The Shaving of Shagpat, v2

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THE SHAVING OF SHAGPAT

By George Meredith

AN ARABIAN ENTERTAINMENT

1898/1909

BOOK 2.

THE BETROTHAL
THE PUNISHMENT OF SHAHPESH, THE PERSIAN, ON KHIPIL, THE BUILDER
THE GENIE KARAZ
THE WELL OF PARAVID
THE HORSE GARRAVEEN
THE TALKING HAWK
GOORELKA OF OOLB

THE BETROTHAL

Now, when Shibli Bagarag had ceased speaking, the Vizier smiled gravely,
and shook his beard with satisfaction, and said to the Eclipser of
Reason, 'What opinest thou of this nephew of the barber, O Noorna bin
Noorka?'

She answered, "O Feshnavat, my father, truly I am content with the
bargain of my betrothal. He, Wullahy, is a fair youth of flowing
speech.' Then she said, 'Ask thou him what he opineth of me, his
betrothed?"

So the Vizier put that interrogation to Shibli Bagarag, and the youth was
in perplexity; thinking, 'Is it possible to be joyful in the embrace of
one that hath brought thwackings upon us, serious blows?' Thinking, 'Yet
hath she, when the mood cometh, kindly looks; and I marked her eye
dwelling on me admiringly!' And he thought, 'Mayhap she that groweth
younger and counteth nature backwards, hath a history that would affect
me; or, it may be, my kisses--wah! I like not to give them, and it is
said,

"Love is wither'd by the withered lip";

and that,

"On bones become too prominent he'll trip."

Yet put the case, that my kisses--I shower them not, Allah the All-seeing
is my witness! and they be given daintily as 'twere to the leaf of a
nettle, or over-hot pilau. Yet haply kisses repeated might restore her
to a bloom, and it is certain youth is somehow stolen from her, if the
Vizier Feshnavat went before her, and his blood be her blood; and he is
powerful, she wise. I'll decide to act the part of a rejoicer,
and express of her opinions honeyed to the soul of that sex.'

Now, while he was thus debating he hung his head, and the Vizier awaited
his response, knitting his brows angrily at the delay, and at the last he
cried, 'What! no answer? how 's this? Shall thy like dare hold debate
when questioned of my like? And is my daughter Noorna bin Noorka,
thinkest thou, a slave-girl in the market,--thou haggling at her price,
O thou nephew of the barber?'

So Shibli Bagarag exclaimed, 'O exalted one, bestower of the bride!
surely I debated with myself but for appropriate terms; and I delayed to
select the metre of the verse fitting my thoughts of her, and my wondrous
good fortune, and the honour done me.'

Then the Vizier, 'Let us hear: we listen.'

And Shibli Bagarag was advised to deal with illustrations in his dilemma,
by-ways of expression, and spake in extemporaneous verse, and with a full
voice:

The pupils of the Sage for living Beauty sought;
And one a Vision clasped, and one a Model wrought.
'I have it!' each exclaimed, and rivalry arose:
'Paint me thy Maid of air!' 'Thy Grace of clay disclose.'
'What! limbs that cannot move!' 'What! lips that melt away!'
'Keep thou thy Maid of air!' 'Shroud up thy Grace of clay!'
'Twas thus, contending hot, they went before the Sage,
And knelt at the wise wells of cold ascetic age.
'The fairest of the twain, O father, thou record':

He answered, 'Fairest she who's likest to her lord.'

Said they, 'What fairer thing matched with them might prevail?'

The Sage austerely smiled, and said, 'Yon monkey's tail.'

'Tis left for after-time his wisdom to declare:
That's loveliest we best love, and to ourselves compare.
Yet lovelier than all hands shape or fancies build,
The meanest thing of earth God with his fire hath filled.

Now, when Shibli Bagarag ceased, Noorna bin Noorka cried, 'Enough, O
wondrous turner of verse, thou that art honest!' And she laughed loudly,
rustling like a bag of shavings, and rolling in her laughter.

