Must Read: Arabian night: - Season 1 - Episode 15

Episode 6 years ago

Must Read: Arabian night: - Season 1 - Episode 15

Third Kalendar, Son of a King…
..
..
My story, said the Third kalendar, is quite
different from those of my two friends. It
was fate that deprived them of the sight
of their right eyes, but mine was lost by
my own folly.

My name is Agib, and I am the son of a
king called Cassib, who reigned over a
large kingdom, which had for its capital
one of the finest seaport towns in the
world.

When I succeeded to my father’s throne
my first care was to visit the provinces on
the mainland, and then to sail to the
numerous islands which lay off the shore,
in order to gain the hearts of my
subjects. These voyages gave me such a
taste for sailing that I soon determined to
explore more distant seas, and
commanded a fleet of large ships to be
got ready without delay. When they were
properly fitted out I embarked on my
expedition.

For forty days wind and weather were all
in our favour, but the next night a terrific
storm arose, which blew us hither and
thither for ten days, till the pilot
confessed that he had quite lost his
bearings. Accordingly a sailor was sent up
to the masthead to try to catch a sight of
land, and reported that nothing was to be
seen but the sea and sky, except a huge
mass of blackness that lay astern.

On hearing this the pilot grew white, and,
beating his b----t, he cried, “Oh, sir, we
are lost, lost!” till the ship’s crew
trembled at they knew not what. When
he had recovered himself a little, and was
able to explain the cause of his terror, he
replied, in answer to my question, that
we had drifted far out of our course, and
that the following day about noon we
should come near that mass of darkness,
which, said he, is nothing but the famous
Black Mountain. This mountain is
composed of adamant, which attracts to
itself all the iron and nails in your ship;
and as we are helplessly drawn nearer,
the force of attraction will become so
great that the iron and nails will fall out
of the ships and cling to the mountain,
and the ships will sink to the bottom with
all that are in them. This it is that causes
the side of the mountain towards the sea
to appear of such a dense blackness.

As may be supposed–continued the pilot–
the mountain sides are very rugged, but
on the summit stands a brass dome
supported on pillars, and bearing on top
the figure of a brass horse, with a rider
on his back. This rider wears a
breastplate of lead, on which strange
signs and figures are engraved, and it is
said that as long as this statue remains on
the dome, vessels will never cease to
perish at the foot of the mountain.

So saying, the pilot began to weep afresh,
and the crew, fearing their last hour had
come, made their wills, each one in
favour of his fellow.

At noon next day, as the pilot had
foretold, we were so near to the Black
Mountain that we saw all the nails and
iron fly out of the ships and dash
themselves against the mountain with a
horrible noise. A moment after the
vessels fell asunder and sank, the crews
with them. I alone managed to grasp a
floating plank, and was driven ashore by
the wind, without even a scratch. What
was my joy on finding myself at the
bottom of some steps which led straight
up the mountain, for there was not
another inch to the right or the left where
a man could set his foot. And, indeed,
even the steps themselves were so
narrow and so steep that, if the lightest
breeze had arisen, I should certainly have
been blown into the sea.

When I reached the top I found the brass
dome and the statue exactly as the pilot
had described, but was too wearied with
all I had gone through to do more than
glance at them, and, flinging myself
under the dome, was asleep in an instant.

In my dreams an old man appeared to
me and said, “Hearken, Agib! As soon as
thou art awake dig up the ground
underfoot, and thou shalt find a bow of
brass and three arrows of lead. Shoot the
arrows at the statue, and the rider shall
tumble into the sea, but the horse will
fall down by thy side, and thou shalt bury
him in the place from which thou tookest
the bow and arrows. This being done the
sea will rise and cover the mountain, and
on it thou wilt perceive the figure of a
metal man seated in a boat, having an
oar in each hand. Step on board and let
him conduct thee; but if thou wouldest
behold thy kingdom again, see that thou
takest not the name of Allah into thy
mouth.”

Having uttered these words the vision left
me, and I woke, much comforted. I
sprang up and drew the bow and arrows
out of the ground, and with the third
shot the horseman fell with a great crash
into the sea, which instantly began to
rise, so rapidly, that I had hardly time to
bury the horse before the boat
approached me. I stepped silently in and
sat down, and the metal man pushed off,
and rowed without stopping for nine
days, after which land appeared on the
horizon. I was so overcome with joy at
this sight that I forgot all the old man had
told me, and cried out, “Allah be praised!
Allah be praised!”

