Now that he had seen how useful the horse could be, he was delighted and thanked Almighty God for the favour that He had shown him in saving him from death. His climb had taken him far above the earth and so the descent continued all day, with him turning the horse’s head in whatever direction he wanted. Sometimes he would make it go down and at other times up, until, when he had got it to do all that he wanted, he took it down towards the ground. He started to look at the lands and cities there that he did not recognize, never having seen them before in his life.
Among the sights was that of a well-built city in the middle of a green and flourishing countryside with trees and rivers. He thought about this, wondering what the city’s name might be and in what part of the world it lay. He started to circle around it and to reconnoitre it from right and left.
The day was coming to its end and, as the sun was about to set, he said to himself: ‘I have found no better place in which to spend the night than this city. That is what I shall do and in the morning I shall go back to my family’s capital and tell them all, including my father, what has happened and what I have seen.’ He started to look for a place where he and the horse could stay safely out of sight, and while he was doing this he noticed in the centre of the city a palace soaring high into the sky, surrounded by extensive walls with tall battlements. ‘This is a pleasant place,’ he said to himself and he started to move the knob that controlled the horse’s descent. It continued to take him downwards until all four of its legs rested on the flat roof of the palace.
When he had dismounted, the prince praised Almighty God and then walked round the horse, examining it and exclaiming: ‘By God, the man who made you like this was wise and skilled indeed! If the Almighty extends my life and brings me back safely to my country and my family, reuniting me with my father, I shall give him the best of rewards and shower favours on him.’ He remained sitting on the roof until he thought that everyone must be asleep. He was tormented by hunger and thirst, as he had eaten nothing since leaving his father, and he said to himself: ‘There must be some provisions in a palace like this.’ He left the horse where it was and walked away to see whether he could find something to eat, until he came across a staircase and went down. At the bottom he was impressed to find a beautifully laid-out courtyard paved with marble, but in the whole of the palace he could discover no sight nor sound of any human being. He stood in perplexity, looking right and left but having no idea where to go. ‘The best thing I can do,’ he told himself, ‘is to go back to where I left the horse and spend the night with it. Then, in the morning, I can mount it and set off again.’
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the three hundred and fifty-ninth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that the prince told himself: ‘The best thing I can do is to go back to where I left the horse and spend the night with it. Then, in the morning, I can mount it and set off again.’ While he was telling himself this as he stood there, he suddenly noticed a light coming towards him. Looking at it more closely, he found that it came from a group of maids, among whom was a radiantly beautiful young girl like the light of the moon when full, with a slender body like the letter alif. She fitted the description of the poet:
She came unexpectedly in the twilight shadows,
Like the full moon on a dark horizon,
A slender girl with no match among humankind,
Most gloriously formed in the splendour of beauty.
When my eyes rested on her loveliness, I cried out:
‘Glory to the One Who created man from a drop of sperm.’
I guard her from all envious eyes by the words:
‘Say: I take refuge with the Lord of mankind and of the dawn.’*
This girl was the daughter of the king of the city, who was so fond of her that he had built the palace for her. If ever she felt depressed, she and her maids would go and stay there for one or two days or more, before returning to her own quarters. As it happened, she had come that night to amuse herself and relax, and so she was walking surrounded by her maids and accompanied by a eunuch with a sword. When they got to the palace, they spread out the furnishings, released incense from the censers, played and enjoyed themselves, but while they were doing this the prince suddenly attacked the eunuch, knocked him down and took the sword from his hand. He then turned on the maids, who scattered right and left.
When the princess saw how good-looking he was, she asked him: ‘Are you perhaps the man who asked my father yesterday for my hand and was rejected because my father claimed that you were ugly? By God, he told a lie when he said that, for you are indeed a handsome man.’ In fact, it had been the son of the king of India who had asked her father for her hand and had been rejected because of his ugliness. Thinking the prince to be this Indian, she went up to him, embraced and kissed him and then lay down with him. Her maids then told her: ‘Lady, this is not the man who asked your father for your hand. He was ugly and this one is handsome. Your rejected suitor would not even be good enough to act as this man’s servant and he must clearly be someone of high rank.’
They then went over to the eunuch who had been knocked out, and when they had revived him he jumped up in a panic and looked vainly for the sword that he had been holding. The maids told him that the man who had taken it and had knocked him down was sitting with the princess. It was she whom the king had employed him to guard, fearing that the disasters of time and the blows of fate might injure her, and so he came and lifted the curtain to find her sitting in conversation with the prince. After looking at them, he asked the prince: ‘Master, are you mortal or jinn?’ ‘Damn you, you vilest of slaves,’ answered the prince, ‘how can you confuse the children of sovereign kings with infidel devils?’ Then, with the sword in his hand, he went on: ‘I am the king’s son-in-law. He married me to his daughter and ordered me to consummate the marriage.’ When he heard this, the eunuch said: ‘Master, if you are a mortal, as you claim, then she is a fitting mate for none but you and you have a better right to her than anyone else.’
