Then Abarak ran, and returned ere the Queen had drawn seven impatient breaths, and in one hand he bore a sack, in the other a tray: so he emptied the contents of the sack on the surface of the tray; surely they were human eyes! and the Queen flung aside her tresses, and stood over them. The youth saw her smile at them, and a.s.sume tender and taunting manners before them, and imperious manners, killing glances, till in each of the eyes there was a sparkle. Then she flung back her head as one that feedeth on a mighty triumph, exclaiming, "Yet am I Rabesqurat! wide is my sovereignty." Sideways then she regarded Shibli Bagarag, and it seemed she was urging Abarak to do a deed beyond his powers, he frowning and pointing to the right wrist of the youth. So she clenched her hands an instant with that feeling which knocketh a nail in the coffin of a desire not dead, and controlled herself, and went to the youth, breaking into beams of beauty; and an enchanting sumptuousness breathed round her, so that in spite of himself he suffered her to take him by the hand and lead him from that orchard through the shivered door and into the palace and the hall of the jasper pillars. Strange thrills went up his arm from the touch of that Queen, and they were as little snakes twisting and darting up, biting poison-bites of irritating blissfulness.
Now, the hall was spread for a feast, and it was hung with lamps of silver, strewn with great golden goblets, and viands, coloured meats, and ordered fruits on shining platters. Then said she to Shibli Bagarag, "O youth! there shall be no deceit, no guile between us. Thou art but my guest, I no bride to thee, so take the place of the guest beside me."
He took his seat beside her, Abarak standing by, and she helped the youth to this dish and that dish, from the serving of slaves, caressing him with flattering looks to starve aversion and nourish tender fellowship.
And he was like one that slideth down a hill and can arrest his descent with a foot, yet faileth that freewill. When he had eaten and drunk with her, the Queen said, "O youth, no other than my guest! art thou not a prince in the country thou comest from?"
In a moment the pride of the barber forsook him, and he equivocated, saying, "O Queen! there is among the stars somewhere, as was divined by the readers of planets, a crown hanging for me, and I search a point of earth to intercept its fall."
She marked him beguiled by vanity, and put sweetmeats to his mouth, exclaiming, "Thy manners be those of a prince!" Then she sang to him of the loneliness of her life, and of one with whom she wished to share her state,--such as he. And at her signal came troops of damsels that stood in rings and luted sweetly on the same theme--the Queen"s loneliness, her love. And he said to the Queen, "Is this so?"
She answered, "Too truly so!"
Now, he thought, "She shall at least speak the thing that is, if she look it not." So he took the goblet, and contrived to drop a drop from the phial of Paravid therein without her observing him; and he handed her the goblet, she him; and they drank. Surely, the change that came over the Queen was an enchantment, and her eyes shot l.u.s.tre, her tongue was loosed, and she laughed like one intoxicated, lolling in her seat, lost to majesty and the sway of her magic, crying, "O Abarak! Abarak! little man, long my slave and my tool; ugly little man! And O Shibli Bagarag!
nephew of the barber! weak youth! small prince of the tackle! have I not nigh fascinated thee? And thou wilt forfeit those two silly eyes of thine to the sack. And, O Abarak, Abarak! little man, have I flattered thee? So fetter I the strong with my allurements! and I stay the arrow in its flight! and I blunt the barb of high intents! Wah! I have drunk a potent stuff; I talk! Wullahy! I know there is a danger menacing s.h.a.gpat, and the eyes of all Genii are fixed on him. And if he be shaved, what changes will follow! But "tis in me to delude the barber, wullahy! and I will avert the calamity. I will save s.h.a.gpat!"
While the Queen Rabesqurat prated in this wise with flushed face, Shibli Bagarag was smitten with the greatness of his task, and reproached his soul with neglect of it. And he thought, "I am powerful by spells as none before me have been, and "twas by my weakness the Queen sought to tangle me. I will clasp the Seventh Pillar and make an end of it, by Allah and his Prophet (praised be the name!), and I will reach Aklis by a short path and shave s.h.a.gpat with the sword."