The words were scarcely out of my
mouth when the boat and man sank from
beneath me, and left me floating on the
surface. All that day and the next night I
swam and floated alternately, making as
well as I could for the land which was
nearest to me. At last my strength began
to fail, and I gave myself up for lost,
when the wind suddenly rose, and a huge
wave cast me on a flat shore. Then,
placing myself in safety, I hastily spread
my clothes out to dry in the sun, and
flung myself on the warm ground to rest.

Next morning I dressed myself and began
to look about me. There seemed to be no
one but myself on the island, which was
covered with fruit trees and watered with
streams, but seemed a long distance from
the mainland which I hoped to reach.

Before, however, I had time to feel cast
down, I saw a ship making directly for
the island, and not knowing whether it
would contain friends or foes, I hid
myself in the thick branches of a tree.

The sailors ran the ship into a creek,
where ten slaves landed, carrying spades
and pickaxes. In the middle of the island
they stopped, and after digging some
time, lifted up what seemed to be a
trapdoor. They then returned to the
vessel two or three times for furniture
and provisions, and finally were
accompanied by an old man, leading a
handsome boy of fourteen or fifteen
years of age. They all disappeared down
the trapdoor, and after remaining below
for a few minutes came up again, but
without the boy, and let down the
trapdoor, covering it with earth as before.

This done, they entered the ship and set
sail.

As soon as they were out of sight, I came
down from my tree, and went to the
place where the boy had been buried.

I dug up the earth till I reached a large
stone with a ring in the centre. This,
when removed, disclosed a flight of stone
steps which led to a large room richly
furnished and lighted by tapers. On a pile
of cushions, covered with tapestry, sat
the boy. He looked up, startled and
frightened at the sight of a stranger in
such a place, and to soothe his fears, I at
once spoke: “Be not alarmed, sir,
whoever you may be. I am a king, and
the son of a king, and will do you no
hurt. On the contrary, perhaps I have
been sent here to deliver you out of this
tomb, where you have been buried
alive.”

Hearing my words, the young man
recovered himself, and when I had
ended, he said, “The reasons, Prince, that
have caused me to be buried in this place
are so strange that they cannot but
surprise you. My father is a rich
merchant, owning much land and many
ships, and has great dealings in precious
stones, but he never ceased mourning
that he had no child to inherit his wealth.

“At length one day he dreamed that the
following year a son would be born to
him, and when this actually happened, he
consulted all the wise men in the
kingdom as to the future of the infant.
One and all they said the same thing. I
was to live happily till I was fifteen, when
a terrible danger awaited me, which I
should hardly escape. If, however, I
should succeed in doing so, I should live
to a great old age. And, they added, when
the statue of the brass horse on the top of
the mountain of adamant is thrown into
the sea by Agib, the son of Cassib, then
beware, for fifty days later your son shall
fall by his hand!

“This prophecy struck the heart of my
father with such woe, that he never got
over it, but that did not prevent him from
attending carefully to my education till I
attained, a short time ago, my fifteenth
birthday. It was only yesterday that the
news reached him that ten days
previously the statue of brass had been
thrown into the sea, and he at once set
about hiding me in this underground
chamber, which was built for the
purpose, promising to fetch me out when
the forty days have passed. For myself, I
have no fears, as Prince Agib is not likely
to come here to look for me.”

I listened to his story with an inward
laugh as to the absurdity of my ever
wishing to cause the death of this
harmless boy, whom I hastened to assure
of my friendship and even of my
protection; begging him, in return, to
convey me in his father’s ship to my own
country. I need hardly say that I took
special care not to inform him that I was
the Agib whom he dreaded.

The day passed in conversation on
various subjects, and I found him a youth
of ready wit and of some learning. I took
on myself the duties of a servant, held
the basin and water for him when he
washed, prepared the dinner and set it
on the table. He soon grew to love me,
and for thirty-nine days we spent as
pleasant an existence as could be
expected underground.

The morning of the fortieth dawned, and
the young man when he woke gave
thanks in an outburst of joy that the
danger was passed. “My father may be
here at any moment,” said he, “so make me, I pray you, a bath of hot water, that I may bathe, and change my clothes, and
be ready to receive him.”

