Persian Literature, Ancient and Modern

by Elizabeth A. Reed

Keiwan acknowledged that the victory had been secured by Meher, and he was escorted back to the palace by a portion of the royal guard, while the honors bestowed upon the prince were second only to those received by the king himself.

A GARDEN SCENE.

The enameled cupola of the palace, rich with its arabesques of gold, was partially hidden by the boughs of the tall trees that stood like sentries around it; at their feet were fountains that poured their silvery streams into marble tanks, where the gold-fish glided through the waves, and white lotus blossoms rose above them, filling all the air with their fragrant breath. There were aloes with their spikes of silvery blossoms, and pink oleander sprays were reflected back in the water of the lilied tanks. The bulbul sang in the thickets of roses, and the sunbirds fluttered through the taller trees, where their eggs of mottled gray were safely hidden.

As the triumphant warriors returned to the palace the low sun dappled the green with creeping shadows, and rays of golden light tinted the trees with splendor. The prince was exhausted with the strong excitement of the last few days, and especially wearied by the bitter conflict which he had just passed through: the voices even of victory seemed to jar upon his ears and he sought in the cool shades of the garden the rest which he could not hope to find within the palace walls. Here, upon a bank of verdure, he laid his weary form, and soon fell asleep amidst the flowers.

On the other side of the tall trees, the princess Nahīd was walking with her nurse, and they were talking in low tones of the great victory, the news of which had reached even the apartments of the women. The princess stood beneath an orange tree, and the tints of rose were blushing through the soft olive shades of her face, while the dark eyes were beaming with a wondrous light, for she had heard the name of her beloved in connection with the deeds of valor upon that well fought field. Her love-lighted eyes were curtained with long sweeping lashes, and the mouth of rose and pearl was curved with a smile divine, as they walked through the green aisles and spoke in joyous whispers of this new triumph, which could not fail to bring Meher nearer to the heart of the king. Nahīd was walking slowly in advance of her attendant when she came to a little opening in the trees, and there upon the bank lay the man she loved, still held in the restful arms of sleep. She checked the exclamation of surprise that sprang to her lips, and, cautiously advancing, she bent above the silent figure and looked long and lovingly upon the face she knew so well.[well.]

The sleeping prince felt her presence, and through his mind there passed a vision of loveliness; he dreamed that a beautiful woman bent above his couch holding a pomegranate blossom—the flower of faith. Upon her dark hair there rested a little cap sewn thick with beaded pearls, and something whispered in his dream that this was the princess who had scorned a Tartar king for his sake.

And still the prince dreamed on, and still the bright face bent above him, all unheeding the frantic gestures of the attendant who would call the imprudent Nahīd away. But the bulbul in the rose-tree had bolder grown, and his voice rose higher in a joyous song,—the sleeping prince awoke, and lo! the vision of his dream was bending o’er him; with one quick movement, all unheeding Eastern law, he caught her in his arms, and, as she lay blushing and trembling there, he told her the sweet old story, which is ever new to the listening heart.

In vain the attendant pleaded that he had no right to even look upon her unveiled face—in vain she warned them that if this meeting came to the ears of the king, the life of Meher must pay the penalty of the forbidden kiss; long he held her there in his warm embrace, and then a Huma bird floated slowly above them and the attendant thought that a future king and his queen were before her; for never doth this bird of happy omen fly around a human head but it will sometime wear a crown. The sun had rolled away behind the crimson curtains of the west before the princess stole to her room, but not to sleep, for if a treacherous eye had seen her with Meher, she might be called with the dawn to witness his execution.

AFTERWARDS.

The prince went to his chambers with his heart filled with conflicting emotions; on the one hand was the beautiful princess, who had confided her love to him, and on the other was the humiliating knowledge that he had betrayed the trust of his royal friend, the king, who had taken an unknown youth into his heart and home. Full well he knew that he had no right to even look into the unveiled face of the princess, no right to touch the soft hands which were henna stained upon the palms, and yet he had violated the most sacred law of hospitality by holding her in his arms—nay, he had even pressed her crimson lips with his own; in that hour of strong self-condemnation he did not dread the righteous anger of the king, he felt rather, that it devolved upon him to go into the court, and make a full confession of his base act and bravely receive the deserved punishment.