Part 5

'Abdallah,' replied the queen, 'I all along flattered myself you loved me; and I could never have thought you would have given me so evident a token of your slighting my request. But I here swear once more by the fire and light, and even by whatsoever is most sacred in my religion, that I will pass on no farther till I have conquered your obstinacy. I understand very well what raises your apprehensions; but I promise you shall never have any occasion to repent having obliged me in so sensible a manner.'

Old Abdallah was exceedingly grieved, both on his own account and King Beder's, for being in a manner forced to obey the queen. 'Madam,' replied he, 'I would not willingly have your majesty entertain an ill opinion of the respect I have for you, and my zeal always to do whatever I can to oblige you. I put entire confidence in your royal word, and I do not in the least doubt but you will keep it. I only beg of your majesty to delay doing this great honour to my nephew till you shall again pass this way.'

'That shall be to-morrow,' said the queen, who inclined her head, as a token of being pleased, and so went forward towards her palace.

When Queen Labe and all her attendants were out of sight, the good Abdallah said to King Beder, 'Son, (for so he was wont to call him, for fear of some time or other betraying him when he spoke of him in public), 'it has not been in my power, as you may have observed, to refuse the queen what she demanded of me with so great earnestness, for fear I might force her to employ her magic both against you and myself openly or secretly, and treat you, as much from resentment to you as to me, with more signal cruelty than all those she has had in her power before. But I have some reason to believe she will treat you well, as she promised, on account of that particular esteem she professes for me. This you may have seen by the respect shown, and the honours paid me by all her court. She would be a fiendish creature indeed, if she should deceive me; but she shall not deceive me unrevenged, for I know how to be even with her.'

These assurances, which appeared very doubtful, were not sufficient to raise King Beder's spirits. 'After all you have told me of this queen's wickedness,' replied he, 'you cannot wonder if I am somewhat fearful to approach her: I might, it may be, make little of all you could tell me of her, did I not know by experience what it is to be at the mercy of a sorceress. The condition I was in, through the enchantment of the Princess Giauhara, and from whence I was delivered only to enter almost immediately into another, has made me look upon such a fate with horror.

'Son,' replied old Abdallah, 'do not afflict yourself; for though I must own there is no great faith to be put in the promises and oaths of so perfidious a queen, yet I must withal tell you that her power extends not to me. She knows it well herself; and that is the reason, and no other, that she pays me such great respect. I can quickly hinder her from doing you the least harm, if she should be perfidious enough to attempt it. You may depend upon me; and, provided you follow exactly the advice I shall give you before I hand you over to her, she shall have no more power over you than she has over me.'

The magic queen did not fail to pass by the old man's shop the next day, with the same pomp as the day before, and Abdallah waited for her with great respect. 'Father,' cried she, stopping just before him, 'you may judge of my impatience to have your nephew with me, by my punctual coming to put you in mind of your promise. I know you are a man of your word, and I cannot think you will break it with me.'

Abdallah, who fell on his face as soon as he saw the queen approaching, rose up when she had done speaking; and as he wanted nobody to hear what he had a mind to say to her, he advanced with great respect as far as her horse's head, and then said softly, 'Powerful queen! I am persuaded your majesty will not be offended at my seeming unwillingness to trust my nephew with you yesterday, since you cannot be ignorant of the reasons I had for it; but I implore you to lay aside the secrets of that art which you possess in so wonderful a degree. I regard my nephew as my own son; and your majesty would reduce me to despair if you should deal with him as you have done with others.'

'I promise you I will not,' replied the queen; 'and I once more repeat the oath I made yesterday, that neither you nor your nephew shall have any cause to be offended with me. I see plainly,' added she, 'you are not yet well enough acquainted with me; you never saw me yet but through a veil; but as I find your nephew worthy of my friendship, I will show you I am not in any way unworthy of his.' With that she threw off her veil and showed King Beder, who came near her with Abdallah, incomparable beauty.

But King Beder was little charmed. 'It is not enough,' said he within himself, 'to be beautiful; one's actions ought to correspond.'

