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Edgar Allan Poe: The Thousand-And-Second Tale of Scheherazade
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Poe
THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHERAZADE
by Edgar Allan Poe
1850
Truth is stranger than fiction.
OLD SAYING.
HAVING had occasion, lately, in the course of some Oriental
investigations, to consult the Tellmenow Isitsoornot, a work which (like the
Zohar of Simeon Jochaides) is scarcely known at all, even in Europe; and
which has never been quoted, to my knowledge, by any American–if we except,
perhaps, the author of the "Curiosities of American Literature";–having had
occasion, I say, to turn over some pages of the first–mentioned very
remarkable work, I was not a little astonished to discover that the literary
world has hitherto been strangely in error respecting the fate of the
vizier's daughter, Scheherazade, as that fate is depicted in the "Arabian
Nights"; and that the denouement there given, if not altogether inaccurate,
as far as it goes, is at least to blame in not having gone very much
farther.
For full information on this interesting topic, I must refer the
inquisitive reader to the "Isitsoornot" itself, but in the meantime, I shall
be pardoned for giving a summary of what I there discovered.
It will be remembered, that, in the usual version of the tales, a certain
monarch having good cause to be jealous of his queen, not only puts her to
death, but makes a vow, by his beard and the prophet, to espouse each night
the most beautiful maiden in his dominions, and the next morning to deliver
her up to the executioner.
Having fulfilled this vow for many years to the letter, and with a
religious punctuality and method that conferred great credit upon him as a
man of devout feeling and excellent sense, he was interrupted one afternoon
(no doubt at his prayers) by a visit from his grand vizier, to whose
daughter, it appears, there had occurred an idea.
Her name was Scheherazade, and her idea was, that she would either redeem
the land from the depopulating tax upon its beauty, or perish, after the
approved fashion of all heroines, in the attempt.
Accordingly, and although we do not find it to be leap-year (which makes
the sacrifice more meritorious), she deputes her father, the grand vizier,
to make an offer to the king of her hand. This hand the king eagerly
accepts–(he had intended to take it at all events, and had put off the
matter from day to day, only through fear of the vizier),–but, in accepting
it now, he gives all parties very distinctly to understand, that, grand
vizier or no grand vizier, he has not the slightest design of giving up one
iota of his vow or of his privileges. When, therefore, the fair Scheherazade
insisted upon marrying the king, and did actually marry him despite her
father's excellent advice not to do any thing of the kind–when she would and
did marry him, I say, will I, nill I, it was with her beautiful black eyes
as thoroughly open as the nature of the case would allow.
It seems, however, that this politic damsel (who had been reading
Machiavelli, beyond doubt), had a very ingenious little plot in her mind. On
the night of the wedding, she contrived, upon I forget what specious
pretence, to have her sister occupy a couch sufficiently near that of the
royal pair to admit of easy conversation from bed to bed; and, a little
before cock-crowing, she took care to awaken the good monarch, her husband
(who bore her none the worse will because he intended to wring her neck on
the morrow),–she managed to awaken him, I say, (although on account of a
capital conscience and an easy digestion, he slept well) by the profound
interest of a story (about a rat and a black cat, I think) which she was
narrating (all in an undertone, of course) to her sister. When the day
broke, it so happened that this history was not altogether finished, and
that Scheherazade, in the nature of things could not finish it just then,
since it was high time for her to get up and be bowstrung–a thing very
little more pleasant than hanging, only a trifle more genteel.
The king's curiosity, however, prevailing, I am sorry to say, even over
his sound religious principles, induced him for this once to postpone the
fulfilment of his vow until next morning, for the purpose and with the hope
of hearing that night how it fared in the end with the black cat (a black
cat, I think it was) and the rat.
The night having arrived, however, the lady Scheherazade not only put the
finishing stroke to the black cat and the rat (the rat was blue) but before
she well knew what she was about, found herself deep in the intricacies of a
narration, having reference (if I am not altogether mistaken) to a pink
horse (with green wings) that went, in a violent manner, by clockwork, and
was wound up with an indigo key. With this history the king was even more
profoundly interested than with the other–and, as the day broke before its
conclusion (notwithstanding all the queen's endeavors to get through with it
in time for the bowstringing), there was again no resource but to postpone
that ceremony as before, for twenty-four hours. The next night there
happened a similar accident with a similar result; and then the next–and
then again the next; so that, in the end, the good monarch, having been
unavoidably deprived of all opportunity to keep his vow during a period of
no less than one thousand and one nights, either forgets it altogether by
the expiration of this time, or gets himself absolved of it in the regular
way, or (what is more probable) breaks it outright, as well as the head of
his father confessor. At all events, Scheherazade, who, being lineally
descended from Eve, fell heir, perhaps, to the whole seven baskets of talk,
which the latter lady, we all know, picked up from under the trees in the
garden of Eden-Scheherazade, I say, finally triumphed, and the tariff upon
beauty was repealed.
Now, this conclusion (which is that of the story as we have it upon
record) is, no doubt, excessively proper and pleasant–but alas! like a great
many pleasant things, is more pleasant than true, and I am indebted
altogether to the "Isitsoornot" for the means of correcting the error. "Le
mieux," says a French proverb, "est l'ennemi du bien," and, in mentioning
that Scheherazade had inherited the seven baskets of talk, I should have
added that she put them out at compound interest until they amounted to
seventy-seven.
"My dear sister," said she, on the thousand-and-second night, (I quote
the language of the "Isitsoornot" at this point, verbatim) "my dear sister,"
said she, "now that all this little difficulty about the bowstring has blown
over, and that this odious tax is so happily repealed, I feel that I have
been guilty of great indiscretion in withholding from you and the king (who
I am sorry to say, snores–a thing no gentleman would do) the full conclusion
of Sinbad the sailor. This person went through numerous other and more
interesting adventures than those which I related; but the truth is, I felt
sleepy on the particular night of their narration, and so was seduced into
cutting them short–a grievous piece of misconduct, for which I only trust
that Allah will forgive me. But even yet it is not too late to remedy my
great neglect–and as soon as I have given the king a pinch or two in order
to wake him up so far that he may stop making that horrible noise, I will
forthwith entertain you (and him if he pleases) with the sequel of this very
remarkable story.
Hereupon the sister of Scheherazade, as I have it from the "Isitsoornot,"
expressed no very particular intensity of gratification; but the king,
having been sufficiently pinched, at length ceased snoring, and finally
said, "hum!" and then "hoo!" when the queen, understanding these words
(which are no doubt Arabic) to signify that he was all attention, and would
do his best not to snore any more–the queen, I say, having arranged these
matters to her satisfaction, re-entered thus, at once, into the history of
Sinbad the sailor:
"'At length, in my old age, [these are the words of Sinbad himself, as
retailed by Scheherazade]–'at length, in my old age, and after enjoying many
years of tranquillity at home, I became once more possessed of a desire of
visiting foreign countries; and one day, without acquainting any of my
family with my design, I packed up some bundles of such merchandise as was
most precious and least bulky, and, engaged a porter to carry them, went
with him down to the sea-shore, to await the arrival of any chance vessel
that might convey me out of the kingdom into some region which I had not as
yet explored.
"'Having deposited the packages upon the sands, we sat down beneath some
trees, and looked out into the ocean in the hope of perceiving a ship, but
during several hours we saw none whatever. At length I fancied that I could
hear a singular buzzing or humming sound; and the porter, after listening
awhile, declared that he also could distinguish it. Presently it grew
louder, and then still louder, so that we could have no doubt that the
object which caused it was approaching us. At length, on the edge of the
horizon, we discovered a black speck, which rapidly increased in size until
we made it out to be a vast monster, swimming with a great part of its body
above the surface of the sea. It came toward us with inconceivable
swiftness, throwing up huge waves of foam around its breast, and
illuminating all that part of the sea through which it passed, with a long
line of fire that extended far off into the distance.
"'As the thing drew near we saw it very distinctly. Its length was equal
to that of three of the loftiest trees that grow, and it was as wide as the
great hall of audience in your palace, O most sublime and munificent of the
Caliphs. Its body, which was unlike that of ordinary fishes, was as solid as
a rock, and of a jetty blackness throughout all that portion of it which
floated above the water, with the exception of a narrow blood-red streak
that completely begirdled it. The belly, which floated beneath the surface,
and of which we could get only a glimpse now and then as the monster rose
and fell with the billows, was entirely covered with metallic scales, of a
color like that of the moon in misty weather. The back was flat and nearly
white, and from it there extended upwards of six spines, about half the
length of the whole body.
"'The horrible creature had no mouth that we could perceive, but, as if
to make up for this deficiency, it was provided with at least four score of
eyes, that protruded from their sockets like those of the green dragon-fly,
and were arranged all around the body in two rows, one above the other, and
parallel to the blood-red streak, which seemed to answer the purpose of an
eyebrow. Two or three of these dreadful eyes were much larger than the
others, and had the appearance of solid gold.
"'Although this beast approached us, as I have before said, with the
greatest rapidity, it must have been moved altogether by necromancy- for it
had neither fins like a fish nor web-feet like a duck, nor wings like the
seashell which is blown along in the manner of a vessel; nor yet did it
writhe itself forward as do the eels. Its head and its tail were shaped
precisely alike, only, not far from the latter, were two small holes that
served for nostrils, and through which the monster puffed out its thick
breath with prodigious violence, and with a shrieking, disagreeable
noise.
"'Our terror at beholding this hideous thing was very great, but it was
even surpassed by our astonishment, when upon getting a nearer look, we
perceived upon the creature's back a vast number of animals about the size
and shape of men, and altogether much resembling them, except that they wore
no garments (as men do), being supplied (by nature, no doubt) with an ugly
uncomfortable covering, a good deal like cloth, but fitting so tight to the
skin, as to render the poor wretches laughably awkward, and put them
apparently to severe pain. On the very tips of their heads were certain
square-looking boxes, which, at first sight, I thought might have been
intended to answer as turbans, but I soon discovered that they were
excessively heavy and solid, and I therefore concluded they were
contrivances designed, by their great weight, to keep the heads of the
animals steady and safe upon their shoulders. Around the necks of the
creatures were fastened black collars, (badges of servitude, no doubt,) such
as we keep on our dogs, only much wider and infinitely stiffer, so that it
was quite impossible for these poor victims to move their heads in any
direction without moving the body at the same time; and thus they were
doomed to perpetual contemplation of their noses–a view puggish and snubby
in a wonderful, if not positively in an awful degree.
"'When the monster had nearly reached the shore where we stood, it
suddenly pushed out one of its eyes to a great extent, and emitted from it a
terrible flash of fire, accompanied by a dense cloud of smoke, and a noise
that I can compare to nothing but thunder. As the smoke cleared away, we saw
one of the odd man-animals standing near the head of the large beast with a
trumpet in his hand, through which (putting it to his mouth) he presently
addressed us in loud, harsh, and disagreeable accents, that, perhaps, we
should have mistaken for language, had they not come altogether through the
nose.
"'Being thus evidently spoken to, I was at a loss how to reply, as I
could in no manner understand what was said; and in this difficulty I turned
to the porter, who was near swooning through affright, and demanded of him
his opinion as to what species of monster it was, what it wanted, and what
kind of creatures those were that so swarmed upon its back. To this the
porter replied, as well as he could for trepidation, that he had once before
heard of this sea-beast; that it was a cruel demon, with bowels of sulphur
and blood of fire, created by evil genii as the means of inflicting misery
upon mankind; that the things upon its back were vermin, such as sometimes
infest cats and dogs, only a little larger and more savage; and that these
vermin had their uses, however evil–for, through the torture they caused the
beast by their nibbling and stingings, it was goaded into that degree of
wrath which was requisite to make it roar and commit ill, and so fulfil the
vengeful and malicious designs of the wicked genii.
"This account determined me to take to my heels, and, without once even
looking behind me, I ran at full speed up into the hills, while the porter
ran equally fast, although nearly in an opposite direction, so that, by
these means, he finally made his escape with my bundles, of which I have no
doubt he took excellent care–although this is a point I cannot determine, as
I do not remember that I ever beheld him again.
"'For myself, I was so hotly pursued by a swarm of the men-vermin (who
had come to the shore in boats) that I was very soon overtaken, bound hand
and foot, and conveyed to the beast, which immediately swam out again into
the middle of the sea.
"'I now bitterly repented my folly in quitting a comfortable home to
peril my life in such adventures as this; but regret being useless, I made
the best of my condition, and exerted myself to secure the goodwill of the
man-animal that owned the trumpet, and who appeared to exercise authority
over his fellows. I succeeded so well in this endeavor that, in a few days,
the creature bestowed upon me various tokens of his favor, and in the end
even went to the trouble of teaching me the rudiments of what it was vain
enough to denominate its language; so that, at length, I was enabled to
converse with it readily, and came to make it comprehend the ardent desire I
had of seeing the world.
"'Washish squashish squeak, Sinbad, hey-diddle diddle, grunt unt grumble,
hiss, fiss, whiss,' said he to me, one day after dinner- but I beg a
thousand pardons, I had forgotten that your majesty is not conversant with
the dialect of the Cock-neighs (so the man-animals were called; I presume
because their language formed the connecting link between that of the horse
and that of the rooster). With your permission, I will translate. 'Washish
squashish,' and so forth:–that is to say, 'I am happy to find, my dear
Sinbad, that you are really a very excellent fellow; we are now about doing
a thing which is called circumnavigating the globe; and since you are so
desirous of seeing the world, I will strain a point and give you a free
passage upon back of the beast.'"
When the Lady Scheherazade had proceeded thus far, relates the
"Isitsoornot," the king turned over from his left side to his right, and
said:
"It is, in fact, very surprising, my dear queen, that you omitted,
hitherto, these latter adventures of Sinbad. Do you know I think them
exceedingly entertaining and strange?"
The king having thus expressed himself, we are told, the fair
Scheherazade resumed her history in the following words:
"Sinbad went on in this manner with his narrative to the caliph- 'I
thanked the man-animal for its kindness, and soon found myself very much at
home on the beast, which swam at a prodigious rate through the ocean;
although the surface of the latter is, in that part of the world, by no
means flat, but round like a pomegranate, so that we went–so to say–either
up hill or down hill all the time.'
"That I think, was very singular," interrupted the king.
"Nevertheless, it is quite true," replied Scheherazade.
"I have my doubts," rejoined the king; "but, pray, be so good as to go on
with the story."
"I will," said the queen. "'The beast,' continued Sinbad to the caliph,
'swam, as I have related, up hill and down hill until, at length, we arrived
at an island, many hundreds of miles in circumference, but which,
nevertheless, had been built in the middle of the sea by a colony of little
things like caterpillars'"*
* The coralites.
"Hum!" said the king.
"'Leaving this island,' said Sinbad–(for Scheherazade, it must be
understood, took no notice of her husband's ill-mannered ejaculation)
'leaving this island, we came to another where the forests were of solid
stone, and so hard that they shivered to pieces the finest-tempered axes
with which we endeavoured to cut them down."'*
* "One of the most remarkable natural curiosities in Texas is a petrified
forest, near the head of Pasigno river. It consists of several hundred
trees, in an erect position, all turned to stone. Some trees, now growing,
are partly petrified. This is a startling fact for natural philosophers, and
must cause them to modify the existing theory of petrification.–Kennedy.
This account, at first discredited, has since been corroborated by the
discovery of a completely petrified forest, near the head waters of the
Cheyenne, or Chienne river, which has its source in the Black Hills of the
rocky chain.
There is scarcely, perhaps, a spectacle on the surface of the globe more
remarkable, either in a geological or picturesque point of view than that
presented by the petrified forest, near Cairo. The traveller, having passed
the tombs of the caliphs, just beyond the gates of the city, proceeds to the
southward, nearly at right angles to the road across the desert to Suez, and
after having travelled some ten miles up a low barren valley, covered with
sand, gravel, and sea shells, fresh as if the tide had retired but
yesterday, crosses a low range of sandhills, which has for some distance run
parallel to his path. The scene now presented to him is beyond conception
singular and desolate. A mass of fragments of trees, all converted into
stone, and when struck by his horse's hoof ringing like cast iron, is seen
to extend itself for miles and miles around him, in the form of a decayed
and prostrate forest. The wood is of a dark brown hue, but retains its form
in perfection, the pieces being from one to fifteen feet in length, and from
half a foot to three feet in thickness, strewed so closely together, as far
as the eye can reach, that an Egyptian donkey can scarcely thread its way
through amongst them, and so natural that, were it in Scotland or Ireland,
it might pass without remark for some enormous drained bog, on which the
exhumed trees lay rotting in the sun. The roots and rudiments of the
branches are, in many cases, nearly perfect, and in some the worm-holes
eaten under the bark are readily recognizable. The most delicate of the sap
vessels, and all the finer portions of the centre of the wood, are perfectly
entire, and bear to be examined with the strongest magnifiers. The whole are
so thoroughly silicified as to scratch glass and are capable of receiving
the highest polish.- Asiatic Magazine.
"Hum!" said the king, again; but Scheherazade, paying him no attention,
continued in the language of Sinbad.
"'Passing beyond this last island, we reached a country where there was a
cave that ran to the distance of thirty or forty miles within the bowels of
the earth, and that contained a greater number of far more spacious and more
magnificent palaces than are to be found in all Damascus and Bagdad. From
the roofs of these palaces there hung myriads of gems, liked diamonds, but
larger than men; and in among the streets of towers and pyramids and
temples, there flowed immense rivers as black as ebony, and swarming with
fish that had no eyes.'"*
* The Mammoth Cave of Kentucky.
"Hum!" said the king.
"'We then swam into a region of the sea where we found a lofty mountain,
down whose sides there streamed torrents of melted metal, some of which were
twelve miles wide and sixty miles long*; while from an abyss on the summit,
issued so vast a quantity of ashes that the sun was entirely blotted out
from the heavens, and it became darker than the darkest midnight; so that
when we were even at the distance of a hundred and fifty miles from the
mountain, it was impossible to see the whitest object, however close we held
it to our eyes.'"*(2)
* In Iceland, 1783.
