“‘The devotee replied, “There is at the gate of the bazaar a loveling of the age; lo, that is whom I love.” The king was pleased with this jest of the devotee and gave him many gifts.’ And that dervish told stories such as this to the king, and he amused the king with many jests. That night they ate and drank, and when their converse was finished, drowsiness came upon the king, and he would have lain down, but the devotee was at ease and would not rise and go. The slaves thought to say to the devotee, ‘Arise and go,’ but they feared the king and were silent. The king too wished that the devotee might perceive by his discretion that he should arise; but where was that discretion? The king looked, but it was not.
“Then he called to his servants, ‘Strike the fagot that the glow (ishiq) may go out.’ The servants understood not and remained still. Thereupon the devotee said, ‘Why wait ye? Strike the log that the light (aydin) may spring up.’ Now the king’s name was Aydin (light) and the devotee’s name was Ishiq (glow).[40] The king said, ‘I sent thee off with a fagot, that is struck thee with a fagot, but thou didst strike me with a log.’ The devotee said, ‘My king, thou didst not strike me with a fagot, neither did I strike my king with a log; so do thou rest on the one side of the hearth and I shall rest on the other.’ And the king was pleased with these words of the devotee; and they lay down and rested.
“Now, O king, I have told this story for that thou mayst know that a certain freedom is usual with the accomplished. Now there are no learned men equal to these forty vezirs of my king, each one of whom utters these many good sayings and fair words; and indeed the good or bad of these has many a time been tried. And what is incumbent upon my king is this, that he listen not to the words of these inattentively nor cast them to the winds.” The king said, “This demand leaves me in bewilderment. Our Lord the Apostle of God hath said concerning women, that they are enemies to you, but that one of them is needful to each of you. And God most high hath said in his glorious Word, ‘Your wealth and your children are but a trial.’[41] Now I ask these affairs of this youth and he answers not at all; and so long as he will not speak, will my difficulty remain unsolved. Thus it seems to me that this youth has done this wantonness, and therefore cannot speak.”
When the vezir saw this much consideration on the part of the king he said, “My king, in everything the mysterious workings of God most high are many; let not my king regard the not speaking of the youth. One day will he speak indeed; yea, there is also in that noble verse concerning children, ‘And God: with him is great reward.’” And he kissed the ground and made intercession for the prince. And the king sent the youth to the prison and went himself to the chase. That day, when they were hunting, a deer rose, and the hounds pursued it, and all the attendants pushed their horses after that deer, and the king too pushed on. Each one went in a different direction, and the king was left alone. When it was evening there was with him no attendant nor anyone; the king looked and there was none, and he said, “There is in this some divine working.” And straightway he disguised himself and pushed on and came to a village and was guest in a shepherd’s house.
On the morrow he rose betimes, and while he was watching the sheep and lambs, he looked and saw a lamb that had lost its mother. Seeking about, it went up to a sheep, and that sheep butted at the lamb, and the lamb fell. It rose again and went to another sheep; and that sheep likewise butted at the lamb. The king asked this from the shepherd, “Why do these sheep butt at that lamb?” The shepherd said, “To-day this lamb’s mother died; these, being not its mother, receive it not.” Then the king sighed in his soul and said in his heart, “May God most high leave not a servant of his an orphan.”
Let us to our story: The attendants returned to the city, and each one turned his horse’s head straight to the palace. They arrived at the castle, and one of them called out and learned the circumstance (of the king’s absence) from the watchmen; so they went to look for news of the king. On the other hand the watchmen informed the grand vezir of the matter; and straightway the grand vezir commanded that all of those watchmen were secured in prison,[42] and he himself walked about the city till morning. He sent a vezir to the king’s attendants, saying, “Go tell the attendants that they publish not this affair, and do thou go with the whole of them to seek the king.” On her part, the lady looked and the time passed and the king came not, and she caused the grand vezir to be questioned; the vezir sent word to her, “This night there is a great council; our king will not go in.”
The vezir questioned the king’s attendants; and while they were going to the place where they had left the king, the king himself set out from the village where he was and came to the place where the attendants had dispersed. The attendants saw the king, and brought word to the vezir; so the vezir pushed on his horse and came up to the king. The king said in his heart, “These will have enthroned the prince and sent this vezir to me; now is he coming to give me the sherbet; O how the lady’s words were true!” The vezir saw from the king’s countenance that he was thinking thus, and he came up quickly to him, and kissed the ground before the king, and said, “My king, what plight is this plight? Is it beseeming to remain without at such a time? Above all, as the prince has been these many days imprisoned, everyone says that the king’s senses have well nigh left him.”
Thereupon the king said, “Have ye taken the prince from prison?” The vezir replied, “Nay, my king; the grand vezir secured in prison the watchmen who had learned of my king’s remaining out in the evening from the attendants who came to the gate; and he sent me and the attendants to seek my king.” The king’s mind was somewhat comforted, but his heart would not believe. Then the vezir perceived that the king’s heart was not at ease and he said to the king, “My king, thy grand vezir sent me hither in the evening; to learn the events of to-day are my eyes now on the road.” And he kissed the ground and was silent. The king said, “If we went on now it were too quick; but let an attendant go and inform the vezir of the affair.” They sent on an attendant; and that day, when it was evening, the king came to the palace and found everything in its proper place, and his heart was again at rest concerning his vezir.
After the repast he entered the harem. The lady had rubbed a dye upon her eyes and made them red, and she rose to greet the king as if weeping; and the king passed on and sat in his place. When coffee and sherbets had been drunk she asked of the haps of the night, and the king related the events to her. She said, “O king, the thing thou hast done might be in two ways; the one, of purpose, to distinguish between friend and foe; the other, by chance. In this instance thou hast passed the evening outside by chance, and thy heart is at ease for that thy vezirs have done no unseemly deed. But, my king, beware, trust not these vezirs; for they would make the youth king. Praise be to God! thou art well, but they still watch their opportunity; and this youth has no dread of thee, thou hast brought him up full insolent; that is not good. And they have said that if a person treat thee as a brother, do thou treat him as a master and deem him great. Kings are like fire; if thou be a lion, thou must be on thy guard against the fire, even as lions are on their guard against fire.
“There is a fable suitable to this: The lynxes go along with the lion, but they go not close to him. One day they asked one of them, ‘Thou goest along with the lion; why goest thou not near to him?’ He replied, ‘Firstly, the lion hunts beasts and I eat his leavings; secondly, when an enemy comes against me I go to him and take refuge; as these two things are good for me I go along with him. And the reason of my going not near is this, that his glory is that of a render, one day it might be that he should rend me like the leopard; therefore go I not near him.’ Wise is he who acts before kings like the lynx; for nearness to the sultan is a burning fire. Even as the lynx is content with and eats the lion’s leavings, must the wise man be content with the king’s leavings; else, if he stretch forth his hand to the morsel that is in the king’s mouth—the plight of him who stretches forth his hand is notorious. If an enemy appear, it is needful to take refuge with the king; so one must ever be between dread and entreaty, and must measure his words. A word is like an arrow that has left the bow, when once it leaves the mouth it returns not again. Mayhap my king has not heard the story of Sultan Mahmūd[43] and Hasan of Maymand.”[44] The king said, “Tell on, let us hear.” Quoth the lady: