The Shaving of Shagpat · And This Is the Story of Bhanavar the Beautiful (7/9)

One morning, and it was a year from the day she had become Queen of Mashalleed, Bhanavar sprang up quickly from the side of the King; and he was gazing on her in amazement and loathing. She flew to her chamber, chasing forth her women, and ran to a mirror. Therein she saw three lines that were on her brow, lines of age, and at the corners of her mouth and about her throat a slackness of skin, the skin no longer its soft rosy white, but withered brown as leaves of the forest. She shrieked, and fell back in a swoon of horror. When she recovered, she ran to the mirror again, and it was the same sight. And she rose from swooning a third time, and still she beheld the visage of a hag; nothing of beauty there save the hair and the brilliant eyes. Then summoned she the serpents in a circle, and the number of them was that of the days in the year: and she bared her wrist and seized one, a gray-silver with sapphire spots, and hissed at him till he hissed, and foam whitened the lips of each. Thereupon she cried:

“Treble-tongue and throat of hell,

What is come upon me, tell!”

And the Serpent replied,

“Jewel Queen! beauty’s price!

’Tis the time for sacrifice!”

She grasped another, one of leaden colour, with yellow bars and silver crescents, and cried:

“Treble-tongue and throat of fire,

Name the creature ye require!”

And the Serpent replied:

“Ruby lip! poison tooth!

We are hungry for a youth.”

She grasped another that writhed in her fingers like liquid emerald, and cried:

“Treble-tongue and throat of glue!

How to know the one that’s due?”

And the Serpent replied:

“Breast of snow! baleful bliss!

He that wooing wins a kiss.”

She clutched one at her elbow, a hairy serpent with yellow languid eyes in flame-sockets and livid-lustrous length⁠—a disease to look on, and cried:

“Treble-tongue and throat of gall!

There’s a youth beneath the pall.”

And the Serpent replied:

“Brilliant eye! bloody tear!

He has fed us for a year.”

She squeezed that hairy serpent till her finger-points whitened in his neck, and he dropped lifelessly, crying:

“Treble-tongues and things of mud!

Sprang my beauty from his blood?”

And the Serpents rose erect, replying:

“Yearly one of us must die;

Yearly for us dieth one;

Else the Queen an ugly lie

Lives till all our lives be done!”

Bhanavar stood up, and hurried them to Karatis. When she was alone she fell toward the floor, repeating, “ ’Tis the Curse!” Suddenly she thought, “Yet another year my beauty shall be nourished by my vengeance, yet another! And, O Vizier, the kiss shall be thine, the kiss of doom; for I have doomed thee ere now. Thou, thou shalt restore me to my beauty: that only love I now my Prince is lost.”

So she veiled her face in the close veil of the virtuous, and despatched Ukleet, whom she exalted in the palace of the King, to the Vizier; and Ukleet stood before Aswarak, and said, “O Vizier, my mistress truly is longing for you with excessive longing, and in what she now undergoeth is forgotten an evil done by you to her; and she bids you come and concert with her a scheme deliberately as to the getting rid of this tyrant who is an affliction to her, and her life is lessened by him.”

The Vizier was deceived by his passion, and he chuckled and exclaimed, “My very dream! and to mind me of her, then, she sent the serpents! Wullahy, in the matter of women, wait! For, as the poet declareth:

“ ‘ ’Tis vanity our souls for such to vex;

Patience is a harvest of the sex.’

“And they fret themselves not overlong for husbands that are gone, these young beauties. I know them. Tell the Queen of Serpents I am even hers to the sole of my foot.”

So it was understood between them that the Vizier should be at the gate of the garden of the palace that night, disguised; and the Vizier rejoiced, thinking, “If she have not the Jewel with her, it shall go ill with me, and I foiled this time!”

Ukleet then proceeded to the house of Boolp the broker, fronting the gutted ruins where Bhanavar had been happy in her innocence with Almeryl, the mountain prince, her husband. Boolp was engaged haggling with a slave-merchant the price of a fair slave, and Ukleet said to him, “Yet awhile delay, O Boolp, ere you expend a fraction of treasure, for truly a mighty bargain of jewels is waiting for you at the palace of my lord the King. So come thither with all your moneybags of gold and silver, and your securities, and your bonds and dues in writing, for ’tis the favourite of the King requireth you to complete a bargain with her, and the price of her jewels is the price of a kingdom.”

Said Boolp, “Hearing is compliance in such a case.”

And Ukleet continued, “What a fortune is yours, O Boolp! truly the tide of fortune setteth into your lap. Fail not, wullahy! to come with all you possess, or if you have not enough when she requireth it to complete the bargain, my mistress will break off with you. I know not if she intend even other game for you, O lucky one!”

