he rode out to meet him and they saluted each other. And when King
Shahryar looked at King Shah Zaman, he saw how the hue of health had
returned to him, how his face had waxed ruddy, and how he ate with
an
appetite after his late
scanty diet. He wondered much and said:
"O my brother, I was no
anxious that thou wouldst join me in
huntingand chasing, and wouldst take thy pleasure and pastime in my
dominion!" He thanked him and excused himself.
Then the two took horse and rode into the city, and when they were
seated at their ease in the palace, the food trays were set before
them and they ate their sufficiency. After the meats were removed
and they had washed their hands, King Shahryar turned to his brother
and said: "My mind is
overcome with wonderment at thy condition. I was
desirous to carry thee with me to the chase, but I saw thee changed in
hue, pale and wan to view, and in sore trouble of mind too. But now,
Alhamdolillah- glory be to God!- I see thy natural color hath returned
to thy face and that thou art again in the best of case. It was my
belief that thy
sickness came of severance from thy family and
friends, and
absence from capital and country, so I refrained from
troubling thee with further questions. But now I
beseech thee to
expound to me the cause of thy
complaint and thy change of color,
and to explain the reason of thy
recovery and the return to the
ruddy hue of health which I am wont to view. So speak out and hide
naught!"
When Shah Zaman heard this, he bowed groundward
awhile his head,
then raised it and said: "I will tell thee what caused my
complaintand my loss of color. But excuse my
acquainting thee with the cause of
its return to me and the reason of my complete
recovery. Indeed I pray
thee not to press me for a reply." Said Shahryar, who was much
surprised by these words, "Let me hear first what produced thy
pallor and thy poor condition." "Know, then, O my brother," rejoined
Shah Zaman, "that when thou sentest thy Wazir with the
invitation to
place myself between thy hands, I made ready and marched out of my
city. But
presently I
minded me having left behind me in the palace
a string of jewels intended as a gift to thee. I returned for it
alone, and found my wife on my
carpet bed and in the arms of a
hideousblack cook. So I slew the twain and came to thee, yet my thoughts
brooded over this business and I lost my bloom and became weak. But
excuse me if I still refuse to tell thee what was the reason of my
complexion returning."
Shahryar shook his head,
marveling with
extrememarvel, and with the
fire of wrath
flaming up from his heart, he cried, "Indeed, the malice
of woman is
mighty!" Then he took
refuge from them with Allah and
said: "In very sooth, O my brother, thou hast escaped many an evil
by putting thy wife to death, and right excusable were thy wrath and
grief for such
mishap, which never yet
befell crowned king like
thee. By Allah, had the case been mine, I would not have been
satisfied without slaying a thousand women, and that way
madness lies!
But now praise be to Allah Who hath tempered to thee thy
tribulation, and needs must thou
acquaint me with that which so
suddenly restored to thee
complexion and health, and explain to me
what causeth this concealment." "O King of the Age, again I pray
thee excuse my so doing!" "Nay, but thou must." "I fear, O my brother,
lest the
recital cause thee more anger and sorrow than afflicted
me." "That were but a better reason," quoth Shahryar, "for telling
me the whole history, and I
conjure thee by Allah not to keep back
aught from me."
Thereupon Shah Zaman told him all he had seen, from commencement
to
conclusion,
ending with these words: "When I
beheld thy calamity
and the
treason of thy wife, O my brother, and I reflected that thou
art in years my
senior and in
sovereignty my superior, mine own sorrow
was belittled by the
comparison, and my mind recovered tone and
temper. So, throwing off
melancholy and despondency, I was able to eat
and drink and sleep, and thus I
speedily regained health and strength.
Such is the truth and the whole truth." When King Shahryar heard
this he waxed wroth with
exceeding wrath, and rage was like to
strangle him. But
presently he recovered himself and said, "O my
brother, I would not give thee the lie in this matter, but I cannot
credit it till I see it with mine own eyes." "And thou wouldst look
upon thy calamity," quoth Shah Zaman, "rise at once and make ready
again for
hunting and coursing, and then hide thyself with me. So
shalt thou
witness it and thine eyes shall
verify it." "True," quoth
the King. Whereupon he let make
proclamation of his
intent to
travel, and the troops and tents fared forth without the city, camping
within sight, and Shahryar sallied out with them and took seat
a-midmost his host, bidding the slaves admit no man to him. When night
came on, he summoned his Wazir and said to him, "Sit thou in my stead,
and let none wot of my
absence till the term of three days."
Then the brothers disguised themselves and returned by night with
all
secrecy to the palace, where they passed the dark hours. And at
dawn they seated themselves at the lattice overlooking the pleasure
grounds, when
presently the Queen and her handmaids came out as
before, and passing under the windows, made for the
fountain. Here
they stripped, ten of them being men to ten women, and the King's wife
cried out, "Where art thou, O Saeed?" The
hideous blackamoor dropped
from the tree
straightway, and rushing into her arms without stay or
delay, cried out, "I am Sa'ad al-Din Saood!" The lady laughed
heartily, and all fell to satisfying their lusts, and remained so
occupied for a couple of hours, when the white slaves rose up from the
handmaidens' breasts and the blackamoor dismounted from the Queen's
bosom. Then they went into the basin and after performing the ghusl,
or complete ablution, donned their dresses and
retired as they had
done before.
When King Shahryar saw this infamy of his wife and concubines, he
became as one distraught, and he cried out: "Only in utter solitude
can man be safe from the
doings of this vile world! By Allah, life
is
naught but one great wrong." Presently he added, "Do not
thwart me,
O my brother, in what I propose." And the other answered, "I will
not." So he said: "Let us up as we are and depart forthright hence,
for we have no concern with kingship, and let us overwander Allah's
earth, worshiping the Al
mighty till we find someone to whom the like
calamity hath happened. And if we find none then will death be more
welcome to us than life."
So the two brothers issued from a second private postern of the
palace, and they never stinted wayfaring by day and by night until
they reached a tree a-middle of a
meadow hard by a spring of sweet
water on the shore of the salt sea. Both drank of it and sat down to
take their rest. And when an hour of the day had gone by, lo! they
heard a
mighty roar and
uproar in the middle of the main as though the
heavens were falling upon the earth, and the sea brake with waves
before them and from it towered a black
pillar, which grew and grew
till it rose skyward and began making for that
meadow. Seeing it, they
waxed
fearfulexceedingly and climbed to the top of the tree, which
was a lofty,
whence they gazed to see what might be the matter. And
behold, it was a Jinni, huge of
height and burly of breast and bulk,
broad of brow and black of blee,
bearing on his head a
coffer of
crystal. He
strode to land, wading through the deep, and coming to the
tree
whereupon were the two Kings, seated himself beneath it. He
then set down the
coffer on its bottom and out of it drew a
casketwith seven padlocks of steel, which he unlocked with seven keys of
steel he took from beside his thigh, and out of it a young lady to
come was seen, whiteskinned and of winsomest mien, of
stature fine and
thin, and bright as though a moon of the fourteenth night she had
been, or the sun raining
lively sheen. Even so the poet Utayyah
hath excellently said:-
She rose like the morn as she shone through the night
And she gilded the grove with her
gracious sight.
From her
radiance the sun taketh increase when
She unveileth and shameth the moonshine bright.
Bow down all beings between her hands
As she showeth charms with her veil undight.