Her Majesty the King

Her Majesty the King

HER MAJESTY THE KING

A Romance of the Harem

Done into American from the Arabic By

JAMES JEFFREY ROCHE

With Illustrations by OLIVER HERFORD

NEW YORK R. H. RUSSELL 1902

Copyright, 1898, by James Jeffrey Roche Copyright, 1902, by Robert Howard Russell

UNIVERSITY PRESS · JOHN WILSON AND SON · CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.

DEDICATION.

To the lineal descendant of the Lady Kayenna, who told me this true history, the while I could but marvel and admire the teller; for, of a truth, since Scheherezade there hath been none to approach her in goodliness and wit and wisdom and all comeliness of mind and person and, especially, in a proper and intelligent appreciation of

THE ILLUSTRIOUS AUTHOR.

[Pg v]

FOREWARNING.

(YEAR OF THE HEGIRA 1276.)

Many, and in sooth foolish, are they who writing books send them forth to the world with humiliating disparagement of their contents and servile appeals for mercy to those who may read them. Now a man who hath dates, or coffee, or rice to sell goeth not into the market-place crying out, “Lo! the merchandise which I offer for sale is poor and mouldy and unworthy stuff; yet of your charity, good people, I pray you to buy,” seeking yet to cajole his hearers with coarse flattery. As if any man were silly enough to buy damaged goods because, forsooth, the vendor praised the good judgment of the buyer!

I, who have made the pilgrimage and kissed the Kaaba which endowed with truth, am not as the Franks who trust to the beguilement of the Stone of Bel-Ârni. This volume, containing the surprising adventures[Pg vi] of the good Kayenna and the marvellous wisdom of Shacabac, the Wayfarer, needeth no apology. If it excelleth all other works of history in lofty thought, in rich imagery, in polished style, and in perfect diction, it is only because I have made it to do so. Had it existed in the days of the good Caliph Omar, wisest of all censors, it would not have shared the fate of that mass of unworthy literature by him justly condemned to the flames. Rather would it have been commended to all the faithful as a work not to be hastily skimmed by the light and thoughtless who seek transitory knowledge in the public libraries, but to be bought and preserved for careful and frequent study by the discriminating reader.

While the work of no mortal is perfect, the only defect in this book is its brevity. Its merits are as many as its words. If any man fail to recognize them, let him wisely be silent, and, returning the book to him from whom he borrowed it, pray Allah for better judgment and mourn the hour in which he, unworthy, ever learned to read.

[Pg vii]

CONTENTS.

[Pg x]

THE ILLUSTRATIONS.

[Pg 13]

CHAPTER I.

He that repenteth too late may some time worry too soon.—The Kâtâmarana.

The Pasha Muley Mustapha was unhappy. He was a peaceloving, easy-tempered man, as Pashas go, and, when allowed to have his own way, was never inclined to ask for more. But now, after seven years of wedded life, he found his wishes thwarted, not for the first time, by the caprice of a woman, and that woman his only wife, Kayenna, well surnamed the Eloquent. The misunderstanding had arisen, innocently enough, in this way:—

[Pg 14]

“I think, my dear,” said Muley Mustapha, as he sat smoking his nargileh one day at the beginning of this history, while his wife reclined on a divan,—“I think, my dear, that my parents (may their memory be blessed!) made a great mistake in their treatment of me in my youth. I was brought up too strictly. They gave me no opportunity of seeing life in all its phases. Consequently, I find myself, in middle age, almost a stranger among my own subjects. I mean to adopt an entirely different system with little Muley.”

“In what way?” asked his wife, rising on her elbow, and casting a suspicious look at her lord.

“Well, in this way,” replied Muley Mustapha, deliberately,—“in this way. I intend to let him go out into the world, mingle with the youth of his own age, share in their sports, and, as the Giaours say, ‘sow his wild oats.’”

“‘In what way?’ asked his wife”

“Muley Mustapha,” said his wife, [Pg 15]sitting bolt upright, “you shall do nothing of the sort. ‘Sow his wild oats,’ indeed! He shall never leave my sight, not for a single moment, until he is a grown man and I have provided him with a wife to take my place as guardian of his morals. It ill becomes the trusted vassal of my noble father, the Sultan of Kopaul, to talk thus of corrupting the child who is to be one day ruler of that mighty empire. You forget that fact, Muley Mustapha.”

“On the contrary,” retorted the Pasha, a little tartly, “I am not likely to forget it, so long as the daughter of the Sultan of Kopaul condescends to remain the wife of the Pasha of Ubikwi.”

