"More Fairy Tales from the Arabian Nights" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dixons Version)
When the sultan entered the court-yard, and alighted at the portico, the Princess Parizade came and threw herself at his feet, and the two princes informed him that she was their sister, and besought him to accept her respects.
The sultan stooped to help her up; and, after he had gazed some time on her beauty, struck with her good person, noble air, and a something indefinable, which seemed different from the country where she lived, he said, 'The brothers are worthy of the sister, and she of them; and to judge of her understanding by her looks, I am not surprised that the brothers would do nothing without their sister's consent; but,' added he, 'I hope to be better acquainted with you, madam, after I have seen the house.'
'Sir,' said the princess, 'it is only a plain country-house, fit for such people as we are, who live retired from the great world. It is not to be compared with houses in great cities, much less with the magnificent palaces of sultans.'
'I cannot perfectly agree with you in opinion,' said the sultan, very obligingly, 'for its first appearance makes me suspect you; however, I will not pass my judgment upon it till I have seen it all; therefore be pleased to conduct me through the apartments.'
The princess led the sultan through all the rooms but the hall; and, after he had considered them all very attentively, and admired their variety, 'My fair one,' said he to the Princess Parizade, 'do you call this a country-house? The finest and largest cities would soon be deserted if all country-houses were like yours. I am no longer surprised that you take so much delight in it, and despise the town. Now let me see the garden, which I doubt not is as fine as the house.'
The princess opened a door which led into the garden; and the first object which presented itself to the sultan's view was the golden fountain. Surprised at so rare a sight, he asked whence came such wonderful water, where was its source, and by what art it was made to play so high that he thought nothing in the world could compare with it? He said he would presently take a nearer view.
Then the princess led him to the spot where the harmonious tree was planted; and there the sultan heard a concert, which was different from all the concerts he had ever heard in his life; and stopping to see where the musicians were, he could discern nobody far or near; but still distinctly heard the music, which ravished his senses. 'My fair one,' said he to the Princess Parizade, 'where are the musicians? Are they underground, or invisible in the air? '
'Sir,' answered the princess, smiling, 'it is not musicians, but the tree your majesty sees before you which makes this concert; and if you will take the trouble to go a little nearer you will not doubt it, and the voices will be the more distinct.'
The sultan went nearer, and was so charmed with the sweet harmony that he would never have been tired of hearing it, but that his desire to have a nearer view of the fountain of yellow water forced him away. 'Fair one,' said he, 'tell me, I pray you, whether this wonderful tree was found in your garden by chance, or whether it was a present made to you, or did you procure it from some foreign country? It must certainly have come from a great way off; otherwise, as I am curious after natural rarities, I should have heard of it. What name do you call it?'
'Sir,' replied the princess, 'this tree has no other name than that of the singing tree, and is not a native of this country. It would take too long to tell you how it came here; its history is connected with that of the yellow water and the speaking bird, which came to me at the same time, and which your majesty may see after you have taken a nearer view of the golden water. But if it be agreeable to your majesty, after you have rested and recovered from the fatigue of hunting, I will do myself the honour of relating it to you.'
'My fair one,' replied the sultan, 'my fatigue is so well dispelled by the wonderful things you have shown me, that I do not feel it the least. I think only of the trouble I am giving you. Let us see the yellow water. I am impatient to see and admire the speaking bird.'
When the sultan came to the yellow water, his eyes were fixed so steadfastly upon the fountain that he could not take them off. At last, addressing himself to the princess, he said, 'As you tell me, fair one, that this water has no spring or communication hereabouts, I conclude that it is foreign, as well as the singing tree.'
'Sir,' replied the princess, 'it is as your majesty says; and to let you know that this water has no communication with any spring, I must tell you that the basin is one single stone, so that the water cannot come in at the sides or underneath. But what your majesty will think most wonderful is, that all this water proceeded from one flagon, which I emptied into the basin, and increased of itself to the quantity you see, and formed the fountain.'
' Well,' said the sultan' going from the fountain, 'this is enough for one time. I promise to come and visit it very often; but now let us go and see the speaking bird.'
As he went towards the hall, the sultan perceived a prodigious number of singing birds in the trees thereabouts filling the air with their songs and warblings, and asked why there were so many there, and none on the other trees in the garden? 'The reason, sir,' answered the princess, 'is, because they come from all parts round to accompany the song of the speaking bird, which your majesty may perceive in a cage in one of the windows of the hall we are going into; and if you listen you will perceive that his notes are sweeter than those of all the other birds, even the nightingale'
The sultan went into the hall; and as the bird continued singing, the princess raised her voice, and said, 'My slave, here is the sultan; pay your respects to him.'
The bird left off singing that instant, and all the other birds ceased one after another, and said, 'The sultan is welcome here; Heaven prosper him, and prolong his life!'
As the meal was served by the sofa near the window where the bird was, the sultan replied, as he was sitting down at the table, 'Bird, I thank you, and I am overjoyed to find in you the sultan and king of birds.'
