CHAPTER VI. MURAD'S THREE WHIMS.
MARSILLUS one day observed that his son's manner was more caressing thanusual, so he took him on his knee and said--
"What does my child want to-day? Generally he does not embrace me atall, but since the morning he has done so three times!"
"Sire," said Murad, leaning his little head on his father's shoulder, "Ishould like to have your yataghan that hangs at your side!"
"What! Have you broken all your toys, or are you tired of play that youask me for such a formidable weapon?"
"I am seven years old," said Murad, drawing himself up; "I am no longera child, and can carry arms. The sight of blood has no terror forme--nay! look"--and rapidly snatching the yataghan before the kinghad time to stop him, he gave himself a gash in the arm. Then, withoutflinching, he looked at his father, and said, "You see you can trust mewith it!" The king staunched the blood and bound up the gash with hisscarf. Then, embracing his son, he gave him the coveted weapon.
The same evening Murad was seized with a second whim.
He had never been allowed to to out alone--what could be more delightfulthan to take a stroll abroad at night? He only knew the face of Natureby day, he wished to see her in her silent moments, in the hoursof gloom and half-obscured moonlight. He had heard of the songs ofnight-birds, of the roar of the hungry lion; of those insects which,glittering among the leaves, turn every bush into a casket of diamonds;of the mysterious odours which earth yields to the flowers only in thesolemn hours of darkness; but now he determined to see, to hear, and tolearn all these for himself.
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He retired to rest as usual, placed his yataghan under his pillow, andwaited till all was quiet in the palace. Then he rose softly, dressedhimself, and walked to the door of his apartments. There he found hisgovernor sleeping across the threshold. He paused to reflect.
"If I try to open this door, I shall rouse my guardian. If I wake him,will he grant my prayers? Certainly not. Will he yield to my threats?No; he will only laugh at them. If I disturb his slumbers, therefore, itwill be to place him in a position of great difficulty, which I shouldexceedingly regret. It will be better, then, not to wake him!"--andMurad quietly thrust the point of his sword down the sleeper's throat,and quitted the place.
The first thing he had to do was to cross the gardens. It seemed as ifhe had never seen them before. The fountains falling back into theirbasins made a silvery tinkling, which formed a ravishing accompanimentto the song of the nightingales. The bats, which looked like greatleather birds, wheeled in circles through the air upon noiseless wings.The trees, allowing the moonbeams to filter through their foliage, flungmosaics of light and shade upon the sward.
Murad fancied he saw one of the marble lions move, and started back, butspeedily seeing his mistake, was heartily ashamed of himself, althoughhe knew there was no one near to laugh at his alarm. If a real lion hadchanced to pass at that moment he would have had to pay for the frightwhich the statue had cost Murad. As soon as he had recovered the firstfeeling of surprise at the novelty, of the scene, Murad, who was notexactly of a poetic temperament, hurried on. What he wanted to see wasnot the garden--fine enough in its way, but only a prison, beyond thewalls of which he had never wandered at liberty--where every step heset was on a well-kept lawn. He wanted freedom of space and chanceadventure. He sprang over the wall and fell into the midst of adetachment of Nubians going their rounds.
When he saw the guards coming he said to himself, "These people have runaway once, so they may do it again. Ought I to wait for them to come?No! My best plan is to rush upon them."
He did so. They met. The first who encountered him had reason to regretit, but his regret did not last long. In two minutes he was dead. Muradflung some silver to the others and plunged into the thicket.
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The Nubians left their dead comrade on the ground, but they picked upthe money. It is, however, a matter of time to find coins in long grass,even by the bright light of an Eastern moon, so that Murad could escapeat leisure, and at last reached a sombre and dense wood. When, however,the Nubians had divided the spoil, their captain called them together,and said--
"You are a pack of cowards and fools. This was but a lad we had to dowith--some precious young rascal, who has just been making a hole inthe royal treasury. Why, he's a mine of wealth, that boy--a stream ofriches, which glided away between our legs after besprinkling us with afew silver drops. We must track it to the fountain head. He escapedin this direction. Our own interests, as well as our duties, point outplainly enough the course we should take."
The nine guards set forward, marching carefully, and trying the busheswith their spears.
Murad heard them approaching, but remained quite still in hishiding-place.
At last they had to cross an open glade flooded with moonlight. Theyheld a brief consultation as to the direction in which they shouldprosecute the search. The leader, picking out the darkest nook atthe edge of the wood, pointed it out to his men. The unthinking andinexperienced always pitch on the darkest spot for a hiding-place,overlooking the fact that it is sure to be the first to be searched. Atthe moment when the officer was indicating to his men the directionthey should take, Murad, who was crouching in the underwood, felt a warmbreath upon his neck and ten sharp claws on his shoulders.
