The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 5 by Sir Richard Francis Burton (best romance novels of all time txt) 📕

“What maketh thee weep, O my lord?”; and he answered, “Take this letter and see what is therein.” So she took it and found it to be a love-letter from her daughter Rose-in-Hood to Uns al-Wujud: whereupon the ready drops sprang to her eyes; but she composed her mind, and, gulping down her tears, said to her husband, “O my lord, there is no profit in weeping: the right course is to cast about for a means of keeping thine honour and concealing the affair of thy daughter.” And she went on to comfort him and lighten his trouble; but he said, “I am fearful for my daughter by reason of this new passion. Knowest thou not that the Sultan loveth Uns al-Wujud with exceeding love? And my fear hath two causes. The first concerneth myself; it is, that she is my daughter: the second is on account of the King; for that Uns al-Wujud is a favourite with the Sultan and peradventure great troubles shall come out of this affair. What deemest thou should be done?”—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

 

When it was the Three Hundred and Seventy-third Night, She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir, after recounting the affair of his daughter, asked his wife, “What deemest thou should be done?” And she answered, “Have patience whilst I pray the prayer for right direction.” So she prayed a two-bow prayer according to the prophetic[FN#40]

ordinance for seeking divine guidance; after which she said to her husband, “In the midst of the Sea of Treasures[FN#41]

standeth a mountain named the Mount of the Bereaved Mother (the cause of which being so called shall presently follow in its place, Inshallah!); and thither can none have access, save with pains and difficulty and distress: do thou make that same her abiding-place.” Accordingly the Minister and his wife agreed to build on that mountain a virgin castle and lodge their daughter therein with the necessary provision to be renewed year by year and attendants to cheer and to serve her. Accordingly he collected carpenters, builders and architects and despatched them to the mountain, where they builded her an impregnable castle, never saw eyes the like thereof. Then he made ready vivers and carriage for the journey and, going in to his daughter by night, bade her prepare to set out on a pleasure-excursion. Thereupon her heart presaged the sorrows of separation and, when she went forth and saw the preparations for the journey, she wept with sore weeping and wrote that upon the door which might acquaint her lover with what had passed and with the transports of passion and grief that were upon her, transports such as would make the flesh to shiver and hair to stare, and melt the hardest stone with care, and tear from every eye a tear. And what she wrote were these couplets,

 

“By Allah, O thou house, if my beloved a morn go by, *

And greet with signs and signals lover e’er is wont to fly, I pray thee give him our salams in pure and fragrant guise, *

For he indeed may never know where we this eve shall lie.

I wot not whither they have fared, thus bearing us afar *

At speed, and lightly-quipt, the lighter from one love to fly:

When starkens night, the birds in brake or branches snugly perched * Wail for our sorrow and announce our hapless destiny:

The tongue of their condition saith, ‘Alas, alas for woe, *

And heavy brunt of parting-blow two lovers must aby’: When viewed I separation-cups were filled to the brim *

And us with merest sorrow-wine Fate came so fast to ply, I mixed them with becoming share of patience self to excuse, *

But Patience for the loss of you her solace doth refuse.”

 

Now when she ended her lines, she mounted and they set forward with her, crossing and cutting over wold and wild and riant dale and rugged hill, till they came to the shore of the Sea of Treasures; here they pitched their tents and built her a great ship, wherein they went down with her and her suite and carried them over to the mountain. The Minister had ordered them, on reaching the journey’s end, to set her in the castle and to make their way back to the shore, where they were to break up the vessel. So they did his bidding and returned home, weeping over what had befallen. Such was their case; but as regards Uns al-Wujud, he arose from sleep and prayed the dawn-prayer, after which he took horse and rode forth to attend upon the Sultan. On his way, he passed by the Wazir’s house, thinking perchance to see some of his followers as of wont; but he saw no one and, looking upon the door, he read written thereon the verses aforesaid. At this sight, his senses failed him; fire was kindled in his vitals and he returned to his lodging, where he passed the day in trouble and transports of grief, without finding ease or patience, till night darkened upon him, when his yearning and love-longing redoubled. Thereupon, by way of concealment, he disguised himself in the ragged garb of a Fakir,[FN#42] and set out wandering at random through the glooms of night, distracted and knowing not whither he went. So he wandered on all that night and next day, till the heat of the sun waxed fierce and the mountains flamed like fire and thirst was grievous upon him.

