al-hakawati - 4-e- Tale of the Kazi and the Bhang-Eater - The Tale of the Sultan and His Sons and the Enchanting Bird

4-e- Tale of the Kazi and the Bhang-Eater - The Tale of the Sultan and His Sons and the Enchanting Bird

[FN#289] It is told anent a man, one of the Kings of Orient-land, that he had three sons, of whom the eldest one day of the days heard the folk saying, "In such a place there is a bird hight the shrilling Philomelet,[FN#290] which transmews everyone who comes to it into a form of stone. Now when the heir apparent heard this report he went to his father and said, ""Tis my desire to fare forth and to get that marvellous bird;" and said the father, "O my son, thou wouldst work only to waste thy life-blood and to deprive us of thee; for that same bird hath ruined Kings and Sultans, not to speak of Bashas and Sanjáks,[FN#291] men in whose claws[FN#292] thou wouldst be as nothing." But the son replied, "Needs must I go and if thou forbid my going I will kill myself." So quoth his father, "There is no Majesty and no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great;" and saith the son, "Affects are affected and steps are sped towards a world that is vile and distributed daily bread."[FN#293] Then he said to him, "O my child, set out upon thy journey and mayest thou win to thy wish." Hereupon they prepared for him somewhat of victual and he went forth on his wayfare. But before departing he took off his seal-ring from his finger and gave it to his second brother saying, "O my brother, an this signet press hard upon thy little finger do thou know and make certain that mishap hath happened to me." So the second Prince took it and put it upon his minim finger, after which the eldest youth farewelled his father and his mother and his brothers and the Lords of the land and departed seeking the city wherein the Bird woned. He ceased not travelling by nights and days, the whole of them, until he reached the place wherein was the bird Philomelet whose habit it was to take station upon his cage between mid-afternoon and sunset, when he would enter it to pass the night. And if any approached him with intent of capturing him, he would sit afar from the same and at set of sun he would take station upon the cage and would cry aloud speaking in a plaintive voice, "Ho thou who sayest to the mean and mesquin, "Lodge!"[FN#294] Ho thou who sayest to the sad and severed, "Lodge!" Ho thou who sayest to the woeful and doleful, "Lodge!"" Then if these words were grievous to the man standing before him and he make reply "Lodge!" ere the words could leave his lips the Bird would take a pinch of dust from beside the cage and hovering over the wight"s head would scatter it upon him and turn him into stone. At length arrived the youth who had resolved to seize the Bird and sat afar from him till set of sun: then Philomelet came and stood upon his cage and cried, "Ho thou who sayest to the mean and mesquin, "Lodge!" Ho thou who sayest to the sad and severed, "Lodge!" Ho thou who sayest to the woeful and the doleful, "Lodge!"" Now the cry was hard upon the young Prince and his heart was softened and he said, "Lodge!" This was at the time when the sun was disappearing, and as soon as he spake the word the Bird took a somewhat of dust and scattered it upon the head of the youth, who forthright became a stone. At that time his brother was sitting at home in thought concerning the wanderer, when behold, the signet squeezed his finger and he cried, "Verily my brother hath been despoiled of life and done to death!"--And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased saying her permitted say. Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, "How sweet and tasteful is thy tale, O sister mine, and enjoyable and delectable!" Quoth she, "And where is this compared with that I would relate to you on the coming night an the Sovran suffer me to survive?" Now when it was the next night and that was

