The Arabian Nights (New Deluxe Edition) (15 page)

When they were almost done, the palace wall split open, and the king and vizier began to tremble, and when they looked up, they saw a black slave who stood like a towering mountain or a giant descendant of the tribe of 'Ad.
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He was as tall as a reed, as wide as a stone bench, and he held a green palm leaf in his hand. Then in clear but unpleasant language, he said, “O fish, O fish, have you kept the pledge?” and the fish raised their heads from the frying pan and said, “Yes, yes. If you return, we shall return; if you keep your vow, we shall keep ours; and if you forsake us, we shall be even.” At that moment, the black slave overturned the frying pan, in the middle of the hall, and the fish turned into charcoal. Then the black slave departed as he had come, and the wall closed behind him. When the black slave disappeared, the king said, “I cannot sleep over this affair, for there is no doubt a mystery behind these fish.” Then he bade the fisherman be brought before him again.

When the fisherman arrived, the king said to him, “Damn you, where do you catch these fish?” The fisherman replied, “My lord, I catch them in a lake that lies among four hills, on the other side of the mountain.” The king turned to the vizier and asked, “Do you know this lake?” The vizier replied, “No, by God, your Majesty. For sixty years, I have hunted, traveled, and roamed far and wide, sometimes for a day or two, sometimes for a month or two, but I have never seen or known that such a lake existed on the other side of the mountain.” Then the king turned to the fisherman and asked him, “How far is this lake from here?” The fisherman replied, “King of the age, it is one hour from here.” The king was astonished, and he ordered his soldiers to be ready. Then he rode out with his troops, behind the fisherman, who led the way under guard, muttering curses on the demon as he went.

They rode until they were outside the city. Then they climbed the mountain, and when they descended to the other side, they saw a vast wilderness that they had never seen in all their lives, as well as the four hills and the lake in whose clear water they saw the fish in four colors, red, white, blue, and yellow. The king stood marveling; then he turned to the vizier, princes, chamberlains, and deputies and asked, “Have any of you ever seen this lake before?” They replied, “Never.” He asked, “And none of you knew where it was?” They kissed the ground before him and replied, “By God, your Majesty, till now we have never in our lives seen this lake or known about it, even though it is close to our city.” The king said, “There is a mystery behind this. By God, I shall not return to the city until I find the answer to the mystery behind this lake and these fish in four colors.” Then he ordered his men to halt and pitch the tents, and he dismounted and waited.

When it was dark, he summoned the vizier, who was an experienced and wise man of the world. The vizier came to the king, without being seen by the soldiers, and when he arrived, the king said, “I wish to reveal to you what I intend to do. At this very hour, I shall go all by myself to look for an answer to the mystery of this lake and these fish. Early tomorrow morning you shall sit at the entrance of my tent and tell the princes that the king is indisposed and that he has given you orders not to let anyone be admitted to his presence. You must not let anyone know about my departure and absence, and you must wait for me for three days.” The vizier, unable to disobey him, abided by the order, saying, “I hear and obey.”

Then the king packed, prepared himself, and girded himself with the royal sword. Then he climbed one of the four hills, and when he reached the top, he journeyed on for the rest of the night. In the morning, when the sun rose and steeped the mountaintop with light, the king looked and sighted a dark mass in the distance. When he saw it, he was glad, and he headed in its direction, saying to himself, “There may be someone there to give me information.” He journeyed on, and when he arrived, he found a palace, built under a lucky star, with black stones and completely overlaid with iron plates. It had double doors, one open, one shut. Pleased, the king knocked gently at the door and waited patiently for a while without hearing any reply. He knocked again, this time more loudly than before, but again waited without hearing any reply or seeing anyone. He knocked for the third time and kept knocking repeatedly but once more waited without hearing any reply or seeing anyone. Then he said to himself, “There is no doubt that there is no one inside, or perhaps the palace is deserted.” Summoning his courage, he entered and shouted from the hallway, “O inhabitants of the palace, I am a stranger and a hungry traveler. Have you any food? Our Lord will requite you and reward you for it.” He shouted a second and a third time but heard no reply. Feeling bold and determined, he advanced from the hallway into the center of the palace and looked around, but saw no one.

But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then Dinarzad said, “Sister, what an amazing and entertaining story!” Shahrazad replied, “What is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if I live, the Almighty God willing!”

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The following night Dinarzad said to her sister Shahrazad, “For God's sake, sister, if you are not sleepy, tell us one of your lovely little tales to while away the night.” Shahrazad replied, “With the greatest pleasure”:

I heard, O King, that the king walked to the center of the palace and looked around, but saw no one. The palace was furnished with silk carpets and leather mats and hung with drapes. There were also settees, benches, and seats with cushions, as well as cupboards. In the middle there stood a spacious courtyard, surrounded by four adjoining recessed courts facing each other. In the center stood a fountain, on top of which crouched four lions in red gold, spouting water from their mouths in droplets that looked like gems and pearls, and about the fountain singing birds fluttered under a high net to prevent them from flying away. When the king saw all this, without seeing anyone, he was astonished and regretted that he found none to give him any information. He sat pensively by one of the recessed courts, when he heard sad moans and lamentations and the following plaintive verses:

My soul is torn between peril and toil;

O life, dispatch me with one mighty blow.