So I fetched the water as he asked, and
washed and rubbed him, after which he
lay down again and slept a little. When
he opened his eyes for the second time,
he begged me to bring him a melon and
some sugar, that he might eat and refresh
himself.

I soon chose a fine melon out of those
which remained, but could find no knife
to cut it with. “Look in the cornice over
my head,” said he, “and I think you will see one.” It was so high above me, that I had some difficulty in reaching it, and
catching my foot in the covering of the
bed, I slipped, and fell right upon the
young man, the knife going straight into
his heart.

At this awful sight I shrieked aloud in my
grief and pain. I threw myself on the
ground and rent my clothes and tore my
hair with sorrow. Then, fearing to be
punished as his murderer by the
unhappy father, I raised the great stone
which blocked the staircase, and quitting
the underground chamber, made
everything fast as before.

Scarcely had I finished when, looking out
to sea, I saw the vessel heading for the
island, and, feeling that it would be
useless for me to protest my innocence, I
again concealed myself among the
branches of a tree that grew near by.

The old man and his slaves pushed off in
a boat directly the ship touched land, and
walked quickly towards the entrance to
the underground chamber; but when
they were near enough to see that the
earth had been disturbed, they paused
and changed colour. In silence they all
went down and called to the youth by
name; then for a moment I heard no
more. Suddenly a fearful scream rent the
air, and the next instant the slaves came
up the steps, carrying with them the body
of the old man, who had fainted from
sorrow! Laying him down at the foot of
the tree in which I had taken shelter, they
did their best to recover him, but it took
a long while. When at last he revived,
they left him to dig a grave, and then
laying the young man’s body in it, they
threw in the earth.

This ended, the slaves brought up all the
furniture that remained below, and put it
on the vessel, and breaking some boughs
to weave a litter, they la!d the old man
on it, and carried him to the ship, which
spread its sails and stood out to sea.

So once more I was quite alone, and for a
whole month I walked daily over the
island, seeking for some chance of
escape. At length one day it struck me
that my prison had grown much larger,
and that the mainland seemed to be
nearer. My heart beat at this thought,
which was almost too good to be true.

I watched a little longer: there was no
doubt about it, and soon there was only a
tiny stream for me to cross.

Even when I was safe on the other side I
had a long distance to go on the mud and
sand before I reached dry ground, and
very tired I was, when far in front of me I
caught sight of a castle of red copper,
which, at first sight, I took to be a fire.

I made all the haste I could, and after some
miles of hard walking stood before it,
and gazed at it in astonishment, for it
seemed to me the most wonderful
building I had ever beheld. While I was
still staring at it, there came towards me
a tall old man, accompanied by ten
young men, all handsome, and all blind
of the right eye.

Now in its way, the spectacle of ten men
walking together, all blind of the right
eye, is as uncommon as that of a copper
castle, and I was turning over in my mind
what could be the meaning of this
strange fact, when they greeted me
warmly, and inquired what had brought
me there. I replied that my story was
somewhat long, but that if they would
take the trouble to sit down, I should be
happy to tell it them. When I had
finished, the young men begged that I
would go with them to the castle, and I
joyfully accepted their offer. We passed
through what seemed to me an endless
number of rooms, and came at length
into a large hall, furnished with ten small
blue sofas for the ten young men, which
served as beds as well as chairs, and with
another sofa in the middle for the old
man. As none of the sofas could hold
more than one person, they bade me
place myself on the carpet, and to ask no
questions about anything I should see.

After a little while the old man rose and
brought in supper, which I ate heartily,
for I was very hungry. Then one of the
young men begged me to repeat my
story, which had struck them all with
astonishment, and when I had ended, the
old man was bidden to “do his duty,” as it was late, and they wished to go to bed.
At these words he rose, and went to a
closet, from which he brought out ten
basins, all covered with blue stuff. He set
one before each of the young men,
together with a lighted taper.

When the covers were taken off the
basins, I saw they were filled with ashes,
coal-dust, and lamp-black. The young
men mixed these all together, and
smeared the whole over their heads and
faces. They then wept and beat their
b-----s, crying, “This is the fruit of
idleness, and of our wicked lives.”

This ceremony lasted nearly the whole
night, and when it stopped they washed
themselves carefully, and put on fresh
clothes, and lay down to sleep.

