书城公版Volume Seven
16284600000005

第5章

'He answered 'Yes'; and the King said,'Idesire of thee that thou fare with my Wazir thither.'Replied Aziz,'I hear and I obey,O King of the Age!'; where upon the King summoned his Minister and said to him,'Devise me some device,whereby my son's affair may be rightly managed and fare thou forth to the Camphor Islands and demand of their King his daughter in marriage for my son,Taj alMuluk.'The Wazir replied,'Hearkening and obedience.'Then Taj alMuluk returned to his dwelling place and his love and longing redoubled and the delay seemed endless to him; and when the night darkened around him,he wept and sighed and complained and repeated this poetry,'Dark falls the night: my tears unaided rail And fiercest flames of love my heart assail:

Ask thou the nights of me,and they shall tell An I find aught to do but weep and wail:

Night long awake,I watch the stars what while Pour down my cheeks the tears like dropping hail:

And lone and lorn I'm grown with none to aid; For kith and kin the love lost lover fail.'

And when he had ended his reciting he swooned away and did not recover his senses till the morning,at which time there came to him one of his father's eunuchs and,standing at his head,summoned him to the King's presence.So he went with him and his father,seeing that his pallor had increased,exhorted him to patience and promised him union with her he loved.Then he equipped Aziz and the Wazir and supplied them with presents; and they set out and fared on day and night till they drew near the Isles of Camphor,where they halted on the banks of a stream,and the Minister despatched a messenger to acquaint the King of his arrival.The messenger hurried forwards and had not been gone more than an hour,before they saw the King's Chamberlains and Emirs advancing towards them,to meet them at a parasang's distance from the city and escort them into the royal presence.

They laid their gifts before the King and became his guests for three days.And on the fourth day the Wazir rose and going in to the King,stood between his hands and acquainted him with the object which induced his visit; whereat he was perplexed for an answer inasmuch as his daughter misliked men and disliked marriage.So he bowed his head groundwards awhile,then raised it and calling one of his eunuchs,said to him,'Go to thy mistress,the Lady Dunya,and repeat to her what thou hast heard and the purport of this Wazir's coming.'So the eunuch went forth and returning after a time,said to the King,'O King of the Age,when I went in to the Lady Dunya and told her what I had heard,she was wroth with exceeding wrath and rose at me with a staff designing to break my head; so I fled from her,and she said to me 'If my Father force me to wed him,whomsoever I wed I will slay.' Then said her sire to the Wazir and Aziz,'Ye have heard,and now ye know all! So let your King wot of it and give him my salutations and say that my daughter misliketh men and disliketh marriage.'And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the One Hundred and Thirtyfirst Night,She said,It hath reached me,O auspicious King,that King Shahriman thus addressed the Wazir and Aziz,'Salute your King from me and inform him of what ye have heard,namely that my daughter misliketh marriage.'So they turned away unsuccessful and ceased not faring on till they rejoined the King and told him what had passed; whereupon he commanded the chief officers to summon the troops and get them ready for marching and campaigning.But the Wazir said to him,'O my liege Lord,do not thus: the King is not at fault because,when his daughter learnt our business,she sent a message saying,'If my father force me to wed,whomsoever I wed I will slay and myself after him.' So the refusal cometh from her.'When the King heard his Minister's words he feared for Taj alMuluk and said,'Verily if I make war on the King of the Camphor Islands and carry off his daughter,she will kill herself and it will avail me naught.'Then he told his son how the case stood,who hearing it said,'O my father,I cannot live without her; so I will go to her and contrive to get at her,even though I die in the attempt,and this only will I do and nothing else.'Asked his father,'How wilt thou go to her?'

and he answered,'I will go in the guise of a merchant.'[11]

Then said the King,'If thou need must go and there is no help for it,take with thee the Wazir and Aziz.'Then he brought out money from his treasuries and made ready for his son merchandise to the value of an hundred thousand dinars.The two had settled upon this action; and when the dark hours came Taj alMuluk and Aziz went to Aziz's lodgings and there passed that night,and the Prince was heart smitten,taking no pleasure in food or in sleep;for melancholy was heavy upon him and he was agitated with longing for his beloved.So he besought the Creator that he would vouch safe to unite him with her and he wept and groaned and wailed and began versifying,'Union,this severance ended,shall I see some day? Then shall my tears this love lorn lot of me portray.

While night all care forgets I only minded thee,And thou didst gar me wake while all forgetful lay.'

And when his improvising came to an end,he wept with sore weeping and Aziz wept with him,for that he remembered his cousin; and they both ceased not to shed tears till morning dawned,whereupon Taj alMuluk rose and went to farewell his mother,in travelling dress.She asked him of his case and he repeated the story to her; so she gave him fifty thousand gold pieces and bade him adieu; and,as he fared forth,she put up prayers for his safety and for his union with his lover and his friends.Then he betook himself to his father and asked his leave to depart.The King granted him permission and,presenting him with other fifty thousand dinars,bade set up a tent for him without the city and they pitched a pavilion wherein the travellers abode two days.Then all set out on their journey.

Now Taj alMuluk delighted in the company of Aziz and said to him,'O my brother,henceforth I can never part from thee.'