No sooner was the Caliph gone than the Emir commanded biers to be
brought, and forbad that any one should enter the harem. Every window
was fastened, all instruments of music were broken, and the Imams began
to recite their prayers; towards the close of this melancholy day Vathek
sobbed in silence, for they had been forced to compose with anodynes his
convulsions of rage and desperation.
At the dawn of the succeeding morning the wide folding doors of the
palace were set open, and the funeral procession moved forward for the
mountain. The wailful cries of “La Ilah illa Allah!” reached to the
Caliph, who was eager to cicatrise himself and attend the ceremonial; nor
could he have been dissuaded, had not his excessive weakness disabled him
from walking; at the few first steps he fell on the ground, and his
people were obliged to lay him on a bed, where he remained many days in
such a state of insensibility, as excited compassion in the Emir himself.
When the procession was arrived at the grot of Meimoune, Shaban and
Sutlememe dismissed the whole of the train, excepting the four
confidential eunuchs who were appointed to remain. After resting some
moments near the biers, which had been left in the open air, they caused
them to be carried to the brink of a small lake, whose banks were
overgrown with a hoary moss; this was the great resort of herons and
storks, which preyed continually on little blue fishes. The dwarfs,
instructed by the Emir, soon repaired thither, and, with the help of the
eunuchs, began to construct cabins of rushes and reeds, a work in which
they had admirable skill; a magazine also was contrived for provisions,
with a small oratory for themselves, and a pyramid of wood neatly piled,
to furnish the necessary fuel, for the air was bleak in the hollows of
the mountains.
At evening two fires were kindled on the brink of the lake, and the two
lovely bodies, taken from their biers, were carefully deposited upon a
bed of dried leaves within the same cabin. The dwarfs began to recite
the Koran with their clear shrill voices, and Shaban and Sutlememe stood
at some distance, anxiously waiting the effects of the powder. At length
Nouronihar and Gulchenrouz faintly stretched out their arms, and
gradually opening their eyes, began to survey with looks of increasing
amazement every object around them; they even attempted to rise, but for
want of strength fell back again; Sutlememe on this administered a
cordial, which the Emir had taken care to provide.
Gulchenrouz, thoroughly aroused, sneezed out aloud, and raising himself
with an effort that expressed his surprise, left the cabin, and inhaled
the fresh air with the greatest avidity.
“Yes,” said he, “I breathe again! again do I exist! I hear sounds! I
behold a firmament spangled over with stars!”
Nouronihar, catching these beloved accents, extricated herself from the
leaves, and ran to clasp Gulchenrouz to her bosom. The first objects she
remarked were their long simars, their garlands of flowers, and their
naked feet; she hid her face in her hands to reflect; the vision of the
enchanted bath, the despair of her father, and, more vividly than both,
the majestic figure of Vathek recurred to her memory; she recollected
also that herself and Gulchenrouz had been sick and dying; but all these
images bewildered her mind. Not knowing where she was, she turned her
eyes on all sides, as if to recognise the surrounding scene; this
singular lake, those flames reflected from its glassy surface, the pale
hues of its banks, the romantic cabins, the bulrushes that sadly waved
their drooping heads, the storks whose melancholy cries blended with the
shrill voices of the dwarfs, everything conspired to persuade them that
the Angel of Death had opened the portal of some other world.
Gulchenrouz on his part, lost in wonder, clung to the neck of his cousin:
he believed himself in the region of phantoms, and was terrified at the
silence she preserved; at length addressing her:
“Speak,” said he, “where are we? do you not see those spectres that are
stirring the burning coals? are they Monker and Nakir, come to throw us
into them? does the fatal bridge cross this lake, whose solemn stillness
perhaps conceals from us an abyss, in which for whole ages we shall be
doomed incessantly to sink?”
“No, my children!” said Sutlememe, going towards them, “take comfort! the
exterminating Angel, who conducted our souls hither after yours, hath
assured us that the chastisement of your indolent and voluptuous life
shall be restricted to a certain series of years, which you must pass in
this dreary abode, where the sun is scarcely visible, and where the soil
yields neither fruits nor flowers. These,” continued she, pointing to
the dwarfs, “will provide for our wants, for souls so mundane as ours
retain too strong a tincture of their earthly extraction; instead of
meats your food will be nothing but rice, and your bread shall be
moistened in the fogs that brood over the surface of the lake.”
At this desolating prospect the poor children burst into tears, and
prostrated themselves before the dwarfs, who perfectly supported their
characters, and delivered an excellent discourse of a customary length
upon the sacred camel, which after a thousand years was to convey them to
the paradise of the faithful.
The sermon being ended, and ablutions performed, they praised Allah and
the Prophet, supped very indifferently, and retired to their withered
leaves. Nouronihar and her little cousin consoled themselves on finding
that, though dead, they yet lay in one cabin. Having slept well before,
the remainder of the night was spent in conversation on what had befallen
them, and both, from a dread of apparitions, betook themselves for
protection to one another’s arms.
In the morning, which was lowering and rainy, the dwarfs mounted high
poles like minarets, and called them to prayers; the whole congregation,
which consisted of Sutlememe, Shaban, the four eunuchs, and some storks,
were already assembled. The two children came forth from their cabin
with a slow and dejected pace; as their minds were in a tender and
melancholy mood, their devotions were performed with fervour. No sooner
were they finished, than Gulchenrouz demanded of Sutlememe and the rest,
“how they happened to die so opportunely for his cousin and himself.”
“We killed ourselves,” returned Sutlememe, “in despair at your death.”
On this, said Nouronihar, who, notwithstanding what was past, had not yet
forgotten her vision: “And the Caliph! is he also dead of his grief? and
will he likewise come hither?”