So he looked up, and Abarak was before him, the lifted nostrils of the little man wide with the flame of anger. And Abarak said, "O youth, regard me with the eyes of judgement! Now, is it not frightful to rate me little?--an instigation of the evil one to repute me ugly?"
The promptings of wisdom counselled Shibli Bagarag to say, "Frightful beyond contemplation, O Abarak! one to shame our species! Surely, there is a moon between thy legs, a pear upon thy shoulders, and the c.o.c.k that croweth is no match for thee in measure."
Abarak cried, "We be aggrieved, we two! O youth, son of my uncle, I will give thee means of vengeance; give thou me means."
Shibli Bagarag felt scorn at the Queen, and her hollowness, and he said, ""Tis well; take this Lily and hold it to her."
Now, the Queen jeered Abarak, and as he approached her she shouted, "What! thou small of build! mite of creation! sour mixture! thou puppet of mine! thou! comest thou to seek a second kiss against the compact, knowing that I give not the well-favoured of mortals beyond one, a second.
Little delayed Abarak at this to put her to the test of the Lily, and he held the flower to her, and saw the sight, and staggered back like one stricken with a shaft. When he could get a breath he uttered such a howl that Rabesqurat in her drunkenness was fain to save her ears, and the hall echoed as with the bellows of a thousand beasts of the forest. Then, to glut his revenge he ran for the sack, and emptied the contents of it, the Queen"s mirror, before her; and the sackful of eyes, they saw the sight, and sickened, rolling their whites. That done, Abarak gave Shibli Bagarag the bar of iron, and bade him smite the pillars, all save the seventh; and he smote them strengthily, crumbling them at a blow, and bringing down the great hall and its groves, and gla.s.ses and gems, lamps, traceries, devices, a heap of ruin, the seventh pillar alone standing.
Then, while he pumped back breath into his body, Abarak said, "There"s no delaying in this place now, O youth! Say, halt thou spells for the entering of Aklis?"
He answered, "Three!"
Then said Abarak, ""Tis well! Surely now, if thou takest me in thy service, I"ll help thee to master the Event, and serve thee faithfully, requiring nought from thee save a sight of the Event, and "tis I that myself missed one, wiled by Rabesqurat."
Quoth Shibli Bagarag, "Thou?"
He answered, "No word of it now. Is"t agreed?"
So Shibli Bagarag cried, "Even so."
Thereupon, the twain entered the pillar, leaving Rabesqurat p.r.o.ne, and the waves of the sea bounding toward her where she lay. Now, they descended and ascended flights of slippery steps, and sped together along murky pa.s.sages, in which light never was, and under arches of caves with hanging crystals, groping and tumbling on hurriedly, till they came to an obstruction, and felt an iron door, frosty to the touch. Then Abarak said to Shibli Bagarag, "Smite!" And the youth lifted the bar to his right shoulder, and smote; and the door obeyed the blow, and discovered an opening into a strange dusky land, as it seemed a valley, on one side of which was a ragged copper sun setting low, large as a warrior"s battered shield, giving deep red lights to a brook that fell, and over a flat stream a red reflection, and to the sides of the hills a dark red glow.
The sky was a brown colour; the earth a deeper brown, like the skins of tawny lions. Trees with reddened stems stood about the valley, scattered and in groups, showing between their leaves the cheeks of melancholy fruits swarthily tinged, and toward the centre of the valley a shining palace was visible, supported by ma.s.sive columns of marble reddened by that copper sun. Shibli Bagarag was awed at the stillness that hung everywhere, and said to Abarak, "Where am I, O Abarak? the look of this place is fearful!"
And the little man answered, "Where, but beneath the mountains in Aklis?
Wullahy! I should know it, I that keep the pa.s.sage of the seventh pillar!"
Then the thought of his betrothed Noorna, and her beauty, and the words, "Remember the seventh pillar," struck the heart of Shibli Bagarag, and he exclaimed pa.s.sionately, "Is she in safety? Noorna, my companion, my betrothed, netted by thee, O Abarak!"
Abarak answered sharply, "Speak not of betrothals in this place, or the sword of Aklis will move without a hand!"
