The Shaving of Shagpat; an Arabian entertainment — Complete

by George Meredith

  AND THIS IS THE PUNISHMENT OF SHAHPESH, THE PERSIAN, ON KHIPIL, THEBUILDER

  They relate that Shahpesh, the Persian, commanded the building of apalace, and Khipil was his builder. The work lingered from the first yearof the reign of Shahpesh even to his fourth. One day Shahpesh went to theriverside where it stood, to inspect it. Khipil was sitting on a marbleslab among the stones and blocks; round him stretched lazily the masonsand stonecutters and slaves of burden; and they with the curve ofhumorous enjoyment on their lips, for he was reciting to them adventures,interspersed with anecdotes and recitations and poetic instances, as washis wont. They were like pleased flocks whom the shepherd hath led to apasture freshened with brooks, there to feed indolently; he, theshepherd, in the midst.

  Now, the King said to him, 'O Khipil, show me my palace where itstandeth, for I desire to gratify my sight with its fairness.'

  Khipil abased himself before Shahpesh, and answered, ''Tis even here, OKing of the age, where thou delightest the earth with thy foot and theear of thy slave with sweetness. Surely a site of vantage, one thatdominateth earth, air, and water, which is the builder's first and chiefrequisition for a noble palace, a palace to fill foreign kings andsultans with the distraction of envy; and it is, O Sovereign of the time,a site, this site I have chosen, to occupy the tongues of travellers andawaken the flights of poets!'

  Shahpesh smiled and said, 'The site is good! I laud the site! Likewise Ilaud the wisdom of Ebn Busrac, where he exclaims:

  "Be sure, where Virtue faileth to appear, For her a gorgeous mansion men will rear; And day and night her praises will be heard, Where never yet she spake a single word."'

  Then said he, 'O Khipil, my builder, there was once a farm servant that,having neglected in the seed-time to sow, took to singing the richness ofhis soil when it was harvest, in proof of which he displayed theabundance of weeds that coloured the land everywhere. Discover to me nowthe completeness of my halls and apartments, I pray thee, O Khipil, andbe the excellence of thy construction made visible to me!'

  Quoth Khipil, 'To hear is to obey.'

  He conducted Shahpesh among the unfinished saloons and imperfect courtsand roofless rooms, and by half erected obelisks, and columns pierced andchipped, of the palace of his building. And he was bewildered at thewords spoken by Shahpesh; but now the King exalted him, and admired theperfection of his craft, the greatness of his labour, the speediness ofhis construction, his assiduity; feigning not to behold his negligence.

  Presently they went up winding balusters to a marble terrace, and theKing said, 'Such is thy devotion and constancy in toil, Khipil, that thoushaft walk before me here.'

  He then commanded Khipil to precede him, and Khipil was heightened withthe honour. When Khipil had paraded a short space he stopped quickly, andsaid to Shahpesh, 'Here is, as it chanceth, a gap, O King! and we can gono further this way.'

  Shahpesh said, 'All is perfect, and it is my will thou delay not toadvance.'

  Khipil cried, 'The gap is wide, O mighty King, and manifest, and it is anincomplete part of thy palace.'

  Then said Shahpesh, 'O Khipil, I see no distinction between one part andanother; excellent are all parts in beauty and proportion, and there canbe no part incomplete in this palace that occupieth the builder fouryears in its building: so advance, do my bidding.'

  Khipil yet hesitated, for the gap was of many strides, and at the bottomof the gap was a deep water, and he one that knew not the motion ofswimming. But Shahpesh ordered his guard to point their arrows in thedirection of Khipil, and Khipil stepped forward hurriedly, and fell inthe gap, and was swallowed by the water below. When he rose the secondtime, succour reached him, and he was drawn to land trembling, his teethchattering. And Shahpesh praised him, and said, 'This is an aptcontrivance for a bath, Khipil O my builder! well conceived; one thattaketh by surprise; and it shall be thy reward daily when much talkinghath fatigued thee.'

  Then he bade Khipil lead him to the hall of state. And when they werethere Shahpesh said, 'For a privilege, and as a mark of my approbation, Igive thee permission to sit in the marble chair of yonder throne, even inmy presence, O Khipil.'

  Khipil said, 'Surely, O King, the chair is not yet executed.'

  And Shahpesh exclaimed, 'If this be so, thou art but the length of thymeasure on the ground, O talkative one!'

  Khipil said, 'Nay, 'tis not so, O King of splendours! blind that I am!yonder's indeed the chair.'

  And Khipil feared the King, and went to the place where the chair shouldbe, and bent his body in a sitting posture, eyeing the King, and madepretence to sit in the chair of Shahpesh, as in conspiracy to amuse hismaster.

  Then said Shahpesh, 'For a token that I approve thy execution of thechair, thou shalt be honoured by remaining seated in it up to the hour ofnoon; but move thou to the right or to the left, showing thy soulinsensible of the honour done thee, transfixed thou shah be with twentyarrows and five.'

  The King then left him with a guard of twenty-five of his body-guard; andthey stood around him with bent bows, so that Khipil dared not move fromhis sitting posture. And the masons and the people crowded to see Khipilsitting on his master's chair, for it became rumoured about. When theybeheld him sitting upon nothing, and he trembling to stir for fear of theloosening of the arrows, they laughed so that they rolled upon the floorof the hall, and the echoes of laughter were a thousand-fold. Surely thearrows of the guards swayed with the laughter that shook them.

