction may be obtained to the stage of our desires. When, through divine help, we reach the wished for country, we can in any way that policy may demand, rear the ladder of contrivance to the battlement of our object.”
The prince, by advice of the vizier’s son, having distributed all the effects and treasures he possessed to needy persons and distressed devotees, submitted to the disguise of a pilgrim; and, according to the guidance of the fisherman, measured the path of the windings of hope. When they arrived at the river before mentioned, no boat was to be procured; on which account they remained a short time in the circle of delay; but the fisherman having cut down the branches of some trees, formed a raft, and the prince with his companions passed easily over the rapid stream. Having discovered the right path, they pursued their route, and after winding many dangerous ways and toilsome marches, at length reached the temple, which Mherbanou had chosen as the place of her devotions. Immediately as they arrived at this auspicious spot, the officers entrusted with the charge of entertaining strangers, agreeably to the rules of hospitality and courtesy to guests, conducted the weary travellers to the house of alms, and having set before them whatever was proper of eatables and drinkables, fulfilled the duties of liberal hosts and charitable purveyors.
When the companions had rested from the weariness of travel, and the giddiness which from the heat of the sun and over exertion of their limbs, had confused their heads, was allayed by cooling sherbets, they felt themselves refreshed, and the vizier’s son addressed the domestics of the kitchen and conductors of the entertainment, saying, “What liberal personage is the founder of this charitable mansion? And who is it that rises so superior in bounty, and compassion for the stranger and distressed, above the most hospitably virtuous? We dirveshes, who are arrived here from our travels round the regions of the globe, have not elsewhere beheld any sovereign or wealthy personage of such tenderness, and benevolence.” One of the domestics replied, “The founder of this charity is Mherbanou, queen of the world, the fame of whose bounty, like the celebrity of her beauty, extends from one extremity of the globe to the other, and by love of whose heavenly charms, the sovereigns of the earth have been vanquished.”
The prince, when he heard the name of his beloved, suddenly fainted, and fell like a shadow to the earth; but the vizier’s son, in order that the characters of secrecy, might not appear on the page of disclosure, exercising his presence of mind, diverted the attention of the spectators. Having called for rose-water, he sprinkled it upon the face of the prince, and cried out, “Is there any skilful physician in this city, who can remove from this young man the disorder of epilepsy?” He then continued to enquire, as if ignorant, “Who is Mherbanou, and why, devoting herself to severe pennance in this temple, does she involve in eclipse the moon of beauty?”
The artless domestic now related her adventure with Hoshung, from beginning to end; and the prince, on being assured that as yet the treasury of his honour, notwithstanding the attacks of adversity, was safe from the ravage of time, and the wealth of his glory unhurt by the disgraceful hand of mischance, gained new life. Delivered from wandering in the vale of despair, he fixed his hand on the cords of hope, and with humility bowing his head before the throne of the almighty restorer on the dust of thanksgiving, patiently waited for the crisis, when the divine mercy might effect its purpose, and the tidings of compassion be revealed.
The officers of the charity, when they had performed the duties of benevolence, according to custom, through the attendants on the sacred Haram, conveyed intelligence to Mherbanou of the arrival of the pilgrims; and that cypress of the grove of purity appointed an intelligent female to bring her an exact account of their conduct, appearance, and behaviour to each other, without exaggeration or omission. The damsel having made her observations, represented, that they were five persons, seemingly in agreement like the five senses, all habited in ashy-coloured vestments, as if devoted to mortification; that in public, all behaved to each other as if equals, but in private, one of them, who had superior dignity of manner and aspect, seemed to command the same respect as a sage from his disciples.
Mherbanou, when informed of the habits and manners of the strangers, was convinced who they were, and that the estranged from the path of repose had arrived. Having placed an assortment of confections in a tray, she covered it with the remnant of a veil which the prince had seen her wear, and sent it by a domestic to the pilgrims as a present. When the prince saw the part of the veil, as the patriarch of Canaan received sight from the smell of Joseph’s coat, so he found new life, and instantly burst into a flood of tears.
The vizier’s son having entwined a wreath of jasmine flowers in an elegant manner, placed the prince’s ring in the center of it, and without giving the damsel the trouble of waiting, delivered it to her, with many apologies for the smalness of the gift, saying, “As dirveshes have no other riches, agreeably to the proverb, that from the collinder a flower, and from the bear a hair, is acceptable; this wreath, which was formed at an auspicious instant, and on which we have breathed aspirations from the bosom worthy of acceptance, let thy mistress receive by way of happy token, and expect from the divine throne accomplishment of her desires.”
Mherbanou, at sight of the prince’s ring, wished to set it like a gem in the circle of her eye; but, notwithstanding her emotions, restraining her feelings before her attendants, she retired to her chamber and wept bitterly. Taking up the pen, she wrote an account of her situation from the beginning of separation to the present time, of the approaching conclusion of her allowed indulgence from Hoshung, and the security of the jewels of her honour from the depredations of the robbery of mischance, which she sent privately to the prince. When he received the letter of his beloved, he fainted with ecstacy; but on his recovery, drawing it over the pupils of his eyes,q he found new light, and breaking the seal, perused it. The contents of this love-renewing epistle were thus elegantly penned.
“Fortune is ever in ambush, and the changeful skies constantly meditating some new deceit, while opportunity, like life, is short. It is becoming their valour and prudence, that before our enemy, awakened from the slumber of supineness, shall dash the chrystal wave of reputation upon the stone of disgrace, they should enlighten the chamber of purity with the lamp of honour; and thankful that to this period the rose of chastity has remained unblighted by the chill of mischance, not importune heaven by useless complaint.”
The prince having perused the letter, wrote the following.
“If my complaints against the cruel skies are justifiable, yet how can I complain of thee, though from obstinacy the destroyer of our repose, for thy love holds my neck in the noose of destruction, and thy wit has disabled the foot of severity. Hadst thou not cherished that cursed old hag, venomous as the serpent, I had not thus become a wretched wanderer in the desart of misfortune, or sat in the dark abode of dishonour. However, as the decrees of providence were such, it is unwise to complain.
When the messenger had conveyed this letter to Mherbanou, the prince having sent for the carpenter, said, “Though in this distressful expedition the hardships of my friends have been greater than I can enumerate, and my soul bows under the weight of obligation; yet I have one more favour to entreat which is peculiar to thyself, namely, that thou shouldst make me speedily a throne, which, like that of Solomon, will soar through the air, and may be the means, like the ark of Noah, of delivering us from the deluge of misfortune, and conveying us to the shore of success.”
The carpenter replied, “My prince, all of us, who from the first day of thy departure bound the girdle of accompaniment round the waist of our lives, until our elemental forms shall be separated, and the frame of our bones dissolved, will never quit thy presence.” Having said this, he kissed the ground of submission with the lip of respect, and hastening into a forest, began to search about for a proper tree to answer his purpose. At length he found one, but a monstrous black snake swelled with venom from head to tail, being entwined around its trunk, guarded it from his approach. The carpenter placing himself in the most respectful attitude, praised the monster in an eloquent speech; to which he replied in the language of man, “Who art thou, and what is thy desire?”
The carpenter related the prince’s and his own adventures from beginning to end, and requested the snake’s assistance in attaining his object; upon which the reptile, by command of the Almighty (before whose omnipotence the serpent and the ant are alike submissive) quitted the tree, and permitted the petitioner to cut down what he wanted. Having lopped off a proper branch, the carpenter fell to work with his magic performing axe, and soon fashioned out a throne of such great beauty, as might rival the throne of Jumshede. Having fully completed it in a little time, he presented it to the prince, who anxiously waited his return, as the last day of Mherbanou’s vow was now passing away, so that till the carpenter’s arrival, he was almost lifeless with dread, and counting every breath as his last.
On the following morning, when the sovereign of the stars had ascended the azure throne of the skies, Hoshung in ecstacy at the promised enjoyment of Mherbanou, commanded to be prepared a sumptuous feast (the splendour of which the assembly of the highest heavens might envy) to which he invited the prime courtiers and great lords of his kingdom. All the preparations of mirth and pleasure befitting a royal festival, being ready, he proclaimed a general audience. Having with imperial pomp ascended the throne, he ordered the seals of many purses to be taken off, and enriched a world with largess of gold and jewels. The circulation of the glass, like the rolling of the eyes of sweet-lipped maidens, fascinated the understanding, while music ravished the soul. Pleasure, in every corner of the assembly, fermented like new wine in the cask; and if for an instant care passed through this joyous spot, he was quickly overcome by the intoxication of mirth.
When the prince had intelligence that Hoshung, from vanity, self-secure of victory, was, like the careless, drunk with quaffing the goblet of oblivion, the treasure of his understanding sacrificed to jollity, and the ears of his senses, like the head of a phial, stuffed with the cotton of negligence, esteeming the opportunity precious, he committed himself to the protection of the Almighty. Having uplifted the standard of resignation, which is ever a mean of unbarring the gates of success, he ascended the wooden throne, and seated with him his companions, who were as the four pillars of his dignity, and as the four elements in the composition of his state. By the power of divine operation, the machine, which was as the phoenix of the firmament of glory, ascended into the air like the throne of Solomon.
Tyre-women of inventive fancy, imitating the work of spring, were busy in adorning the head and tresses of Mherbanou with variety of flowery ornaments; and having enrobed that sun of the sky of smiling beauty, like the gentle natives of the garden, they seated her on a splendid throne. Encircling her neck with wreaths of roses and chains of pearl, they tinged the ends of her fingers scarlet with the Hinna, so that they resembled branches of coral. The aged procuress danced, exulting with joy before her, making antic grimaces like an old she-monkey, and screaming out a bridal song, when suddenly the throne descending alighted in the court of the temple. The attendants and domestics, on beholding this astonishing phoenomenon, being alarmed, fled different ways, and became scattered like the stars in the milky way; while the tyre-women, panic-stricken, stood motionless and silent as figures on a wall.
Mherbanou, on beholding the world-adorning beauty of the prince, nimbly as the breeze springing from her musnud, and seizing the hand of the beldame whose head had contrived the blaze of disturbance, ascended the throne of prosperity with her. Much as the old woman resisted, and cried for help, it availed not, for the machine, with the swiftness of a happy-winged bird, mounting into the air, like the throne of the deity soared to the highest heaven. Suddenly it stopped over the court of the palace, where the ill-fated Hoshung, employed in feasting, and smilingly exulting in the thought of possessing Mherbanou, had his heart expanded with mirth, like the blossom of the opening rose. The company, observing this phoenomenon, gazed with astonishment; when the vizier’s son having separated the head of the impure old woman from her body, cast it bleeding from the sky to the earth. It lighted directly before Hoshung, on the throne, and the body fell into the midst of the assembly. Many of the company fled instantly from panic, dreading some calamity from heaven; while others, rising from the carpets and retiring a little, meditated what the strange appearance might portend. Hoshung, pushing out the feet of firmness from the skirt of magnanimity, and much alarmed, descended from his throne.
At this instant, the guards of the temple ran in with great disorder, and uplifting the voice of complaint, disclosed the overthrow of his plans; saying, “Five dirveshes, arrayed in ashy-coloured vestments, and sitting upon a wooden throne, suddenly descended from the air into the court of the temple, and having seated the princess together with the old woman upon it, again mounted into the sky. The descent and ascent of the throne was sudden as a flash of lightning, and effected in the twinkling of an eye; so that the guards of the temple had no intimation of the circumstance, till unable to prevent the mischief.”
Hoshung on hearing this intelligence became distracted. He commanded his matchlock and rocket-men to fire on every side, and if possible bring down the throne; but, like an arrow from the aim of fate, it had escaped their reach, and their efforts proved unsuccessful. Remediless, he bowed his head on the collar of despondency, and the assembly of joy was changed into mourning. Instead of the melody of rejoicing, the plaints of sadness arose; and in place of wine flowing into the cup, the eyes of Hoshung overflowed with tears.
The prince at length, with glory and success, having reached his own country, like the sun, illuminated the city of Futtun by the light of his auspicious presence; and having rewarded his faithful companions according to their merits with ample jaghires, dismissed them to enjoy repose from their fatigues.
THE quaffers of the wine-stores of history have thus poured the delight-exciting wine of story into the cup of relation.
In the kingdom of Serendib there was a sovereign, in splendour like Feridoon, whose goblet was filled with the wine of success, and the sense of his fortunes regaled with the perfume of domestic security. Vicissitude had sworn allegiance to his reign, and time laid open to his fortunes the portals of prosperity.
As in the chamber of his state there was not a lamp that might give lasting brightness to his hopes, namely, a son, in whom the life of his father might be renovated, and the glories of his ancestors be revived in his person, he was constantly involved in melancholy, and incessantly immersed in impatience for such a blessing. He had recourse to the enlightened of dawn-like minds, and spent his nights and days in prayer. As divine favour ever awaits the earnest petitioner, after a considerable time when his brain begun to be confused by this anxiety, the arrow of his prayer reached the mark of acceptance.
A personage of the order of recluses, nightly wakeful, who had no connection but with the divine unity, and whose mind was enlightened with the rays of heavenly bounty and the beams of undecaying favour, suddenly appearing from the recess of concealment, presented him an apple of much beauty and flavour, and said, “This fruit will prove the fulfilment of thy desire. It is proper that this night thou give it the queen to eat.” The sultaun obeyed the commands of the religious, and at the appointed time, the sun of royalty arose from the horizon of concealment to gladden the world.
The sultaun commanded, that the intelligent in the courses of the heavens and skilled in the secrets of the stars, using their utmost endeavours, should examine narrowly the aspects of the planets, and calculate the nativity of the young prince. Having made their observations, they represented to the attendants on the throne, that there was every promise of good fortune, but that at the age of fourteen he would be in danger of suffering much from love, on the sight of a portrait. The sultaun, warned by this prediction, appointed confidential persons to attend constantly in turn upon the prince, that no pictures might be presented to his eye.
As it is impossible for the wisest man to erase the characters of fate with the point of c??rivance, the prince, about his fourteenth year, going one day into an apartment of the palace, saw a female attendant, who upon his approach shut down the lid of a chest with great precipitation. He insisted upon seeing the contents, which happened to be portfolios of drawings. At first she refused, but the prince being importunate, at length uplifted the floodgate of calamity, and opened a volume; which he had scarcely done, when the fatal portrait of the fair princess, who (the astrologers had foretold) was to occasion him so many perils, presented itself to his view. He instantly fainted, when the slave, alarmed, conveyed intelligence of his condition to the sultaun, and related the unhappy cause of the disorder. When recovered from his fit, his mind became distracted, and notwithstanding the efforts of the most skilful physicians, his ravings and desire to travel in search of his beloved could not be cured.
After some time, when the sultaun was convinced that the divine decree was not to be done away by human contrivance, he gave up his efforts, and left his son to his own inclinations.
When the prince became free from the superintendance of spies, world-tormenting love, who held the reins of power over him in the hands of controul, hurried him abroad, without knowledge of a direction to his object, and he turned his face to the wilderness. The son of his father’s vizier, named Jaffier, who had been brought up with Ferokh-Faul from his infancy, when he heard of his forlorn condition, regarding the duties of attachment, (in these days, rare as the appearance of the phœnix) hastened to him on the wings of speed, and became his partner in the path of wandering. After much toilsome and fatiguing travel, they reached a populous city, through every street and alley of which they searched in vain for the charmer of their hopes. When the perfume of success greeted not the scent of their condition, the prince having quitted the city, in despair, took up his abode at an idol temple not far from it, which had many spacious buildings for pilgrims and devotees, resolved to dedicate some time to prayer and penance, in hopes, through them, of attaining the compassion of heaven.
Some days after this, Jaffier once more visited the city, to find out, if possible, the original of the portrait which had destroyed the repose of his master’s heart; and the prince remained alone in the temple. At night-fall he repaired to the niche of the principal idol, which was illuminated with lamps, in order to invoke success to his pursuits. When half of the night was passed, he heard the sound of footsteps, and supposing them those of evil spirits, concealed himself behind the image. Suddenly entered a band of thieves, who, after the manner of the Hindoos, prostrating themselves before the idol, said, “We hear that the daughter of the sultaun of this city sleeps upon a bed set with jewels, and wears ornaments equal in value to the revenues of an empire. If to-night, through thy auscpicious promotion of our designs, we should gain the object of our desires, we will make the princess’s head an offering at thy sacred threshold.” Having said this, they departed in search of their prey, and Ferokh-Faul, lost in astonishment at their wickedness and presumption, wondered how they could capture the princess from her apartments in the inmost part of a palace surrounded by guards. In a short time, however, twenty brawny robbers brought the bed, and upon it the princess fast asleep, and unsuspectful of her danger. Placing it before the idol, they bowed themselves in prostration.
Ferokh-Faul from behind the image, on perceiving the beauty of the princess was wrapt in the maze of astonishment; and regarding her murder as the worst of misfortunes and cruelty, deemed it incumbent upon his manhood to deliver her from so perilous a state. Having considered an instant, he hit upon a stratagem, and in a gentle tone exclaimed, “Your votive offering has met acceptance, and in return for such piety, your undertakings shall under my protection henceforward always meet with success.” The stony-hearted wretches, supposing this speech to proceed from their deity, became more fervent in their devotions, and renewed their prostrations.
