The Arabian Nights Entertainments by Anonymous (best books to read .txt) 📕

The princess, the lady of beauty, went into her apartment, from whence she brought in a knife which had some Hebrew words engraved on the blade: She made us all, viz. the sultan, the master of the eunuchs, the little slave, and myself, to go down into a private court adjoining to the palace, and there left us under a gallery that went round it. She placed herself in the middle of the court, where she made a great circle, and within it she wrote several words in Arabian characters, some of them ancient, and others of those which they call the character of Cleopatra.

When she had finished and prepared the circle as she thought fit, she placed herself in the centre of it, where she began adjurations, and repeated verses out of the alcoran. The air grew insensibly dark, as if it had been night, and the whole world about to be dissolved. We found ourselves struck with a panic fear, and this fear increased the more, when we saw the genie, the son of the daughter of Eblis, appear all of a sudden in the shape of a lion of a frightful size.

As soon as the princess perceived this monster, You dog, said she, instead of creeping before me, dare you present yourself in this shape, thinking to frighten me? And thou, replied the lion, art thou not afraid to break the treaty which was solemnly made and confirmed between us by oath, not to wrong or do one another any hurt? Oh, thou cursed creature! replied the princess, I can justly reproach thee with doing so. The lion answered fiercely, Thou shalt quickly have thy reward for the trouble thou hast given me to return: With that he opened his terrible throat, and ran at her to devour her; but she, being upon her guard, leaped backward, got time to pull out one of her hairs, and, by pronouncing three or four words, changed herself into a sharp sword, wherewith she cut the lion through the middle in two pieces.

The two parts of the lion vanished, and the head was only left, which changed itself into a large scorpion. Immediately the princess turned herself into a serpent, and fought the scorpion, who, finding himself worsted, took the shape of an eagle, and flew away: But the serpent at the same time took also the shape of an eagle that was black and much stronger, and pursued him, so that we lost sight of them both.

Some time after they disappeared, the ground opened before us, and out of it came forth a cat, black and white, with her hair standing upright, and keeping up a fearful mewling; a black wolf followed her close, and gave her no time to rest. The cat, being thus hard beset, changed herself into a worm, and being nigh to a pomegranate that had accidentally fallen from a tree that grew on the side of a canal, which was deep, but not broad, the worm pierced the pomegranate in an instant, and hid itself; but the pomegranate swelled immediately, and became as big as a gourd, which, mounting up to the top of the gallery, rolled there for some space backward and forward, fell down again into the court, and broke into several pieces.

The wolf, who had in the meanwhile transformed itself into a cock, fell a-picking up the seeds of the pomegranate one after another; but, finding no more, he came towards us with his wings spread, making a great noise, as if he would ask us whether there was any more seed? There was one lying on the brink of the canal, which the cock perceiving as he went back, ran speedily thither; but just as he was going to pick it up, the seed rolled into the river, and turned into a little fish.

The cock jumped into the river, and was turned into a pike, that pursued the small fish; they continued both under water above two hours, and we knew not what became of them; but all of a sudden we heard terrible cries, which made us to quake, and a little while after we saw the genie and princess all in flames. They threw flashes of fire out of their mouths at one another, until they came to it hand to hand; then the fires increased, with a thick burning smoke, which mounted so high, that we had reason to fear that it would set the palace on fire. But we very soon had a more pressing occasion of fear; for the genie, having got loose from the princess, came to the gallery where we stood, and blew flames of fire upon us. We had all perished, if the princess, running to our assistance, had not forced him, by her efforts, to retire and defend himself against her; yet, notwithstanding all her diligence, she could not hinder the sultan's beard from being burnt, and his face spoiled, the chief of the eunuch's from being stifled, and burnt on the spot, nor a spark to enter my right eye, and make it blind. The sultan and I expected nothing but death, when we heard a cry, Victory, victory; and, all of a sudden, the princess appeared in her natural shape, but the genie was reduced to a heap of ashes.

The princess came near to us, and, that she might not lose time, called for a cup of cold water, which the young slave that had got no damage brought her: She took it, and, after pronouncing some words over it, threw it upon me, saying, If thou art become an ape by enchantment, change thy shape, and take that of a man, which thou hadst before. These words were hardly uttered till I became a man, as I was before, one eye only excepted.

