The Shaving of Shagpat by George Meredith (good books to read in english .TXT) 📕

restore her to a bloom, and it is certain youth is somehow stolen from her, if the Vizier Feshnavat went before her, and his blood be her blood; and he is powerful, she wise. I’ll decide to act the part of a rejoicer, and express of her opinions honeyed to the soul of that sex.”

Now, while he was thus debating he hung his head, and the Vizier awaited his response, knitting his brows angrily at the delay, and at the last he cried, “What! no answer? how’s this? Shall thy like dare hold debate when questioned of my like? And is my daughter Noorna bin Noorka, thinkest thou, a slave-girl in the market⁠—thou haggling at her price, O thou nephew of the barber?”

So Shibli Bagarag exclaimed, “O exalted one, bestower of the bride! surely I debated with myself but for appropriate terms; and I delayed to select the metre of the verse fitting my thoughts of her, and my wondrous good fortune, and the honour done me.”

Then the Vizier, “Let us hear: we listen.”

And Shibli Bagarag was advised to deal with illustrations in his dilemma, byways of expression, and spake in extemporaneous verse, and with a full voice:

“The pupils of the Sage for living Beauty sought;
And one a Vision clasped, and one a Model wrought.
‘I have it!’ each exclaimed, and rivalry arose:
‘Paint me thy Maid of air!’ ‘Thy Grace of clay disclose.’
‘What! limbs that cannot move!’ ‘What! lips that melt away!’
‘Keep thou thy Maid of air!’ ‘Shroud up thy Grace of clay!’
’Twas thus, contending hot, they went before the Sage,
And knelt at the wise wells of cold ascetic age.
‘The fairest of the twain, O father, thou record:’
He answered, ‘Fairest she who’s likest to her lord.’
Said they, ‘What fairer thing matched with them might prevail?’
The Sage austerely smiled, and said, ‘Yon monkey’s tail.’

’Tis left for after-time his wisdom to declare:
That’s loveliest we best love, and to ourselves compare.
Yet lovelier than all hands shape or fancies build,
The meanest thing of Earth God with his fire hath filled.”

Now, when Shibli Bagarag ceased, Noorna bin Noorka cried, “Enough, O wondrous turner of verse, thou that art honest!” And she laughed loudly, rustling like a bag of shavings, and rolling in her laughter.

Then said she, “O my betrothed, is not the thing thou wouldst say no other than⁠—

“ ‘Each to his mind doth the fairest enfold,
For broken long since was Beauty’s mould’;

“and, ‘Thou that art old, withered, I cannot flatter thee, as I can in no way pay compliments to the monkey’s tail of high design; nevertheless the Sage would do thee honour’? So read I thy illustration, O keen of wit! and thou art forgiven its boldness, my betrothed⁠—Wullahy! utterly so.”

Now, the youth was abashed at her discernment, and the kindliness of her manner won him to say:

“There’s many a flower of sweetness, there’s many a gem of Earth
Would thrill with bliss our being, could we perceive its worth.
O beauteous is creation, in fashion and device!
If I have fail’d to think thee fair, ’tis blindness is my vice.”

And she answered him:

“I’ve proved thy wit and power of verse,
That is at will diffuse and terse:
Lest thou commence to lie⁠—be dumb!
I am content: the time will come!”

Then she said to the Vizier Feshnavat, “O my father, there is all in this youth, the nephew of the barber, that’s desirable for the undertaking; and his feet will be on a level with the task we propose for him, he the height of man above it. ’Tis clear that vanity will trip him, but honesty is a strong upholder; and he is one that hath the spirit of enterprise and the mask of dissimulation: gratitude I observe in him; and it is as I thought when I came upon him on the sand-hill outside the city, that his star is clearly in a web with our star, he destined for the Shaving of Shagpat.”

So the Vizier replied, “He hath had thwackings, yet is he not deterred from making further attempt on Shagpat. I think well of him, and I augur hopefully. Wullahy! the Qadi shall be sent for; I can sleep in his secrecy; and he shall perform the ceremonies of betrothal, even now and where we sit, and it shall be for him to write the terms of contract: so shall we bind the youth firmly to us, and he will be one of us as we are, devoted to the undertaking by three bonds⁠—the bond of vengeance, the bond of ambition, and that of love.”

Now, so it was that the Vizier despatched a summons for the attendance of the Qadi, and he came and performed between Shibli Bagarag and Noorna bin Noorka ceremonies of betrothal, and wrote terms of contract; and they were witnessed duly by the legal number of witnesses, and so worded that he had no claim on her as wife till such time as the Event to which he bound himself was mastered. Then the fees being paid, and compliments interchanged, the Vizier exclaimed, “Be ye happy! and let the weak cling to the strong; and be ye two to one in this world, and no split halves that betray division and stick not together when the gum is heated.” Then he made a sign to the Qadi and them that had witnessed the contract to follow him, leaving the betrothed ones to their own company.

So when they were alone Noorna gazed on the youth wistfully, and said in a soft tone, “Thou art dazed with the adventure, O youth! Surely there is one kiss owing me: art thou willing? Am I reduced to beg it of thee? Or dream’st thou?”

He lifted his head and replied, “Even so.”

Thereat he stood up languidly, and went to her and kissed her. And she smiled and said, “I wot it will be otherwise, and thou wilt learn swiftness of limb, brightness of eye, and the longing for earthly beatitude, when next I ask thee, O my betrothed!”

Lo! while