书城公版Volume Seven
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第112章

When it was the Two Hundred and Fifteenth Night,She said,It hath reached me,O auspicious King,that when the ship sped on her course,Kamar alZaman returned to the garden in cark and care;but anon he rented the place of its owner and hired a man to help him in irrigating the trees. Moreover,he repaired the trapdoor and he went to the underground chamber and bringing the rest of the gold to grass,stowed it in other fifty bottles which he filled up with a layer of olives. Then he enquired of the ship and they told him that it sailed but once a year,at which his trouble of mind redoubled and he cried sore for that which had betided him,above all for the loss of the Princess Budur's talisman,and spent his nights and days weeping and repealing verses. Such was his case;but as regards the ship she sailed with a favouring wind till she reached the Ebony Islands. Now by decree of destiny,Queen Budur was sitting at a latticewindow overlooking the sea and saw the galley cast anchor upon the strand. At this sight,her heart throbbed and she took horse with the Chamberlains and Nabobs and,riding down to the shore,halted by the ship,whilst the sailors broke bulk and bore the bales to the storehouses;after which she called the captain to her presence and asked what he had with him. He answered 'O King,I have with me in this ship aromatic drugs and cosmetics and healing powders and ointments and plasters and precious metals and rich stuffs and rugs of Yemen leather,not to be borne of mule or camel,and all manner of otters and spices and perfumes,civet and ambergris and camphor and Sumatra aloeswood,and tamerinds[333] and sparrowolives to boot,such as are rare to find in this country.'When she heard talk of sparrow olives her heart longed for them and she said to the shipmaster,'How much of olives hast thou?'He replied,'Fifty bottles full,but their owner is not with us,so the King shall take what he will of them.'Quoth she,'Bring them ashore,that I may see them.'' Thereupon he called to the sailors,who brought her the fifty bottles;and she opened one and,looking at the olives,said to the captain,'I will take the whole fifty and pay you their value,whatso it be.'He answered,'By Allah,O my lord,they have no value in our country;moreover their shipper tarried behind us,and he is a poor man.'Asked she,'And what are they worth here?'and he answered 'A thousand dirhams.''I will take them at a thousand,'she said and bade them carry the fifty bottles to the palace. When it was night,she called for a bottle of olives and opened it,there being none in the room but herself and the Princess Hayat alNufus. Then,placing a dish before her she turned into it the contents of the jar,when there fell out into the dish with the olives a heap of red gold;and she said to the Lady Hayat alNufus,'This is naught but gold!'So she sent for the rest of the bottles and found them all full of precious metal and scarce enough olives to fill a single jar. Moreover,she sought among the gold and found therein the talisman,which she took and examined and behold,it was that which Kamar al Zaman had taken from off the band of her petticoat trousers.

Thereupon she cried out for joy and slipped down in a swoon;And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Two Hundred and Sixteenth Night,She said,It hath reached me,O auspicious King,that when King Budur saw the talisman she cried out for joy and slipped down in a swoon;and when she recovered she said to herself,'Verily,this talisman was the cause of my separation from my beloved Kamar alZaman;but now it is an omen of good.'Then she showed it to Hayat alNufus and said to her,'This was the cause of disunion and now,please Allah,it shall be the cause of reunion.'As soon as day dawned she seated herself on the royal throne and sent for the shipmaster,who came into the presence and kissed the ground before her. Quoth she,'Where didst thou leave the owner of these olives?'Quoth he,'O King of the age,we left him in the land of the Magians and he is a gardener there.'She rejoined,'Except thou bring him to me,thou knowest not the harm which awaiteth thee and thy ship.'Then she bade them seal up the magazines of the merchants and said to them,'Verily the owner of these olives hath borrowed of me and I have a claim upon him for debt and,unless ye bring him to me,I will without fail do you all die and seize your goods.'So they went to the captain and promised him the hire of the ship,if he would go and return a second time,saying,'Deliver us from this masterful tyrant.'Accordingly the skipper embarked and set sail and Allah decreed him a prosperous voyage,till he came to the Island of the Magians and,landing by night,went up to the garden. Now the night was long upon Kamar alZaman,and he sat,bethinking him of his beloved,and bewailing what had befallen him and versifying,'A night whose stars refused to run their course,A night of those which never seem outworn:

Like Resurrectionday,of longsome length[334]

To him that watched and waited for the morn.'