The Four Hundred and Eighteenth Night,

Dunyazad said to her, "Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be other than sleepy, finish for us thy tale that we may cut short the watching of this our latter night!" She replied, "With love and good will!" It hath reached me, O auspicious King, the director, the right-guiding, lord of the rede which is benefiting and of deeds fair-seeming and worthy celebrating, that the second Prince, when the signet squeezed his little finger, cried out saying, "My brother, by Allah, is ruined and lost; but needs must I also set forth and look for him and find what hath befallen him." Accordingly he said to his sire, "O my father, "tis my desire to seek my brother;" and the old King answered, "Why, O my son, shouldst thou become like thy brother, both bereaving us of your company?" But the other rejoined, "There is no help for that nor will I sit at rest till I go after my lost one and espy what hath betided him." Thereupon his sire gave orders for his journey and got ready what would suffice him of victual, and he departed, but before he went he said to his youngest brother, "Take thou this ring and set it upon thy little finger, and if it press hard thereupon do thou understand and be certified that my life"s blood is shed and that I have perished." After this he farewelled them and travelled to the place of the Enchanting Bird, and he ceased not wayfaring for whole days and nights and nights and days until he arrived at that stead. Then he found the bird Philomelet and sat afar from him till about sundown when he took station upon his cage and began to cry, "Ho thou who sayest to the mean and mesguin, "Lodge!" Ho thou who sayest to the sad and severed, "Lodge!" Ho thou who sayest to the woeful and doleful, "Lodge!"" Now this cry of the Bird was hard upon the young Prince and he had no sooner pronounced the word "Lodge!" than the Philomelet took up somewhat of dust beside his cage and scattered it upon him, when forthright he became a stone lying beside his brother. Now the youngest of the three Princes was sitting at meat with his sire when suddenly the signet shrank till it was like to cut off his finger; so he rose forthright to his feet and said, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great." Quoth his father, "What is to do with thee, O my son?" and quoth he, "By Allah, my brother is ruined and wasted, so needs must I also fare forth and look after the twain of them." Exclaimed his sire, "Why, O my son, should you three be cut off?" but the other answered, "Needs must I do this, nor can I remain after them without going to see what hath betided them, and either we three shall return in safety and security or I also shall become one of them." So the father bade them prepare for his journey and after they had got ready for him a sufficiency of provision he farewelled him and the youth set out. But when he departed from his sire the old man and his wife filleted their brows with the fillets of sorrow[FN#295] and they fell to weeping by night and by day. Meanwhile the youth left not wayfaring till he reached the stead of the Bird and the hour was mid-afternoon, when he found his brothers ensorcelled to stones, and about sunset he sat down at the distance from Philomelet who took station upon his cage and began to cry, "Ho thou who sayest to the mean and mesquin, "Lodge!" Ho thou who sayest to the sad and severed, "Lodge!"" together with many words and instances of the same kind. But the Prince hardened his heart nor would speak the word, and albeit the Bird continued his cry none was found to answer him. Now when the sun evanished and he had kept up his appeal in vain he went into the cage, whereupon the youngest of the Princes arose and running up shut the door upon him. Quoth the Bird, "Thou hast done the deed, O son of the Sultan," and the youth replied, "Relate to me whatso thou hast wrought in magic to these creations of God." Replied Philomelet, "Beside thee lie two heaps of clay whereof one is white and the other blue: this is used in sorcery and that to loose the spells."--And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased to say her permitted say. Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, "How sweet is thy story, O sister mine, and how enjoyable and delectable!" Quoth she, "And where is this compared with that I should relate to you on the coming night an the Sovran suffer me to survive?" Now when it was the next night and that was

The Four Hundred and Twentieth Night,

Dunyazad said to her, "Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be other than sleepy, finish for us thy tale that we may cut short the watching of this our latter night!" She replied, "With love and good will!" It hath reached me, O auspicious King, the director, the right-guiding, lord of the rede which is benefiting and of deeds fair-seeming and worthy celebrating, that the Bird said to the youngest son of the Sultan, "By the side of my cage are two heaps of clay, this blue and that white; and the first is the material for sorcery whilst the second looseth the spell." Hereupon the youth approached them and finding the mounds took somewhat of the white and scattered it upon the stones and cried, "Be ye returned unto your olden shapes;" and, as he did so, each and every of the stones became men as they had been. Now amongst them were sundry sons of the Sultans, also the children of Kings and Wazirs and Bashas and Lords of the land, and of the number two were the elder brothers of the young Prince: so they salamed to him and all congratulated one another to their safety. After this one came forward to the youth and said to him, "Verily this place is a city, all and some of whose folk are ensorcelled." So he took a somewhat of clay from the white and entered the streets, where, finding the case as described to him, he fell to sifting the clay upon them and they were transmewed from statutes of stone into the shapes of Adam"s sons. Then, at last, the sons of that city rose one and all and began offering to the Prince gifts and rarities until he had of them a mighty matter. But when his brothers saw that he had become master of the bird Philomelet and his cage, and all these presents and choice treasures, they were filled with envy of him[FN#296] and said each to other, "How shall our brother win him all this and we abide with him in servile condition, especially when we hie us homewards and return to our own land? And will not folk say that the salvation of the two elder brothers was by the hand of the youngest? But we cannot endure such disgrace as this!" So envy entered them and in their jealousy they planned and plotted the death of their cadet, who knew not that was in their minds or whatso was hidden from him in the Limbo of Secrets. And when they had wrought their work the youngest Prince arose and bade his pages and eunuchs lade the loads upon the camels and mules and, when they had done his bidding, they all set forth on the homewards march. They travelled for whole days and nights till they drew near their destination and the youngest Prince bade his attendants seeks an open place where in they might take repose, and they said, "Hearkening and obedience." But when they came upon it they found a well builded of stone, and the brothers said to the cadet, "This be a place befitting the rest by reason of this well benign here; for the water thereof is sweet and good for our drink and therefifth we can supply our folk and our beasts." Replied the youth, "This is what we desire." So they set up their tents hard by that well, and when the camp was pitched they let prepare the evening meal, and as soon as it was sunset-tide they spread the trays and supped their sufficiency until presently night came down upon them. Now the youngest Prince had a bezel"d signet-ring which he had taken from the bird Philomelet, and he was so careful thereof that he never slept without it. But his brothers awaited until he was drowned in sleep, when coming softly upon him they pinioned him and carried him off and cast him into the well without anyone knowing aught thereof. Then as soon as morning morrowed the two eldest Princes arose and commanded the attendants to load, but these said to them, "Where be our lord?" and said the others, "He is sleeping in the Takhtrawán." So the camel men arose and loaded the loads and the litter and the two Princes sent forwards to the King their sire a messenger of glad tidings who when he found him informed him of the fair news. Accordingly he and all his Lords took horse and rode forth to meet his sons upon the road that he might salam to them and give them joy of their safe return. Now he chanced in their train to catch sight of the caged bird which is called "the shrilling Philomelet," and he rejoiced thereat and asked them, "How did ye become masters of him?" Then he enquired anent their brother.--And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased to say her permitted say. Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, "How sweet and tasteful is thy tale, O sister mine, and enjoyable and delectable!" Quoth she, "And where is this compared with that I would relate to you on the coming night an the Sovran suffer me to survive?" Now when it was the next night and that was