Whilst King Beder was making these reflections, with his eyes fixed on Queen Labe, the old man turned towards him, and taking him by the arm, presented him to her majesty. 'Here he is, madam,' said he, 'and I beg of your majesty once more to remember he is my nephew, and to let him come and see me sometimes.' The queen promised he should; and to give a further mark of her gratitude, she caused a bag of a thousand pieces of gold to be given him. He excused himself at first from receiving them, but she insisted absolutely upon it, and he could not refuse her. She had caused a horse to be brought (as richly harnessed as her own) for the King of Persia.

When King Beder was mounted, he would have taken his place behind the queen, but she would not suffer him, and made him ride on her left hand. She looked at Abdallah, and after having made him an inclination with her head, she set forward on her march.

Instead of observing a satisfaction in the people's faces at the sight of their sovereign, King Beder took notice that they looked at her with contempt, and even cursed her. 'The sorceress,' said some, 'has got a new subject to exercise her wickedness upon: will Heaven never deliver the world from her tyranny?' 'Poor stranger!' cried out others, 'thou art much deceived if thou thinkest thine happiness will last long. It is only to render thy fall most terrible that thou art raised so high.' This talk gave King Beder to understand that Abdallah had told him nothing but the truth of Queen Labe: but as it now depended no longer on himself to escape the mischief, he committed himself to divine Providence and the will of Heaven respecting his fate.

The magic queen arrived at her palace; she alighted, and giving her hand to King Beder, entered with him, accompanied by her women and the officers. She herself showed him all her apartments, where there was nothing to be seen but massy gold, precious stones, and furniture of wonderful magnificence. Then she led him out into a balcony, from whence he observed a garden of surprising beauty. King Beder commended all he saw, but so that he might not be discovered to be any other than old Abdallah's nephew. They discoursed of indifferent matters, till the queen was informed that dinner was upon the table.

The queen and King Beder arose, and sat down at the table, which was of massy gold, and the dishes of the same metal. They began to eat, but drank hardly at all till the dessert came, when the queen caused a cup to be filled for her with excellent wine. She took it and drank to King Beder's health; and then, without putting it out of her hand, caused it to be filled again, and presented it to him. King Beder received it with profound respect, and by a very low bow signified to her majesty that he in return drank to her health.

At the same time ten of Queen Labe's women entered with musical instruments, with which they made an agreeable concert. At length both began so to be heated with wine, that King Beder forgot he had to do with a magic queen, and looked upon her only as the most beautiful queen he ever saw.

Next morning the women who had served the king presented him with fine linen and a magnificent robe. The queen likewise, who was more splendidly dressed than the day before, came to receive him, and they went together to her apartments, where they had a good repast brought them, and spent the remainder of the day in walking in the garden, and in various other amusements.

Queen Labe treated King Beder after this manner for forty days, as she had been accustomed to do to all the others. The fortieth night she arose without making any noise and came into his room; but he was awake, and perceiving she had some design upon him, watched all her motions. She opened a chest, from whence she took a little box full of a certain yellow powder; taking some of the powder, she laid a train of it across the chamber, and it immediately flowed in a rivulet of water, to the great astonishment of King Beder. He trembled with fear, but still pretended to sleep, that the sorceress might not discover he was awake.

Queen Labe next took up some of the water in a vessel, and poured it into a basin, where there was flour, with which she made a paste, and kneaded it for a long time: then she mixed with it certain drugs, which she took from different boxes, and made a cake, which she put into a covered baking-pan. As she had taken care first of all to make a good fire, she took some of the coals, and set the pan upon them; and while the cake was baking, she put up the vessels and boxes in their places again; and on her pronouncing certain words, the rivulet, which ran along the end of the room, appeared no more. When the cake was baked, she took it off the coals, and carried it into her room, without the least suspicion that he had seen anything of what she had done.

King Beder, whom the pleasures and amusements of a court had made forget his good host Abdallah, began now to think of him again, and believed he had more than ordinary occasion for his advice, after all he had seen the queen do that night. As soon as he was up, therefore, he expressed a great desire to go and see his uncle, and begged her majesty to permit him. 'What! my dear Beder,' cried the queen, 'are you then already tired, I will not say with living in so superb a palace as mine is, where you must find so many pleasures, but with the company of a queen who is so fond of you as I am?'

