|
|
|
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
son Hebezlem Bezazeh. That will be the easiest of things,
answered he, and I will set about it this very night. Now this
was the first night of the new month, and it was the Khalif s
193
wont to pass that night with the Princess Zubeideh, for the
setting free of a male or female slave or what not else of the
like. On this occasion, he used to doff his royal habit and lay
it upon a chair in the sitting-chamber, together with his rosary
and dagger and royal signet and a golden lantern, adorned with
three jewels strung on a wire of gold, by which he set great
store, committing all these things to the charge of the eunuchs,
whilst he sent into the Lady Zubeideh s apartment. So Ahmed
Kemakim waited till midnight, when Canopus shone and all
creatures slept, whilst the Creator covered them with the curtain
[of the dark]. Then he took his naked sword in one hand and his
grappling iron in the other, and repairing to the Khalif s
pavilion, cast his grapnel on to the roof. It caught there and he
fixed his rope-ladder and climbed up to the roof; then, raising
the trap-door, let himself down into the saloon, where he found
the eunuchs asleep. So he drugged them with henbane and taking
the Khalif s dress and dagger and rosary and handkerchief and
signet-ring and lantern, returned whence he came and betook
himself to the house of Alaeddin, who had that night celebrated
his wedding festivities with Jessamine and had gone in to her and
gotten her with child. Ahmed climbed over into his saloon and
raising one of the marble slabs of the floor, dug a hole under it
and laid the stolen things therein, all save the lantern, which
he kept, saying in himself, I will set it before me, when I sit
at wine, and drink by its light. Then he plastered down the
marble slab, as it was, and returning whence he came, went back
to his own house. As soon as it was day, the Khalif went out into
the sitting-chamber, and finding the eunuchs drugged with
henbane, aroused them. Then he put his hand to the chair and
found neither dress nor signet nor rosary nor dagger nor lantern;
whereat he was exceeding wroth and donning the habit of anger,
which was red, sat down in the Divan. So the Vizier Jaafer came
forward and kissing the earth before him, said, May God avert
the wrath of the Commander of the Faithful! O Vizier, answered
the Khalif, I am exceeding wroth! [FN106] What has happened?
asked Jaafer; so he told him what had happened and when the Chief
of the Police appeared, with Ahmed Kemakim at his stirrup, he
said to him, O Amir Khalid, how goes Baghdad? And he answered,
It is safe and quiet. Thou liest! rejoined the Khalif. How
so, O Commander of the Faithful? asked the Amir. So he told him
the case and added, I charge thee to bring me back all the
stolen things. O Commander of the Faithful , replied the Amir,
the vinegar-worm is of and in the vinegar, and no stranger can
get at this place. [FN107] But the Khalif said, Except thou
bring me these things, I will put thee to death. Quoth Khalid,
Ere thou slay me, slay Ahmed Kemakim, for none should know the
robber and the traitor but the captain of the watch. Then came
forward Ahmed Kemakim and said to the Khalif, Accept my
intercession for the Master of Police, and I will be responsible
to thee for the thief and will follow his track till I find him;
194
but give me two Cadis and two Assessors, for he who did this
thing feareth thee not, nor doth he fear the Chief of the Police
nor any other. Thou shalt have what thou seekest, answered the
Khalif; but let search be made first in my palace and then in
those of the Vizier and the Chief of the Sixty. Thou sayst
well, O Commander of the Faithful, rejoined Ahmed; most like
the thief is one who had been reared in thy household or that of
one of thy chief officers. As my head liveth, said Haroun,
whosoever shall appear to have done the deed, I will put him to
death, be it my very own son! Then Ahmed Kemakim received a
written warrant to enter and search the houses and taking in his
hand a [divining] rod made of equal parts of bronze, copper, iron
and steel, went forth, attended by the Cadis and Assessors and
the Chief of the Police. He first searched the palace of the
Khalif, then that of the Vizier Jaafer; after which he went the
round of the houses of the chamberlains and officers, till he
came to that of Alaeddin. When the latter heard the clamour
before his house, he left his wife and opening the door, found
the Master of Police without, with a crowd of people. So he said,
What is the matter, O Amir Khalid? The Chief of the Police told
him the case and Alaeddin said, Enter my house and search it.
Pardon, O my lord, replied the Amir; thou art a man in
authority,[FN108] and God forbid that such should be guilty of
treason! Quoth Alaeddin, Needs must my house be searched. So
they entered, and Ahmed Kemakim went straight to the saloon and
let the rod fall upon the slab, under which he had buried the
stolen goods, with such force that the marble broke in sunder and
discovered something that glistened underneath. Then said he, In
the name of God! what He willeth! Thanks to our coming, we have
lit upon a treasure. Let us go down into this hiding-place and
see what is therein. So the Cadis and Assessors looked down into
the hole and finding there the stolen goods, drew up a statement
of how they had discovered them in Alaeddin s house, to which
they set their seals. Then they bade seize upon Alaeddin and took
his turban from his head, and making an inventory of all his
property and effects, [sealed them up]. Meanwhile, Ahmed Kemakim
laid hands on Jessamine, who was with child by Alaeddin, and
committed her to his mother, saying, Deliver her to the Lady
Khatoun. So the old woman took her and carried her to the wife
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pldoc.pisz.plpdf.pisz.plkwiatpolny.htw.pl
|
|
| Cytat |
Dobre pomysły nie mają przeszłości, mają tylko przyszłość. Robert Mallet
De minimis - o najmniejszych rzeczach.
Dobroć jest ważniejsza niż mądrość, a uznanie tej prawdy to pierwszy krok do mądrości. Theodore Isaac Rubin
Dobro to tylko to, co szlachetne, zło to tylko to, co haniebne.
Dla człowieka nie tylko świat otaczający jest zagadką; jest on nią sam dla siebie. I z obu tajemnic bardziej dręczącą wydaje się ta druga. Antoni Kępiński (1918-1972)
|
|