For Muley Mustapha had married above his station, and the circumstance had not been permitted to escape his memory. He never complained of his lot; but, when his faithful Vizier once[Pg 16] hinted that the Koran allowed each true believer the blessing of four wives, he answered with a sigh, “I find one enough for this world: the rest I will take in houris.”

Some subtle reflection of that sentiment must have made itself visible on the face of the Pasha at this moment; for his worthy spouse, with apparent irrelevance, suddenly exclaimed,—

“Muley Mustapha, if you are going to cast your vagabond Vizier in my face, I will leave the room—until I have time to go home to my father, who will protect me from insult.”

“Great Allah!” cried the Pasha. “Who is casting anybody in your face? And who has mentioned the name of the Vizier?”

But the virtuous Kayenna had risen to her feet, and in low, intense tones began:—

“Sir, there is a limit to what even a wife may endure. When I think that[Pg 17] a son of mine is threatened with contamination at the hands of a low, disreputable, adventurous vagabond, like your worthless underling”—

Here the good lady was so overcome by her feelings that she burst into a flood of tears, and had to be borne, shrieking, to her apartments.

“I foresee that I shall have trouble in bringing up that boy,” mused Muley Mustapha, as he relighted his nargileh, and stroked his flowing beard.

Braver man there was not in all Islam than the dauntless young Pasha of Ubikwi, whose valor on many a hard-fought field finally won him the favor of the Sultan of Kopaul, and the fair hand of that Sultan’s only child. Once, some years after his marriage, he propounded to Shacabac the Wayfarer, then a sage whose merits had not been appreciated by a dull generation, the old paradox of the Frankish schoolmen: “When an irresistible force meets with[Pg 18] an immovable object, what happeneth?” And the wise man answered, “In case of matrimony, the Force retireth from business.” Struck by the aptness of the reply, Muley Mustapha made the sage his Vizier on the spot.

From that day forth the Pasha had peace in his household. There is much virtue in self-abnegation; but, like most unconditional surrenders, it does not always evoke the admiration of the victors. Yet was Muley Mustapha not without his[Pg 19] reward. Kayenna knew just how far she might venture in dictating to him, and, by judiciously yielding that for which she cared naught, managed ever to obtain that which she desired. Thus doth the wise spouse gain new raiment by denying to her lord the society of an unbeloved mother-in-law.

[Pg 20]

CHAPTER II.

A lie grows so fast that its own parents may not recognize it.—Deucalion.

Three days after the occurrence of the events narrated in the preceding chapter a venerable man, clad in the robes of a physician, was ushered into the presence of the Pasha. He salaamed low, and said,—

“Great and mighty Pasha, I bring thee good news.”

“Speak,” said the Pasha: “what is thy news?”

“Great and good tidings,” answered the leech. “Mother and child are doing well.”

“Allah be blessed!” said Muley Mustapha. “And the boy? My own[Pg 21] little Muley! Is he a healthy, comely lad,—such an one, think you, as will hold his own among the gallants of the land, and not prove a puny milksop, clutching his mother’s apronstring?”

“Truly, O potent Pasha,” was the answer, “it is a fair and well-formed child, but”—

“But me no buts, knave,” roared the Pasha. “Darest thou say the boy is deformed,—blind,—deaf,—lame? Speak, or by the beard of the Prophet”—

“Mercy, O gracious lord! I meant nothing,” cried the sage, falling on his knees, “only this—the child”—

“Well, go on, and quickly. The child”—

“Is a girl, O great and mighty”—

But Muley Mustapha had leaped to his feet, spurning the old man from his way, and was shouting to his chief eunuch:—

[Pg 22]

“Ho, there, slave! Send me straightway the Vizier and the Soothsayer and—hark ye, slave, send me the Headsman. By Allah! there is work here for all three.”

The Pasha had a rich command of language, and he made free use of it while awaiting the summoned functionaries. Soon they were ushered into his presence, the swart Nubian, Al Choppah, bringing up the rear of the procession. The Soothsayer prostrated himself at the feet of the Pasha, who thus addressed him:—

Al Choppah, the Headsman

“O triple-tongued liar and silverhaired son of Gehenna, what hast thou to say for thyself? Dost remember that but six months ago thou didst issue a prophecy, standing before us as proud and confident as Bhilibidam, the haughty prince of Eblis, and didst say that I was to be the father of a son, and didst warrant the prediction with thy head? What should be done, O [Pg 23]Shacabac, with such a defaulter on his sacred pledge?”

