THE FLASHES OF THE BLADE
Now, it was the morning of the fourth day, and lo! at the first leap ofthe sun of that day the flame of the Identical abated in its fierceness,and it dwindled and darkened, and tapered and flickered feebly,descending from its altitude in the heavens and through the ceiling ofthe Hall, and lay down to sleep among the intricate lengths and frizzledconvolutions and undulating weights flowing from Shagpat, anundistinguished hair, even as the common hairs of his head. So, uponthat, the four fasting Kings breathed, and from the people of the Citythere went up a mighty shout of gladness and congratulation at the glorythey had witnessed; and they took the air deeply into their chests, andwere as divers that have been long fathoms-deep under water, and ascendand puff hard and press the water from their eyes, that yet refuse toacknowledge with a recognition the things that be and the sights above,so mazed are they with those unmentionable marvels and treasures andprofusion of jewels, and splendid lazy growths and lavish filmyilluminations, and multitudinous pearls and sheering shells, that lieheaped in the beds of the ocean. As the poet has said:
After too strong a beam, Too bright a glory, We ask, Is this a dream Or magic story?
And he says:
When I've had rapturous visions such as make The sun turn pale, and suddenly awake, Long must I pull at memory in this beard, Ere I remember men and things revered.
So was it with the people of the City, and they stood in the Hall andwinked staringly at one another, shouting and dancing at intervals,capering with mad gravity, exclaiming on the greatness of that they hadwitnessed. And Zeel the garlic-seller fell upon Mob the confectioner, andcried, 'Was this so, O Dob? Wullahy! this glory, was it verily?' And Dobpeered dimly upon Zeel, whispering solemnly, 'Say, now, art thou of asurety that Zeel the garlic-seller known to me, my boon-fellow?' And thetwain turned to Sallap the broker, and exchanged interjections with him,and with Azawool the builder, and with Krooz el Krazawik the carrier; andthey accosted Bootlbac the drum-beater, where he stood apart, drummingthe air as to a march of triumph, and no word would he utter, neither toZeel, nor to Sallap, nor to Krooz el Krazawik, nor to Azawool hisneighbour, nor to any present, but continued drumming on the air rapidlyas in answer, increasing in the swiftness of his drumming till it was arage to mark him, and the excitement about Bootlbac became as a mad eddyin the midst of a mighty stream, he drumming the air with exceedingswiftness to various measures, beating before him as on the tightenedskin, lost to all presences save the Identical and Shagpat. So they edgedaway from Bootlbac in awe, saying, 'He's inspired, Bootlbac! 'tis thetriumph of Shagpat he drummeth.' They feigned to listen to him till theirears deceived them, and they rejoiced in the velocity of the soundlesstune of Bootlbac the drum-beater, and were stirred by it, excited to aforgetfulness of their fasting. Such was the force of the inspiration ofBootlbac the drum-beater, caused by the burning of the Identical.
Now, the four Kings, when they had mastered their wits, gazed in silenceon Shagpat, and sighed and shook their heads, and were as they that haveswallowed a potent draught and ponder sagely over the gulp. Surely, thevisages of the Kings of Shiraz and of Gaf and of Oolb betokened dread ofShagpat and amazement at him; but the King of the City exulted, and theshining of content was on his countenance, and he cried, 'Wondrous!' andagain, 'Wullahy, wondrous!' and 'Oh, glory!' And he laughed and cluckedand chuckled, and the triumph of Shagpat was to him as a new jewel in hiscrown outshining all others, and he was for awhile as the cock smittenwith the pride of his comb, the peacock magnified by admiration of histail. Then he cried, 'For this, praise we Allah and the Prophet. Wullahy,'twas wondrous!' and he went off again into a roll of cluckings andchucklings and exclamations of delight, crying, 'Need they further proofof the power in Shagpat now? Has he not manifested it? So true is thatsaying--
"The friend that flattereth weakeneth at length; It is the foe that calleth forth our strength."