Boolp hitched his girdle and shrugged, saying, “ ’Tis she will fail, I wot⁠—she, in having therewith to complete the bargain between us. Wa! wa!⁠—there! I’ve done this before now. Wullahy! if she have not enough of her rubies and pearls to outweigh me and my gold, go to, Boolp will school her! What says the poet?⁠—

“ ‘Earth and ocean search, East, West, and North, to the South,

None will match the bright rubies and pearls of her mouth.’

“Aha! what? O Ukleet! And he says:

“ ‘The lovely ones a bargain made

With me, and I renounced my trade,

Half-ruined; “Ah!” said they, “return and win!

To even scales ourselves we will throw in!” ’

“How so? But let discreetness reign and security flourisheth!”

Ukleet nodded at him, and repeated the distich:

“Men of worth and men of wits

Shoot with two arrows, and make two hits.”

So he arranged with Boolp the same appointment as with the Vizier, and returned to Queen Bhanavar.

Now, in the dark of night Aswarak stood within the gate of the palace-garden of Mashalleed that was ajar, and a hand from a veiled figure reached to him, and he caught it, in the fullness of his delusion, crying, “Thou, my Queen?” But the hand signified silence, and drew him past the tank of the garden and through a court of the palace into a passage lit with lamps, and on into a close-curtained chamber, and beyond a heavy curtain into another, a circular passage descending between black hangings, and at the bottom a square vault draped with black, and in it precious woods burning, oils in censers, and the odour of ambergris and myrrh and musk floating in clouds, and the sight of the Vizier was for a time obscured by the thickness of the incenses floating. As he became familiar with the place, he saw marked therein a board spread at one end with viands and wines, and the nosegay in a water-vase, and cups of gold and a service of gold⁠—every preparation for feasting mightily. So the soul of Aswarak leapt, and he cried, “Now unveil thyself, O moon of our meeting, my mistress!”

The voice of Bhanavar answered him, “Not till we have feasted and drunken, and it seemeth little in our eyes. Surely the chamber is secure: could I have chosen one better for our meeting, O Aswarak?”

Upon that he entreated her to sit with him to the feast, but she cried, “Nay! delay till the other is come.”

Cried he, “Another?”

But she exclaimed, “Hush!” and saying thus went forward to the foot of the passage, and Boolp was there, following Ukleet, both of them under a weight of bags and boxes. So she welcomed the broker, and led him to the feast, he coughing and wheezing and blinking, unwitting the vexation of the Vizier, nor that one other than himself was there. When Boolp heard the voice of the Vizier, in astonishment, addressing him, he started back and fell upon his bags, and the task of coaxing him to the board was as that of haling a distempered beast to the water. Then they sat and feasted together, and Ukleet with them; and if Aswarak or Boolp waxed impatient of each other’s presence, he whispered to them, “Only wait! see what she reserveth for you.” And Bhanavar mused with herself, “Truly that reserved shall be not long coming!” So they drank, and wine got the mastery of Aswarak, so that he made no secret of his passion, and began to lean to her and verse extemporaneously in her ear; and she stinted not in her replies, answering to his urgency in girlish guise, sighing behind the veil, as if under love’s influence. And the Vizier pressed close, and sang:

“ ’Tis said that love brings beauty to the cheeks

Of them that love and meet, but mine are pale;

For merciless disdain on me she wreaks,

And hides her visage from my passionate tale:

I have her only, only when she speaks.

Bhanavar, unveil!

I have thee, and I have thee not! Like one

Lifted by spirits to a shining dale

In Paradise, who seeks to leap and run

And clasp the beauty, but his foot doth fail,

For he is blind: ah! then more woeful none!

Bhanavar, unveil!”

He thrust the wine-cup to her, and she lifted it under her veil, and then sang, in answer to him:

“My beauty! for thy worth

Thank the Vizier!

He gives thee second birth:

Thank the Vizier!

His blooming form without a fault:

Thank the Vizier!

Is at thy foot in this blest vault:

Thank the Vizier!

He knoweth not he telleth such a truth,

Thank the Vizier!

That thou, thro’ him, spring’st fresh in blushing youth:

Thank the Vizier!

He knoweth little now, but he shall soon be wise:

Thank the Vizier!

This meeting bringeth bloom to cheeks and lips and eyes:

Thank the Vizier!

O my beloved in this blest vault, if I love thee for aye,

Thank the Vizier!

Thine am I, thine! and learns his soul what it has taught⁠—to die,

Thank the Vizier!”

Now, Aswarak divined not her meaning, and was enraptured with her, and cried, “Wullahy! so and such thy love! Thine am I, thine! And what a music is thy voice, O my mistress! ’Twere a bliss to Eblis in his torment could he hear it. Life of my head! and is thy beauty increased by me? Nay, thou flatterer!” Then he said to her, “Away with these importunate dogs! ’tis the very hour of tenderness! Wullahy! they offend my nostril: stung am I at the sight of them.”

She rejoined⁠—

“O Aswarak! star of the morn!

Thou that wakenest my beauty from night and scorn,

Thy time is near, and when ’tis come,

Long will a jackal howl that this thy request had been dumb.

