thee with these perfections was a
cunning craftsman, and if the
Al
mighty extend the term of my life and
restore me to my country and
kinsfolk in safety and reunite me with my father, I will
assuredly
bestow upon him all manner bounties and benefit him with the utmost
beneficence."
By this time night had overtaken him and he sat on the roof till
he was
assured that all in the palace slept, and indeed
hunger and
thirst were sore upon him for that he had not tasted food nor drunk
water since he parted from his sire. So he said within himself,
"Surely the like of this palace will not lack of victual," and,
leaving the horse above, went down in search of somewhat to eat.
Presently he came to a
staircase and, descending it to the bottom,
found himself in a court paved with white
marble and alabaster,
which shone in the light of the moon. He marveled at the place and the
goodliness of its fashion, but sensed no sound of
speaker and saw no
living soul and stood in perplexed surprise, looking right and left
and
knowing not whither he should wend. Then said he to himself, "I
may not do better than return to where I left my horse and pass the
night by it, and as soon as day shall dawn I will mount and ride
away."
However, as he tarried talking to himself, he espied a light
within the palace, and making toward it, found that it came from a
candle that stood before a door of the harem, at the head of a
sleepingeunuch, as he were one of the Ifrits of Solomon or a
tribesman of the Jinn, longer than
lumber and broader than a bench. He
lay before the door, with the pommel of his sword gleaming in the
flame of the candle, and at his head was a bag of leather
hanging from
a
column of
granite. When the Prince saw this, he was affrighted and
said, "I crave help from Allah the Supreme! O mine Holy One, even as
Thou hast already delivered me from
destruction, so
vouchsafe me
strength to quit myself of the adventure of this palace!" So
saying,
he put out his hand to the
budget and
taking it, carried it aside
and opened it and found in it food of the best.
He ate his fill and refreshed himself and drank water, after which
he hung up the
provision bag in its place and
drawing the
eunuch's
sword from its
sheath, took it,
whilst the slave slept on,
knowing not
whence Destiny should come to him. Then the Prince fared forward
into the palace and ceased not till he came to a second door, with a
curtain drawn before it. So he raised the curtain and, behold, on
entering he saw a couch of the whitest ivory inlaid with pearls and
jacinths and jewels, and four slave girls
sleeping about it. He went
up to the couch, to see what was thereon, and found a young lady lying
asleep, chemised with her hair as she were the full moon rising over
the eastern
horizon, with flower-white brow and shining hair parting
and cheeks like blood-red anemones, and
dainty moles thereon. He was
amazed at her as she lay in her beauty and
loveliness, her symmetry
and grace, and he recked no more of death.
So he went up to her, trembling in every nerve, and, shuddering with
pleasure, kissed her on the right cheek,
whereupon she awoke
forthright and opened her eyes, and
seeing the Prince
standing at
her head, said to him, "Who art thou, and
whence comest thou?" Quoth
he, "I am thy slave and thy lover." Asked she, "And who brought thee
hither?" and he answered, "My Lord and my fortune." Then said Shams
al-Nahar (for such was her name) "Haply thou art he who demanded me
yesterday of my father in marriage and he rejected thee, pretending
that thou wast foul of favor. By Allah, my sire lied in his throat
when he spoke this thing, for thou art not other than beautiful."
Now the son of the King of Hind had sought her in marriage, but her
father had rejected him for that he was ugly and
uncouth, and she
thought the Prince was he. So when she saw his beauty and grace (for
indeed he was like the
radiant moon) the syntheism of love gat hold of
her heart as it were a
flaming fire, and they fell to talk and
converse.
Suddenly, her
waiting women awoke and,
seeing the Prince with
their
mistress, said to her, "O my lady, who is this with thee?" Quoth
she: "I know not. I found him sitting by me when I woke up. Haply 'tis
he who seeketh me in marriage of my sire." Quoth they, "O my lady,
by Allah the All-Father, this is not he who seeketh thee in
marriage, for he is
hideous and this man is handsome and of high
degree. Indeed, the other is not fit to be his servant." Then the
handmaidens went out to the
eunuch, and
finding him s
lumbering,
awoke him, and he started up in alarm. Said they, "How happeth it that
thou art on guard at the palace and yet men come in to us
whilst we
are asleep?" When the black heard this, he
sprang in haste to his
sword, but found it not, and fear took him, and trembling. Then he
went in, confounded, to his
mistress and
seeing the Prince sitting
at talk with her, said to him, "O my lord, art thou man or Jinni?"
Replied the Prince: "Woe to thee, O unluckiest of slaves. How darest
thou even the sons of the royal Chosroes with one of the unbelieving
Satans?" And he was as a raging lion.
Then he took the sword in his hand and said to the slave, "I am
the King's son-in-law, and he hath married me to his daughter and
bidden me go in to her." And when the
eunuch heard these words he
replied, "O my lord, if thou be indeed of kind a man as thou
avouchest, she is fit for none but for thee, and thou art worthier
of her than any other." Thereupon the
eunuch ran to the King,
shrieking loud and rending his
raiment and heaving dust upon his head.
And when the King heard his
outcry, he said to him: "What hath
befallen thee? Speak quickly and be brief, for thou hast fluttered
my heart." Answered the
eunuch, "O King, come to thy daughter's
succor, for a devil of the Jinn, in the
likeness of a King's son
hath got possession of her, so up and at him!"
When the King heard this, he thought to kill him and said, "How
camest thou to be
careless of my daughter and let this demon come at
her?" Then he betook himself to the Princess's palace, where he
found her slave women
standing to await him, and asked them, "What
is come to my daughter?" "O King," answered they, "s
lumberovercome的过去式">
overcame us
and when we awoke, we found a young man sitting upon her couch in talk
with her, as he were the full moon. Never saw we aught fairer of favor
than he. So we questioned him of his case and he declared that thou
hadst given him thy daughter in marriage. More than this we know
not, nor do we know if he be a man or a Jinni, but he is
modest and
well-bred, and doth nothing unseemly or which leadeth to
disgrace."
Now when the King heard these words, his wrath cooled, and he raised
the curtain little by little and looking in, saw sitting at talk
with his daughter a Prince of the goodliest, with a face like the full
moon for sheen. At this sight he could not
contain himself, of his
jealousy for his daughter's honor, and putting aside the curtain,
rushed in upon them drawn sword in hand like a
furious Ghul. Now
when the Prince saw him he asked the Princess, "Is this thy sire?" and
she answered, "Yes." Whereupon he
sprang, to his feet and, seizing his
sword, cried out at the King with so terrible a cry that he was
confounded. Then the youth would have fallen on him with the sword,
but the King,
seeing that the Prince was doughtier than he,
sheathed
his scimitar and stood till the young man came up to him, when he
accosted him
courteously and said to him, "O youth, art thou a man
or a Jinni?" Quoth the Prince: "Did I not respect thy right as mine
host and thy daughter's honor, I would spill thy blood! How darest
thou fellow me with devils, me that am a Prince of the sons of the
royal Chosroes, who, had they wished to take thy kingdom, could
shake thee like an
earthquake from thy glory and thy
dominions, and
spoil thee of all thy possessions?"
Now when the King heard his words, he was confounded with awe and
bodily fear of him and rejoined: "If thou indeed be of the sons of the
Kings, as thou pretendest, how cometh it that thou enterest my
palace without my
permission, and smirchest mine honor, making thy way
to my daughter and feigning that thou art her husband and claiming
that I have given her to thee to wife, I that have slain kings and
king's sons who sought her of me in marriage? And now who shall save