Fairy Tales from the Arabian Nights Part 11

The king approved this proposal; and after the castle, where he had not resided for some time, had been furnished, he removed thither with the prince; and, excepting the times that he gave audience, as aforesaid, he never left him, but pa.s.sed all his time by his son's pillow, endeavouring to comfort him in sharing his grief.

Whilst matters pa.s.sed thus, the two genies, Danhasch and Caschcasch, had carried the Princess of China back to the palace where the king her father had shut her up.

When she awoke the next morning, and found by looking to the right and left that Prince Camaralzaman was not by, she cried out with a loud voice to her women. Her nurse, who presented herself first, desired to be informed what she would please to have, and if anything disagreeable had happened to her.

'Tell me,' said the princess, 'what is become of the young man whom I love with all my soul?'

'Madam,' replied the nurse, 'we cannot understand your highness, unless you will be pleased to explain yourself.'

'A young man, the best and most amiable,' said the princess 'whom I could not awake; I ask you where he is?'

'Madam,' answered the nurse, 'your highness asks these questions to jest with us. I beseech you to rise.'

'I am in earnest,' said the princess, 'and I must know where this young man is.'

'Madam,' insisted the nurse, 'how any man could come without our knowledge we cannot imagine, for we all slept about the door of your chamber, which was locked, and I had the key in my pocket.'

At this the princess lost all patience, and catching her nurse by the hair of her head, and giving her two or three sound cuffs, she cried, 'You shall tell me where this young man is, old sorceress, or I will beat your brains out.'

The nurse struggled to get from her, and at last succeeded; when she went immediately, with tears in her eyes, to complain to the queen her mother, who was not a little surprised to see her in this condition, and asked who had done this.

'Madam,' began the nurse, 'you see how the princess has treated me; she would certainly have murdered me, if I had not had the good fortune to escape out of her hands.' She then began to tell what had been the cause of all that violent pa.s.sion in the princess. The queen was surprised to hear it, and could not guess how she came to be so senseless as to take that for a reality which could be no other than a dream. 'Your majesty must conclude from all this, madam,' continued the nurse, 'that the princess is out of her senses. You will think so yourself if you go and see her.'

The queen ordered the nurse to follow her; and they went together to the princess's palace that very moment.

The Queen of China sat down by her daughter's bed-side, immediately upon her arrival in her apartment; and after she had informed herself about her health, she began to ask what had made her so angry with her nurse, that she should have treated her in the manner she had done. 'Daughter,' said she, 'this is not right; and a great princess like you should not suffer herself to be so transported by pa.s.sion.'

'Madam,' replied the princess, 'I plainly perceive your majesty is come to mock me; but I declare I will never let you rest till you consent I shall marry the young man. You must know where he is, and therefore I beg of your majesty to let him come to me again.'

'Daughter,' answered the queen, 'you surprise me; I know nothing of what you talk of.' Then the princess lost all respect for the queen: 'Madam,' replied she, 'the king my father and you persecuted me about marrying, when I had no inclination; I now have an inclination, and I will marry this young man I told you of, or I will kill myself.'

Here the queen endeavoured to calm the princess by soft words.

'Daughter,' said she, 'how could any man come to you?' But instead of hearing her, the princess interrupted her, and flew out into such violence as obliged the queen to leave her, and retire in great affliction to inform the king of all that had pa.s.sed.

The king hearing it had a mind likewise to be satisfied in person; and coming to his daughter's apartment, asked her if what he had just heard was true. 'Sir,' replied the princess, 'let us talk no more of that; I only beseech your majesty to grant me the favour that I may marry the young man. He was the finest and best made youth the sun ever saw. I entreat you, do not refuse me. But that your majesty may not longer doubt whether I have seen this young man, whether I did not do my utmost to awake him, without succeeding, see, if you please, this ring.' She then reached forth her hand, and showed the king a man's ring on her finger. The king did not know what to make of all this; but as he had shut her up as mad, he began to think her more mad than ever: therefore, without saying anything more to her, for fear she might do violence to herself or somebody about her, he had her chained, and shut up more closely than before, allowing her only the nurse to wait on her, with a good guard at the door.

The king, exceedingly concerned at this indisposition of his daughter, sought all possible means to get her cured. He a.s.sembled his council, and after having acquainted them with the condition she was in, 'If any of you,' said he, 'is capable of undertaking her cure, and succeeds, I will give her to him in marriage, and make him heir to my dominions and crown after my decease.'

