THE BETROTHAL
Now, when Shibli Bagarag had ceased speaking, the Vizier smiled gravely,and shook his beard with satisfaction, and said to the Eclipser ofReason, 'What opinest thou of this nephew of the barber, O Noorna binNoorka?'
She answered, "O Feshnavat, my father, truly I am content with thebargain of my betrothal. He, Wullahy, is a fair youth of flowing speech.'Then she said, 'Ask thou him what he opineth of me, his betrothed?"
So the Vizier put that interrogation to Shibli Bagarag, and the youth wasin perplexity; thinking, 'Is it possible to be joyful in the embrace ofone that hath brought thwackings upon us, serious blows?' Thinking, 'Yethath she, when the mood cometh, kindly looks; and I marked her eyedwelling on me admiringly!' And he thought, 'Mayhap she that growethyounger and counteth nature backwards, hath a history that would affectme; or, it may be, my kisses--wah! I like not to give them, and it issaid,
"Love is wither'd by the withered lip";
and that,
"On bones become too prominent he'll trip."
Yet put the case, that my kisses--I shower them not, Allah the All-seeingis my witness! and they be given daintily as 'twere to the leaf of anettle, or over-hot pilau. Yet haply kisses repeated might restore her toa bloom, and it is certain youth is somehow stolen from her, if theVizier Feshnavat went before her, and his blood be her blood; and he ispowerful, she wise. I'll decide to act the part of a rejoicer, andexpress of her opinions honeyed to the soul of that sex.'
Now, while he was thus debating he hung his head, and the Vizier awaitedhis response, knitting his brows angrily at the delay, and at the last hecried, 'What! no answer? how 's this? Shall thy like dare hold debatewhen questioned of my like? And is my daughter Noorna bin Noorka,thinkest thou, a slave-girl in the market,--thou haggling at her price, Othou nephew of the barber?'
So Shibli Bagarag exclaimed, 'O exalted one, bestower of the bride!surely I debated with myself but for appropriate terms; and I delayed toselect the metre of the verse fitting my thoughts of her, and my wondrousgood fortune, and the honour done me.'
Then the Vizier, 'Let us hear: we listen.'
And Shibli Bagarag was advised to deal with illustrations in his dilemma,by-ways of expression, and spake in extemporaneous verse, and with a fullvoice:
The pupils of the Sage for living Beauty sought; And one a Vision clasped, and one a Model wrought. 'I have it!' each exclaimed, and rivalry arose: 'Paint me thy Maid of air!' 'Thy Grace of clay disclose.' 'What! limbs that cannot move!' 'What! lips that melt away!' 'Keep thou thy Maid of air!' 'Shroud up thy Grace of clay!' 'Twas thus, contending hot, they went before the Sage, And knelt at the wise wells of cold ascetic age. 'The fairest of the twain, O father, thou record':
He answered, 'Fairest she who's likest to her lord.'
Said they, 'What fairer thing matched with them might prevail?'
The Sage austerely smiled, and said, 'Yon monkey's tail.'
'Tis left for after-time his wisdom to declare: That's loveliest we best love, and to ourselves compare. Yet lovelier than all hands shape or fancies build, The meanest thing of earth God with his fire hath filled.
Now, when Shibli Bagarag ceased, Noorna bin Noorka cried, 'Enough, Owondrous turner of verse, thou that art honest!' And she laughed loudly,rustling like a bag of shavings, and rolling in her laughter.
Then said she, 'O my betrothed, is not the thing thou wouldst say noother than--
"Each to his mind doth the fairest enfold, For broken long since was Beauty's mould";
and, "Thou that art old, withered, I cannot flatter thee, as I can in noway pay compliments to the monkey's tail of high design; nevertheless theSage would do thee honour"? So read I thy illustration, O keen of wit!and thou art forgiven its boldness, my betrothed,--Wullahy! utterly so.'