As soon as the sultan saw the dish of cucumbers set before him, thinking they were stuffed in the ordinary manner, he reached out his hand and took one; but when he cut it, he was extremely surprised to find it stuffed with pearls. 'What is this?' said he; 'and why were these cucumbers stuffed with pearls, since pearls are not to be eaten?' Then he looked at the two princes and princess, to ask them the meaning of it: when the bird, interrupting him, said, 'Can your majesty be in such great astonishment at cucumbers stuffed with pearls, which you see with your own eyes, and yet could so easily believe that the sultaness your wife had a dog, a cat, and a piece of wood instead of children?'
'I believed it,' replied the sultan, 'because the two aunts assured me of it.'
'The sultaness' two sisters,' replied the bird, 'were envious of her happiness in being preferred by your majesty before them, and, to satisfy their envy and revenge, deceived your majesty so easily. If you question them, they will confess their crime. The two brothers and the sister whom you see before you are your own children whom they sent adrift, and who were taken in by the keeper of your gardens, who provided nurses for them, and looked after their education.'
This speech of the bird's illumined the sultan's understanding. 'Bird,' cried he, 'I believe the truth of what you tell me. Come then, my children, come, my daughter, let me embrace you, and give you the first marks of a father's love and tenderness.' Then he rose up, and after having embraced the two princes and the princess, and mingled his tears with theirs, he said, 'It is not enough, my children, you must embrace each other, not as the children of the keeper of my gardens, to whom I have been under great obligations for preserving your lives, but as my own children, of the royal blood of the sultans of Persia, whose glory, I am persuaded, you will maintain.'
After the two princes and princess had embraced with new satisfaction, the sultan sat down again and finished his meal in haste; and when he had done, he said, 'My children, you see in me your father: to-morrow I will bring the sultaness your mother, therefore prepare to receive her.'
Afterwards the sultan mounted his horse, and returned in all haste to his capital. The first thing he did, as soon as he alighted and entered his palace, was to command the grand vizier to try the sultaness' two sisters. They were taken from their houses separately, convicted, and condemned to be executed; which sentence was carried out within an hour.
Early the next morning the sultan and sultaness went with all their court to the house built by the keeper of the gardens, where the sultan presented the Princes Bahman and Perviz, and the Princess Parizade to the sultaness. 'These, madam,' said he, 'are the two princes your sons, and the princess your daughter; embrace them with the same tenderness that I have done, since they are worthy both of me and of you.' The tears flowed plentifully down their cheeks at these tender embraces, especially the sultaness', for the comfort and joy of having two such princes for her sons, and such a princess for her daughter, on whose account she had endured affliction so long.
The two princes and the princess had prepared a magnificent repast for the sultan and sultaness, and their court. As soon as that was over the sultan led the sultaness into the garden, and showed her the harmonious tree and the beautiful effect of the yellow fountain. As for the bird, she had seen him in his cage, and the sultan had spared nothing in his praise during the repast.
When there was nothing to detain the sultan any longer, he took horse again, and with the Princes Bahman and Perviz on his right and left hand, and the sultaness and the princess at his left, preceded and followed by all the officers of his court according to their rank, returned to his capital. Crowds of people came out to meet them, and with acclamations of joy ushered them into the city, where all eyes were fixed not only upon the sultaness, the two princes, and the princess, but also upon the bird, which the princess carried before her in his cage, singing the sweet notes which had drawn all the other birds after him, flying from tree to tree in the country and from one house-top to another in the city. The Princes Bahman and Perviz and the Princess Parizade were at length brought to the palace, and nothing was seen or heard all that night and many days after but illuminations and rejoicings both in the palace and in the utmost parts of the city.
THE STORY OF ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES.
a town in Persia, there lived two brothers, one named Cassim, the other Ali Baba. Their father left them no great property; though as he had divided it equally between them, their fortune should have been equal; but it was otherwise.
Cassim married a widow, who, soon after their marriage, became heiress to a large estate, and a good shop and warehouse full of rich merchandize; so that all at once he became one of the richest merchants, and lived at his ease.
Ali Baba, on the other hand, who married a woman as poor as himself, lived in a very mean dwelling, and had no other means of maintaining his wife and children than his daily labour in cutting wood in a forest near the town, and bringing it upon three asses to town to sell.
One day, when Ali Baba was in the forest, and had just cut wood enough to load his asses, he saw at a distance a great cloud of dust, which seemed to approach towards him: he observed it very attentively, and distinguished a large body of horse coming briskly on; and though they did not fear robbers in that country, Ali Baba began to think that they might prove such, and, without considering what might become of his asses, he resolved to save himself. He climbed up a large tree, whose branches, at a little distance from the ground, divided in a circular form so close to one another that there was but little space between them. He placed himself in the middle, from whence he could see all that passed without being seen. This tree stood at the bottom of a single rock, which was very high, and so steep and craggy that nobody could climb it.
The troop, who were all well mounted and well armed, came to the foot of this rock, and there dismounted. Ali Baba counted forty of them, and by their looks never doubted that they were thieves; nor was he mistaken; for they were a troop of banditti, who, without doing any harm in the neighbourhood, robbed at a distance, and made that place their rendezvous. Every man unbridled his horse, and tied him to a shrub, and hung about his neck a bag of corn. Then each of them took his saddle-bags, which seemed to Ali Baba to be full of gold and silver by the weight. One, whom he took to be their captain, came with his saddle-bags on his back under the tree in which Ali Baba was hidden, and, making his way through some shrubs, pronounced these words, 'Open, Sesame,' so distinctly, that Ali Baba heard him. As soon as the captain of the robbers had uttered these words, a door opened; and after he had made all his troop go in before him, he followed them, and the door shut again of itself.
The robbers stayed some time within the rock, and Ali Baba, who feared that some or all of them together might come out and catch him if he endeavoured to make his escape, was obliged to sit patiently in the tree. He was nevertheless tempted once or twice to get down and mount one of their horses, and, leading another, to drive his asses before him to the town with all the haste he could; but uncertainty made him choose the safest way.
At last the door opened again, and the forty robbers came out. As the captain went in last, so he came out first, and stood to see them all pass by; and then Ali Baba heard him make the door fast by pronouncing the words, ' hut, Sesame.' Every man went and bridled his horse, fastened his saddle-bags, and mounted again; and when the captain saw them all ready, he put himself at their head, and they returned the way they came.
Ali Baba did not immediately quit his tree; 'for,' said he to himself, 'they may have forgotten something and come back again, and then I shall be caught.' He followed them with his eyes as far as he could see them; and after that waited some time before he came down. Remembering the words the captain of the robbers had made use of to cause the door to open and shut, he had the curiosity to try whether his pronouncing them would have the same effect. Accordingly, he went among the shrubs, and perceiving the door concealed behind them, he stood before it, and said, 'Open, Sesame.' The door instantly flew wide open.
Ali Baba, who expected a dark dismal place, was very much surprised to see it well lighted and spacious, cut out by men's hands in the form of a vault, which received the light from an opening at the top of the rock. He saw all sorts of provisions, and rich bales of merchandise, of silk, stuff, brocade, and valuable carpeting, piled one upon another; and, above all, gold and silver in great heaps, and money in great leather purses. The sight of all these riches made him believe that the cave had been occupied for ages by robbers, who succeeded one another.
Ali Baba did not stand long to consider what to do, but went immediately into the cave, and as soon as he was in, the door shut. But this did not disturb him, because he knew the secret of opening it again. He disregarded the silver, but made the best use of his time in carrying out as much of the gold coin, which was in bags, as he thought his three asses could carry. When he had done, he fetched his asses, which had strayed, and, when he had loaded them with the bags, laid the wood on them in such a manner that the bags could not be seen. When he had done, he stood before the door, and pronouncing the words, 'Shut, Sesame,' the door closed after him; for it had shut of itself while he was within, and remained open while he was out. He then made the best of his way to the town.
When Ali Baba got home, he drove his asses into a little yard, and shut the gates very carefully, threw off the wood that covered the bags, carried them into his house, and ranged them in order before his wife, who sat on a sofa.
His wife handled the bags, and finding them full of money, suspected that her husband had been stealing, insomuch that when he had brought them all in, she could not help saying, 'Ali Baba, have you been so unhappy as to----'
'Be quiet, wife,' interrupted Ali Baba; 'do not frighten yourself: I am no robber, unless he can be one who steals from robbers. You will no longer have a bad opinion of me, when I tell you my good fortune.' Then he emptied the bags, which raised such a great heap of gold as dazzled his wife's eyes; and when he had done, he told her the whole adventure from beginning to end; and, above all, recommended her to keep it secret.
The wife recovered, and, cured of her fears, rejoiced with her husband at their good luck, and wanted to count all the gold, piece by piece. 'Wife,' replied Ali Baba, 'you do not know what you are undertaking when you try to count the money; you will never have done. I will go and dig a hole, and bury it; there is no time to be lost.'
'You are in the right, husband,' replied the wife; 'but let us know, as nearly as possible, how much we have. I will go and borrow a small measure in the neighbourhood, and measure it, while you dig the hole.'
'What you are going to do is to no purpose, wife,' said Ali Baba; 'if you take my advice, you had better let it alone; but be sure to keep the secret, and do what you please.'
Away the wife ran to her brother-in-law Cassim, who lived close by, but was not then at home; and addressing herself to his wife, asked her to lend her a measure for a little while. Her sister-in-law asked her whether she would have a large or a small one. 'A small one,' said she. Cassim's wife bade her wait a little, and she would readily fetch one.
The sister-in-law did so, but as she knew very well Ali Baba's poverty, she was curious to know what sort of grain his wife wanted to measure, and bethought herself of artfully putting some suet at the bottom of the measure; then she brought it to her with the excuse that she was sorry that she had made her wait so long, but that she could not find it sooner.
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