When the prince saw that his stratagem had taken effect, he continued to speak, saying, “The gracious command is issued from our throne, that all of you, quitting the temple, commission one who is most distinguished amongst you for piety and devotion, to lay the bed of the princess on my altar.” They did so, when Ferokh-Faul, suddenly springing from behind the idol, with the swiftness of lightning, cast the head of the impure assassin on the dust of annihilation, by a stroke of his flint-dividing sabre.
The thieves, after some time waiting the return of their comrade, sent in another, (supposing he might be secreting the jewels) to explore the cause of his delay. He also fell, and in the same manner the whole twenty, one after another, slumbered in the dust, and the court of the temple was dyed with their blood.
When the prince had killed the twenty thieves, he awakened the princess; who, on perceiving her situation, trembled with affright; but Ferokh-Faul having assured her that she was secure against injury, and acquainting her of the danger she had escaped, allayed her apprehensions, and undertook to re-convey her to the palace. Exerting his utmost strength, he lifted the bed upon his head, and carried it to the wall of the royal citadel; where forming a kummund of his turban, and tying it to the feet, he with great agility mounted the battlements. Drawing up the bed with the princess, he conducted her to her apartment, which she pointed out. The princess having offered to the Almighty thanksgivings for her most fortunate escape, expressed her gratitude to Ferokh-Faul, whom she entreated to inform her who he was, and in what manner she could repay such unbounded obligations.
Having given a summary of his adventures, he offered to take leave; but the princess said, “O thou, for the dust of whose feet my life and head are a ransom, although it is impossible for me to perform any service equal to my obligations, yet if thou hast any particular object in view, out of kindness let me know, that I may to the utmost of my ability promote its completion.” Ferokh-Faul thanked her for the gracious offers of assistance, but insisted on departure; which the princess opposed with many arguments. While they were in conversation the gleams of dawn appeared, and the attendants of the haram, agreeably to custom, came to wait on their mistress.
When they beheld the princess sitting with a handsome youth, supposing that a rent had been made in the curtain of the royal honour, they trembled like the reed, from dread of punishment, and were for some instants overcome with silent amazement. At length, regarding secrecy and connivance as the means of their own ruin, they hastened to the nazir,t whom they informed of the calamitous circumstance. At first he refused to credit them, esteeming such an incident beyond the reach of possibility; but on their repeated asseverations, proceeded to the chamber of the princess, and was convinced that the lightning of disgrace had fallen on the stores of honour, and that the flames of ruin were enkindled. For an instant his senses deserted him, and fire of anger was fanned by the gusts of passion. Without consideration, he rushed upon Ferokh-Faul, and with dishonouring violence pulling him from his seat, tied his hands behind him; when the princess exclaimed, “Stupid nazir, this youth is my adopted brother; dare not to injure a single hair of his head.” The nazir, supposing her words to proceed from hardened assurance, replied, “Ah! daughter, enemy to modesty, who hast polluted the fountain of thy father’s honour with the mud of disgrace, and scattered the filth of vice on the head of thy virginity, darest thou with such shameless impudence to intercede for this wicked wretch, worthy of impalement, while thou must know, that only a few breaths remain of thy own life?” The princess was enraged at the insolence of the nazir, but as her hand was unable to punish him, shedding floods of tears, she moistened her cheeks, which appeared as blooming roses wet with dew.
The nazir, having proceeded to the sultaun, said, “O king, may the extent of thy life exceed the ability of the most subtle arithmeticians to calculate! Last night a most incredible affair occurred in the royal haram, at the detection of which, the wine of understanding has flowed from the goblet of my brain. I have no power to detail it to the gracious audience, yet dare I not connive at or conceal it.” The sultaun, much alarmed at this preamble, exclaimed, “What is the affair, surely the lamp of safety must be extinguished in the royal chamber, or a link of purity be broken from the chainu of majesty.”
The nazir now, according to the rules of the intelligent in respectful address, related the circumstance; when the anger of the sultaun arose like the waves of the raging sea, and in the height of his fury, he commanded the overthrow of the foundations of the life of the innocent prince, who was instantly conducted towards the place of execution. Ferokh-Faul, resigning himself to the divine will, advanced his steps firmly to meet death.
The princess, distracted at the situation of her deliverer, ran wildly into the presence of the sultaun, and without regarding the forms of respect, standing in the place of petitioners, cried out, “O my father, without examination, or drawing facts from beneath the veil of appearances, to shed the blood of the innocent, and without proof of guilt, to command the destruction of the mansions of existence, is not the custom of the just and impartial, but, unworthy of sovereigns, who are entrusted with the protection of their people. To allow the execution of this young man, who is deserving of a thousand favours, and has the highest claims upon the gratitude of our royal house, will be bringing upon us the displeasure of the Almighty. Reflect, then, before that period, when this transaction, if allowed, shall be unfolded in the court of a just judge, and thou, sovereign as thou now art, standing alike with the beggar in the place of retribution, shall be unable to answer the enquiry.”
The sultaun, impressed by this speech, commanded the execution to be delayed till further orders, and demanded of his daughter particulars of the affair. Without exaggeration, she related her adventure, and said, “The proof of my veracity will be found in the bodies of the robbers now lying in the temple.”
When the sultaun, on examination of the temple, was convinced of the truth of the princess’s account, he trembled, and blushed at his own rashness. Having sent for Ferokh-Faul into his presence, he entreated his pardon; and having placed him in the seat of honour, with much respect said, “I trust thou wilt not let thy gracious heart be angered against me at an error, common to humanity, which I have committed, but cherish as thy handmaid this pearl of royalty.”
Ferokh-Faul replied, “O king of kings, as the providential Designer had stamped such characters on the tablet of my forehead, it would not be just that I should complain of your majesty’s servants. The offer to receive this wanderer in the path of exile as a dependant on the throne, is a favour, which never could have entered the imagination of expectancy; but my disappointment in this unlooked-for blessing proceeds from an object which has long occupied my mind. I must therefore request your majesty will favour me by a speedy dismissal, which is the highest honour I can at present hope for.”
The sultaun very unwillingly consented, and Ferokh-Faul leaving the capital, with his friend Jaffier, proceeded on his way in the path of uncertainty, till he came to the city of Oogein,w where he took up his residence, to wait intelligence of the plunderer of his heart.
THE intelligent Jaffier, who was as a shrub of wisdom cherished by the water and air of truth, in order to obtain a clue to the hopes of Ferokh-Faul, performing the duties of sincere attachment, exercised an activity which is not to be expressed. After much deliberation, his judgment led to the following plan.
In one of the streets of Oojein, where travellers resorted from the four quarters of the globe, having prepared a warehouse, he stocked it with the rarities of the world, and placed in it the picture which had disturbed the happiness of the prince, in hopes that some voyager might recognize and give him intelligence of the original.
Much time elapsed before his object was answered; but at last a traveller, who had explored the earth, arrived, and said, “This is the picture of a princess who has professed utter detestation of all male-kind. She is queen of Shunguldeep, a kingdom inhabited only by women; and though her beauty and delicacy of person exceed description, yet in valour and wit she excels Rustum and Isfindear. A desert of two hundred miles in extent, void of water, and the whole tract composed of burning sands, surrounds her dominions, to which entrance is next to impossible; but if by chance some death-devoted wretch find his way, he is instantly slain.”
When Jaffier had heard this account of the queen of the empire of love, having with much joy hastened to the prince, he hailed him with the tidings of success, saying, “No longer give admission to despondency and grief, but prepare to ascend the throne of enjoyment; for the dawn of success hath gleamed from the horizon of prosperity, and the sun of attainment arisen from the east of good fortune.”
Ferokh-Faul was so overjoyed at these happy tidings, that, in the intoxication of delight, he forgot himself, and loosing the reins of the steed of patience from his hands, wished to soar as a bird, and at one flight to reach the country of his beloved. Jaffier, with much difficulty, restrained his impatience, and prevailed upon him to remain a few days. During this interval, he provided some rich suits of female attire, and various sorts of musical instruments, (on which the prince and himself excelled in playing, as also in vocal performance) hoping, under the disguise of singing-girls, to gain admission to the Amazonian queen. Having every thing ready, they resigned themselves to the guidance of providence, and pursued their journey towards the object of hope.
After many days of toilsome march, they at length reached the wilderness mentioned by the traveller; through which, with much difficulty, they proceeded. When the sun had ascended to its zenith, having reached the foot of a tree, they spread the cloths of repose, to rest under its shade from the excessive heat. As it happened, in this tree a simurghx had built her nest, towards which a monstrous black snake was winding its way to destroy the brood; but the prince, drawing his sabre, cut him in pieces, and laid the fragments in a heap on the ground; after which, overcome by sleep, he lay down, as did also Jaffier.
Towards sun-set, the simurgh, who had flown in search of food for her young, returned, laden with the most delicate fruits from various parts of the earth. When she perceived the sleepers, supposing them enemies to her offspring, she was going to put them to death; but the nestlings seeing her intention, informed her of their escape from the snake through the humanity of the prince. Upon this the simurgh, repenting her rashness, advanced softly to the pillow of Ferokh-Faul, and gently awaking him, uttered grateful thanks for his kindness, presenting him at the same time with an offering of delicious fruits; and saying, “In return for the kindness shewn to my young ones, I now adopt thee as my son, and regard the furtherance of thy views, by every mean in my power, as incumbent upon me. Let me know then, if thou hast any design in pursuit, without reserve, that I may use every endeavour to promote its completion, and give my utmost assistance to ensure its success.”
The prince, upon this unexpected kindness of the monstrous simurgh, felt his heart expand like the rose at the waving of the zephyr, and inwardly assured of heavenly protection, related his adventures and the object of his present expedition. The simurgh replied, “My dear son, although, at the command of all-powerful love, thou hast undertaken a most hazardous affair, yet set thy heart at rest. For this one night fix thy hand on the cords of patience, for, through the divine auspices, thy difficulties shall to-morrow be done away, and thy labour be changed to ease.”
When the eagle of the skies, arising from his heavenly nest, soared through the regions of the firmament, the simurgh, having made the prince and Jaffier seat themselves upon her back, flew with rapidity towards Shunguldeep, and about sun-set descended with them near the capital, where the beautiful object of their search resided. She then presented Ferokh-Faul with a feather from her wing, and desired, that in any peril or danger which might occur, he would cast a small bit of it into a fire, when she would in an instant fly to his assistance on the wings of swiftness, and relieve him from his dilemmas. The prince, having thanked her for her kindness, took leave of the friendly simurgh, who soared out of sight in the twinkling of an eye.
Ferokh-Faul and Jaffier having now disguised themselves in the female apparel, proceeded to the city, bearing under their arms different instruments of music; and as the roses of their cheeks were free from down, and their side-locks and hair long, they appeared so like women, that no suspicion of their sex could arise. Fearless, therefore, of the punishment of the queen, they entered the streets in perfect self-security, and by happy chance came to a square, where were assembled a company of angel-resembling damsels, who appeared as so many hoories amusing themselves in the gardens of Paradise. Wine having loosened the restraints of bashfulness from their hearts, had immersed them in delight. The two feigned singing-girls joined the crowd, and, after the manner of strolling performers, having uttered a strain of salutation, begged pardon for their intrusion. The company, observing that their dress and manner was different from that of their own country, said, “The odour of acquaintance with the garden of your condition greets not our perception, and the roses of your circumstances have not the tinge and glow of our recollection. If, then, ye are strangers just arrived at this city, give us some account of your qualities, and tell us your names.”
Ferokh-Faul stepping forth, replied, “I am named Dilpuzzera Jadoonowa,y and this my sister is called Naeeda.z Led by the fame of the munificence and liberality of your august sovereign to foreigners, which extends to the extremities of the world, we formed the sacred vow of pilgrimage to her throne; and having, under the auspices of our lucky stars, overcome the difficulties of a long journey, have but just reached this heavenly city. If permitted, by your indulgence, we will present a specimen of the skill we possess, as an offering of a flower from the garden of performance.”
The company, highly pleased at this address, treated them agreeably to the customs of the hospitable to strangers, and seated them in a respectful manner. The two friends having tuned their tunboors, sung a love song, which drew forth the plaudits of the assembly; after which they performed on the kanoon, the chung, the duff, and several other instruments, with such exquisite skill, as to charm into rapture the whole audience; who, one and all, bursting into exclamations of praise, showered pieces of gold and silver at their feet thick as rose leaves falling in the spring.
When the company broke up and retired to their homes, Dilpuzzeera and Naeeda, having fixed themselves in a lodging, congratulated each other on the success of their stratagem.
Early the following morning, a lady named Sunnobir,a who held the office of prime vizier to the queen, and was distinguished for beauty, wit, and accomplishments, having heard of the arrival of the strange musicians, sent for them to her presence. Regarding the summons as the highest good fortune, they hastened to obey, and without delay repaired to her palace. Their performances so delighted the vizier, that she thought them worthy of being introduced to play and sing before the queen; and having presented them with the richest dresses and most valuable ornaments, took them with her to court. Ferokh-Faul, at sight of the dazzling beauty of the original whose portrait had ensnared his heart, could with difficulty preserve himself from fainting, but summoning all his resolution to his aid, he composed his mind, and sang with such passion and sweetness as enraptured the princess; who conferred upon him and Jaffier the most munificent gifts, and commanded them to perform before her twice a week.
AFTER they had resided some time in Shunguldeep, the prince ventured to enquire of Sunnobir the cause of the queen’s disgust to mankind; when the vizier condescending to gratify his curiosity, said, “I will relate it to thee, as she informed me, exactly in her own words.”b
“The first form which was decreed to me in elemental composition was that of a bird; and according to the established usages of this curious world of production, in which the connecting chain of existence depends upon offspring, and where the female cannot avoid society with the male, I necessarily preferred a helpmate. In process of time, two young ones being decreed me in the womb of fate, I built my nest, laid my eggs, and hatched them. Suddenly one night, the darkness of which was increased by uncommonly thick clouds, a fire seized our grove, and surrounded my nest like the setting of a ring. I being asleep, perceived it not till the hand of contrivance was rendered useless. As my young were not yet able to fly, and I could not convey them away both at once, I entreated the assistance of my mate; but he cowardly deserted me, and left us to our fate. Motherly affection prevailed, and my mortal part was consumed with my children’s; but the good I had done meeting the acceptance of the Most High, he revived me again in the beautiful form of the queen you now see before you. Remembering the cruel inconstancy and treacherous desertion of my mate, I have resolved to hold no connection with man, and have vowed lasting enmity against his sex, while constrained to dwell in the shape of woman.”
The prince communicated this wonderful transmigration to Jaffier, and after some time they requested their dismission from court, under pretence of returning home. The queen and Sunnobir having in vain entreated them to remain, at length consented to their departure, and in return for the pleasure their musical talents had afforded, conferred upon them many rich jewels and an immense sum of money. Having taken leave, they left the city, and throwing off their female attire, burnt it together with their instruments of music. The prince then cast into a fire a bit of the feather of the simurgh, who instantly appearing, as she had promised, at their desire bore them to the borders of the kingdom of Shunguldeep. By advice of Jaffier, the prince having collected a band of chosen men well armed, was with them once more conveyed by the simurgh into the favourite garden of his mistress under cover of the night.
The following morning, when the queen’s attendants came as usual to gather flowers, they were suddenly surrounded, and all slain, excepting one, allowed purposely to escape, that she might convey to her mistress intelligence of the disaster. The queen, upon this unwelcome occurrence, dispatched a faithful and experienced servant to enquire of the enemy the cause of their invasion. She was informed, that he was the heir of the kingdom of Serendib, who had vowed eternal hatred to woman, and in order that he might not see the abominated sex, wore constantly a thick veil; while his army, composed of simurghs, destroyed every female they met; and that, hearing Shunguldeep was governed by women, he had marched to put them to the sword.
On the return of the messenger, the queen after much consideration sent another, to signify that she had as great an hatred to man as he had to woman, but her reason for it was great; and unless he had one as substantial for his disgust, to make war upon the innocent and unoffending was unworthy the character of a just prince. To this he replied, that he had an heart-afflicting cause; and then related the tale she had told her vizier, only reversing the circumstance of the desertion of the male bird.
The queen, astonished at the accordance of their fates, requested an interview, to which the prince assented; when she repeated her adventures and transmigration to her present condition. Ferokh-Faul now proposed, as their fortunes were similar, to lay aside animosity, and unite in marriage. To this she agreed, and the fair Sunnobir was prevailed upon to accept Jaffier, who was appointed vizier of the united kingdoms of Serendib and Shunguldeep.
THE adorners of the brides of tradition, and ornamenters of the retired in the chambers of record, having dressed the charmer of this wonderful narrative in the purple of truth, have thus introduced her into the apartment of narration.