But Shibli Bagarag waxed the colour of the sun that was over them, and cried, "By Allah! I will smite thee with the bar, if thou swear not to her safety, and point not out to me where she now is."
Then said Abarak, "Thou wilt make a better use of the bar by lifting it to my shoulder, and poising it, and peering through it."
Shibli Bagarag lifted the bar to the shoulder of Abarak, and poised it, and peered through the length of it, and lo! there was a sea tossing in tumult, and one pillar standing erect in the midst of the sea; and on the pillar, above the washing waves, with hair blown back, and flapping raiment, pale but smiling still, Noorna, his betrothed!
Now, when he saw her, he made a rush to the door of the pa.s.sage; but Abarak blocked the way, crying, "Fool! a step backward in Aklis is death!"
And when he had wrestled with him and reined him, Abarak said, "Haste to reach the Sword from the sons of Aklis, if thou wouldst save her."
He drew him to the brink of the stream, and whistled a parrot"s whistle; and Shibli Bagarag beheld a boat draped with drooping white lotuses that floated slowly toward them; and when it was near, he and Abarak entered it, and saw one, a veiled figure, sitting in the stern, who neither moved to them nor spake, but steered the boat to a certain point of land across the stream, where stood an elephant ready girt for travellers to mount him; and the elephant kneeled among the reeds as they approached, that they might mount him, and when they had each taken a seat, moved off, waving his trunk. Presently the elephant came to a halt, and went upon his knees again, and the two slid off his back, and were among black slaves that bowed to the ground before them, and led them to the shining gates of the palace in silence. Now, on the first marble step of the palace there sat an old white-headed man dressed like a dervish, who held out at arm"s length a branch of gold with golden singing-birds between its leaves, saying, "This for the strongest of ye!"
Abarak exclaimed, "I am that one"; and he held forth his hand for the branch.
But Shibli Bagarag cried, "Nay, "tis mine. Wullahy, what has not the strength of this hand overthrown?"
Then the brows of Abarak twisted; his limbs twitched, and he bawled, "To the proof!" waking all the echoes of Aklis. Shibli Bagarag was tempted in his desire for the golden branch to lift the iron bar upon Abarak, when lo! the phial of Paravid fell from his vest, and he took it, and sprinkled a portion of the waters over the singing birds, and in a moment they burst into a sweet union of voices, singing, in the words of the poet:
When for one serpent were two a.s.ses match?
How shall one foe but with wiles master double?
So let the strong keep for ever good watch, Lest their strength prove a snare, and themselves a mere bubble; For vanity maketh the strongest most weak, As lions and men totter after the struggle.
Ye heroes, be modest! while combats ye seek, The cunning one trippeth ye both with a juggle.
Now, at this verse of the birds Shibli Bagarag fixed his eye on the old man, and the beard of the old man shrivelled; he waxed in size, and flew up in a blaze and with a baffled shout bearing the branch; surely, his features were those of Karaz, and Shibli Bagarag knew him by the length of his limbs, his stiff ears, and copper skin. Then he laughed a loud laugh, but Abarak sobbed, saying, "By this know I that I never should have seized the Sword, even though I had vanquished the illusions of Rabesqurat, which held me fast half-way."
So Shibli Bagarag stared at him, and said, "Wert thou also a searcher, O Abarak?"
But Abarak cried, "Rouse not the talkative tongue of the past, O youth!
Wullahy! relinquish the bar that is my bar, won by me, for the Sword is within thy grip, and they await thee up yonder steps. Go! go! and look for me here on thy return."
THE PALACE OF AKLIS
Now, Shibli Bagarag a.s.sured himself of his three spells, and made his heart resolute, and hastened up the reddened marble steps of the Palace; and when he was on the topmost step, lo! one with a man"s body and the head of a buffalo, that prostrated himself, and prayed the youth obsequiously to enter the palace with the t.i.tle of King. So Shibli Bagarag held his head erect, and followed him with the footing of a Sultan, and pa.s.sed into a great hall, with fountains in it that were fountains of gems, pearls, chrysolites, thousand-hued jewels, and by the margin of the fountains were shapes of men with the heads of beasts-wolves, foxes, lions, bears, oxen, sheep, serpents, a.s.ses, that stretched their hands to the falls, and loaded their vestments with brilliants, loading them without cessation, so that from the vestments of each there was another pouring of the liquid lights. Then he with the buffalo"s head bade Shibli Bagarag help himself from the falls; but Shibli Bagarag refused, for his soul was with Noorna, his betrothed; and he saw her pale on that solitary pillar in the tumult of the sea, and knew her safety depended on his faithfulness.