“So please your Highness,” replied the Vizier, promptly, “I should foreclose on the security.”

“It is well said,” quoth the Pasha, and, signing to the Nubian, bade him advance and do his duty.

Al Choppah ran his thumb along the edge of his scimitar, swung it slowly aloft, and was about to bring it down, when the Soothsayer, in a trembling voice, cried out: “The will of Allah be done! But hath not thine own trusted adviser counselled mercy to all creatures, even to the least merciful? And, even though I die, I tell thee that the child born to thee this day shall reign over Kopaul!”

Astounded and secretly a little impressed by this remarkable speech, Muley Mustapha signed to the Nubian to withdraw to the ante-chamber. Then, bidding the Soothsayer stand[Pg 24] up, he said sternly: “Do not dare hope to escape thy doom by laughing at our beard. Explain thy riddle; but, first, Shacabac, what means the slave by saying that thou hast counselled mercy even to the least merciful of creatures?”

Shacabac, who did not disdain the music of his own voice, replied:—

“Truly, this Soothsayer hath deeply offended; but he showeth a proper taste in literature, and, perchance, seeth more of the future than ordinary mortals. It is true, I have counselled mercy to all creatures; for mercy may sometimes be wisdom. I have said:—

“‘Kick not the sleeping tiger in thy path; and, if thou meetest a shark in the river, go thy way,—the sea is wide enough for him and for thee.

“‘Utter no evil, not even of the dumb beasts. If thy horse offend thee, put him away from thee; and when[Pg 25] thou sellest him, speak only of his good parts.’

“I have also written: ‘Dispute not with thy neighbor if his hens permeate thy garden, but bid them welcome and give them shelter. So shalt thou have fresh-laid eggs for thy breakfast.’

“As to this wretched Soothsayer, I fear me much his character as a prophet is sorely damaged. Nevertheless, as I have written elsewhere:—

“‘A bad character is better than none at all. Rather behave ill than have men say of thee, “Lo, he knoweth not how to behave.”’”

Just then appeared a slave with the startling tidings that a messenger from the great Sultan of Kopaul had arrived and besought an interview.

If Shacabac was annoyed at being interrupted in the pleasant pastime of quoting from his own works, which is said to be not a displeasing diversion with other great writers, the Pasha[Pg 26] quickly recalled him to more pressing matters, by saying: “Now, Shacabac, great is thy written wisdom. Mayhap thou hast wit enough to tell us how we may break the news to the great Sultan, my father-in-law, that his ‘grandson’—dog of a Star-gazer, that was thy precious work!—is a granddaughter.”

But even the wisdom of Shacabac was unequal to such a contingency; and this true story would never have been written, had not the Soothsayer averted an irreparable loss to literature by humbly asking permission to speak.

“Speak,” replied the Pasha, “and see that thy words be precious; for on them hangs thy life.”

Thus encouraged, the Soothsayer first asked, how many people knew of the child’s sex. He was informed that, besides themselves there present, only the mother and the attendant physician as yet possessed that knowledge; but the whole country would[Pg 27] know of it, to their grief, when the wrathful Sultan learned how his hopes had been blighted. “And upon my head, O wretched juggler,” cried the Pasha, “shall fall the chief weight of his anger. Accursed be the hour in which I was not born a girl!” The last two words he uttered with infinite grief and scorn.

“Then, O Pasha, the country is safe, if the Physician be silenced, and we, keeping the secret to ourselves, inform the Sultan that his daughter and grandson are doing well. The Sultan is very old (may his years be many!), and he will have gone to his fathers long ere he discover the deception; and thou and thy noble spouse shall reign in Kopaul ere anybody know, if they ever know, that thy son is not thy son.”

Audacious as was this proposition, yet the Pasha grasped at it as a drowning man at a straw, especially as it met the approval of Shacabac. He generally[Pg 28] accepted the advice of that wise and good philosopher.

The Soothsayer and the Physician were enjoined to strict silence; and, the better to insure it, they were commended to the care of Al Choppah, the Nubian, who, being a mute, could tell no tales. His two guests do not appear again in this history.

[Pg 29]

CHAPTER III.

The hardest thing to find is an honest partner for a swindle.—Samith.

But it was absolutely necessary for the peace and dignity of the realm of Ubikwi that the court should not be without an official Soothsayer. Wherefore the vacant office was presently filled by a young and promising astrologer, Badeg by name, who had studied for some years at the feet of his lamented predecessor.