All this while I had refrained from
questions, though my curiosity almost
seemed to burn a hole in me, but the
following day, when we went out to walk,
I said to them, “Gentlemen, I must
disobey your wishes, for I can keep
silence no more. You do not appear to
lack wit, yet you do such actions as none
but madmen could be capable of.

Whatever befalls me I cannot forbear
asking, `Why you daub your faces with
black, and how it is you are all blind of
one eye?’” But they only answered that
such questions were none of my
business, and that I should do well to
hold my peace.

During that day we spoke of other things,
but when night came, and the same
ceremony was repeated, I implored them
most earnestly to let me know the
meaning of it all.

“It is for your own sake,” replied one of
the young men, “that we have not
granted your request, and to preserve
you from our unfortunate fate. If,
however, you wish to share our destiny
we will delay no longer.”

I answered that whatever might be the
consequence I wished to have my
curiosity satisfied, and that I would take
the result on my own head. He then
assured me that, even when I had lost my
eye, I should be unable to remain with
them, as their number was complete, and
could not be added to. But to this I
replied that, though I should be grieved
to part company with such honest
gentlemen, I would not be turned from
my resolution on that account.

On hearing my determination my ten
hosts then took a sheep and killed it, and
handed me a knife, which they said I
should by-and-by find useful. “We must
sew you into this sheep-skin,” said they,
“and then leave you. A fowl of monstrous
size, called a roc, will appear in the air,
taking you to be a sheep. He will snatch
you up and carry you into the sky, but be
not alarmed, for he will bring you safely
down and lay you on the top of a
mountain. When you are on the ground
cut the skin with the knife and throw it
off. As soon as the roc sees you he will fly
away from fear, but you must walk on till
you come to a castle covered with plates
of gold, studded with jewels. Enter boldly
at the gate, which always stands open,
but do not ask us to tell you what we saw
or what befel us there, for that you will
learn for yourself. This only we may say,
that it cost us each our right eye, and has
imposed upon us our nightly penance.”

After the young gentlemen had been at
the trouble of sewing the sheep-skin on
me they left me, and retired to the hall.

In a few minutes the roc appeared, and
bore me off to the top of the mountain in
his huge claws as lightly as if I had been a
feather, for this great white bird is so
strong that he has been known to carry
even an elephant to his nest in the hills.

The moment my feet touched the ground
I took out my knife and cut the threads
that bound me, and the sight of me in my
proper clothes so alarmed the roc that he
spread his wings and flew away. Then I
set out to seek the castle.

I found it after wandering about for half
a day, and never could I have imagined
anything so glorious. The gate led into a
square court, into which opened a
hundred doors, ninety-nine of them
being of rare woods and one of gold.

Through each of these doors I caught
glimpses of splendid gardens or of rich
storehouses.

Entering one of the doors which was
standing open I found myself in a vast
hall where forty young ladies,
magnificently dressed, and of perfect
beauty, were reclining. As soon as they
saw me they rose and uttered words of
welcome, and even forced me to take
possession of a seat that was higher than
their own, though my proper place was at
their feet. Not content with this, one
brought me splendid garments, while
another filled a basin with scented water
and poured it over my hands, and the
rest busied themselves with preparing
refreshments. After I had eaten and
drunk of the most delicate food and
rarest wines, the ladies crowded round
me and begged me to tell them all my
adventures.

By the time I had finished night had
fallen, and the ladies lighted up the castle
with such a prodigious quantity of tapers
that even day could hardly have been
brighter. We then sat down to a supper
of dried fruits and sweetmeats, after
which some sang and others danced.

I was so well amused that I did not notice
how the time was passing, but at length
one of the ladies approached and
informed me it was midnight, and that, as
I must be tired, she would conduct me to
the room that had been prepared for me.

Then, bidding me good-night, I was left
to sleep.

I spent the next thirty-nine days in much
the same way as the first, but at the close
of that time the ladies appeared (as was
their custom) in my room one morning to
inquire how I had slept, and instead of
looking cheerful and smiling they were in
floods of tears. “Prince,” said they, “we
must leave you, and never was it so hard
to part from any of our friends. Most
likely we shall never see you again, but if
you have sufficient self-command
perhaps we may yet look forward to a
meeting.”

“Ladies,” I replied, “what is the meaning
of these strange words– I pray you to tell
me?”