O Aswarak! star of the morn!”

So the Vizier imaged in his mind the neglect of Mashalleed from these words, and said, “Leave the King to my care, O Queen of Serpents, and expend no portion of thy power on him; but hasten now the going of these fellows; my heart is straitened by them, and I, wullahy! would gladly see a serpent round the necks of either.”

She continued⁠—

“O Aswarak! star of the morn!

Lo! the star must die when splendider light is born;

In stronger floods the beam will drown:

Shrink, thou puny orb, and dread to bring me my crown,

O Aswarak! star of the morn!”

Then said she, “Hark awhile at those two! There’s a disputation between them.”

So they hearkened, and Ukleet was pledging Boolp, and passing the cup to him; but a sullenness had seized the broker, and he refused it, and Ukleet shouted, “Out, boon-fellow! and what a company art thou, that thou refusest the pledge of friendliness? Plague on all sulkers!”

And the broker, the old miser, obstinate as are the half-fuddled, began to mumble, “I came not here to drink, O Ukleet, but to make a bargain; and my bags be here, and I like not yonder veil, nor the presence of yonder Vizier, nor the secrecy of this. Now, by the Prophet and that interdict of his, I’ll drink no further.”

And Ukleet said, “Let her not mark your want of fellowship, or ’twill go ill with you. Here be fine wines, spirited wines! choice flavours! and you drink not! Where’s the soul in you, O Boolp, and where’s the life in you, that you yield her to the Vizier utterly? Surely she waiteth a gallant sign from you, so challenge her cheerily.”

Quoth Boolp, “I care not. Shall I leave my wealth and all I possess void of eyes? and she so that I recognise her not behind the veil?”

Ukleet pushed the old miser jeeringly: “You not recognise her? Oh, Boolp, a pretty dissimulation! Pledge her now a cup to the snatching of the veil, and bethink you of a fitting verse, a seemly compliment⁠—something sugary.”

Then Boolp smoothed his head, and was bothered; and tapped it, and commenced repeating to Bhanavar:

“I saw the moon behind a cloud,

And I was cold as one that’s in his shroud:

And I cried, Moon!⁠—”

Ukleet chorused him, “Moon!” and Boolp was deranged in what he had to say, and gasped⁠—

“Moon! I cried, Moon!⁠—and I cried, Moon!”

Then the Vizier and Ukleet laughed till they fell on their backs; so Bhanavar took up his verse where he left it, singing⁠—

“And to the cry

Moon did make fair the following reply:

“Dotard, be still! for thy desire

Is to embrace consuming fire.”

Then said Boolp, “O my mistress, the laws of conviviality have till now restrained me; but my coming here was on business, and with me my bags, in good faith. So let us transact this matter of the jewels, and after that the song of⁠—

“ ‘Thou and I

A cup will try,’ ”

“even as thou wilt.”

Bhanavar threw aside her outer robe and veil, and appeared in a dress of sumptuous blue, spotted with gold bees; her face veiled with a veil of gauzy silver, and she was as the moon in summer heavens, and strode majestically forward, saying, “The jewels? ’tis but one. Behold!”

The lamps were extinguished, and in her hand was the glory of the Serpent Jewel, no other light save it in the vaulted chamber.

So the old miser perked his chin and brows, and cried wondering, “I know it, this Jewel, O my mistress.”

She turned to the Vizier, and said, lifting the red gloom of the Jewel on him, “And thou?”

Aswarak ate his underlip.

Then she cried, “There’s much ye know in common, ye two.”

Thereupon Bhanavar passed from the feast on to the centre of the vault, and stood before the tomb of Almeryl, and drew the cloth from it; and they saw by the glow of the Jewel that it was a tomb. When she had mounted some steps at the side of the tomb, she beckoned them to come, crying, in a voice of sobs, “This which is here, likewise ye may know.”

So they came with the coldness of a mystery in their blood, and looked as she looked intently over a tomb. The lid was of glass, and through the glass of the lid the Jewel flung a dark rosy ray on the body of Almeryl lying beneath it.

Now, the miser was perplexed at the sight; but Aswarak stepped backward in defiance, bellowing, “ ’Twas for this I was tricked to come here! Is’t fooling me a second time? By Allah! look to it; not a second time will Aswarak be fooled.”

Then she ran to him, and exclaimed, “Fooled? For what cam’st thou to me?”

And he, foaming and grinding his breath, “Thou woman of wiles! thou serpent! but I’ll be gone from here.”

So she faltered in sweetness, knowing him doomed, and loving to dally with him in her wickedness, “Indeed if thou cam’st not for my kiss⁠—”

Then said the Vizier, “Yet a further guile! Was’t not an outrage to bring me here?”

She faltered again, leaning the fair length of her limbs on a couch, “ ’Tis ill that we are not alone, else could these lips convince thee well: else indeed!”