The desire of marrying a handsome young princess, and the hopes of one day governing so powerful a kingdom as that of China, had a strange effect on an emir, already advanced in age, who was present at this council. As he was well skilled in magic, he offered to cure the king's daughter, and flattered himself he should succeed.

'I consent,' said the king, 'but I forgot to tell you one thing, and that is, that if you do not succeed you shall lose your head.

It would not be reasonable that you should have so great a reward, and yet run no risk on your part; and what I say to you,' continued the king, 'I say to all others that shall come after you, that they may consider beforehand what they undertake.'

The emir, however, accepted the condition, and the king conducted him to where the princess was. She covered her face as soon as she saw them come in, and cried out, 'Your majesty surprises me by bringing with you a man whom I do not know, and by whom my religion forbids me to let myself be seen.'

'Daughter,' replied the king, 'you need not be scandalized, it is only one of my emirs who is come to demand you in marriage.'

'It is not, I perceive, the person that you have already given me, and whose faith is plighted by the ring I wear,' replied the princess; 'be not offended that I will never marry any other.'

The emir expected the princess would have said or done some extravagant thing, and was not a little disappointed when he heard her talk so calmly and rationally; for then he understood what was really the matter. He dared not explain himself to the king, who would not have suffered the princess to give her hand to any other than the person to whom he wished to give her with his own hand. He therefore threw himself at his majesty's feet, and said, 'After what I have heard and observed, sir, it will be to no purpose for me to think of curing the princess, since I have no remedies suited to her malady, for which reason I humbly submit my life to your majesty's pleasure.' The king, enraged at his incapacity and the trouble he had given him, caused him immediately to be beheaded.

Some days afterwards, his majesty, unwilling to have it said that he had neglected his daughter's cure, put forth a proclamation in his capital, to the effect that if there were any physician, astrologer, or magician, who would undertake to restore the princess to her senses, he need only come, and he should be employed, on condition of losing his head if he miscarried. He had the same published in the other princ.i.p.al cities and towns of his dominions, and in the courts of the princes his neighbours.

The first that presented himself was an astrologer and magician, whom the king caused to be conducted to the princess's prison. The astrologer drew forth out of a bag he carried under his arm an astrolabe, a small sphere, a chafing dish, several sorts of drugs for fumigations, a bra.s.s pot, with many other things, and desired he might have a fire lighted.

The princess demanded what all these preparations were for.

'Madam,' answered the astrologer, 'they are to exorcise the evil spirit that possesses you, to shut him up in this pot, and throw him into the sea.'

'Foolish astrologer,' replied the princess, 'I have no occasion for any of your preparations, but am in my perfect senses, and you alone are mad. If your art can bring him I love to me, I shall be obliged to you; otherwise you may go about your business, for I have nothing to do with you.'

'Madam,' said the astrologer, 'if your case be so, I shall desist from all endeavours, believing that only the king your father can remedy your disaster.' So putting up his apparatus again, he marched away, very much concerned that he had so easily undertaken to cure an imaginary malady.

Coming to give an account to the king of what he had done, he began thus boldly: 'According to what your majesty published in your proclamation, and what you were pleased to confirm to me yourself, I thought the princess was distracted, and depended on being able to recover her by the secrets I have long been acquainted with, but I soon found that your majesty alone is the physician who can cure her, by giving her in marriage the person whom she desires.'

The king was very much enraged at the astrologer, and had his head cut off upon the spot. Not to make too long a story of it, a hundred and fifty astrologers, physicians, and magicians all underwent the same fate, and their heads were set up on poles on every gate of the city.

The Princess of China's nurse had a son whose name was Marzavan, and who had been foster-brother to the princess, and brought up with her. Their friendship was so great during their childhood, and all the time they had been together, that they treated each other as brother and sister as they grew up, even some time after their separation.

This Marzavan, among other studies, had from his youth been much addicted to judicial astrology, geomancy, and the like secret arts, wherein he became exceedingly skilful. Not content with what he had learned from masters, he travelled as soon as he was able to bear the fatigue, and there was hardly any person of note in any science or art but he sought him in the most remote cities, and kept company with him long enough to obtain all the information he desired, so great was his thirst after knowledge.