Then said she, 'O my betrothed, is not the thing thou wouldst say no
other than--

"Each to his mind doth the fairest enfold,
For broken long since was Beauty's mould";

and, "Thou that art old, withered, I cannot flatter thee, as I can in no
way pay compliments to the monkey's tail of high design; nevertheless the
Sage would do thee honour"? So read I thy illustration, O keen of wit!
and thou art forgiven its boldness, my betrothed,--Wullahy! utterly so.'

Now, the youth was abashed at her discernment, and the kindliness of her
manner won him to say:

There's many a flower of sweetness, there's many a gem of earth
Would thrill with bliss our being, could we perceive its worth.
O beauteous is creation, in fashion and device!
If I have fail'd to think thee fair, 'tis blindness is my vice.

And she answered him:

I've proved thy wit and power of verse,
That is at will diffuse and terse:
Lest thou commence to lie--be dumb!
I am content: the time will come!

Then she said to the Vizier Feshnavat, 'O my father, there is all in this
youth, the nephew of the barber, that's desirable for the undertaking;
and his feet will be on a level with the task we propose for him, he the
height of man above it. 'Tis clear that vanity will trip him, but
honesty is a strong upholder; and he is one that hath the spirit of
enterprise and the mask of dissimulation: gratitude I observe in him; and
it is as I thought when I came upon him on the sand-hill outside the
city, that his star is clearly in a web with our star, he destined for
the Shaving of Shagpat.'

So the Vizier replied, 'He hath had thwackings, yet is he not deterred
from making further attempt on Shagpat. I think well of him, and I augur
hopefully. Wullahy! the Cadi shall be sent for; I can sleep in his
secresy; and he shall perform the ceremonies of betrothal, even now and
where we sit, and it shall be for him to write the terms of contract: so
shall we bind the youth firmly to us, and he will be one of us as we are,
devoted to the undertaking by three bonds--the bond of vengeance, the
bond of ambition, and that of love.'

Now, so it was that the Vizier despatched a summons for the attendance of
the Cadi, and he carne and performed between Shibli Bagarag and Noorna
bin Noorka ceremonies of betrothal, and wrote terms of contract; and they
were witnessed duly by the legal number of witnesses, and so worded that
he had no claim on her as wife till such time as the Event to which he
bound himself was mastered. Then the fees being paid, and compliments
interchanged, the Vizier exclaimed, 'Be ye happy! and let the weak cling
to the strong; and be ye two to one in this world, and no split halves
that betray division and stick not together when the gum is heated.'
Then he made a sign to the Cadi and them that had witnessed the contract
to follow him, leaving the betrothed ones to their own company.

So when they were alone Noorna gazed on the youth wistfully, and said in
a soft tone, 'Thou art dazed with the adventure, O youth! Surely there
is one kiss owing me: art thou willing? Am I reduced to beg it of thee?
Or dream'st thou?'

He lifted his head and replied, 'Even so.'

Thereat he stood up languidly, and went to her and kissed her. And she
smiled and said, 'I wot it will be otherwise, and thou wilt learn
swiftness of limb, brightness of eye, and the longing for earthly
beatitude, when next I ask thee, O my betrothed!'

Lo! while she spake, new light seemed in her; and it was as if a splendid
jewel were struggling to cast its beams through the sides of a crystal
vase smeared with dust and old dirt and spinnings of the damp spider. He
was amazed, and cried, 'How's this? What change is passing in thee?'

She said, 'Joy in thy kiss, and that I have 'scaped Shagpat.'

Then he: 'Shagpat? How? had that wretch claim over thee ere I came?'