Muley Mustapha, while secretly contemning the whole science because of the wretched blunder whereby he thought himself the chief sufferer (though the lately deceased soothsayer, had he been able to give an opinion, might have thought otherwise), found[Pg 30] it hard work to keep up a pretence of respecting the new incumbent and his office. Kayenna, more alive to the danger of arousing suspicion, took pains on every occasion to show profound respect for the holy man, and never failed to enjoin a similar course on the part of her lord. It was not her fault if Muley Mustapha erred on that or, indeed, on any line of policy; for in all Ubikwi there was not a wife more ready at all times to direct her husband in the path of right.

Nevertheless, there was something about the new astrologer which caused her uneasiness, worried Muley Mustapha, and disturbed the serene imperturbability of Shacabac. It was this. Whenever he issued a prediction, were it only a casual prophecy of the coming weather, he always accompanied it with a qualifying phrase, such as, “Allah permitting,” “subject to other conditions,” “errors and omissions[Pg 31] excepted,” or something equally foreign to all the traditions and precedents of prophecy. At such times he was wont to cast at Muley Mustapha, Kayenna, or the good Shacabac a swift, furtive glance which did not add to the mental composure of any of them.

Yet, such is the effect of a guilty conscience, not one of the three ever questioned his slightest assurance, no matter how the prediction turned out. If he foretold “rains, followed by showers, for the Lower Lake region,” on a given day, and that day happened to be the sunniest of the whole year, the Pasha was sure to appear in waterproof garments, with an umbrella ostentatiously in his hand, and took pains, if he met the prophet, to declare that this was truly a wonderful season for rain, but no doubt it would be good for the crops. The Soothsayer never made any reply other than, “Great is Allah, and wonderful are his ways!”

[Pg 32]

Kayenna was annoyed and Shacabac alarmed at the unwisdom on the part of Muley Mustapha in thus overdoing his part, especially as Badeg, grown bolder with the immunity shown him, began to be absolutely reckless in his prognostications, sending out forecasts of the stock market which, had they been followed, would have bankrupted the royal exchequer.

A deputation of traders called upon the Pasha to protest; but the wise Vizier met them with the calm assurance that the prophet was a man marked by heaven as insane, and therefore doubly deserving of homage. “Should his visitation prove chronic,” said the sage, “it may be taken as a sign that he should be made custodian of the national treasury.” Whereupon the merchants withdrew their protests, averring with one voice that without doubt the Soothsayer was sane and wise beyond the sons of men, and that they[Pg 33] would thenceforth accept his predictions as inspired, and govern themselves accordingly. The which they did; but it was noticed that the market from that time became conservative, and business flourished the more as it was fostered the less by government, even as the Giaour jest hath it, that the patient getteth well or dieth without the assistance of the doctors.

[Pg 34]

CHAPTER IV.

A grandfather is a man who has two chances to make a fool of himself, and seldom neglects them.—Ginglymus.

While the events recorded in the preceding chapter and covering some years had their influence on the affairs of state, life within the harem went quietly on. Kayenna, the faithful spouse of Muley Mustapha, accepted the congratulations of her friends on the birth of little Muley; and it was remarked that, so devoted a mother was she, nobody but herself was ever allowed to nurse or watch or otherwise care for the beloved child.

“My daughter will spoil the brat and bring him up a regular milksop,”[Pg 35] growled the great Sultan one day after paying a prolonged visit to the happy couple. “I thought you had an idea, Muley, of rearing the boy to be a manly fellow and letting him see the world.”

“Truly, I had,” was the reply, rather sadly made; “but, as he is our only child, his mother is so passionately attached to him that I cannot find it in my heart to train him as robustly as I should wish.”

“Bosh!” ejaculated the fiery old monarch. “My grandson should be taught to fear nothing, whereas he looks and acts like a girl. Send him to Kopaul for a while, and I promise you he will learn some manliness.”

But to this proposition Kayenna demurred so vigorously that the old Sultan was forced to desist; for that truly admirable woman had the happy faculty, whether as daughter, wife, or mother, of bending every will in her own direction, which was that of[Pg 36] righteousness always. Heaven had blessed her from infancy with a fine flow of language, accompanied by a noble firmness of purpose, so that such was the repute of her wisdom, whenever she opened the coral portals of her speech, the whole court was ready to accept her dictum on any question rather than waste time and invite humiliation by the fruitless attempt to controvert her.