He cried, "The Sword of Aklis! nought save the Sword!"
Now, at these words the fox-heads and the sheep-heads and the a.s.s-heads and the other heads of beasts were lifted up, and lo! they put their hands to their ears, and tapped their foreheads with the finger of reflection, as creatures seeking to bring to mind a serious matter. Then the fountains rose higher, and flung jets of radiant jewels, and a drenching spray of gems upon them, and new thirst aroused them to renew their gulping of the falls, and a look of eagerness was even in the eyes of the a.s.s-heads and the silly sheep-heads; surely, Shibli Bagarag laughed to see them! Now, when he had pressed his lips to recover his sight from the dazzling of those wondrous fountains, he heard himself again addressed by the t.i.tle of King, and there was before him a lofty c.o.c.k with a man"s head. So he resumed the majesty of his march, and followed the fine-stepping c.o.c.k into another hall, s.p.a.cious, and clouded with heavy scents and perfumes burning in censers and urns, musk, myrrh, ambergris, and livelier odours, gladdening the nostril like wine, making the soul reel as with a draught of the forbidden drink. Here, before a feast that would p.r.i.c.k the dead with appet.i.te, were shapes of beasts with heads of men, a.s.ses, elephants, bulls, horses, swine, foxes, river-horses, dromedaries; and they ate and drank as do the famished with munch and gurgle, clacking their lips joyfully. Shibli Bagarag remembered the condition of his frame when first he looked upon the City of s.h.a.gpat, and was incited to eat and accede to the invitation of the c.o.c.k with the man"s head, and sit among these merry feeders and pickers of mouth-watering morsels, when, with the City of s.h.a.gpat, lo! he had a vision of s.h.a.gpat, hairier than at their interview, arrogant in hairiness; his head remote in contemptuous waves and curls and frizzes, and bushy protuberances of hair, lost in it, like an idolatrous temple in impenetrable thickets. Then the yearning of the Barber seized Shibli Bagarag, and desire to shear s.h.a.gpat was as a mighty overwhelming wave in his bosom, and he shouted, "The Sword of Aklis! nought save the Sword!"
Now, at these words the beasts with men"s heads wagged their tails, all of them, from right to left, and kept their jaws from motion, staring stupidly at the dishes; but the dishes began to send forth stealthy steams, insidious whispers to the nose, silver intimations of savouriness, so that they on a sudden set up a howl, and Shibli Bagarag puckered his garments from them as from devouring dogs, and hastened from that hall to a third, where at the entrance a damsel stood that smiled to him, and led him into a vast marbled chamber, forty cubits high, hung with draperies, and in it a hundred doors; and he was in the midst of a very rose-garden of young beauties, such as the Blest behold in Paradise, robed in the colours of the rising and setting sun; plump, with long, black, languishing, almond-shaped eyes, and undulating figures. So they cried to him, "What greeting, O our King?"
Now, he counted twenty and seven of them, and, fitting his gallantry to verse, answered:
Poor are the heavens that have not ye To swell their glowing plenty; Up there but one bright moon I see, Here mark I seven-and-twenty.
The damsels laughed and flung back their locks at his flattery, sporting with him; and he thought, "These be sweet maidens! I will know if they be illusions like Rabesqurat"; so, as they were romping, he slung his right arm round one, and held the Lily to her, but there was no change in her save that she winked somewhat and her eyes watered; and it was so with the others, for when they saw him hold the Lily to one they made him do so to them likewise. Then he took the phial, and touched their lips with the waters, and lo! they commenced luting and laughing, and singing verses, and prattling, laughing betweenwhiles at each other; and one, a noisy one, with long, black, unquiet tresses, and a curved foot and roguish ankle, sang as she twirled: