Just as I rejoice in thy fidelity, do thou also be pleased [at the opportunity of] prolonging my existence; for the deliverance of each of us is dependant on the surviving of the other; and my case and thine is exactly like that of the boat and the boatman, for the boat reaches the shore by the exertions of the boatman, and the boatman performs his business with the aid of the boat. Now, my sincerity will be shewn by trying it, and my haste is simply lest the opportunity be lost. HEMISTICH. I fear that fate will give no respite more. And I think that it is clear to thy heart that my words are not wanting in corresponding deeds, and that my actions preponderate over my promises. Now I have given a promise of friendship, and I will faithfully perform it, and do thou also nod thy head in assent, and declare thy compliance. COUPLET. Sign, for our eyes attend expectant now, Upon the corners of that arched brow.' The Cat hearkened to the words of the Rat, and beholding the beauty of truth on the pages of his condition, rejoiced, and said to the Rat, Thy words seem true, and from the tenor of thy discourse comes the odor of sincerity. I therefore accept this compact, and listen with the ear of my soul to the word of God, (may His Name be glorified!) who said, 'Peace is good,' and I will not overstep the purport of this saying, QUATRAIN. 'While peace is possible, so long, knock not Break not love's ewer, but to all be meek.' And I hope that by the auspicious influence of sincere friendship both parties will be liberated, and I take upon myself the duty of requiting and recompensing this favour, and accept the obligation of being thankful to all time for this kindness. And I, too, after the same fashion that thou hast promised, plight my troth, and my hope is, HEMISTICH. To quite fulfil this promise I have made. Now, say what I must do, and how I must conduct myself towards thee?' The Rat replied, 'When I approach thee thou must observe towards me the utmost reverence and becoming respect, that my foes, by observing that, may be acquainted with the confirmation of the ties of social converse and sincere friendship between us, and may so retire baffled and discomfited. Then I, with my mind free from care, will remove the bonds from thy feet.' Cat assented to this arrangement, and the Rat advanced with the utmost confidence. Then the Cat displayed all the forms of friendly and respectful The salutation, and addressed him most cordially, and observed towards him a variety of courtesies and ingratiating and flattering ceremonies. When the ichneumon and raven beheld this state of things, they abandoned all thoughts of making prey of the Rat and departed. As soon as the Rat, owing to the protection of the Cat, was delivered from those two perilous enemies, he began to sever the bonds, and fell into reflection how to escape from the mesh of a third calamity, and he commenced his work slowly. The Cat sagaciously discerned that the Rat had fallen into long and protracted thought. He feared lest he should make off without severing the meshes, and leave him tied by the leg. He therefore began to expostulate with him in a friendly manner, and said, 'Thou hast soon become weary, and my confidence in the fervor of thy professions and the goodness of thy disposition was very opposite to this. Now that thou hast gained thy object, and hast been successful in the wish of thy heart, thou seemest to be lax in fulfilling thy engagements, and art meditating some means of evading the discharge of thy obligations. For my part, I have long known that fidelity is a medicine not to be found in the shop of the druggists of this age; and that sincerity is a gain not to be met with in the treasures of the present time; and that good faith is a second Simurgh, of which but the name exists; and that gratitude resembles the philosopher's stone, the truth of which no one has ever ascertained. COUPLET. Seek not fidelity. From none thou wilt now hear its name : To search for the elixir or the Simurgh were the same.' 6 The Rat answered, God forbid that I should mark the face of my condition with the brand of infidelity, and enter the good name, which I have through so long an interval acquired, in the volume of the breakers of promises. I well know that fidelity is the ladder of ambition, and the provision for the road of happiness. It is an elixir which transmutes black earth into gold, and a collyrium which imparts sight to the eye of the blind. The nostril of every soul which has not snuffed up the scent of faithfulness has no share in the perfumes of the odoriferous plants of good qualities, and the eye of every heart which has not beheld sincerity, is devoid of participating in the sight of the rays of amiable natures. HEMISTICH. Dirt fill the head, void of the brain of faith!' The Cat said, 'As thou art thus sensible that good faith is the tire-woman of the bride of affection, and the mole of the cheek of beauty and comeliness, it behoves thee, too, to adorn the cheek of thy condition with this cosmetic. For no bird of the heart will warble among the branches of the affection of that garden, in which the plant of fidelity does not grow, and no check which is destitute of the mole of good faith will receive a single glance from any intelligent person. And hence they have said, COUPLET. 'She who combines not love with constancy, Delights me not, though Eden's nymph she be.' And whoever is not clothed with the garment of fidelity, and does not fulfil the promise which he plights, will meet with what that Farmer's Wife met with!' The Rat asked, 'How was that?' STORY II.1 The Cat said, 'They have related that in one of the villages of Fárs there was a Farmer of the utmost experience and the most abundant good sense. He had often tasted the bitters and sweets from the cup of fortune, and had experienced many hardships and pleasures in the struggles of life. COUPLET. Gifted with shrewdness, wit, and eloquence. A world-wide traveler, a man of sense, Now this farmer had a wife whose countenance was the taper of his bedchamber, and whose sweet and ruby lips were as olives to the drinkers of wine. She blended a hundred colors like the early spring, and, like fortune, indulged in a thousand coquettish artifices. COUPLET. Some blessed spirit, it may be, her body did compose; Such grace and beauty