The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 02 (of 10)
General
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 02 (of 10)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
hand to his brother, he said, If she bring thee a son, I will give him my
daughter Kuzia Fakan, to wife." At this Zau al-Makan rejoiced, and they fell to
congratulating each other on the victory over the enemy. And the Wazir Dandan
also congratulated the two brothers and said to them, "Know, O ye Kings, that
Allah hath given us the victory, for that we have devoted our lives to Him (be
He exalted and ex tolled!); and we have left our homes and households; and it
is my counsel that we follow up the foe and press upon him and harass him, so
haply Allah shall enable us to win our wishes, and we shall destroy our
enemies, branch and root. If it please you, do ye go down in these ships and
sail over the sea, whilst we fare forward by land and bear the brunt of battle
and the thrust of fight." And the Minister Dandan ceased not to urge them to
combat and repeated his words who said,
"To slay my foes is chiefest bliss I wist, * And on the courser's back be borne a list;
Comes promising tryst a messenger from friend * Full oft, when comes the friend withouten tryst."
And these words of another,
"War for my mother (an I live) I'll take; * Spear for my brother; scymitar for sire
With every shag haired brave who meets his death * Smiling, till won from Doom his dear desire!"
And when the Wazir ended his verses, he said, "Praise be to Him who aided us
dear victory to uphold and who hath given us spoil of silver and fine gold!"
Then Zau al-Makan commanded the army to depart; and they fared on forcing their
marches for Constantinople, till they came to a wide and spacious champaign,
full of all things fair and fain, with wild cattle frisking and gazelles pacing
to and fro across the plain. Now they had traversed great deserts and drink
had been six days cut off from them, when they drew near this meadow and saw
therein waters founting and ripe fruits daunting and that land as it were
Paradise; for it had donned its adornments and decked itself.[FN#417] Gently
waved the branches of its trees drunken with the new wine of the dew, and
combined with the nectar of Tasnim the soft breathings of the morning breeze.
Mind and gazer were confounded by its beauty, even as saith the poet,
"Behold this lovely garden! 'tis as though * Spring o'er its frame her greeny cloak had spread.
Looking with fleshly eyne, thou shalt but sight * A lake whose waters balance in their bed,
But look with spirit eyes and lo! shalt see * Glory in every leaf o'erwaves thy head."
And as another saith,
"The stream's a cheek by sunlight rosy dyed, * Whose down[FN#418] is creeping shade of tamarisk stems
Round legs of tree trunks waveless roll in rings * Silvern, and blossoms are the diadems."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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