Malayan Literature Part 23

The old woman had hardly ceased speaking when the voice of some unseen being was heard above her saying, "O woman, fly quickly from this spot, for the anger of G.o.d is advancing upon the King." In horror she got up and fled in all haste. Again she heard the voice saying, "O woman, look behind you at the palace." She looked behind her and saw the palace, the King, and all his ministers and servants engulfed in the bowels of the earth by the will of G.o.d. And to this day that place vomits fire and smoke as a mark and a warning.

In the Kitab Tarykh it is told that in ancient times under the kings of Persia named Moah, who followed the rules of justice, men were happy.

But after these kings, Izdegherd-ibn-Chahryar reigned over Persia. By his harsh tyranny he destroyed the high reputation of the kings of Persia and wretchedly closed a series of reigns lasting 4,000 years and noted all over the world for justice and equity. Under the rule of this miserable tyrant countless numbers of men perished and a great many prosperous and famous cities were devastated. All the better cla.s.ses of citizens were plunged into the most frightful distress and the most lamentable desolation, and it would be impossible to tell how great and wide-spread was the mourning. Now while all were groaning in affliction the King made merry.

One day in his presumptuous pride he a.s.sembled his ministers and his generals to show his royal power and his domination over the people. He was seated on his throne, surrounded by a crowd of courtiers, when suddenly a beautiful horse crossing the city at a gallop went straight into the palace of the King, among the ministers and the grandees. They all admired the beautiful horse, the like of which none had ever seen.

n.o.body dared to seize him as he pranced from right to left. Suddenly the horse approached the throne and laid down at the feet of the King.

The King patted and stroked him, and the horse never moved. Then the wicked King began to laugh and said: "O my ministers, you see how far my greatness goes. It is only at my throne that this wonderful horse has stopped. I will mount and ride him on the esplanade." The King ordered a saddle brought, and was placing it on the horse with his own hands, when he received such a kick over the heart that he was immediately killed. Then the wonderful horse vanished, and no one saw where it went. The people all rejoiced and said, "Of a truth, this mysterious horse was one of the angels of G.o.d sent to exterminate a tyrant."

It was in the time of this King, and by his tyranny, that the kingdom of the sovereign of Persia was ruled and fell into the hands of another people. King Khochtacab, the most celebrated of all the kings of his time, by his power, greatness, and magnificence, had raised in rank a man named Ra.s.sat Rouchin, a name which in Persia signifies "sincere and brilliant." Influenced by this fine name, the King forgot all prudence, and without any proof of his capacity he raised this man to power and made him minister, turning over to him the care of the most important affairs in his kingdom and giving him all his confidence. His ostensible conduct was irreproachable, and his acts had for everybody the appearance of honesty and truth. One day the minister Ra.s.sat Rouchin said to the King: "The people, on account of our leniency and goodness, are forgetting their duty, and are showing no more deference nor respect We must inspire them with fear, or affairs will not prosper."

The King in his blind confidence responded, "Do whatever you think is right." As soon as the minister had come from the palace of the King he addressed a proclamation to the towns and villages in which he said: "His Majesty is irritated with his subjects. You must all come with presents to appease his anger." From all sides arrived princes and ministers and grandees of the realm, with precious and magnificent objects. Seized with fear they sought counsel of the minister Ra.s.sat Rouchin.

"How," said they, "dare we present ourselves before his Majesty in his present state of anger against us?"

Then the minister responded: "If the instant of death is not yet come for you, I will try to save you. I tremble to admit you to the King.

But what can I do? On account of the critical situation I will go alone before the King and present your case." So every day he conducted them only as far as the door of the King. There they were told of the fines to which they had been condemned. He took in this way what they had, and sent them home.