Now, the youth was abashed at her discernment, and the kindliness of hermanner won him to say:
There's many a flower of sweetness, there's many a gem of earth Would thrill with bliss our being, could we perceive its worth. O beauteous is creation, in fashion and device! If I have fail'd to think thee fair, 'tis blindness is my vice.
And she answered him:
I've proved thy wit and power of verse, That is at will diffuse and terse: Lest thou commence to lie--be dumb! I am content: the time will come!
Then she said to the Vizier Feshnavat, 'O my father, there is all in thisyouth, the nephew of the barber, that's desirable for the undertaking;and his feet will be on a level with the task we propose for him, he theheight of man above it. 'Tis clear that vanity will trip him, but honestyis a strong upholder; and he is one that hath the spirit of enterpriseand the mask of dissimulation: gratitude I observe in him; and it is as Ithought when I came upon him on the sand-hill outside the city, that hisstar is clearly in a web with our star, he destined for the Shaving ofShagpat.'
So the Vizier replied, 'He hath had thwackings, yet is he not deterredfrom making further attempt on Shagpat. I think well of him, and I augurhopefully. Wullahy! the Cadi shall be sent for; I can sleep in hissecresy; and he shall perform the ceremonies of betrothal, even now andwhere we sit, and it shall be for him to write the terms of contract: soshall we bind the youth firmly to us, and he will be one of us as we are,devoted to the undertaking by three bonds--the bond of vengeance, thebond of ambition, and that of love.'
Now, so it was that the Vizier despatched a summons for the attendance ofthe Cadi, and he came and performed between Shibli Bagarag and Noorna binNoorka ceremonies of betrothal, and wrote terms of contract; and theywere witnessed duly by the legal number of witnesses, and so worded thathe had no claim on her as wife till such time as the Event to which hebound himself was mastered. Then the fees being paid, and complimentsinterchanged, the Vizier exclaimed, 'Be ye happy! and let the weak clingto the strong; and be ye two to one in this world, and no split halvesthat betray division and stick not together when the gum is heated.' Thenhe made a sign to the Cadi and them that had witnessed the contract tofollow him, leaving the betrothed ones to their own company.
So when they were alone Noorna gazed on the youth wistfully, and said ina soft tone, 'Thou art dazed with the adventure, O youth! Surely there isone kiss owing me: art thou willing? Am I reduced to beg it of thee? Ordream'st thou?'
He lifted his head and replied, 'Even so.'
Thereat he stood up languidly, and went to her and kissed her. And shesmiled and said, 'I wot it will be otherwise, and thou wilt learnswiftness of limb, brightness of eye, and the longing for earthlybeatitude, when next I ask thee, O my betrothed!'
Lo! while she spake, new light seemed in her; and it was as if a splendidjewel were struggling to cast its beams through the sides of a crystalvase smeared with dust and old dirt and spinnings of the damp spider. Hewas amazed, and cried, 'How's this? What change is passing in thee?'
She said, 'Joy in thy kiss, and that I have 'scaped Shagpat.'
Then he: 'Shagpat? How? had that wretch claim over thee ere I came?'
But she looked fearfully at the corners of the room and exclaimed, 'Hush,my betrothed! speak not of him in that fashion, 'tis dangerous; and mypower cannot keep off his emissaries at all times.' Then she said, 'O mybetrothed, know me a sorceress ensorcelled; not that I seem, but that Ishall be! Wait thou for the time and it will reward thee. What! thouthink'st to have plucked a wrinkled o'erripe fruit,--a mouldy pomegranateunder the branches, a sour tamarind? 'Tis well! I say nought, save thattime will come, and be thou content. It is truly as I said, that I havethee between me and Shagpat; and that honoured one of this city thoughtfit in his presumption to demand me in marriage at the hands of myfather, knowing me wise, and knowing the thing that transformed me tothis, the abominable fellow! Surely my father entertained not hisproposal save with scorn; but the King looked favourably on it, and it iseven now matter of reproach to Feshnavat, my father, that he withholdethme from Shagpat.'