could not spring from water and the rose. Notwithstanding all the skill that the old Farmer possessed, he passed his time in want and poverty, and sowed the seed of reliance on God in the field of Consign the affair to the Almighty'; and, indeed, it is always the habit of perfidious fortune to exclude the deserving and meritorious from her favors, and to exalt to the summit of success and honor the worthless and undeserving. VERSE. The devious meet with ample measures, Straight-goers get but blades of grass. And glorious Humás filthy bones amass. Thus the old Farmer, though famous for his perfect skill in agriculture, not having the implements for following the business, passed his life in want of employment and penury. One day his Wife, from excessive distress, loosed the tongue of reproach, saying, 'How long is this abiding in the corner of our hovel to continue, and how long is precious life to be wasted in want and scarcity of means. Surely from motion comes promotion; and although, from the tribunal of bounty, they have written the free passport, Sustenance 1 1 This story is not in the Arabic, but has been introduced by Husain Vá'iz. 2 This is Stewart's rendering of nukl. The Dictionary only says that it signifies 'fruits or sweetmeats sent round at entertainments.' 1 I have chosen these words to preserve the jingle in the original between ḥarakat and barakat. 1 is from God, yet the signature which they have impressed on the corner thereof is also The industrious is the friend of God.' Wherefore industry must be regarded as the means of support, but we must recognise the Lord God as the true provider. COUPLET. 'Tis true the cause whence comes thy food is industry, but yet It therefore appears to me advisable that thou shouldest step forward in the path of industry and acquire supplies by every means in thy power.' The Farmer replied, My dear life! what thou hast said approximates to the truth, nay, is beyond all manner of doubt or imputation of selfishness. But I have for a long time acted as master in this village, and most of the farmers of this place have been at some time my laborers. Now that my estate is ruined, and that I have parted with the implements of agriculture, there is no resource left me but to work as a common laborer, but I cannot bring myself to endure the disgrace of working for those who were once my own laborers. COUPLET. I cannot eat the crumbs of those who once upon my leavings fed, Nor bear their burthens who for me once toiling gained their hireling bread. But if I must needs make choice of some profession, it is best to pack up and depart from this place. HEMISTICH. O'er us in foreign lands no foes exult. Come! let us emigrate to some other place and there support ourselves as best we can.' The Wife was driven to extremity by poverty and destitution, and consented to the hardships of exile. Joining, therefore, in the purpose of her spouse, they set their faces thence towards the neighborhood of Baghdad. One day, in the midst of their journey, tired and weary, they took refuge under the shade of a tree, and, to dispel their fatigue, conversed on a variety of subjects. The Farmer said, 'Dear friend! we have chosen the pains of exile, and are proceeding towards a country where no one is acquainted with us, and where we are acquainted with no one. And it is possible that the men of that country may be oppressive, and tyrannical, treacherous and deceitful, and God Most Holy and Most High has adorned the tablet of thy incomparable beauty with the inscription, In the most perfect symmetry.' Heaven avert that by craft and subtlety, or by force and violence, they should assail thee; and thou, too, through the pride of youth and the hope of conquest, should incline to them and turn away from this poor old man, and consume my aged head in the flame of absence; and if, 1 Stewart affirms this to be a quotation from the Kur'an. I am unable to find it there. 2 Observe the phrase, bá khud rást nami tawánam ávard. which God forbid! things should turn out in this manner, it would be no longer possible for me to survive. COUPLET. I fear not death, but when I'm dead, I fear, That thou shouldst be the life of others here.' The Wife replied, 'What words are these which pass thy lips? and what is this thought which has entered thy heart? COUPLET. Long as I live I'll be thy willing slave, And prove thy handmaid e'en beyond the grave. Had I entertained such thoughts as these I would not have undertaken the fatigues of the journey, nor would I have impressed on my suffering heart the brand of separation from my country. And my desire is to preserve [inviolate] till the day of resurrection, the vow of the first night when I placed my foot in the chamber of thy society. COUPLET. Till the last day I will my troth fulfil, Lest thou shouldst say I kept that promise ill. And if thou wishest it I will pledge my faith anew, and promise that so long as the peacock of life adorns the garden of my body, the parrot of my tongue shall not sweeten its palate save with the sugar of gratitude to thee; and while the Humá of vitality continues to canopy my head with the shade of prosperity, I will never suffer the bird of my heart to be caught in the net of any one. Should I precede thee in traveling the last journey, I shall then have fulfilled my engagements, and if my fate should be to linger some days after thee, my promise is unaltered and my faith unchanged. COUPLET. If fate a few days' respite should allow, Stedfast my word, unchanged will be my vow.' The Farmer was tranquilized by these words, and his Wife having plighted her faith in the manner that has been related, confirmed her promise with oaths; and the old man laid his head contentedly on the knee of his beloved spouse, and fell asleep. Shortly after this, a cavalier arrived there, mounted on a horse of Arabian breed, and clad in princely apparel. The Farmer's Wife looked up and beheld a youth, such that if the pupil of the eye had beheld his countenance in the darkest night, it would have supposed that the true morn had arisen from the curtain of the eastern horizon; and if the human sight had cast a glance, through the veil of darkness, on his beautiful cheek, it would have imagined that the world-illuminating sun had displayed itself glittering from behind the veil [of the clouds]. His cheeks |