书城公版Volume Seven
22900700000101

第101章

so she is now in prison,with an iron chain about her neck,in most piteous plight;but,Allah willing,the healing of both of you shall come from my hand.'Now when Kamar alZaman heard these words,his life returned to him and he took heart and felt a thrill of joy and signed to his father to help him sit up;and the King was like to fly for gladness and rose hastily and lifted him up. Presently,of his fear for his son,he shook the kerchief of dismissal[293];and all the Emirs and Wazirs withdrew;then he set two pillows for his son to lean upon,after which he bade them perfume the palace with saffron and decorate the city,saying to Marzawan,'By Allah,O my son,of a truth shine aspect be a lucky and a blessed!'And he made as much of him as he might and called for food,and when they brought it,Marzawan came up to the Prince and said,'Rise,eat with me.'So he obeyed him and ate with him,and all the while the King invoked blessings on Marzawan and said,'How auspicious is thy coming,O my son!'And when the father saw his boy eat,his joy and gladness redoubled,and he went out and told the Prince's mother and all the household. Then he spread throughout the palace the good news of the Prince's recovery and the King commanded the decoration of the city and it was a day of high festival. Marzawan passed that night with Kamar alZaman,and the King also slept with them in joy and delight for his son's recovery.And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the One Hundred and Ninetyninth Night,She said,It hath reached me,O auspicious King,that King Shahriman also passed that night with them in the excess of his joy for his son's recovery. And when the next morning dawned,and the King had gone away and the two young men were left alone,Kamar alZaman told his story from beginning to end to Marzawan who said,'In very sooth I know her with whom thou didst foregather;her name is the Princess Budur and she is daughter to King Ghayur.'Then he related to him all that had passed with the Princess from first to last and acquainted him with the excessive love she bore him,saying,'All that befel thee with thy father hath befallen her with hers,and thou art without doubt her beloved,even as she is shine;so brace up thy resolution and take heart,for I will bring thee to her and unite you both anon and deal with you even as saith the poet,'Albe to lover adverse be his love,And show aversion howso may he care;

Yet will I manage that their persons[294] meet,E'en as the pivot of a scissor pair.'

And he ceased not to comfort and solace and encourage Kamar al Zaman and urged him to eat and drink till he ate food and drank wine,and life returned to him and he was saved from his ill case;and Marzawan cheered him and diverted him with talk and songs and stories,and in good time he became free of his disorder and stood up and sought to go to the Hammam.[295] So Marzawan took him by the hand and both went to the bath,where they washed their bodies and made them clean.And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Two Hundredth Night,She said,It hath reached me,O auspicious King,that when Kamar alZaman,son of King Shahriman,went to the Hammam,his father in his joy at this event freed the prisoners,and presented splendid dresses to his grandees and bestowed large almgifts upon the poor and bade decorate the city seven days. Then quoth Marzawan to Kamar alZaman,'Know,O my lord,that I came not from the Lady Budur save for this purpose,and the object of my journey was to deliver her from her present case;and it remaineth for us only to devise how we may get to her,since thy father cannot brook the thought of parting from thee. So it is my counsel that tomorrow thou ask his leave to go abroad hunting.

Then do thou take with thee a pair of saddlebags full of money and mount a swift steed,and lead a spare horse,and I will do the like,and say to thy sire,'I have a mind to divert myself with hunting the desert and to see the open country and there to pass one night.' Suffer not any servant to follow us,for as soon as we reach the open country,we will go our ways.'Kamar al

Zaman rejoiced in this plan with great joy and cried,'It is good.'Then he stiffened his back and,going in to his father,sought his leave and spoke as he had been taught,and the King consented to his going forth ahunting and said,'O my son,blessed be the day that restoreth thee to health! I will not gainsay thee in this;but pass not more than one night in the desert and return to me on the morrow;for thou knowest that life is not good to me without thee,and indeed I can hardly believe thee to be wholly recovered from what thou hadst,[296] because thou art to me as he of whom quoth the poet,'Albe by me I had through day and night Solomon's carpet and the Chosroes' might,Both were in value less than wing of gnat,Unless these eyne could hold thee aye in sight.'[297]

Then the King equipped his son Kamar al Zaman and Marzawan for the excursion,bidding make ready for them four horses,together with a dromedary to carry the money and a camel to bear the water and belly timber;and Kamar alZaman forbade any of his attendants to follow him. His father farewelled him and pressed him to his breast and kissed him,saying,'I ask thee in the name of Allah,be not absent from me more than one night,wherein sleep will be unlawful to me,for I am even as saith the poet,'Thou present,in the Heaven of heavens I dwell;

Bearing shine absence is of hells my Hell:

Pledged be for thee my soul! If love for thee

Be crime,my crime is of the fellest fell.

Does lovelowe burn thy heart as burns it mine,

Doomed night and day Gehennafire to smell?'