Then said the youths, "Well commanded! and like a King! See, they troop from thy presence obediently."
Now the animals fled from before the brows of Shibli Bagarag, and when the chamber was empty of them the seven young men said, "Of a surety thou wert flattered to observe the aspect of these animals at beholding thee."
But he cried, "Not so, O my princes; there is nought flattering in the homage of a.s.ses and monkeys."
Then they said, "O Sultan of a.s.ses, ruler of monkeys, better that than thyself an a.s.s and an ape! As was said by Shah Kasirwan, "I prefer being king of beasts worshipped by beasts, rather than a crowned beast worshipped by men"; and it was well said. Wullahy! the kings of Roum quote it."
Now Shibli Bagarag was not rendered oblivious of the Sword of his quest by the humour of these youths, or the wine-bibbings, and he exclaimed while they were turning up the heels of their cups, "O ye sons of Aklis, know that I have come hither for the Sword sharpened by your hands, for the releasing of my betrothed, Noorna bin Noorka, daughter of the Vizier Feshnavat, and for the shaving of s.h.a.gpat."
While he was proceeding to recount the story of his search for the Sword, they said, "Enough, O potentate of the braying cla.s.s and of the scratching tribe! we have seen thee through the eye of Aklis since the time of thy first thwacking. What says the poet?
"A day for toil and a day for rest Gives labour zeal, and pleasure zest."
So, of thy seeking let us hear to-morrow; but now drink with us, and make merry, and touch the springs of memory; spout forth verses, quaint ones, suitable to the hour and the entertainment. Wullahy! drink with us! taste life! Let the humours flow."
Then they made a motion to some slaves, and presently a clattering of anklets struck the ear of Shibli Bagarag: and he beheld dancing-girls, moons of beauty and elegance, and they danced wild dances, and dances graceful and leopard-like and serpent-like in movement; and the youths flung flowers at them, applauding them. Then came other sets of dancers even lovelier, more languishing; and again others with tambourines and musical instruments, that sang ravishingly. So the senses of Shibli Bagarag were all taken with what he saw and heard, and ate and drank; and by degrees a mist came before his eyes, and the sweet sounds and voices of the girls grew distant, and it was with difficulty he kept his back from the length of the cushions that were about him. Then he thought of Noorna, and that she sang to him and danced, and when he rose to embrace her she was Rabesqurat by the light of the Lily! And he thought of s.h.a.gpat, and that in shaving him the blade was checked in its rapid sweep, and blunted by a stumpy twine of hair that waxed in size and became the head of Karaz that gulped at him a wide devouring gulp, and took him in, and flew up with him, leaving s.h.a.gpat half sheared. Then he thought himself struggling halfway down the throat of the monstrous Roc, and that, when he was wholly inside the Roc, he was in a wide-arched pa.s.sage crowded with lamps, and at the end of the pa.s.sage Noorna in the clutch of Karaz, she shouting, "The Sword, the Sword!"
Now, while he felt for the Sword wherewith to release her from the Genie, his eyes opened, and he saw day through a cas.e.m.e.nt, and that he had reposed on an embroidered couch in the corner of a stately room ornamented with carvings of blue and gold. So while he wondered and yawned, gaping, slaves started up from the floor and led him to a bath of coloured marble, and bathed him in perfumed waters, and dressed him in a dress of yellow silk, rich and ample. Then they paraded before him through lesser apartments and across terraces, till they came to a great hall; loftier and more s.p.a.cious than any he had yet beheld, with fountains at the two ends, and in the centre a tree with golden spreading branches and leaves of gold; among the leaves gold-feathered birds, and fruits of all seasons and every description--the drooping grape and the pleasant-smelling quince, and the blood-red pomegranate, and the apricot, and the green and rosy apple, and the gummy date, and the oily pistachio-nut, and peaches, and citrons, and oranges, and the plum, and the fig. Surely, they were countless in number, melting with ripeness, soft, full to bursting; and the birds darted among them like sun-flashes.