In the city of Oojein there was a young merchant, named Yezzeez, the goblet of whose condition was filled with the wine of opulence, and the measure of his situation overflowing with the liquor of abundance. Of worldly goods he had an ample share, and had acquired his full proportion of earthly blessings. The chamber of his hope was illumed by the lamp of success, and the sense of his fortune perfumed with the essence of enjoyment. The skirt of his heart, like the fountain of the sun, no muddiness of trouble had ever reached; and the mirror of his soul, like the clear orb of the moon, had never yet experienced the damp of misfortune. Heaven had spread the carpet of his fortunes in the happy mansion of security; and time, to enrich his warehouses, had reduced wealth to beggary. There was not a delicacy in the varied expanse of earth, but what appeared on the board of his wishes, nor a planet in the azure vault of heaven that did not accord with his desires. His days were constantly passed in music and feasting, and he uninterruptedly reclined on the pillows of enjoyment, accompanied by the damsels of mirth. The flowers of his inclinations received freshness in the garden of delight, and the bud of his heart, from the wavings of the gale of success, smiled with superiority at the groves of paradise.
One day, having adorned the apartments of mirth, and prepared the assembly of festivity, he with some of his companions quaffed dawn-like tinged wine in chrystal cups transparent as water, and fancying the enamelled goblet of the skies and the golden cup of the sun overflowing with the liquor of his desires, he was enlivened even to rapture with the cheering draughts of freedom from care.
At such an instant, when the season of jollity was warm, a stranger appeared, and sitting down on a corner of the carpet, cast a look of sadness on the assembly, and scattered moist pearls from the casket of his eyelids on the skirts of his cheeks. All at once, from his cold sighs, the mirrors of the festive became obscured by the damp of melancholy, and a groan issued from the breasts of the company. Yezzeez, loosing from his hands the reins of constraint, enquired the situation of the stranger; who, though repeatedly questioned, made no answer; which adding to the surprize of Yezzeez, plunged him into the whirlpool of impatience. Fixing the hand of importunity on the skirt of the young man, he entreated him to disclose the secret of his heart, which had caused such distress and melancholy in his appearance. When the stranger perceived the unreasonable curiosity of Yezzeez beyond all bounds, remediless, he opened his lips in reply, and said,
“Though thy request is as a gem which should not be taken from the mine of speech, and I am convinced, can do thee no good, yet, as thy importunity on this head has exceeded the bounds of reason, I have no alternative but to give thee a summary of my unfortunate adventures.
“Know then, that formerly my wealth and possessions were so great, that the ability of the most subtle and profound arithmeticians would have been confounded and perplexed in the calculation. On a certain time, according to the custom of merchants, having prepared a valuable assortment of goods, with an eye to profit, I departed for the city of Kinnouje, and resigned the footstep of endeavour to the path of travel. Several capital merchants, who esteemed my being chief of the cafila as an honour to themselves, accompanied me on the journey. At about four days distance from Kinnouje, having accidentally separated from the caravan, I strayed into a wilderness, where the scent of population greeted not the perception of expectation; and as before me appeared only a frightful desart, the chain of the hope of existence became nearly broken. In every path, that with much distress and alarm I explored from morning to the close of evening, I found no resting place; while at every instant horror-exciting sounds striking my ear, caused my gall to dissolve like water, and every now and then perceiving strange fantoms, my heart trembled like the leaf of the sunnobir from apprehension.
“As the gloom of night advanced the plain appeared to my imagination as a stormy sea, whose billows would swallow up the fish of the sky. The branches of the trees, beating against each other from the violence of the wind, bowed to the ground, the sand of which, agitated by the storm, rose in waves, so that you might call them the serpents of Pharoah’s rod, ready to devour the world. Helpless, I resigned my heart to destruction, and committing my head to fate, sat down, expecting death, at the foot of a tree; but, from excess of dread, such a trembling seized my body, as seemed to threaten the separation of my joints.
“Suddenly, the sound of human feet, by help of the wind, was heard, and on turning my eyes that way, I beheld a person advancing with great celerity, as is flying on the wings of speed. As the supposition of the son of man’s existence in this death-raging wilderness was improbable, I suspected it might be a deeo or ghole, who who was coming to destroy me, and crept into the corner of a pit. Here, among brambles and roots, like the death-devoted bird, whom the sharp-taloned faulcon is pursuing, I endeavoured to conceal myself, and invoked God for my protection. The man however coming up, without having recourse to search or examination, at once exclaimed with a loud voice, ‘Who art thou? and what dost thou in this peril-abounding desart alone? Perhaps thou art a deeo or a ghole, who would draw man into thy snare, and, having enticed them into this lonely desart, wouldst put them to death with variety of torments.’ My speech, from dread, became fastened like a knot in my throat, my teeth clung together, and, as a corpse void of animation, I remained without sense or motion.
“At my silence, anger overcame him, and the signs of rage appeared upon his countenance. Advancing with great fury towards me, he said, ‘Inform me of thy circumstances, or with my blood-drinking sabre, I will remove the load of thy head from thy shoulders.’ In dread for my life, fearful and trembling, I attempted to reply, and said, ‘O valiant youth, be not enraged, and give not way to passion, for I am a mortal, who by accident being separated from my camp, have been bewildered in this life-decaying desart. At present I know no remedy to my situation, nor how to commit my footsteps to the path of hope; pity, then, my forlorn condition, and have compassion on my helpless state; take me by the hand with the true valour of the brave, and, like Khizzer, be the guide of my path, till I can rejoin my friends, and reach our caravan.
“When the young man was informed of my unfortunate condition, the clouds of his fury which had been collected, dispersed, and the moisture of compassion succeeded. He said, ‘Recover thy heart from the confusion of alarm, for thou shalt instantly be delivered from this dreadful place, and from the whirlpool of danger reach the shore of safety. Not far from hence is a most delightful city, whose site, like the gardens of paradise, dispelleth care, and whose inhabitants are enchanting as the dwellers in heaven. In every street of it various gratifications abound; its habitations are bright as the mirror, the Arzung of Mani is only an imitation of their paintings, and the azure skies a model of its spring-like borders.
“It has been from ancient days called the city of Laabutbauz,c and I am distinguished by the office of cutwaul in this capital, the envy of the gardens of Irim and paradise, and am named Rizwaund by the happy inhabitants. Hasten then, and follow me, that having escaped from this life-destroying wild, and arrived at the charming city, thou mayest repose on the pillows of felicity.”
“As I had observed in the young man the manners of courtesy and an affable behaviour, I uttered thanksgivings to God and him, and fell behind him like his shadow; till at length we reached the gate of the city, and on seeing its beauty, I fancied myself in heaven, and gazed with astonishment.”
THE stranger had advanced thus far in his narrative, when suddenly two wild cats, clasping each other with fury, dropped from the balustrade of the house into the midst of the company, who were sitting heedless of the fox-like deceit of fortune, listening, all ear, to the adventures of the intruder. Alarmed at this occurrence, they were startled like so many birds at the mewing of a cat, and the stranger unperceived vanished from among them.
When Yezzeez had recovered himself, he became so much distressed at the disappearance of the traveller, and the non-conclusion of his story, that anxiety took possession of his mind; and though persons ran on every quarter to seek him, it was in vain, for, like the phoenix, he had vanished, nor could they find any trace of him. Such was the curiosity of Yezzeez to know the remainder of his adventures as to exceed all bounds, and restlessness took such hold of his mind, that, departing from the confines of repose, he became enchained in disquiet, and resolved on a journey to Kinnouje.
Tho’ his friends and relations made offerings of the terms of remonstrance, their brilliancy appeared unworthy the examination of acceptance. Giving to them the present of dismission, and having prepared a small cargo, he with a few beloved companions and confidential slaves advanced his foot in the path of travel. Passing the numerous stages with impatient haste, he in a short time reached Kinnouje, and explored every part of the city, but found no intelligence of the young man. Day by day the fire of curiosity became more glowing in the grate of his heart, till at length the flames of madness seized him, and he was by degrees wasted to a melancholy cinder. When all his substance was expended, his followers, withdrawing their minds from his company, departed their own ways, and the kaujeh sunk from the seat of affluence on the dust of beggary, and from the gracer of assemblies shrunk into solitude. He had no ability to seek a cure for misfortune, nor strength to reach his own country.
Much against his will, he submitted to poverty, and advancing alone in the road of search, day and night, like the disordered in mind, sometimes he would dive into the forest, and sometimes wind the desart. In this manner he explored many countries, but without success; and uselessly wasted life in looking for enjoyment. Sometimes, on remembrance of his friends, the fire of despair consumed the stores of hope; and sometimes his heart would flow in drops from his eyes in the agony of disappointment. Incessant fatigue reduced his body to a skeleton, and the storm of travel often drove him, like a blade of grass, over the desart of inability.
At length one day, as with a thousand heart-wasting sighs and soul-rending complaints he was passing over a desart, and, notwithstanding all his endeavours, could not reach a place of shelter, he met a compassionate looking youth, on whose aspect beamed the rays of kindness, and from whose forehead glanced the light of tenderness, who enquired of him the cause of his distress. Yezzeez having related his adventures, requested his assistance to heal his sorrows. The youth replied, “Ah! thou injured in understanding, what miseries hast thou brought upon thyself by thy folly! Merely upon hearing a tale from an unknown person, without examination into the truth or probability of it, to commit thyself a wanderer in the desart, and foolishly to measure the wind with thy hand, was not wise. Thy difficulties are impossible to be resolved, so hasten away, and follow thy own policy.”
Yezzeez replied, “O generous youth, since, having absented myself from my family, I am involved in a bewildering path, how can my spirit allow me to return back when advanced half way, without having attained my object? For God’s sake, exert thy liberality, and as far as in thy power lend me assistance.” The youth rejoined, “Imprudent man, though the whole of life be expended in search, it is not any way possible for the explorer to find the pearl of being in the ocean of non-existence. How then canst thou by my help arrive at the city of Laabutbauz, which which has no site upon the surface of the earth! Though thou hast struck the mattock into thy foot, yet permit not the wound to become a gangrene; but, whilst a way of escape from this blood-devouring wild is in thy power, hasten, that thou mayest convey thyself to a place of safety. Take this ivory sabre, and whenever thou findest thyself fatigued and inclined to rest, draw it from the silken scabbard, and lay it carefully by thee. When thou continuest thy journey, sheath it, and be cautious not to lose it.” Having said this, the young man vanished from sight.
Yezzeez, as he had been directed, having committed his footsteps to the path of travel, exerted all his strength in advancing; and heedless of the difficulties of precipices and declivities in his route, with cheerfulness submitted to the toil of walking, till that world-surrounding traveller the sun, having finished his daily course, halted in the west. He then stopped, and, as he had been desired, drew the sabre from the scabbard; when lo! a vast city appeared in the plain, of extent such as the messenger of fancy would be at a loss to describe. Having retired to a serai, he chose an apartment; and being refreshed with ample fare, reposed his head on the pillow of sleep.
At the season of the dog’s slumber and crowing of the cock, having girded on his sabre, he measured the wilderness, as before. In short, having travelled several days and been supplied with resting places at night by the power of the sword, he one day arrived at the bank of a lake, and stopped to quench his thirst. Suddenly, as he was drinking, the belt of the sabre breaking in the middle, it fell into the water, sunk to the bottom, and was irrecoverably lost.
On this accident, despair overcame his mind, and he wandered in the deepest distress. At length he reached a plantation, where he beheld a husbandman sitting on the grass, who repeatedly lifted a cup to his lips, while his wife scattered seeds on the soil he had dug. An inclination to associate with the husbandman arose in the mind of Yezzeez, and advancing somewhat, he sat down at a little distance, wishful that he should speak first, and shew the customs of civility. The countryman and his wife, looking upon him with kindness, enquired his situation; upon which Yezzeez recounted his adventures, and signified the object of his heart.
The husbandman replied, “Ah! beautiful youth, what vain scheme and idle speculation is this? Wander not foolishly in the path of thy own destruction, but quit this dangerous expedition, for it is impossible it should succeed. If thy star befriends thee, place the foot of continuance awhile in the path of association with me, that thou mayest repose from the persecution of fortune.” Yezzeez accepted his offer; and, reclining under the shade of his bounty, rested from the fatigue of unavailing toil.
As it happened, in this plantation, just after the breathing of dawn and near the first appearance of the sun’s rays, every morning arose a misty vapour, which by degrees descending, wholly enveloped the branches and leaves of a particular tree. Gleams of light then shone through the mist like the branches of the bush of Toor,e and an hand like the Yed Bieza,f dazzling as the sun, was extended from it. The husbandman advancing near the tree, in the manner of ceremonious cup-bearers, placed a goblet of sparkling wine on the hand, which for an instant vanished, and re-appearing, gave back the goblet empty. This was repeated to the fortieth cup; after which the hand withdrawing, the vapour began to ascend, and quickly diffusing itself in the air, in less than an hour was wholly dispersed.
After some time, the husbandman having occasion to leave home for a few days, entrusted the care of his house to Yezzeez, giving him a particular charge to supply the hand regularly with wine. The imprudent youth, impelled by curiosity to penetrate into the mystery, as he was one morning delivering the cup, rashly grasped the hand with all his force, when instantly a noise, more dreadful than the loudest thunder, shook the atmosphere, and a bird of monstrous size issuing from the mist, seized him in its talons like a sparrow, and mounted into the air above the highest clouds, then gradually descending, at length alighted on the pinnacle of a lofty dome, when loosing its hold, Yezzeez rolled over and over as a ball. He at length fell to the bottom of a pit so dark, that night from its blackness might have added to her gloom. Much as he tried to explore a passage, he found no inlet to the path of hope, so that preparing himself for death, he sat down expecting his fate.
In this state, he at length perceived a glimmering of light, and on examining the place whence it proceeded, saw a door which opened to his pressure into a narrow passage, through which having passed, he found himself in a court surrounded by a high wall. Having clomb to the top, he let himself down by his hands on the other side, and fell into a net placed below. A man rushing upon him, flung a rope round his neck, and dragged him to the foot of a lofty building, from a window of which a beautiful damsel looking out, said to his conductor, “To-day’s game is very thin, let him be released for some time till he shall be worthy our acceptance.” Upon this, the man set him at liberty; when Yezzeez, overcome by fear and fatigue, fell down senseless on the ground.
On his recovery, he found himself alone in the middle of a barren plain. Suddenly advanced towards him on horseback an old man, who on coming up enquired the cause of his distressed situation; and on being informed of his adventures, consoled his sorrows, and presented him with refreshments, on tasting which his strength returned, and his spirits were revived. The old man then having directed him to follow a particular path, took his leave, assuring him that he would soon arrive at the object of his hope.
YEZZEEZ having thanked his generous preserver, proceeded with lightened heart and renewed ardour. Borrowing swiftness from the breeze, he, as the nightingale at the scent of the rose, redoubled his speed; and travelling all night, arrived by day-break at the skirts of a city, at sight of whose elegant buildings the beholder became all gaze from astonishment, like the eye of the nergus. The environs of it were delightful as the borders of Eden, and its air, like that of paradise, captivated the souls of Rizwaun and the Hoories. On every side flowed deliciously-tasted streams among beds of flowers, as in the gardens of heaven. The boughs of the trees were crouded with rosy-billed birds, melodious as Barbud,g and on the brink of each stream the apple and cocoa-nut, mingled with the cypress and plane, bent under the weight of their fruits, as if offering a treat, to the ground. Emerald-winged parrots, like infants at the breast, pierced their beaks into the luscious mangoe and the juicy suddafool.h From the clemency of the air, the grape seemed to ferment in the cluster on the branches, as wine in the cask.
Yezzeez, on beholding this enchanting assemblage, remained for some time motionless as a statue; and when recovered, hastened to the city. On his arrival at the gateway, he saw the doors set with valuable jewels, and the way paved with agate, sprinkled over with musk. On his entrance he perceived the bazars arched over, like the eyebrows of the fair, and adorned with paintings fascinating as those of Mani. The paths were clear from soil as the hearts of the virtuous; and the air, like the air of melody, gave relief to the sorrowful heart. The streets, like the fumes of wine, excited chearfulness; and the houses, as the regular rows of an avenue, afforded sensations of serenity.
While he was meditating and admiring these objects, two young men advanced with speed, and each seizing an arm, conducted him to a splendid palace. He was then led to a warm bath, and after washing, being rubbed with perfumes and essences, was arrayed in royal robes, and a splendid crown set with jewels was placed upon his head. From the bath he was introduced into a sumptuous hall, and seated upon a gorgeous throne, befitting the state of a powerful monarch. The nobles of the empire and officers of state, like respectful slaves, having made the usual prostrations and kissed the ground, raised the shout of congratulation to the azure skies. Yezzeez on witnessing this conduct, like a figure in tapestry, or an image on a wall, remained without power to speak, and lost in astonishment and doubt, whether he was in a dream or awake.