He then made his way to the king, shrieking, tearing his clothes and pouring dust on his head. On hearing the noise, the king said: ‘You have alarmed me, so tell me quickly what has happened to you and be brief.’ ‘O king,’ replied the eunuch, ‘go to your daughter, for she is in the power of a jinn devil in the guise of a princely-looking man. So seize him.’ When the king heard this he thought of killing the eunuch and said: ‘How could you have been so careless of my daughter as to allow this to happen to her?’ Then he set off for the palace where she was, and when he arrived and found the slave girls standing there, he asked them what had happened to the princess. ‘We were sitting with her,’ they told him, ‘when suddenly this young man rushed in at us. He was like a full moon, with the most beautiful face that we have ever seen and with a drawn sword in his hand. When we asked who he was, he claimed that you had married him to your daughter. This is all we know. We don’t know whether he is human or a jinni, but he is chaste and well mannered and does not indulge in shameless actions.’ This served to cool the king’s anger and when he slowly raised the curtain he saw the prince and his daughter sitting and talking to each other. The prince, he could see, was a shapely man with a face like a gleaming full moon, but such was his jealousy for his daughter’s honour that he could not restrain himself. He lifted the curtain and with a drawn sword in his hand he rushed in at them like a ghul.
‘Is this your father?’ the prince asked and, when she said yes…
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the three hundred and sixtieth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that when the prince saw the king with a drawn sword in his hand, rushing in at them like a ghul, he asked the girl whether this was her father and when she said yes, he jumped to his feet and, grasping his sword, he gave such a terrible shout that the king was astou
nded. The prince was about to attack, but the king, realizing that the young man was the more vigorous, sheathed his sword and stood still. When the prince came up to him, he addressed him courteously and said: ‘Young man, are you human or a jinni?’ ‘Were it not for my respect for your authority and for your daughter’s honour,’ replied the prince, ‘I would shed your blood. How can you think that I am related to devils when I am a descendant of sovereign kings who, if they wanted to seize your kingdom, would topple you from your throne of grandeur and rob you of all that is in your lands?’ These words filled the king with awe and he feared for his life, but nevertheless he protested: ‘If, as you claim, you are of royal blood, how is it that you have entered my palace without my leave and dishonoured me, approaching my daughter, pretending to be her husband and claiming that I gave her to you in marriage? I have killed kings and the sons of kings who have come as her suitors, and who can save you from my power? If I call to my slaves and retainers and tell them to kill you, they will do that on the spot and who will rescue you from me?’
When the prince heard this he told the king: ‘Your blindness astonishes me. Do you hope to get a more handsome husband for your daughter than me, one more steadfast, more able to repay good or evil, or one with greater power and more troops and guards?’ ‘No, by God,’ replied the king, ‘but I would like you to ask me for her hand in front of witnesses so that I can marry her to you, for if I do this in secret it will bring disgrace on me.’ ‘Well spoken,’ said the prince, ‘but if you collect your slaves, your servants and your soldiers to fight me and they kill me, as you say they will, you will disgrace yourself, and your people will not know whether to believe what you tell them or not. My advice to you is that you should do what I am going to suggest.’ The king asked what this was and the prince answered: ‘What I have to say is this. Either you and I can fight a duel to the death between ourselves, with the victor having the better right to the kingdom, or you can leave me here tonight and in the morning fetch for me all your troops and your servants, letting me know how many they are.’ ‘I have forty thousand riders,’ the king told him, ‘as well as my black slaves, not counting their own followers whose numbers are the same again.’ The prince said: ‘Bring them out to me at dawn and tell them…’
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the three hundred and sixty-first night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that the prince said: ‘Bring them out to me at dawn and tell them: “This man has asked me for my daughter’s hand on condition that he comes out to fight you all, and he claims that he will defeat you and that you will prove to be powerless against him.” Then leave me to fight them; if they kill me, that will keep your secret safe and protect your honour, while if I get the upper hand, I am the kind of son-in-law for whom you would wish.’
When the king heard this, he approved of the idea and accepted the prince’s advice, impressed by his haughty words and alarmed by his determination to challenge the whole of the army, whose numbers had been described to him. He and the prince then sat talking until the king called for the eunuch and ordered him to go immediately to the vizier with instructions to muster the troops, who were to arm themselves and mount their horses. The eunuch carried these orders to the vizier, who, in his turn, summoned the army officers and the state dignitaries, telling them to mount and ride out carrying their arms.
