THE LILY OF THE ENCHANTED SEA
Now, after the cockle-shell had skimmed calmly awhile, it began to pitchand grew unquiet, and came upon a surging foam, pale, and withscintillating bubbles. The surges increased in volume, and boiled,hissing as with anger, like savage animals. Presently, the cockle-shellrose upon one very lofty swell, and Shibli Bagarag lost hold of it, andlo! it was overturned and engulfed in the descent of the great mountainof water, and the Princess Goorelka was immersed in the depths. She wouldhave sunk, but Shibli Bagarag caught hold of her, and supported her tothe shore by the strength of his right arm. The shore was one of sand andshells, their wet cheeks sparkling in the moonlight; over it hung apromontory, a huge jut of black rock. Now, the Princess when she landed,seeing not him that supported her, delayed not to run beneath the rock,and ascended by steps cut from the base of the rock. And Shibli Bagaragfollowed her by winding paths round the rock, till she came to thehighest peak commanding the circle of the Enchanted Sea, and glimpses ofenthralled vessels, and mariners bewitched on board; long paths ofstarlight rippled into the distant gloom, and the reflection of the moonopposite was as a wide nuptial sheet of silver on the waters: islands,green and white, and with soft music floating from their foliage, sailedslowly to and fro. Surely, to dwell reclining among the slopes of thoseislands a man would forfeit Paradise! Now, the Princess, as she stoodupon the peak, knew that she was not alone, and pretended to slip fromher footing, and Shibli Bagarag called out and ran to her; but she turnedin the direction of his voice and laughed, and he knew he was outwitted.Then, to deceive her, he dropped from the phial twenty drops round her onthe rock, and those twenty drops became twenty voices, so that she wasbewildered with their calls, and stopped her ears, and ran from them, anddescended from the eminence nimbly, slipping over ledges and leaping theabysses. And Shibli Bagarag followed her, clutching at the trailers andtearing them with him, letting loose a torrent of stones and earth, tillon a sudden they stood together above a greenswarded basin of the rockopening to the sea; and in the middle of the basin, lo! in stature like amaiden of the mountains, and one that droopeth her head pensivelythinking of her absent lover, the Enchanted Lily. Wonder knocked at thebreast of Shibli Bagarag when he saw that queenly flower waving itsillumined head to the breeze: he could not retain a cry of rapture. As hedid this the Princess stretched her hand to where he was and groped amoment, and caught him by the silken dress and tore in it a great rent,and by the rent he stood revealed to her. Then said she, 'O youth, thouhalt done ill to follow me here, and the danger of it is past computing;surely, the motive was a deep one, nought other than the love of me.'
She spoke winningly, sweet words to a luted voice, and the youth fellupon his knees before her, smitten by her beauty; and he said, 'Ifollowed thee here as I would follow such loveliness to the gates ofdoom, O Princess of Oolb.'
She smiled and said playfully, 'I will read by thy hand whether thou beone faithful in love.'
She took his hand and sprinkled on it earth and gravel, and commencedscanning it curiously. As she scanned it her forehead wrinkled up, and ashot like black lightning travelled across her countenance, withering itsbeauty: she cried in a forced voice, 'Aha! it is well, O youth, for theeand for me that thou lovest me, and art faithful in love.'
The look of the Princess of Oolb and her voice affrighted the soul ofShibli Bagarag, and he would have turned from her; but she held him, andwent to the Lily, and emptied into the palm of her hand the dew that wasin the Lily, and raised it to the lips of Shibli Bagarag, bidding himdrink as a pledge for her sake and her love, and to appease his thirst.As he was about to drink, there fell into the palm of the Princess fromabove what seemed a bolt of storm scattering the dew; and after he hadblinked with the suddenness of the action he looked and beheld the hawk,its red eyes inflamed with wrath. And the hawk screamed into the ear ofShibli Bagarag, 'Pluck up the Lily ere it is too late, O fool!--the dewwas poison! Pluck it by the root with thy right hand!'
So thereat he strode to the Lily, and grasped it, and pulled with hisstrength; and the Lily was loosened, and yielded, and came forthstreaming with blood from the bulb of the root; surely the bulb of theroot was a palpitating heart, yet warm, even as that we have within ourbosoms.
Now, from the terror of that sight the Princess hid her eyes, and shrankaway. And the lines of malice, avarice, and envy seemed ageing her atevery breath. Then the hawk pecked at her three pecks, and perched on acorner of rock, and called shrilly the name 'Karaz!' And the Genie Karazcame slanting down the night air, like a preying bird, and stood amongthem. So the hawk cried, 'See, O Karaz, the freshness of thy Princess ofOolb'; and the Genie regarded her till loathing curled his lip, for shegrew in ghastliness to the colour of a frog, and a frog's face was hers,a camel's back, a pelican's throat, the legs of a peacock.
Then the hawk cried, 'Is this how ye meet, ye lovers,--ye that will bewedded?' And the hawk made his tongue as a thorn to them. At the last itexclaimed, 'Now let us fight our battle, Karaz!'
But the Genie said, 'Nay, there will come a time for that, traitress!'
The hawk cried, 'Thou delayest, till the phial of Paravid, the hairs ofGarraveen, and this Lily, my three helps, are expended, thinking Aklis,for which we barter them, striketh but a single blow? That is well! Go,then, and take thy Princess, and obtain permission of the King of Oolb,her father, to wed her, O Karaz!'
The hawk whistled with laughter, and the Genie was stung with itsmockeries, and clutched the Princess of Oolb in a bunch, and arose fromthe ground with her, slanting up the night-air like fire, till he wasseen high up even as an angry star reddening the seas beneath.
