Then she said, "Ask thou him what he opineth of me, his betrothed?"
So the Vizier put that interrogation to Shibli Bagarag, and the youth was in perplexity; thinking, "Is it possible to be joyful in the embrace of one that hath brought thwackings upon us, serious blows?" Thinking, "Yet hath she, when the mood cometh, kindly looks; and I marked her eye dwelling on me admiringly!" And he thought, "Mayhap she that groweth younger and counteth nature backwards, hath a history that would affect me; or, it may be, my kisses--wah! I like not to give them, and it is said,
"Love is wither"d by the withered lip";
and that,
"On bones become too prominent he"ll trip."
Yet put the case, that my kisses--I shower them not, Allah the All-seeing is my witness! and they be given daintily as "twere to the leaf of a nettle, or over-hot pilau. Yet haply kisses repeated might 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 s.e.x."
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 ill.u.s.trations in his dilemma, by-ways 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 G.o.d 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 ill.u.s.tration, 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: grat.i.tude 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 s.h.a.gpat."
So the Vizier replied, "He hath had thwackings, yet is he not deterred from making further attempt on s.h.a.gpat. I think well of him, and I augur hopefully. Wullahy! the Cadi shall be sent for; I can sleep in his secresy; 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 Cadi, 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 Cadi 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 beat.i.tude, when next I ask thee, O my betrothed!"
Lo! while she spake, new light seemed in her; and it was as if a splendid jewel were struggling to cast its beams through the sides of a crystal vase smeared with dust and old dirt and spinnings of the damp spider. He was amazed, and cried, "How"s this? What change is pa.s.sing in thee?"
She said, "Joy in thy kiss, and that I have "scaped s.h.a.gpat."
Then he: "s.h.a.gpat? How? had that wretch claim over thee ere I came?"
But she looked fearfully at the corners of the room and exclaimed, "Hush, my betrothed! speak not of him in that fashion, "tis dangerous; and my power cannot keep off his emissaries at all times." Then she said, "O my betrothed, know me a sorceress ensorcelled; not that I seem, but that I shall be! Wait thou for the time and it will reward thee. What! thou think"st to have plucked a wrinkled o"erripe fruit,--a mouldy pomegranate under the branches, a sour tamarind? "Tis well! I say nought, save that time will come, and be thou content. It is truly as I said, that I have thee between me and s.h.a.gpat; and that honoured one of this city thought fit in his presumption to demand me in marriage at the hands of my father, knowing me wise, and knowing the thing that transformed me to this, the abominable fellow! Surely my father entertained not his proposal save with scorn; but the King looked favourably on it, and it is even now matter of reproach to Feshnavat, my father, that he withholdeth me from s.h.a.gpat."
Quoth Shibli Bagarag, "A clothier, O Noorna, control the Vizier! and demand of him his daughter in marriage! and a clothier influence the King against his Vizier!"--tis, wullahy! a riddle."
She replied, ""Tis even so, eyes of mine, my betrothed! but thou know"st not s.h.a.gpat, and that he is. Lo! the King, and all of this city save we three, are held in enchantment by him, and made foolish by one hair that"s in his head."
Shibli Bagarag started in his seat like one that shineth with a discovery, and cried, "The Identical!"
Then she, sighing, ""Tis that indeed! but the Identical of Identicals, the chief and head of them, and I, woe"s me! I, the planter of it."
So he said, "How so?"
But she cried, "I"ll tell thee not here, nor aught of myself and him, and the Genie held in bondage by me, till thou art proved by adventure, and we float peacefully on the sea of the Bright Lily: there shalt thou see me as I am, and hear my story, and marvel at it; for "tis wondrous, and a manifestation of the Power that dwelleth unseen."
So Shibli Bagarag pondered awhile on the strange nature of the things she hinted, and laughter seized him as he reflected on s.h.a.gpat, and the whole city enchanted by one hair in his head; and he exclaimed, "O Noorna, knoweth he, s.h.a.gpat, of the might in him?"
She answered, "Enough for his vain soul that homage is paid to him, and he careth not for the wherefore!"
Shibli Bagarag fixed his eyes on the deep-flowered carpets of the floor, as if reading there a matter quaintly written, and smiled, saying, "What boldness was mine--the making offer to shear s.h.a.gpat, the lion in his lair, he that holdeth a whole city in enchantment! Wah! "twas an instance of daring!"
And Noorna said, "Not only an entire city, but other cities affected by him, as witness Oolb, whither thou wilt go; and there be governments and states, and conditions of men remote, that hang upon him, s.h.a.gpat. "Tis even so; I swell not his size. When thou hast mastered the Event, and sent him forth shivering from thy blade like the shorn lamb, "twill be known how great a thing has been achieved, and a record for the generations to come; choice is that historian destined to record it!"
Quoth he, looking eagerly at her, "O Noorna, what is it in thy speech affecteth me? Surely it infuseth the vigour of wine, old wine; and I shiver with desire to shave s.h.a.gpat, and spin threads for the historian to weave in order. I, wullahy! had but dry visions of the greatness destined for me till now, my betrothed! Shall I master an Event in shaving him, and be told of to future ages? By Allah and his Prophet (praise be to that name!), this is greatness! Say, Noorna, hadst thou foreknowledge of me and my coming to this city?"
So she said, "I was on the roofs one night among the stars ere moonrise, O my betrothed, and "twas close on the rise of this very month"s moon.