The people gathered round the mouth of the cavern, and on seeing the dragon they were terrified, and said to one another, “Truly such a formidable animal as this we never yet beheld.” Meanwhile the dragon rushed from his hole in the rock, and seizing the chief of the village pierced him with his envenomed sting till he rolled in the dust and bade adieu to life, amidst the shrieks and tears of his friends and attendants. The dragon then winged his way slowly towards the desert, and Hatim followed close after him, in order to see what might happen next. For the whole of that day he continued his pursuit, and when evening was nigh the dragon halted near a large city while Hatim watched him from a short distance. But the dragon had no sooner touched the ground than he was transformed into a black snake, while Hatim stood wrapt in astonishment, anxious to know what would be the result of this change. The black serpent coiled himself into a hole till the end of the first watch of the night, when he issued out and made direct for the city, whither Hatim continued to follow. At length the serpent arrived at the walls of the king’s palace, which he entered by a certain staircase, and ere Hatim could follow, returned by the same passage, and made for another house. In a very short time the serpent came out of the latter house also, and quitting the city retired to his hole. Hatim wondered in his mind who could have been the victims of the scourge for that night. With the morning certainty came, for the cries and lamentations of the people soon informed him that the prince and vizier’s son were in the course of the night stung to death by a serpent, and now lay stretched on the bier, and were being conveyed to their graves.
In the course of the morning the black snake quit his hole, and made off in another direction, Hatim following; nor for the whole day did he cease his pursuit, till towards night the serpent came to the bank of a river, where he assumed the form of a lion. It happened that close by there was a village, the inhabitants of which, to the number of ten or twelve, were proceeding, one after the other, to the river to draw water, among them a most comely youth of the age of sixteen. This youth, the flower of the village, the lion seized as his victim, and having torn him to pieces, he again made for the desert, where, to Hatim’s utter amazement, he was transformed into a beautiful damsel of fourteen years of age. When Hatim beheld the damsel, he said in his heart, “May heaven protect me! I wonder what is to happen next.”
The damsel in an instant arrayed herself in splendid apparel and costly jewels, and, resembling the full moon in beauty, sat down underneath a tree by the wayside. It happened that shortly after, two brother soldiers, natives of China, who having completed their stipulated period of service were returning loaded with wealth to their own country, passed that way, and on seeing them the damsel began a most piteous lamentation. When this voice of sorrow reached their ears, the elder of the two brothers approached the tree, and to his astonishment there beheld the most beautiful of women deeply affected with grief. The soldier thus addressed the damsel: “Fairest of women, what calamity has befallen thee that thou art thus forsaken to weep and lament in the solitary desert?”—“I am,” replied the damsel, “the wife of a villager: a few days ago I had gone on a visit to my mother’s house, and in returning home along with my husband we lost our way in this wilderness, where I have since wandered. I have not been able to find the way back to my mother’s house, nor do I know in what direction to proceed in quest of my husband or of my own home. Whither my husband is gone heaven only knows; and now what is to become of me, and how am I to live?” The brave soldier, on hearing this sad detail, said to the young woman, “If I were to offer myself as your husband, would you accept me?”—“If you will agree to my three conditions,” answered the damsel, “I will give you my hand. The first condition is, that you shall have no other wife than myself[1]; the second, that I will be exempt from all household services; and the third is, that you are not to reprimand me for anything I may choose to do.” To this the soldier agreed, saying, “I am as yet unmarried, and I promise to comply with all your conditions. While I live I shall have no other wife but you; and in my house there are slaves male and female in abundance, so that you will have no trouble with the household affairs, except to give orders for whatever you wish. Your last condition I believe is superfluous; is it possible that any man can speak harshly to her whom he loves?” The damsel, on hearing this, replied, “Enough, I will accept you as my husband,” and accordingly they joined hands; after which the soldier mounted his steed, and taking up his new wife behind him, departed. Hatim followed, in order to see the end of these strange occurrences; and when they had gone some distance, the woman said to her husband, “I am quite exhausted with hunger and thirst, having tasted no food for the last three days; if you have nothing eatable with you, at least let me have a drink of water.” The soldier dismounted, and having caused his wife to alight, he seated her under the shade of a tree, and he took a pitcher, and went in search of water.
* * * *
When the woman arrived at the village, she assumed the form of a buffalo; and the people attempting to seize her, she slew several of them with her hoofs and horns, and again fled towards the desert.
Filled with wonder, Hatim closely followed this mysterious being, and when arrived in the midst of the desert, lo! the buffalo was transformed into a venerable old man with a white beard. On seeing this last change, Hatim resolved to accost the old man, and ask him the hidden cause of his evil deeds, and why he delighted in working such havoc among God’s creatures. He accordingly made up to him at a rapid pace, and stood by his side. The aged man turned and said, “Speak, Hatim, whatever you wish to say.”—“Venerable sir,” replied Hatim, “how came you to know my name?”—“If that be all,” replied the old man, “I know the name of every individual in your tribe; but at present, if you have any question to ask me make haste, for I have much business in hand, and my time is precious.”
