The Arabian Nights Entertainments - Volume 01Anonymous
General
The Arabian Nights Entertainments - Volume 01
Anonymous
Arabs -- Folklore; Fairy tales; Folklore -- Arab countries
The Twenty-sixth Night.
As soon as Dinarzade thought it was time to call the sultaness,
she says to her, How much should I be obliged to you, dear
sister, if you would tell us what passed in the Palace of Tears.
Schahriar having signified that he was as curious to know it as
Dinarzade, the sultaness resumed the story of the young enchanted
prince as follows:
Sir, after the enchantress had given the king her husband an
hundred blows with bull pizzles, she put on again his covering of
goat hair, and his brocade gown over all; she went afterwards to
the Palace of Tears, and, as she entered the same, she renewed
her tears and lamentations; then approaching the bed, where she
thought her gallant was, What cruelty, cries she, was it to
disturb the contentment of so tender and passionate a lover as I
am! O thou who reproachest me that I am too inhuman, when I make
thee feel the effects of my resentment! cruel prince! does not
thy barbarity surpass my vengeance? Ah, traitor! in attempting
the life of the object whom I adore, hast thou not robbed me of
mine? Alas! says she, addressing herself to the sultan, while she
thought she spoke to the black, my soul, my life, will you always
be silent? Are you resolved to let me die, without giving me so
much comfort as to tell me that you love me? My soul! speak one
word to me at least, I conjure you.
The sultan, making as if he had awakened out of a deep sleep, and
counterfeiting the language of the blacks, answers the queen with
a grave tone, 'There is no force nor power but in God alone, who
is almighty.' At these words, the enchantress, who did not expect
them, gave a great shout, to signify her excessive joy. My dear
lord, says she, do not I deceive myself? is it certain that I
hear you, and that you speak to me? Unhappy wretch, said the
sultan, art thou worthy that I should answer thy discourse? Alas!
replies the queen, why do you reproach me thus? The cries,
replied he, the groans and tears of thy husband, whom thou
treatest every day with so much indignity and barbarity, hinder
me to sleep night and day. I should have been cured long ago, and
have recovered the use of my speech, hadst thou disenchanted him.
This is the cause of my silence, which you complain of. Very
well, says the enchantress, to pacify you, I am ready to do what
you will command me; would you that I restore him as he was? Yes,
replies the sultan, make haste to set him at liberty, that I be
no more disturbed with his cries.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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