The dwarfs, who were prepared with an answer, most demurely replied:
“Vathek is damned beyond all redemption!”
“I readily believe so,” said Gulchenrouz, “and I am glad from my heart to
hear it; for I am convinced it was his horrible look that sent us hither
to listen to sermons and mess upon rice.”
One week passed away on the side of the lake unmarked by any variety;
Nouronihar ruminating on the grandeur of which death had deprived her,
and Gulchenrouz applying to prayers and to panniers, along with the
dwarfs, who infinitely pleased him.
Whilst this scene of innocence was exhibiting in the mountains, the
Caliph presented himself to the Emir in a new light; the instant he
recovered the use of his senses, with a voice that made Bababalouk quake,
he thundered out: “Perfidious Giaour! I renounce thee for ever! it is
thou who hast slain my beloved Nouronihar! and I supplicate the pardon of
Mahomet, who would have preserved her to me had I been more wise; let
water be brought to perform my ablutions, and let the pious Fakreddin be
called to offer up his prayers with mine, and reconcile me to him;
afterwards we will go together and visit the sepulchre of the unfortunate
Nouronihar; I am resolved to become a hermit, and consume the residue of
my days on this mountain, in hope of expiating my crimes.”
Nouronihar was not altogether so content, for though she felt a fondness
for Gulchenrouz, who, to augment the attachment, had been left at full
liberty with her, yet she still regarded him as but a bauble, that bore
no competition with the carbuncle of Giamschid. At times she indulged
doubts on the mode of her being, and scarcely could believe that the dead
had all the wants and the whims of the living. To gain satisfaction,
however, on so perplexing a topic, she arose one morning whilst all were
asleep, with a breathless caution, from the side of Gulchenrouz, and,
after having given him a soft kiss, began to follow the windings of the
lake till it terminated with a rock, whose top was accessible, though
lofty; this she clambered up with considerable toil, and having reached
the summit, set forward in a run, like a doe that unwittingly follows her
hunter; though she skipped along with the alertness of an antelope, yet
at intervals she was forced to desist, and rest beneath the tamarisks to
recover her breath. Whilst she, thus reclined, was occupied with her
little reflections on the apprehension that she had some knowledge of the
place, Vathek, who, finding himself that morning but ill at ease, had
gone forth before the dawn, presented himself on a sudden to her view;
motionless with surprise, he durst not approach the figure before him,
which lay shrouded up in a simar, extended on the ground, trembling and
pale, but yet lovely to behold. At length Nouronihar, with a mixture of
pleasure and affliction, raising her fine eyes to him, said: “My lord,
are you come hither to eat rice and hear sermons with me?”
“Beloved phantom!” cried Vathek; “dost thou speak? hast thou the same
graceful form? the same radiant features? art thou palpable likewise?”
and, eagerly embracing her, added: “here are limbs and a bosom animated
with a gentle warmth! what can such a prodigy mean?”
Nouronihar with diffidence answered: “You know, my lord, that I died on
the night you honoured me with your visit; my cousin maintains it was
from one of your glances, but I cannot believe him; for to me they seem
not so dreadful. Gulchenrouz died with me, and we were both brought into
a region of desolation, where we are fed with a wretched diet. If you be
dead also, and are come hither to join us, I pity your lot; for you will
be stunned with the noise of the dwarfs and the storks; besides, it is
mortifying in the extreme that you, as well as myself, should have lost
the treasures of the subterranean palace.”
At the mention of the subterranean palace the Caliph suspended his
caresses, to seek from Nouronihar an explanation of her meaning. She
then recapitulated her vision, what immediately followed, and the history
of her pretended death, adding also a description of the place of
expiation from whence she had fled, and all in a manner that would have
extorted his laughter, had not the thoughts of Vathek been too deeply
engaged. No sooner, however, had she ended, than he again clasped her to
his bosom, and said:
“Light of my eyes! the mystery is unravelled; we both are alive! your
father is a cheat, who, for the sake of dividing, hath deluded us both;
and the Giaour, whose design, as far as I can discover, is that we shall
proceed together, seems scarce a whit better; it shall be some time at
least before he find us in his palace of fire. Your lovely little person
in my estimation is far more precious than all the treasures of the
pre-adamite Sultans, and I wish to possess it at pleasure, and in open
day, for many a moon, before I go to burrow underground like a mole.
Forget this little trifler, Gulchenrouz, and—”
“Ah! my lord!” interposed Nouronihar, “let me entreat that you do him no
evil.”
“No, no!” replied Vathek, “I have already bid you forbear to alarm
yourself for him; he has been brought up too much on milk and sugar to
stimulate my jealousy; we will leave him with the dwarfs, who, by the
bye, are my old acquaintances; their company will suit him far better
than yours. As to other matters, I will return no more to your father’s;
I want not to have my ears dinned by him and his dotards with the
violation of the rites of hospitality; as if it were less an honour for
you to espouse the sovereign of the world than a girl dressed up like a
boy!”
Nouronihar could find nothing to oppose in a discourse so eloquent; she
only wished the amorous monarch had discovered more ardour for the
carbuncle of Giamschid; but flattered herself it would gradually
increase, and therefore yielded to his will with the most bewitching
submission.
When the Caliph judged it proper, he called for Bababalouk, who was
asleep in the cave of Meimoune, and dreaming that the phantom of
Nouronihar, having mounted him once more on her swing, had just given him
such a jerk, that he one moment soared above the mountains, and the next
sunk into the abyss; starting from his sleep at the voice of his master,
he ran gasping for breath, and had nearly fallen backward at the sight,
as he believed, of the spectre by whom he had so lately been haunted in
his dream.
