For even, if this affair, and what is the use of inquiry into this matter? the crime of that corrupt traitor should be clearly proved, he will by hypocritical and false pretences turn away the mind of the king from inflicting retribution, and will employ some astonishing device, by which he will throw doubt upon all in spite of their certainty in this matter. COUPLET. He in evasion has such mighty skill, He can make doubt look truth-like at his will.' In short, at this crisis, when the Lion was hungry and furious, they said so much after this fashion, that his heart was penetrated with a feeling of aversion to Farísah, and in accordance with the saying, Whoever listens, doubts,' various thoughts passed through his mind, and he gave orders to summon Farísah to his presence. That hapless one, unaware of the impression made by the wiles of his enemies, began his return, and as the skirt of his honesty was pure from the stain of this false accusation, he came boldly into the presence of Kámjúí. The Lion asked, 'What hast thou done with the flesh I committed to thy charge yesterday?' Farísah replied, 'I conveyed it to the kitchen, that they might bring it to the king at breakfast-time.' The cook, too, was one of the conspirators. He came forward to deny [what Farísah had said;] and asserted most pertinaciously, 'I know nothing about the circumstance, and thou gavest no flesh to me.' The Lion then sent a party of commissioners, who searched Farísah's abode for the flesh; and, as they had hid it themselves, they soon brought it to light and took it to the Lion. Farísah perceived that his enemies had effected their purpose, and that they had found their opportunity and accomplished an affair, the threads of the counsel of which they had been long weaving. He said to himself, COUPLET. The wall hides now the sunshine of my bliss,' For long long years I feared a day like this.' And of the number of the vazírs was a wolf, who to that moment had not uttered a word of reproach, and who reckoned himself among the just, and made as though he would not take a step without certain and convincing proof, nor meddle with the matter till he had full cognizance of all the circumstances, and vaunted his friendship for Farísah, and made a strenuous show of protecting him. When these things had taken place he advanced, and, in declaration of his opinion, said, 'O King! the fault of this villain has been found out, and the guilt of this dishonorable wretch has come to light. The king's advisable course is that the command for his punishment should be 1 Lit., 'The sun of my mirth has arrived on the top of the wall.' carried into execution with all possible despatch; for, if this be overlooked, other criminals will doubtless be freed from dread of chastisement, and will wax more audacious every moment. HEMISTICH. Business would cease if punishment were not.' The Lion commanded them to remove the Jackal, and plunged into a long and deep meditation. Meanwhile a lynx, who was one of the special favorites of the king, began to say, 'I am astonished at the luminous mind of the king-from the radiance of which the sun acquires its power of diffusing light, and under the defence of which the taper of heaven's dormitory illuminates its face,—as to how the acts of this traitor, and the perfidy of this paltry cheat, have been hid from it, and how unobservant the king has been of the impurity of his foul mind, and the deceitfulness of his wily nature, and why the king delays his execution, notwithstanding such an enormous crime, and such a shameful action, and disturbs with the straw and rubbish of reflection the stream of punishment, by the drops of which the tree of justice is refreshed and invigorated.' Kámjúí, roused by these words, said, 'What hast thou to say?' The lynx replied, O king! sages have said, 'He, whose administration is good, his rule will endure;' the regulations of a needful severity are the cause of a government's continuance. Whoever draws not out the sword of punishment from the sheath of vengeance cannot repel the arrow of mischief with the shield of defence; and he who does not hack to pieces the foundation of injustice with the axe of wrath will not be able to plant the seedling of his wishes in the flower-garden of life. 6 VERSE. Where laws of wholesome rigor cease to reign, The base of safety, too, is overset: For 'tis from it these gardens fruit obtain From the clear fount of righteous strictness wet. And whoever seeks the king's