The Arabian Nights, Volume I of IV

by Unknown

I immediately went to a workman, and gave him a model to make the tree of a saddle from: that finished, I covered it myself with leather, richly embroidered in gold, and stuffed it with hair. I then applied to a locksmith, who made me a bit, according to the pattern I gave him, and some stirrups also.

When these things were completed, I presented them to the king, and tried them on one of his horses: the prince then mounted it, and was so pleased with the invention, that he testified his approbation by making me considerable presents. I was then obliged to make several saddles for his ministers and the principal officers of his household, who all rewarded me with very rich and handsome presents. I also made some for the most respectable inhabitants of the town, by which I gained great reputation and credit.

As I constantly attended at court, the king said to me one day, “Sindbad, I love you; and I know that all my subjects, who have any knowledge of you, follow my example, and entertain a high regard for you. I have one request to make, which you must not deny me.”—“Sire,” replied I, “there is nothing your majesty can command, which I will not undertake to prove my obedience to your orders. Your power over me is absolute.”—“I wish you to marry,” resumed the prince, “that you may have a more tender tie to attach you to my dominions, and prevent your returning to your native country.”—As I did not dare to refuse the king’s offer, he married me to a lady of his court, who was noble, beautiful, rich, and accomplished. After the ceremony of the nuptials I took up my abode in the house of my wife, and lived with her for some time in perfect harmony. Nevertheless, I was discontented with my situation, and designed to make my escape the first convenient opportunity, and return to Bagdad, which the splendid establishment I was then in possession of could not obliterate from my mind.

These were my sentiments, when the wife of one of my neighbours, with whom I was very intimate, fell sick and died. I went to console him, and finding him in the deepest affliction, ‘‘May God preserve you,” said I to him, “and grant you a long life.”—“Alas,” replied he, “how can I obtain what you wish me? I have only one hour to live.”—“Oh,” resumed I, “do not suffer such dismal ideas to take possession of your mind; I hope that will not be the case, and that I shall enjoy your friendship for many years.”—“I wish, with all my heart,” said he, “that your life may be of long duration: as for me, the die is cast, and this day I shall be buried with my wife: such is the custom which our ancestors have established in this island, and which is still inviolably observed; the husband is interred alive with his deceased wife, the wife with the husband, in the same way: nothing can save me, and every one submits to this law.”

Whilst he was relating to me this singular species of barbarity, which filled me with terror, his relations, friends, and neighbours arrived to be present at the funeral. They dressed the corpse of the woman in the richest attire, as on the day of her nuptials, and decorated her with all her jewels. They then placed her uncovered on a bier, and the procession set out. The husband, drest in mourning, went immediately after the body of his wife, and the rest followed. They bent their course towards a high mountain, and when they were arrived, a large stone, which covered a deep pit, was raised, and the body let down into it, without taking off any of the ornaments. After that, the husband took his leave of his relations and friends, and without making any resistance, suffered himself to be placed on a bier with a jug of water, and seven small loaves by his side; he was then let down as his wife had been. This mountain extended a great way, and served as a boundary to the ocean: and the pit was very deep. When the ceremony was completed the stone was replaced, and the company retired. I need scarcely add, gentlemen, that I was particularly affected with this ceremony. All the others, who were present, did not appear to feel it, from their being habituated to see the same kind of scene so frequently. I could not avoid telling the king my sentiments on this subject. “Sire,” said I, “I cannot express my astonishment at the strange custom which subsists in your dominions, of interring the living with the dead; I have visited many nations, but in the whole course of my travels I never heard of so cruel a law.”—“What can I do, Sindbad,” replied the king, “it is a law common to all ranks, and even I submit to its decree; I shall be interred alive with the queen, my consort, if she happens to die first.”—“Sire,” resumed I, “will your majesty allow me to ask, if foreigners are obliged to observe this custom?”—“Certainly,” said the king, smiling at the motive of my question; “they are not exempted when they marry in the island.”

