Turkish Literature; Comprising Fables, Belles-lettres, and Sacred Traditions
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Turkish Literature; Comprising Fables, Belles-lettres, and Sacred Traditions
Turkey -- Literary collections; Turkish literature -- Translations into English
“Then the door of the domed building opened and they went in, and they
saw that in one corner thereof was gold, in another corner silver, in
another corner all manner of jewels, and in another corner was raised a
throne upon black earth, and on that throne was a coffin, and in that
coffin lay a renowned man dead. Upon his breast was a gold tablet, and
on that tablet was written: ‘I was a king, and I ruled the whole earth,
and whithersoever I went in this world I conquered. I had many many
champions and great wealth and treasure. Some little of the wealth I
owned I gathered here. Me too death spared not; but made me even as
though I had not come into the world. Now, O thou who seest me in this
plight, take warning by me, and remember my soul in prayer, and be not
presumptuous through the wealth of this world for a few days’ life.’ And
that was all. Then the Moor and the youth took as much as they desired
of the gold and silver and precious stones and black earth, which was
the philosopher’s stone, and went out. The Moor repeated a charm and
blew upon the well, and it was again all full of water; and he went back
with the boy to their house, and they gave themselves up to mirth and
merriment. Day and night they ceased not therefrom an instant.
“One day the boy asked the Moor to teach him the charms he had repeated
in the talisman. The Moor consented, and instructed him for many days
and taught him. One day, of a sudden, the boy said to his father, ‘O
father, I have learned the whole of the charms for the talisman, so we
have no longer any need of the Moor; let us poison him.’ But his father
consented not, and said, ‘Let us turn him away; let him go
elsewhither.’ Quoth the youth, ‘The turning away of him would not do;
he is a great master, he might do us an injury, so let us poison him ere
he play us some trick; and I will take as much gold and silver as is
needful from that buried treasure.’ The Moor heard him and knew that
fairness purposed foulness, and he straightway disappeared from there.
“Now, O king, I have told this story for that the king may know that no
good has ever happened to anyone from youths. Yea, O king, be not
negligent, kill the youth, else the affair will end in evil.” When the
king heard this story from the lady he was wroth and said, “On the
morrow will I slay him.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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