After several years' absence in foreign parts on this account, he returned to the capital city of his native country, China, where seeing so many heads on the gate by which he entered, he was exceedingly surprised; and coming home he demanded for what reason they had been placed there, but more especially he inquired after the princess his foster-sister, whom he had not forgotten. As he could not receive an answer to one inquiry without the other, he heard at length a general account with much sorrow, waiting till he could learn more from his mother, the princess's nurse.

Although the nurse, mother to Marzavan, was very much taken up with the princess, she no sooner heard that her dear son had returned than she found time to come out, embrace him, and converse with him a little. Having told him, with tears in her eyes, what a sad condition the princess was in, and for what reason the king her father had shut her up, he desired to know of his mother if she could not procure him a private sight of her royal mistress, without the king's knowing it. After some pause, she told him she could say nothing for the present, but if he would meet her the next day at the same hour, she would give him an answer.

The nurse knowing that none could approach the princess but herself without leave of the officer who commanded the guard at the gate, addressed herself to him, who she knew had been so lately appointed that he could know nothing of what had pa.s.sed at the court of China. 'You know,' said she to him, 'I have brought up the princess, and you may likewise have heard that I had a daughter whom I brought up along with her. This daughter has since been married; yet the princess still does her the honour to love her, and would fain see her, but without anybody's perceiving her coming in or out.'

The nurse would have gone on, but the officer cried, 'Say no more; I will with pleasure do anything to oblige the princess; go and fetch your daughter, or send for her about midnight, and the gate shall be open to you.'

As soon as night came, the nurse went to look for her son Marzavan, and having found him, she dressed him so artificially in women's clothes that n.o.body could know he was a man. She carried him along with her, and the officer verily believing it was her daughter, admitted them together.

The nurse, before she presented Marzavan, went to the princess, and said, 'Madam, this is not a woman I have brought to you; it is my son Marzavan in disguise, newly arrived from his travels, and he having a great desire to kiss your hand, I hope your highness will admit him to that honour.'

'What! my brother Marzavan,' said the princess, with great joy: 'come hither,' cried she, 'and take off that veil; for it is not unreasonable, surely, that a brother and a sister should see each other without covering their faces.'

Marzavan saluted her with profound respect, when she, without giving him time to speak, cried out, 'I am rejoiced to see you returned in good health, after so many years' absence without sending the least account all the while of your welfare, even to your good mother.'

'Madam,' replied Marzavan, 'I am infinitely obliged to your highness for your goodness in rejoicing at my health: I hoped to have heard a better account of yours than what to my great affliction I am now witness of. Nevertheless, I cannot but rejoice that I am come seasonably enough to bring your highness that remedy of which you stand so much in need; and though I should reap no other fruit of my studies and long voyage, I should think myself fully recompensed.'

Speaking these words, Marzavan drew forth out of his pocket a book and other things, which he judged necessary to be used, according to the account he had had from his mother of the princess's illness. The princess, seeing him make all these preparations, cried out, 'What! brother, are you then one of those that believe me mad? Undeceive yourself and hear me.'

The princess then began to relate to Marzavan all the particulars of her story, without omitting the least circ.u.mstance, even to the ring which was exchanged for hers, and which she showed him.

After the princess had done speaking, Marzavan, filled with wonder and astonishment, continued for some time with his eyes fixed on the ground, without speaking a word; but at length he lifted up his head and said, 'If it be as your highness says, which I do not in the least doubt, I do not despair of procuring you the satisfaction you desire; but I must first entreat your highness to arm yourself with patience for some time longer, till I shall return after I have travelled over kingdoms which I have not yet visited; and when you hear of my return, be a.s.sured that the object of your wishes is not far off.' So saying, Marzavan took leave of the princess, and set out next morning on his intended journey.

He travelled from city to city, from province to province, and from island to island, and in every place he pa.s.sed through he could hear of nothing but the Princess Badoura (which was the Princess of China's name), and her history.

About four months afterwards, Marzavan arrived at Torf, a seaport town, great and populous, where he no more heard of the Princess Badoura, but where all the talk was of Prince Camaralzaman, who was ill, and whose history very much resembled hers. Marzavan was extremely delighted to hear this, and informed himself of the place where the prince was to be found. There were two ways to it; one by land and sea, the other by sea only, which was the shortest way.