I returned home thoughtful and sad at this reply. The fear that my wife might die first, and that I must be interred with her, was a reflection of the most distressing nature. Yet how could I remedy this evil? I must have patience, and submit to the will of God. Nevertheless I trembled at the slightest indisposition of my wife, and alas! I soon had good reason to fear; she was taken dangerously ill, and died in a few days. Judge of my sorrow. To be interred alive did not appear to me a more desirable end than that of being devoured by the anthropophagi; yet I was obliged to comply. The king, accompanied by his whole court, would honour the procession with his presence; and the principal inhabitants of the city also, out of respect to me, were present at my interment.

When all was in readiness for the ceremony, the corpse of my wife, decorated with her jewels, and most magnificent clothes, was placed on a bier, and the procession set out. Being the second personage in this woeful tragedy, I followed the body of my wife, my eyes bathed in tears, and deploring my miserable destiny. Before we arrived at the mountain, I wished to make trial of the compassion of the spectators. I first addressed myself to the king, then to those who were near me, and bowing to the ground to kiss the hem of their garment, I entreated them to have pity on me. “Consider,” said I, “that I am a stranger, who ought not to be subject to so rigorous a law; and that I have another wife and children in my own country.” I pronounced these words in an affecting tone, but no one seemed moved; on the contrary, they hastened to put the corpse in the pit, and soon after I was let down also on another bier, with a jug of water and seven loaves. At last, this fatal ceremony being completed, they re-placed the stone over the mouth of the pit, notwithstanding the excess of my grief, and my piteous lamentation.

As I approached the bottom, I discovered by the little light that shone from above, the shape of this subterraneous abode. It was a vast cavern, which might be about fifty cubits deep. I soon smelt an insupportable stench, which arose from the carcases, that were spread around. I even fancied I heard the last sighs of some, who had lately fallen victims to this inhuman law. I had no sooner reached the bottom than I left the bier, and stopping my nostrils, went to a distance from the dead bodies. I threw myself on the ground, where I remained a long time bathed in tears; then reflecting on my cruel fate, “It is true,” said I, “that God disposes of us as seems best to his all-seeing Providence; but, unhappy Sindbad, is it not your own fault that you are now brought to this singular death? Would to Heaven I had perished in some of the dreadful wrecks, from which I have been saved! I should not have had to languish in this miserable abode of lingering death. But have I not brought it on myself by my accursed avarice? Ah, wretch! I ought to have remained with my family, and enjoyed peaceably the fruits of my former labours.”

Such were the useless expressions of rage and despair with which I made the cavern re-echo. I beat my head and breast, and gave way to the most violent grief. Nevertheless, shall I confess to you, that instead of calling on death to release me from this habitation of despair, the love of life still glowed within me, and induced me to prolong my days. I felt my way to the bier on which I had been placed; notwithstanding the intense obscurity which prevailed, I found my bread and water, and eat of it. The cave now appeared to be more spacious, and to contain more bodies than I had at first supposed. I subsisted for some days on my provisions, but as soon as they were exhausted I prepared to die. I was resigned to my fate, when I heard the stone above raised. A corpse and living person were let down. The deceased was a man. It is natural to have recourse to violent methods, when reduced to the last extremity. While the woman was descending, I approached the spot where the bier was to be placed, and when I perceived the aperture above to be closed, I gave the unhappy female two or three great blows on the head with a large bone. She was stunned, or more properly speaking, I killed her, and as I only committed this inhuman action to obtain the bread and water, which had been allowed her, I had now provisions for some days. At the end of that time a dead woman and her living husband were let down. I killed the man in the same manner; and as at that time there happened, fortunately for me, to be a mortality in the city, I was not in want of food; employing always the same means to obtain it.

One day, when I had just put an end to an unfortunate woman, I heard a sound like breathing, and a footstep. I advanced to the part from whence the sound proceeded; I heard a louder breathing at my approach, and I fancied I saw something fleeing from me. I followed this species of shadow, which occasionally stopped, and then again retreated panting, as I drew near. I pursued it so long, and went so far, that at last I perceived a small speck of light, resembling a star. I continued to walk towards this light, sometimes losing it, according to the obstacles which arose, but always recovering it again, till I arrived at an opening in the rock, large enough to allow me to pass.