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

Now, when he saw them the genie blew from his nostrils a double stream of darkness which curled in a thick body round and round him, and Kadza slung at his side was enveloped in it, as with folds of a huge serpent. Then the genie hung still, and lo! two radiant figures swept toward the roof he watched, and between them Noorna bin Noorka, her long dark hair borne far backward, and her robe of silken stuff fluttering and straining on the pearl buttons as she flew. There was that in her beauty and the silver clearness of her temples and her eyes, and her cheeks, and her neck, and chin and ankles, that made the genie shudder with love of her, and he was nigh dropping Kadza to the ground, forgetful of all save Noorna. When he recovered, and it was by tightening his muscles till he was all over hard knots, Noorna was seated on a cushion, and descending he heard her speak his name. Then sniffed he the air, and said to Kadza, “O spouse of Shagpat, a plot breweth, and the odour of it is in my nostril. Fearest thou a scorching for his sake thou adorest, the miracle of men?”

She answered, “On my head be it, and my eyes!”

He said, “I shall alight thee behind the pole of awning on yonder roof, where are the two bright figures and the dingy one, and the Vizier Feshnavat and Noorna bin Noorka. A flame will spring up severing thee from them; but thou’rt secure from it by reason of the powder I gave thee, all save the hair that’s on thee. Thou’lt have another shape than that which is thine, even that of a slave of Noorna bin Noorka, and say to her when she asketh thy business with her, ‘O my mistress, let the storm gather-in the storm-bird when it would surprise men.’ Do this, and thy part’s done, O Kadza!”

Thereupon he swung a circle, and alighted her behind the pole of awning on the roof, and vanished, and the circle of flame rose up, and Kadza passed through it slightly scorched, and answered to the question of Noorna, “O my mistress, let the storm gather-in the storm-bird when it would surprise men.” Now, when Noorna beheld her, and heard her voice, she pierced the disguise, and was ware of the wife of Shagpat, and glanced her large eyes over Kadza from head to sole till they rested on the loose loop in her girdle. Seeing that, she rose up, and stretched her arms, and spread open the palm of her hand, and slapped Kadza on the cheek and ear a hard slap, so that she heard bells; and ere she ceased to hear them, another, so that Kadza staggered back and screamed, and Feshnavat was moved to exclaim, “What has the girl, thy favourite, offended in, O my daughter?”

So Noorna continued slapping Kadza, and cried, “Is she not sluttish? and where’s the point of decency established in her, this Luloo? Shall her like appear before thee and me with loose girdle!”

Then she pointed to the girdle, and Kadza tightened the loose loop, and fell upon the ground to avoid the slaps, and Noorna knelt by her, and clutched at a portion of her dress and examined it, peering intently; and she caught up another part, and knotted it as if to crush a living creature, hunting over her, and grasping at her; and so it was that while she tore strips from the garments of Kadza, Feshnavat jumped suddenly in wrath, and pinched over his garments, crying, “ ’Tis unbearable! ’Tis I know not what other than a flea that persecuteth me.”

Upon that, Noorna ran to him, and while they searched together for the flea, Baba Mustapha fidgeted and worried in his seat, lurching to the right and to the left, muttering curses; and it was evident he too was persecuted, and there was no peace on the roof of that palace, but pinching and howling and stretching of limbs, and curses snarled in the throat and imprecations on the head of the tormenting flea. Surely, the soul of Kadza rejoiced, for she knew the flea was Karaz, whom she had brought with her in the loose loop of her girdle through the circle of flame which was a barrier against him. She glistened at the triumph of the flea, but Noorna strode to her, and took her to the side of the roof, and pitched her down it, and closed the passage to her. Then ran she to Karavejis and Veejravoosh, whispering in the ear of each, “No word of the Sword?” and afterward aloud, “What think ye will be the term of the staying of my betrothed in Aklis, crowned ape?”

They answered, “O pearl of the morn, crowned ape till such time as Shagpat be shaved.”

So she beat her breast, crying, “Oh, utter stagnation, till Shagpat be shaved! and oh, stoppage in the tide of business, dense cloud upon the face of beauty, and frost on the river of events, till Shagpat be shaved! And oh! my betrothed, crowned ape in Aklis till Shagpat be shaved!”

Then she lifted her hands and arms, and said, “To him where he is, ye genii! and away, for he needeth comfort.”

Thereat the glittering spirits dissolved and thinned, and were as taper gleams of curved light across the water in their ascent of the heavens. When they were gone Noorna exclaimed, “Now for the dish of pomegrante grain, O Baba Mustapha, and let nothing delay us further.”

Quoth Baba Mustapha, “ ’Tis ordered, O my princess and fair mistress, from the confectioner’s; and with it the sleepy drug from the seller of medicaments⁠—accursed flea!”

Now, she laughed, and said, “What am I, O Baba Mustapha?”

So he said, “Not thou, O bright shooter of beams, but I, wullahy! I’m but a bundle of points through the pertinacity of this flea! a house of irritabilities! a mere mass of fretfulness! and