*(2) "During the eruption of Hecla, in 1766, clouds of this kind produced
such a degree of darkness that, at Glaumba, which is more than fifty leagues
from the mountain, people could only find their way by groping. During the
eruption of Vesuvius, in 1794, at Caserta, four leagues distant, people
could only walk by the light of torches. On the first of May, 1812, a cloud
of volcanic ashes and sand, coming from a volcano in the island of St.
Vincent, covered the whole of Barbadoes, spreading over it so intense a
darkness that, at mid-day, in the open air, one could not perceive the trees
or other objects near him, or even a white handkerchief placed at the
distance of six inches from the eye."–Murray, p. 215, Phil. edit.
"Hum!" said the king.
"'After quitting this coast, the beast continued his voyage until we met
with a land in which the nature of things seemed reversed–for we here saw a
great lake, at the bottom of which, more than a hundred feet beneath the
surface of the water, there flourished in full leaf a forest of tall and
luxuriant trees.'"*
* In the year 1790, in the Caraccas during an earthquake a portion of the
granite soil sank and left a lake eight hundred yards in diameter, and from
eighty to a hundred feet deep. It was a part of the forest of Aripao which
sank, and the trees remained green for several months under the
water."–Murray, p. 221
"Hoo!" said the king.
"Some hundred miles farther on brought us to a climate where the
atmosphere was so dense as to sustain iron or steel, just as our own does
feather.'"*
* The hardest steel ever manufactured may, under the action of a
blowpipe, be reduced to an impalpable powder, which will float readily in
the atmospheric air.
"Fiddle de dee," said the king.
"Proceeding still in the same direction, we presently arrived at the most
magnificent region in the whole world. Through it there meandered a glorious
river for several thousands of miles. This river was of unspeakable depth,
and of a transparency richer than that of amber. It was from three to six
miles in width; and its banks which arose on either side to twelve hundred
feet in perpendicular height, were crowned with ever-blossoming trees and
perpetual sweet-scented flowers, that made the whole territory one gorgeous
garden; but the name of this luxuriant land was the Kingdom of Horror, and
to enter it was inevitable death'"*
* The region of the Niger. See Simmona's "Colonial Magazine."
"Humph!" said the king.
"'We left this kingdom in great haste, and, after some days, came to
another, where we were astonished to perceive myriads of monstrous animals
with horns resembling scythes upon their heads. These hideous beasts dig for
themselves vast caverns in the soil, of a funnel shape, and line the sides
of them with, rocks, so disposed one upon the other that they fall
instantly, when trodden upon by other animals, thus precipitating them into
the monster's dens, where their blood is immediately sucked, and their
carcasses afterwards hurled contemptuously out to an immense distance from
"the caverns of death."'"*
* The Myrmeleon-lion-ant. The term "monster" is equally applicable to
small abnormal things and to great, while such epithets as "vast" are merely
comparative. The cavern of the myrmeleon is vast in comparison with the hole
of the common red ant. A grain of silex is also a "rock."
"Pooh!" said the king.
"'Continuing our progress, we perceived a district with vegetables that
grew not upon any soil but in the air.* There were others that sprang from
the substance of other vegetables;*(2) others that derived their substance
from the bodies of living animals;*(3) and then again, there were others
that glowed all over with intense fire;*(4) others that moved from place to
place at pleasure,*(5) and what was still more wonderful, we discovered
flowers that lived and breathed and moved their limbs at will and had,
moreover, the detestable passion of mankind for enslaving other creatures,
and confining them in horrid and solitary prisons until the fulfillment of
appointed tasks.'"*(6)
* The Epidendron, Flos Aeris, of the family of the Orchideae, grows with
merely the surface of its roots attached to a tree or other object, from
which it derives no nutriment–subsisting altogether upon air.
*(2) The Parasites, such as the wonderful Rafflesia Arnaldii.
*(3) Schouw advocates a class of plants that grow upon living animals–the
Plantae Epizoae. Of this class are the Fuci and Algae.
Mr. J. B. Williams, of Salem, Mass., presented the "National Institute,"
with an insect from New Zealand, with the following description:–"'The
Hotte,' a decided caterpillar, or worm, is found growing at the foot of the
Rata tree, with a plant growing out of its head. This most peculiar and most
extraordinary insect travels up both the Rata and Perriri trees, and
entering into the top, eats its way, perforating the trunk of the tree until
it reaches the root, it then comes out of the root, and dies, or remains
dormant, and the plant propagates out of its head; the body remains perfect
and entire, of a harder substance than when alive. From this insect the
natives making a coloring for tattooing."
*(4) In mines and natural caves we find a species of cryptogamous fungus
that emits an intense phosphorescence.
*(5) The orchis, scabius and valisneria.
*(6) The corolla of this flower (Aristolochia Clematitis), which is
tubular, but terminating upwards in a ligulate limb, is inflated into a
globular figure at the base. The tubular part is internally beset with stiff
hairs, pointing downwards. The globular part contains the pistil, which
consists merely of a germen and stigma, together with the surrounding
stamens. But the stamens, being shorter than the germen, cannot discharge
the pollen so as to throw it upon the stigma, as the flower stands always
upright till after impregnation. And hence, without some additional and
peculiar aid, the pollen must necessarily fan down to the bottom of the
flower. Now, the aid that nature has furnished in this case, is that of the
Tiputa Pennicornis, a small insect, which entering the tube of the corrolla
in quest of honey, descends to the bottom, and rummages about till it
becomes quite covered with pollen; but not being able to force its way out
again, owing to the downward position of the hairs, which converge to a
point like the wires of a mouse-trap, and being somewhat impatient of its
confinement it brushes backwards and forwards, trying every corner, till,
after repeatedly traversing the stigma, it covers it with pollen sufficient
for its impregnation, in consequence of which the flower soon begins to
droop, and the hairs to shrink to the sides of the tube, effecting an easy
passage for the escape of the insect." Rev. P. Keith-System of Physiological
Botany.
"Pshaw!" said the king.
"'Quitting this land, we soon arrived at another in which the bees and
the birds are mathematicians of such genius and erudition, that they give
daily instructions in the science of geometry to the wise men of the empire.
The king of the place having offered a reward for the solution of two very
difficult problems, they were solved upon the spot–the one by the bees, and
the other by the birds; but the king keeping their solution a secret, it was
only after the most profound researches and labor, and the writing of an
infinity of big books, during a long series of years, that the
men-mathematicians at length arrived at the identical solutions which had
been given upon the spot by the bees and by the birds.'"*
* The bees–ever since bees were–have been constructing their cells with
just such sides, in just such number, and at just such inclinations, as it
has been demonstrated (in a problem involving the profoundest mathematical
principles) are the very sides, in the very number, and at the very angles,
which will afford the creatures the most room that is compatible with the
greatest stability of structure.
During the latter part of the last century, the question arose among
mathematicians–"to determine the best form that can be given to the sails of
a windmill, according to their varying distances from the revolving vanes,
and likewise from the centres of the revolution." This is an excessively
complex problem, for it is, in other words, to find the best possible
position at an infinity of varied distances, and at an infinity of points on
the arm. There were a thousand futile attempts to answer the query on the
part of the most illustrious mathematicians; and when, at length, an
undeniable solution was discovered, men found that the wing of a bird had
given it with absolute precision ever since the first bird had traversed the
air.
"Oh my!" said the king.
"'We had scarcely lost sight of this empire when we found ourselves close
upon another, from whose shores there flew over our heads a flock of fowls a
mile in breadth, and two hundred and forty miles long; so that, although
they flew a mile during every minute, it required no less than four hours
for the whole flock to pass over us–in which there were several millions of
millions of fowl.'"*
* He observed a flock of pigeons passing betwixt Frankfort and the Indian
territory, one mile at least in breadth; it took up four hours in passing,
which, at the rate of one mile per minute, gives a length of 240 miles; and,
supposing three pigeons to each square yard, gives 2,230,272,000
Pigeons.–"Travels in Canada and the United States," by Lieut. F. Hall.
"Oh fy!" said the king.
"'No sooner had we got rid of these birds, which occasioned us great
annoyance, than we were terrified by the appearance of a fowl of another
kind, and infinitely larger than even the rocs which I met in my former
voyages; for it was bigger than the biggest of the domes on your seraglio,
oh, most Munificent of Caliphs. This terrible fowl had no head that we could
perceive, but was fashioned entirely of belly, which was of a prodigious
fatness and roundness, of a soft-looking substance, smooth, shining and
striped with various colors. In its talons, the monster was bearing away to
his eyrie in the heavens, a house from which it had knocked off the roof,
and in the interior of which we distinctly saw human beings, who, beyond
doubt, were in a state of frightful despair at the horrible fate which
awaited them. We shouted with all our might, in the hope of frightening the
bird into letting go of its prey, but it merely gave a snort or puff, as if
of rage and then let fall upon our heads a heavy sack which proved to be
filled with sand!'"
"Stuff!" said the king.