“Know then,” answered one of them,
“that we are all princesses– each a king’s
daughter. We live in this castle together,
in the way that you have seen, but at the
end of every year secret duties call us
away for the space of forty days. The time
has now come; but before we depart, we
will leave you our keys, so that you may
not lack entertainment during our
absence. But one thing we would ask of
you. The Golden Door, alone, forbear to
open, as you value your own peace, and
the happiness of your life. That door once
unlocked, we must bid you farewell for
ever.”

Weeping, I assured them of my prudence,
and after embracing me tenderly, they
went their ways.

Every day I opened two or three fresh
doors, each of which contained behind it
so many curious things that I had no
chance of feeling dull, much as I
regretted the absence of the ladies.
Sometimes it was an orchard, whose fruit
far exceeded in bigness any that grew in
my father’s garden. Sometimes it was a
court planted with roses, jessamine,
dafeodils, hyacinths and anemones, and a
thousand other flowers of which I did not
know the names. Or again, it would be an
aviary, fitted with all kinds of singing
birds, or a treasury heaped up with
precious stones; but whatever I might
see, all was perfect of its own sort.

Thirty-nine days passed away more
rapidly than I could have conceived
possible, and the following morning the
princesses were to return to the castle.
But alas! I had explored every corner,
save only the room that was shut in by
the Golden Door, and I had no longer
anything to amuse myself with. I stood
before the forbidden place for some time,
gazing at its beauty; then a happy
inspiration struck me, that because I
unlocked the door it was not necessary
that I should enter the chamber. It would
be enough for me to stand outside and
view whatever hidden wonders might be
therein.

Thus arguing against my own conscience,
I turned the key, when a smell rushed out
that, pleasant though it was, overcame
me completely, and I fell fainting across
the threshold. Instead of being warned by
this accident, directly I came to myself I
went for a few moments into the air to
shake of the effects of the perfume, and
then entered boldly. I found myself in a
large, vaulted room, lighted by tapers,
scented with aloes and ambergris,
standing in golden candle-sticks, whilst
gold and silver lamps hung from the
ceiling.

Though objects of rare workmanship lay
heaped around me, I paid them scant
attention, so much was I struck by a great
black horse which stood in one corner,
the handsomest and best-shaped animal I
had ever seen. His saddle and bridle were
of massive gold, curiously wrought; one
side of his trough was filled with clean
barley and sesame, and the other with
rose water. I led the animal into the open
air, and then jumped on his back,
shaking the reins as I did so, but as he
never stirred, I touched him lightly with a
switch I had picked up in his stable. No
sooner did he feel the stroke, than he
spread his wings (which I had not
perceived before), and flew up with me
straight into the sky. When he had
reached a prodigious height, he next
darted back to earth, and alighted on the
terrace belonging to a castle, shaking me
violently out of the saddle as he did so,
and giving me such a blow with his tail,
that he knocked out my right eye.

Half-stunned as I was with all that had
happened to me, I rose to my feet,
thinking as I did so of what had befallen
the ten young men, and watching the
horse which was soaring into the clouds.

I left the terrace and wandered on till I
came to a hall, which I knew to have
been the one from which the roc had
taken me, by the ten blue sofas against
the wall.

The ten young men were not present
when I first entered, but came in soon
after, accompanied by the old man.

They greeted me kindly, and bewailed my
misfortune, though, indeed, they had
expected nothing less. “All that has
happened to you,” they said, “we also
have undergone, and we should be
enjoying the same happiness still, had we
not opened the Golden Door while the
princesses were absent. You have been
no wiser than we, and have suffered the
same punishment. We would gladly
receive you among us, to perform such
penance as we do, but we have already
told you that this is impossible. Depart,
therefore, from hence and go to the Court
of Baghdad, where you shall meet with
him that can decide your destiny.” They
told me the way I was to travel, and I left
them.

On the road I caused my beard and
eyebrows to be shaved, and put on a
kalendar’s habit. I have had a long
journey, but arrived this evening in the
city, where I met my brother kalendars at
the gate, being strangers like myself. We
wondered much at one another, to see
we were all blind of the same eye, but
we had no leisure to discourse at length
of our common calamities. We had only
so much time as to come hither to
implore those favours which you have
been generously pleased to grant us.
He finished, and it was Zobeida’s turn to
speak: “Go wherever you please,” she
said, addressing all three. “I pardon you
all, but you must depart immediately out
of this house.”