Quoth Shibli Bagarag, 'A clothier, O Noorna, control the Viz
ier! anddemand of him his daughter in marriage! and a clothier influence the Kingagainst his Vizier!'--tis, wullahy! a riddle.'
She replied, ''Tis even so, eyes of mine, my betrothed! but thou know'stnot Shagpat, and that he is. Lo! the King, and all of this city save wethree, are held in enchantment by him, and made foolish by one hairthat's in his head.'
Shibli Bagarag started in his seat like one that shineth with adiscovery, and cried, 'The Identical!'
Then she, sighing, ''Tis that indeed! but the Identical of Identicals,the chief and head of them, and I, woe's me! I, the planter of it.'
So he said, 'How so?'
But she cried, 'I'll tell thee not here, nor aught of myself and him, andthe Genie held in bondage by me, till thou art proved by adventure, andwe float peacefully on the sea of the Bright Lily: there shalt thou seeme as I am, and hear my story, and marvel at it; for 'tis wondrous, and amanifestation of the Power that dwelleth unseen.'
So Shibli Bagarag pondered awhile on the strange nature of the things shehinted, and laughter seized him as he reflected on Shagpat, and the wholecity enchanted by one hair in his head; and he exclaimed, 'O Noorna,knoweth he, Shagpat, of the might in him?'
She answered, 'Enough for his vain soul that homage is paid to him, andhe careth not for the wherefore!'
Shibli Bagarag fixed his eyes on the deep-flowered carpets of the floor,as if reading there a matter quaintly written, and smiled, saying, 'Whatboldness was mine--the making offer to shear Shagpat, the lion in hislair, he that holdeth a whole city in enchantment! Wah! 'twas an instanceof daring!'
And Noorna said, 'Not only an entire city, but other cities affected byhim, as witness Oolb, whither thou wilt go; and there be governments andstates, and conditions of men remote, that hang upon him, Shagpat. 'Tiseven so; I swell not his size. When thou hast mastered the Event, andsent him forth shivering from thy blade like the shorn lamb, 'twill beknown how great a thing has been achieved, and a record for thegenerations to come; choice is that historian destined to record it!'
Quoth he, looking eagerly at her, 'O Noorna, what is it in thy speechaffecteth me? Surely it infuseth the vigour of wine, old wine; and Ishiver with desire to shave Shagpat, and spin threads for the historianto weave in order. I, wullahy! had but dry visions of the greatnessdestined for me till now, my betrothed! Shall I master an Event inshaving him, and be told of to future ages? By Allah and his Prophet(praise be to that name!), this is greatness! Say, Noorna, hadst thouforeknowledge of me and my coming to this city?'
So she said, 'I was on the roofs one night among the stars ere moonrise,O my betrothed, and 'twas close on the rise of this very month's moon.The star of our enemy, Shagpat, was large and red, mine as it weremenaced by its proximity, nigh swallowed in its haughty beams and thesteady overbearings of its effulgence. 'Twas so as it had long been, whensuddenly, lo! a star from the upper heaven that shot down between themwildly, and my star took lustre from it; and the star of Shagpat trembledlike a ring on a tightened rope, and waved and flickered, and seemed tocome forward and to retire; and 'twas presently as a comet in the sky,bright,--a tadpole, with large head and lengthy tail, in the assembly ofthe planets. This I saw: and that the stranger star was stationed by mystar, shielding it, and that it drew nearer to my star, and entered itscircle, and that the two stars seemed mixing the splendour that wastheirs. Now, that sight amazed me, and my heart in its beating quickenedwith the expectation of things approaching. Surely I rendered praise, andpressed both hands on my bosom, and watched, and behold! the comet, theillumined tadpole, was becoming restless beneath the joint rays of thetwain that were dominating him; and he diminished, and lashed his tailuneasily, half madly, darting as do captured beasts from the fetters thatconstrain them. Then went there from thy star--for I know now 'twasthine--a momentary flash across the head of the tadpole, and againanother and