If I said he was not frightened I should tell a falsehood, especiallywhen, on turning his head, he saw two eyes--two glowing redstars--gazing on him in the gloom. But fear did not abide long in thebreast of Murad. He saw, however, close by him another group of stars,an alarming constellation; in short, the young prince had hidden himselfin a den with three young lions.
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Unseen danger could make him tremble, but when he knew what he had todeal with he recovered himself, and began to reflect on what he had todo.
"Here I am, between three lions and nine Nubians, armed to the teeth;which should I dread most? The latter, of course, for I frightened them,and I killed one of them. They have two things to avenge on me. If Ikill one of the lions he will roar, and at his voice these birds ofnight will run away."
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Murad then seized by the throat the brute which was still tearing at hisflesh, and drove the yataghan into his breast. But he miscalculated forthe cub paid the penalty of his life without uttering a single growl.
Still the little army of invaders continued to advance, only instead ofcoming on steadily they did so at the double. The child sprang to hisfeet, seized the second of the lions, and flung him straight in theteeth of the advancing' band when it was but a few steps from the copse.This new style of projectile had a most telling effect. The Nubiansretraversed in ten seconds the ground it had taken them five-and-twentyminutes to get over in the first instance.
The field was Murad's. Of the three lion whelps one was dead, and asecond one was struggling on the ground with a huge wound in the flank.He did not emulate the taciturnity of his brother, for he filled the airwith piercing yells. The third was squatting under some thick boughs,uttering a low growling.
And now Murad was seized with a third whim. It was not a bad one for abeginner.
He wished to carry off the third cub as a memento of his firstexpedition. He re-entered the bushes and searched about. Before longthe two youngsters came face to face. The cub, warned by the fate ofhis brothers, stood on the defensive, and, as soon as Murad came withinreach, plunged his talons into his neck. Murad smiled. He would not havecared to bag his game without some trouble, so taking his captive by thethroat he made him loose his hold. The lion gasped, choked, and at last,half-strangled, fell on his side, whereon the son of Marsillus took himby the scruff of the neck and carried him off.
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The wounded cub continued its moanings, which were soon answered by afierce and formidable cry. The mother was coming to the rescue of heryoung! Murad saw that flight was impossible. The lioness came to a halton a neighbouring height, relieved in profile against the pale sky.
She se
arched with anxious and terrified eyes the glade whence the criesproceeded. Perceiving the wounded cub she made but one bound to it,rolled it over and over, licking its wounds, trampling and tearingthe ground with her claws. At intervals she raised her head, and gaveutterance to a menacing roar. Her fierce caresses hastened the cub'sdeath. When she saw he no longer stirred she devoted herself tosearching for some one on whom to avenge the great calamity which hadovertaken her. Then she heard the complainings of the other cub whichwas being carried off, and she stood astonished at the audacity of therobber. You would have declared she knew Murad could not fly. Withouthurrying herself at all, she advanced towards him in narrowing circles,of which he was the centre, lashing her sides with her tail, loweringher head, laying back her ears, and opening her terrific jaws.
Murad availed himself of the delay to drag off his clothes, and rollthem round his left arm; and then, scimitar in hand, awaited her attack,determined to make a stout defence, but feeling certain he had but fewminutes to live. He continued to retreat, fixing his eyes on those ofhis terrible adversary, until he reached a rock, against which he placedhis back.
On arriving within a few paces of the lad, the lioness sprang upon him.Murad sank on one knee, and thrust nearly the whole of his left arm downthe monster's throat. The pain he suffered was horrible, and drew fromhim so savage a shout that even the lioness was terrified. Then, notknowing what he was doing, mad with rage and pain, and guided less bypresence of mind than instinct, he drove his steel into the creature'sbelly, and ripped it entirely open. Then, bathed in blood, he sankbeneath the corpse of his victim, and lost consciousness.
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And now, my young friends, we will no longer stop out of doors at thistime of night, but re-enter the palace, and see what is going on there.
Every hour the guards went the rounds of the building. One of thesoldiers, in passing the door of Murad's chamber, slipped, and fellat full length on the pavement, to the great scandal of his commandingofficer. Picking himself up, he beat a retreat to the guard-room, amidthe jeers of his brothers-in-arms.
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The guard-room was dimly lit by a smoky lamp, which, however, gaveenough light to enable the soldier, on approaching it, to perceive thathis hands were covered with blood. Thinking that he was wounded, he felthimself all over, and found that his clothes were similarly discoloured.