Hatim, without more delay, said to him, “Mysterious being! I first beheld you in the shape of a dragon, when you filled with sorrow a whole village; you afterwards assumed the form of a black snake, when you laid in the dust the son of the king and that of his minister; again, you transformed yourself into a lion, and tore to pieces a youth the most elegant of form; you then became a beautiful damsel of the age of fourteen, and by your perfidy caused the death of two brothers; your next step was to adopt the shape of a buffalo, and you slew the people of the village; you now appear an aged man: tell me, for heaven’s sake, what are you, and whither are you going?” The old man, with a haughty smile, replied, “What does all this concern you? Follow your own business: you also I shall yet visit in some shape or other, and your death will be the consequence.”
Hatim persisted, saying, “I will never quit my hold of your skirt till you clear up to me this mystery.”—“Know, then,” said the old man, “that I am the angel of death; the first day you saw me in the shape of a dragon, it was the decree of the Almighty that those men and beasts that were my victims should meet their death by that means. Providence had foreordained that the young prince and the son of the minister should die by the sting of a serpent, and I accordingly assumed the form of a serpent. I became a lion, and slew the beautiful youth; such was his fate. As to the two brothers, they were destined to leave their homes and serve abroad, and after a certain period, when they had earned and amassed some money, it was ordained that they should proceed on their return to their own country, and in the course of their journey that they should kill one another on account of a woman; I therefore assumed the form of a woman to fulfil the divine decree. In the village where you last saw me, it was the lot of the people whom I slew to fall by a buffalo; I therefore became a buffalo on that occasion. Be you assured, oh, Hatim! that it is not in the power of one man to slay another; but in whatever way a man’s fate is decreed, by that means only he loses his life.” Hatim, on hearing this, asked the angel of death, “Tell me truly what fate is ordained for me?” The aged man replied, “Suffice it to say that more than half your life-time is yet to pass.”—“But,” rejoined Hatim, “may I not learn from you the whole truth?”—“Know, then,” replied the king of terrors, “that when you have attained the age of two hundred years, you shall fall by the hand of Omnipotence. A stream of blood shall flow from your nostrils, by which you will experience some slight pain, and afterwards for a short time recover. In that period your hand shall be stretched out as usual in deeds of charity to your fellow-creatures; and shortly after, the flux of blood shall again issue from your nostrils, and thus you shall die. Meanwhile a long life is before you; go on, then, and shrink not from your noble task of relieving the sorrows and promoting the happiness of mankind.”
When Hatim heard all this, he bent his head to the dust in prayer to God, and when he arose, he looked around him, but the old man had vanished from his sight. He then betook himself to the prosecution of his journey towards the Red Desert, and in the course of a few months he found himself far beyond the habitations of men, in the midst of a wilderness where no water was to be found. Hungry and thirsty as he was, he still continued his route, his whole subsistence consisting of the wild fruits and weeds of the desert. In this way he journeyed for some time, when lo! one day, to his utter astonishment, he came to a place where the heavens and the earth wore a dark hue, and every object he saw was black. This place was the abode of the black serpents, which, when they scented Hatim, rushed upon him from all quarters in order to devour him. He threw upon the ground the talismanic staff of Mahyur the genius, and sat down upon it, safe by its magic power. The serpents continued to rear their crests and with a hissing noise to move round him in endless contortions the whole night. When daylight appeared, he took his staff in his hand, and continued his march secure from the venom of the snakes, and thus he journeyed on till he reached the boundaries of the land of darkness. Contiguous to this lay the white regions, which Hatim began to explore. Here every object was possessed of the most brilliant whiteness, so that the whole place seemed made of alabaster. At the same time white serpents of prodigious size endeavored from a distance to inhale him with their poisonous breath; but on account of his charmed staff their efforts were of no avail, nor had they the power of approaching him. In the course of a few days, Hatim succeeded in making his way through these dangerous realms, and next arrived in a region where every object he beheld was green as emerald. There, too, abounded serpents of a green color, and when they saw Hatim they quickly surrounded him, and were it not for the virtue of his talisman, his days would have been short. Hatim, however, unhurt, surmounted a thousand perils and difficulties as he travelled through the evergreen regions; and at length he arrived in an extensive tract of land, which to him seemed to be wrapt in flames, and this he knew to be the Red Desert.
There every object was red as vermilion, and ere Hatim had advanced many steps the heat became so intolerable that he almost lost the power of walking. He thought within his heart that it would be impossible to proceed any further; but, again, he said to himself: “Oh, Hatim! in doing a good action, whatever happens, let it come, even were the difficulties a thousand times more severe than the present.” By the time he had advanced a farasang his feet were full of blisters, and his thirst was so excessive that he was compelled to rest at every step.