This sort of thing continued for a long while until the means of the people were exhausted and the treasury became absolutely empty. The King, always full of confidence in the uprightness of the minister, was in complete ignorance of all this. But at that time there was a king who was an enemy of King Khochtacab. When he learned that the subjects of the latter were suffering cruelly from the oppression of his minister and that his generals were weakened by hunger, he took heart and invaded the kingdom. Then King Khochtacab commanded that his treasury should be opened, and that they should take out all the wealth to gratify the army, gain the hearts of the generals, and defray the expenses of the war. But he found that there was nothing left in the treasury. The army, weakened, was incapable of resisting. The King, shut up in his fort, found it impossible to attack the enemy, and they ravaged and despoiled the kingdom.

The King, having been considered so great, was cruelly wounded by shame at his defeat. He knew not which way to turn his steps. His soul was profoundly troubled. One day, when he had gone forth from the city, wandering at random through plain and forest, he saw a shepherd's hut in the distance, at the door of which were two dogs hanging by the neck. Seeing the King, the shepherd approached and led him to his hovel and served him with the best food he could afford. But the King said:

"I shall not eat until you have told me why you have hanged these two dogs at your cabin-door."

The shepherd responded: "O king of the world, I hanged these two dogs because they betrayed my flock. As my flock was wasting away, I hid one day to see what took place. The wolf came and the dogs played with him and let him carry off sheep and goats. So I hanged the two dogs as faithless traitors."

The King returned to the city and thought over this singular story. "It is a lesson for me," he said, "a revelation. It is impossible not to see that my subjects are the flock and I am the shepherd, while my minister has acted like the shepherd's dogs, and the enemy who has my kingdom is the wolf. I must examine into the conduct of my minister and see with what fidelity he has served me."

When he had returned to the palace he called his secretaries and bade them bring the registers in which the accounts of the kingdom were kept. When these registers were opened he saw that they mentioned only the name of the minister Ra.s.sat Rouchin, and included such statements as: "Intercession of Ra.s.sat Rouchin in favor of princes so and so, ministers such and such, and grandees this and that, who ask pardon for their faults. Ra.s.sat Rouchin took their treasures and granted them grace." There was nothing else in the registers. When the King saw this he said:

"Who rests his faith upon a name goes often without bread, While he who faithless proves for bread shall lose his soul instead."

These words the King had engraved in letters of gold and fastened to the gate. And at this gate he had the false minister hanged as the dogs were hanged at the cabin-door.

A King of Persia, in a fit of anger against his wife for a certain fault which she had committed, commanded his prime minister to put her to death, together with her nursing infant. The minister, on account of the furious anger of the King, did not dare to plead the Queen's cause, but took her to his mother's house. The minister found another woman who had been condemned to death and had her executed, telling the King that it was the Queen who was beheaded. The King's child grew and nourished until he had become a handsome young man. But the King grew more and more morose and melancholy, and shut himself up in the palace.

The minister, noticing this continual sadness of the King, said:

"O king of the world, what has come over the heart of your Majesty?

Pray tell me the cause of your sorrow."

And the King said: "O minister, how should I not be sad and disturbed?

Here I am getting old and I have no son to cause my name to live and protect my kingdom. That is the cause of my sorrow and unhappiness."

When the minister heard these words he said, "O king of the world, your sorrow shall not long endure, for you have a son, capable of preserving and protecting your kingdom. This son of yours has intelligence, education, natural gifts, and great personal beauty, and is of most excellent character."

The King said, "Where is this son of whose existence I have been unaware?"

The minister answered, "Your Majesty is not aware of his existence, but I know that he is very much alive." The minister then related how he had spared the lives of the Queen and her child. The King was transported with joy, and cried, "Happy the king who has such a minister!"

The minister bowed low and said, "When shall your son, the prince, present himself?"

The King answered: "Go seek forty young men of his age, build, figure, and complexion. Have them all dressed alike. Bring these forty young men with my son to a certain place in the plain. Await me there, but tell not this secret to a soul. When I have arrived at the spot then cause these forty young men to present themselves before me. If my son is among them I shall most certainly recognize him."