“Ah, my lord!” cried he, recoiling ten steps, and covering his eyes with
both hands: “do you then perform the office of a Goul? ’tis true you have
dug up the dead, yet hope not to make her your prey; for after all she
hath caused me to suffer, she is even wicked enough to prey upon you.”
“Cease thy folly,” said Vathek, “and thou shalt soon be convinced that it
is Nouronihar herself, alive and well, whom I clasp to my breast; go only
and pitch my tents in the neighbouring valley; there will I fix my abode
with this beautiful tulip, whose colours I soon shall restore; there
exert thy best endeavours to procure whatever can augment the enjoyments
of life, till I shall disclose to thee more of my will.”
The news of so unlucky an event soon reached the ears of the Emir, who
abandoned himself to grief and despair, and began, as did all his old
grey-beards, to begrime his visage with ashes. A total supineness
ensued, travellers were no longer entertained, no more plaisters were
spread, and, instead of the charitable activity that had distinguished
this asylum, the whole of its inhabitants exhibited only faces of a half
cubit long, and uttered groans that accorded with their forlorn
situation.
Though Fakreddin bewailed his daughter as lost to him for ever, yet
Gulchenrouz was not forgotten. He despatched immediate instruction to
Sutlememe, Shaban, and the dwarfs, enjoining them not to undeceive the
child in respect to his state, but, under some pretence, to convey him
far from the lofty rock at the extremity of the lake, to a place which he
should appoint, as safer from danger; for he suspected that Vathek
intended him evil.
Gulchenrouz in the meanwhile was filled with amazement at not finding his
cousin; nor were the dwarfs at all less surprised; but Sutlememe, who had
more penetration, immediately guessed what had happened. Gulchenrouz was
amused with the delusive hope of once more embracing Nouronihar in the
interior recesses of the mountains, where the ground, strewed over with
orange blossoms and jasmines, offered beds much more inviting than the
withered leaves in their cabin, where they might accompany with their
voices the sounds of their lutes, and chase butterflies in concert.
Sutlememe was far gone in this sort of description, when one of the four
eunuchs beckoned her aside to apprise her of the arrival of a messenger
from their fraternity, who had explained the secret of the flight of
Nouronihar, and brought the commands of the Emir. A council with Shaban
and the dwarfs was immediately held; their baggage being stowed in
consequence of it, they embarked in a shallop, and quietly sailed with
the little one, who acquiesced in all their proposals; their voyage
proceeded in the same manner till they came to the place where the lake
sinks beneath the hollow of the rock; but as soon as the bark had entered
it, and Gulchenrouz found himself surrounded with darkness, he was seized
with a dreadful consternation, and incessantly uttered the most piercing
outcries; for he now was persuaded he should actually be damned for
having taken too much freedom in his life-time with his cousin.
But let us return to the Caliph and her who ruled over his heart.
Bababalouk had pitched the tents, and closed up the extremities of the
valley with magnificent screens of India cloth, which were guarded by
Ethiopian slaves with their drawn sabres; to preserve the verdure of this
beautiful enclosure in its natural freshness, the white eunuchs went
continually round it with their red water-vessels. The waving of fans
was heard near the imperial pavilion, where, by the voluptuous light that
glowed through the muslins, the Caliph enjoyed at full view all the
attractions of Nouronihar. Inebriated with delight, he was all ear to
her charming voice, which accompanied the lute; while she was not less
captivated with his descriptions of Samarah and the tower full of
wonders, but especially with his relation of the adventure of the ball,
and the chasm of the Giaour, with its ebony portal.
In this manner they conversed for a day and a night; they bathed together
in a basin of black marble, which admirably relieved the fairness of
Nouronihar. Bababalouk, whose good graces this beauty had regained,
spared no attention that their repasts might be served up with the
minutest exactness; some exquisite rarity was ever placed before them;
and he sent even to Schiraz for that fragrant and delicious wine which
had been hoarded up in bottles prior to the birth of Mahomet; he had
excavated little ovens in the rock to bake the nice manchets which were
prepared by the hands of Nouronihar, from whence they had derived a
flavour so grateful to Vathek, that he regarded the ragouts of his other
wives as entirely mawkish; whilst they would have died at the Emir’s of
chagrin at finding themselves so neglected, if Fakreddin, notwithstanding
his resentment, had not taken pity upon them.
The Sultana Dilara, who till then had been the favourite, took this
dereliction of the Caliph to heart with a vehemence natural to her
character, for during her continuance in favour she had imbibed from
Vathek many of his extravagant fancies, and was fired with impatience to
behold the superb tombs of Istakar, and the palace of forty columns;
besides, having been brought up amongst the Magi, she had fondly
cherished the idea of the Caliph’s devoting himself to the worship of
fire; thus his voluptuous and desultory life with her rival was to her a
double source of affliction. The transient piety of Vathek had
occasioned her some serious alarms, but the present was an evil of far
greater magnitude; she resolved, therefore, without hesitation, to write
to Carathis, and acquaint her that all things went ill; that they had
eaten, slept, and revelled at an old Emir’s, whose sanctity was very
formidable, and that after all, the prospect of possessing the treasures
of the pre-adamite Sultans was no less remote than before. This letter
was entrusted to the care of two wood-men, who were at work on one of the
great forests of the mountains, and, being acquainted with the shortest
cuts, arrived in ten days at Samarah.
The Princess Carathis was engaged at chess with Morakanabad, when the
arrival of these wood-fellers was announced. She, after some weeks of
Vathek’s absence, had forsaken the upper regions of her tower, because
everything appeared in confusion among the stars, whom she consulted
relative to the fate of her son. In vain did she renew her fumigations,
and extend herself on the roof to obtain mystic visions; nothing more
could she see in her dreams than pieces of brocade, nosegays of flowers,
and other unmeaning gewgaws. These disappointments had thrown her into a
state of dejection, which no drug in her power was sufficient to remove;
her only resource was in Morakanabad, who was a good man, and endowed
with a decent share of confidence, yet whilst in her company he never
thought himself on roses.
