thus disturbed, he stumbled, and fell upon his face, and his forehead struck against the root of a tree with such violence that his blood flowed, and mingled with his tears. He, however, wiped away the blood, and dried up his tears, and, having bound his forehead with a piece of rag, arose, and continued his walk about the garden. And he turned up his eyes towards a tree upon which were two birds contending together; and one of them overcame the other; it pecked at its neck, and severed its head from its body, and, taking the head, flew away with it. The body of the bird thus killed then fell upon the ground before Kamar-ezZeman, and as it lay there, lo, two great birds pounced down upon it, and, one of them placing itself at its upper extremity and the other at its tail, they depressed their wings over it, and stretched forth their necks towards it, and moaned. So Kamar-ez-Zeman wept for his separation from his wife when he beheld the two birds moaning over their companion. After this, he saw the two birds make a hollow, and bury in it the slaughtered bird; and having done so, they soared aloft into the sky; but after they had been absent a while, they returned bringing with them the bird that had committed the murder. They alighted with it upon the grave of the slaughtered bird, and there crouched upon it and killed it: they rent open its body, tore out its bowels, and poured its blood upon the grave of the slaughtered bird: then they strewed about its flesh, and tore its skin, and, pulling out all that was within it, they scattered it in different places. All this took place while Kamar-ez-Zeman looked on in wonder; and as he happened to cast a glance towards the place where the two great birds had killed the other, he observed something shining. So he approached it, and saw it to be the bird's crop: and he took it and opened it, and found in it the stone that had been the cause of his separation from his wife. As soon as he beheld it he knew it, and fell upon the ground in a fit, through his joy; and when he recovered he said within himself, This is a good sign, and an omen of my reunion with my beloved! He then examined it, drew it over his eye, and tied it upon his arm, anticipating *To obtain a blessing. * from it a happy result; after which he rose and walked about, waiting for the gardener. He continued searching for him until night; but he came not. So Kamar-ez-Zeman slept in his usual place until the morning, when he arose to his work. Having girded himself with a rope of the fibres of the palm-tree, he took the hoe and the basket, and went into the midst of the garden till he came to a locust-tree, and he struck at its root with the hoe, whereupon the blow loudly resounded. So he removed the earth from its place; and having done this, he discovered a trap-door, on opening which he found an aperture; and he descended into it, and beheld an old saloon, of the age of Thamud and ‘Ad,* spacious, and [containing a number of jars] filled with red gold; upon which he said within himself, Fatigue is past, and joy and happiness have come! He then ascended from this place into the garden, and, having replaced the trapdoor, resumed his occupation of conducting the water to the trees in the garden. Thus he continued to busy himself until the close of the day, when the gardener came to him, and said, O my son, receive glad tidings of thy speedy return to thy native land; for the merchants have prepared for the voyage, and the ship after three days is to set sail for the City of Ebony, which is the first of the cities of the Muslims; and when thou hast arrived there, thou wilt travel by land six months to the Islands of Khalidan and the King Shah-Zeman. So Kamar-ez-Zeman rejoiced at this, and, kissing the hand of the gardener, said to him, O my father, like as thou hast given me good tidings, I too give good tidings unto thee. And he acquainted him with the affair of the saloon; whereat the gardener also rejoiced, and replied, I have been eighty years in this garden without finding anything, and thou hast been with me less than a year and hast discovered this: it is therefore thy prize, and a means of terminating thy grief; and will assist thee to accomplish thy return to thy family and thy reunion with thy beloved. But Kamar-ezZeman said, It must positively be divided between me and thee. He then took the gardener and conducted him into * Ancient Arab tribes. that saloon, and shewed him the gold, which was in twenty jars so he took ten and the gardener took ten. : And the gardener said to him, O my son, fill for thyself large jars 19 with the 'asafiri olives 20 which are in this garden; for they exist not in any country but ours, and the merchants export them to all other parts; and place thou the gold in the jars, and the olives over the gold: then close them and take them to the ship. So Kamar-ez-Zeman arose immediately, and filled fifty large jars, putting the gold in them, and closing each after he had put the olives over the gold; and the precious stone he put into one of the jars after which he sat conversing with the gardener, and felt confident of his speedy reunion with his family, saying within himself, When I have arrived at the Ebony Island, I will journey thence to the country of my father, and inquire for my beloved Budur: but I wonder whether she have returned to her own country, or journeyed on to the country of my father, or whether any accident have happened to her on the way. : He then sat waiting for the expiration of the days, and related to the gardener the story of