CHAPTER III.
How the grand emir rewarded the cunning Alhafiz.
Thereafter it seemed as if the spirit of warfare and enterprise possessed more than ever the mind of the grand emir Nurreddin. A fleet of ships was got in readiness, troops were inlisted, arms and provisions collected; though no one could even guess for what purpose he made all these preparations. That some grand object was in view the lookers-on could have no doubt; for it never had been known of the emir, that a slight or unworthy cause had brought him into the battle-field.
Late one evening, after a day spent in toil and tumult, Nurreddin was seated on a richly-embroidered couch in his great hall, with a lute on his arm, on which he awoke strange and fitful music, now touching the strings with a light hand like some fond lover, anon almost tearing them asunder, as if in wrathful vehemence. His slaves thought that he was now reposing and diverting himself after the fatigues of the day; but, whoever had marked his fiercely rolling eyes, quivering lips, and the wild alternations of his music, must have perceived, that with this seeming repose had begun indeed the sternest of his conflicts, for he was now at war, not with others, but with himself; and it was at such times only that Nurreddin had ever been known to tremble.
While he was thus engaged, lo! there came into the room a tall stately warrior, with a long grizzly beard and gleaming eyes, who was named Abdallah. While he solemnly and slowly delivered the message with which he came, the emir kept his eyes fixed on him; but all the while continued to tear at the strings, till at last some of them snapped asunder, with a long mournful intonation. In a rage, Nurreddin dashed the instrument against a marble pillar. “It is thine own fault,” cried he, “thou senseless harp, because thou hast not understood me.” Then, making a sign, that the attending slaves should withdraw, and that the soldier should sit near him, he began to speak as follows:--
“Abdallah, my heart feels as if torn asunder, because I cannot find occasion to express, after my own manner, what now labours therein, and before a listener who can understand my words, reflecting in his own heart that which directly came from mine. I do not forget that such emotions make themselves best known by outward deeds; but these require time ere they can come to light; and if one could now and then interchange words, it might be possible to arrive at more glorious achievements than any which, by mere silent thoughts, we should be able to conceive.”
“The words of an eloquent man,” said Abdallah, “have been compared to winged arrows penetrating the heart of the listener; and, methinks, true eloquence is like a tree, which not only sends forth its fruits or blossoms on high, but also throws them back again to the maternal soil; that is, to the bosom which gave them birth.”
“Rightly spoken, Abdallah,” said the emir; “I believe that we shall understand each other. In earlier years I have indeed earnestly sought, amid the seductive pleasure-gardens and forests of this world, for a noble tree that would offer to me such long-wished-for fruits, but in vain!--Truly, if I but threw a random-spark on their branches, they would crackle and hiss in the wind; but the true graft of a fruit-bearing tree,--or, to speak more plainly, the true spirit that makes a man that which he ought to be, and able to interchange thoughts with a brave champion, was either not to be found, or yet unripe!--They were all delighted for the most part to be noticed by the grand emir Nurreddin, and to have it to say,--‘To-day I spoke with him for a whole hour. Did’st thou mark how we were walking together?’--But for the rest they troubled themselves little enough about the matter.”
“With submission,” answered Abdallah, “when your highness admitted such men to your presence, it was your part then to teach them what they should say and do, even as an old eagle instructs his young brood.”
“No, no!” cried the emir impatiently; “I would insist that the men with whom I speak should feel with me that which cannot be taught; should know themselves for what they are; that is to say, as consecrated firebrands in the hands of their prince. Abdallah, should it not be so?”
The soldier spoke not, but looked at the emir silently, and shaking his head, while with still greater vehemence and impatience Nurreddin resumed,--
“Abdallah, thou hast lived, no doubt, twenty years longer in the world than I have done. What I now learn, being a man past middle age, and beginning to turn old, must have been to thee long since clear and well understood. Dost thou not perceive, in the wars which every year increase,--in the countless battles among Mussulmans, Heathens, and Christians, that God and our holy prophet have decreed, that the whole vault of heaven is to be converted into a fiery furnace, wherein the nations of the earth are to be melted like ore in the hands of the refiner?--Truly almost every nation has in itself life and spirit; but should not we, who are the noblest among them, feel that we are chosen to feed the flames; for, should the work advance so slowly as it now seems to do, all will perish in smoke; nor will the great Alchemist find at last aught but a mass of lifeless dross instead of pure metal remaining.”