"'It was just after this adventure that we encountered a continent of
immense extent and prodigious solidity, but which, nevertheless, was
supported entirely upon the back of a sky-blue cow that had no fewer than
four hundred horns.'"*
* The earth is upheld by a cow of a blue color, having horns four hundred
in number."–Sale's Koran.
"That, now, I believe," said the king, "because I have read something of
the kind before, in a book."
"'We passed immediately beneath this continent, (swimming in between the
legs of the cow, and, after some hours, found ourselves in a wonderful
country indeed, which, I was informed by the man-animal, was his own native
land, inhabited by things of his own species. This elevated the man-animal
very much in my esteem, and in fact, I now began to feel ashamed of the
contemptuous familiarity with which I had treated him; for I found that the
man-animals in general were a nation of the most powerful magicians, who
lived with worms in their brain,* which, no doubt, served to stimulate them
by their painful writhings and wrigglings to the most miraculous efforts of
imagination!'"
* "The Entozoa, or intestinal worms, have repeatedly been observed in the
muscles, and in the cerebral substance of men."–See Wyatt's Physiology, p.
143.
"Nonsense!" said the king.
"'Among the magicians, were domesticated several animals of very singular
kinds; for example, there was a huge horse whose bones were iron and whose
blood was boiling water. In place of corn, he had black stones for his usual
food; and yet, in spite of so hard a diet, he was so strong and swift that
he would drag a load more weighty than the grandest temple in this city, at
a rate surpassing that of the flight of most birds.'"*
* On the Great Western Railway, between London and Exeter, a speed of 71
miles per hour has been attained. A train weighing 90 tons was whirled from
Paddington to Didcot (53 miles) in 51 minutes.
"Twattle!" said the king.
"'I saw, also, among these people a hen without feathers, but bigger than
a camel; instead of flesh and bone she had iron and brick; her blood, like
that of the horse, (to whom, in fact, she was nearly related,) was boiling
water; and like him she ate nothing but wood or black stones. This hen
brought forth very frequently, a hundred chickens in the day; and, after
birth, they took up their residence for several weeks within the stomach of
their mother.'"*
* The Eccalobeion
"Fa! lal!" said the king.
"'One of this nation of mighty conjurors created a man out of brass and
wood, and leather, and endowed him with such ingenuity that he would have
beaten at chess, all the race of mankind with the exception of the great
Caliph, Haroun Alraschid.* Another of these magi constructed (of like
material) a creature that put to shame even the genius of him who made it;
for so great were its reasoning powers that, in a second, it performed
calculations of so vast an extent that they would have required the united
labor of fifty thousand fleshy men for a year.*(2) But a still more
wonderful conjuror fashioned for himself a mighty thing that was neither man
nor beast, but which had brains of lead, intermixed with a black matter like
pitch, and fingers that it employed with such incredible speed and dexterity
that it would have had no trouble in writing out twenty thousand copies of
the Koran in an hour, and this with so exquisite a precision, that in all
the copies there should not be found one to vary from another by the breadth
of the finest hair. This thing was of prodigious strength, so that it
erected or overthrew the mightiest empires at a breath; but its powers were
exercised equally for evil and for good.'"
* Maelzel's Automaton Chess-player.
*(2) Babbage's Calculating Machine.
"Ridiculous!" said the king.
"'Among this nation of necromancers there was also one who had in his
veins the blood of the salamanders; for he made no scruple of sitting down
to smoke his chibouc in a red-hot oven until his dinner was thoroughly
roasted upon its floor.* Another had the faculty of converting the common
metals into gold, without even looking at them during the process.*(2)
Another had such a delicacy of touch that he made a wire so fine as to be
invisible.*(3) Another had such quickness of perception that he counted all
the separate motions of an elastic body, while it was springing backward and
forward at the rate of nine hundred millions of times in a second.'"*(4)
* Chabert, and since him, a hundred others.
*(2) The Electrotype.
*(3) Wollaston made of platinum for the field of views in a telescope a
wire one eighteen-thousandth part of an inch in thickness. It could be seen
only by means of the microscope.
*(4) Newton demonstrated that the retina beneath the influence of the
violet ray of the spectrum, vibrated 900,000,000 of times in a second.
"Absurd!" said the king.
"'Another of these magicians, by means of a fluid that nobody ever yet
saw, could make the corpses of his friends brandish their arms, kick out
their legs, fight, or even get up and dance at his will.* Another had
cultivated his voice to so great an extent that he could have made himself
heard from one end of the world to the other.*(2) Another had so long an arm
that he could sit down in Damascus and indite a letter at Bagdad–or indeed
at any distance whatsoever.*(3) Another commanded the lightning to come down
to him out of the heavens, and it came at his call; and served him for a
plaything when it came. Another took two loud sounds and out of them made a
silence. Another constructed a deep darkness out of two brilliant
lights.*(4) Another made ice in a red-hot furnace.*(5) Another directed the
sun to paint his portrait, and the sun did.*(6) Another took this luminary
with the moon and the planets, and having first weighed them with scrupulous
accuracy, probed into their depths and found out the solidity of the
substance of which they were made. But the whole nation is, indeed, of so
surprising a necromantic ability, that not even their infants, nor their
commonest cats and dogs have any difficulty in seeing objects that do not
exist at all, or that for twenty millions of years before the birth of the
nation itself had been blotted out from the face of creation."'*(7)
* Voltaic pile.
*(2) The Electro Telegraph Printing Apparatus.
*(3) The Electro telegraph transmits intelligence instantaneously- at
least at so far as regards any distance upon the earth.
*(4) Common experiments in Natural Philosophy. If two red rays from two
luminous points be admitted into a dark chamber so as to fall on a white
surface, and differ in their length by 0.0000258 of an inch, their intensity
is doubled. So also if the difference in length be any whole-number multiple
of that fraction. A multiple by 2 1/4, 3 1/4, &c., gives an intensity
equal to one ray only; but a multiple by 2 1/2, 3 1/2, &c., gives the
result of total darkness. In violet rays similar effects arise when the
difference in length is 0.000157 of an inch; and with all other rays the
results are the same–the difference varying with a uniform increase from the
violet to the red.
Analogous experiments in respect to sound produce analogous results.
*(5) Place a platina crucible over a spirit lamp, and keep it a red heat;
pour in some sulphuric acid, which, though the most volatile of bodies at a
common temperature, will be found to become completely fixed in a hot
crucible, and not a drop evaporates–being surrounded by an atmosphere of its
own, it does not, in fact, touch the sides. A few drops of water are now
introduced, when the acid, immediately coming in contact with the heated
sides of the crucible, flies off in sulphurous acid vapor, and so rapid is
its progress, that the caloric of the water passes off with it, which falls
a lump of ice to the bottom; by taking advantage of the moment before it is
allowed to remelt, it may be turned out a lump of ice from a red-hot
vessel.
*(6) The Daguerreotype.
*(7) Although light travels 167,000 miles in a second, the distance of 61
Cygni (the only star whose distance is ascertained) is so inconceivably
great, that its rays would require more than ten years to reach the earth.
For stars beyond this, 20–or even 1000 years–would be a moderate estimate.
Thus, if they had been annihilated 20, or 1000 years ago, we might still see
them to-day by the light which started from their surfaces 20 or 1000 years
in the past time. That many which we see daily are really extinct, is not
impossible–not even improbable.
"Preposterous!" said the king.
"'The wives and daughters of these incomparably great and wise magi,'"
continued Scheherazade, without being in any manner disturbed by these
frequent and most ungentlemanly interruptions on the part of her
husband–"'the wives and daughters of these eminent conjurers are every thing
that is accomplished and refined; and would be every thing that is
interesting and beautiful, but for an unhappy fatality that besets them, and
from which not even the miraculous powers of their husbands and fathers has,
hitherto, been adequate to save. Some fatalities come in certain shapes, and
some in others–but this of which I speak has come in the shape of a
crotchet.'"
"A what?" said the king.
"'A crotchet'" said Scheherazade. "'One of the evil genii, who are
perpetually upon the watch to inflict ill, has put it into the heads of
these accomplished ladies that the thing which we describe as personal
beauty consists altogether in the protuberance of the region which lies not
very far below the small of the back. Perfection of loveliness, they say, is
in the direct ratio of the extent of this lump. Having been long possessed
of this idea, and bolsters being cheap in that country, the days have long
gone by since it was possible to distinguish a woman from a dromedary-'"
"Stop!" said the king–"I can't stand that, and I won't. You have already
given me a dreadful headache with your lies. The day, too, I perceive, is
beginning to break. How long have we been married?–my conscience is getting
to be troublesome again. And then that dromedary touch–do you take me for a
fool? Upon the whole, you might as well get up and be throttled."
These words, as I learn from the "Isitsoornot," both grieved and
astonished Scheherazade; but, as she knew the king to be a man of scrupulous
integrity, and quite unlikely to forfeit his word, she submitted to her fate
with a good grace. She derived, however, great consolation, (during the
tightening of the bowstring,) from the reflection that much of the history
remained still untold, and that the petulance of her brute of a husband had
reaped for him a most righteous reward, in depriving him of many
inconceivable adventures.
