书城公版Volume Three
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第112章 ALAEDDIN ABOU ESH SHAMAT.(22)

And she foretold him that he should die by the hand of a captive from Alexandria. So he swore to kill every captive from that place and told the captain of this,saying,'Do thou fall on the ships of the Muslims and seize them and whomsoever thou findest of Alexandria,kill him or bring him to me.'The captain did his bidding and he slew as many in number as the hairs of his head.

Then my grandmother died and I took a geomantic tablet,being minded to now who I should marry,and drawing a figure,found that none should be my husband save one called Alaeddin Abou esh Shamat,the Trusty and Well-beloved. At this I marvelled and waited till the times were accomplished and I foregathered with thee.'So Alaeddin took her to wife and said to her,I desire to return to my own country.'If it be so,'replied she,come with me.'Then she carried him into the palace and hiding him in a closet there,went in to her father,who said to her,O my daughter,my heart is exceeding heavy to-day;let us sit down and make merry with wine,thou and I.'So he called for a table of wine,and she sat down with him and plied him with wine,till he lost his wits,when she drugged a cup with henbane,and he drank it off and fell backward. Then she brought Alaeddin out of the closet and said to him,Come;thine enemy is laid prostrate,for I made him drunk and drugged him;so do thou with him as thou wilt.'Accordingly Alaeddin went to the King and finding him lying drugged and helpless,bound him fast,hand and foot. Then he gave him the counter-drug and he came to himself and finding his daughter and Alaeddin sitting on his breast,said to her,O my daughter,dost thou deal thus with me?If I be indeed thy daughter,'answered she,become a Muslim,even as I have done;

for the truth was shown to me,and I embraced it,and the false,and I renounced it. I have submitted myself unto God,the Lord of all creatures,and am pure of all faiths contrary to that of Islam in this world and the next. Wherefore,if thou wilt become a Muslim,well and good;if not,thy death were better than thy life.'Alaeddin also exhorted him to embrace the true faith;but he refused and was obstinate: so Alaeddin took a dagger and cut his throat from ear to ear. Then he wrote a scroll,setting forth what had happened and laid it on the dead mans forehead,after which they took what was light of weight and heavy of worth and returned to the church. Here the princess took out the jewel and rubbed the face whereon was figured a couch,whereupon a couch appeared before her and she mounted upon it with Alaeddin and Zubeideh,saying,O couch,I conjure thee by the virtue of the names and talismans and characters of art engraven on this jewel,rise up with us!'And it rose with them into the air and flew,till I came to a desert valley,when the princess turned the face on which the couch was figured towards the earth,and it sank with them to the ground. Then she turned up the face whereon was figured a pavilion and tapping it,said,Let a pavilion be pitched in this valley.'And immediately there appeared a pavilion,in which they seated themselves. Now this valley was a desert waste,without grass or water;so she turned a third face of the jewel towards the sky and said,By the virtue of the names of God,let trees spring up here and a river run beside them!'And immediately trees sprang up and a river ran rippling and splashing beside them. They made their ablutions and prayed and drank of the stream;after which the princess turned up a fourth face of the jewel,on which was figured a table of food,and said,By the virtue of the names of God,let the table be spread!'And immediately there appeared before them a table,spread with all manner rich meats,and they ate and drank and made merry.