“Prince!” said Abdallah confounded, “methinks you would banish peace from this whole earth, and with it all national laws and rights. What then would be left to us?”
“Rights of man!--rights of chivalry!--rights of women!” cried the emir with vehemence. “Each one should be held by his neighbour in due respect, and the masses should be mixed and shaken together, till they are fully melted, and thereafter assume of themselves finer forms than before.”
“But, may it please your highness,” said Abdallah, “who has revealed to you this mystery? or by whom have you been chosen for such a duty as that which you would now take upon your shoulders?”
“Are not the flames that burn here,” said the emir, beating on his breast, “enough to inform me, that I am chosen to assist like a firebrand in this mighty work?”--Suddenly pausing, however, he fixed a long, steadfast look on Abdallah, then added,--“Thou truly art no firebrand; neither heat nor light will come from thy heart; so let us talk no more of such matters, but get thee gone.”
Abdallah rose proudly from the sofa, and bowed in order to take leave. Then Nurreddin held out his hand kindly to the old man, and said,--“Well, though thou art not a flaming firebrand, yet art thou not the less a brave soldier. I shall not deal with thee as I have done with the broken lute that lies yonder; nor indeed had it been so treated, had it been fit for any other service,--even, for example, as a shield. But a mere lute must answer to our thoughts or be destroyed. For the rest, old man, it is better that thou should’st forget what I have said; or think, if thou wilt, that I have for once broken the laws of our prophet, and confused my senses with wine. Good night.”--Thereupon the soldier retreated, and the emir threw himself back on the couch, grinning with wrath and vexation.
He had not long been left thus alone, when there arose a great noise of music, clarionets, and cymbals, as if for some grand rejoicing, which rang and echoed through the castle. The emir started up in a rage, and called for his slaves.
“Who dares to begin that music,” cried he, “when your prince is alone and thoughtful? Is this a time to fill the palace with your senseless tumult and rejoicing?”--The slaves fell with their faces on the ground, and said, “Let not the anger of our sovereign lord and prince fall upon us; for, if a fault has been committed, the blame rests wholly on Alhafiz. He has just now arrived with his galley in the harbour, and has brought a veiled lady into the palace, telling every one that she was the long-wished-for damsel, whom the grand emir valued more than all the diamonds and pearls of the East. Hereupon we shouted for joy, and the music played to welcome her arrival.”
“If this indeed be true,” said Nurreddin, “then for the future Alhafiz shall be clad in cloth of gold and purple; nor shall he only possess the third of my treasures which was promised him, but shall sit at my left hand at the banquet-table, and ride next me in the battle-field. Should he not, however, have brought that inestimable gem, but come hither to disturb my repose by lying boasts, there shall be no want of wild beasts to tear him limb from limb, and scatter his bones to the four winds of heaven!”
Ere the prince ended his speech, lo! the cedar-wood door turned slowly on its silver hinges, and there came into the hall a tall female figure simply attired, with a long veil; on her left hand a frightful Moorish woman, and on her right the grinning Alhafiz. “Here, great prince,” said Alhafiz, “I have come to fulfil my promise; the damsel is yours, and the black slave was my best assistant. I recommend her to your favour, and hope also that you will now as faithfully remember your engagements to me.” The emir made him a signal to be silent. “Thou hast an untuneable voice, Alhafiz,” said he, “and thy unmannerly demands on me prove the meanness of thine own spirit. Disturb me not then in these moments, which are to me sacred and solemn: thou hast indeed fulfilled more than I had believed to be possible, and more than I can yet well understand. Know then that thou shalt not be the first man, to whom, through his whole life, Nurreddin has remained a debtor.” Hereupon Alhafiz and the black slave nodded triumphantly to each other, while the prince rose from his couch, came respectfully towards the damsel, and said, “I feel in mine inmost heart, noble lady, that Alhafiz has not deceived me, and that you are that unequalled gem and paragon of beauty after whom I have so long and ardently longed. Now then I appeal to your benign goodness. Do not let me be withheld longer from the sight of a countenance which doubtless is the most beautiful that in this world has ever been beheld.” “Your flatteries,” answered the damsel, “would never have lifted up the veil which I now wear; but since Heaven has permitted that I should thus fall into your power, and because it is not forbidden to a Christian maiden that she should walk forth without a mask or veil before all the world, so I shall act according to the prince’s commands.”