THE END
Edgar Allan Poe: The Thousand-And-Second Tale of Scheherazade
Up to the EServer | The Complete Works of Edgar Allan
Poe
THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHERAZADE
by Edgar Allan Poe
1850
Truth is stranger than fiction.
OLD SAYING.
HAVING had occasion, lately, in the course of some Oriental
investigations, to consult the Tellmenow Isitsoornot, a work which (like the
Zohar of Simeon Jochaides) is scarcely known at all, even in Europe; and
which has never been quoted, to my knowledge, by any American–if we except,
perhaps, the author of the "Curiosities of American Literature";–having had
occasion, I say, to turn over some pages of the first–mentioned very
remarkable work, I was not a little astonished to discover that the literary
world has hitherto been strangely in error respecting the fate of the
vizier's daughter, Scheherazade, as that fate is depicted in the "Arabian
Nights"; and that the denouement there given, if not altogether inaccurate,
as far as it goes, is at least to blame in not having gone very much
farther.
For full information on this interesting topic, I must refer the
inquisitive reader to the "Isitsoornot" itself, but in the meantime, I shall
be pardoned for giving a summary of what I there discovered.
It will be remembered, that, in the usual version of the tales, a certain
monarch having good cause to be jealous of his queen, not only puts her to
death, but makes a vow, by his beard and the prophet, to espouse each night
the most beautiful maiden in his dominions, and the next morning to deliver
her up to the executioner.
Having fulfilled this vow for many years to the letter, and with a
religious punctuality and method that conferred great credit upon him as a
man of devout feeling and excellent sense, he was interrupted one afternoon
(no doubt at his prayers) by a visit from his grand vizier, to whose
daughter, it appears, there had occurred an idea.
Her name was Scheherazade, and her idea was, that she would either redeem
the land from the depopulating tax upon its beauty, or perish, after the
approved fashion of all heroines, in the attempt.
Accordingly, and although we do not find it to be leap-year (which makes
the sacrifice more meritorious), she deputes her father, the grand vizier,
to make an offer to the king of her hand. This hand the king eagerly
accepts–(he had intended to take it at all events, and had put off the
matter from day to day, only through fear of the vizier),–but, in accepting
it now, he gives all parties very distinctly to understand, that, grand
vizier or no grand vizier, he has not the slightest design of giving up one
iota of his vow or of his privileges. When, therefore, the fair Scheherazade
insisted upon marrying the king, and did actually marry him despite her
father's excellent advice not to do any thing of the kind–when she would and
did marry him, I say, will I, nill I, it was with her beautiful black eyes
as thoroughly open as the nature of the case would allow.
It seems, however, that this politic damsel (who had been reading
Machiavelli, beyond doubt), had a very ingenious little plot in her mind. On
the night of the wedding, she contrived, upon I forget what specious
pretence, to have her sister occupy a couch sufficiently near that of the
royal pair to admit of easy conversation from bed to bed; and, a little
before cock-crowing, she took care to awaken the good monarch, her husband
(who bore her none the worse will because he intended to wring her neck on
the morrow),–she managed to awaken him, I say, (although on account of a
capital conscience and an easy digestion, he slept well) by the profound
interest of a story (about a rat and a black cat, I think) which she was
narrating (all in an undertone, of course) to her sister. When the day
broke, it so happened that this history was not altogether finished, and
that Scheherazade, in the nature of things could not finish it just then,
since it was high time for her to get up and be bowstrung–a thing very
little more pleasant than hanging, only a trifle more genteel.
The king's curiosity, however, prevailing, I am sorry to say, even over
his sound religious principles, induced him for this once to postpone the
fulfilment of his vow until next morning, for the purpose and with the hope
of hearing that night how it fared in the end with the black cat (a black
cat, I think it was) and the rat.
The night having arrived, however, the lady Scheherazade not only put the
finishing stroke to the black cat and the rat (the rat was blue) but before
she well knew what she was about, found herself deep in the intricacies of a
narration, having reference (if I am not altogether mistaken) to a pink
horse (with green wings) that went, in a violent manner, by clockwork, and
was wound up with an indigo key. With this history the king was even more
profoundly interested than with the other–and, as the day broke before its
conclusion (notwithstanding all the queen's endeavors to get through with it
in time for the bowstringing), there was again no resource but to postpone
that ceremony as before, for twenty-four hours. The next night there
happened a similar accident with a similar result; and then the next–and
then again the next; so that, in the end, the good monarch, having been
unavoidably deprived of all opportunity to keep his vow during a period of
no less than one thousand and one nights, either forgets it altogether by
the expiration of this time, or gets himself absolved of it in the regular
way, or (what is more probable) breaks it outright, as well as the head of
his father confessor. At all events, Scheherazade, who, being lineally
descended from Eve, fell heir, perhaps, to the whole seven baskets of talk,
which the latter lady, we all know, picked up from under the trees in the
garden of Eden-Scheherazade, I say, finally triumphed, and the tariff upon
beauty was repealed.
Now, this conclusion (which is that of the story as we have it upon
record) is, no doubt, excessively proper and pleasant–but alas! like a great
many pleasant things, is more pleasant than true, and I am indebted
altogether to the "Isitsoornot" for the means of correcting the error. "Le
mieux," says a French proverb, "est l'ennemi du bien," and, in mentioning
that Scheherazade had inherited the seven baskets of talk, I should have
added that she put them out at compound interest until they amounted to
seventy-seven.
"My dear sister," said she, on the thousand-and-second night, (I quote
the language of the "Isitsoornot" at this point, verbatim) "my dear sister,"
said she, "now that all this little difficulty about the bowstring has blown
over, and that this odious tax is so happily repealed, I feel that I have
been guilty of great indiscretion in withholding from you and the king (who
I am sorry to say, snores–a thing no gentleman would do) the full conclusion
of Sinbad the sailor. This person went through numerous other and more
interesting adventures than those which I related; but the truth is, I felt
sleepy on the particular night of their narration, and so was seduced into
cutting them short–a grievous piece of misconduct, for which I only trust
that Allah will forgive me. But even yet it is not too late to remedy my
great neglect–and as soon as I have given the king a pinch or two in order
to wake him up so far that he may stop making that horrible noise, I will
forthwith entertain you (and him if he pleases) with the sequel of this very
remarkable story.
Hereupon the sister of Scheherazade, as I have it from the "Isitsoornot,"
expressed no very particular intensity of gratification; but the king,
having been sufficiently pinched, at length ceased snoring, and finally
said, "hum!" and then "hoo!" when the queen, understanding these words
(which are no doubt Arabic) to signify that he was all attention, and would
do his best not to snore any more–the queen, I say, having arranged these
matters to her satisfaction, re-entered thus, at once, into the history of
Sinbad the sailor:
"'At length, in my old age, [these are the words of Sinbad himself, as
retailed by Scheherazade]–'at length, in my old age, and after enjoying many
years of tranquillity at home, I became once more possessed of a desire of
visiting foreign countries; and one day, without acquainting any of my
family with my design, I packed up some bundles of such merchandise as was
most precious and least bulky, and, engaged a porter to carry them, went
with him down to the sea-shore, to await the arrival of any chance vessel
that might convey me out of the kingdom into some region which I had not as
yet explored.
"'Having deposited the packages upon the sands, we sat down beneath some
trees, and looked out into the ocean in the hope of perceiving a ship, but
during several hours we saw none whatever. At length I fancied that I could
hear a singular buzzing or humming sound; and the porter, after listening
awhile, declared that he also could distinguish it. Presently it grew
louder, and then still louder, so that we could have no doubt that the
object which caused it was approaching us. At length, on the edge of the
horizon, we discovered a black speck, which rapidly increased in size until
we made it out to be a vast monster, swimming with a great part of its body
above the surface of the sea. It came toward us with inconceivable
swiftness, throwing up huge waves of foam around its breast, and
illuminating all that part of the sea through which it passed, with a long
line of fire that extended far off into the distance.
"'As the thing drew near we saw it very distinctly. Its length was equal
to that of three of the loftiest trees that grow, and it was as wide as the
great hall of audience in your palace, O most sublime and munificent of the
Caliphs. Its body, which was unlike that of ordinary fishes, was as solid as
a rock, and of a jetty blackness throughout all that portion of it which
floated above the water, with the exception of a narrow blood-red streak
that completely begirdled it. The belly, which floated beneath the surface,
and of which we could get only a glimpse now and then as the monster rose
and fell with the billows, was entirely covered with metallic scales, of a
color like that of the moon in misty weather. The back was flat and nearly
white, and from it there extended upwards of six spines, about half the
length of the whole body.
"'The horrible creature had no mouth that we could perceive, but, as if
to make up for this deficiency, it was provided with at least four score of
eyes, that protruded from their sockets like those of the green dragon-fly,
and were arranged all around the body in two rows, one above the other, and
parallel to the blood-red streak, which seemed to answer the purpose of an
eyebrow. Two or three of these dreadful eyes were much larger than the
others, and had the appearance of solid gold.