another, rapidly, pertinaciously. And from thy star therepassed repeated flashes across the head of the tadpole, till hisbrilliance was as 'twere severed from him, and he, like drossy silver, adead shape in the conspicuous heavens. And he became yellow as therolling eyes of sick wretches in pain, and shrank in his place like paleparchment at the touch of flame; dull was he as an animal fascinated byfear, and deprived of all power to make head against the foe, darkness,that now beset him, and usurped part of his yet lively tail, and settledon his head, and coated part of his body. So when this tadpole, that wasonce terrible to me, became turbaned, shoed, and shawled with darkness,and there was little of him remaining visible, lo! a concluding flashshot from thy star, and he fell heavily down the sky and below the hills,into the sea, that is the Enchanted Sea, whose Queen is Rabesqurat,Mistress of Illusions. Now when my soul recovered from amazement at themarvels seen, I arose and went from the starry roofs to consult my booksof magic, and 'twas revealed to me that one was wandering to a junctionwith my destiny, and that by his means the great aim would of a surety beaccomplished--Shagpat Shaved! So my purpose was to discover him; and Imade calculations, and summoned them that serve me to search for such ayouth as thou art; fairly, O my betrothed, did I preconceive thee. And soit was that I traced a magic line from the sand-hills to the city, andfrom the outer hills to the sand-hills; and whoso approached by that lineI knew was he marked out as my champion, my betrothed,--a youth destinedfor great things. Was I right? The egg hatcheth. Thou art already provedby thwackings, seasoned to the undertaking, and I doubt not thou art hethat will finish with that tadpole Shagpat, and sit in the high seat, thyname an odour in distant lands, a joy to the historian, the Compiler ofEvents, thou Master of the Event, the greatest which time will witnessfor ages to come.'
When she had spoken Shibli Bagarag considered her words, and theknowledge that he was selected by destiny as Master of the Event inflatedhim; and he was a hawk in eagerness, a peacock in pride, an ostrich infulness of chest, crying, 'O Noorna bin Noorka! is't really so? Truly itmust be, for the readers of planets were also busy with me at the time ofmy birth, interpreting of me in excessive agitation; and the thing theyforetold is as thou foretellest. I am, wullahy! marked: I walk manifestin the eye of Providence.'
Thereupon he exulted, and his mind strutted through the future of hisdays, and down the ladder of all time, exacting homage from men, hisbrethren; and 'twas beyond the art of Noorna to fix him to the presentduties of the enterprise: he was as feathered seed before the breath ofvanity.
Now, while the twain discoursed, she of the preparations for shavingShagpat, he of his completion of the deed, and the honours due to him asMaster of the Event, Feshnavat the Vizier returned to them from hisentertainment of the Cadi; and he had bribed him to silence with a mightybribe. So he called to them--
'Ho! be ye ready to commence the work? and have ye advised together as tothe beginning? True is that triplet:
"Whatever enterprize man hath, For waking love or curbing wrath, 'Tis the first step that makes a path."
And how have ye determined as to that first step?'
Noorna replied, 'O my father! we have not decided, and there hath beenyet no deliberation between us as to that.'
Then he said, 'All this while have ye talked, and no deliberation as tothat! Lo, I have drawn the Cadi to our plot, and bribed him with a mightybribe; and I have prepared possible disguises for this nephew of thebarber; and I have had the witnesses of thy betrothal despatched toforeign parts, far kingdoms in the land of Roum, to prevent tattling andgabbling; and ye that were left alone for debating as to the great deed,ye have not yet deliberated as to that! Is't known to ye, O gabblers,aught of the punishment inflicted by Shahpesh, the Persian, on Khipil,the Builder?--a punishment that, by Allah!'
Shibli Bagarag said, 'How of that punishment, O Vizier?'
And the Vizier narrated as followeth.