The pretended sultan having now all the parties in her power, one morning ascended her throne in full audience, and commanded them to be brought before her. When they had made their obeisance, she commanded them to relate the cause of their having journeyed to her capital; but the royal presence rendered them incapable of uttering a word: upon which she exclaimed, "Since you cannot speak, I will;" and then discovered to their astonished minds the adventures of each, which had occasioned their travelling. She then discovered herself, and fell upon the necks of her father and lover, with whom she retired into the private apartments. The sultan and his vizier were made happy in the company of the daughter of the latter and the other ladies. The master of the ship, as his troubles had atoned for his irregular behaviour, was received into favour, and had his vessel restored; but the savage chief of the banditti was put to death, by being cast into a burning pile, that no further injury might be offered to mankind. In a few days, the most magnificent preparations being made, the double nuptials of the heroic lady and her friend the vizier's daughter were celebrated with her constant lover, to whom she resigned her throne, and the happy wives lived together in felicity, undisturbed by jealousy of the husband's attention to either, so equally did they share his love. The sultan and vizier, after being long entertained at the court, took leave, and returned, under an escort, to their own country; but the daughter and the thirty-nine ladies could not be prevailed upon to accompany them, only to visit and bid farewell to their parents, for such was their attachment to their gallant mistress, that they came back immediately, and were espoused to the principle nobles of her court. Years of unusual happiness passed over the heads of the fortunate adventurers of this history, until death, the destroyer of all things, conducted them to a grave which must one day be the resting-place for ages of us all, till the receiving angel shall sound his trumpet.
STORY OF HYJAUJE, THE TYRANNICAL GOVERNOR OF COUFEH, AND THE YOUNG SYED.
As Hyjauje (the Ommiad caliph) was was one day seated in his hall of audience, surrounded by his nobles and dependents, tremblingly awaiting his commands, for his countenance resembled that of an enraged lion, there suddenly entered, unceremoniously, into the assembly a beardless youth of noble but sickly aspect, arrayed in tattered garments, for misfortune had changed his original situation, and poverty had withered the freshness of his opening youth. He made the customary obeisance to the governor, who returned his salute, and said, "Who art thou, boy? what hast thou to say, and wherefore hast thou intruded thyself into the company of princes, as if thou wert invited? who art thou, and of whom art thou the son?" "Of my father and mother," replied the youth. "But how earnest thou here?" "In my clothes." "From whence?" "From behind me." "Where art thou going?" "Before me." "Upon what dost thou travel?" "Upon the earth" Hyjauje, vexed at the pertness of the youth, exclaimed, "Quit this trifling, and inform me whence thou comest." "From Egypt." "Art thou from Cairo?" "Why askest thou?" said the boy? "Because," replied Hyjauje, "her sands are of gold, and her river Nile miraculously fruitful; but her women are wanton, free to every conqueror, and her men unstable." "I am not from thence, but from Damascus," cried the youth. "Then," said Hyjauje, "thou art from a most rebellious place, filled with wretched inhabitants, a wavering race, neither Jews nor Christians." "But I am not from thence," replied the youth, "but from Khorassan." "That is a most impure country," said Hyjauje, "whose religion is worthless, for the inhabitants are of all barbarians the most savage. Plunderers of flocks, they know not mercy, their poor are greedy, and their rich men misers." "I am not of them," cried the youth, "but of Moussul." "Then," exclaimed Hyjauje, "thou art of an unnatural and adulterous race, whose youths are catamites, and whose old men are obstinate as asses." "But I am from Yemen," said the boy. "If so," answered the tyrant, "thou belongest to a comfortless region, where the most honourable profession is robbery, where the middling ranks tan hides, and where a wretched poor spin wool and weave coarse mantles." "But I am from Mecca," said the boy. "Then," replied Hyjauje, "thou comest from a mine of perverseness, stupidity, ignorance, and slothfulness; for from among its people God raised up his prophet, whom they disbelieved, rejected, and forced away to a strange nation, who loved, venerated, and assisted him in spite of the men of Mecca. But whence comest thou, youth? for thy pertness is become troublesome, and my inclination leads me to punish thee for thy impertinence." "Had I been assured that thou durst kill me," cried the youth, "I should not have appeared before thee; but thou canst not." "Woe to thee, rash boy," exclaimed Hyjauje; "who is he that can prevent my executing thee instantly?" "To thee be thy woe," replied the youth: "he can prevent thee who directs man and his inmost thoughts, and who never falsifieth his gracious promises." "He it is," cried the tyrant, "who instigates me to put thee to death." "Withhold thy blaspheming," replied the youth; "it is not God, but Satan that prompts thy mind to my murder, and with God I hope for refuge from the accursed: but know, that I am from the glorious Medina, the seat of religion, virtue, respectability, and honour, descended of the race of Bin Ghalib, and family of Ali, son of Abou Talib, whom God has glorified and approved, and will protect all his posterity, which you would extirpate; but you cannot root it out, for it will flourish even to the last day of the existence of this world."
The tyrant was now overcome with rage, and commanded the youthful Syed to be slain; but his nobles and officers interceded for him, saying, while they bowed their necks before him, "Pardon, pardon; behold our heads and our lives a ransom for his! For God's sake accept our intercession, O ameer, for this youth is not deserving of death." "Forbear your entreaties," exclaimed the tyrant, "for were an angel to cry from Heaven, 'Do not slay him!' I would not attend." Upon this the young Syed said, "Thou ravest, O Hyjauje; who art thou that an angel should be commissioned for thy sake?" The tyrant, struck with his magnanimity, became calm, and commanding the executioner to release the youth, said, "For the present I forbear, and will not kill thee unless thy answers to my further questions shall deserve it." They then entered on the following dialogue; Hyjauje hoping to entrap him in discourse.
Hyjauje. How can the creature approach the perfection of the
Almighty?
Syed. By prayer, by fasting, by the commanded alms, by pilgrimage, and fighting for the cause of God.
H. I serve him by shedding the blood of infidel man. You pretend that Hassan and Houssain, your ancestors, were descendants of the prophet; but how can that be, when God has declared in the Koran Mahummud was not of your obstinate race; but the prophet of God, and last of divine messengers?
S. Hear the answer to that in the verse following it. "Hath not a prophet come unto you of your own nation? Receive him, and from what he hath forbidden be forbidden." Surely, then, God hath forbidden the shedding of the blood of him whom he sanctified.
H. Thou hast spoken justly, young man; but inform me what God hath daily and nightly commanded us as obligatory to do?
S. To pray five times.