Now, Shibli Bagarag thought, "This is a wondrous tree! Wullahy! there is nought like it save the tree in the hall of the Prophet in Paradise, feeding the faithful!" As he regarded it he heard his name spoken in the hall, and turning he beheld seven youths in royal garments, that were like the youths he had feasted with, and yet unlike them, pale, and stern in their manners, their courtesy as the courtesy of kings. They said, "Sit with us and eat the morning"s meal, O our guest!"
So he sat with them under the low branches of the tree; and they whistled the tune of one bird and of another bird, and of another, and lo! those different birds flew down with golden baskets hanging from their bills, and in the baskets fruits and viands and sweetmeats, and cool drinks. And Shibli Bagarag ate from the baskets of the birds, watching the action of the seven youths and the difference that was in them. He sought to make them recognise him and acknowledge their carouse of the evening that was past, but they stared at him strangely and seemed offended at the allusion, neither would they hear mention of the Sword of his seeking.
Presently, one of the youths stood upon his feet and cried, "The time for kings to sit in judgement!"
And the youths arose and led Shibli Bagarag to a hall of ebony, and seated him on the upper seat, themselves standing about him; and lo!
a.s.ses and monkeys came before him, complaining of the injustice of men and their fellows, in brays and bellows and hoots. Now, at the sight of them again Shibli Bagarag was enraged, and he said to the youths, "How!
do ye not mock me, O masters of Aklis!"
But they said only, "The burden of his crown is for the King."
He cooled, thinking, "I will use a spell." So he touched the lips of an animal with the waters of Paravid, and the animal prated volubly in our language of the kick this a.s.s had given him, and the jibe of that monkey, and of his desire of litigation with such and such a beast for pasture; and the others when they spake had the same complaints to make. Shibli Bagarag listened to them gravely, and it was revealed to him that he who ruleth over men hath a labour and duties of hearing and judging and dispensing judgement similar to those of him who ruleth over apes and a.s.ses. Then said he, "O youths, my princes! methinks the sitting in this seat giveth a key to secret sources of wisdom; and I see what it is, the glory and the exaltation coveted by men." Now, he took from the a.s.ses and the monkeys one, and said to it, "Be my chief Vizier," and to another, "Be my Chamberlain!" and to another, "Be my Treasurer!" and so on, till a dispute arose between the animals, and jealousy of each other was visible in their glances, and they appealed to him clamorously. So he said, "What am I to ye?"
They answered, "Our King!"
And he said, "How so?"
They answered, "By the crowning of the brides of Aklis."
Then he said, "What be ye, O my subjects?"
They answered, "Men that were searchers of the Sword and plunged into the tank of temptation."
And he said, "How that?"
They answered, "By the lures of vanity, the blinding of ambition, and tasting the gall of the Roc."
So Shibli Bagarag leaned to the seven youths, saying, "O my princes, but for not tasting the gall of the Roc I might be as one of these. Wullahy!
I the King am warned by base creatures." Then he said to the animals, "Have ye still a longing for the crown?"
And they cried, all of them, "O light of the astonished earth, we care for nought other than it."
So he said, "And is it known to ye how to dispossess the wearer of his burden?"
They answered, "By a touch of the gall of the Roc on his forehead."
Then he lifted his arms, crying, "Hie out of my presence! and whoso of ye fetcheth a drop of the gall, with that one will I exchange the crown."
At these words some moved hastily, but the most faltered, as doubting and incredulous that he would propose such an exchange; and one, an old monkey, sat down and crossed his legs, and made a study of Shibli Bagarag, as of a sovereign that held forth a deceiving bargain. But he cried again, "Hie and haste! as my head is now cased I think it not the honoured part."
Then the old monkey arose with a puzzled look, half scornful, and made for the door slowly, turning his head toward Shibli Bagarag betweenwhiles as he went, and scratching his lower limbs with the mute reflectiveness of age and extreme caution.