welfare must inflict punishment on the guilty, nor shew him favor though he be the friend of his heart and the beloved of his soul. As the Sultán of Baghdád, for the public weal, inflicted punishment on his own beloved mistress.' Kámjúí said, 'How was that?' STORY III. The lynx represented, "They have related that in the capital of China there was a king, who, in observing the canons of justice, had, like Jamshid, made the world-displaying goblet of reason the mirror of his life; and, like Alexander, sought for the living waters of equity in his attention to the rules of government. From his impartial sway, injustice fled COUPLET. A hundred leagues, to regions of the dead. He had a son of fair countenance and sweet disposition, who captured the hearts of mankind with the lasso of suavity, and, with the grain of beneficence and courtesy, brought into the snare of his attachment the birds of the souls of high and low. COUPLET. Never did Mother World one of such stainless temper bear, Nor ever did Time's eye with him one so unmatched compare. This son formed a desire of seeing the Holy Sanctuary, which is another term for that in the well-known passage, Verily the first house appointed unto men to worship in [was that which is in Becca];"1 and from the corner of his heart was manifested a strong inclination to circumambulate that most excellent place, round which religious processions move, by which is meant the abode of peace, according to the saying, Whoever entereth therein shall be safe. Having accepted with the words 'Here I am!' the invitation of the summoner, 3 [who says] And proclaim unto the people,' he formed a fixed determination of entering on a pilgrimage to the sanctuary of the K'abah. 6 STANZA. 4 The hope to circumambulate the temple of thy street, Consigns a train of pilgrims to the wilderness of care. Exclaiming, 'Here am I!' we climb, and mount with willing feet Upon thy sacred quarters, 'Arafát; and clustering there A hundred caravans of souls await After he had obtained leave to depart from his father, he set off by way of the sea, and embarked with a number of retainers in ships such that the expanse of heaven appeared insignificant in comparison with each vessel, and the page of the sky shewed like a diminutive scrap in juxta-position with a single sail of each barque. They put in motion the footless, watertraversing coursers, and taking up their abode in that wooden house in which the roof was below and the pillar above, they committed the reins of disposal to the rapid wind. 1 Kur'an, Fl. iii. 90; Mar. 96; Sale, p. 43, 1. 36: Say, God is true; follow ye therefore the religion of Abraham the orthodox; for he was no idolater. Verily the first house appointed unto men to worship in, was that which is in Becca; blessed and a direction to all creatures.' Becca is another name for Mecca, the Arabs using the m and b promiscuously in several words. 2 See the passage of the Kur'an quoted above. The next line is, 'Therein are manifest signs the place where Abraham stood; and whoever entereth therein shall be safe.' 3 I would read dá'í-rá did the MSS. allow it, governed in the dative by ijábat zadah. 4 Kur'an, xxii. 28, Sale, p. 253, 1. 28: ‘And proclaim unto the people a solemn pilgrimage: let them come unto thee on foot, and on every lean camel, arriving from every distant road; that they may be witnesses of the advantages which accrue to them from the visiting this holy place; and may commemorate the name of God on the appointed days, in gratitude for the brute cattle which he hath bestowed on them.' 5 'Arafat is a mountain twelve miles from Makkah, whence pilgrims make a procession to the Holy Monument on another mountain at a little distance. On 'Arafat Adam met Eve after a separation of 200 years. 6 That is, the deck was below the mast or pillar. 