But she looked fearfully at the corners of the room and exclaimed, 'Hush,
my betrothed! speak not of him in that fashion, 'tis dangerous; and my
power cannot keep off his emissaries at all times.' Then she said, 'O my
betrothed, know me a sorceress ensorcelled; not that I seem, but that I
shall be! Wait thou for the time and it will reward thee. What! thou
think'st to have plucked a wrinkled o'erripe fruit,--a mouldy pomegranate
under the branches, a sour tamarind? 'Tis well! I say nought, save that
time will come, and be thou content. It is truly as I said, that I have
thee between me and Shagpat; and that honoured one of this city thought
fit in his presumption to demand me in marriage at the hands of my
father, knowing me wise, and knowing the thing that transformed me to
this, the abominable fellow! Surely my father entertained not his
proposal save with scorn; but the King looked favourably on it, and it is
even now matter of reproach to Feshnavat, my father, that he withholdeth
me from Shagpat.'

Quoth Shibli Bagarag, 'A clothier, O Noorna, control the Vizier! and
demand of him his daughter in marriage! and a clothier influence the King
against his Vizier!'--tis, wullahy! a riddle.'

She replied, ''Tis even so, eyes of mine, my betrothed! but thou know'st
not Shagpat, and that he is. Lo! the King, and all of this city save we
three, are held in enchantment by him, and made foolish by one hair
that's in his head.'

Shibli Bagarag started in his seat like one that shineth with a
discovery, and cried, 'The Identical!'

Then she, sighing, ''Tis that indeed! but the Identical of Identicals, the
chief and head of them, and I, woe's me! I, the planter of it.'

So he said, 'How so?'

But she cried, 'I'll tell thee not here, nor aught of myself and him, and
the Genie held in bondage by me, till thou art proved by adventure, and
we float peacefully on the sea of the Bright Lily: there shalt thou see
me as I am, and hear my story, and marvel at it; for 'tis wondrous, and a
manifestation of the Power that dwelleth unseen.'

So Shibli Bagarag pondered awhile on the strange nature of the things she
hinted, and laughter seized him as he reflected on Shagpat, and the whole
city enchanted by one hair in his head; and he exclaimed, 'O Noorna,
knoweth he, Shagpat, of the might in him?'

She answered, 'Enough for his vain soul that homage is paid to him, and
he careth not for the wherefore!'

Shibli Bagarag fixed his eyes on the deep-flowered carpets of the floor,
as if reading there a matter quaintly written, and smiled, saying, 'What
boldness was mine--the making offer to shear Shagpat, the lion in his
lair, he that holdeth a whole city in enchantment! Wah! 'twas an
instance of daring!'

And Noorna said, 'Not only an entire city, but other cities affected by
him, as witness Oolb, whither thou wilt go; and there be governments and
states, and conditions of men remote, that hang upon him, Shagpat. 'Tis
even so; I swell not his size. When thou hast mastered the Event, and
sent him forth shivering from thy blade like the shorn lamb, 'twill be
known how great a thing has been achieved, and a record for the
generations to come; choice is that historian destined to record it!'

Quoth he, looking eagerly at her, 'O Noorna, what is it in thy speech
affecteth me? Surely it infuseth the vigour of wine, old wine; and I
shiver with desire to shave Shagpat, and spin threads for the historian
to weave in order. I, wullahy! had but dry visions of the greatness
destined for me till now, my betrothed! Shall I master an Event in
shaving him, and be told of to future ages? By Allah and his Prophet
(praise be to that name!), this is greatness! Say, Noorna, hadst thou
foreknowledge of me and my coming to this city?'

