Vathek; An Arabian Tale
Page 12
expectations confirmed his resolution. Hisgeographers were ordered to attend him, but the weather proved soterrible, that these poor people exhibited a lamentable appearance; andas no long journeys had been undertaken since the time of Haroun alRaschid, their maps of the different countries were in a still worseplight than themselves. Every one was ignorant which way to turn; forVathek, though well versed in the course of the heavens, no longer knewhis situation on earth. He thundered even louder than the elements, andmuttered forth certain hints of the bowstring which were not verysoothing to literary ears. Disgusted at the toilsome weariness of theway, he determined to cross over the craggy heights, and follow theguidance of a peasant, who undertook to bring him, in four days, toRocnabad. Remonstrances were all to no purpose, his resolution wasfixed, and an invasion commenced on the province of the goats, who spedaway in large troops before them. It was curious to view on these halfcalcined rocks camels richly caparisoned, and pavilions of gold and silkwaving on their summits, which till then had never been covered, but withsapless thistles and fern.
The females and eunuchs uttered shrill wailings at the sight of theprecipices below them, and the dreary prospects that opened in the vastgorges of the mountains. Before they could reach the ascent of thesteepest rock night overtook them, and a boisterous tempest arose, whichhaving rent the awnings of the palanquins and cages, exposed to the rawgusts the poor ladies within, who had never before felt so piercing acold. The dark clouds that overcast the face of the sky deepened thehorrors of this disastrous night, insomuch that nothing could be hearddistinctly but the mewling of pages, and lamentations of sultanas.
To increase the general misfortune, the frightful uproar of wild beastsresounded at a distance, and there were soon perceived in the forest theywere skirting the glaring of eyes which could belong only to devils ortigers. The pioneers, who as well as they could, had marked out a track,and a part of the advanced guard were devoured before they had been inthe least apprised of their danger. The confusion that prevailed wasextreme. Wolves, tigers, and other carnivorous animals, invited by thehowling of their companions, flocked together from every quarter. Thecrushing of bones was heard on all sides, and a fearful rush of wingsover head, for now vultures also began to be of the party.
The terror at length reached the main body of the troops which surroundedthe monarch and his harem, at the distance of two leagues from the scene.Vathek (voluptuously reposed in his capacious litter upon cushions ofsilk, with two little pages beside him, of complexions more fair than theenamel of Franguestan, who were occupied in keeping off flies) wassoundly asleep, and contemplating in his dreams the treasures of Soliman.The shrieks, however, of his wives awoke him with a start, and instead ofthe Giaour with his key of gold, he beheld Bababalouk full ofconsternation.
“Sire,” exclaimed this good servant of the most potent of monarchs,“misfortune has arrived at its height; wild beasts, who entertain no morereverence for your sacred person than for that of a dead ass, have besetyour camels and their drivers: thirty of the richest laden are alreadybecome their prey, as well as all your confectioners, your cooks, andpurveyors, and unless our holy prophet should protect us, we shall haveall eaten our last meal.”
At the mention of eating, the Caliph lost all patience. He began tobellow, and even beat himself, for there was no seeing in the dark. Therumour every instant increased, and Bababalouk finding no good could bedone with his master stopped both his ears against the hurly-burly of theharem, and called out aloud:
“Come, ladies and brothers! all hands to work! strike light in a moment!never shall it be said that the commander of the faithful served toregale these infidel brutes.”
Though there wanted not in this bevy of beauties a sufficient number ofcapricious and wayward, yet, on the present occasion they were allcompliance. Fires were visible in a twinkling in all their cages. Tenthousand torches were lighted at once. The Caliph himself seized a largeone of wax; every person followed his example; and by kindling ropes endsdipped in oil and fastened on poles, an amazing blaze was spread. Therocks were covered with the splendour of sunshine. The trails of sparkswafted by the wind, communicated to the dry fern, of which there wasplenty. Serpents were observed to crawl forth from their retreats withamazement and hissings, whilst the horses snorted, stamped the ground,tossed their noses in the air, and plunged about without mercy.
One of the forests of cedar that bordered their way took fire, and thebranches that overhung the path extending their flames to the muslins andchintzes which covered the cages of the ladies, obliged them to jump outat the peril of their necks. Vathek, who vented on the occasion athousand blasphemies, was himself compelled to touch with his sacred feetthe naked earth.