'Great queen!' answered King Beder, 'how can I be tired of so many favours and graces as your majesty perpetually heaps upon me? I must own, however, it is partly for this reason, that, my uncle loving me so tenderly, as I well know he does, and I having been absent from him now forty days, without once seeing him, I would not give him reason to think that I consent to remain longer without seeing him.'

'Go,' said the queen, 'you have my consent; but do not be long before you return.' This said, she ordered him a horse richly caparisoned, and he departed.

Old Abdallah was overjoyed to see King Beder; he embraced him tenderly, and King Beder did the same. As soon as they had sat down, 'Well,' said Abdallah to the king, 'how have you been, and how have you passed your time with that infidel sorceress?'

'Hitherto,' answered King Beder, 'I must needs own she has been extraordinarily kind to me, but I observed something last night which gives me just reason to suspect that all her kindness hitherto is but dissimulation.' He related to Abdallah how and after what manner he had seen her make the cake; and then added, 'Hitherto, I must needs confess I had almost forgotten, not only you, but all the advice you gave me concerning the wickedness of this queen; but this last action of hers gives me reason to fear she does not intend to observe any of her promises or solemn oaths to you. I thought of you immediately, and I esteem myself happy in that I have obtained permission to come to you.'

'You are not mistaken,' replied old Abdallah with a smile, which showed he did not himself believe she would have acted otherwise, 'nothing is capable of obliging a treacherous person to amend. But fear nothing. I know the way to make the mischief she intends for you fall upon herself. You are alarmed in time; and you could not have done better than to have recourse to me. It is her ordinary practice to keep her lovers only forty days, and after that time, instead of sending them home, to turn them into animals, to stock her forests and parks; but I thought of measures yesterday to prevent her doing you the same harm. The earth has borne this monster long enough, and it is now high time she should be treated as she deserves.'

So saying, Abdallah put two cakes into King Beder's hands, bidding him keep them to make use of as he should direct. 'You told me,' continued he, 'the sorceress made a cake last night; it was for you to eat, depend upon it; but take great care you do not touch it. Nevertheless, do not refuse to receive it when she offers it you; but instead of tasting it, break off part of one of the two I shall give you, unobserved, and eat that. As soon as she thinks you have swallowed it, she will not fail to attempt transforming you into some animal, but she will not succeed; when she sees that she will immediately turn the thing into a joke, as if what she had done was only to frighten you. But she will conceal a mortal grief in her heart, and think she omitted something in the composition of her cake. As for the other cake, you shall make a present of it to her and press her to eat it; which she will not refuse to do, were it only to convince you she does not mistrust you, though she has given you so much reason to mistrust her. When she has eaten of it, take a little water in the hollow of your hand, and throwing it in her face, say, "Quit that form you now wear, and take that of such and such an animal" as you think fit; which done, come to me with the animal, and I will tell you what you shall do afterwards.'

King Beder thanked Abdallah in the most expressive terms, and took his leave of him and returned to the palace. Upon his arrival, he understood that the queen waited for him with great impatience in the garden. He went to her, and she no sooner perceived him, than she came in great haste to meet him. 'My dear Beder!' said she, 'it seems ages since I have been separated from you. If you had stayed ever so little longer, I was preparing to come and fetch you.'

'Madam,' replied King Beder, 'I can assure your majesty I was no less impatient to rejoin you; but I could not refuse to stay a little longer with an uncle that loves me, and had not seen me for so long a time. He would have kept me still longer, but I tore myself away from him, to come where love calls me. Of all he prepared for me, I have only brought away this cake, which I desire your majesty to accept.' King Beder had wrapped up one of the two cakes in a handkerchief very neatly, took it out, and presented it to the queen, saying, 'I beg your majesty to accept it.'

'I do accept it with all my heart,' replied the queen, 'and will eat it with pleasure for your and your good uncle's sake; but before I taste it, I desire you for my sake to eat a piece of this, which I have made for you during your absence.'

'Fair queen,' answered King Beder, receiving it with great respect, I cannot sufficiently acknowledge the favour you do me.'

King Beder then artfully substituted in the place of the queen's cake the other which old Abdallah had given him, and having broken off a piece, he put it in his mouth, and cried, while he was eating, 'Ah! queen, I never tasted anything so charming in my life.'