No person knew aught of Vathek, and a thousand ridiculous stories were
propagated at his expense. The eagerness of Carathis may be easily
guessed at receiving the letter, as well as her rage at reading the
dissolute conduct of her son. “Is it so?” said she; “either I will
perish, or Vathek shall enter the palace of fire. Let me expire in
flames, provided he may reign on the throne of Soliman!” Having said
this, and whirled herself round in a magical manner, which struck
Morakanabad with such terror as caused him to recoil, she ordered her
great camel Alboufaki to be brought, and the hideous Nerkes with the
unrelenting Cafour to attend. “I require no other retinue,” said she to
Morakanabad; “I am going on affairs of emergency; a truce therefore to
parade! Take you care of the people; fleece them well in my absence; for
we shall expend large sums, and one knows not what may betide.”
The night was uncommonly dark, and a pestilential blast ravaged the plain
of Catoul that would have deterred any other traveller, however urgent
the call; but Carathis enjoyed most whatever filled others with dread.
Nerkes concurred in opinion with her, and Cafour had a particular
predilection for a pestilence. In the morning this accomplished caravan,
with the wood-fellers who directed their route, halted on the edge of an
extensive marsh, from whence so noxious a vapour arose as would have
destroyed any animal but Alboufaki, who naturally inhaled these malignant
fogs. The peasants entreated their convoy not to sleep in this place.
“To sleep,” cried Carathis; “what an excellent thought! I never sleep
but for visions; and, as to my attendants, their occupations are too many
to close the only eye they each have.”
The poor peasants, who were not over-pleased with their party, remained
open-mouthed with surprise.
Carathis alighted, as well as her negresses, and severally stripping off
their outer garments, they all ran in their drawers, to cull from those
spots where the sun shone fiercest the venomous plants that grew on the
marsh; this provision was made for the family of the Emir, and whoever
might retard the expedition to Istakar. The wood-men were overcome with
fear when they beheld these three horrible phantoms run, and, not much
relishing the company of Alboufaki, stood aghast at the command of
Carathis to set forward, notwithstanding it was noon, and the heat fierce
enough to calcine even rocks. In spite, however, of every remonstrance,
they were forced implicitly to submit.
Alboufaki, who delighted in solitude, constantly snorted whenever he
perceived himself near a habitation; and Carathis, who was apt to spoil
him with indulgence, as constantly turned him aside, so that the peasants
were precluded from procuring subsistence; for the milch goats and ewes,
which Providence had sent towards the district they traversed, to refresh
travellers with their milk, all fled at the sight of the hideous animal
and his strange riders. As to Carathis, she needed no common aliment,
for her invention had previously furnished her with an opiate to stay her
stomach, some of which she imparted to her mutes.
At the fall of night Alboufaki, making a sudden stop, stamped with his
foot, which to Carathis, who understood his paces, was a certain
indication that she was near the confines of some cemetery. The moon
shed a bright light on the spot, which served to discover a long wall,
with a large door in it standing ajar, and so high that Alboufaki might
easily enter. The miserable guides, who perceived their end approaching,
humbly implored Carathis, as she had now so good an opportunity, to inter
them, and immediately gave up the ghost. Nerkes and Cafour, whose wit
was of a style peculiar to themselves, were by no means parsimonious of
it on the folly of these poor people, nor could anything have been found
more suited to their tastes than the site of the burying-ground, and the
sepulchres which its precincts contained; there were at least two
thousand of them on the declivity of a hill: some in the form of
pyramids, others like columns, and, in short, the variety of their shapes
was endless. Carathis was too much immersed in her sublime
contemplations to stop at the view, charming as it appeared in her eyes;
pondering the advantages that might accrue from her present situation,
she could not forbear to exclaim:
“So beautiful a cemetery must be haunted by Gouls! and they want not for
intelligence; having heedlessly suffered my guides to expire, I will
apply for directions to them, and as an inducement will invite them to
regale on these fresh corpses.”
After this short soliloquy she beckoned to Nerkes and Cafour, and made
signs with her fingers, as much as to say, “Go, knock against the sides
of the tombs, and strike up your delightful warblings, that are so like
to those of the guests whose company I wish to obtain.”
The negresses, full of joy at the behests of their mistress, and
promising themselves much pleasure from the society of the Gouls, went
with an air of conquest, and began their knockings at the tombs; as their
strokes were repeated a hollow noise was heard in the earth, the surface
hove up into heaps, and the Gouls on all sides protruded their noses, to
inhale the effluvia which the carcases of the wood-men began to emit.
They assembled before a sarcophagus of white marble, where Carathis was
seated between the bodies of her miserable guides; the princess received
her visitants with distinguished politeness, and, when supper was ended,
proceeded with them to business. Having soon learnt from them everything
she wished to discover, it was her intention to set forward forthwith on
her journey, but her negresses, who were forming tender connections with
the Gouls, importuned her with all their fingers to wait at least till
the dawn. Carathis, however, being chastity in the abstract, and an
implacable enemy to love and repose, at once rejected their prayer,
mounted Alboufaki, and commanded them to take their seats in a moment;
four days and four nights she continued her route, without turning to the
right hand or left; on the fifth she traversed the mountains and
half-burnt forests, and arrived on the sixth before the beautiful screens
which concealed from all eyes the voluptuous wanderings of her son.
It was daybreak, and the guards were snoring on their posts in careless
security, when the rough trot of Alboufaki awoke them in consternation.