3 COUPLET. Moon-like, they in the waters hold their dwelling, Towards the shore their swift-sailed barques impelling. Having traversed a distance, in a short time they arrived at the revered Makkah, and having performed the proper ceremonies and rites of the pilgrimage, they bent their steps to kiss the threshold of the sacred Mausoleum of His Highness the Sultán of the throne of prophecy, and the Khákán of the court of honor and majesty. COUPLET. That hot-reined, soaring cavalier, he for whose use were given As leather for his stirrups twain, the expanses nine of heaven. (May God pour His blessings on Muḥammad the chosen, and on his family the pure ones, and on his companions the excellent!); and were made felicitous by kissing the sublime court of the Prophet. COUPLET. To kiss thy portals' sacred dust, the wish of every saint is this,— And harder than all hardest things, to lose this long-hoped, much-sought bliss. And thence they came with a caravan of Khurásán towards Baghdad. The king of that place, hearing an account of the prince, came out to meet him, and observed towards him the respectful and honorific ceremonies which were fitting and requisite, and having prepared for him proper entertainment and allowances, and a suitable place to alight in, he besought him to tarry there certain days. When they had recovered themselves from the fatigue of the journey, and had resolved on returning to their own country, the prince made many apologies to the Sultán for the trouble he had given; and having replied to his attentions with the gifts of thankfulness and gratitude, sent to his seraglio, by way of present and good-will offering, a Chinese damsel; and he himself having packed up his traveling effects set out for Khurásán. The Sultán, after the ceremony of accompanying his guest some way on the march, and the discharge of the customs of valediction; returned to his seraglio, and sent for the damsel. He beheld a form of such beauty that the Limner of Creative Power had never drawn the like on the tablet of existence, nor had the eye of the painter of imagination ever beheld in the volume of fancy so graceful a shape. Her enchanting locks enchained a world with the lasso of mischief, and the world-illuminating moon, from its high station, had painted a diadem on the ground before her face. With one arch movement of her eyebrow, she placed the claims of other pretenders 1 There is an equivoque here, which cannot be retained in English. The burj-ábí may mean 'the sign Aquarius,' or 'a mansion in the water.' 2 Here again is an equivoque not retainable in English. Khák búsi, is 'kissing the ground;' and burdan ba-khák, lit., 'to bear to the ground,' means-like the German 'zu Grunde gehen,'' to be ruined or lost.' to beauty on the shelf of oblivion, and with a single coquettish glance of her half-intoxicated eye, she gave to the wind of inebriation the piety of anchorets. DISTICHS. A lamp to lovers, where to couch her cheek; Her form, the lofty fortune of the just : Her words. Her lips shame rubies into stones.' 1 At the graceful movements of that free cypress, the foot of the heart of the king of Baghdad sank in the clay; and by tasting her wine-colored lip, he became intoxicated and bereft of sense without the intervention of wine. COUPLET. 'Chained to her slender-waisted 2 form,' her captive said, ‘I languish, Ah! to my sorrow-wasted heart what suffering this, and anguish!' However much the Sultán, who had lost his heart, exerted himself [to escape this thraldom] it was all in vain; and though commanding reason poured the water of admonition on the fire of love, its flame did but blaze forth the more. COUPLET. Words will not stanch these flowing tears, nor stay the torrent of these eyes, And chiding but augments the more the torture of love's agonies. Giving himself up to the society of the damsel, the Sultán, all at once abandoned the thought of his people's sufferings, and attention to the affairs of the State. And whenever a king engages in dissipation, and ceases to inquire into the condition of the oppressed; and, fixing his ears on the soft sounds of the lute and lyre, listens not to the wailing of each afflicted heart, troubles in a short time arise, and sedition and disorder, growing rampant, the issue of affairs is disastrous to mankind. VERSE. When monarchs time in revelry employ, Then sets the star of their ambitionings. Libra 3 the constellation is of joy,3 And there the planets wane and sink for kings. Some days passed in this manner, and the Pillars of the State and ministers of the king, distressed at their monarch's indifference, beheld the condition of the city and of the country involved in disorder. A number of them, 1 I have kept the equivoque here more successfully than the extravagance of Persian allusions generally permits: dar tang mandan, said of sugar, means, to be in a bale,' and signifies generally to be distressed;' dor sang raftan has the two meanings that to be petrified' has in English. 2 Here again is an equivoque on tang, which signifies 'slender' and 'sad.' 3 Mizán, 'Libra,' may also mean 'convivial_tables.' I know not if an equivoque is intended. |