At length, a venerable vizier, bowing his forehead on the dust of submission, informed him that he was in the city of Laabutbauz, the sovereign of which was just deceased; and, according to the laws of the empire, he, as the first arrived stranger, was his successor in the throne, and to be united in marriage to the beautiful daughter of the late monarch; but on condition however, that he must not extend the hand of desire on the stores of honour, or entertain evil designs against the royal haram. Yezzeez, on hearing this speech, was overcome with a joy that cannot be described.
When the sun had descended to the west, a splendid throne set with jewels and its feet of gold, enamelled, was placed in the apartment of prosperity, on which the beautiful princess, most richly adorned, sat like a brilliant star in the throne of the sky. They showered garlands of flowers upon her head, and made offerings of rubies and pearls in such quantities, as to excite the jealousy of the ocean and the mine.
When the lucky instant for the king’s admission arrived, the attendants withdrew from the bridal chamber, from the door of which to the hall of public audience, rose-cheeked damsels, elegantly attired, whose tresses were so many curly snares for the hearts of beholders, lined the way in two rows of dazzling beauty. The king advanced, as a resplendent moon among the stars, his heart expanding like the rose at sight of the charms of the smiling maidens, but when he reached the apartment of the princess, and beheld that shining planet of the mansion of beauty, he was lost in rapturous amazement.
When the bride and bridegroom were seated on the same throne, they seemed as two cypresses in the same border, or as the sun and moon conjoined in one sign. From their presence the throne, shining with double lustre, graced the firmament of splendour. The female attendants formed a ring about it, like planets round the sun; and having made their obeisance, began to sing and dance, playing at the same time on various instruments. One, like a moth round the lamp, turned her delicate frame about so rapidly, that the heavens stood fixed as the pole with admiration at beholding her. Another, like a Peri springing into air, beat exact time with her hands and feet. The king became so enraptured at their performances, that he lost the reins of discretion from his hands, and forgetting the vizier’s information, attempted to kiss the princess; who, dissembling her displeasure, gently rebuked his ardour, and filling a goblet with wine, presented it to him; but he had no sooner drank, than he fell senseless on the pillow of sleep.
When the bridegroom of day arose from the couch of night, the ill-fated Yezzeez, on lifting his head from the slumber of folly, gazed wildly around, but perceived no ray from the sun of beauty, nor any trace of last night’s festivity. On the contrary, he found himself in a dreadful wild, still doomed to the horrors of solitude, and captivated in the snare of wretchedness. He shed showers of tears with vexation at this fresh treachery of his evil stars, and scattered dust upon his head, like mourners for the deceased, in grief for the loss of his night’s enjoyments.
In frail hope that the lost water might again be brought into his fountain, he once more hastened on the feet of search; but he had not travelled far when, to his astonishment, he suddenly beheld the walls of Oojein. His disappointment overwhelmed him with despair, and, remediless, he entered his own mansion. Having distributed the remainder of his effects to the poor, and drawn the line of celibacy over the pages of life, he quitted his family, and assumed, like the turtle-dove, an ashy-coloured vest. Bearing upon his shoulders, like Mujjenou, a mantle of skins, he entered the circle of devotees, and fixed his abode in a forest unfrequented by man; where, for the remaining half of his age, drinking of the envenomed cup of melancholy, and piercing the adamant point of regret into his soul, he struggled restless on the thorny bed of unavailing sorrow. With tortured heart and streaming eyes, he associated only with the wild animals of the desart, until the approach of his last agonies, when he resigned the treasure of his life to the demands of death, uttering with his last breath the name of his beloved.
This disordered world, of frail foundation, is the abode of visionary deception, in which those ensnared by its temptations acquire only shame and remorse. It is a store of concealed miseries, and those who quaff the goblet of its enjoyments swallow the bitter potion of repentance. Happy is he whom its smiles do not allure, nor its deceitfulness betray, and who, in the slumber of incautiousness, loses not the jewels of real good.
THOUGH the intelligent parrot, by diverting the attention of Jehaundar Shaw to his interesting narratives, in some measure gave relief to his disordered mind, yet, as the fumes of passion were wreathed in his brain, many times in the course of a day, bursting from the fetters of patience, he would wander, like Mujjenou, to and fro, and as the dying breeze waving different ways in search of the rose, like quicksilver, he could not rest in any one spot for an instant.
It is well known, that for the admitted to the presence of the sovereign of love, who is monarch of the regions of the heart, and despotic guider of the emotions of the soul, to rage in the field of madness, and fly on the wings of impatient rashness, and on every quarter to attack the plains of reputation and fame, is in his view the highest merit. For the confidants of that prince, who is uncontrouled ruler of the bosom, and destroyer of repose, to have their eyes constantly wet with tears, and the fountains of their hearts exhausted of moisture, is the mean of acceptance.o
After a considerable interval, the despairing prince (his heart torn to pieces, and wandering amid the rocks of reflection) one morning, when the breeze of dawn was opening the tresses of the flowers, and had made the expanse of the fields the envy of the plains of Khoten, strayed into a garden. Here he beheld a nightingale, into the store of whose heart a spark had fallen from the cheek of the rose, and parched his wings and feathers like thorns and stubble. From the intoxication of passion, he was careless of existence, and uttered heart-affecting plaints. Jehaundar, instigated by similarity of condition, wished to associate with him, and sitting down in a thicket of the garden, addressed the distracted bird in the following strains.
At this crisis, when the planet of his fate was near arising from the gloom of ill-fortune to the ascendancy of prosperity, appeared advancing on the plain, the suite of Mherbanou, and an odour, wafted by the breeze from her musky tresses, expanded the blossom of the soul of her heartless lover; but Jehaundar, unknowing that his fortune was wakeful, remained in the thicket: yet impelled by the pleasurable senation which, without any apparent cause, animated his bosom, he involuntarily repeated this
At length the howdahp-bearers of the concealed within the veil of royalty, having illumed the inclosure of the garden with the splendour of her presence, set it down in the sacred pavilion. An aged matron, whose robes, like her body, were composed of the fibres of purity, and whose condition was happy in constant attendance upon Mherbanou, by command of that chief of secluded beauties, alighting from the howdah, explored the garden to clear it from the forbidden.q Advancing slowly with the assistance of a walking staff, she reached the lovelorn prince; and having listened awhile to his affecting complaints, retired, and acquainted her mistress of his presence.
Bherawir Banou, immediately upon hearing the circumstance, from an opening in the curtain of the houdah, cast a look on the distracted lover, and from the picture she had obtained from Benuzzeer and had constantly kept by her, instantly knew him, and for whose sake a mighty monarch had condescended to assume the tatters of wretchedness. The flames of long-concealed love now raged in her mind, and the waves of the ocean of passion dashed her heart against the strand of anxiety; but as the veil of modesty hung over her eyes, and the object of desire was obscured, she fainted, unable to gratify her wishes.
The old matron, on this occurrence, shed tears over her like mourners for the dead, and pressing her to her bosom, asked the cause of her disorder. Bherawir Banou at length opening her eyes, said, “My dear mother, much time has elapsed since love for this young man has possessed my heart, and now I have seen him my soul is distressed, and I am fallen into the eddy of impatience.”
The old woman, pitying the condition of the lovers, and not knowing how to act, having conveyed the princess to her palace, demanded an audience of the sultaun, whom she informed of his daughter’s declaration of love for a devotee, and her distracted situation.r
The sultaun, who, it may be recollected, had in his interview with the prince discovered who he was notwithstanding his disguise, on hearing that his daughter was inflamed even to madness by his love, was overcome with apprehension for her safety; and commissioning the old woman to signify his consent to a union with Jehaundar, sent for him to court, and allotted him apartments in the palace, till preparations could be made for celebrating the marriage. The astrologers were directed to consult the stars, and chuse a fortunate instant for the conclusion of the nuptials.
When the observers of the planets had fixed upon a lucky hour to begin the festive rites, the imperial drums were sounded, and the carpets of rejoicing spread in the paradisiacal mansions of prosperity. The assembly of mirth was prepared in a manner becoming the dignity of a great monarch, and the requisites of princely festivity arranged with the utmost magnificence. Rose-cheeked cupbearers poured sparkling wine into chrystal goblets, and the guests, having dispelled care from their minds by repeated draughts, glowed like the tulip. The gale of exultation waved on the hearts of the loyal, and the breeze of mirth opened the flowers of gladness. Melodious songsters wrapt the minds of the audience in ecstacy, and graceful dancers excited desire.
When the monarch adding splendour to the assembly of day, that is, the world-enlightening sun, had entered the retired chamber of the west, the black haired bride of night (on every curl of whose amber tresses time had showered thousands of musk-bags of Tartary) shed perfume over the earth from her wavy locks.
The ladies of high rank having formed a select assembly in the inner parts of the palace, like the inmates of Irim, sat in rows, as flowers in a parterre. The area of the court, from the abundant strewing of roses, had the beauty of spring; and peri-formed attendants, with the waving of large fans, refreshed the senses of the tulip-cheeked, hoori-envied fair ones. Jasmine-bodied compounders of essences, by the variety of their perfumes, made the air of the apartments the regret of the plains of Thibet and Tartary. Vocal performers of silver-shining form, ravished the hearts of the company beautiful as peries, by their soul-attracting songs; and Venus-resembling dancers, stepping into motion like the fascinated peacock, gave expression to harmony. From the crowd of magic-eyed, rose-cheeked damsels, the sea of beauty and grace arose in waves. Shereen-like smiles and Leila-resembling glances interchanged by the beauteous assemblage, made gazing hazardous to the foot of understanding.
Tyre-women of elegant fancy, having washed their hands seven times in rose-water, began to adorn the angel-looking bride. Having with a comb of sandal wood arranged the wreathy amber-scented tresses round her forehead, polished as cornelian of Yemen,s and conferred grace on the Goshewarrat by its binding the sun of the sky of beauty, her face resembled the moon encircled by the Pleiades. Round her neck they placed a necklace of pearl, and her waist, so slender that, like alchemy,u it existed scarcely but in name, was adorned with a girdle set with jewels.
All the bridal ornaments and robes befitting her dignity being adjusted on her cypress-envied person, she ascended the nuptial throne. Without exaggeration, from her dazzling beauty, the jewels reflected additional brilliancy, and the costly robes new grace. Her cheeks, like the rose, required not the fictitious bloom of the tyre-woman, and the elegance of form bestowed on her by heaven, was independent of borrowed grace and ornaments. The Almighty designer had formed her person in the mansion of being without an equal, and made it the most exquisite figure among all the works of creation. To her was justly applicable the following
Attendants skilled in ancient customs and the usages of courts, having adorned the bridegroom with royal robes gorgeous as Solomon’s, and splendid as those of Feredoon, conducted him to the throne of the Balkis-like bride, and placed a koraun and a mirror between them. When Jehaundar looked on the mirror, he saw the spring of beauty in full bloom, and the object of his desires in his embrace. Placing his hand on the Koraun, he said, like Joseph, “I am the unpurchased slave of this Zuleikha of the throne of beauty;” and Bherawir Banou, nodding acceptance, replied, “I am the humblest of the handmaidens of this beloved of Egypt with life and soul.”
The ladies now having showered numberless wreaths of roses and jasmine over the heads of these two stars in the firmament of royalty, and made the nissar of innumerable pearls and precious stones, the apartment was cleared, and the cypress left with the cedar in the garden of delight.
When the happy Jehaundar, under the auspices of his favourable stars, having broken the talisman of suspense from the treasure of success, had obtained possession of his wishes, he, like the pious, bowed the head of adoration at the throne of the divine Gratifier of hope, and offered up thanksgivings with the utmost fervour of human ability.
After some time, having expressed desires of returning to his own country, he requested the sultaun’s permission to depart; but as the surly blasts already announced the speedy accession of the monarch of winter, he did not chuse that the darling of his heart should encounter the fatigues of march, in a season, when the unfeeling army of severe cold was expected to make depredations; and therefore not consenting to his petition, the sultaun deferred it till the king of flowers should ascend his throne of enamelled foliage.
WHEN Jehaundar Shaw, in consequence of the Sultaun’s orders, had fixed his residence for some time longer in the city of Menousowaud, after the lapse of a short respite, a change appeared on the face of nature, and the signs of revolution became evident in the disposition of time. The sovereign of the region of the planets having broken the scales of equability,w extended the hand of oppression on the virgin of the wheat-sheaf.x On this account the skirt of day became shortened, and the stately robes of night were lengthened. The army of frost, which had been long waiting in the ambush of hope, having received intelligence of this event, moved from its station to subdue the habitable regions; and issuing on the plains of the world, spread wide the hand of devastation, and from unrelenting cruelty left not a blade of verdure on the ground.
Having levied contributions on the affluent inhabitants of the garden and orchard, they stripped them entirely of their leaves and beauty. Mankind, in dread of the attacks of this unfeeling host, shuddered like the reed at the blast; and as the fox, rejoicing in his hairy covering, shrunk into their cell. The earth, in order that no one might discover him, lay concealed under heaps of cotton;y and the husbandman, withdrawing the hand of labour from his occupation, slunk into the corner of inertness. The stream, though vehemently inclined to travel the globe, having now discharged its fondness for motion, rested in its place; and the breeze, which was wont to draw wavy flourishes on the waters, in alarm, broke his pencil against the rocks.
The trees, bare of cloathing, as the naked in the day of resurrection, lifted their arms in complaint to the skies; and the nightingales, scared by the attacks of winter, deserted the rose-bushes, and left them to the enjoyment of the raven. Time, in expectation of the rising of the standard of spring, became bleached as the jasmine; and the gardener wrote invitations upon ice to the visitants of his borders. The natives of the garden, having heard cold reproofs from the tongue of the northern blast, fainted instantly in the path of desolation; and the tulip and rose, resigning their abodes to the owl, saved only their torn vestments from the rapacity of December and January. The lofty cypress, which in the empire of the groves had issued the proclamation of sovereignty in its own name, was imprisoned on the brink of the canal, like the plank of the Minber;z and the sosun, which prided itself as the queen of the garden, having yielded the robe of existence an offering to the plunderers of the storm, sunk into the recess of annihilation. Of the sidelocks of the rose, the curls of the sunbul, and the twisted ringlets of the shumshade, not a single hair remained in the hands of the zephyr. Even the sunnobir, with all his fortitude and vigour, resigning his property to the plunderers of December, became impoverished as the chinar. The rose-bud, counting the hidden stores of existence, in its sorrow resigned its life; and the cruel northern blast, tearing the leaves of the rose, scattered them on every quarter.
THE happy Jehaundar, when he beheld the world thus confused, retired to the winter apartments of the palace with his beloved, uttering the following strain:
Undisturbed by care, he awaited the return of fair weather to revisit his country, and gladden the hearts of his long-deserted family and friends. The sultaun entertained him with a variety of amusements, and winter passed away lightly as the spring.
When the golden-crowned monarch, the sun, who is ruler of the nine regions of the heavens, having finished his conquests over the kingdoms of the south, had exalted his standard of light in the glorious mansion of Aries, at the piercing sound of the drums of his justice, the rebellious and merciless bands of winter were stricken with panic, and fled with precipitance to the dens of annihilation. The entrusted with the administration of spring, having engaged in spreading the carpets of consolation for the starved natives of the groves, sounded high the trumpets of redress throughout the plains of the world.
The glorious sentence, (“Behold how the earth revives after death!”a) was displayed in wonderful characters upon the soil. The omnipotent Artist prepared in the variegated manufactory of March, thousands of silken and brocaded robes for the trees and plants. The kingly rose, in the delightful area of the garden, having again ascended his throne of emerald-like foliage, cast the shade of protection on the nussereen and nusserun, and the cupbearer of the clouds of bounty, having filled the goblets of the tulip with refreshing liquid in the variegated assembly of the parterres, cleared the senses of time from care.
The nobutb of congratulation sounded among the hills in peals of thunder, and the kootbac chaunters of the garden, having ascended the enamelled pulpit of the branches, uttered the praises of the sovereign of spring, whose treasurers, the zephyrs, showered gold and silver upon the harmonious songsters of the grove.d
The northwest breeze, in order to regale the senses of time, collected a mixture of odours from the branches of the sunbul and bedemusk, sweet as the ood and ambergris.
The trees, which by the plundering hand of winter had been robbed of their cloathing, were again arrayed in vesture glossy as sattin and brocade from the repositories of the bounty of spring. The breeze of the norozee waved the fan of refreshment over the newly-born flowers, as they issued from the embryo of concealment on the bed of existence; and the gale of spring expanded the shrunken hearts of the flower-buds with sensations of delight.
The earth, having thrown off her snowy mantle, became arrayed in robes of silken verdure, and vied in splendour with the azure sky. The gardens were filled with parti-coloured assemblages in green and scarlet, more glorious than the attendants of Jumshede and Feredoon. The zephyr, in order to shew his elegant fancy in attiring, dispersed the surface of the waters in curly waves; and the streams, liberated from confinement by the influence of the sun, ran to relate the story of their late imprisonment to the cypress and entwining sosun. Herds of antelopes bounded over hill and dale in mazy dances; while the sulsul, the sauz, the sauje, and the sharok,f in joyous concert, lifted high the melodious harmony of delight.