"'Although this beast approached us, as I have before said, with the
greatest rapidity, it must have been moved altogether by necromancy- for it
had neither fins like a fish nor web-feet like a duck, nor wings like the
seashell which is blown along in the manner of a vessel; nor yet did it
writhe itself forward as do the eels. Its head and its tail were shaped
precisely alike, only, not far from the latter, were two small holes that
served for nostrils, and through which the monster puffed out its thick
breath with prodigious violence, and with a shrieking, disagreeable
noise.
"'Our terror at beholding this hideous thing was very great, but it was
even surpassed by our astonishment, when upon getting a nearer look, we
perceived upon the creature's back a vast number of animals about the size
and shape of men, and altogether much resembling them, except that they wore
no garments (as men do), being supplied (by nature, no doubt) with an ugly
uncomfortable covering, a good deal like cloth, but fitting so tight to the
skin, as to render the poor wretches laughably awkward, and put them
apparently to severe pain. On the very tips of their heads were certain
square-looking boxes, which, at first sight, I thought might have been
intended to answer as turbans, but I soon discovered that they were
excessively heavy and solid, and I therefore concluded they were
contrivances designed, by their great weight, to keep the heads of the
animals steady and safe upon their shoulders. Around the necks of the
creatures were fastened black collars, (badges of servitude, no doubt,) such
as we keep on our dogs, only much wider and infinitely stiffer, so that it
was quite impossible for these poor victims to move their heads in any
direction without moving the body at the same time; and thus they were
doomed to perpetual contemplation of their noses–a view puggish and snubby
in a wonderful, if not positively in an awful degree.
"'When the monster had nearly reached the shore where we stood, it
suddenly pushed out one of its eyes to a great extent, and emitted from it a
terrible flash of fire, accompanied by a dense cloud of smoke, and a noise
that I can compare to nothing but thunder. As the smoke cleared away, we saw
one of the odd man-animals standing near the head of the large beast with a
trumpet in his hand, through which (putting it to his mouth) he presently
addressed us in loud, harsh, and disagreeable accents, that, perhaps, we
should have mistaken for language, had they not come altogether through the
nose.
"'Being thus evidently spoken to, I was at a loss how to reply, as I
could in no manner understand what was said; and in this difficulty I turned
to the porter, who was near swooning through affright, and demanded of him
his opinion as to what species of monster it was, what it wanted, and what
kind of creatures those were that so swarmed upon its back. To this the
porter replied, as well as he could for trepidation, that he had once before
heard of this sea-beast; that it was a cruel demon, with bowels of sulphur
and blood of fire, created by evil genii as the means of inflicting misery
upon mankind; that the things upon its back were vermin, such as sometimes
infest cats and dogs, only a little larger and more savage; and that these
vermin had their uses, however evil–for, through the torture they caused the
beast by their nibbling and stingings, it was goaded into that degree of
wrath which was requisite to make it roar and commit ill, and so fulfil the
vengeful and malicious designs of the wicked genii.
"This account determined me to take to my heels, and, without once even
looking behind me, I ran at full speed up into the hills, while the porter
ran equally fast, although nearly in an opposite direction, so that, by
these means, he finally made his escape with my bundles, of which I have no
doubt he took excellent care–although this is a point I cannot determine, as
I do not remember that I ever beheld him again.
"'For myself, I was so hotly pursued by a swarm of the men-vermin (who
had come to the shore in boats) that I was very soon overtaken, bound hand
and foot, and conveyed to the beast, which immediately swam out again into
the middle of the sea.
"'I now bitterly repented my folly in quitting a comfortable home to
peril my life in such adventures as this; but regret being useless, I made
the best of my condition, and exerted myself to secure the goodwill of the
man-animal that owned the trumpet, and who appeared to exercise authority
over his fellows. I succeeded so well in this endeavor that, in a few days,
the creature bestowed upon me various tokens of his favor, and in the end
even went to the trouble of teaching me the rudiments of what it was vain
enough to denominate its language; so that, at length, I was enabled to
converse with it readily, and came to make it comprehend the ardent desire I
had of seeing the world.
"'Washish squashish squeak, Sinbad, hey-diddle diddle, grunt unt grumble,
hiss, fiss, whiss,' said he to me, one day after dinner- but I beg a
thousand pardons, I had forgotten that your majesty is not conversant with
the dialect of the Cock-neighs (so the man-animals were called; I presume
because their language formed the connecting link between that of the horse
and that of the rooster). With your permission, I will translate. 'Washish
squashish,' and so forth:–that is to say, 'I am happy to find, my dear
Sinbad, that you are really a very excellent fellow; we are now about doing
a thing which is called circumnavigating the globe; and since you are so
desirous of seeing the world, I will strain a point and give you a free
passage upon back of the beast.'"
When the Lady Scheherazade had proceeded thus far, relates the
"Isitsoornot," the king turned over from his left side to his right, and
said:
"It is, in fact, very surprising, my dear queen, that you omitted,
hitherto, these latter adventures of Sinbad. Do you know I think them
exceedingly entertaining and strange?"
The king having thus expressed himself, we are told, the fair
Scheherazade resumed her history in the following words:
"Sinbad went on in this manner with his narrative to the caliph- 'I
thanked the man-animal for its kindness, and soon found myself very much at
home on the beast, which swam at a prodigious rate through the ocean;
although the surface of the latter is, in that part of the world, by no
means flat, but round like a pomegranate, so that we went–so to say–either
up hill or down hill all the time.'
"That I think, was very singular," interrupted the king.
"Nevertheless, it is quite true," replied Scheherazade.
"I have my doubts," rejoined the king; "but, pray, be so good as to go on
with the story."
"I will," said the queen. "'The beast,' continued Sinbad to the caliph,
'swam, as I have related, up hill and down hill until, at length, we arrived
at an island, many hundreds of miles in circumference, but which,
nevertheless, had been built in the middle of the sea by a colony of little
things like caterpillars'"*
* The coralites.
"Hum!" said the king.
"'Leaving this island,' said Sinbad–(for Scheherazade, it must be
understood, took no notice of her husband's ill-mannered ejaculation)
'leaving this island, we came to another where the forests were of solid
stone, and so hard that they shivered to pieces the finest-tempered axes
with which we endeavoured to cut them down."'*
* "One of the most remarkable natural curiosities in Texas is a petrified
forest, near the head of Pasigno river. It consists of several hundred
trees, in an erect position, all turned to stone. Some trees, now growing,
are partly petrified. This is a startling fact for natural philosophers, and
must cause them to modify the existing theory of petrification.–Kennedy.
This account, at first discredited, has since been corroborated by the
discovery of a completely petrified forest, near the head waters of the
Cheyenne, or Chienne river, which has its source in the Black Hills of the
rocky chain.
There is scarcely, perhaps, a spectacle on the surface of the globe more
remarkable, either in a geological or picturesque point of view than that
presented by the petrified forest, near Cairo. The traveller, having passed
the tombs of the caliphs, just beyond the gates of the city, proceeds to the
southward, nearly at right angles to the road across the desert to Suez, and
after having travelled some ten miles up a low barren valley, covered with
sand, gravel, and sea shells, fresh as if the tide had retired but
yesterday, crosses a low range of sandhills, which has for some distance run
parallel to his path. The scene now presented to him is beyond conception
singular and desolate. A mass of fragments of trees, all converted into
stone, and when struck by his horse's hoof ringing like cast iron, is seen
to extend itself for miles and miles around him, in the form of a decayed
and prostrate forest. The wood is of a dark brown hue, but retains its form
in perfection, the pieces being from one to fifteen feet in length, and from
half a foot to three feet in thickness, strewed so closely together, as far
as the eye can reach, that an Egyptian donkey can scarcely thread its way
through amongst them, and so natural that, were it in Scotland or Ireland,
it might pass without remark for some enormous drained bog, on which the
exhumed trees lay rotting in the sun. The roots and rudiments of the
branches are, in many cases, nearly perfect, and in some the worm-holes
eaten under the bark are readily recognizable. The most delicate of the sap
vessels, and all the finer portions of the centre of the wood, are perfectly
entire, and bear to be examined with the strongest magnifiers. The whole are
so thoroughly silicified as to scratch glass and are capable of receiving
the highest polish.- Asiatic Magazine.
"Hum!" said the king, again; but Scheherazade, paying him no attention,
continued in the language of Sinbad.
"'Passing beyond this last island, we reached a country where there was a
cave that ran to the distance of thirty or forty miles within the bowels of
the earth, and that contained a greater number of far more spacious and more
magnificent palaces than are to be found in all Damascus and Bagdad. From
the roofs of these palaces there hung myriads of gems, liked diamonds, but
larger than men; and in among the streets of towers and pyramids and
temples, there flowed immense rivers as black as ebony, and swarming with
fish that had no eyes.'"*
* The Mammoth Cave of Kentucky.
"Hum!" said the king.
"'We then swam into a region of the sea where we found a lofty mountain,
down whose sides there streamed torrents of melted metal, some of which were
twelve miles wide and sixty miles long*; while from an abyss on the summit,
issued so vast a quantity of ashes that the sun was entirely blotted out
from the heavens, and it became darker than the darkest midnight; so that
when we were even at the distance of a hundred and fifty miles from the
mountain, it was impossible to see the whitest object, however close we held
it to our eyes.'"*(2)
* In Iceland, 1783.