Lover, neither a bankrupt nor a noble man

Humbled, by love's law do you pity show.

Ev'n from the breeze I jealously used to guard you,

But at the blow of fate the eyes blind go.

When, as he pulls to shoot, the bowstring breaks

What can the bowman facing his foes do?

And when the foes begin to congregate

How can he then escape his cruel fate?

When the king heard the lamentation and the verses, he rose and moved toward the source of the voice until he came to a doorway behind a curtain, and when he lifted the curtain, he saw at the upper end of the room a young man sitting on a chair that rose about twenty inches above the floor. He was a handsome young man, with a full figure, clear voice, radiant brow, bright face, downy beard, and ruddy cheeks, graced with a mole like a speck of amber, just as the poet describes it:

Here is a slender youth whose hair and face

All mortals envelope with light or gloom.

Mark on his cheek the mark of charm and grace,

A dark spot on a red anemone.

The king greeted the seated young man, pleased to see him. The young man wore a long-sleeved robe of Egyptian silk with gold embroidery, and on his head he wore an Egyptian conical head covering, but his face showed signs of grief and sorrow. When the king greeted him, the young man greeted him back courteously and said, “Pardon me, sir, for not rising, for you deserve even a greater honor.” The king replied, “Young man, you are pardoned. I myself am your guest, having come to you on a serious mission. Pray tell me the story behind the lake and the colored fish, as well as this palace and the fact that you sit alone and mourn with no one to console you.” When the young man heard this, his tears began to flow over his cheeks until they drenched his breast. Then he sang the following
Mawwaliya
verses:
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Say to the man whom life with arrows shot,

“How many men have felt the blows of fate!”

If you did sleep, the eyes of God have not;

Who can say time is fair and life in constant state?

Then he wept bitterly. The king was astonished and asked, “Young man, why do you cry?” The young man replied, “Sir, how can I refrain from crying in my present condition?” Then he lifted the skirt of his robe, and the king saw that while one half of the young man, from the navel to the head, was human flesh, the other half, from the navel to the feet, was black stone.

But morning overcame Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then King Shahrayar thought to himself, “This is an amazing story. I am willing to postpone her execution even for a month, before having her put to death.” While the king was thinking to himself, Dinarzad said to her sister Shahrazad, “Sister, what an entertaining story!” Shahrazad replied, “What is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if I live, the Almighty God willing!”

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The following night Shahrazad said:

I heard, O King, that when the king saw the young man in this condition, he felt very sad and sorry for him, and said with a sigh, “Young man, you have added one more worry to my worries. I came to look for an answer to the mystery of the fish, in order to save them, but ended up looking for an answer to your case, as well as the fish. There is no power and no strength save in God, the Almighty, the Magnificent. Hurry up, young man, and tell me your story.” The young man replied, “Lend me your ears, your eyes, and your mind.” The king replied, “My ears, my eyes, and my mind are ready.” The young man said:

 

4.
Cosmetic, used by Eastern, especially Muslim, women to darken the eyelids.

5.
Small silver coins; in Iraq the dirham is one-twentieth of a dinar.

6.
Tribe supposedly destroyed by God's wrath; see n. 1, p. 3.

7.
Poems in colloquial language, often sung to the accompaniment of a reed pipe.

[The Tale of the Enchanted King]

MY STORY, AND
the story of the fish, is a strange and amazing one, which, if it could be engraved with needles at the corner of the eye,
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would be a lesson to those who would consider. My lord, my father was the king of this city, and his name was King Mahmud of the Black Islands. For these four hills were islands. He ruled for seventy years, and when he died, I succeeded him and married my cousin. She loved me very much, so much so that if I was away from her even for a single day, she would refuse to eat and drink until I returned to her. In this way, we lived together for five years until one day she went to the bath and I ordered the cook to grill meat and prepare a sumptuous supper for her. Then I entered this palace, lay down in this very spot where you are sitting now, and ordered two maids to sit down, one at my head and one at my feet, to fan me. But I felt uneasy and could not go to sleep. While I lay with my eyes closed, breathing heavily, I heard the girl at my head say to the one at my feet, “O Mas'uda, what a pity for our poor master with our damned mistress, and him so young!” The other one replied, “What can one say? May God damn all treacherous, adulterous women. Alas, it is not right that such a young man like our master lives with this bitch who spends every night out.” Mas'uda added, “Is our master stupid? When he wakes up at night, doesn't he find that she is not by his side?” The other replied, “Alas, may God trip the bitch our mistress. Does she leave our master with his wits about him? No. She places a sleeping potion in the last drink he takes, offers him the cup, and when he drinks it, he sleeps like a dead man. Then she leaves him and stays out till dawn. When she returns, she burns incense under his nose, and when he inhales it, he wakes up. What a pity!”