THE happy Jehaundar, when he beheld the face of nature so charming, and heard the inhabitants of the groves rejoicing, instigated by the sensations of gladness, walked out with his beloved to contemplate the delightful scene. It was at the instant when the rose of morning was expanded by the breeze of dawn, and the bird of day had stretched his wings to convey the advice of early rising. The air was shedding moist pearls of dew on the gentle inhabitants of the garden, and the zephyr was awakening the sweet-lipped damsels of the flower-bed from soft repose. The tulip was quaffing its morning draught, and the thrush composing his melody. The rose was adjusting her dress by the reflection of the stream, and the nergus, with the surma, giving brilliancy to her eyes. The verdure was bathing itself in rose-scented dew, and the parterre painting its surface with the reflected tinge of the flowers. The cypress was priding in its stature, and the bunnuffsheh tinging her eyebrows with the sable dye. The sunbul was arranging her tresses, and the air shed tears of envy. The prince walked about for some time, having the eye of his mind intent on the wonderful works of the Eternal.
He now beheld a garden rivalling that of paradise in flowers and shrubs. The rose sat majestically on the pillar of superiority. The tulip held in its hand a cup overflowing with purple wine. The milk-stained lip of the white rose-bud sweetly smiled. The breeze mixed odours on the branch of the zummeran, and gathered sweets from the leaf of the sunbul.
The cypress sympathized with the moans of the turtle-dove, and the cedar waved with gladness at the joy of the grove. The herbage had its ear hung with pearls of dew, and the reed was intoxicated with joy at the breeze. The shukkauik wove a zinnar for his loins of the locks of the sunbul, and the nusserun prepared a gem-embroidered vest from the dew-drops. The branches held lamps of damask roses in their hands, and the flowers were filled with dewy wine. The birds, like recluses, chaunted hymns, and the clear fountains joined in harmony.
The turtle-dove recited verses in praise of the cypress, and the sosun repeated strains in honour of the streams. The bulbul, like Mujjenou, began the nushede,g and the azzar dastaun,h like the travelling musician, sounded the organ.i The apple, like the countenance of Ferhaad, was parti-coloured, and the plum sweet as the lip of Shereen. The ruby-coloured nar distilled crimson juice, and the clusters of the vine hung like the constellation of the Pleiades from the branches. The aloocheh gave hopes of gratification to the visitants of the orchard, and the zerdaloo tidings of a treat to the sugar-lipped of the garden.
When Bherawir Banou, at the command of love, gave herself to Jehaundar, the Ladies of Meenousowaud, judging from appearances, and supposing him to be only a dirvesh, extended the tongues of slander against the princess; and attributing to her meanness of spirit, said, “Though for so long, covering herself with the veil of pride, she would not accept any one of the many sultauns and high-born princes who coursed the chargers of rivalry in the plain of demand, after all, enamoured of an unknown collinder, who wandered the streets of the capital in the manner of distracted devotees, she has bound herself in the knot of his union. Still more surprizing, she believes that he is a royal personage, and that she is honoured by the marriage; ignorant that a monarch would never degrade himself by the patched vest, wooden clogs, hempen wallet, and empty bowl, which are the habiliments of beggary.”
The princess, on hearing these remarks, was much troubled and afflicted; the cause of which being disclosed to Jehaundar, in order to remove uneasiness from her mind, and mortify the shortsighted slanderers, he resolved to shew the wonderful properties of those articles, which to the public seemed marks of his poverty, and dispatched the following message to the sultaun.
“I presume to hope that your majesty, by honouring my humble cell with the glories of your august presence, will make it the envy of the mansion of the sun, and by such condescension raise the head of the lowly to the summit of the sky. Should my request be complied with, great will be my honour.”
When the gale of acceptance waved the tresses of the charmer of invitation from the point of imperial bounty, the heart of the prince blossomed like the rose; and having prepared a soul-delighting assembly, he made ready a banquet, worthy the condition of potent sovereigns.
The king, of crown resplendent as the sun, having (accompanied by his courtiers) proceeded to the palace appointed for the entertainment, when he ascended the throne of state, made it the envy of the heavens by his august presence. Jehaundar signified by a nod to attendants well skilled in the customs of royal feasts, that they should spread an adeem of crimson leather perfumed with musk, on which the servants of the kitchen placed all varieties of dishes, in such profusion as astonished the guests. These were succeeded by confections and fruits, more numerous and variegated than can be described.
When the repast was ended, the cloak and wallet being brought out, heart-pleasing rarities, as pieces of silk and velvet, the finest cloths, and precious stones of inestimable value, were produced from them in such numbers, as to calculate, would foil the skill of the most profound accomptants. These being placed as a peshcush before the sultaun, the prince observed, that though such trifles were not worthy acceptance by so illustrious a personage, yet as the limb of a locust could only be offered by the humble ant, if he condescended to take them, it would be conferring upon him the highest honour. The beholders were astonished at this miracle; and the rumour of it pervading the city, all ranks of people were loud in the praise of Jehaundar, whose slanderers bowed their heads in confusion.
The prince now again requested leave to depart for his own dominions; and the sultaun, though unwilling to submit to the pain of separation from his daughter, yet from necessity consented, and began to prepare a marriage portion becoming his imperial dignity, of rich manufactures, (perfumes, gold and silver ingots, diamonds, rubies, pearls, the choicest furs, horses, elephants, male and female slaves) which might prove acceptable to the most exalted princes; but Jehaundar being informed of his intention, under pretence of the difficulties of the road which required light baggage, in a manner that did not offend, declined the gift.
Having taken leave at a fortunate instant, he repaired to the palace venerable as the Kaaba, to receive the dismission of the head of the virtuous and chief of the pure, the mother of Bherawir Banou. The queen, shedding torrents of moist pearls from the caskets of her eyes, took hold of the vest of Jehaundar in the manner of petitioners, and said, “My daughter, though cherished on the couch of royalty and indulgence, is now exalted by being thy handmaid. I do not say she is worthy to share thy bed, but she may be one of the humblest of thy domestics. Act thou as becomes the mind of a great king.” Jehaundar having made the most consoling reply, took leave; and beginning his march, departed towards his own country.
When the prince dismounted at his first encampment, the parrot, who well deserved the title of wise bird, having congratulated him in the manner of a faithful slave, after proper prayers and praises, said, “God be praised, that from the period of my first admission to the honour of servitude to the present moment, from me (who am at best but an handful of feathers) nought but the most resigned fidelity and exact submission, becoming the duty of faithful domestics and assistants, has occurred. From the influence of my wakeful stars and assistance of kindly fortune, having obtained the grace of dutiful service, I have been the medium of important affairs, and, notwithstanding my diminutive size, have performed great actions.
“Since, through the bounty of the Almighty, they have at length obtained the object of their desires, agreeably to the usage of indulgent masters, who give liberty to ancient slaves, I trust they will now manumit this old servant, that he may return to his own country. Having, through the kindness of his master, rejoined after so long an absence the companions of his childhood, with whom he shared the fruits of the groves of repose, he will resound the strains of your highness’s liberality to all quarters of the earth, and all the birds of my country shall warble in your praise.” Jehaundar, though unwilling to lose the society of the faithful parrot, yet moved by his earnest and importunate entreaties, complied with his request, and dismissed him.
As the honied sweets of changeful fortune are mingled with bitter draughts, and the tablet of fortune is stamped with varying characters, Jehaundar was scarcely seated on the musnud of his desires, when mischance rolled up the carpet of his enjoyment; and his lip had hardly touched the cup of delight, when accident shed the wine of his hopes on the ground. The particulars of this astonishing event are as follow.
When this glorious planet of the firmament of royalty had departed from the city of Menousowaud towards his own country, and used the greatest speed in winding the path of travel, he at length reached the spot where he had taken the articles from the two brothers who had chosen him arbitrator of their disputes. Recollecting his injustice, the glow of shame moistened his forehead, and he resolved, should he luckily meet them, to return their property, and entreat their forgiveness.
As it happened, he lighted upon them without the trouble of much search, when he begged their pardon for his breach of trust; and having laid the goods at their feet, recounted his adventures, pleading his anxiety to reach the abode of his beloved, in alleviation of his crime. The generous young men said in reply, “Plunge not thyself, good friend, into the whirlpool of anxiety, nor distressfully wander in the plain of apology, for, in fact, we made thee a present of the goods when thou possessedst thyself of them. May they be lawful to thee as thy mother’s milk! for the characters of our obligation to thee are impressed on the tablets of our hearts; and now, in return for thy favours, if thou chusest, we will bestow upon thee a blessing which no other persons could confer. It is the power of quitting thy own and transferring thy soul into another body at pleasure.”
Jehaundar, filled with wonder, reflected a little, and then replied, “I wish to know first, how I, whose dishonesty towards you both is undeniable, should be thought worthy of your confidence as having obliged you.”
The young men answered, “O wise prince, when our father (on whose soul may heaven have mercy!) departed from this frail world, many wonderful curiosities and rare effects descended to us from his estate by inheritance, among which were the trifles you took away. As they could not be equally divided, they became a cause of contention between us, and we agreed to submit the allotment to arbitration; when accidentally you appeared, and by taking away the cause of dispute, obliged us by a reconcilement to each other. We rejoice that thou hast succeeded in thy object by the help of our effects, of which we freely make thee a present.”
Jehaundar, after thanking the generous brothers, and praising their nobleness of spirit and singular liberality, was instructed in the mystery of the soul’s transference to other bodies.
As it happened, Hoormuz, the vizier’s son, who still languished with love for Bherawir Banou, and followed the camp in disguise, was passing by while Jehaundar conversed with the brothers, and led by curiosity hid himself in a thicket to listen, so that he also heard and remembered the mysterious instruction given to the prince.
After two or three marches, having presented himself to Jehaundar, he congratulated him on his success, and made the most respectful professions of duty and attachment, which were graciously received; but the traitor had secretly plotted to overturn the foundations of his sovereign’s existence, and was nurturing the seeds of revenge for disappointed love in his heart. At length, they came to the borders of the extensive lake formerly mentioned, which having safely crossed, by the generous assistance of the same venerable sage heretofore described, Jehaundar encamped on the confines of his father’s dominions, and dispatched a messenger with tidings of his arrival, and a request that a proper force with the insignia of royalty might be sent to escort him in state to the capital, for whose coming he should halt where he was.
The following day, on which the game pursuer of fate had prepared a snare for him, the prince, at the instigation of the treacherous Hoormuz, rode to the chace, and like Bharam, drawing his bow, soon brought down with his rock-piercing arrow a beautiful antelope to the ground.
Hoormuz now cunningly addressed him, saying, “O Rustum-minded prince, I possess in my mind a rare science and mysterious art, equal to the miraculous powers of the Messiah, which no inhabitant under the concave dome of heaven, but myself, has ever yet acquired. It is the power of transferring the soul into another body with all facility, by repeating a mysterious name of the Deity; and, if desired, I will teach it to your highness, on condition that I shall be distinguished above all other courtiers.”
The prince, unmindful of the treachery of changeful fortune, and angry at the boasting vanity of Hoormuz, replied, “I need not thy instruction in a mystery, in which I am more versed than thyself.” Hoormuz replied, “It is astonishing, that high-born princes will descend to disgrace themselves by falsehood.” Upon this Jehaundar was enraged, and said, “I will instantly shew thee a proof of my veracity, but thy blood shall be the forfeit of thy insolent accusation.” Hoormuz exclaimed, “If thou canst transfer thy soul into this dead antelope, I call heaven to witness, that my blood will be but a just sacrifice to the law and my own rashness.”
The unfortunate prince, without considering the speech of an enemy, and impelled by fate, immediately deserted his own body, and animated that of the antelope;l when the traitor, seizing the opportunity, quitted his own impure carcase, and entering the chaste frame of Jehaundar, with agility mounted his horse, and speeded to the tents of the princess.
Bherawir Banou observing a strange change of manner in the seeming prince, suspected the cause, and pretending sudden illness, confined herself, that she might secure her person from his impure embraces. At length the father of Jehaundar dispatched a number of the nobles and officers of state to meet him; who conducted the disguised Hoormuz in royal pomp and splendour to the imperial presence.
The sultaun, overjoyed at the return of his supposed son, showered gold and precious stones over his head; and the impostor, having observed the customary forms of gratitude and obeisance, when dismissed, took possession of the palace of Jehaundar, where he passed his time in mirth and dalliance with the beautiful ladies of the haram; but the princess, whose vaunts of her own charms had been the original cause of the prince’s passion for Bherawir Banou, like her, was impressed by apprehensions of treachery, and following her example, pretended extreme sickness, and preserved herself immaculate. In short, after a little interval, the old emperor, according to the rule, that all things must perish, having said Welcome to the angel of death, departed to the resting place of another world.
Agreeably to the revolutions of the changeful skies, sometimes favouring the wicked, the throne of royalty and crown of power descended to the artful impostor; who, commanding the drums of sovereignty to be sounded, ascended the musnud of state, and struck the coins in his own name throughout the provinces of the empire.
THE explorers of the records of time have thus delivered the following tradition.
When Jehaundar, by the juggle of the revolving skies, entered the body of the antelope, through fear of the treacherous Hoormuz, not delaying an instant, he bounded away with the utmost swiftness, and like the measurers of the desart, hasted over the plains. In dread of beasts of prey, snares, and the dogs of huntsmen, he remained not long in any one spot, but wandered wildly over hills and vallies, till he reached a forest, where he beheld a sharok lying dead among the emerald-coloured grass. Thinking wings safer than the feet of a deer, he transferred his soul into the corpse of the bird, and winged his flight towards his own capital.
Alighting in a garden on the bough of a sunnobir, he was at once entangled in the net of a birdcatcher, and made captive in the grasp of fate. The man having put him into a cage, returned to the city, and made him a present to a dirvesh who was his spiritual director. The wise bird, seeing himself thus taken in the bonds of fate, agreeably to the maxim, that the captive must have patience, resigned himself to his destiny, and submitting to Providence for his relief, after some time spent in consideration, exclaimed in a gentle tone, “Praise be to God, that I have reached the summit of my desires!”
The dirvesh, on hearing these words, was astonished, and said, “Ah! happy bird, surely thou art not aware that thy situation calls not for rejoicing. What cause can there be for it, imprisoned as thou art in a cage of iron?” The sharok replied, “My Lord, what greater can there be than for the enjoyment of the society of so virtuous a personage as thyself?” The dirvesh was pleased with the sweetness of this speech, and turning the face of kindness towards him, said, “What wonderful bird art thou, whose eloquence, like the pista, is all kernel, and thy words sweet as honey?” The sharok replied, “I am a bird long experienced in the world, who has enjoyed the company of men of observation.” The dirvesh answered, “I beg thou wilt confer upon me a portion of what thou hast learnt in the gracious society of the observant.”
The sharok said, “Once, when in the service of an experienced personage, I enquired, Whose morning orizons are accepted; the reply was, His who daily gives bread to the distressed. I asked, Whence proceeded the auspicious shadow of the phœnix; and was answered, From the prayers of the contented in poverty. I enquired, From whence was the sun supplied with clear light; and it was told me, From the purity of the chaste. I asked, Wherefore is the phœnix so renowned? and he said, Because of his unseen retirement. I said, Why is the rose-bud so reserved; and heard, that it wished to conceal its treasures. I questioned why the rose was so grateful to all? and the reply was, On account of its pleasant air and smiling countenance. I enquired, why the cypress was so exalted? the answer was, Owing to its freedom from vice. I said, Ah! perfect teacher, what is most acceptable from the creature? He replied, Obedience to the Creator. I enquired, What was the best for man? He said, Avoidance of sin. I asked, Who was wise? and was answered, He that keepeth himself free from vice.”
The dirvesh, enraptured at the remarks of the sharok, which were indeed consoling to the mind, esteemed his society as a blessing conferred by heaven, and his company dear as his life.
One day, as the dirvesh was passing upon some business through the city, he beheld a great crowd who were collected to behold a young man whom the officers of justice were conducting to the divan. On enquiring the cause, he was told that the youth was sitting under the wall of the vizier’s palace and looking at his face in a mirror, when the minister’s daughter passing on the terrace, the reflection of her person appeared in the glass, and the young man, in the ardour of admiration, had kissed the mirror several times, for which crime he was going to be punished. The sharok, who happened to be with the dirvesh, cried out, “Let them put the young man in the sun, and inflict an hundred stripes upon his shadow.” At this judgment from the mouth of a bird, the crowd were filled with astonishment, and the report of the circumstance spread quickly over the whole city from the beggar to the prince. Bherawir Banou, on hearing of it, sent a servant to the dirvesh with a large sum of money, demanding the bird; and though on this account a mountain of sorrow oppressed his heart, yet knowing that to refuse the queen’s request was not in his power, he remediless gave up the sharok to the messenger. The prince, when he once more saw himself in the presence of his beloved princess, offered thanks to God, and remained watchful for opportunity to escape from his feathery disguise.