So she said, 'I was on the roofs one night among the stars ere moonrise,
O my betrothed, and 'twas close on the rise of this very month's moon.
The star of our enemy, Shagpat, was large and red, mine as it were
menaced by its proximity, nigh swallowed in its haughty beams and the
steady overbearings of its effulgence. 'Twas so as it had long been,
when suddenly, lo! a star from the upper heaven that shot down between
them wildly, and my star took lustre from it; and the star of Shagpat
trembled like a ring on a tightened rope, and waved and flickered, and
seemed to come forward and to retire; and 'twas presently as a comet in
the sky, bright,--a tadpole, with large head and lengthy tail, in the
assembly of the planets. This I saw: and that the stranger star was
stationed by my star, shielding it, and that it drew nearer to my star,
and entered its circle, and that the two stars seemed mixing the
splendour that was theirs. Now, that sight amazed me, and my heart in
its beating quickened with the expectation of things approaching. Surely
I rendered praise, and pressed both hands on my bosom, and watched, and
behold! the comet, the illumined tadpole, was becoming restless beneath
the joint rays of the twain that were dominating him; and he diminished,
and lashed his tail uneasily, half madly, darting as do captured beasts
from the fetters that constrain them. Then went there from thy star--for
I know now 'twas thine--a momentary flash across the head of the tadpole,
and again another and another, rapidly, pertinaciously. And from thy
star there passed repeated flashes across the head of the tadpole, till
his brilliance was as 'twere severed from him, and he, like drossy
silver, a dead shape in the conspicuous heavens. And he became yellow as
the rolling eyes of sick wretches in pain, and shrank in his place like
pale parchment at the touch of flame; dull was he as an animal fascinated
by fear, and deprived of all power to make head against the foe,
darkness, that now beset him, and usurped part of his yet lively tail,
and settled on his head, and coated part of his body. So when this
tadpole, that was once terrible to me, became turbaned, shoed, and
shawled with darkness, and there was little of him remaining visible, lo!
a concluding flash shot from thy star, and he fell heavily down the sky
and below the hills, into the sea, that is the Enchanted Sea, whose Queen
is Rabesqurat, Mistress of Illusions. Now when my soul recovered from
amazement at the marvels seen, I arose and went from the starry roofs to
consult my books of magic, and 'twas revealed to me that one was
wandering to a junction with my destiny, and that by his means the great
aim would of a surety be accomplished--Shagpat Shaved! So my purpose was
to discover him; and I made calculations, and summoned them that serve me
to search for such a youth as thou art; fairly, O my betrothed, did I
preconceive thee. And so it was that I traced a magic line from the
sand-hills to the city, and from the outer hills to the sand-hills; and
whoso approached by that line I knew was he marked out as my champion, my
betrothed,--a youth destined for great things. Was I right? The egg
hatcheth. Thou art already proved by thwackings, seasoned to the
undertaking, and I doubt not thou art he that will finish with that
tadpole Shagpat, and sit in the high seat, thy name an odour in distant
lands, a joy to the historian, the Compiler of Events, thou Master of the
Event, the greatest which time will witness for ages to come.'

When she had spoken Shibli Bagarag considered her words, and the
knowledge that he was selected by destiny as Master of the Event inflated
him; and he was a hawk in eagerness, a peacock in pride, an ostrich in
fulness of chest, crying, 'O Noorna bin Noorka! is't really so? Truly it
must be, for the readers of planets were also busy with me at the time of
my birth, interpreting of me in excessive agitation; and the thing they
foretold is as thou foretellest. I am, wullahy! marked: I walk manifest
in the eye of Providence.'

Thereupon he exulted, and his mind strutted through the future of his
days, and down the ladder of all time, exacting homage from men, his
brethren; and 'twas beyond the art of Noorna to fix him to the present
duties of the enterprise: he was as feathered seed before the breath of
vanity.

Now, while the twain discoursed, she of the preparations for shaving
Shagpat, he of his completion of the deed, and the honours due to him as
Master of the Event, Feshnavat the Vizier returned to them from his
entertainment of the Cadi; and he had bribed him to silence with a mighty
bribe. So he called to them--

'Ho! be ye ready to commence the work? and have ye advised together as to
the beginning? True is that triplet:

"Whatever enterprize man hath,
For waking love or curbing wrath,
'Tis the first step that makes a path."

And how have ye determined as to that first step?'