Presently, he espied a tree, by whose side was a thin thread of running water; so he made towards it and sitting down in the shade, on the bank of the rivulet, essayed to drink, but found that the water had no taste in his mouth;[FN#43] and, indeed his colour had changed and his face had yellowed, and his feet were swollen with travel and travail. So he shed copious tears and repeated these couplets,

 

“The lover is drunken with love of friend; *

On a longing that groweth his joys depend: Love-distracted, ardent, bewildered, lost *

From home, nor may food aught of pleasure lend: How can life be delightsome to one in love, *

And from lover parted, ‘twere strange, unkenned!

I melt with the fire of my pine for them, *

And the tears down my cheek in a stream descend.

Shall I see them, say me, or one that comes *

From the camp, who th’ afflicted heart shall tend?”

 

And after thus reciting he wept till he wetted the hard dry ground; but anon without loss of time he rose and fared on again over waste and wold, till there came out upon him a lion, with a neck buried in tangled mane, a head the bigness of a dome, a mouth wider than the door thereof and teeth like elephants’

tusks. Now when Uns al-Wujud saw him, he gave himself up for lost, and turning[FN#44] towards the Temple of Meccah, pronounced the professions of the faith and prepared for death. He had read in books that whoso will flatter the lion, beguileth him,[FN#45]

for that he is readily duped by smooth speech and gentled by being glorified; so he began and said, “O Lion of the forest! O

Lord of the waste! O terrible Leo! O father of fighters! O Sultan of wild beasts! Behold, I am a lover in longing, whom passion and severance have been wronging; since I parted from my dear, I have lost my reasoning gear; wherefore, to my speech do thou give ear and have ruth on my passion and hope and fear.” When the lion heard this, he drew back from him and sitting down on his hindquarters, raised his head to him and began to frisk tail and paws; which when Uns al-Wujud saw, he recited these couplets, “Lion of the wold wilt thou murther me, *

Ere I meet her who doomed me to slavery?

I am not game and I bear no fat; *

For the loss of my love makes me sickness dree; And estrangement from her hath so worn me down *

I am like a shape in a shroud we see.

O thou sire of spoils,[FN#46] O thou lion of war, *

Give not my pains to the blamer’s gree.

I burn with love, I am drowned in tears *

For a parting from lover, sore misery!

And my thoughts of her in the murk of night *

For love hath make my being unbe.”

 

As he had finished his lines the lion rose,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

 

When it was the Three Hundred and Seventy-fourth Night, She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that as Uns al-Wujud ended his lines, the lion arose and stalked slowly up to him, with eyes tear-railing and licked him with his tongue, then walked on before him, signing to him as though saying, “Follow me.” So he followed him, and the beast ceased not leading him on for a while till he brought him up a mountain, and guided him to the farther side, where he came upon the track of a caravan over the desert, and knew it to be that of Rose-in-Hood and her company. Then he took the trail and, when the lion saw that he knew the track for that of the party which escorted her, he turned back and went his way; whilst Uns al-Wujud walked along the foot-marks day and night, till they brought him to a dashing sea, swollen with clashing surge. The trail led down to the sandy shore and there broke off; whereby he knew that they had taken ship and had continued their journey by water. So he lost hope of finding his lover and with hot tears he repeated these couplets, “Far is the fane and patience faileth me; *

How can I seek them[FN#47] o’er the abyssmal sea; Or how be patient, when my vitals burn *

For love of them, and sleep waxed insomny?

Since the sad day they left the home and fled, *

My heart’s consumed by love’s ardency: Sayhun, Jayhun,[FN#48] Euphrates-like my tears, *

Make flood no deluged rain its like can see: Mine eyelids chafed with running tears remain, *

My heart from fiery sparks is never free; The hosts of love and longing pressed me *

And made the hosts of patience break and flee.

I’ve risked my life too freely for their love; *

And risk of life the least of ills shall be.

Allah ne’er punish eye that saw those charms *

Enshrined, and passing full moon’s brilliancy!

I found me felled by fair wide-opened eyes, *

Which pierced my heart with stringless archery: And soft, lithe, swaying shape enraptured me *

As sway the branches of the willow-tree: Wi’ them I covet union that I win, *

O’er love-pains cark and care, a mastery.

For love of them aye, morn and eve I pine, *

And doubt all came to me from evil eyne.”

 

And when his lines were ended he wept, till he swooned away, and abode in his swoon a long while; but as soon as he came to himself, he looked right and left and seeing no one in the desert, he became fearful of the wild beasts; so he clomb to the top of a high mountain, where he heard the voice of a son of Adam speaking within a cave. He listened and lo! they were the accents of a devotee, who had forsworn the world and given himself up to pious works and worship. He knocked thrice at the cavern-door, but the hermit made him no answer, neither came forth to him; wherefore he groaned aloud and recited these couplets.

 

“What pathway find