*(2) "During the eruption of Hecla, in 1766, clouds of this kind produced
such a degree of darkness that, at Glaumba, which is more than fifty leagues
from the mountain, people could only find their way by groping. During the
eruption of Vesuvius, in 1794, at Caserta, four leagues distant, people
could only walk by the light of torches. On the first of May, 1812, a cloud
of volcanic ashes and sand, coming from a volcano in the island of St.
Vincent, covered the whole of Barbadoes, spreading over it so intense a
darkness that, at mid-day, in the open air, one could not perceive the trees
or other objects near him, or even a white handkerchief placed at the
distance of six inches from the eye."–Murray, p. 215, Phil. edit.
"Hum!" said the king.
"'After quitting this coast, the beast continued his voyage until we met
with a land in which the nature of things seemed reversed–for we here saw a
great lake, at the bottom of which, more than a hundred feet beneath the
surface of the water, there flourished in full leaf a forest of tall and
luxuriant trees.'"*
* In the year 1790, in the Caraccas during an earthquake a portion of the
granite soil sank and left a lake eight hundred yards in diameter, and from
eighty to a hundred feet deep. It was a part of the forest of Aripao which
sank, and the trees remained green for several months under the
water."–Murray, p. 221
"Hoo!" said the king.
"Some hundred miles farther on brought us to a climate where the
atmosphere was so dense as to sustain iron or steel, just as our own does
feather.'"*
* The hardest steel ever manufactured may, under the action of a
blowpipe, be reduced to an impalpable powder, which will float readily in
the atmospheric air.
"Fiddle de dee," said the king.
"Proceeding still in the same direction, we presently arrived at the most
magnificent region in the whole world. Through it there meandered a glorious
river for several thousands of miles. This river was of unspeakable depth,
and of a transparency richer than that of amber. It was from three to six
miles in width; and its banks which arose on either side to twelve hundred
feet in perpendicular height, were crowned with ever-blossoming trees and
perpetual sweet-scented flowers, that made the whole territory one gorgeous
garden; but the name of this luxuriant land was the Kingdom of Horror, and
to enter it was inevitable death'"*
* The region of the Niger. See Simmona's "Colonial Magazine."
"Humph!" said the king.
"'We left this kingdom in great haste, and, after some days, came to
another, where we were astonished to perceive myriads of monstrous animals
with horns resembling scythes upon their heads. These hideous beasts dig for
themselves vast caverns in the soil, of a funnel shape, and line the sides
of them with, rocks, so disposed one upon the other that they fall
instantly, when trodden upon by other animals, thus precipitating them into
the monster's dens, where their blood is immediately sucked, and their
carcasses afterwards hurled contemptuously out to an immense distance from
"the caverns of death."'"*
* The Myrmeleon-lion-ant. The term "monster" is equally applicable to
small abnormal things and to great, while such epithets as "vast" are merely
comparative. The cavern of the myrmeleon is vast in comparison with the hole
of the common red ant. A grain of silex is also a "rock."
"Pooh!" said the king.
"'Continuing our progress, we perceived a district with vegetables that
grew not upon any soil but in the air.* There were others that sprang from
the substance of other vegetables;*(2) others that derived their substance
from the bodies of living animals;*(3) and then again, there were others
that glowed all over with intense fire;*(4) others that moved from place to
place at pleasure,*(5) and what was still more wonderful, we discovered
flowers that lived and breathed and moved their limbs at will and had,
moreover, the detestable passion of mankind for enslaving other creatures,
and confining them in horrid and solitary prisons until the fulfillment of
appointed tasks.'"*(6)
* The Epidendron, Flos Aeris, of the family of the Orchideae, grows with
merely the surface of its roots attached to a tree or other object, from
which it derives no nutriment–subsisting altogether upon air.
*(2) The Parasites, such as the wonderful Rafflesia Arnaldii.
*(3) Schouw advocates a class of plants that grow upon living animals–the
Plantae Epizoae. Of this class are the Fuci and Algae.
Mr. J. B. Williams, of Salem, Mass., presented the "National Institute,"
with an insect from New Zealand, with the following description:–"'The
Hotte,' a decided caterpillar, or worm, is found growing at the foot of the
Rata tree, with a plant growing out of its head. This most peculiar and most
extraordinary insect travels up both the Rata and Perriri trees, and
entering into the top, eats its way, perforating the trunk of the tree until
it reaches the root, it then comes out of the root, and dies, or remains
dormant, and the plant propagates out of its head; the body remains perfect
and entire, of a harder substance than when alive. From this insect the
natives making a coloring for tattooing."
*(4) In mines and natural caves we find a species of cryptogamous fungus
that emits an intense phosphorescence.
*(5) The orchis, scabius and valisneria.
*(6) The corolla of this flower (Aristolochia Clematitis), which is
tubular, but terminating upwards in a ligulate limb, is inflated into a
globular figure at the base. The tubular part is internally beset with stiff
hairs, pointing downwards. The globular part contains the pistil, which
consists merely of a germen and stigma, together with the surrounding
stamens. But the stamens, being shorter than the germen, cannot discharge
the pollen so as to throw it upon the stigma, as the flower stands always
upright till after impregnation. And hence, without some additional and
peculiar aid, the pollen must necessarily fan down to the bottom of the
flower. Now, the aid that nature has furnished in this case, is that of the
Tiputa Pennicornis, a small insect, which entering the tube of the corrolla
in quest of honey, descends to the bottom, and rummages about till it
becomes quite covered with pollen; but not being able to force its way out
again, owing to the downward position of the hairs, which converge to a
point like the wires of a mouse-trap, and being somewhat impatient of its
confinement it brushes backwards and forwards, trying every corner, till,
after repeatedly traversing the stigma, it covers it with pollen sufficient
for its impregnation, in consequence of which the flower soon begins to
droop, and the hairs to shrink to the sides of the tube, effecting an easy
passage for the escape of the insect." Rev. P. Keith-System of Physiological
Botany.
"Pshaw!" said the king.
"'Quitting this land, we soon arrived at another in which the bees and
the birds are mathematicians of such genius and erudition, that they give
daily instructions in the science of geometry to the wise men of the empire.
The king of the place having offered a reward for the solution of two very
difficult problems, they were solved upon the spot–the one by the bees, and
the other by the birds; but the king keeping their solution a secret, it was
only after the most profound researches and labor, and the writing of an
infinity of big books, during a long series of years, that the
men-mathematicians at length arrived at the identical solutions which had
been given upon the spot by the bees and by the birds.'"*
* The bees–ever since bees were–have been constructing their cells with
just such sides, in just such number, and at just such inclinations, as it
has been demonstrated (in a problem involving the profoundest mathematical
principles) are the very sides, in the very number, and at the very angles,
which will afford the creatures the most room that is compatible with the
greatest stability of structure.
During the latter part of the last century, the question arose among
mathematicians–"to determine the best form that can be given to the sails of
a windmill, according to their varying distances from the revolving vanes,
and likewise from the centres of the revolution." This is an excessively
complex problem, for it is, in other words, to find the best possible
position at an infinity of varied distances, and at an infinity of points on
the arm. There were a thousand futile attempts to answer the query on the
part of the most illustrious mathematicians; and when, at length, an
undeniable solution was discovered, men found that the wing of a bird had
given it with absolute precision ever since the first bird had traversed the
air.
"Oh my!" said the king.
"'We had scarcely lost sight of this empire when we found ourselves close
upon another, from whose shores there flew over our heads a flock of fowls a
mile in breadth, and two hundred and forty miles long; so that, although
they flew a mile during every minute, it required no less than four hours
for the whole flock to pass over us–in which there were several millions of
millions of fowl.'"*
* He observed a flock of pigeons passing betwixt Frankfort and the Indian
territory, one mile at least in breadth; it took up four hours in passing,
which, at the rate of one mile per minute, gives a length of 240 miles; and,
supposing three pigeons to each square yard, gives 2,230,272,000
Pigeons.–"Travels in Canada and the United States," by Lieut. F. Hall.
"Oh fy!" said the king.
"'No sooner had we got rid of these birds, which occasioned us great
annoyance, than we were terrified by the appearance of a fowl of another
kind, and infinitely larger than even the rocs which I met in my former
voyages; for it was bigger than the biggest of the domes on your seraglio,
oh, most Munificent of Caliphs. This terrible fowl had no head that we could
perceive, but was fashioned entirely of belly, which was of a prodigious
fatness and roundness, of a soft-looking substance, smooth, shining and
striped with various colors. In its talons, the monster was bearing away to
his eyrie in the heavens, a house from which it had knocked off the roof,
and in the interior of which we distinctly saw human beings, who, beyond
doubt, were in a state of frightful despair at the horrible fate which
awaited them. We shouted with all our might, in the hope of frightening the
bird into letting go of its prey, but it merely gave a snort or puff, as if
of rage and then let fall upon our heads a heavy sack which proved to be
filled with sand!'"
"Stuff!" said the king.