I was preparing myself to give thanks to the princess, but she prevented me, by addressing herself to her father thus: Sir, I have got the victory over the genie, as your majesty may see; but it is a victory that costs me dear; I have but a few moments to live, and you will not have the satisfaction to make the match you intended; the fire has pierced me during the terrible combat, and I find it consumes me by degrees. This would not have happened, had I perceived the last of the pomegranate seeds, and swallowed it as I did the other, when I was changed into a cock. The genie had fled thither as to his last intrenchment, and upon that the success of the combat depended, which would have been successful, and without danger to me. This slip obliged me to have recourse to fire, and to fight with those mighty arms as I did between heaven and earth in your presence; for, in spite of all his redoubtable art and experience, I made the genie to know that I understood more than he: I have conquered and reduced him to ashes, but I cannot escape death, which is approaching.

The sultan suffered the princess, the lady of beauty, to go on with the recital of her combat; and when she had done, he spoke to her in a tone that sufficiently testified his grief. My daughter, said he, you see in what condition your father is: Alas! I wonder that I am yet alive! Your governor, the eunuch, is dead, and the prince whom you have delivered from his enchantment has lost one of his eyes. He could speak no more; for his tears, sighs, and sobs, made him speechless; his daughter and I were exceedingly sensible of his sorrow, and wept with him.

In the mean time, while we were striving to outdo one another in grief, the princess cried, I burn; Oh, I burn! She found that the fire which consumed her had at last seized upon her whole body, which made her still to cry, I burn, until death had made an end of her intolerable pains. The effect of that was so extraordinary, that in a few moments she was wholly reduced to ashes like the genie.

I cannot tell you, madam, how much I was grieved at so dismal a spectacle. I had rather all my life have continued an ape or a dog, than to have seen my benefactress thus miserably perish. The sultan, being afflicted beyond all that can be imagined, cried out piteously, and beat himself upon his head and stomach, until such time as, being quite overcome with grief, he fainted away, which made me fear his life. In the mean time the eunuchs and officers came running at the sultan's cries, and with very much ado brought him to himself again. There was no need for that prince and me to give them a long narrative of this adventure, in order to convince them of their great loss. The two heaps of ashes, into which the princess and genie had been reduced, were demonstration enough. The sultan was hardly able to stand upright, but was forced to be supported by them till he could get to his apartment.

When the noise of this tragical event had spread itself through the palace and the city, all the people bewailed the misfortune of the princess, the lady of beauty, and were sensible of the sultan's affliction. Every one was in deep mourning for seven days, and a great many ceremonies were performed: The ashes of the genie were thrown into the air, but those of the princess were gathered into a precious urn, to be kept; and the urn was set in a stately tomb, which was built for that purpose, on the same place where the ashes had lain.

The grief which the sultan conceived for the loss of his daughter threw him into a fit of sickness, which confined him to his chamber for a whole month. He had not fully recovered strength when he sent for me: Prince, said he, hearken to the orders that I now give you; it will cost you your life if you do not put them in execution. I assured him of exact obedience; upon which he went on thus: I have constantly lived in perfect felicity, and never was crossed by any accident; but by your arrival all the happiness I possessed is vanished; my daughter is dead, her governor is no more, and it is through a miracle that I am yet alive. You are the cause of all those misfortunes, for which it is impossible that I should be comforted; therefore depart from hence in peace, but without further delay, for I myself must perish, if you stay any longer: I am persuaded that your presence brings mischief along with it. This is all I have to say to you. Depart, and take care of ever appearing again in my dominions; there is no consideration whatsoever that shall hinder me from making you repent of it. I was going to speak, but he stopped my mouth by words full of anger; and so I was obliged to remove from his palace, rejected, banished, thrown off by all the world, and not knowing what would become of me. Before I left the city, I went into a bagnio, where I caused my beard and eye-brows to be shaved, and put on a calender's habit. I began my journey, not so much deploring my own miseries as the death of the two fair princesses of which I had been the occasion. I passed through many countries without making myself known; at last I resolved to come to Bagdad, in hopes to get myself introduced to the commander of the faithful, to move his compassion by giving him an account of my strange adventures. I came hither this evening, and the first man I met was this calender, our brother, that spoke before me. You know the remaining part, madam, and the cause of my having the honour to be here.

When the second calender made an end of his story, Zobeide, to whom he had addressed his speech, told him, It is very well, you may go which way you please; I give you leave: but, instead of departing, he also petitioned the lady to show him the same favour she had vouchsafed to the first calender, and went and sat down by him.

The third calender, perceiving it was his turn to speak, addressed his speech, as the rest had done, to Zobeide, and began in this manner.

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