Imagining that a group of spectres ascended from the abyss was
approaching, they all without ceremony took to their heels. Vathek was
at that instant with Nouronihar in the bath, hearing tales, and laughing
at Bababalouk, who related them; but no sooner did the outcry of his
guards reach him, than he flounced from the water like a carp, and as
soon threw himself back at the sight of Carathis, who, advancing with her
negresses upon Alboufaki, broke through the muslin awnings and veils of
the pavilion; at this sudden apparition Nouronihar (for she was not at
all times free from remorse) fancied that the moment of celestial
vengeance was come, and clung about the Caliph in amorous despondence.
Carathis, still seated on her camel, foamed with indignation at the
spectacle which obtruded itself on her chaste view; she thundered forth
without check or mercy: “Thou double-headed and four-legged monster! what
means all this winding and writhing? art thou not ashamed to be seen
grasping this limber sapling, in preference to the sceptre of the
pre-adamite Sultans? is it then for this paltry doxy that thou hast
violated the conditions in the parchment of our Giaour? is it on her thou
hast lavished thy precious moments? is this the fruit of the knowledge I
have taught thee? is this the end of thy journey? tear thyself from the
arms of this little simpleton, drown her in the water before me, and
instantly follow my guidance.”
In the first ebullition of his fury Vathek resolved to make a skeleton of
Alboufaki, and to stuff the skins of Carathis and her blacks; but the
ideas of the Giaour, the palace of Istakar, the sabres and the talismans,
flashing before his imagination with the simultaneousness of lightning,
he became more moderate, and said to his mother, in a civil but decisive
tone: “Dread lady! you shall be obeyed, but I will not drown Nouronihar;
she is sweeter to me than a Myrabolan comfit, and is enamoured of
carbuncles, especially that of Giamschid, which hath also been promised
to be conferred upon her; she therefore shall go along with us, for I
intend to repose with her beneath the canopies of Soliman; I can sleep no
more without her.”
“Be it so!” replied Carathis, alighting, and at the same time committing
Alboufaki to the charge of her women.
Nouronihar, who had not yet quitted her hold, began to take courage, and
said, with an accent of fondness to the Caliph: “Dear Sovereign of my
soul! I will follow thee, if it be thy will, beyond the Kaf in the land
of the Afrits; I will not hesitate to climb for thee the nest of the
Simurgh, who, this lady excepted, is the most awful of created
existences.”
“We have here then,” subjoined Carathis, “a girl both of courage and
science!”
Nouronihar had certainly both; but, notwithstanding all her firmness, she
could not help casting back a look of regret upon the graces of her
little Gulchenrouz, and the days of tenderness she had participated with
him; she even dropped a few tears, which Carathis observed, and
inadvertently breathed out with a sigh: “Alas! my gentle cousin! what
will become of him!”
Vathek at this apostrophe knitted up his brows, and Carathis inquired
what it could mean.
“She is preposterously sighing after a stripling with languishing eyes
and soft hair, who loves her,” said the Caliph.
“Where is he?” asked Carathis. “I must be acquainted with this pretty
child; for,” added she, lowering her voice, “I design before I depart to
regain the favour of the Giaour; there is nothing so delicious in his
estimation as the heart of a delicate boy, palpitating with the first
tumults of love.”
Vathek, as he came from the bath, commanded Bababalouk to collect the
women and other movables of his harem, embody his troops, and hold
himself in readiness to march in three days; whilst Carathis retired
alone to a tent, where the Giaour solaced her with encouraging visions;
but at length waking, she found at her feet Nerkes and Cafour, who
informed her by their signs that, having led Alboufaki to the borders of
a lake, to browse on some moss that looked tolerably venomous, they had
discovered certain blue fishes of the same kind with those in the
reservoir on the top of the tower.
“Ah! ha!” said she, “I will go thither to them; these fish are past doubt
of a species that, by a small operation, I can render oracular; they may
tell me where this little Gulchenrouz is, whom I am bent upon
sacrificing.” Having thus spoken, she immediately set out with her
swarthy retinue.
It being but seldom that time is lost in the accomplishment of a wicked
enterprise, Carathis and her negresses soon arrived at the lake, where,
after burning the magical drugs with which they were always provided,
they, stripping themselves naked, waded to their chins, Nerkes and Cafour
waving torches around them, and Carathis pronouncing her barbarous
incantations. The fishes with one accord thrust forth their heads from
the water, which was violently rippled by the flutter of their fins, and,
at length finding themselves constrained by the potency of the charm,
they opened their piteous mouths, and said: “From gills to tail we are
yours; what seek ye to know?”
“Fishes,” answered she, “I conjure you, by your glittering scales, tell
me where now is Gulchenrouz?”
“Beyond the rock,” replied the shoal in full chorus; “will this content
you? for we do not delight in expanding our mouths.”
“It will,” returned the princess; “I am not to learn that you like not
long conversations; I will leave you therefore to repose, though I had
other questions to propound.” The instant she had spoken the water
became smooth, and the fishes at once disappeared.
Carathis, inflated with the venom of her projects, strode hastily over
the rock, and found the amiable Gulchenrouz asleep in an arbour, whilst
the two dwarfs were watching at his side, and ruminating their accustomed
prayers. These diminutive personages possessed the gift of divining
whenever an enemy to good Mussulmans approached; thus they anticipated
the arrival of Carathis, who, stopping short, said to herself: “How
placidly doth he recline his lovely little head! how pale and languishing
are his looks! it is just the very child of my wishes!”