Now, when they were gone, Shibli Bagarag looked in the eyes of the seven youths, and saw they were content with him, and his countenance was brightened with approval. So he descended from his seat, and went with them from the hall of ebony to a court where horses were waiting saddled, and slaves with hawks on their wrists stood in readiness; and they mounted each a horse, but he loitered. The seven youths divined his feeling, and cried impatiently, "Come! no lingering in Aklis!" So he mounted likewise, and they emerged from the palace, and entered the hills that glowed under the copper sun, and started a milk-white antelope with ruby spots, and chased it from its cover over the sand-hills, a hawk being let loose to worry it and distress its timid beaming eyes. When the creature was quite overcome, one of the youths struck his heel into his horse"s side and flung a noose over the head of the quarry, and drew it with them, gently petting it the way home to the palace. At the gates of the palace it was released, and lo! it went up the steps, and pa.s.sed through the halls as one familiar with them. Now, when they were all a.s.sembled in the anteroom of the hall, where Shibli Bagarag had first seen the seven youths, sons of Aklis, in their jollity, one of them said to the Antelope, "We have need of thee to speak a word with Aklis, O our sister!"
So the same youth requested the use of the phial of Paravid, and Shibli Bagarag applied it carefully, tenderly, to the mouth of the Antelope.
Then the Antelope spake in a silver-ringing voice, saying, "What is it, O my brothers?"
They answered, "Thou knowest we dare not attempt interchange of speech with Aklis, seeing that we disobeyed him in visiting the kingdoms of the earth: so it is for thee to question him as to the object of this youth, and it is the Shaving of s.h.a.gpat."
So she said, ""Tis well; I wot of it."
Then she advanced to the curtain concealing the abyss of the Roc and the bridge of its eggs, and went behind it. There was a pause, and they heard her say presently in a grave voice, toned with reverence, "How is it, O our father? is it a good thing that thy Sword be in use at this season?"
And they heard the Voice answer from a depth, ""Twere well it rust not!"
They heard her say, "O our father Aklis, and we wish to know if be held in favour by thee, and thou sanction it with thy Sword."
And they heard the Voice answer, "The Shaving of s.h.a.gpat is my Sword alone equal to, and he that shaveth him performeth a service to mankind ranking next my vanquishing of the Roc."
Then they heard her say, "And it is thy will we teach him the mysteries of the Sword, and that which may be done with it?"
And they heard the Voice answer, "Even so!"
After that the Voice was still, and soon the Antelope returned from behind the curtain, and the youths caressed her with brotherly caresses, and took a circle of hands about her, and so moved to the great Hall of the gorgeous Tree, and fed her from the branches. Now, while they were there, Shibli Bagarag advanced to the Antelope, and knelt at her feet, and said, "O Princess of Aklis, surely I am betrothed to one constant as a fixed star, and brighter; a mistress of magic, and innocent as the bleating lamb; and she is now on a pillar, chained there, in the midst of the white wrathful sea, wailing for me to deliver her with this Sword of my seeking. So, now, I pray thee help me to the Sword swiftly, that I may deliver her."
The youths, her brothers, clamoured and interposed, saying, "Take thy shape ere that, O Gulrevaz, our sister!"
But she cried, "He is betrothed! not till he graspeth the Sword. Tell him, the youth, our conditions, and for what exchange the Sword is yielded."
And they said, "The conditions are, thou part with thy spells, all of them, O youth!"
And he said, "There is no condition harsh that exchangeth the Sword; O ye Seven, I agree!"
Then she said, ""Tis well! n.o.bility is in the soul of this youth. Go before us now to the Cave of Chrysolites, O my brothers."
So these departed before, and she in her antelope form followed footing gracefully, and made Shibli Bagarag repeat the story of his betrothal as they went.
THE SWORD OF AKLIS