Being near a cascade, as the sorceress saw him swallow one bit of the cake, and ready to eat another, she took a little water in the palm of her hand, throwing it in the king's face, said, 'Wretch! quit that form of a man, and take that of a vile horse, blind and lame.'

These words not having the desired effect, the sorceress was strangely surprised to find King Beder still in the same form, and that he only started for fear. Her cheeks reddened; and as she saw that she had missed her aim, 'Dear Beder,' cried she, 'this is nothing; recover yourself. I did not intend you any harm; I only did it to see what you would say.'

'Powerful queen,' replied King Beder, 'persuaded as I am that what your majesty did was only to divert yourself, yet I could not help being surprised. But, madam,' continued he, 'let us drop this, and since I have eaten your cake, would you do me the favour to taste mine?'

Queen Labe, who could not better justify herself than by showing this mark of confidence in the King of Persia, broke off a piece of his cake, and ate it. She had no sooner swallowed it than she appeared much troubled, and remained as it were motionless. King Beder lost no time, but took water out of the same basin, and throwing it in her face, cried, 'Abominable sorceress! quit that form of a woman, and be turned instantly into a mare.'

The same instant Queen Labe was transformed into a very beautiful mare; and her confusion was so great to find herself in that condition, that she shed tears in great abundance, which perhaps no mare before had ever been known to do. She bowed her head to the feet of King Beder, thinking to move him to compassion; but though he could have been so moved, it was absolutely out of his power to repair the mischief he had done. He led her into the stable belonging to the palace, and put her into the hands of a groom, to bridle and saddle; but of all the bridles which the groom tried upon her, not one would fit her. This made him cause two horses to be saddled, one for the groom, and the other for himself; and the groom led the mare after him to old Abdallah's.

Abdallah, seeing at a distance King Beder coming with the mare, doubted not but he had done what he advised him. 'Hateful sorceress!' said he immediately to himself in a transport of joy, 'Heaven has at length punished thee as thou deservest.' King Beder alighted at Abdallah's door, and entered the shop, embracing and thanking him for all the signal services he had done him. He related to him the whole matter, and told him that he could find no bridle fit for the mare. Abdallah, who had one for every horse, bridled the mare himself, and as soon as King Beder had sent back the groom with the two horses, he said to him, 'My lord, you have no reason to stay any longer in this city: mount the mare, and return to your kingdom. I have but one thing more to recommend to you; and that is, if you should ever happen to part with the mare, be sure not to give up the bridle.' King Beder promised to remember it; and having taken leave of the good old man, he departed.

The young King of Persia no sooner got out of the city, than he began to reflect with joy on the deliverance he had had, and that he had the sorceress in his power, who had given him so much cause to tremble. Three days after he arrived at a great city, where, entering the suburbs, he met a venerable old man. 'Sir,' said the old man, stopping him, 'may I presume to ask from what part of the world you come?' The king stopped to tell him, and as they were discoursing together, an old woman came up; who, stopping likewise, wept and sighed bitterly at the sight of the mare.

King Beder and the old man left off discoursing, to look at the old woman, whom the king asked what cause she had to lament so much, 'Alas! sir,' replied she, 'it is because your mare resembles so perfectly one my son had, which I still mourn the loss of on his account. I should think yours were the same, did I not know she was dead. Sell her to me, I beseech you: I will give you more than she is worth, and thank you too.'

'Good woman,' replied King Beder, 'I am heartily sorry I cannot comply with your request: my mare is not to be sold.'

'Alas! sir,' continued the old woman, 'do not refuse me this favour. My son and I will certainly die with grief if you do not grant it.'

'Good mother,' replied the king, 'I would grant it with all my heart, if I was disposed to part with so good a beast; but if I were so disposed, I believe you would hardly give a thousand pieces of gold for her, and I could not sell her for less.'

'Why should I not give so much?' replied the old woman: 'if that be the lowest price, you need only say you will take it, and I will fetch you the money.'

King Beder, seeing the old woman so poorly dressed, could not imagine she could find the money; therefore to try her, he said, 'Go, fetch me the money, and the mare is yours.' The old woman immediately unloosed a purse she had fastened to her girdle, and desiring him to alight, bade him tell over the money, and in case he found it came short of the sum demanded, she said her house was not far off, and she could quickly fetch the rest.