The Arabian Nights Entertainments
I told her who I was, and how I had come there.
"Alas, prince," she said, with a deeper sigh than before, "you have
guessed rightly in supposing me an unwilling prisoner in this gorgeous
place. I am the daughter of the king of the Ebony Isle, of whose fame
you surely must have heard. At my father's desire I was married to a
prince who was my own cousin; but on my very wedding day, I was
snatched up by a genius, and brought here in a faint. For a long while
I did nothing but weep, and would not suffer the genius to come near
me; but time teaches us submission, and I have now got accustomed to
his presence, and if clothes and jewels could content me, I have them
in plenty. Every tenth day, for five and twenty years, I have received
a visit from him, but in case I should need his help at any other time,
I have only to touch a talisman that stands at the entrance of my
chamber. It wants still five days to his next visit, and I hope that
during that time you will do me the honour to be my guest."
I was too much dazzled by her beauty to dream of refusing her offer,
and accordingly the princess had me conducted to the bath, and a rich
dress befitting my rank was provided for me. Then a feast of the most
delicate dishes was served in a room hung with embroidered Indian
fabrics.
Next day, when we were at dinner, I could maintain my patience no
longer, and implored the princess to break her bonds, and return with
me to the world which was lighted by the sun.
"What you ask is impossible," she answered; "but stay here with me
instead, and we can be happy, and all you will have to do is to betake
yourself to the forest every tenth day, when I am expecting my master
the genius. He is very jealous, as you know, and will not suffer a man
to come near me."
"Princess," I replied, "I see it is only fear of the genius that makes
you act like this. For myself, I dread him so little that I mean to
break his talisman in pieces! Awful though you think him, he shall
feel the weight of my arm, and I herewith take a solemn vow to stamp
out the whole race."
The princess, who realized the consequences of such audacity, entreated
me not to touch the talisman. "If you do, it will be the ruin of both
of us," said she; "I know genii much better than you." But the wine I
had drunk had confused my brain; I gave one kick to the talisman, and
it fell into a thousand pieces.
Hardly had my foot touched the talisman when the air became as dark as
night, a fearful noise was heard, and the palace shook to its very
foundations. In an instant I was sobered, and understood what I had
done. "Princess!" I cried, "what is happening?"
"Alas!" she exclaimed, forgetting all her own terrors in anxiety for
me, "fly, or you are lost."
I followed her advice and dashed up the staircase, leaving my hatchet
behind me. But I was too late. The palace opened and the genius
appeared, who, turning angrily to the princess, asked indignantly,
"What is the matter, that you have sent for me like this?"
"A pain in my heart," she replied hastily, "obliged me to seek the aid
of this little bottle. Feeling faint, I slipped and fell against the
talisman, which broke. That is really all."
"You are an impudent liar!" cried the genius. "How did this hatchet
and those shoes get here?"
"I never saw them before," she answered, "and you came in such a hurry
that you may have picked them up on the road without knowing it." To
this the genius only replied by insults and blows. I could hear the
shrieks and groans of the princess, and having by this time taken off
my rich garments and put on those in which I had arrived the previous
day, I lifted the trap, found myself once more in the forest, and
returned to my friend the tailor, with a light load of wood and a heart
full of shame and sorrow.
The tailor, who had been uneasy at my long absence, was, delighted to
see me; but I kept silence about my adventure, and as soon as possible
retired to my room to lament in secret over my folly. While I was thus
indulging my grief my host entered, and said, "There is an old man
downstairs who has brought your hatchet and slippers, which he picked
up on the road, and now restores to you, as he found out from one of
your comrades where you lived. You had better come down and speak to
him yourself." At this speech I changed colour, and my legs trembled
under me. The tailor noticed my confusion, and was just going to
inquire the reason when the door of the room opened, and the old man
appeared, carrying with him my hatchet and shoes.
"I am a genius," he said, "the son of the daughter of Eblis, prince of
the genii. Is not this hatchet yours, and these shoes?" Without
waiting for an answer--which, indeed, I could hardly have given him, so
great was my fright--he seized hold of me, and darted up into the air
with the quickness of lightning, and then, with equal swiftness,
dropped down towards the earth. When he touched the ground, he rapped
it with his foot; it opened, and we found ourselves in the enchanted
palace, in the presence of the beautiful princess of the Ebony Isle.
But how different she looked from what she was when I had last seen
her, for she was lying stretched on the ground covered with blood, and
weeping bitterly.
"Traitress!" cried the genius, "is not this man your lover?"
She lifted up her eyes slowly, and looked sadly at me. "I never saw
him before," she answered slowly. "I do not know who he is."
"What!" exclaimed the genius, "you owe all your sufferings to him, and
yet you dare to say he is a stranger to you!"
"But if he really is a stranger to me," she replied, "why should I tell
a lie and cause his death?"
"Very well," said the genius, drawing his sword, "take this, and cut
off his head."
