The Shaving of Shagpat; an Arabian entertainment — CompleteMeredith, George
Science
The Shaving of Shagpat; an Arabian entertainment — Complete
Meredith, George
Arab countries -- Fiction; Fantasy fiction, English
Ukleet then proceeded to the house of Boolp the broker, fronting the
gutted ruins where Bhanavar had been happy in her innocence with Almeryl,
the mountain prince, her husband. Boolp was engaged haggling with a
slave-merchant the price of a fair slave, and Ukleet said to him, 'Yet
awhile delay, O Boolp, ere you expend a fraction of treasure, for truly a
mighty bargain of jewels is waiting for you at the palace of my lord the
King. So come thither with all your money-bags of gold and silver, and
your securities, and your bonds and dues in writing, for 'tis the
favourite of the King requireth you to complete a bargain with her, and
the price of her jewels is the price of a kingdom.'
Said Boolp, 'Hearing is compliance in such a case.'
And Ukleet continued, 'What a fortune is yours, O Boolp! truly the tide
of fortune setteth into your lap. Fail not, wullahy! to come with all you
possess, or if you have not enough when she requireth it to complete the
bargain, my mistress will break off with you. I know not if she intend
even other game for you, O lucky one!'
Boolp hitched his girdle and shrugged, saying, ''Tis she will fail, I
wot,--she, in having therewith to complete the bargain between us. Wa!
wa!--there! I've done this before now. Wullahy! if she have not enough of
her rubies and pearls to outweigh me and my gold, go to, Boolp will
school her! What says the poet?--
''Earth and ocean search, East, West, and North, to the South,
None will match the bright rubies and pearls of her mouth.''
'Aha! what? O Ukleet! And he says:
''The lovely ones a bargain made
With me, and I renounced my trade,
Half-ruined; 'Ah!' said they, 'return and win!
To even scales ourselves we will throw in!''
How so? But let discreetness reign and security flourisheth!'
Ukleet nodded at him, and repeated the distich:
Men of worth and men of wits
Shoot with two arrows, and make two hits.
So he arranged with Boolp the same appointment as with the Vizier, and
returned to Queen Bhanavar.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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