"This is odd," said he to his officer. "I am not wounded, and yet lookat the state of my hands and my uniform!"
The officer seized a lantern, and hastened to retraverse the rounds ofthe palace. On arriving at the door of Murad's apartment, he paused inalarm, for he perceived a slender stream of blood, which took its risewithin the chamber. He rushed off in haste to inform the commandant incharge for the night.
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The commandant, terrified at the news, flew to inform the governorof the palace of the discovery. He, in turn, hurried off to the lordchamberlain, who, dreading the responsibility of waking the sultan,went, at the top of his speed, to find the prime minister. The primeminister ran, out of breath, to break the alarming intelligence to hismaster.
Marsillus dressed in a twinkling.
Pale and trembling, with his eyes but half open, and his clothes huddledon anyhow, he hastened to the sultana. She, not expecting such a visit,and never having seen her lord in such trim before, gave a loud shriek,at which her fifty attendants rushed in in alarm. On hearing thenews Marsillus had to impart, the lovely Hadrama and ten of herladies-in-waiting fainted away.
"By the beard of the Prophet!" said the sultan, impatiently, "this is notime for such monkey tricks! We have not a moment to lose. That one ofyou that is last to recover her senses shall receive fifty strokes ofthe bastinado."
In an instant all were on their feet, and prepared to depart.The sultan, the sultana, the prime minister, the chamberlain,the commandant, the officer of the guard, the sentry, the fiftyladies-in-waiting, the fifty life guards, and the eunuchs, set forward,preceded by twenty black slaves bearing torches. The procession arrivedat Murad's apartment; the door was burst open; his majesty perceived whowas the victim, and breathed more freely.
"Really," said the fair Hadrama, "this tutor has given us a mostunnecessary alarm."
"This is your stupidity, vizier!" said the king, frowning. "How dare youdisturb us for a trifle like this?"
"Sire, it was your lord chamberlain who roused me, and stated that theprince was murdered. If I had for a moment supposed----" but at this thechamberlain, seeing himself in danger of losing the royal favour,threw the blame on the governor, who turned upon the commandant. Thecommandant passed on the charge to the officer of the guard; and he,being a man of action, promptly ordered a hundred blows of the bamboo tobe administered to the soldier who was the prime origin of the mishap.
The procession, reassured, was about to resume its progress, when thequeen suddenly uttered a piercing shriek.
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"What's the matter now?" said Marsillus, giving a start, which wasrepeated by all around him.
"Do you not see that the room is empty? They have killed my child. Thereis no doubt about it: I was dreaming of a cat when you woke me! My childis dead!"
"Then," said the chamberlain, "the tutor must have killed him."
"You don't know what you're talking about," said Marsillus; "and as foryou, madam, you're a fool. Retire to your apartments. And do you takenotice, governor of the palace, that if my son is not found by sunrise,you will be honoured by immediate impalement. Go!--I rely upon your zealand activity!"
Marsillus retired to bed again, flung himself on his pillow, and slepttill nine, which was a thing he never did before. On waking, he saw thegovernor of the palace seated motionless at the foot of his couch.
"Oh, there you are! You bring good news?"
"Sire, the young prince is found!"
"There!" said the sultan to the fair Hadrama, who had just come in, "yousee you were too ready to alarm yourself."
The sultana only answered by wiping away a tear.
"And pray where did you find Murad?"
"In the olive-grove which borders the royal park."
"Oh, ho! so my young eaglet is trying his wings. What was he doing?"
"The prince was taking a nap, surrounded by a lioness and three younglions."
"That is impossible, governor. I know you too well: you would never havegone to look for him _there!_"
"My lord, the lioness was dead, and so were two of the cubs. The third,failing to obtain any other nutriment from its dam, was breakfasting offher."
"And pray who had done all this slaughter?"
"I!" said Murad, who entered, pale and gory, followed by two slavesdragging the young lion along in chains.
Marsillus rose, ran to his son, clasped him in his arms, and covered himwith caresses.
His son did not return them, for he had fainted, overcome with pain andloss of blood. I need hardly say he was tended as became the son of aking, and the slayer of lions.
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A few days after, the prime minister submitted a report to the sultan,proving in the clearest manner that the prince's tutor had committedsuicide. Marsillus smiled.
"Well done, vizier! I see how to reward you: you shall take the placeleft vacant by my son's tutor."
Murad grew up. He and the young lion were never separated. They wereseen together everywhere--even on the field of battle, and thus itwas that in course of time they made their appearance in the lists atFronsac.
Now that you have, made the acquaintance of Murad HenakyehMeimoumovassi, we will return to Charlemagne.
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