Wondrous! and never knew earth a thing to equal it in the range ofmarvels!'
Now, ere the last word was spoken by the King, there passed through thesky a mighty flash. Those in the Hall saw it, and the horsemen of thethree cities encamped without the walls were nigh blinded by the keennessof its blaze. So they looked into the height, and saw straight over theCity a speck of cloud, but no thunder came from it; and the King cried,'These be Genii! the issue of this miracle is yet to come! look for it,and exult.' Then he turned to the other Kings, but they were leaning toright and left in their seats, as do the intoxicated, without strength toanswer his questioning. So he exclaimed, 'A curse on my head! have Iforgotten the laws of hospitality? my cousins are famished!' He wasgiving orders for the spreading of a sumptuous banquet when there passedthrough the sky another mighty flash. They awaited the thunder this timeconfidently, yet none came. Suddenly the King exclaimed, ''Tis the wrathof Shagpat that his assailants remain uncastigated!' Then cried he to theeunuchs of the guard, 'Hither with Feshnavat, the son of Feil!' And theKing said to Feshnavat, 'Thou plotter! envious of Shagpat!' Here theKing, Kresnuk, fell forward at the feet of Shagpat from sheer inanition,and the King of the City ordered instantly wines and viands to be broughtinto the Hall, and commenced saying to Feshnavat, in the words of thewise entablature:
'"Of reckless mercy thus the Sage declared: More culpable the sparer than the spared; For he that breaks one law, breaks one alone: But who thwarts Justice flouts Law's sovereign throne."
And have I not been over-merciful in thy case?'
As the King was haranguing Feshnavat, his nostril took in the steam ofthe viands and the fresh odours of the wines, and he could delay nolonger to satisfy his craving, but caught up the goblet, and drank fromit till his visage streamed the tears of contentment. Lo, while he putforth his hand tremblingly, as to continue the words of his condemnationof the Vizier, the heavens were severed by a third flash, one exceedingin fierceness the other flashes; and now the Great Hall rocked, and thepillars and thrones trembled, and the eyes of Shagpat opened. He made nomotion, but sat like a wonder of stone, looking before him. Surely, Kadzashrieked, and rushed forward to him from the crowd, yet he said nothing,and was as one frozen. So the King cried, 'He waketh! the flashespreceded his wakening! Now shall he see the vengeance of kings on hisenemies.' Thereupon he made a signal, and the scimitars of the guard werein air over the head of Feshnavat, when darkness as of the dropping ofnight fell upon all, and the darkness spake, saying, 'I am Abarak of theBar, preceder of the Event!'
Then it was light, but the ears of every soul present were pierced withthe wailing of wild animals, and on all sides from the Desert hundreds ofthem were seen making toward the City, some swiftly, others at a heavypace; and when they were come near they crouched and fawned, and droppedtheir dry tongues as in awe. There was the serpent, meek as before thedays of sin, and the leopard slinking to get among the legs of men, andthe lion came trundling along in utter flabbiness, raising not his head.Soon the streets were thronged with elephants and lions and sullentigers, and wild cats and wolves, not a tail erect among them: great wasthe marvel! So the King cried, 'We 're in the thick of wonders; banquetwe lightly while they increase upon us! What's yonder little man?' Thiswas Abarak that stood before the King, and exclaimed, 'I am the darknessthat announceth the mastery of the Event, as a shadow before the sun'sapproach, and it is the Shaving of Shagpat!' The world darkened beforethe eyes of the King when he heard this, and in a moment Abarak wasclutched by the soldiers of the guard, and dragged beside Feshnavat toawait the final blow; and this would have parted two heads from twobodies at one stroke, but now Noorna bin Noorka entered the hall, veiledand in the bright garb of a bride, with veiled attendants about her, andthe people opened to give her passage to the throne of the King. So shesaid, 'Delay the stroke yet awhile, O Head of the Magnanimous! I am sheclaimed by Shagpat; surely, I am bride of him that is Master of theEvent, and the hour of bridals is the hour of clemency.'
