The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 09 (of 10)
General
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 09 (of 10)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
She continued: It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the King saw
himself in his vision pouring water upon the roots of a tree, about
which were many other trees; and lo and behold! there came fire out of
this tree and burnt up every growth which encompassed it; whereupon
Jali'ad awoke affrighted and trembling, and calling one of his pages
said to him, "Go fetch the Wazir Shimas in all haste." So he betook
himself to Shimas and said to him, "The King calleth for thee
forthright because he hath awoke from his sleep in affright and hath
sent me to bring thee to him in haste." When Shimas heard this, he
arose without stay or delay and going to the King, found him seated on
his bed. He prostrated himself before him, wishing him permanence of
glory and prosperity, and said, "May Allah not cause thee grieve, O
King! What hath troubled thee this night, and what is the cause of thy
seeking me thus in haste?" The King bade him be seated; and, as soon as
he sat down, began telling his tale and said to him, "I have dreamt
this night a dream which terrified me, and 'twas, that methought I
poured water upon the roots of a tree where about were many other trees
and as I was thus engaged, lo and behold! fire issued therefrom and
burnt up all the growths that were around it; wherefore I was
affrighted and fear took me. Then I awoke and sent to bid thee to me,
because of thy knowledge and skill in the interpretation of dreams and
of that which I know of the vastness of thy wisdom and the greatness of
thine understanding." At this Shimas the Wazir bowed his head
groundwards awhile and presently raising it, smiled; so the King said
to him, "What deemest thou, O Shimas? Tell me the truth of the matter
and hide naught from me." Answered Shimas, "O King, verily Allah
Almighty granteth thee thy wish and cooleth thine eyes; for the matter
of this dream presageth all good, to wit, that the Lord will bless thee
with a son, who shall inherit the Kingdom from thee, after thy long
life. But there is somewhat else I desire not to expound at this
present, seeing that the time is not favourable for interpretation."
The King rejoiced in these words with exceeding joy and great was his
contentment; his trouble departed from him, his mind was at rest and he
said, "If the case be thus of the happy presage of my dream, do thou
complete to me its exposition when the fitting time betideth: for that
which it behoveth not to expound to me now, it behoveth that thou
expound to me when its time cometh, so my joy may be fulfilled, because
I seek naught in this save the approof of Allah extolled and exalted be
He!" Now when the Wazir Shimas saw that the King was urgent to have the
rest of the exposition, he put him off with a pretext; but Jali'ad
assembled all the astrologers and interpreters of dreams of his realm
and as soon as they were in the presence related to them his vision,
saying, "I desire you to tell me the true interpretation of this."
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account