The Shaving of Shagpat, George Meredith [popular e readers TXT] 📗

“nor that I was overthrown in despising mine enemy, forgetful of the saying of the sage:

“ ‘Read the features of thy foe, wherever he may find thee,
Small he is, seen face to face, but thrice his size behind thee.’

“Wullahy! this Karaz is a genie of craft and resources, one of a mighty stock, and I must close with Shagpat to be sure of him; and that I am not deceived by semblances, opposing guile with guile, and guile deeper than his, for that he awaiteth it not, thinking I have leaped in fancy beyond the Event, and am puffed by the after-breaths of adulation, I!⁠—thinking I pluck the blossoms in my hunger for the fruit, that I eat the chick of the yet unlaid egg, O Feshnavat. As is said, and the warrior beareth witness to the wisdom of it:

“ ‘His weapon I’ll study; my own conceal;
So with two arms to his one shall I deal.’

“The same also testifieth:

“ ‘ ’Tis folly of the hero, though resistless in the field,
To stake the victory on his steel, and fling away the shield.’

“And likewise:

“ ‘Examine thine armour in every joint,
For slain was the Giant, and by a pin’s point.’

“Wah! ’tis certain there will need subtlety in this undertaking, and a plot plotted, so do thou my bidding, and fail not in the part assigned to thee.”

Now, Feshnavat was persuaded by his words, and cried, “In diligence, discretion, and the virtues which characterize subordinates, I go, and I delay not! I will perform the thing required of me, O Master of the Event.” And he repeated in verse:

“With danger beset, be the path crooked or narrow,
Thou art the bow, and I the arrow.”

Then embraced he his daughter, kissing her on the forehead and the eyes, and tightening the girdle of his robe, departed, with the name of Allah on his lips, in the direction of the City.

So Shibli Bagarag called to him the two genii, and his command was, “Soar, ye slaves of the Sword, till the range of Earth and its mountains and seas and deserts are a cluster in the orb of the eye, Shiraz conspicuous as a rose among garlands, and the ruby consorted with other gems in a setting. In Shiraz or the country adjoining ye will come upon one Baba Mustapha by name; and, if he be alone, ye may recognize him by his forlorn look and the hang of his cheeks, his vacancy as of utter abandonment; if in company, ’twill be the only talker that’s he; seize on him, give him a taste of thin air, and deposit him without speech on the roof of a palace, where ye will see Feshnavat in yonder city: this do ere the shadows of the palm-tree by the well in the plain move up the mounds that enclose the fortified parts.”

Cried Karavejis and Veejravoosh, “To hear is to obey.”

Up into the sky, like two bright balls tossed by jugglers, the two genii shot; and, watching them, Noorna bin Noorka said, “My life, there is a third wanting, Ravejoura; and with aid of the three, Earth could have planted no obstruction to thy stroke; but thou wert tempted by the third temptation in Aklis, and left not the hall in triumph, the Hall of the Duping Brides!”

He answered, “That is so, my soul; and the penalty is mine, by which I am made to employ deceits ere I strike.”

And she said, “ ’Tis to the generosity of Gulrevaz thou owest Karavejis and Veejravoosh; and I think she was generous, seeing thee true to me in love, she that hath sorrows!”

So he said, “What of the sorrows of Gulrevaz? Tell me of them.”

But she said, “Nay, O my betrothed! wouldst thou have this tongue blistered, and a consuming spark shot against this bosom?”

Then he: “Make it clear to me.”

She put her mouth to his ear, saying, “There is a curse on whoso telleth of things in Aklis, and to tattle of the Seven and their sister forerunneth wretchedness.”

Surely, he stooped to that fair creature, and folded her to his heart, his whole soul heaving to her; and he cried again and again, “Shall harm hap to thee through me? by Allah, no!”

And he closed the privileged arm of the bridegroom round her waist, that had the yieldingness of the willow-branchlet, the flowingness of the summer sea-wave, and seemed as ’twere melting honey-like at the first gentle pressure; she leaning her head shyly on his shoulder, yet confiding in his faithfulness; it was that she was shy of the great bliss in her bosom, and was made timid by the fervour of her affection; as is sung:

“Deeper than the source of blushes
Is the power that makes them start;
Up in floods the red stream rushes,
At one whisper of the heart.”

And it is sung in words present to the youth as he surveyed her:

“O beauty of the bride! O beauty of the bride!
Her bashful joys like serpents sting her tenderness to tears:
Her hopes are sleeping eagles in the shining of the spheres;
O beauty of the bride! O beauty of the bride!
And she’s a lapping antelope that from her image flees;
And she’s a dove caught in two hands, to pant as she shall please;
O beauty of the bride! O beauty of the bride!
Like torrents over Paradise her lengthy tresses roll:
She moves as doth a swaying rose, and chides her hasty soul;
The thing she will, that will she not, yet can no will control
O beauty, beauty, beauty of the bride!”

They were thus together, Abarak leaning under one wing of Koorookh for shade up the slope of the hill, and Shibli Bagarag called to him, “Ho, Abarak! look if there be aught impending over the City.”

So he arose and looked, crying, “One with plunging legs, high up in air over the City, between two bright bodies.” Shibli Bagarag exclaimed, “ ’Tis well! The second chapter of the Event is opened; so call it,