So much for them, but as for the king, he continued talking with the prince and was impressed by his conversation, intelligence and culture. They were still talking when morning came, and at that point the king got up and went to take his seat on the throne. He ordered his men to mount and he supplied the prince with one of his finest horses, ordering it to be provided with the best of saddles and other equipment. The prince, however, refused to mount until he had seen the king’s army for himself, and so the two of them went together to the maidan, where the prince got a view of the size of the army. The king then made a proclamation to the troops, saying: ‘A young man has come to me to ask for my daughter’s hand. I have never seen anyone more handsome, courageous or strong. He claims that he can defeat you single-handed and that, even if you numbered a hundred thousand, to him this would be no more than a few. When he comes out against you, meet him with the heads of your lances and the edges of your swords, for this is an enormous task that he has undertaken.’
The king then said to the prince: ‘My son, do what you want with them,’ but the prince said: ‘This is not fair treatment. How can I go out against them on foot when they are all on horseback?’ ‘I told you to mount,’ replied the king, ‘but you refused. However, take your pick of the horses.’ ‘I don’t like any of them,’ the prince told him, ‘and I shall mount only the horse on which I rode here.’ When the king asked him where it was, he said: ‘On top of your palace,’ and when asked in what part of the palace, he said: ‘On the flat roof.’ ‘This is the first sign that you are weak in the head,’ the king told him. ‘How the devil can a horse be on top of the roof? But we shall see now whether you’re lying or telling the truth.’ He turned to one of his officers and told him to go to the palace and fetch what he found on the roof.
The people there were amazed at what the prince had said and they asked one another: ‘How can a horse come down the stairs from the roof? We have never heard anything like this,’ but when the king’s messenger climbed to the palace roof, he saw standing there the finest horse on which he had ever set eyes. He went up to investigate and found that it was made of ebony and ivory. Another of the king’s officers had gone up there with him, and they laughed together at the sight of it and said: ‘Was this the kind of horse that the young man was talking about? He must be mad, but this will soon become clear…’
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the three hundred and sixty-second night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that the king’s officers laughed together at the sight of it and said: ‘Was this the kind of horse that the young man was talking about? He must be mad, but this will soon become clear and he may be a man of importance.’
They lifted up the horse and carried it down to set in front of the king. People crowded round to look at it, admiring the beauty of its appearance together with its splendid saddle and bridle. The king was among its admirers, being full of astonishment at it. ‘Is this your horse?’ he asked the prince. ‘Yes it is, your majesty,’ the other replied, adding: ‘And you will see how wonderfully it performs.’ ‘Take it and mount it then,’ the king told him, but the prince said: ‘Only when your troops keep their distance.’ The king told them to retire for one bowshot and the prince then said: ‘O king, I am about to mount my horse and then I shall charge your men, scattering them right and left and breaking their hearts.’ ‘Do what you want,’ replied the king. ‘You need not spare them, for they will not spare you.’
The prince went up to mount his horse, and the king’s men drew up in ranks, telling each other that, when he came between them, they would meet him with lance points and sword edges. ‘By God,’ said one of them, ‘this is an unlucky business. How can we kill this young man with his handsome face and his fine figure?’ But another said: ‘By God, it will be hard to get to him. He can only be doing this because he is sure of his courage and skill.’
When the prince was settled in his saddle, he turned the knob that would make the horse climb and they stared at him to see what he was going to do. The horse stirred and moved, curvetting in the most extraordinary manner. Its interior filled with air and then it took off and rose into the sky. On seeing this, the king called to his men: ‘Catch him, damn you, before he gets away,’ but his viziers and officers said: ‘King, can anyone catch up with a bird in flight? This has to be a great sorcerer, may God preserve you from him, so give thanks to Him for having rescued you from his clutches.’
After what he had seen, the king returned to his palac
e, where he went to tell his daughter what had happened during his encounter with the prince in the maidan. He found her full of grief for her suitor and for having been parted from him, so much so that she fell gravely ill and kept to her bed. When her father saw her in this state, he clasped her to him, kissed her between the eyes and said: ‘Daughter, give praise and thanks to God for having saved us from this cunning sorcerer.’ He started to tell her again what he had seen the prince do and how he had flown up into the air, but she wouldn’t listen to anything he said and only wept and sobbed the more, swearing to herself that she would neither eat nor drink until God had reunited her with him. This caused her father great concern, and his distress about her condition made him sad at heart, but the more tenderly he treated her, the deeper grew her love for the prince.
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the three hundred and sixty-third night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that the king was concerned for his daughter, but the more tenderly he treated her, the deeper grew her love for the prince.
So much for them, but as for the prince, in his solitary flight through the air he remembered the princess’s beauty and grace, and as he had asked the king’s companions to tell him the name of the city as well as the names of the king and his daughter, he knew that the city was San‘a’. He pressed on with his journey until he came near his father’s city and, after circling around it, he made for his father’s palace and landed on its flat roof, where he left the horse. When he went down and entered his father’s presence, he found him sad and distressed at the loss of his son, but on seeing him come in, his father rose to greet him, embraced him and hugged him to his chest in delight.
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights: Volume 2 Page 18