The dwarfs interrupted this delectable soliloquy by leaping instantly
upon her, and scratching her face with their utmost zeal. But Nerkes and
Cafour, betaking themselves to the succour of their mistress, pinched the
dwarfs so severely in return, that they both gave up the ghost, imploring
Mahomet to inflict his sorest vengeance upon this wicked woman and all
her household.
At the noise which this strange conflict occasioned in the valley,
Gulchenrouz awoke, and, bewildered with terror, sprung impetuously upon
an old figtree that rose against the acclivity of the rocks; from thence
gained their summits, and ran for two hours without once looking back.
At last, exhausted with fatigue, he fell as if dead into the arms of a
good old Genius, whose fondness for the company of children had made it
his sole occupation to protect them, and who, whilst performing his
wonted rounds through the air, happening on the cruel Giaour at the
instant of his growling in the horrible chasm, rescued the fifty little
victims which the impiety of Vathek had devoted to his maw; these the
Genius brought up in nests still higher than the clouds, and himself
fixed his abode in a nest more capacious than the rest, from which he had
expelled the possessors that had built it.
These inviolable asylums were defended against the Dives and the Afrits
by waving streamers, on which were inscribed, in characters of gold that
flashed like lightning, the names of Allah and the Prophet. It was there
that Gulchenrouz, who as yet remained undeceived with respect to his
pretended death, thought himself in the mansions of eternal peace, he
admitted without fear the congratulations of his little friends, who were
all assembled in the nest of the venerable Genius, and vied with each
other in kissing his serene forehead and beautiful eyelids. This he
found to be the state congenial to his soul; remote from the inquietudes
of earth, the impertinence of harems, the brutality of eunuchs, and the
lubricity of women: in this peacable society, his days, months, and years
glided on; nor was he less happy than the rest of his companions; for the
Genius, instead of burthening his pupils with perishable riches and the
vain sciences of the world, conferred upon them the boon of perpetual
childhood.
Carathis, unaccustomed to the loss of her prey, vented a thousand
execrations on her negresses for not seizing the child, instead of
amusing themselves with pinching to death the dwarfs, from which they
could gain no advantage. She returned into the valley murmuring, and
finding that her son was not risen from the arms of Nouronihar,
discharged her ill-humour upon both. The idea, however, of departing
next day for Istakar, and cultivating, through the good offices of the
Giaour, an intimacy with Eblis himself, at length consoled her chagrin.
But Fate had ordained it otherwise.
In the evening, as Carathis was conversing with Dilara, who, through her
contrivance, had become of the party, and whose taste resembled her own,
Bababalouk came to acquaint her “that the sky towards Samarah looked of a
fiery red, and seemed to portend some alarming disaster.” Immediately,
recurring to her astrolabes and instruments of magic, she took the
altitude of the planets, and discovered by her calculations, to her great
mortification, that a formidable revolt had taken place at Samarah; that
Motavakel, availing himself of the disgust which was inveterate against
his brother, had incited commotions amongst the populace, made himself
master of the palace, and actually invested the great tower, to which
Morakanabad had retired, with a handful of the few that still remained
faithful to Vathek.
“What!” exclaimed she; “must I lose then my tower! my mutes! my
negresses! my mummies! and, worse than all, the laboratory in which I
have spent so many a night, without knowing at least if my hair-brained
son will complete his adventure? No! I will not be the dupe!
Immediately will I speed to support Morakanabad; by my formidable art the
clouds shall sleet hailstones in the faces of the assailants, and shafts
of red-hot iron on their heads; I will spring mines of serpents and
torpedos from beneath them, and we shall soon see the stand they will
make against such an explosion!”
Having thus spoken, Carathis hastened to her son, who was tranquilly
banqueting with Nouronihar in his superb carnation-coloured tent.
“Glutton that thou art!” cried she, “were it not for me, thou wouldst
soon find thyself the commander only of pies. Thy faithful subjects have
abjured the faith they swore to thee; Motavakel, thy brother, now reigns
on the hill of pied horses, and had I not some slight resources in the
tower, would not be easily persuaded to abdicate; but, that time may not
be lost, I shall only add four words: Strike tent to-night, set forward,
and beware how thou loiterest again by the way; though thou hast
forfeited the conditions of the parchment, I am not yet without hope; for
it cannot be denied that thou hast violated to admiration the laws of
hospitality, by seducing the daughter of the Emir, after having partaken
of his bread and his salt. Such a conduct cannot but be delightful to
the Giaour; and if on thy march thou canst signalise thyself by an
additional crime, all will still go well, and thou shalt enter the palace
of Soliman in triumph. Adieu! Alboufaki and my negresses are waiting.”
The Caliph had nothing to offer in reply; he wished his mother a
prosperous journey, and ate on till he had finished his supper. At
midnight the camp broke up, amidst the flourishing of trumpets and other
martial instruments; but loud indeed must have been the sound of the
tymbals to overpower the blubbering of the Emir and his long-beards, who,
by an excessive profusion of tears, had so far exhausted the radical
moisture, that their eyes shrivelled up in their sockets, and their hairs
dropped off by the roots. Nouronihar, to whom such a symphony was
painful, did not grieve to get out of hearing; she accompanied the Caliph
in the imperial litter, where they amused themselves with imagining the
splendour which was soon to surround them. The other women, overcome
with dejection, were dolefully rocked in their cages, whilst Dilara
consoled herself with anticipating the joy of celebrating the rites of
fire on the stately terraces of Istakar.