Never had such an incident happened before. Full of mortification, shameand despondence, and not knowing how to walk, the ladies fell into thedirt.
“Must I go on foot,” said one.
“Must I wet my feet,” cried another.
“Must I soil my dress,” asked a third.
“Execrable Bababalouk,” exclaimed all; “Outcast of hell! what hadst thouto do with torches? Better were it to be eaten by tigers than to fallinto our present condition; we are for ever undone. Not a porter isthere in the army, nor a currier of camels but hath seen some part of ourbodies, and what is worse, our very faces!”
On saying this, the most bashful amongst them hid their foreheads on theground, whilst such as had more boldness flew at Bababalouk, but he, wellapprised of their humour, and not wanting in shrewdness, betook himselfto his heels along with his comrades, all dropping their torches andstriking their tymbals.
It was not less light than in the brightest of the dog-days, and theweather was hot in proportion; but how degrading was the spectacle, tobehold the Caliph bespattered like an ordinary mortal! As the exerciseof his faculties seemed to be suspended, one of his Ethiopian wives (forhe delighted in variety) clasped him in her arms, threw him upon hershoulder like a sack of dates, and finding that the fire was hemming themin, set off with no small expedition, considering the weight of herburden. The other ladies who had just learned the use of their feetfollowed her; their guards galloped after; and the camel drivers broughtup the rear as fast as their charge would permit.
They soon reached the spot where the wild beasts had commenced thecarnage, and which they had too much spirit to leave, notwithstanding theapproaching tumult, and the luxurious supper they had made. Bababalouknevertheless seized on a few of the plumpest, which were unable to budgefrom the place, and began to flay them with admirable adroitness. Thecavalcade being got so far from the conflagration as that the heat feltrather grateful than violent, it was immediately resolved on to halt.The tattered chintzes were picked up; the scraps left by the wolves andtigers interred; and vengeance was taken on some dozens of vultures thatwere too much glutted to rise on the wing. The camels which had beenleft unmolested to make sal-ammoniac being numbered, and the ladies oncemore inclosed in their cages, the imperial tent was pitched on thelevellest ground they could find.
Vathek, reposing upon a matress of down, and tolerably recovered from thejolting of the Ethiopian, who, to his feelings seemed the roughesttrotting jade he had hitherto mounted, called out for something to eat;but alas! those delicate cakes which had been baked in silver ovens forhis royal mouth, those rich manchets, amber comfits, flaggons of Schirazwine, porcelain vases of snow, and grapes from the banks of the Tigris,were all irremediably lost; and nothing had Bababalouk to present intheir stead, but a roasted wolf, vultures à la daube, aromatic herbs ofthe most acrid poignancy, rotten truffles, boiled thistles, and suchother wild plants as must ulcerate the throat and parch up the tongue.Nor was he better provided in the article of drink, for he could procurenothing to accompany these irritating viands but a few phials ofabominable brandy, which had been secreted by the scullions in theirslippers.
Vathek made wry faces at so savage a repast, and Bababalouk answered themwith shrugs and contortions. The Caliph however a
te with tolerableappetite, and fell into a nap that lasted six hours. The splendour ofthe sun, reflected from the white cliffs of the mountains in spite of thecurtains that inclosed him, at length disturbed his repose. He awoketerrified, and stung to the quick by those wormwood-coloured flies whichemit from their wings a suffocating stench. The miserable monarch wasperplexed how to act, though his wits were not idle in seekingexpedients, whilst Bababalouk lay snoring amidst a swarm of thoseinsects, that busily thronged to pay court to his nose. The littlepages, famished with hunger, had dropped their fans on the ground, andexerted their dying voices in bitter reproaches on the Caliph, who nowfor the first time heard the language of truth.
Thus stimulated, he renewed his imprecations against the Giaour, andbestowed upon Mahomet some soothing expressions.
“Where am I?” cried he; “What are these dreadful rocks; these valleys ofdarkness? Are we arrived at the horrible Kaf? {67a} Is the Simurgh{67b} coming to pluck out my eyes as a punishment for undertaking