On a day, when the sun of his good fortune had reached the zenith of kindly influence, seeing the apartment of his princess cleared from intruders, he related to her the story of his escape from the treacherous Hoormuz after the transference of his soul into the antelope, and his adventures from that day. Bherawir Banou, during the recital, sometimes wept like the showery cloud, and sometimes expanded in smiles like the rose; but was impatient to make Hoormuz quit the body of Jehaundar, and depart for the infernal regions.
The prince, observing her affectionate anxiety, said, “O thou chief of the beautiful, restrain thy impatience, and be cautious; for at present I am only a weak bird, and my enemy is as a powerful hawk. At present the knot on the twine of hope can only be unravelled by the hand of cautious contrivance. Policy demands, when the treacherous Hoormuz next visits thee, that, contrary to custom, thou receive him with affability, and with a smiling countenance say, My heroic Jehaundar, I am grieved at my long illness, which has so folded up my heart, like the blighted rose-bud, that I have no pleasure in any thing; but perhaps if thou wouldst divert me as heretofore, with the wonderful transference of thy soul into another body, it may amuse me.”
The princess following this direction, one day, when the heavens were propitious, having flattered Hoormuz with many kind expressions, made the request; and, his star being sunk beneath the horizon of support, he supposing that Jehaundar had been used to entertain her with the display of the mysterious science, complied with her demand. Having sent for an antelope, he cut its throat, and when life was departed, reanimated it with his own impure soul. Jehaundar, instantly quitting the body of the sharok, re-entered his own; and, after prostrating himself at the throne of the Almighty, in thanksgiving for his restoration, commanded the antelope to be bound with ropes, and confined in a dark inclosure.
The day following, at sun-rise, Jehaundar ascended the throne, and giving general audience, acquainted the public of his astonishing adventures; when the officers of state and inhabitants of the capital, after recovering from their amazement, each according to their ability showered offerings of gold and silver on the head of their recovered sovereign. The wicked Hoormuz being then brought in, his impure soul was driven to the place of final punishment from the body of the antelope, by the worryings of savage dogs, in agonizing tortures: according to the just observation, that whoever diggeth a pit for his brother will fall into it himself; in retribution for his wicked actions, he sunk like Karoon into the fathomless gulph. “Every one shall reap that which he hath sown.”
DURING the period that Hoormuz, through the vicissitude of fortune and treachery of the skies, dwelt in the body of Jehaundar and sat on the throne of empire, as his disposition was mean and grovelling, various unworthy acts were committed by him, which disgusted the minds of the people; so that in a short time the hearts of the subject were estranged, and sedition, which had long slept, raising his head from the pillow of security and repose, returned to the work of mischief, and the signs of confusion became apparent in the empire.
Bharam Khan, generalissimo of the army, and who had the greatest influence among the nobles, unable to bear the improper conduct of the impostor, preferred the security of his own honour to the path of loyalty. By degrees moving the chain of opposition, he entered the way of rebellion; and many disaffected chiefs, fond of disturbance, regarding participation with him as a mean of raising their fortunes and consequence, flocked to his party. As his influence increased, so did his ambition; till at length having, by the success of his arms and favour of his stars, brought half the empire under the circle of his controul, he, with the approbation of his adherents, assumed the crown of royalty, and became exalted like the cypress in the grove of sovereign power. Observing the rules of clemency and impartiality, which are the best measures for administration, towards the weak and helpless, he attached the people to him; and exalting in their affections the standard of superiority, sounded the drum of victory over Hoormuz in the fields of conquest. The impostor, from his low genius and want of spirit, being unable to oppose the rebel, withdrew the hand of endeavour; and esteeming the provinces yet left to him as a competence, ornamented his sleeve with the embroidery of dishonour.
When at length Jehaundar, under the heavenly auspices, having erased the characters of the wicked Hoormuz’s existence from the tablet of life, became fixed on the throne of royalty, inspired by princely honour; and not thinking it becoming the spirit of heroism to leave his rightful inheritance to the usurped possession of another, he resolved, that clearing the garden of empire from the thorns and weeds of confusion, he would give to the courts of royalty the brightness of security; and having cast the bodies of the rebellious into the pit of annihilation, and become, without the degrading rivalry or participation of another, sole possessor of the crown and throne, would clasp the charming bride of sovereignty to his bosom.
With this view, having summoned a secret council, composed of the well-affected and most intelligent nobles, he requested their deliberations on the posture of affairs; when in the mirror-like bosoms of the wise, this reflection appeared to view, namely, that first a firmaun, containing assurances of favour, should be issued to Bharam Khan, admonishing him to return to his duty and allegiance, and warning him to quit the wilds of error for the paths of obedience. If, upon its arrival, under the influence of his wakeful stars, relinquishing the ways of obstinacy, he should prostrate the forehead of humility on the footstool of submission, our object, observed the council, will be gained; but if not, it will be necessary to hurl the lightning of punishment on the storehouse of his disloyal existence, and quench the flames of rebellion by the water of the sword.
Jehaundar approving the advice of his prudent counsellors, commanded a quick-minded secretary to pen the firmaun authoritative as fate, and when ready, dispatched it by a confidential servant of the heavens-resembling court to Bharam Khan.
“INASMUCH as the world-rejoicing favour of the king of kings, and the globe-adorning bounty of the asylum of the universe, is ever attendant to the condition distinguished by virtue ofm (the giver of splendour to the aspect of dignity and honour, adorner of the musnud of the assembly of nobility and high fortune, shrub of the garden of loyalty and attachment, ornament of the mansion of fidelity and unshaken adherence, enlivener of the assembly of truth and constancy, diffuser of fragrance in the apartments of virtue and purity, brightness of the sabre of heroism and valour, ocean of liberality and munificence, chief link in the chain of sincerity and openness, distinguished in the circle of kindness and affability, acquainted with the duties of friendship and regard, chief of the followers of what is right, encreaser of fragrance to the perceptions of unanimity and concord, distinguished in the world of agreement and alliance, sea of wisdom and knowledge, well-experienced in the mysteries of changeful fortune, heart-expanding breeze of the rose-bud of loyalty, delight-encreasing odour to the sensation of attachment, pursuer of the path of wisdom and arranger of the garden of understanding, first of the nobles, highest among exalted lords, our honoured uncle, example to the empire, and director of the candidates for honour in the present day) Bharam Khan, information is given of our surprizing and astonishing adventures.
“When, returning in victory and triumph from the empire of Menousowaud, after encountering a thousand dangers, we had pitched the royal tents on the confines of our own dominions; as time is ever pregnant with good and evil, and our stars are sometimes friendly and sometimes adverse, the deceitful Hoormuz, shaking the chains of treachery, by artifice and cunning seized our elemental frame, and our pure soul being for some time confined in the envelope of an antelope, became a cause of exultation to the deer of Khoten and Tartary, and of boasting to the fawns of Thibet and China. The abominable wretch, fancying himself able to bear the crown of Khoosroo and wear the robes of Keikobaud, was filled with empty ideas, and imagining his feeble star a planet sufficient to illume the universe, entertained the boastful vanity of ruling the world. Like a dot in the center of a compass-drawn circle, he sat in the boundary of royalty.
“At this period, when the planet of our princely family was in descendance, the gracious monarch, whose throne of repose is now in heaven, having cast off the vesture of this frail world, departed for the eternal mansions, and the impostor inflicted horrible disgrace on the person of royalty; but as the almighty Dispenser requites every one according to his actions, his short-lived splendour, resembling the feeble blaze of lighted straw, was speedily extinguished.
“Being devoured by blood-preying dogs, in reward for his crimes, he in numberless tortures was dispatched to hell; and the gale of prosperity waving afresh over the garden of our hopes, expanded the blossoms of the hearts of the loyal to this everlasting empire. It is most probable, that intelligence of these astonishing events, before the arrival of our gracious firmaun, may have reached the hearing of the chief in the path of fidelity.n
“To God be praise and thanksgivings, that the affairs of the world are settled agreeably to the wishes of the well-affected to our gracious house, and that the kindly shade of our sacred person is extended over the heads of mortals. Doubtless, our dear uncle, from the depth of his wisdom and experience, considering the fate of the traitor (according to the adage, Fly like the arrow from the disloyal, and take up thy abode with the well-affected) will hasten to that party. How can it be supposed, that with their virtues, good sense, and recollection of the favours conferred upon them by his majesty, whose reposing place is now in heaven, they can without any reason withdraw their feet from the circle of loyalty? Surely it is impossible that the vest of that measurer of the path of fidelity and attachment should be stained with the filth of so dishonourable an action, which is contrary to the dictates of religion.
“Now that, by the favour of the Almighty, the spring of the blossoms of loyal hearts has appeared, we doubt not but that having offered up sincere thanksgivings, that chief of our nobles will without delay hasten to our court, the asylum of a world, and gladden his eyes with the splendour of our august presence.
“Several imprudent meddlers have represented the conduct of that adorner of the assembly of fidelity as disloyal, and advised us to move against him with our victorious forces; but as our pure mind is a mirror reflecting truth, we declined the advice, and made the slanderers ashamed of their insinuations. We trust, that the distinguished by our confidence also, not attending to the remarks of the officious, but contemplating his true interest with a penetrative eye, will with glad heart and assured mind hasten to enjoy honour by kissing the carpet of our sublime throne.
“By God’s blessing, after obtaining the gracious audience, he will, eminently distinguished by the imperial favour, become the envy of his equals and contemporaries. The administration of all our affairs being entrusted to his wisdom and direction, bounties greater than can be conceived by the public, or that virtuous personage himself, will be conferred upon him. May his duty and loyalty continue to encrease! and may the divine auspices direct him in the right path!”o
When the above gracious firmaun reached the rebel, (as he was intoxicated with the wine of pride and vanity, and the sweets of independence had become relishing to his corrupted palate) forgetting his own station, and the bounties of Jehaundar, he returned the following insolent reply, and prepared for himself the means of destruction and ruin.
“The nosegay of the garden of friendship, and garland of the flowers of unanimity, namely, the amber-scented epistle written by the pearl-shedding pen of a secretary, fanciful as Mercury, of the asylum of empire, fruit of the tree of royalty, shrub of the garden of splendour and magnificence, gracer of the musnud of honour and distinction, moon of the sky of victory and conquest, descendant of mighty kings, chief of an illustrious family, Jehaundar Sultaun, at a most auspicious instant made its honouring arrival, and information of the contents was obtained.
“Praise be to the Omniscient, who orders every thing agreeably to his divine will, and exalts whomsoever of his creatures he judges worthy of power, according to his capacity. Agreeably to the scriptural declaration (He bestoweth empire on whom he thinks properp) he invests with the robes of royalty him whom he judges deserving of peculiar bounty.
“To one he intrusts the keys of sovereign power, and another he degrades from a throne; for “whom he will he exalts, and whom he will he humbleth.”p Since, then, he hath conferred upon this submissive dependant on his sacred court, the station of royalty as befitting our abilities, it cannot be propitious for any one to envy us this heaven-bestowed blessing, or entertain inimical designs against us. Therefore, it was highly unbecoming to write what could only tend to stir up the flames of contention between us, and consequently involve our subjects in calamity.
“If it proceeded from retrospect to the reign of your gracious father, (whose tomb may God enlighten!) it was rash and imprudent; for this mansion of vicissitude never remaineth long in the same state or possession. It would be more prudent to court our friendship and alliance. May their reign endure according to the wishes of friends!”
Jehaundar, on the arrival of this insulting reply, was inflamed with rage; and without delay marching from his capital, hastened to attack the rebel; who was defeated and slain, in a long contested battle:q when his remaining adherents submitting, the empire was restored to its ancient limits.
The sultaun having extended the hand of mercy to the deluded multitude, and re-established his authority, returned triumphant to his charming Mherbanou, but with a divided affection. Among the female captives was the daughter of Bharam Khan, so beautiful, that the prince, fascinated by her charms, became her willing slave.
BHERAWIR Banou, who for a long time, enjoying the society of the sultaun without a rival or partaker of his affection, had exalted in her own mind the standard of love, on this ease-destroying occurrence, rankled within herself like the tail-wounded snake; and the enjoyment of existence was changed into the bitterness of expiring agony. However, as she always resigned her foot to the path of respect, she never even breathed her grief to Jehaundar, but concealed her heart-consuming sorrow.
One morning, in hopes of amusing her afflicted mind, she repaired to a garden; when the flowers refreshed by gentle rain were blooming, and the rose from the dark enamel of the bending cypress, having received a double glow, coquetted in the embrace of the nightingale. At sight of this, jealousy flashed from the eyes of the queen, and she rent her tresses in anguish. Casting looks, dark as her own locks, angrily on the garden, the rose from terror shrunk into the bud, and ceased to smile; while to the bulbul the grove appeared confined as the heart of the blossom. The turtle-dove, at sight of the fading cypress, was astonished like the bird of Jesus;r and the wing of the azzar shrunk like that of the moth at the fire of her looks. At her disordered gait, the zephyr concealed himself in the nusserun, and the tongue of the sosun became parched. The breeze of the garden, from her sighs, became blighting as the autumnal gale, and the brink of the canals was parched.
When her heart, from walking in the garden, had become still more the abode of grief, and the rose-bud of her soul found no hope of expansion, she advanced from thence into the plain, if perchance the open air might refresh her troubled mind. At length she reached the margin of a stream, whose waters were lucid as the minds of the benevolent, and, like wine, sparkled with delight, and excited chearfulness. On its banks the fragrant verdure had spread a carpet of velvet, on which were embroidered many-coloured flowers.
It struck her, that she would fix her abode in this heart-delighting spot, where, solitary and alone, she could enjoy her contemplations, and sometimes weep and sometimes smile at the diversities of fortune. She therefore commanded tents to be pitched round them, for a considerable distance, the royal shaudrowauns to be raised, and guards to be stationed to keep off intruders. This being done, she retired with a few of her favourite handmaids, and casting away all jewels from her person, refrained from wearing coloured vesture; and assumed, like the dawn, a robe of white, like mortifying devotees and the resigned to abstinence; eager for perfection, she employed herself in the tusbeht and taleel.u In a short time, from grief and moaning, she became thin as the thread of her rosary, and worn as the mat of the penitent; but, true in her love to Jehaundar, she watered her cheeks with agonizing tears, and consumed herself with the wasting fire of grief.
At length Jehaundar, impressed by accounts of her situation, was recovered from his temporary infatuation, and sent her the following repentant epistle.
“By those jasmine-scented locks, (each curl of which is a chain on my fascinated heart) I swear, that since my blood-shot eyes have been deprived of beholding the garden of thy spring-enchanting countenance, my whole body, like the tulip, is drowned in blood, and from the profusion of my tears I am become the rival of the waters of Ummaun and the streams of Jihon. The zephyr can testify, and the stars have seen, how the rose-bud hath smiled every morning on the sorrows of my heart, and every night what tears the air hath shed over my forlorn condition.
“If the explorers of the traditions of the world, drawing forth from the records of time the history of Perveez, and the adventures of Mujjenou, should compare their situation with mine, they would see that their troubles were but as a slight specimen of mine. Without exaggeration, the sorrow, which during these few days of absence has afflicted me sad wanderer in the troublous path of love and bewildered in the perilous desart of search, was not even in a slight degree experienced by Khoosroo in his passion for Shereen, from the beginning to the end; nor by Mujjenou, during his whole life of abode in the wilderness from love of the beautiful Leila.
“I never could have supposed that my fascinating nergus, assuming an averted look, would thus take delight in punishing me guiltless. If the source of all this coyness and unkindness is an event which occurred by the divine decree, it cannot be justified; for such circumstances should have no weight in the scale of mutual confidence, since they are not a deviation from the rules of love, nor can make any breach in the foundations of regard. The heart which is the world-reflecting mirror of thy love, cannot possibly retain the image of any meaner charmer; nor is my attachment so slightly secured under the seal of thy powerful sway, that another should be able to overcome it.
“On every account, knowing that lovers have no resource but submission, I esteem my innocence as guilt, and have seated myself with a thousand regrets on the highway of apology. I have washed the characters of self-boasting from the tablet of my heart with my tears.
“Now, our mutual welfare demands, that on the receipt of this letter, (every character of which, like the wing of the moth, and every sentence of which, like a grain of suppund, is scorched with the fire of my bosom) not contesting for explanation, thou shouldst refrain from anger; and, casting off the manners of resentment and wrath, delight me with the view of thy cedar-ensnaring countenance.
“Come then, and behold how, from desire of seeing thee, I have become withered as the fading grass, and, from longing to meet thee, thin as the fibres of the reed. By thy head I swear, that should the web of the spider weave round my body, I should be impotent as the fly; and should an ant fasten on my foot, such is my weakness, I could not cast it off. Except by speech, you would not recognize me from the breeze; nor, but by its motion, distinguish my person from the dust.
“What more can he write with his sorrowful pen, which, from the gloom of his heart, is become black as thy dark tresses?”
The princess sent to Jehaundar the following reply.