In four days they reached the spacious valley of Rocnabad. The season of
spring was in all its vigour, and the grotesque branches of the almond
trees in full blossom fantastically chequered the clear blue sky; the
earth, variegated with hyacinths and jonquils, breathed forth a fragrance
which diffused through the soul a divine repose; myriads of bees, and
scarce fewer of Santons, had there taken up their abode; on the banks of
the stream hives and oratories were alternately ranged, and their
neatness and whiteness were set off by the deep green of the cypresses
that spired up amongst them. These pious personages amused themselves
with cultivating little gardens that abounded with flowers and fruits,
especially musk-melons of the best flavour that Persia could boast;
sometimes dispersed over the meadow, they entertained themselves with
feeding peacocks whiter than snow, and turtles more blue than the
sapphire; in this manner were they occupied when the harbingers of the
imperial procession began to proclaim: “Inhabitants of Rocnabad!
prostrate yourselves on the brink of your pure waters, and tender your
thanksgivings to Heaven, that vouchsafeth to show you a ray of its glory;
for lo! the Commander of the Faithful draws near.”
The poor Santons, filled with holy energy, having bustled to light up wax
torches in their oratories and expand the Koran on their ebony desks,
went forth to meet the Caliph with baskets of honeycomb, dates, and
melons. But, whilst they were advancing in solemn procession and with
measured steps, the horses, camels, and guards wantoned over their tulips
and other flowers, and made a terrible havoc amongst them. The Santons
could not help casting from one eye a look of pity on the ravages
committing around them, whilst the other was fixed upon the Caliph and
heaven. Nouronihar, enraptured with the scenery of a place which brought
back to her remembrance the pleasing solitudes where her infancy had
passed, entreated Vathek to stop; but he, suspecting that each oratory
might be deemed by the Giaour a distinct habitation, commanded his
pioneers to level them all; the Santons stood motionless with horror at
the barbarous mandate, and at last broke out into lamentations; but these
were uttered with so ill a grace, that Vathek bade his eunuchs to kick
them from his presence. He then descended from the litter with
Nouronihar; they sauntered together in the meadow, and amused themselves
with culling flowers, and passing a thousand pleasantries on each other.
But the bees, who were staunch Mussulmans, thinking it their duty to
revenge the insult on their dear masters the Santons, assembled so
zealously to do it with effect, that the Caliph and Nouronihar were glad
to find their tents prepared to receive them.
Bababalouk, who in capacity of purveyor had acquitted himself with
applause as to peacocks and turtles, lost no time in consigning some
dozens to the spit, and as many more to be fricasseed. Whilst they were
feasting, laughing, carousing, and blaspheming at pleasure on the banquet
so liberally furnished, the Moullahs, the Sheiks, the Cadis and Imams of
Schiraz (who seemed not to have met the Santons) arrived, leading by
bridles of riband inscribed from the Koran, a train of asses, which were
loaded with the choicest fruits the country could boast; having presented
their offerings to the Caliph, they petitioned him to honour their city
and mosques with his presence.
“Fancy not,” said Vathek, “that you can detain me; your presents I
condescend to accept, but beg you will let me be quiet, for I am not
over-fond of resisting temptation; retire, then; yet, as it is not decent
for personages so reverend to return on foot, and as you have not the
appearance of expert riders, my eunuchs shall tie you on your asses, with
the precaution that your backs be not turned towards me, for they
understand etiquette.”
In this deputation were some high-stomached Sheiks, who, taking Vathek
for a fool, scrupled not to speak their opinion. These Bababalouk girded
with double cords, and, having well disciplined their asses with nettles
behind, they all started with a preternatural alertness, plunging,
kicking, and running foul of each other in the most ludicrous manner
imaginable.
Nouronihar and the Caliph mutually contended who should most enjoy so
degrading a sight; they burst out in volleys of laughter to see the old
men and their asses fall into the stream; the leg of one was fractured,
the shoulder of another dislocated, the teeth of a third dashed out, and
the rest suffered still worse.
Two days more, undisturbed by fresh embassies, having been devoted to the
pleasures of Rocnabad, the expedition proceeded, leaving Shiraz on the
right, and verging towards a large plain, from whence were discernible on
the edge of the horizon the dark summits of the mountains of Istakar.
At this prospect the Caliph and Nouronihar were unable to repress their
transports; they bounded from their litter to the ground, and broke forth
into such wild exclamations, as amazed all within hearing. Interrogating
each other, they shouted, “Are we not approaching the radiant palace of
light? or gardens more delightful than those of Sheddad?” Infatuated
mortals! they thus indulged delusive conjecture, unable to fathom the
decrees of the Most High!
The good Genii, who had not totally relinquished the superintendence of
Vathek, repairing to Mahomet in the seventh heaven, said: “Merciful
Prophet! stretch forth thy propitious arms towards thy Vicegerent, who is
ready to fall irretrievably into the snare which his enemies, the Dives,
have prepared to destroy him; the Giaour is awaiting his arrival in the
abominable palace of fire, where, if he once set his foot, his perdition
will be inevitable.”
Mahomet answered with an air of indignation: “He hath too well deserved
to be resigned to himself, but I permit you to try if one effort more
will be effectual to divert him from pursuing his ruin.”
One of these beneficent Genii, assuming without delay the exterior of a
shepherd, more renowned for his piety than all the Dervises and Santons
of the region, took his station near a flock of white sheep on the slope
of a hill, and began to pour forth from his flute such airs of pathetic
melody as subdued the very soul, and, awakening remorse, drove far from
it every frivolous fancy. At these energetic sounds the sun hid himself
beneath a gloomy cloud, and the waters of two little lakes, that were
naturally clearer than crystal, became of a colour like blood. The whole
of this superb assembly was involuntarily drawn towards the declivity of
the hill; with downcast eyes they all stood abashed, each upbraiding
himself with the evil he had done; the heart of Dilara palpitated, and
the chief of the eunuchs with a sigh of contrition implored pardon of the
women, whom for his own satisfaction he had so often tormented.