Noorna replied, 'O my father! we have not decided, and there hath been
yet no deliberation between us as to that.'

Then he said, 'All this while have ye talked, and no deliberation as to
that! Lo, I have drawn the Cadi to our plot, and bribed him with a
mighty bribe; and I have prepared possible disguises for this nephew of
the barber; and I have had the witnesses of thy betrothal despatched to
foreign parts, far kingdoms in the land of Roum, to prevent tattling and
gabbling; and ye that were left alone for debating as to the great deed,
ye have not yet deliberated as to that! Is't known to ye, O gabblers,
aught of the punishment inflicted by Shahpesh, the Persian, on Khipil,
the Builder?--a punishment that, by Allah!'

Shibli Bagarag said, 'How of that punishment, O Vizier?'

And the Vizier narrated as followeth.

AND THIS IS THE PUNISHMENT OF SHAHPESH, THE PERSIAN, ON KHIPIL, THE
BUILDER

They relate that Shahpesh, the Persian, commanded the building of a
palace, and Khipil was his builder. The work lingered from the first
year of the reign of Shahpesh even to his fourth. One day Shahpesh went
to the riverside where it stood, to inspect it. Khipil was sitting on a
marble slab among the stones and blocks; round him stretched lazily the
masons and stonecutters and slaves of burden; and they with the curve of
humorous enjoyment on their lips, for he was reciting to them adventures,
interspersed with anecdotes and recitations and poetic instances, as was
his wont. They were like pleased flocks whom the shepherd hath led to a
pasture freshened with brooks, there to feed indolently; he, the
shepherd, in the midst.

Now, the King said to him, 'O Khipil, show me my palace where it
standeth, for I desire to gratify my sight with its fairness.'

Khipil abased himself before Shahpesh, and answered, ''Tis even here, O
King of the age, where thou delightest the earth with thy foot and the
ear of thy slave with sweetness. Surely a site of vantage, one that
dominateth earth, air, and water, which is the builder's first and chief
requisition for a noble palace, a palace to fill foreign kings and
sultans with the distraction of envy; and it is, O Sovereign of the time,
a site, this site I have chosen, to occupy the tongues of travellers and
awaken the flights of poets!'

Shahpesh smiled and said, 'The site is good! I laud the site! Likewise
I laud the wisdom of Ebn Busrac, where he exclaims:

"Be sure, where Virtue faileth to appear,
For her a gorgeous mansion men will rear;
And day and night her praises will be heard,
Where never yet she spake a single word."'

Then said he, 'O Khipil, my builder, there was once a farm servant that,
having neglected in the seed-time to sow, took to singing the richness of
his soil when it was harvest, in proof of which he displayed the
abundance of weeds that coloured the land everywhere. Discover to me now
the completeness of my halls and apartments, I pray thee, O Khipil, and
be the excellence of thy construction made visible to me!'

Quoth Khipil, 'To hear is to obey.'

He conducted Shahpesh among the unfinished saloons and imperfect courts
and roofless rooms, and by half erected obelisks, and columns pierced and
chipped, of the palace of his building. And he was bewildered at the
words spoken by Shahpesh; but now the King exalted him, and admired the
perfection of his craft, the greatness of his labour, the speediness of
his construction, his assiduity; feigning not to behold his negligence.

Presently they went up winding balusters to a marble terrace, and the
King said, 'Such is thy devotion and constancy in toil, Khipil, that
thou shaft walk before me here.'

He then commanded Khipil to precede him, and Khipil was heightened with
the honour. When Khipil had paraded a short space he stopped quickly,
and said to Shahpesh, 'Here is, as it chanceth, a gap, O King! and we can
go no further this way.'

Shahpesh said, 'All is perfect, and it is my will thou delay not to
advance.'

Khipil cried, 'The gap is wide, O mighty King, and manifest, and it is an
incomplete part of thy palace.'