The King looked at Shagpat, perplexed;
but the eye of Shagpat gazed asinto the distance of another world. Then said he, 'We shall hear noughtfrom the mouth of Shagpat till he is avenged, and till then he is silentwith exceeding wrath.' Hearing this, Noorna ran quickly to a window ofthe Hall, and let loose a white dove from her bosom.
Then came there that flash which is recorded in old traditions as thefourth of the flashes of thunderless lightnings, after the passing ofwhich, hundreds of fakirs that had been awaiting it saw nothing furtheron this earth. Down through the Hall it swept; and lo! when the Kings andthe people recovered their sight to regard Shagpat, he was, one side ofhim, clean shorn, the shaven side shining as the very moon!
Surely from that moment there was no longer aught mortal in the combatthat ensued. For now, while amazement and horror palsied all present, theGenie Karaz, uttering a howl of fury, shot down the length of the Halllike a black storm-bolt, and caught up Shagpat, and whirled off with himinto the air; and they beheld him dive and dodge the lightnings thatbeset him from upper heaven, catching Shagpat from them, now by theheels, now by the hair remaining one side his head. This lasted a fullhour, when the Genie paused a second, and made a sheer descent into theearth. Then saw they the wings of Koorookh, each a league in length,overshadow the entire land, and on the neck of the bird sat ShibliBagarag cleaving through the earth with his blade, and he sat on Koorookhas the moon sits on the midnight. There was no light save the light shedabroad by the flashes of the blade, and in these they beheld the airsuffocated with Afrites and Genii in a red and brown and white heat,followers of Karaz. Strokes of the blade clove them, and their blood wasfire that flowed over the feathers of Koorookh, lighting him in aconflagration; but the bird flew constantly to a fountain of earth belowand extinguished it. Then the battle recommenced, and the solid earthyawned at the gashes made by the mighty blade, and its depths revealedhow Karaz was flying with Shagpat from circle to circle of theunder-regions, hurrying with him downward to the lowest circle, that wasflaming to points, like the hair of vast heads. Presently they saw awondrous quivering flash divide the Genie, and his heels and head felltogether in the abysses, leaving Shagpat prone on great brasiers of penalflame. Then the blade made another hissing sweep over Shagpat, leavinglittle of the wondrous growths on him save a topknot.
But now was the hour struck when Rabesqurat could be held no longerserving the ferry in Aklis; and the terrible Queen streamed in the sky,like a red disastrous comet, and dived, eagle-like, into the depths,re-ascending with Shagpat in her arms, cherishing him; and lo, there weresuddenly a thousand Shagpats multiplied about, and the hand of ShibliBagarag became exhausted with hewing at them. The scornful laugh of theQueen was heard throughout earth as she triumphed over Shibli Bagaragwith hundreds of Shagpats, Illusions; and he knew not where to strike atthe Shagpat, and was losing all sleight of hand, dexterity, and cunning.Noorna shrieked, thinking him lost; but Abarak seized his bar, andleaning it in the direction of Aklis, blew a pellet from it that struckon the eye of Aklis, and this sent out a stretching finger of beams, andsingled forth very Shagpat from the myriads of semblances, so that heglowed and was ruddy, the rest cowering pale, and dissolving likesalt-grains in water.
Then saw earth and its inhabitants how the Genie Karaz re-ascended in theshape of a vulture with a fire beak, pecking at the eyes of him thatwielded the Sword, so that he was bewildered and shook this way and thatover the neck of Koorookh, striking wildly, languidly cleaving towers andpalaces, and monuments of earth underneath him. Now, Shibli Bagaragdiscerned his danger, and considered, 'The power of the Sword is to severbrains and thoughts. Great is Allah! I'll seek my advantage in that.'