The minister took leave of the King, and with a heart filled with joy set about doing what the King had ordered. When the King had arrived at the spot chosen his minister advanced, followed by forty-one youths, all dressed alike. As soon as the King had seen them he recognized his son and called him to his side. Then he went back to the city with him and all the grandees. The next day he invited the latter to a great festival, and gave to each of them a splendid present. He turned over his kingdom to his son, taking care to place him and his government under the tutelage of the good minister who had saved his wife and brought him up. Then the King went into a religious retreat, and as long as he lived occupied himself in the service of G.o.d.

The Sultan Alexander, called the Two-Horned, at the beginning of his reign sent an amba.s.sador to King Darius, who was then at the zenith of his greatness. On his return, this amba.s.sador made his report to King Alexander. The latter read it, but had doubts over a certain word therein contained. He questioned his amba.s.sador about the word, saying, "Did you hear that exact word from the mouth of King Darius?"

The amba.s.sador replied, "I heard it with my own ears."

King Alexander, not being able to believe it, wrote a second letter, mentioning this word, and despatched to King Darius another amba.s.sador, charged to deliver it. When King Darius, reading the letter of King Alexander, came to this special word, he took a knife and cut it out, then wrote a letter to King Alexander, in which he said: "The sincerity of the soul of the King is the foundation of his realm and his greatness. His words, therefore, should be faithfully transmitted and reproduced by his amba.s.sador. I have cut out of your letter a certain word, because it was never p.r.o.nounced by me. And if your former amba.s.sador were only here I would cut out his lying tongue even as I have cut out the word from your letter."

When this answer of King Darius's was borne to King Alexander he read it and summoned before him the faithless amba.s.sador. "Why," said he, "were you willing, with a word, to cause the loss of many men and countries?"

"Because they showed me little deference and did not treat me well."

King Alexander said: "Foolish man! And you thought that we sent you to look after your own personal interests, and neglect those of the nation?" He commanded that his tongue should be torn out, and made a proclamation, saying, "This is the fate of traitors who falsely report the words of kings."

In the Kitab Tarykh the following is recounted: The Sultan Homayoun sent an amba.s.sador to the King of Khora.s.san. When this amba.s.sador, on his arrival in the country, had delivered the letter of the Sultan to the King, the latter asked:

"How does your King conduct himself regarding his subjects? How does he govern them?"

"The rule of conduct and the mode of government used by my King,"

answered the amba.s.sador, "are to make himself loved by all his subjects."

The King asked, "Of what nature is the affection of your King for his subjects?"

"That of a mother and father for their children and grandchildren."

"In hard and calamitous times, how does your King conduct himself?"

"He shows that he cares not for riches, for the door of his treasury is always open."

"In the daily receptions how does your King behave?"

"The receptions of my King resemble the gardens of Paradise refreshed by sweet breezes and scented with the balmy breath of sweetly smelling plants or like a sea filled with pearls and corals."

The King asked again, "And in council how speaks your King?"

The amba.s.sador answered, "All those who hear my King in council become wise if they lack wisdom, and brave if they lack courage."

The King of Khora.s.san was enchanted with the answers of the amba.s.sador, loaded him with presents, and said to him: "The spirit and judgment of your King are reflected in the person of his amba.s.sador. They should all be like you." And he addressed in answer to the Sultan a letter filled with compliments and felicitations.

In the Kitab Tarykh it is related that the Sultan Mahmoud was fond of his servant Ayaz on account of the excellence of his wit and judgment.

The other servants of the Sultan were jealous of Ayaz, and murmured against him. One day the ministers and grandees were in the presence of the Sultan Mahmoud, and Ayaz was standing respectfully before him.

Someone brought a cuc.u.mber as a present to the Sultan. The Sultan sliced it and ate a morsel. He found it very bitter, but gave no sign of this. He handed a piece of it to Ayaz, saying, "Eat some of this cuc.u.mber and tell me how it tastes, so that the others present may eat some of it also, and tell us if they ever ate anything like it." Ayaz saluted, and ate of the cuc.u.mber with an appearance of pleasure.

"It is very good."

The King made the others eat of it. They found that it was bitter, and were angry with Ayaz, and asked how he dare to lie in such a manner.