  Now, when the time had expired for his sitting in the chair, Shahpeshreturned to him, and he was cramped, pitiable to see; and Shahpesh said,'Thou hast been exalted above men, O Khipil! for that thou didst executefor thy master has been found fitting for thee.'

  Then he bade Khipil lead the way to the noble gardens of dalliance andpleasure that he had planted and contrived. And Khipil went in that statedescribed by the poet, when we go draggingly, with remonstrating members,

  Knowing a dreadful strength behind, And a dark fate before.

  They came to the gardens, and behold, these were full of weeds andnettles, the fountains dry, no tree to be seen--a desert. And Shahpeshcried, 'This is indeed of admirable design, O Khipil! Feelest thou notthe coolness of the fountains?--their refreshingness? Truly I am gratefulto thee! And these flowers, pluck me now a handful, and tell me of theirperfume.'

  Khipil plucked a handful of the nettles that were there in the place offlowers, and put his nose to them before Shahpesh, till his nose wasreddened; and desire to rub it waxed in him, and possessed him, andbecame a passion, so that he could scarce refrain from rubbing it even inthe King's presence. And the King encouraged him to sniff and enjoy theirfragrance, repeating the poet's words:

  Methinks I am a lover and a child, A little child and happy lover, both! When by the breath of flowers I am beguiled From sense of pain, and lulled in odorous sloth. So I adore them, that no mistress sweet Seems worthier of the love which they awake: In innocence and beauty more complete, Was never maiden cheek in morning lake. Oh, while I live, surround me with fresh flowers! Oh, when I die, then bury me in their bowers!

  And the King said, 'What sayest thou, O my builder? that is a fairquotation, applicable to thy feelings, one that expresseth them?'

  Khipil answered, ''Tis eloquent, O great King! comprehensiveness would beits portion, but that it alludeth not to the delight of chafing.'

  Then Shahpesh laughed, and cried, 'Chafe not! it is an ill thing and ahideous! This nosegay, O Khipil, it is for thee to present to thymistress. Truly she will receive thee well after its presentation! I willhave it now sent in thy name, with word that thou followest quickly. Andfor thy nettled nose, surely if the whim seize thee that thou desirestits chafing, to thy neighbour is permitted what to thy hand is refused.'

  The King set a guard upon Khipil to see that his orders were executed,and appointed a time for him to return to the gardens.

  At the hour indicated Khipil stood before Shahpesh again. He
was pale,saddened; his tongue drooped like the tongue of a heavy bell, that whenit soundeth giveth forth mournful sounds only: he had also the look ofone battered with many beatings. So the King said, 'How of thepresentation of the flowers of thy culture, O Khipil?'

  He answered, 'Surely, O King, she received me with wrath, and I am shamedby her.'

  And the King said, 'How of my clemency in the matter of the chafing?'

  Khipil answered, 'O King of splendours! I made petition to my neighbourswhom I met, accosting them civilly and with imploring, for I ached tochafe, and it was the very raging thirst of desire to chafe that wasmine, devouring eagerness for solace of chafing. And they chafed me, OKing; yet not in those parts which throbbed for the chafing, but in thosewhich abhorred it.'

  Then Shahpesh smiled and said, ''Tis certain that the magnanimity ofmonarchs is as the rain that falleth, the sun that shineth: and in thisspot it fertilizeth richness; in that encourageth rankness. So art thoubut a weed, O Khipil! and my grace is thy chastisement.'

  Now, the King ceased not persecuting Khipil, under pretence of doing himhonour and heaping favours on him. Three days and three nights was Khipilgasping without water, compelled to drink of the drought of the fountain,as an honour at the hands of the King. And he was seven days and sevennights made to stand with stretched arms, as they were the branches of atree, in each hand a pomegranate. And Shahpesh brought the people of hiscourt to regard the wondrous pomegranate shoot planted by Khipil, verywondrous, and a new sort, worthy the gardens of a King. So the wisdom ofthe King was applauded, and men wotted he knew how to punish offences incoin, by the punishment inflicted on Khipil the builder. Before that timehis affairs had languished, and the currents of business instead offlowing had become stagnant pools. It was the fashion to do as didKhipil, and fancy the tongue a constructor rather than a commentator; andthere is a doom upon that people and that man which runneth to seed ingabble, as the poet says in his wisdom:

  If thou wouldst be famous, and rich in splendid fruits, Leave to bloom the flower of things, and dig among the roots.

  Truly after Khipil's punishment there were few in the dominions ofShahpesh who sought to win the honours bestowed by him on gabblers andidlers: as again the poet:

  When to loquacious fools with patience rare I listen, I have thoughts of Khipil's chair: His bath, his nosegay, and his fount I see,-- Himself stretch'd out as a pomegranate-tree. And that I am not Shahpesh I regret, So to inmesh the babbler in his net. Well is that wisdom worthy to be sung, Which raised the Palace of the Wagging Tongue!

  And whoso is punished after the fashion of Shahpesh, the Persian, onKhipil the Builder, is said to be one 'in the Palace of the WaggingTongue' to this time.