So he whirled Koorookh thrice in the crimson smoke of the atmosphere, andput the blade between the first and second thought in the head ofRabesqurat, whereby the sense of the combat became immediately confusedin her mind, and she used her powers as the fool does, equally againstall, for the sake of mischief solely--no longer mistress of her ownIllusions; and she began doubling and trebling Shibli Bagarag on the neckof monstrous birds, speeding in draggled flightiness from one point ofthe sky to another. Even in the terror of the combat, Shibli Bagarag wasfair to burst into a fit of violent laughter at the sight of the Queenwagging her neck loosely, perking it like a mad raven; and he took heart,and swept the blade rapidly over Shagpat as she dandled him, leavingShagpat but one hair remaining on him; yet was that the Identical; and itarose, and was a serpent in his head, and from its jaws issued a river offiery serpents: these and a host of Afrites besieged Shibli Bagarag; andnow, to defend himself, he unloosed the twin Genii, Karavejis andVeejravoosh, from the wrist of that hand which wielded the Sword ofAklis, and these alternately interwound before and about him, and wereeven as a glittering armour of emerald plates, warding from him theassaults of the host; and lo! he flew, and the battle followed him overblazing cities and lands on fire with the slanting hail of sparkles.
By this time every soul in the City of Shagpat, kings and people, allsave Abarak and Noorna bin Noorka, were overcome and prostrate with theirfaces to the ground; but Noorna watched the conflict eagerly, and saw thehead of Shagpat sprouting incessant fresh crops of hair, despite thepertinacious shearing of her betrothed. Then she smote her hands, andcried, 'Yea! though I lose my beauty and the love of my betrothed, I mustjoin in this, or he'll be lost.' So, saying to Abarak, 'Watch over me,'she went into the air, and, as she passed Rabesqurat, was multiplied intotwenty damsels of loveliness. Then Abarak beheld a scorpion following thetwenty in mid-air, and darting stings among them. Noorna tossed a ring,and it fell in a circle of flame round the scorpion. So, while thescorpion was shooting in squares to escape from the circle, thefire-beaked vulture flew to it, and fluttered a dense rain whichswallowed the flame, and the scorpion and vulture assailed Noorna, thatwas changed to a golden hawk in the midst of nineteen other golden hawks.Now, as Rabesqurat came scudding by, and saw the encounter, she made thetwenty hawks a hundred. The Genie Karaz howled at her, and pinioned herto a pillar below in the Desert, with Shagpat in her arms. But, as hesoared aloft to renew the fight with Noorna, Shibli Bagarag loosed to heraid the Slaves of the Sword, and Abarak marked him slope to a distantcorner of earth, and reascend in a cloud, which drew swiftly over theland toward the Great Hall. Lo, Shibli Bagarag stepped from it through acasement of the Hall, and with him Shagpat, a slack weight, mated out ofall power of motion. Koorookh swooped low, on his back Baba Mustapha, andShibli Bagarag flung Abarak beside him on the bird. Then Koorookh whirredoff with them; and while the heavens raged, Shibli Bagarag prepared arapid lather, and dashed it over Shagpat, and commenced shearing him withlightning sweeps of the blade. 'Twas as a racing wheel of fire to seehim! Suddenly he desisted, and wiped the sweat from his face. Thencalling on the name of Allah, he gave a last keen cunning sweep with theblade, and following that, the earth awfully quaked and groaned, as ifspeaking in the abysmal tongue the Mastery of the Event to all men. Akliswas revealed in burning beams as of a sun, and the trouble of the airceased, vapours slowly curling to the four quarters. Shibli Bagarag hadsmitten clean through the Identical! Terribly had Noorna and those thataided her been oppressed by the multitude of their enemies; but, in amoment these melted away, and Karaz, together with the scorpion that wasGoorelka, vanished. Day was on the baldness of Shagpat.