Читать книгу 1001 Nights - Richard Francis Burton - Страница 103

Table of Contents

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that King Sharrkan bade them write for the merchant a mandate, after paying him his monies; and they wrote a perpetual patent, exempting him from the tithe upon his merchandise and forbidding any in his government to molest him; and lastly bestowed upon him a splendid dress of honour. Then all about him retired, and none remained save the Kazis and the merchant, whereupon said he to the judges, “I wish you to hear such discourse from this damsel as may prove her knowledge and accomplishments in all aimed for her by this trader, that we ascertain the truth of his assertions.” They answered, “There is no evil in that!”; and he commanded the curtain to be let down between him and those with him and the maiden and those with her; and the women about the damsel behind the curtains began to wish her joy and kiss her hands and feet, when they learned that she was become the King’s wife. Then they came round her and took off her dresses easing her of the weight of her clothes and began to look upon her beauty and loveliness. Presently the wives of the Emirs and Wazirs heard that King Sharrkan had bought a hand maiden unmatched for her beauty and learning and philosophy and account keeping, and versed in all branches of knowledge, that he had paid for her three hundred and twenty thousand dinars, and that he had set her free and had written a marriage contract with her and had summoned the four Kazis to make trial of her, how she would answer all their questions and hold disputetion with them. So they asked leave of their husbands and repaired to the palace wherein was Nuzhat al-Zaman. When they came in to her, they found the eunuchs standing before her; and, as soon as she saw the wives of the Emirs and Wazirs and Grandees of the realm coming to call upon her, she arose to them on her feet and met them with courtesy, her handmaidens standing behind her, and she received them saying, “Ye be welcome!” The while she smiled in their faces so as to win their hearts; and she promised them all manner of good and seated them in their proper stations, as if she had been brought up with them; so all wondered at her beauty and loveliness and said to one another, “This damsel is none other than a Queen, the daughter of a King.” Then they sat down, magnifying her worth and said to her, “O our lady, this our city is illumined by thee, and our country and abode and birth place and reign are honoured by thy presence. The kingdom indeed is thy kingdom and the palace is thy palace, and we all are thy handmaids; so, by Allah, do not shut us out from thy favours and the sight of thy beauty.” And she thanked them for this. All this while the curtains were let down between Nuzhat al-Zaman and the women with her, on the one side, and King Sharrkan and the four Kazis and the merchant seated by him on the other. Presently King Sharrkan called to her and said, “O Queen, the glory of thine age, this merchant hath described thee as being learned and accomplished; and he claimeth that thou art skilled in all branches of knowledge, even to astrology: so let us hear something of all this he hath mentioned, and favour us with a short discourse on such subjects.” She replied, saying: “O King, to hear is to obey.958 The first subjects whereof I will treat are the art of government and the duties of Kings and what behoveth governors of command meets according to religious law, and what is incumbent on them in respect of satisfactory speech and manners. Know then, O King, that all men’s works tend either to religious or to laical life, for none attaineth to religion save through this world, because it is the best road to futurity. Now the works of this world are not ordered save by the doings of its people, and men’s doings are divided into four divisions, government, commerce, husbandry and craftsmanship. Now government requireth perfect administration with just and true judgment; for government is the pivot of the edifice of the world, which world is the road to futurity; since Allah Almighty hath made the world for His servants as viaticum to the traveller for the attainment of his goal; and it befitteth each man that he receive of it such measure as shall bring him to Allah, and that he follow not herein his own mind and his individual lust. If folk would take of worldly goods with justice and equity, all cause of contention would be cut off; but they take thereof with violence ant after their own desires, and their persistence therein giveth rise to contentions; so they have need of the Sultan, that he do justice between them and order their affairs; and, if the King restrain not his folk from one another, the strong will drive the weak to the wall. Hence Ardeshir959 saith, ‘Religion and Kingship be twins’; religion is a hidden treasure and the King is its keeper; and the Divine Ordinances and men’s intelligence point out that it behoveth the people to adopt a Sultan who shall withhold oppressor from oppressed and do the weak justice against the strong and restrain the violence of the proud and the rebels against rule. For know, O King, that according to the measure of the Sultan’s good morals, even so will be the time; as saith the Apostle of Allah (on whom be peace and salvation!), ‘There be two classes who, if they be good, the people will be good; and if they be bad, the people will be bad, even the Olema and the Emirs.’ And it is said by a certain sage, ‘There be three kinds of Kings, the King of the Faith, the King who protecteth things to which reverence is due, and the King of his own lusts.’ The King of the Faith obligeth his subjects to follow their faith, and it behoveth he be the most faithful,960 for it is by him that they take pattern in the things of the Faith; and it becometh the folk to obey him in whatso he commandeth according to Divine Ordinance; but he shall hold the discontented in the same esteem as the contented, because of submission to the decrees of Destiny. As for the King who protecteth things to be reverenced, he upholdeth the things of the Faith and of the World and compelleth his folk to follow the Divine Law and to preserve the rights of humanity; and it fitteth him to unite Pen and Sword; for whoso declineth from what Pen hath written his feet slip and the King shall rectify his error with the sharp Sword and dispread his justice over all mankind. As for the King of his own lusts, he hath no religion but the following his desire and, as he feareth not the wrath of his Lord who set him on the throne, so his Kingdom inclineth to deposition and the end of his pride is in the house of perdition. And sages say, ‘The King hath need of many people, but the people have need of but one King’ wherefore it beseemeth that he be well acquainted with their natures, that he reduce their discord to concord, that with his justice be encompass them all and with his bounties overwhelm them all. And know, O King, that Ardeshir, styled Jamr Shadíd, or the Live Coal, third of the Kings of Persia, conquered the whole world and divided it into four divisions and, for this purpose, get for himself four seal rings, one for each division. The first seal was that of the sea and the police of prohibition and on it was written, Alterna lives. The second was the seal of tribute and of the receipt of monies, and on it was written, Building up. The third was the seal of the provisioning department and on it was written, Plenty. The fourth was the seal of the oppressed, and on it was written, Justice. And these usages remained valid in Persia until the revelation of Al–Islam. Chosroës also wrote his son, who was with the army, ‘Be not thou too open handed with thy troops, or they will be too rich to need thee.’— And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.