The Four Hundred and Twenty-second Night,

Dunyazad said to her, "Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be other than sleepy, finish for us thy tale that we may cut short the watching of this our latter night." She replied, "With love and good will!" It hath reached me, O auspicious King, the director, the right-guiding, lord of the rede which is benefiting and of deeds fair-seeming and worthy celebrating, that the Sultan enquired of the two elder sons concerning their younger brother and they said, "We made ourselves masters of the Bird and we have brought him hither and we know nothing about our cadet." However, the King who loved his youngest with exceeding love put the question, "Have ye not looked after him and have ye not been in his company?" whereto they answered saying, "A certain wayfarer declared to have seen him on some path or other." When the father heard this from them he cried, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great;" and he fell to striking palm upon palm.[FN#297] On this wise it befel these, but as regards the case of their brother, when they cast him into the well he awoke from his sleep and he felt himself falling into the depths, so he cried, "I take refuge with the All-sufficient Words of Allah[FN#298] from the mischief He hath created." And by the blessing of these Holy Names he reached the sole of the well without aught of harm or hurt. Here finding himself pinioned, he strained upon his bonds and loosed them; but the well was deep of bottom and he came upon an arched recess, so he sat in it and exclaimed, "Verily we are Allah"s and to Him we are returning and I who wrought for them such work[FN#299] am rewarded with the contrary thereof; withal the power is unto Allah." And suddenly he heard the sound of speaking at some little distance beside him, and the voice was saying, "O Black of Head, who hath come amongst us?" and his comrade responded, "By Allah, this youth is the son of the Sultan and his best beloved, and the same hath released his brothers from sorcery and was carrying them to their homes when they played him false and cast him into this well. However, he hath a signet-ring with a bezel which if he rub "twill bespeak him with whatso he desireth, and will do what he may wish." So the Prince said in his mind, "I bid the Servant of this Ring to take me out;" after which he rubbed it and the Jinni appeared and cried, "Yea verily, O son of the Sultan, what is it thou requirest of me?"--And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased to say her permitted say. Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, "How sweet is thy story, O sister mine, and how enjoyable and delectable!" Quoth she, "And where is this compared with that I should relate to you on the coming night an the Sovran suffer me to survive?" Now when it was the next night and that was

