Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 4 (of 6)
General
Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 4 (of 6)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
Better therefore thou set thy heart at rest[FN#359] and weary
thyself no more." Quoth the Son, "Walláhi, O my sire, verily my
heart is hung to yonder fowl and specially to the words of the
Elder; nor is it possible to me to sit at home until I shall have
reached the city of the Camphor Islands and I shall have gazed
upon the gardens wherein such fowls do wone." Quoth his father,
"But why, O my child, wouldst thou deprive us of looking upon
thee?" And quoth the son, "There is no help but that I
travel."?And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell
silent and ceased to say her permitted say. Then quoth her sister
Dunyazad, "How sweet is thy story, O sister mine, and how
enjoyable and delectable!" Quoth she, "And where is this compared
with that I should relate to you on the coming night an the King
suffer me to survive?" Now when it was the next night and that
was
The Four Hundred and Fifty-second Night,
Dunyazad said to her, "Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be
other than sleepy, finish for us thy tale that we may cut short
the watching of this our latter night!" She replied, "With love
and good will!" It hath reached me, O auspicious King, the
director, the right-guiding, lord of the rede which is benefiting
and of deeds fair-seeming and worthy celebrating, that Mohammed
the Son of the Sultan cried, "Needs must I travel, otherwise I
will slay myself." "There is no Majesty and there is no Might,"
quoth the father, "save in Allah the Glorious, the Great; and
saith the old saw, 'The chick is unsatisfied till the crow see it
and carry it off.'"[FN#360] Thereupon the King gave orders to get
ready provisions and other matters required for the Prince's
wayfare, and he sent with him an escort of friends and servants,
after which the youth took leave of his father and mother and he
with his many set forth seeking the Capital of the Camphor
Islands. He ceased not travelling for the space of an entire
month till he arrived at a place wherein three highways forked,
and he saw at the junction a huge rock whereon were written three
lines. Now the first read, "This is the road of safe chance," and
the second, "This is the way of repentance;" and the third, "This
is the path whereon whoso paceth shall return nevermore." When
the Prince perused these inscriptions he said to himself, "I will
tread the path whereon whoso paceth shall nevermore return." Then
he put his trust in Allah, and he travelled over that way for a
space of days a score, when suddenly he came upon a city deserted
and desolate, nor was there a single created thing therein and it
was utterly in ruins. So he alighted beside it and, as a flock of
sheep accompanied his suite, he bade slaughter five lambs and
commanded the cooks to prepare of them delicate dishes and to
roast one of them whole and entire. They did his bidding, and
when the meats were cooked he ordered the trays be spread in that
site and, as soon as all was done to his satisfaction, he
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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