"Alas," answered the princess, "I am too weak even to hold the sabre.
And supposing that I had the strength, why should I put an innocent man
to death?"
"You condemn yourself by your refusal," said the genius; then turning
to me, he added, "and you, do you not know her?"
"How should I?" I replied, resolved to imitate the princess in her
fidelity. "How should I, when I never saw her before?"
"Cut her head off," then, "if she is a stranger to you, and I shall
believe you are speaking the truth, and will set you at liberty."
"Certainly," I answered, taking the sabre in my hands, and making a
sign to the princess to fear nothing, as it was my own life that I was
about to sacrifice, and not hers. But the look of gratitude she gave
me shook my courage, and I flung the sabre to the earth.
"I should not deserve to live," I said to the genius, "if I were such a
coward as to slay a lady who is not only unknown to me, but who is at
this moment half dead herself. Do with me as you will--I am in your
power--but I refuse to obey your cruel command."
"I see," said the genius, "that you have both made up your minds to
brave me, but I will give you a sample of what you may expect." So
saying, with one sweep of his sabre he cut off a hand of the princess,
who was just able to lift the other to wave me an eternal farewell.
Then I lost consciousness for several minutes.
When I came to myself I implored the genius to keep me no longer in
this state of suspense, but to lose no time in putting an end to my
sufferings. The genius, however, paid no attention to my prayers, but
said sternly, "That is the way in which a genius treats the woman who
has betrayed him. If I chose, I could kill you also; but I will be
merciful, and content myself with changing you into a dog, an ass, a
lion, or a bird--whichever you prefer."
I caught eagerly at these words, as giving me a faint hope of softening
his wrath. "O genius!" I cried, "as you wish to spare my life, be
generous, and spare it altogether. Grant my prayer, and pardon my
crime, as the best man in the whole world forgave his neighbour who was
eaten up with envy of him." Contrary to my hopes, the genius seemed
interested in my words, and said he would like to hear the story of the
two neighbours; and as I think, madam, it may please you, I will tell
it to you also.
The Story of the Envious Man and of Him Who Was Envied
In a town of moderate size, two men lived in neighbouring houses; but
they had not been there very long before one man took such a hatred of
the other, and envied him so bitterly, that the poor man determined to
find another home, hoping that when they no longer met every day his
enemy would forget all about him. So he sold his house and the little
furniture it contained, and moved into the capital of the country,
which was luckily at no great distance. About half a mile from this
city he bought a nice little place, with a large garden and a
fair-sized court, in the centre of which stood an old well.
In order to live a quieter life, the good man put on the robe of a
dervish, and divided his house into a quantity of small cells, where he
soon established a number of other dervishes. The fame of his virtue
gradually spread abroad, and many people, including several of the
highest quality, came to visit him and ask his prayers.
Of course it was not long before his reputation reached the ears of the
man who envied him, and this wicked wretch resolved never to rest till
he had in some way worked ill to the dervish whom he hated. So he left
his house and his business to look after themselves, and betook himself
to the new dervish monastery, where he was welcomed by the founder with
all the warmth imaginable. The excuse he gave for his appearance was
that he had come to consult the chief of the dervishes on a private
matter of great importance. "What I have to say must not be
overheard," he whispered; "command, I beg of you, that your dervishes
retire into their cells, as night is approaching, and meet me in the
court."
The dervish did as he was asked without delay, and directly they were
alone together the envious man began to tell a long story, edging, as
they walked to and fro, always nearer to the well, and when they were
quite close, he seized the dervish and dropped him in. He then ran off
triumphantly, without having been seen by anyone, and congratulating
himself that the object of his hatred was dead, and would trouble him
no more.
But in this he was mistaken! The old well had long been inhabited
(unknown to mere human beings) by a set of fairies and genii, who
caught the dervish as he fell, so that he received no hurt. The
dervish himself could see nothing, but he took for granted that
something strange had happened, or he must certainly have been dashed
against the side of the well and been killed. He lay quite still, and
in a moment he heard a voice saying, "Can you guess whom this man is
that we have saved from death?"
"No," replied several other voices.
And the first speaker answered, "I will tell you. This man, from pure
goodness of heart, forsook the town where he lived and came to dwell
here, in the hope of curing one of his neighbours of the envy he felt
towards him. But his character soon won him the esteem of all, and the
envious man's hatred grew, till he came here with the deliberate
intention of causing his death. And this he would have done, without
our help, the very day before the Sultan has arranged to visit this
holy dervish, and to entreat his prayers for the princess, his
daughter."
"But what is the matter with the princess that she needs the dervish's
prayers?" asked another voice.
"She has fallen into the power of the genius Maimoum, the son of
Dimdim," replied the first voice. "But it would be quite simple for
this holy chief of the dervishes to cure her if he only knew! In his
convent there is a black cat which has a tiny white tip to its tail.