Hereupon her veil was rolled back. In the quiet majesty of her loveliness, Bertha von Lichtenried looked on the astonished emir, fixing on him her large blue eyes, shadowed by their dark frowning brows. Her smooth brown hair was parted on the forehead; quiet and collected she stood there, not indeed overpowering by her charms at first sight, but every moment entwining round the heart, bonds of chaste and respectful admiration.
For a long space they were both silent, the damsel, in the consciousness of her own virtuous dignity, and the emir in self-humiliation, because he now found that his usual pride and dictatorial spirit were overcome. “Noblest of damsels,” said he at length, “wherefore have you spoken of a prince or his commands, as if violence and constraint would here be laid upon you? I trust indeed, that no one has ever been so insolent as to force you to aught that was contrary to your own wishes, at least not in my name. That Moor, who now stands by the door, happened to overhear what I once said; namely, that I would give the third part of my worldly fortune to any one who would bring you hither, beautiful and innocent as you had been left by the Prince Mutza. But, by Heaven, your honour and dignity are dear to me, even more than my own; and I trust you have been induced to cross the seas, not by violence, but by eloquent and ingenious persuasions, or by the sweet spells that animate our Moorish love-songs.”
“I know not,” said Bertha, “what thou meanest by persuasions or love-songs; but your ambassador there, with his blackamoor band, forced me away from the blessed image of the cross on the shore of Gascony, to which I had clung for protection. The black slave who is here present was my servant, and betrayed me into his power.”
“So then!”--answered the emir, while his brows contracted, and every limb seemed quivering with rage, walking straightway towards a corner of the hall, where all sorts of weapons were hung in readiness. “Prince,” cried Alhafiz, his voice trembling with fear, “have I not brought to you the damsel, safe and sound in her beauty and innocence, as she was left by the Prince Mutza?”
“How darest thou say that she has been brought hither safe and sound?” said the emir in a voice of thunder; “and could’st thou look upon a form so angelic as this, and yet think of using violence? But be silent, wretches, in her honoured presence, and ere long you shall be silenced for ever.”
With these words he had drawn out two sharp javelins from among the trophies on the wall, and in a moment he had hurled them severally at Alhafiz and the black woman with such frightful certainty of aim, that, ere the eye could trace the weapons in their flight, his two victims were struck to the heart, and fell to the ground almost without even one shriek of anguish.
“Away with them!” cried the emir; “a doctor learned in the law shall come hither, and shall divide all my wealth fairly and equally into three parts. When the written deeds are completed, then the next heir of Alhafiz shall appear before me, that he may receive that portion which belongs to him. Henceforward no one shall again dare to speak of my promise, nor of the manner in which it has been fulfilled.” Thereafter the slaves covered up the dead bodies, and bore them away. Bertha meanwhile looked at them mournfully, and said, “Unfortunate victims! I well knew that your crime would be fearfully punished on your own heads; I warned you of this, and wherefore would you not desist? May Heaven have mercy on your souls!” Turning then to Nurreddin, she added, “What I should think of thee, I know not yet! Wert thou indeed chosen here for a supreme and righteous judge?” “Truly, methinks, I have been so chosen, noble lady,” answered the emir; “but enough of this. For the present, may it please you to repose yourself after your voyage? I would beg of you to lay aside all fear so long as you are under my roof; for to you these apprehensions, by which other young damsels might be assailed, are indeed unknown. It seems rather as if angels always hovered around you with their protecting wings, as if within the hallowed circle of your innocence such thoughts dared not enter as those by which other minds are in this world possessed. Do not think, however, that my character is like that of Alhafiz, who called himself my ambassador; for, in truth, I did not long to obtain you as a lover seeks after a young and beautiful mistress, but rather as a guardian angel,--a heaven-inspired sister, by whom I might for the future be chastised and counselled.” “Heaven’s will be done!” answered Bertha; “if it has been ordained, that one so humble as I am should point out the true path of religion and virtue to a restless warrior such as thou art, then doubtless I shall succeed in affording the counsels which thou desirest of me.” Meanwhile, on a signal from the emir, female slaves had come into the hall, to whom he gave in charge his beautiful guest, commanding that they should treat her with the utmost respect and attention. Then, with a grave and humble salutation, he took his leave.