soon as the queen my wife went out, continues the king of the Black Islands, I got up, dressed me in haste, took my scimitar, and followed her so quick that I soon heard the sound of her feet before me, and then walked softly after her, for fear of being heard. She passed through several gates, which opened upon her pronouncing some magical words; and the last she opened was that of the garden, which she entered: I stopped at the gate, that she might not perceive me, As she crossed a plot, and looking after her as far as I could in the night, I perceived that she entered a little wood, whose walks were guarded by thick palisadoes. I went thither by another way, and slipping behind the palisadoes of a long walk, I saw her walking there with a man.
I gave good heed to their discourse, and heard her say thus; I do not deserve, says the queen to her gallant, to be upbraided by you for want of diligence; you know very well what hinders me; but if all the marks of love that I have already given you be not enough, I am ready to give you greater marks of it: You need but command me; you know my power. I will, if you desire it, before sun-rising, change this great city, and this fine palace, into frightful ruins, which shall be inhabited by nothing but wolves, owls, and ravens. Would you have me to transport all the stones of those walls, so solidly built, beyond mount Caucasus, and out of the bounds of the habitable world? Speak but the word, and all those places shall be changed.
As the queen finished these words, her gallant and she came to the end of the walk, turned to enter another, and passed before me. I had already drawn my scimitar, and her gallant being next me, I struck him in the neck, and made him fall to the ground. I thought I had killed him, and therefore retired speedily without making myself known to the queen, whom I had a mind to spare, because she was my kinswoman.
In the mean time, the blow I had given her gallant was mortal, but she preserved his life by the force of her enchantments, in such a manner, however, that he could not be said to be either dead or alive. As I crossed the garden to return to the palace, I heard the queen cry out lamentably, and, judging by that how much she was grieved, I was pleased that I had spared her life.
When I returned to her apartment, I went to bed, and being satisfied with having punished the villain that did me the injury, I went to sleep; and when I awaked next morning, found the queen lying by me. Scheherazade was obliged to stop here, because she saw day.
O Heaven! sister, says Dinarzade, how it troubles me that you can say no more! Sister, replies the sultaness, you ought to have awaked me sooner; it is your fault. I will make amends next night, replies Dinarzade; for I doubt not but the sultan will be as willing to hear out the story as I am; and I hope he will be so good as to let you live one day more.
The Twenty-fourth Night.
Dinarzade was actually as good as her word; she called the sultaness very early, saying, Dear sister, if you be not asleep, pray make an end of the agreeable history of the king of the Black Isles; I am ready to die with impatience to know how he came to be changed into marble. You shall hear it, replies Scheherazade, if the sultan will give me leave.
I found the queen lying by me, then, says the king of the Black Islands; I cannot tell you whether she slept or not; but I got up without making any noise, and went to my closet, where I made an end of dressing myself. I afterwards went and held my council, and, at my return, the queen was clad in mourning, her hair hanging about her eyes, and part of it pulled off. She presented herself before me, and said, Sir, I come to beg your majesty not to be surprised to see me in this condition; three afflicting pieces of news that I have just now received all at once are the cause of my heavy grief, of which the tokens you see are but very faint resemblances. Alas! what is that news, madam, said I? The death of the queen, my dear mother, said she; that of the king my father killed in battle; and that of one of my brothers, who is fallen headlong into it.
I was not ill pleased that she made use of this pretext to hide the true cause of her grief, and I thought she had not suspected me to have killed her gallant. Madam, said I, I am so far from blaming your grief, that I assure you I am willing to bear what share of it is proper for me. I should very much wonder if you were insensible of so great a loss. Mourn on, your tears are so many proofs of your good-nature; but I hope, however, that time and reason will moderate your grief.
She retired into her apartment, where, giving herself wholly up to sorrow, she spent a whole year in mourning and afflicting herself. At the end of that time, she begged leave of me to build a burying-place for herself within the bounds of the palace, where she would continue, she told me, to the end of her days. I agreed to it, and she built a stately palace, with a cupola, that may be seen here, and she called it the Palace of Tears. When it was finished, she caused her gallant to be brought thither from the place that she made him to be carried the same night that I wounded him; she had hindered his dying by the drink she gave him, and carried to him herself every day after he came to the Palace of Tears.
Yet, with all her enchantments, she could not cure the wretch; he was not only unable to walk, and to help himself, but had also lost the use of his speech, and gave no sign of life but only by his looks. Though the queen had no other consolation but to see him, and to say to him all that her foolish passion could inspire her with, yet every day she made him two long visits; I was very well informed of all this, but pretended to know nothing of it.
One day I went out of curiosity to the Palace of Tears to see how the princess employed herself, and, going to a place where she could not see me, I heard her speak thus to her gallant: I am afflicted to the highest degree to see you in this condition; I am as sensible as you are yourself of the tormenting grief you endure; but, dear soul, I always speak to you, and you do not answer me. How long will you be silent? speak only one word: Alas! the sweetest moments of my life are those I spend here in partaking of your grief. I cannot live at a distance from you, and would prefer the pleasure of always seeing you to the empire of the universe.
At these words, which were several times interrupted by her sighs and sobs, I lost all patience; and, discovering myself, came up to her, and said, Madam, you have mourned enough, it is time to give over this sorrow which dishonours us both; you have too much forgotten what you owe to me and to yourself. Sir, says she, if you have any kindness or complaisance left for me, I beseech you to put no force upon me; allow me to give myself up to mortal grief; it is impossible for time to lessen it.
When I saw that my discourse, instead of bringing her to her duty, served only to increase her rage, I gave over and retired. She continued every day to visit her gallant, and for two long years gave herself up to excessive grief.
I went a second time to the Palace of Tears while she was there; I hid myself again, and heard her speak thus to her gallant: It is now three years since you spoke one word to me; you return no answer to the marks of love I give you by my discourse and groans. Is it from want of sense, or out of contempt? O tomb! have you abated that excessive love he had for me? Have you shut those eyes that showed me so much love, and were all my joy? No, no, I believe nothing of it. Tell me rather by what miracle you became intrusted with the rarest treasure that ever was in the world?
I must confess, my lord, I was enraged at these words; for, in short, this gallant so much doted upon, this adored mortal, was not such a one as you would imagine him to have been; he was a black Indian, a native of that country. I say, I was so enraged at this discourse, that I discovered myself all of a sudden, and addressing the tomb in my turn, O tomb! cried I, why do you not swallow up that monster in nature, or rather why do you not swallow up the gallant and his mistress?
I had scarcely finished these words, when the queen, who sat by the black, rose up like a fury. Ah, cruel man! says she, thou art the cause of my grief; do not you think but I know it. I have dissembled it but too long; it is thy barbarous hand which hath brought the object of my love to this lamentable condition; and you are so hard-hearted as to come and insult a despairing lover. Yes, said I, in a rage, it is I who chastized that monster according to his desert; I ought to have treated thee in the same manner; I repent now that I did not do it; thou hast abused my goodness too long. As I spoke these words, I drew out my scimitar, and lifted up my hand to punish her; but she, steadfastly beholding me, said, with a jeering smile, Moderate thy anger. At the same time she pronounced words I did not understand, and afterwards added, By virtue of my enchantments, I command thee immediately to become half marble and half man. Immediately, my lord, I became such as you see me, already