Vathek and Nouronihar turned pale in their litter, and, regarding each
other with haggard looks, reproached themselves—the one with a thousand
of the blackest crimes, a thousand projects of impious ambition—the other
with the desolation of her family, and the perdition of the amiable
Gulchenrouz. Nouronihar persuaded herself that she heard in the fatal
music the groans of her dying father, and Vathek the sobs of the fifty
children he had sacrificed to the Giaour. Amidst these complicated pangs
of anguish they perceived themselves impelled towards the shepherd, whose
countenance was so commanding, that Vathek for the first time felt
overawed, whilst Nouronihar concealed her face with her hands.
The music paused, and the Genius, addressing the Caliph, said: “Deluded
Prince! to whom Providence hath confided the care of innumerable
subjects, is it thus that thou fulfillest thy mission? Thy crimes are
already completed, and art thou now hastening towards thy punishment?
Thou knowest that beyond these mountains Eblis and his accursed Dives
hold their infernal empire; and, seduced by a malignant phantom, thou art
proceeding to surrender thyself to them! This moment is the last of
grace allowed thee; abandon thy atrocious purpose; return; give back
Nouronihar to her father, who still retains a few sparks of life; destroy
thy tower with all its abominations; drive Carathis from thy councils; be
just to thy subjects; respect the ministers of the Prophet; compensate
for thy impieties by an exemplary life; and, instead of squandering thy
days in voluptuous indulgence, lament thy crimes on the sepulchres of thy
ancestors. Thou beholdest the clouds that obscure the sun; at the
instant he recovers his splendour, if thy heart be not changed, the time
of mercy assigned thee will be past for ever.”
Vathek, depressed with fear, was on the point of prostrating himself at
the feet of the shepherd, whom he perceived to be of a nature superior to
man; but, his pride prevailing, he audaciously lifted his head, and,
glancing at him one of his terrible looks, said: “Whoever thou art,
withhold thy useless admonitions; thou wouldst either delude me, or art
thyself deceived. If what I have done be so criminal as thou pretendest,
there remains not for me a moment of grace; I have traversed a sea of
blood to acquire a power which will make thy equals tremble; deem not
that I shall retire when in view of the port, or that I will relinquish
her who is dearer to me than either my life or thy mercy. Let the sun
appear! let him illumine my career! it matters not where it may end.” On
uttering these words, which made even the Genius shudder, Vathek threw
himself into the arms of Nouronihar, and commanded that his horse should
be forced back to the road.
There was no difficulty in obeying these orders, for the attraction had
ceased; the sun shone forth in all his glory, and the shepherd vanished
with a lamentable scream.
The fatal impression of the music of the Genius remained,
notwithstanding, in the heart of Vathek’s attendants; they viewed each
other with looks of consternation; at the approach of night almost all of
them escaped, and of this numerous assemblage there only remained the
chief of the eunuchs, some idolatrous slaves, Dilara and a few other
women, who, like herself, were votaries of the religion of the Magi.
The Caliph, fired with the ambition of prescribing laws to the
Intelligences of Darkness, was but little embarrassed at this
dereliction; the impetuosity of his blood prevented him from sleeping,
nor did he encamp any more as before. Nouronihar, whose impatience, if
possible, exceeded his own, importuned him to hasten his march, and
lavished on him a thousand caresses to beguile all reflection; she
fancied herself already more potent than Balkis, and pictured to her
imagination the Genii falling prostrate at the foot of her throne. In
this manner they advanced by moonlight, till they came within view of the
two towering rocks that form a kind of portal to the valley, at whose
extremity rose the vast ruins of Istakar. Aloft on the mountain
glimmered the fronts of various royal mausoleums, the horror of which was
deepened by the shadows of night. They passed through two villages
almost deserted, the only inhabitants remaining being a few feeble old
men, who, at the sight of horses and litters, fell upon their knees and
cried out:
“O Heaven! is it then by these phantoms that we have been for six months
tormented? Alas! it was from the terror of these spectres and the noise
beneath the mountains, that our people have fled, and left us at the
mercy of maleficent spirits!”
The Caliph, to whom these complaints were but unpromising auguries, drove
over the bodies of these wretched old men, and at length arrived at the
foot of the terrace of black marble; there he descended from his litter,
handing down Nouronihar; both with beating hearts stared wildly around
them, and expected with an apprehensive shudder the approach of the
Giaour; but nothing as yet announced his appearance.
A death-like stillness reigned over the mountain and through the air; the
moon dilated on a vast platform the shades of the lofty columns, which
reached from the terrace almost to the clouds; the gloomy watch-towers,
whose numbers could not be counted, were veiled by no roof, and their
capitals, of an architecture unknown in the records of the earth, served
as an asylum for the birds of darkness, which, alarmed at the approach of
such visitants, fled away croaking.
The chief of the eunuchs, trembling with fear, besought Vathek that a
fire might be kindled.
“No!” replied he, “there is no time left to think of such trifles; abide
where thou art, and expect my commands.”
Having thus spoken, he presented his hand to Nouronihar, and, ascending
the steps of a vast staircase, reached the terrace, which was flagged
with squares of marble, and resembled a smooth expanse of water, upon
whose surface not a leaf ever dared to vegetate; on the right rose the
watch-towers, ranged before the ruins of an immense palace, whose walls
were embossed with various figures; in front stood forth the colossal
forms of four creatures, composed of the leopard and the griffin; and,
though but of stone, inspired emotions of terror; near these were
distinguished by the splendour of the moon, which streamed full on the
place, characters like those on the sabres of the Giaour, that possessed
the same virtue of changing every moment; these, after vacillating for
some time, at last fixed in Arabic letters, and prescribed to the Caliph the following words: |
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