The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 07 (of 10)
General
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 07 (of 10)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Julnar was
brought to bed and was visited by her people, the King received them
with joy at their coming and said to them, “I said that I would not
give my son a name till you should come and name him of your
knowledge.” So they named him Badr Básim,[FN#313] and all agreed upon
this name. Then they showed the child to his uncle Salih, who took him
in his arms and arising began to walk about the chamber with him in all
directions right and left. Presently he carried him forth of the palace
and going down to the salt sea, fared on with him, till he was hidden
from the King’s sight. Now when Shahriman saw him take his son and
disappear with him in the depth of the sea, he gave the child up for
lost and fell to weeping and wailing; but Julnar said to him, “O King
of the Age, fear not, neither grieve for thy son, for I love my child
more than thou and he is with my brother, so reck thou not of the sea
neither fear for him drowning. Had my brother known that aught of harm
would betide the little one, he had not done this deed; and he will
presently bring thee thy son safe, Inshallah—an it please the
Almighty.” Nor was an hour past before the sea became turbid and
troubled and King Salih came forth and flew from the sea till he came
up to them with the child lying quiet and showing a face like the moon
on the night of fulness. Then, looking at the King he said, “Haply thou
fearedst harm for thy son, whenas I plunged into the sea with him?”
Replied the father, “Yes, O my lord, I did indeed fear for him and
thought he would never be saved therefrom.” Rejoined Salih, “O King of
the land, we pencilled his eyes with an eye powder we know of and
recited over him the names graven upon the seal-ring of Solomon
David-son (on whom be the Peace!), for this is what we use to do with
children newly born among us; and now thou needst not fear for him
drowning or suffocation in all the oceans of the world, if he should go
down into them; for, even as ye walk on the land, so walk we in the
sea.” Then he pulled out of his pocket a casket, graven and sealed and,
breaking open the seals, emptied it; whereupon there fell from it
strings of all manner jacinths and other jewels, besides three hundred
bugles of emerald and other three hundred hollow gems, as big as
ostrich eggs, whose light dimmed that of sun and moon. Quoth Salih, “O
King of the Age, these jewels and jacinths are a present from me to
thee. We never yet brought thee a gift, for that we knew not Julnar’s
abiding place neither had we of her any tidings or trace; but now that
we see thee to be united with her and we are all become one thing, we
have brought thee this present; and every little while we will bring
thee the like thereof, Inshallah! for that these jewels and jacinths
are more plentiful with us than pebbles on the beach and we know the
good and the bad of them and their whereabouts and the way to them, and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account