the birds, and of what passed between them, whereat the gardener wondered. After this, both of them slept until the morning, and the gardener awoke ill, and remained so two days: and on the third day his illness so increased that they despaired of his life. Kamar-ez-Zeman, therefore, grieved for the gardener ; and while he was in this state, lo, the master of the ship, with the sailors, came and inquired for the gardener: so he acquainted them with his illness. They then said, Where is the young man who desireth to go with us to the Island of Ebony? And Kamar-ez-Zeman answered, He is the memluk who is before you. And he desired them to transport the jars to the ship. They therefore removed them to the ship, and said to Kamar-ez-Zeman, Hasten; for the wind hath become fair. And he replied, I hear and obey. He then conveyed his provisions to the ship, and returned to the gardener to bid him farewell; but he found him in the agonies of death: so he seated himself at his head till he died; and he closed his eyes, and prepared his body for burial, and interred it. Having done this, he repaired to the ship. He found, however, that it had spread its sails and departed; and it continued cleaving the sea until it disappeared from before his eyes. He was confounded and perplexed, and he returned to the garden anxious and sorrowful, and threw dust upon his head. He hired the garden from its proprietor, and employed a man to assist him in watering the trees; and, going to the trap-door, he descended into the saloon, and stowed the remaining gold in fifty other large jars, putting olives over it. He then made inquiries respecting the ship, and the people answered him, That it sailed not more than once in every year. His trouble of mind increased, and he mourned for that which had befallen him, especially for the loss of the precious stone of the lady Budur. He passed night and day in weeping, and reciting verses. In the mean time, the wind was favourable to the ship, and it arrived at the Island of Ebony. And it happened in accordance with destiny, that the Queen Budur was sitting at a window, and beheld the vessel when it cast anchor by the shore. Her heart throbbed at the sight, and she mounted with the emirs and chamberlains, and, repairing to the shore, stopped near the ship as the crew were transporting the merchandise to the magazines. She forthwith summoned the master of the vessel, and asked him what he had brought; and he answered her, O King, I have, in this vessel, aromatics and medicinal powders, and collyriums and plasters and ointments, and wealth and magnificent stuffs and costly merchandise, such as camels and mules cannot carry; among which are various kinds of essences and spices and aloes-wood, and tamarind and 'asafiri olives, such as are scarcely to be found in this country. On hearing this, she felt a desire for the olives, and said to the owner of the ship, What is the quantity of the olives that thou hast brought? He answered, I have fifty large jars full; but their owner came not with us; and the King shall take of them what he desireth. So she said, Land them, that I may look at them. And the master called out to his crew, whereupon they brought out the fifty jars; and she opened one, and, having looked at the olives, said, I will take these fifty jars and give you their price, whatever it be. The master of the ship replied, These have no value in our country: but their owner remained behind us, and he is a poor man. But she said, What is their price? And he answered, A thousand pieces of silver.-I will take them, replied she, for a thousand pieces of silver. She then commanded that they should be conveyed to the palace; and when night came, she gave orders to bring to her one of the jars; and she opened it. There was no one in the chamber but herself and Hayat-en-Nufus; and she placed a dish before her, and on her pouring into it some of the contents of the jar, there fell into the dish a heap of red gold; whereupon she said to the lady Hayaten-Nufus, This is nothing but gold! She therefore examined the whole, and found that all the jars contained gold, and that the olives altogether would not fill one of the jars; and searching among the gold, she discovered the precious stone with it. So she took it and examined it, and found that it was the stone which was attached to the band of her trousers, and which Kamar-ez-Zeman had taken. As soon as she recognised it, she cried out in her joy, and fell down in a swoon: and when she recovered, she said within herself, This precious stone was the cause of the separation of my beloved Kamar-ez-Zeman; but it is an omen of good fortune! She then told the lady Hayat-enNufus that its recovery was a prognostic of her reunion. And when the morning came, she seated herself upon the throne, and summoned the master of the ship, who, when he came, kissed the ground before her; and she said to him, Where did ye leave the owner of these olives? He answered, O King of the age, we left him in the country of the Magians; and he is a gardener. And she said, If thou bring him not, thou knowest not the misfortune that will happen unto thee and to thy ship. She immediately gave orders to affix seals upon the magazines of the merchants, and said to them, The owner of these olives is an offender against me, and is my debtor; and if he come not, I will assuredly slay you all, and seize your merchandise. So they applied to the master of the ship, promising to pay him the hire of the vessel if he would return, and said to him, Deliver us from this tyrant. |