“The sublime firmaun, written with the jewel-threading pen of the sovereign of the universe, from every letter of which the odour of compassion refreshed the senses of his dependants; having, like the phœnix, descended from the firmament of honour, cast the welcome shade of condescension and kindness over the head of this retired in the solitude of exile. Such a wretched being as myself was in no way worthy of such unexpected favour; but as it is the bountiful nature of spring to nourish alike the garden and the wilderness with the showers of his liberality, and to favour equally the rose and thorn, it is not to be wondered at, that your majesty, exalted as the Pleiades, should, like the sun, beam the rays of generosity on an insignificant atom, whose existence or annihilation can be of no importance in the scale of being. What wonder is it that a king should relieve the beggar? In return for such condescending favour, what can I offer but my prayers?
“The contents, expressing complaints of absence and regret at separation, which were written purely from gracious compassion to me forlorn wanderer in the desart of wretchedness, were reviving as the re-animating breath of Jesus, and caused exultation to your humblest slave.
“Monarch, asylum of the world, my retirement to the cell of solitude was not from insolence or sullenness; but seeing your majesty enamoured of another, I was unwilling to damp your pleasure by my melancholy presence, or interrupt your joys, which would have been contrary to my duty and submission.”
When Jehaundar received the above, he hastened to console the afflicted princess. Like the breeze of dawn arriving at the rose-bush of the garden of beauty, he unfolded the shrunken bud of her heart, and delighted his eyes with viewing her charms, yet brilliant, though clouded with sorrow. On beholding her distressed condition, the strongest impression was made on the mind of the sultaun, who shed pearly tears from the caskets of his eyes. At the time when he extended the shade of prosperity over the cypress of the margin of beauty, he beheld her, like the morning, arrayed in white, and divested of every ornament, fervently employed in her devotions.
On seeing the sultaun, as she possessed true wisdom and understanding, Bherawir Banou was overcome by a sense of his condescension, and prostrated herself at his feet. Like the turtle-dove, uttering strains of gratitude and love, she submitted herself to the bonds of conciliation, and followed the monarch, like his shadow, in the path of agreement; which they never deviated from during the remainder of their lives.
THIS captivating abode is full of illusion, and a temporary mansion, deceiving the weak, subject to the vicissitudes of double-faced chance, and the perpetual revolutions of changeful skies. For the gracers of the assembly of borrowed existence, and the haughty adorners of the carpets of wind-passing life, the fabric of whose duration depends, like the water bubble, upon air, (though they be Cæsars or Keikobauds in glory) to depart in disappointment, and breaking the frail connections of sense and the bands of mortality, alike with the lowly to hasten with the burden of their actions on their shoulders to the regions of eternity—is one of the immutable laws and established regulations in the court of divine will. For us wanderers in the vapoury desart of earthly being to speed empty-handed and naked to the wilderness of death, and, quitting suddenly the avocations of vanity and frailty, to sink into the recess of dissolution, is the natural conclusion of this world of mortality. Fate had now decreed, that the carpet of the Jumlike Jehaundar’s existence, being rolled up, should occasion disorder in the affairs of the world, and that so lofty a cypress of the grove of royalty, being uprooted by the wintry storm of death, should convert the garden of empire into a thorny wild.
The virtuous Jehaundar, having with wakeful eye and thoughtful mind, observed the warning of the angel of death, proclaiming that “All things must perish, and every creature return from whence it came,” reconciled his bosom to the inevitable journey; and, after the custom of the prudent, engaged in preparation for his departure. Having called to him his intended successor in the throne, and revolved in his breast a series of advice, he said,
“Beware, my son, and take advice, ere thou art old. Fortune is of fickle disposition, and the skies full of vicissitudes; while life passes rapidly as a current, and fleeting as the breeze. If from the heedlessness of youth, want of experience, or the intoxication of high spirits, admonition may not already have made impression on the tablet of thy mind or the surface of thy bosom; yet now reflect seriously on my condition; like virtuous youths, accept advice, and give not up the advantage of the lessons of the experienced; especially as thou wishest to take upon thee the important trust of ruling a great empire, a most weighty burden for the shoulders of humanity.
“Be vigilant, that the assaults of the wolf of oppression disturb not the repose of thy flock; for connivance at oppression is disgraceful to the fame of the shepherd. Be ready to encourage the deserving, and let the bride of empire be always adorned with the ornaments of impartiality and justice. Cherish thy soldiery, for the cultivation of the plains of empire can only be nurtured by the water of the sword.
When Jehaundar had thus impressed the clear tablet of the mind of his worthy son with admonition, he placed the empire under the controul of his signet, and resigned to the grasp of his authority the reins of administration; after which, in the order of their rank, he summoned to him singly the several officers of state; and having conferred upon them the precious jems of advice, requested their approval of the measures of his reign.
Finally, having greeted Bherawir Banou with his last farewell, he listened to the command of “Return to thy Lord;” and sounding the drums of march from this frail world, speeded to the expansive regions of paradise.
Bherawir Banou, at this soul-afflicting event, was involved in the net of despondency and sorrow. From the vases of her eyes she shed tears like rose-water on the pallidcheek of the sojourner of paradise; and from her mournful bosom heaved heaven-piercing and planet-wasting sighs, that might have penetrated the heart of the rock, as the thorn tears the vesture of the rose.
As, however, the affection of Bherawir Banou was immeasurable, resolved to maintain the honour of love, and fulfil the duties of attachment, she made preparations to accompany her beloved. Like the devoters of life in the path of true regard, she adorned herself with her bridal robes, and perfuming her body and cloaths with precious essences and various unguents, having approached the pillow of Jehaundar, without trembling or hesitating, like the moth at the flame, made an offering of existence at the feet of his corpse. Thus did she stamp a perpetual memorial of herself on the records of time, and write her name on the pages of years and months in characters of love and constancy.
On the occurrence of these disastrous events exciting regret, exclamations of woe burst from the hearts of mortals, and the dust of sorrow sat upon the vesture of the universe. The heavens, from this calamity, so wept, in sanguine showers, that their concave, like the cup of the tulip, overflowed the dawn with blood. The globe so beat the hand of grief on her surface, that it became blue, like the expanse of the firmament; and beholders dreaded, lest the band of connection should be destroyed between earth and sky, and the enamel vase of the firmament be dashed against the clayey pot of the ground.
The chief nobles and heads of families, according to approved customs and established usage, having diligently prepared the requisites for laying out and the necessaries for the journey of the swift traveller to the regions of eternity, as befitted his imperial station, covered the corpse with various compounds and essences of musk, camphire, aloes, amber, roses, and sandal.
In the same manner, ladies of pure bosoms and chaste matrons prepared the necessaries for the inevitable journey of that beautiful cypress of the grove of love and constancy, and blooming shrub of the garden of paradise, as became her condition.
They then conveyed to the retired apartments of futurity, at the same time and side by side, the funeral litters of the late gracers of the throne of love and beauty, in mournful pomp; at sight of which, afflictive as the last day, blood dropped from the heart of rock. The heavens sympathized with the groans and scalding tears of the blue-vested and bareheaded mourners, and the orb of the sun became damped by the mist of their sighs. According to the decree of wonder-working love, they deposited the two most deserving of the world of affection in the same apartment of final repose; and agreeably to the established usage of this abode of decay, seemingly flourishing, having committed as a treasure to the earth the bodies of those whose names will live for ever, placed over them the talisman of example.
Expand for an instant thine heart, O thou wise and contemplative, and observe with the eye of just penetration, that thou mayest remark, how the sprinklings of the cup of affliction are shed alike on all mankind, and how the sieve of fate scatters the dust of dissolution on the heads of all the sitters in the assembly of mortality.
The world, its afflictions and enjoyments, like the frown of the lovely and the girdle of the waist of the fair, are full of intricacies. The promises of fortune, and the vicissitudes of life, like the tresses of the beautiful, are involved in mazy perplexity. Of the cruel inconstancy of the skies, the blighted bud and the unseasonable scattering of the rose-leaves, are an ample proof; and of the instability of this world and the uncertain duration of life, the swell of the bubble and the flow of the stream are clear emblems. The cypress, notwithstanding its straight stature, yet, from the deviation of the skies, hath its foot enchained; and the breeze, with all its delicacy of texture and activity of motion, by the cruelty of seasons, becomes captive to the waters.
THANKS be to God, that this figurative history of Love, which will excite the envy of the picture-galleries of China, and put to the blush the sketches of spring, through the assistant auspices of the creator of the world, has attained a felicitous completion!
The adorner of the imperfect imagination of one like myself, who am but a beggar in the path of eloquence, and a learner in the assembly of just composition, possessed not abilities to deck out this blooming bride of the chamber of rhetoric, cherished on the soft couch of Hindoostan abounding in beauty, with the graces of the Parsee and robes of the Dirree, and to introduce her for approbation into the apartments of elegance.
The powers of a rude pen, in a hand like mine, unskilled in the rules of proportion, were quite unequal to pourtray and give proper colouring to the beauties, whose exquisite grace drew the line of incorrectness over the compositions of Mani. However, at the importunate request of some friends, and by the encouragement of the magic-fancied idol of Hindoostan, of whom mention was made in the introduction to my work, I had the boldness to attempt such a difficult and important undertaking.
Now, that having arrayed this most graceful charmer of rhetoric in such various ornaments and elegant attire, and, to prevent the dangerous glances of her eyes, having cast a sable veil of ink over her sun-ravishing aspect, I am preparing to usher her to public view; the truth is, that I am unable to lift my head from the knee of shame, for I am altogether ashamed of my performance. Her attirer (the pithless pen of myself, a beggar in the world of learning and skill) at the time of adorning such a beautiful figure, for want of the treasures of just expression, in the place of chains of gems and strings of pearls, was obliged to use false stones and tinsel foils. Should she, therefore, be introduced to the sight of penetrating judges, who have fed amply at the board of learning, and drank deeply at the spring of rhetoric; who are rich in the powers of expression, and have dived to the bottom of the sea of knowledge, what will be my fate, and the consequence of my labours?
However, from the liberal of virtuous dispositions, and the indulgent of candid minds, in opposition to the conduct of certain blockheads, with eyes hollow as their reeds, and aspects black as their pages, of gloomy souls, and savage hearts, (who, from their evil natures, like wolves and tigers, esteem it glorious to tear the sable and the defenceless fawn) nothing can occur but kindness, indulgence, tenderness to mistakes, and regard to intention. The lion of the heavens has no claws, and the fingers of the sun have no talons. Taking shelter, therefore, under the protecting shade of the liberal-minded, I will not again move my lip, like the bell, in vain tinklings, but impose silence on my tongue. As silence gives dignity and respect to the wise, and is even a mean of consequence and valuation to the ignorant, I yield my heart to the following maxims, and proceed to practice.
IN the Preface it has been already mentioned, that some few Tales were left untranslated. The outlines of them, six in number, will be found in the following pages, and, in the notes, my reasons for not giving them at length.
Whether the BAHAR-DANUSH will be deemed worth the application I have bestowed upon it, I feel anxiously doubtful of; as the partiality for my own labour does not prevent me seeing that my author’s descriptions are often too free, and that the incidents in some tales are triflingly uninteresting. The unfavourable light in which he has placed the conduct of so many of the eastern ladies deserves reproof, as one or two instances of female depravity would have been sufficient to contrast with the perfections of his virtuous characters.
It seems to have been his object, to make the imperfections of many a foil to the brilliant virtues of the heroine of his novel, who loved so truly, that she could not survive the loss of her husband; and in the constancy of his hero, he doubtless meant to exemplify a generous mind, proof against general accusation, or abuse. So much in apology for the author. If we wish for a true picture of Asiatic manners, we must take the bad with the good, or be deceived.
BHARAM, prince of Bogellana, is in love with Zohera, daughter of his father’s vizier. The minister, fearful of her seduction, complains to the sultaun, who banishes his son. The prince persuades his mistress to elope with him, and the lovers depart; but being followed, Bharam engages the pursuers, and after killing some, obliges the remainder to fly. On his returning into a forest, where he had left Zohera asleep on the appearance of the pursuers, she is not to be found. He goes in search of her without success; for, on awaking and missing Bharam, she had gone another way to look for him.
After travelling all night, she reaches a city; where being disguised as a man, the sultaun’s daughter falls in love with her, and offers herself in marriage. Zohera, after informing her that she had taken an oath to have no commerce with the sex till the accomplishment of a certain object, which she dare not reveal, agrees to marry her, on condition that, till the expiration of the vow, they shall sleep in different apartments. To this the princess consents, and they are married.
Not long after the nuptials, the sultaun dies; and Zohera, in right of the wife, succeeds to the throne. At length Bharam, in search of his lost mistress, arrives at the capital, when Zohera discovers herself to him, and makes known her adventures and sex to the princess; who consents to share with her in the love of Bharam, and he becomes sultaun of the country, living happily with his two wives.a
A young merchant, named Houssun, impressed by religious ardour, bestows all his property on the poor, and embraces the life of a wandering penitent. As he is journeying one day, he finds in the midst of a forest an holy man, who, with his beautiful daughter, had retired from the world, to spend their days in secluded devotion. Houssun falls in love with the young lady, and she with him. The father consents to their marriage; after which Houssun returns with her towards his own country.
The young couple arrive at a city, and being distressed for money, offer for sale a vestband of most exquisite embroidery, worked by the wife. A wicked vizier, desirous of enjoying the lady, and having the embroidery, confines Houssun and Gohera in separate places, under pretext that they were thieves. In the night a young man, a domestic of the vizier, who had been captivated by the charms of Gohera, throws a rope-ladder up to the window of her prison, and she descends into his arms, supposing it was her husband who was her deliverer.
The young man, hoping to escape with her into another territory, travels with her all night in silence. In the morning she discovers that she has been deceived, and is so overpowered with grief and fatigue that she faints away. While in this state, a soldier mounted upon a camel appears, and being charmed by her beauty, forces her from the young man, and mounts her before him.
The soldier is proceeding with great speed when he is stopped by a prince, who with his attendants are hunting. The prince enquires whence he comes, and wherefore he travels so rapidly with such a beautiful woman, who, by her tears, seems not to be willingly his companion? The vizier with his suite, who on the discovery of Gohera’s escape had set off in pursuit of her, and also the young man who released her, now come up, and each claim her as their property. The prince, astonished, questions the wife; and upon her relating her story, seizes the vizier, and obliges him to send for the injured husband; to whom he returns Gohera, with a gift of money to enable them to continue their journey.
Houssun and Gohera once more united, retire to a lodging for the night. The former goes to buy some oil at a grocer’s, and unfortunately throws down a lamp, when the tradesman, who had been lately robbed, supposing Houssun was a thief, and had extinguished the light that he might steal something, calls out Robbery! when the watch rush in, and convey the unfortunate husband to prison.
Gohera, after an uneasy night, wanders in the city to search for Houssun, and at length sees him among other criminals conducting to the cutwal for examination. She follows, and requests the magistrate to release him; but he refuses, unless she will consent to his embraces. She then goes to the cauzi, and requests his interference; but the judge offers her relief only on the same condition as the cutwal. She seemingly consents, and appoints a time for his visit at her lodging; then goes to the cutwal, and makes also an assignation with that officer.
At night the cauzi comes, bringing with him provisions for a treat; and, after feasting, becomes pressing for enjoyment, but is interrupted by a loud knocking at the door. Fearful of being discovered, he entreats Gohera to conceal him, and she shews him a large jar, into which he creeps, and the lid is fastened upon him.
The cutwal now enters; when after some time the door sounds again, and this magistrate is put into a chest, which is locked by Gohera. Next morning she hires porters, and has the grave magistrates carried before the sultaun, who orders them to be severely punished, and releases Houssun. After this the husband and wife reach their own country without any further misfortune.b
A brickmaker’s son, tired of his humble profession, resolves to travel, in hopes of improving his fortunes. He arrives at a city, in which, after spending what little he had, he becomes much distressed. At length, he is addressed one day in a mosque by a rich merchant, who offers, if he will comply with a request he has to make, to reward him handsomely.
The young man desires his commands; when the merchant informs him, that his daughter and son in law, though passionately fond of each other, having had a dispute, the husband in his anger had pronounced the vow of final divorce, of which he now repented; but, according to the laws of the Mahummedan religion, could not take his wife again, till she should be wedded and divorced by another man, called on such occasions Hulla, or solver of difficulty; which office, if he would take upon him, he should be dismissed, on his divorcing the lady on the morning succeeding marriage, with a handsome present.
The young brickmaker gladly consented, and the wedding was celebrated with magnificence becoming the lady’s quality. In the morning the hulla was desired to perform his promise, but he was so fond of his wife and she of him, that they agreed not to part. The merchant and his late son in law, enraged at his refusal to make the divorce, threaten to chastize him, but he disregards them. They then offer bribes, but in vain. The hulla, by advice of the lady, pretends that he is the son of a rich merchant, and had left his father on some disgust, but that now he was married, he had sent to beg pardon for his conduct, and made no doubt, but that he should soon have a fortune remitted him far superior to that of his predecessor in the wife’s affections. Upon this assurance the merchant is satisfied, sends away the former husband, and the young couple are left unmolested.