The Four Hundred and Twenty-third Night,

Dunyazad said to her, "Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be other than sleepy, finish for us thy tale that we may cut short the watching of this our latter night!" She replied, "With love and good will!" It hath reached me, O auspicious King, the director, the right-guiding, lord of the rede which is benefiting and of deeds fair-seeming and worthy celebrating, that the Ring-bezel said to him, "What dost thou require of me?" and said the Prince, "I demand that thou hoist me out of the well: and this done that thou summon for me an host with Pages and Eunuchs and tents and pavilions and ensigns and banners." Whereto the other replied, "Present."[FN#300] Then he brought him forth the well and the youth found hard by it all he needed, so he bade them load their belongings upon the beasts and when this was done he set out seeking the city of his sire. And as he drew so near it that it was within shot of eye, he alighted there upon a broad plain and ordered them to pitch the camp. Accordingly they set up the tents and the sitting pavilions while the Farrashes fell to sprinkling water upon the ground afront the abodes and to setting up the ensigns and colours whilst the band of kettledrums went dub-a-dub and the trumpets blared tantaras. The cooks also began at once to prepare the evening meal. Now when the cityfolk saw this pomp and circumstance, they held in their minds that the new comer was some Sultan approaching to take their town; so they gathered together and went in to their own King and informed him thereof. But he, having heard their words, felt his heart melt and his vitals throb and a certain joy penetrate into his heart, so he said, "Praise to the Lord, there hath entered into my heart a certain manner of pleasure, albeit I know not what may be the case and Allah hath said in his Holy Book, "We have heard good news.""[FN#301] Hereupon he and the Lords of his land took horse and rode till they reached the front of the pavilions where the King dismounted from his steed. Now the Prince his younger son was dressed in a habit that might have belonged to a hidden Hoard, and when he saw his father he recognised him, so he rose and met him and kissed his hands, but his sire knew him not by reason of the case the youth was in, so he supposed him to be a strange Sultan. Presently, the Prince asked him, "Where be thy youngest son?" and the King hearing this fell down a-fainting, but, soon recovering from his swoon, he said, "Verily my son hath wasted the blood of his life and hath become food for wild beasts." Hereupon the youth laughed aloud and cried, "By Allah, thy son hath not suffered aught from the shifts and changes of the World, and he is still in the bonds of life, safe and sound; nor hath there befallen him anything of harm whatever." "Where is he?" quoth the father: "He standeth between thy hands," quoth the son. So the Sultan looked at him and straightly considering him found that it was his very son who was bespeaking him, and of his delight he threw his arms around his neck and fell with him aswoon to the ground. This lasted for a full-told hour; but when he recovered from his fainting he asked his son what had betided him, so he told all that had befallen, to wit how he had become master of the Enchanting Bird Philomelet, and also of the magical clay wherewith he had besprinkled his brethren and others of the city-folk who had been turned to stone, all and some, and how they had returned to the shapes whilome they wore. Moreover he recounted to him the presents and offerings which had been made to him and also how, when they arrived at a certain place, his brothers had pinioned him and cast him into the well. And ere he finished speaking, lo and behold! the two other Princes came in and when they looked upon his condition and noted the state of prosperity he was in, surrounded as he was by all manner of weal, they felt only increase of envy and malice. But as soon as their sire espied them he cried, "Ye have betrayed me in my son and have lied to me and, by Allah, there is no retribution for you on my part save death;" and hereupon the Sultan bade do them die. Then the youngest Prince made intercession for his brethren and said, "O my sire, whoso doeth a deed shall meet its deserts," and thus he obtained their pardon. So they passed that night one and all in camp and when morning morrowed they loaded and returned to the city and all were in the most pleasurable condition. Now when the King heard this tale from the owner of the fruit it pleased him and he rejoiced therein and said, "By Allah, O Shaykh, indeed that hath gone from us which we had of cark and care; and in good sooth this history deserveth that it be written with water of gold upon the pages of men"s hearts." Replied the other, "By Allah, O King of the Age, this adventure is marvellous, but I have another more wondrous and pleasurable and delectable than any thou hast yet heard." Quoth the Sultan, "Needs must thou repeat it to us," and quoth the fruit-seller, "Inshallah-God willing-I will recite it to thee on the coming night." Hereupon the Sultan called for a hand-maiden who was a model of beauty and loveliness and stature and perfect grace and from the time of his buying her he never had connection with her nor had he once slept with her, and he gave her in honourable gift to the reciter. Then he set apart for them both an apartment with its furniture and appurtenances and the slave-girl rejoined greatly thereat. Now when she went in to her new lord she donned her best of dresses so he lay down beside her and sought carnal copulation, but his prickle would not stand erect, as was its wont, although he knew not the cause thereof.--And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased saying her permitted say. Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, "How sweet and tasteful is thy tale, O sister mine, and enjoyable and delectable!" Quoth she, "And where is this compared with that I would relate to you on the coming night an the Sovran suffer me to survive?" Now when it was the next night and that was

The four hundred and twenty-fifth night,