"'It was just after this adventure that we encountered a continent of
immense extent and prodigious solidity, but which, nevertheless, was
supported entirely upon the back of a sky-blue cow that had no fewer than
four hundred horns.'"*
* The earth is upheld by a cow of a blue color, having horns four hundred
in number."–Sale's Koran.
"That, now, I believe," said the king, "because I have read something of
the kind before, in a book."
"'We passed immediately beneath this continent, (swimming in between the
legs of the cow, and, after some hours, found ourselves in a wonderful
country indeed, which, I was informed by the man-animal, was his own native
land, inhabited by things of his own species. This elevated the man-animal
very much in my esteem, and in fact, I now began to feel ashamed of the
contemptuous familiarity with which I had treated him; for I found that the
man-animals in general were a nation of the most powerful magicians, who
lived with worms in their brain,* which, no doubt, served to stimulate them
by their painful writhings and wrigglings to the most miraculous efforts of
imagination!'"
* "The Entozoa, or intestinal worms, have repeatedly been observed in the
muscles, and in the cerebral substance of men."–See Wyatt's Physiology, p.
143.
"Nonsense!" said the king.
"'Among the magicians, were domesticated several animals of very singular
kinds; for example, there was a huge horse whose bones were iron and whose
blood was boiling water. In place of corn, he had black stones for his usual
food; and yet, in spite of so hard a diet, he was so strong and swift that
he would drag a load more weighty than the grandest temple in this city, at
a rate surpassing that of the flight of most birds.'"*
* On the Great Western Railway, between London and Exeter, a speed of 71
miles per hour has been attained. A train weighing 90 tons was whirled from
Paddington to Didcot (53 miles) in 51 minutes.
"Twattle!" said the king.
"'I saw, also, among these people a hen without feathers, but bigger than
a camel; instead of flesh and bone she had iron and brick; her blood, like
that of the horse, (to whom, in fact, she was nearly related,) was boiling
water; and like him she ate nothing but wood or black stones. This hen
brought forth very frequently, a hundred chickens in the day; and, after
birth, they took up their residence for several weeks within the stomach of
their mother.'"*
* The Eccalobeion
"Fa! lal!" said the king.
"'One of this nation of mighty conjurors created a man out of brass and
wood, and leather, and endowed him with such ingenuity that he would have
beaten at chess, all the race of mankind with the exception of the great
Caliph, Haroun Alraschid.* Another of these magi constructed (of like
material) a creature that put to shame even the genius of him who made it;
for so great were its reasoning powers that, in a second, it performed
calculations of so vast an extent that they would have required the united
labor of fifty thousand fleshy men for a year.*(2) But a still more
wonderful conjuror fashioned for himself a mighty thing that was neither man
nor beast, but which had brains of lead, intermixed with a black matter like
pitch, and fingers that it employed with such incredible speed and dexterity
that it would have had no trouble in writing out twenty thousand copies of
the Koran in an hour, and this with so exquisite a precision, that in all
the copies there should not be found one to vary from another by the breadth
of the finest hair. This thing was of prodigious strength, so that it
erected or overthrew the mightiest empires at a breath; but its powers were
exercised equally for evil and for good.'"
* Maelzel's Automaton Chess-player.
*(2) Babbage's Calculating Machine.
"Ridiculous!" said the king.
"'Among this nation of necromancers there was also one who had in his
veins the blood of the salamanders; for he made no scruple of sitting down
to smoke his chibouc in a red-hot oven until his dinner was thoroughly
roasted upon its floor.* Another had the faculty of converting the common
metals into gold, without even looking at them during the process.*(2)
Another had such a delicacy of touch that he made a wire so fine as to be
invisible.*(3) Another had such quickness of perception that he counted all
the separate motions of an elastic body, while it was springing backward and
forward at the rate of nine hundred millions of times in a second.'"*(4)
* Chabert, and since him, a hundred others.
*(2) The Electrotype.
*(3) Wollaston made of platinum for the field of views in a telescope a
wire one eighteen-thousandth part of an inch in thickness. It could be seen
only by means of the microscope.
*(4) Newton demonstrated that the retina beneath the influence of the
violet ray of the spectrum, vibrated 900,000,000 of times in a second.
"Absurd!" said the king.
"'Another of these magicians, by means of a fluid that nobody ever yet
saw, could make the corpses of his friends brandish their arms, kick out
their legs, fight, or even get up and dance at his will.* Another had
cultivated his voice to so great an extent that he could have made himself
heard from one end of the world to the other.*(2) Another had so long an arm
that he could sit down in Damascus and indite a letter at Bagdad–or indeed
at any distance whatsoever.*(3) Another commanded the lightning to come down
to him out of the heavens, and it came at his call; and served him for a
plaything when it came. Another took two loud sounds and out of them made a
silence. Another constructed a deep darkness out of two brilliant
lights.*(4) Another made ice in a red-hot furnace.*(5) Another directed the
sun to paint his portrait, and the sun did.*(6) Another took this luminary
with the moon and the planets, and having first weighed them with scrupulous
accuracy, probed into their depths and found out the solidity of the
substance of which they were made. But the whole nation is, indeed, of so
surprising a necromantic ability, that not even their infants, nor their
commonest cats and dogs have any difficulty in seeing objects that do not
exist at all, or that for twenty millions of years before the birth of the
nation itself had been blotted out from the face of creation."'*(7)
* Voltaic pile.
*(2) The Electro Telegraph Printing Apparatus.
*(3) The Electro telegraph transmits intelligence instantaneously- at
least at so far as regards any distance upon the earth.
*(4) Common experiments in Natural Philosophy. If two red rays from two
luminous points be admitted into a dark chamber so as to fall on a white
surface, and differ in their length by 0.0000258 of an inch, their intensity
is doubled. So also if the difference in length be any whole-number multiple
of that fraction. A multiple by 2 1/4, 3 1/4, &c., gives an intensity
equal to one ray only; but a multiple by 2 1/2, 3 1/2, &c., gives the
result of total darkness. In violet rays similar effects arise when the
difference in length is 0.000157 of an inch; and with all other rays the
results are the same–the difference varying with a uniform increase from the
violet to the red.
Analogous experiments in respect to sound produce analogous results.
*(5) Place a platina crucible over a spirit lamp, and keep it a red heat;
pour in some sulphuric acid, which, though the most volatile of bodies at a
common temperature, will be found to become completely fixed in a hot
crucible, and not a drop evaporates–being surrounded by an atmosphere of its
own, it does not, in fact, touch the sides. A few drops of water are now
introduced, when the acid, immediately coming in contact with the heated
sides of the crucible, flies off in sulphurous acid vapor, and so rapid is
its progress, that the caloric of the water passes off with it, which falls
a lump of ice to the bottom; by taking advantage of the moment before it is
allowed to remelt, it may be turned out a lump of ice from a red-hot
vessel.
*(6) The Daguerreotype.
*(7) Although light travels 167,000 miles in a second, the distance of 61
Cygni (the only star whose distance is ascertained) is so inconceivably
great, that its rays would require more than ten years to reach the earth.
For stars beyond this, 20–or even 1000 years–would be a moderate estimate.
Thus, if they had been annihilated 20, or 1000 years ago, we might still see
them to-day by the light which started from their surfaces 20 or 1000 years
in the past time. That many which we see daily are really extinct, is not
impossible–not even improbable.
"Preposterous!" said the king.
"'The wives and daughters of these incomparably great and wise magi,'"
continued Scheherazade, without being in any manner disturbed by these
frequent and most ungentlemanly interruptions on the part of her
husband–"'the wives and daughters of these eminent conjurers are every thing
that is accomplished and refined; and would be every thing that is
interesting and beautiful, but for an unhappy fatality that besets them, and
from which not even the miraculous powers of their husbands and fathers has,
hitherto, been adequate to save. Some fatalities come in certain shapes, and
some in others–but this of which I speak has come in the shape of a
crotchet.'"
"A what?" said the king.
"'A crotchet'" said Scheherazade. "'One of the evil genii, who are
perpetually upon the watch to inflict ill, has put it into the heads of
these accomplished ladies that the thing which we describe as personal
beauty consists altogether in the protuberance of the region which lies not
very far below the small of the back. Perfection of loveliness, they say, is
in the direct ratio of the extent of this lump. Having been long possessed
of this idea, and bolsters being cheap in that country, the days have long
gone by since it was possible to distinguish a woman from a dromedary-'"
"Stop!" said the king–"I can't stand that, and I won't. You have already
given me a dreadful headache with your lies. The day, too, I perceive, is
beginning to break. How long have we been married?–my conscience is getting
to be troublesome again. And then that dromedary touch–do you take me for a
fool? Upon the whole, you might as well get up and be throttled."
These words, as I learn from the "Isitsoornot," both grieved and
astonished Scheherazade; but, as she knew the king to be a man of scrupulous
integrity, and quite unlikely to forfeit his word, she submitted to her fate
with a good grace. She derived, however, great consolation, (during the
tightening of the bowstring,) from the reflection that much of the history
remained still untold, and that the petulance of her brute of a husband had
reaped for him a most righteous reward, in depriving him of many
inconceivable adventures.
THE END
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