A month passes very happily, but the time drawing near which had been fixed by the brickmaker for the return of the pretended messenger, he and the lady are involved in apprehension, lest the discovery of the imposition should make the father cast them off without a provision. In this melancholy state they are overheard singing some verses expressive of their situation by the sultaun, who was walking the city in disguise to learn the state of the police. He is charmed with the harmony, and knocking at the door, begs admittance for a benighted traveller. He is received, and in the course of conversation informed of their distress.
The next morning a messenger arrives, with a letter and rich presents as from the father of the young man, and an invitation from the sultaun to court, as the son of his friend. The merchant comes with exultation to congratulate his new son in law on this great honour. The brickmaker was astonished and alarmed, but, persuaded by his wife, ventures to court, and in the sultaun sees his last night’s guest; who taking him aside, informs him of his disguise, and then conferring upon him the rank of nobility, receives him among his favoured courtiers, to the great joy of his father in law the merchant, and the lasting satisfaction of the fortunate brickmaker and his wife.c
Three young men travelling on foot together, become weary, and agree that whoever will not relate his adventures shall carry the other two to the city, from which they were not far distant.
Being shipwrecked, he fell into the hands of peries, with one of whom he married, and remained eight years; when being anxious to revisit his own country, he was carried homewards on the back of a deo; who on the way was changed into a serpent. Alarmed at this, the young man made his escape; and on passing through a forest, was ensnared by a demon in the shape of an old man, and confined in a cave, where he found many companions in adversity, from whom he learnt that they daily expected to be devoured, as the demon fed on human flesh and sheep, of which he had a large flock, under charge of a monster who took them out every morning to graze, and returned with them at night to the cave.
The demon happening to sta y ou one night, the young man seeing the monster asleep, blinded him with the red hot point of a spit; and covering himself with a sheepskin, made his way out of the cave among the sheep, when they were let out to pasture, tho’ the blinded monster felt every one of them as they passed, hoping thus to prevent the escape of the devoted captives.
After travelling several days in a forest, he was near expiring with hunger, when he found a nest containing seven eggs, of the size of a gourd, and each of a different colour. Having ate one, he continued his journey for seven days; and on the last having fed on the seventh egg, suddenly beautiful feathers of many colours, and at length wings, covered his body, and he was able to fly. One day, after soaring through the air, he alighted on a tree round which was a great concourse of people, to whom he addressed himself as they were going to shoot him. On hearing his adventures, they had compassion, and took him under their protection. With them he remained seven years; at the expiration of which his wings and feathers fell off, and he returned safely to his own country.d
Being upon business in a certain city, he goes upon a hunting party, and fatigued with the chace, stops at a country house to beg refreshment. The lady of the mansion receives him kindly, and admits him as a lover. In the midst of their dalliance the husband comes home, and the young man has no resource to escape discovery, but jumping into a basin which was in the court of the house, and standing with his head covered with a hollow gourd, which luckily happened to be in the water. The husband surprized at the gourd’s remaining fixed in the water, which was agitated by the wind, throws a stone at it; when the lover dips from under it, and holds his breath till almost suffocated. Luckily the husband retires with his wife into an inner apartment, when the young man escapes.
The next day he relates his adventure before a large company at a coffeehouse. The husband happens to be one of the audience, and, meditating revenge, pretends to admire the gallantry of the young man, whom he invites to his house. The lover accompanies him, and on seeing his residence is overwhelmed with confusion; but recovering himself, resolves to abide all hazards, in hopes of escaping by some lucky stratagem. His host introduces him to his wife, and begs he will relate his merry adventure before her, having resolved, when he should finish, to put them both to death. The young man complies, but with an artful presence of mind exclaims at the conclusion, “Glad was I when I awoke from so alarming a dream.” The husband upon this, after some questions, is satisfied that he had only told him his dream; and after having entertained him nobly dismisses him kindly.e
The third young man having nothing to relate, carries his companions upon his back one after another to a caravanserai in the city. The king’s daughter from a window seeing the travellers, calls them to her, and enquires the cause of their odd proceedings. On being informed, she, at their request, relates her adventures; saying, that she had fallen in love with a young man, whom she had brought into her palace disguised as a female. While she was enjoying his company, the king came to pay her a visit; and she had only time to put her gallant into a very narrow dark closet to prevent discovery. The king staid long, and upon his departure, the princess found her lover dead from suffocation. In order to have the body conveyed away, she applies to an ugly negro, her domestic; who refuses, and threatens to disclose her abandoned conduct to the king, unless she will receive his addresses, and she is forced to submit. Wearied with his brutal conduct, she with the assistance of her nurse one night hurls him headlong from the battlements of the palace, and he is dashed in pieces with the fall. Some time after this, her father gives her in marriage to a prince; when she, dreading lest her husband should discover her loss of virtue, contrives to place a virgin in her place on the nuptial night, and sets fire to the palace. The young lady is consumed, and the wicked princess escapes undetected, to the great joy of her husband, who had supposed she was burnt to death.
Kaumgar, the son of a powerful sultaun, excites the jealousy of his father’s vizier, who procures his banishment, by accusing him of rebellious designs. The prince, accompanied by his friend, the vizier’s son, a young merchant, and a jeweller, departs for a foreign country.
On the road, the latter is prompted by avarice to steal four invaluable rubies, which the vizier’s son had brought with him as a resource against distress. On finding that he was robbed, he complains to a court of justice; but the judges are unable to fix on the thief. The vizier’s son is then recommended to have recourse to a learned lady, who was celebrated for unravelling the most knotty cases.
She first calls the prince to her, and tells him a story of a person, who on discovering his friend to be in love with his wife, unknowing that she was so, prevails on her to go to his house, and gratify his passion. On the way she is stopped by thieves, who seize her jewels; but upon her informing them of her uncommon errand, and promising, if they will but delay their plunder till she has visited the lover, to return, they let her go unrobbed.
On her arrival at the house, she discovers to her husband’s friend who she is, and the lover, resolved not to be outdone in generosity, conquers his passion. She returns unviolated to the thieves, who are so impressed by her performance of her promise, that instead of robbing, they make her a present, and conduct her home in safety. The prince at the conclusion bursts into applause of the uncommon friendship of the husband, the virtue of the wife, the forbearance of the lover, and the generosity of the thieves.
The lady then relates the same story separately to the vizier’s son, the merchant, and the jeweller. The latter exclaims involuntarily, that the thieves were very foolish in letting such a rich prey escape from their hands. Upon this, the lady accuses him of the robbery, but promises not to expose him if he will give up the rubies, which he does, and she returns them to the vizier’s son without disclosing who had them. The rubies are then offered for sale in the city, when their costliness exciting suspicions against the honesty of the prince and his friends, who were disguised as pilgrims, they are taken up, and carried before the sultaun of the country. The vizier’s son now discloses the rank of his master; upon which the king marries him to his daughter, and appoints him successor in his kingdom.
A raja of Hindoostan has a beautiful daughter, named Lalla Rookh, anglicé tulip cheek, with whom a neighbouring prince falls in love, and the father consents to the match. They are betrothed to each other, but the nuptials are put off for some years.
In this interval, the emperor of Hindoostan quarrels with his favourite sultana, who, presuming upon her beauty, had treated him with disrespect, and he threatens to degrade her from the command of the haram. She acknowledges her error, but requests him to forbear the execution of his threats, till such time as he shall find a lady handsomer than herself to supply her place. He consents, and sends his prime vizier to travel in search of a superior beauty, telling him, that unless he finds the desired object, he shall no longer enjoy his high office.
The vizier departs, and, after long travel and vain enquiries, is returning home, resolved to sacrifice his place rather than endure more fatigue; when passing by the capital of Lalla Rookh’s father, he sees her, and finds her more charming than the coquettish queen.
He returns, and informs the emperor; who sends an embassy to the raja, demanding his daughter in marriage. The raja refuses, on pretence that his religion will not allow him to form a family alliance with one of a different belief. The emperor enraged, collects his forces, and marches against the raja; who, unable to oppose in the field, retires to his fortress, which is besieged. When the place was nearly reduced, the emperor sends his vizier with an offer of peace, which is refused; but one of his attendants takes the portrait of Lalla Rookh from the reflection of her face in a fountain, as she looked out of a window.
The emperor, on receiving the picture, is more in love than ever; and once more, being unwilling to endanger the loss of his charmer by an assault, sends his vizier to offer terms, and accompanies him in the disguise of an attendant, hoping to see Lalla Rookh. While the vizier is in audience with the raja, he retires, and sits on the margin of the fountain where the painter had taken the portrait. No reflection of his mistress appears, but some beautiful fish are swimming in it. The emperor is absorbed in contemplation, and from absence of mind throws the pearls of his rosary one by one into the water.
While he is thus employed, a female domestic perceives him, and, from his making so light of such precious pearls, is convinced that he must be the emperor disguised as an attendant on the vizier. She challenges him as such, and he is unable to deny his quality; but upon his promising to raise the siege, she lets him go undiscovered. The siege is raised, and the emperor returns home.
Some time after this, the raja, boasting that he had repulsed the forces of the sovereign of Hindoostan, is informed by the female domestic that she had been the cause of his deliverance; upon which, enraged, he commits her to prison for her supposed falsehood, but after some days releases her. She, vexed at such an ungrateful return for her services, meditates revenge, and sends a messenger to the emperor, assuring him, that if he will again march against the raja, she will deliver her mistress into his power.
The emperor rejoiced, once more besieges the fortress. The domestic comes out privately, and informs him of the place where the beautiful Lalla Rookh goes every morning, with a few attendants, to bathe. She is surprized, and taken. The emperor returns with her to his capital, and declares her his queen; but as she is overwhelmed with grief at the loss of her friends, her lover, and being confined to associate with those of a different religion, he refrains from asking favours, in hopes that time may conquer her melancholy, and attentions attract her regard.
The unfortunate prince who had been betrothed to Lalla Rookh becomes distracted, and taking with him the jewels and ornaments he had prepared for their nuptials, wanders to the neighbourhood of the emperor’s capital. In a forest near it he builds a hut, and in most harmonious strains laments his love. His complaints attract the antelopes, who become so tame as to gather round him while he is singing; and he ties round their necks and horns the pearls and jewels he had prepared for his mistress. Rumour soon spreads in the city the report of his situation, and the people flock in crowds to behold him, and hear his poetry and music. The emperor is informed, and with Lalla Rookh repairs to his hut; where they behold him surrounded by listening animals of every kind, and hear him singing the following
On hearing these verses, and seeing her lover, Lalla Rookh faints. The emperor, moved with compassion, generously unites the lovers, and dismisses them with magnificent presents to their own country.i
City of Beauty.
↩Supposed the Lapwing, and mentioned in the Koraun to have brought Solomon the first account of the queen of Sheba.
↩A bracelet wore round the lower part of the leg, just above the ancles.
↩Words from the Koraun.
↩Father of Rustum. Zaul in Persic signifies also an old woman.
↩An Arabian chief, celebrated for profuse liberality.
↩The loves of Leila and Mujjenou are related in a poem by Jami.
↩It is the custom in Asia to shower jewels, gold, &c. over the bride and bridegroom.
↩Robes of honour.
↩The orientals always fable hidden treasures to be guarded by serpents, who also perform the same duty in England. From my window I now behold the Caeradoc, a hill in Shropshire, well known in British story as the last retreat of Caractacus from the Romans. Near its summit is a cave, which tradition says contains a vast treasure, guarded by a dragon or serpent.
↩The males of Mahummud’s paradise.
↩A sort of litter.
↩A golden ball on the top of the canopy.
↩According to Mahummedan belief, founded on that of the Persian Magi, the first waters of the deluge gushed out of the oven of an old woman named Zaula Cûfa. Vide SALE’S Koraun, vol. II. page 20, note X.
↩High screens of red cloth, stiffened with cane, used to enclose a considerable space round the royal tents. The nobility use skreens for the same purpose, but not so high as the former, and, according to etiquette, they must be striped of different colours, generally white and red, or blue and white. The latter are called kanauts. These, with the tops of the numerous tents, on which are often gilded balls, appearing above, give a splended effect to an Asiatic encampment, which is admirably described in BERNIFR’S letters on AURUNGZEBE’S journey to Cashmire.—Vide Earl of OXFORD’S collection of voyages, vol. II.
↩Nizami has written a beautiful poem on the Adventures of Shereen, Khoosroo and Ferhaad, an account of which may be seen in Major OUSELEY’S Persian Miscellanies.
↩The Asiatics, on receipt of a letter from a superior or a friend, place it on the head, and draw it across their eyes, before perusal, as a token of respect.
↩Meaning that her honour was safe.
↩The prince of auspicious omen.
↩Great chamberlain or superintendant of the Haram, always a eunuch.
↩i. e. The princess have died suddenly.
↩The capital of Malwa, a province of Hindoostan.
↩A fabulous bird of great celebrity in oriental romance.
↩Heart-delighting, of magic voice.
↩Venus.
↩The name of some flower.
↩A tedious speech of Sunnobir to the queen, preparatory to her disclosure, is omitted.
↩Phantom play.
↩The porter at the entrance of Mahummud’s paradise.
↩Which Moses beheld.
↩The Mussulmauns fable, that on some occasion the hand of Jesus appeared shining: an idea borrowed by Mahummud from the transfiguration.
↩A celebrated oriental musician.
↩What fruit I know not.
↩The guava.
↩A species of grape.
↩Alluding to the power of wine over all nations.
↩Yellow Spanish brown.
↩For the flowers not noted, I have no English name.
↩I must here again recal the reader’s remembrance to a former note, setting forth, that the above is the oriental language of devotion, as well as sexual love. The translator hopes he shall not be criticised for nonsense not his own.
↩A sort of litter.
↩i. e. the male sex beyond the relation of father, brother, and elderly uncle.
↩Some very long arguments between the princess and the governante are omitted, as the language of them would not bear translation.
↩Arabia Felix.
↩An embroidered fillet, or often of jewelry.
↩Alchemy means the philosopher’s stone.
↩The sign Libra.
↩Virgo.
↩Snow.
↩The pulpit of a mosque.
↩A line from the koraun.
↩Royal band of music.
↩Form of prayer for the sovereign’s welfare, used in the mosques.
↩It is the custom in Asia, as well as Europe, to scatter gold and silver at the inauguration of a prince.
↩The first day of the ancient Persian year, according with our first of March; and still kept as a high festival by the sovereigns of Persia and Hindoostan.
A reference to BERNIER’S Travels and RICHARDSON’S Dictionary, will gratify the curious in the particulars of the ceremonies in both countries. Unfortunate RICHARDSON died in India, it is said, of a broken heart. His modest merit was unrewarded, though his labours have yielded more effectual assistance to the English oriental student, than those of any other person. The Dissertation prefixed to his Dictionary, is a proof that he possessed genius as well as application, and that had he been properly patronized, he would have shone an oriental star: but alas!
Names of birds.
↩A musical term, probably symphony.
↩A species of nightingale. The word signifies, of a thousand tales or strains.
↩From this expression, it is probable, the savoyard strollers were wont to wander into the East.
↩Not being certain how to apply English to the Persian names for fruits and flowers, I have left them as in the original.
↩A similar transmigration, with a difference of circumstances, is related in PHILLIPS’S translation of Persian tales from that of Petit de la Croix, and which is given in No. 577 of the Spectator.
↩The reader will excuse the following long parenthesis, as in no other way could the original period of a whole page be intelligibly translated.
↩I remember translating a letter received by the Governor General, Mr. HASTINGS, from the Teeshoo Lama, giving an account of his transmigration from the body of his predecessor into his then infantine frame; which I am sorry I have not a copy of, as it would here have made an acceptable note.
↩The above is in substance (the transmigration part excepted) exactly what any Asiatic monarch would at present write to a powerful rebellious subject.
↩Quotation from the koraun.
↩Quotation from the koraun.
↩I have omitted a long and tiresome account of the action.
↩Probably the dove.
↩The skreen, or serrapurda, described in a former note.
↩Counting her beads.
↩Repeating the attributes of God.
↩The latter part of this tale is so similar in plot to that of Prince Camaralzamaun and Badoura, Princess of China, in the Arabian Nights, that I did not think it worth translating. It succeeds the last in the original.
↩The first part of this tale is so like that already given in chapter viii. vol. 1st. of the young man who married the devotee’s daughter, and the latter part so resembles the history of the fair Arouya, in PHILLIPS’S Persian Tales, that I did not think it had novelty deserving of translation.
↩The very near resmblance of this story to part of that of Couloufe and Dilara, in PHILLIPS’S Persian Tales, made me unwilling to translate it.
↩The escape of the hero of the above tale from the cave, resembles an adventure of ULYSSES in the Odyssey; but the circumstances altogether seemed to me too absurd to merit translation.
↩This tale is too free in description to be given in translation with propriety.
↩Great part of this tale is founded upon the loves of Leila and Mujjenou, of which all the verses are extracts; and I did not wish to anticipate any part of a poem, which may one day appear complete from the pen of an orientalist.
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