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
of Greece had made known to him her story and the cause of her being given to
thee; and he (the Grecian King) not knowing her to be daughter of King Afridun,
Lord of Constantinople; and, had he known that, he would not have bestowed her
upon thee, but he would have restored her to her parent. And of a verity," he
continued, "we were saved from these perils only by the Lady Abrizah, and never
saw we a more valiant than she." And he went on to tell his father all that had
passed from first to last of the wrestling and the single-fighting. When King
Omar heard the story of Sharrkan, Abrizah was exalted in his eyes, and he
longed to see her and question her. Thereupon Sharrkan went out to her and
said, "The King calleth for thee;" she replied, "I hear and I obey;" and he
took her and brought her in to his father, who was seated on his throne and
who, having dismissed his high officers, was attended only by his eunuchs. The
Princess entered and kissing the ground between his hands, saluted him in
choice terms. He was amazed at her eloquent speech and thanked her for her
dealing with his son Sharrkan and bade her be seated. So she sat down and
unveiled her face;[FN#217] and, when the King saw her beauty, his reason fled
his head and he made her draw near and showed her favour, appointing her an
especial palace for herself and her damsels, and assigning them solde and
allowances. Then began he to ask her of the three jewels aforesaid, and she
answered, "Here be they with me, O King of the age!" So saying, she rose and
going to her lodging, unpacked her baggage and from it brought out a box and
from the box a casket of gold. She opened the casket and taking out those
three jewels, kissed them; and gave them to the King. Then she went away
bearing his heart with her. After her going the King sent for his son Sharrkan
and gave him one jewel of the three, and when he enquired of the other two
replied, "O my son! I mean to give one to thy brother Zau al-Makan, and the
other to thy sister Nuzhat al- Zaman." But when Sharrkan heard that he had a
brother (for to that time he knew only of his sister) he turned to his sire and
said to him, "O King, hast thou a son other than myself?" He answered, "Yes,
and he is now six years old;" adding that his name was Zau al- Makan and that
he and Nuzhat al-Zaman were twins, born at a birth. This news was grievous to
Sharrkan, but he kept his secret and said, "The bless- ing of Allah Most High
be upon them!", and he cast the jewel from his hand and shook the dust off his
clothes. Quoth the King, "How do I see thee change thy manner when hearing of
this, considering that after me thou becomest heir of the kingdom. Of a truth
the troops have sworn to thee and the Emirs and Grandees have taken the oath of
succession to thee; and this one of the three jewels is thine." Sharrkan bowed
his head to the ground and was ashamed to bandy words with his parent so he
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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