Then said Shahpesh, 'O Khipil, I see no distinction between one part and
another; excellent are all parts in beauty and proportion, and there can
be no part incomplete in this palace that occupieth the builder four
years in its building: so advance, do my bidding.'

Khipil yet hesitated, for the gap was of many strides, and at the bottom
of the gap was a deep water, and he one that knew not the motion of
swimming. But Shahpesh ordered his guard to point their arrows in the
direction of Khipil, and Khipil stepped forward hurriedly, and fell in
the gap, and was swallowed by the water below. When he rose the second
time, succour reached him, and he was drawn to land trembling, his teeth
chattering. And Shahpesh praised him, and said, 'This is an apt
contrivance for a bath, Khipil O my builder! well conceived; one that
taketh by surprise; and it shall be thy reward daily when much talking
hath fatigued thee.'

Then he bade Khipil lead him to the hall of state. And when they were
there Shahpesh said, 'For a privilege, and as a mark of my approbation, I
give thee permission to sit in the marble chair of yonder throne, even in
my presence, O Khipil.'

Khipil said, 'Surely, O King, the chair is not yet executed.'

And Shahpesh exclaimed, 'If this be so, thou art but the length of thy
measure on the ground, O talkative one!'

Khipil said, 'Nay, 'tis not so, O King of splendours! blind that I am!
yonder's indeed the chair.'

And Khipil feared the King, and went to the place where the chair should
be, and bent his body in a sitting posture, eyeing the King, and made
pretence to sit in the chair of Shahpesh, as in conspiracy to amuse his
master.

Then said Shahpesh, 'For a token that I approve thy execution of the
chair, thou shalt be honoured by remaining seated in it up to the hour of
noon; but move thou to the right or to the left, showing thy soul
insensible of the honour done thee, transfixed thou shah be with twenty
arrows and five.'

The King then left him with a guard of twenty-five of his body-guard; and
they stood around him with bent bows, so that Khipil dared not move from
his sitting posture. And the masons and the people crowded to see Khipil
sitting on his master's chair, for it became rumoured about. When they
beheld him sitting upon nothing, and he trembling to stir for fear of the
loosening of the arrows, they laughed so that they rolled upon the floor
of the hall, and the echoes of laughter were a thousand-fold. Surely the
arrows of the guards swayed with the laughter that shook them.

Now, when the time had expired for his sitting in the chair, Shahpesh
returned to him, and he was cramped, pitiable to see; and Shahpesh said,
'Thou hast been exalted above men, O Khipil! for that thou didst execute
for thy master has been found fitting for thee.'

Then he bade Khipil lead the way to the noble gardens of dalliance and
pleasure that he had planted and contrived. And Khipil went in that
state described by the poet, when we go draggingly, with remonstrating
members,

Knowing a dreadful strength behind,
And a dark fate before.

They came to the gardens, and behold, these were full of weeds and
nettles, the fountains dry, no tree to be seen--a desert. And Shahpesh
cried, 'This is indeed of admirable design, O Khipil! Feelest thou not
the coolness of the fountains?--their refreshingness? Truly I am
grateful to thee! And these flowers, pluck me now a handful, and tell me
of their perfume.'

Khipil plucked a handful of the nettles that were there in the place of
flowers, and put his nose to them before Shahpesh, till his nose was
reddened; and desire to rub it waxed in him, and possessed him, and
became a passion, so that he could scarce refrain from rubbing it even in
the King's presence. And the King encouraged him to sniff and enjoy
their fragrance, repeating the poet's words:

Methinks I am a lover and a child,
A little child and happy lover, both!
When by the breath of flowers I am beguiled
From sense of pain, and lulled in odorous sloth.
So I adore them, that no mistress sweet
Seems worthier of the love which they awake:
In innocence and beauty more complete,
Was never maiden cheek in morning lake.
Oh, while I live, surround me with fresh flowers!
Oh, when I die, then bury me in their bowers!

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