When he was lost to the eye, Shibli Bagarag drew a long breath and criedaloud, 'The likeness of that Princess of Oolb in her ugliness to Noorna,my betrothed, is a thing marvellous, if it be not she herself.' And hereflected, 'Yet she seemed not to recognize and claim me'; and thought,'I am bound to her by gratitude, and I should have rescued her fromKaraz, but I know not if it be she. Wullahy! I am bewildered; I will askcounsel of the hawk.' He looked to the corner of the rock where the hawkhad perched, but the hawk was gone; as he searched for it, his eyes fellupon the bed of earth where the Lily stood ere he plucked it, and lo! inthe place of the Lily, there was a damsel dressed in white shining silks,fairer than the enchanted flower, straighter than the stalk of it; herhead slightly drooping, like the moon on a border of the night; her bosomlike the swell of the sea in moonlight; her eyes dark, under a low archof darker lashes, like stars on the skirts of storm; and she was the verydream of loveliness, formed to freeze with awe, and to inflame withpassion. So Shibli Bagarag gazed at her with adoration, his handsstretched half-way to her as if to clasp her, fearing she was a visionand would fade; and the damsel smiled a sweet smile, and lifted herantelope eyes, and said, 'Who am I, and to whom might I be likened, Oyouth?'
And he answered, 'Who thou art, O young perfection, I know not, if not aHouri of Paradise; but thou art like the Princess of Oolb, yet lovelier,oh lovelier! And thy voice is the voice of Noorna, my betrothed; yetpurer, sweeter, younger.'
So the damsel laughed a laugh like a sudden sweeping of wild chords ofmusic, and said, 'O youth, saw'st thou not the ascent of Noorna, thybetrothed, gathered in a bunch by Karaz?'
And he answered, 'I saw her; but I knew not, O damsel of beauty; surely Iwas bewildered, amazed, without power to contend with the Genie.'
Then she said, 'Wouldst thou release her? So kiss me on the lips, on theeyes, and on the forehead, three kisses each time; and with the firstsay, "By the well of Paravid"; and with the second, "By the strength ofGarraveen!" and with the third, "By the Lily of the Sea!"'
Now, the heart of the youth bounded at her words, and he went to her, andtrembling kissed her all bashfully on the lips, on the eyes, and on theforehead, saying each time as she directed. Then she took him by thehand, and stepped from the bed of earth, crying joyfully, 'Thanks be toAllah and the Prophet! Noorna, is released from the sorceries that heldher, and powerful.'
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So, while he was wondering, she said, 'Knowest thou not the woman, thybetrothed?'
He answered, 'O damsel of beauty, I am charged with many feelings; doubtsand hopes are mixed in me. Say first who thou art, and fill my two earswith bliss.'
And she said, 'I will leave my name to other lips; surely I am thedaughter of the Vizier Feshnavat, betrothed to a wandering youth,--abarber, who sickened at the betrothal, and consoled himself with aproverb when he gave me the kiss of contract, and knew not how with truthto pay me a compliment.'
Now, Shibli Bagarag saw this was indeed Noorna bin Noorka, his betrothed,and he fell before her in love and astonishment; but she lifted him toher neck, and embraced him, saying, 'Said I not truly when I said "I amthat I shall be"? My youth is not as that of Bhanavar the Beautiful,gained at another's cost, but my own, and stolen from me by wickedsorceries.' And he cried, 'Tell me, O Noorna, my betrothed, how thismatter came to pass?'
She said, 'On our way to Aklis.'
She bade him grasp the Lily, and follow her; and he followed her down therock and over the bright shells upon the sand, admiring her stateliness,her willowy lightness, her slimness as of the palm-tree. Then she wadedin the water, and began to strike out with her arms, and swim boldly,--helikewise; and presently they came to a current that hurried them off inits course, and carried them as weeds, streaming rapidly. He was bearingwitness to his faith as a man that has lost hope of life, when a strongeddy stayed him, and whirled him from the current into the calm water. Sohe looked for Noorna, and saw her safe beside him flinging back the wettresses from her face, that was like the full moon growing radiant behinda dispersing cloud. And she said, 'Ask not for the interpretation ofwonders in this sea, for they cluster like dates on a date branch.Surely, to be with me is enough?'
And she bewitched him in the midst of the waters, making him oblivious ofall save her, so that he hugged the golden net of her smiles and fairflatteries, and swam with an exulting stroke, giving his breast broadlyto the low billows, and shouting verses of love and delight to her. Andwhile they swam sweetly, behold, there was seen a pearly shell offlashing crimson, amethyst, and emerald, that came scudding over thewaves toward them, raised to the wind, fan-shaped, and in its front twosilver seats. When she saw it, Noorna cried, 'She has sent me this,Rabesqurat! Perchance is she favourable to my wishes, and this werewell!'
Then she swayed in the water sideways, and drew the shell to her, and thetwain climbed into it, and sat each on one of the silver seats, foldedtogether. In its lightness it was as a foam-bubble before the wind on theblue water, and bore them onward airily. At his feet Shibli Bagaragbeheld a stool of carved topaz, and above his head the arch of the shellwas inlaid with wreaths of gems: never was vessel fairer than that.
Now, while they were speeding over the water, Noorna said, 'The end ofthis fair sea is Aklis, and beyond it is the Koosh. So while the wind isour helmsman, and we go circled by the quiet of this sea, I'll tell theeof myself, if thou carest to hear.'
And he cried with the ardour of love, 'Surely, I would hear of noughtsave thyself, Noorna, and the music of the happy garden compareth not insweetness with it. I long for the freshness of thy voice, as the desertcamel for the green spring, O my betrothed!'
So she said, 'And now give ear to the following':--