his rider, and took to flight with his tail trailing on the ground. Meeting a monkey, he was at first inclined to flee, thinking it might be the man, but observing his humble attitude, he stopped. The monkey, after respectfully saluting him, and inquiring after his royal health, asked him why he was travelling without his train? whither he was going, and on what object? at the same time offering his services. The lion related his adventure, and told him that his enemy was on a tree not far off. The monkey reproached him for being afraid of such a foe. The lion conducts him to the tree; the monkey mounts into its branches, not observing that the robber was concealed in a cleft of it underneath him. The man suddenly seized him, and grasped him so powerfully that he instantly expired. Be not forward or precipitate, and engage not in a contest with one who is your superior in strength. The lion, seeing what had taken place, betook himself to flight. The king reflects on this tale, and resolves to put his son to death before his power should increase, when it might be too late. The sixth vizir, hearing of his majesty's change of determination, comes before him to intercede for the prince. He inveighs, like the rest, against women, and advises his majesty to put no trust in them. In proof of his assertions, he relates the Story of the Peri and the Religious Man; his learning the Great Name; and his consulting with his Wife. A holy man, who spent all his time in devotion, had a peri for his constant and familiar companion for many years. At length, the peri is obliged to leave him, word having been brought her of the illness of one of her children. On • The reflections of the devotee, when taking leave of the peri, perhaps deserve to be quoted: چه خوش بود کش آشناي نبود که در پي فراق جداي نبود خود و محرم خویش باش parting, she teaches him the "three great names" (of God), on pronouncing one of which, on any great emergency, his wish will be immediately accomplished. One night, the Sheikh communicates the circumstance to his wife, who dictates to him what he is to wish for. The result shows the folly of consulting with women; but is unfit to be repeated. It is sufficient to say that the tale is similar to that of the Three Wishes, by Fontaine, and to Prior's Ladle, and is that given in Syntipas, p. 84. The vizir next relates the story of the Stratagem of the Old Woman with the Merchant's Wife and the Young Man, which, being told in the "Seven Vizirs" (Tales, &c. p. 168), need not be here repeated. The king is again persuaded to suspend the execution, and to remand his son to prison. The Damsel comes the Seventh Time before the King, rends her Garments, and demands Justice. When the damsel learned that her calumnies were ineffectual, and that the wrath of his majesty, and the thirst for his son's blood which she had excited, had been dispelled by the counsels of his sage minister, thinking that she might yet conceal from him her crime, she approached the throne, and shedding tears, exclaimed: "O king! whither is departed that justice for which you were renowned ? Dread that God who created the soul, and made you ruler of the earth. When a son aims, as yours has done, at the life of his father, he is a curse and not a blessing. Trust not your vizir, who is attached to other interests than yours, and who seeks only the aggrandizement of his own family. You yourself exercise no real sovereignty, but are guided in every thing by him, and have not the liberty of a common rustic. If I have spoken too freely, consider for whose interest I am speaking. You are a mighty sovereign, and honoured with the esteem of other monarchs. Your son is but an ignorant boy, pleased with his panther and his hawk; while your vizir is so intent on his own ambitious schemes, that he knows not months from years. Entrust not the management of your kingdom to a foe. You have gained it by the sword; leave it not to the needle. Since this vizir is leagued with your son, choose another minister. What will it avail you to lament my fate, when I shall be in my grave? You know what a prince once experienced from his vizir who acknowledged not the ties of gratitude, but involved him in dire calamity. If your majesty desires it, I will relate the story." The king having expressed a wish to hear it, the damsel relates The Story of the Prince who went to hunt, and the Stratagem which the Vizir practised on him. There appears to be here a considerable hiatus in the MS., and the whole of the above story is wanting. The period during which the evil aspects in the prince's horoscope were to prevail having now come to a close, and the seven days during which he was مکن خواب در خانه اژدها مینداز خودرا بـدام بـــلا مبادا که با گل کند خار خو از یار خم که مرگیست واکردن to keep silence being ended, he sent a messenger to the chief vizir, to thank him for the exertions he had made in his behalf. The vizir, upon this, waits on the prince, who requests him to beg for him an audience of his majesty, when the nobles and courtiers should be all assembled. The vizir joyfully hastened to the king, and announced the request of the prince, expressing his confidence that it would soon appear before the whole assembly, who was innocent and who was guilty. The king accordingly assembled his grandees, and when he was seated on his throne, the sage Sindibád entered, and the king desired him to be seated. The prince next presented himself, and after kissing his father's carpet, raising his head, he gave thanks to God that he was again permitted to appear at the foot of the throne. "When God," said the prince, "wills not the destruction of any one, no ingenuity of man can effect it; and if it be decreed by Him, it cannot be countervailed." In illustration of this remark, he relates the story of a man who had invited a party of friends to his house. His maid-servant went out to procure some milk for their entertainment, and neglected to cover the dish in which it was. A kite was flying overhead, with a snake which it had brought from the desert. The venom dropt from the mouth of the snake into the milk and mixed with it; and every one of the party, having partaken of the milk, died on the spot. "Who was guilty in this instance," asked the prince," and who ought to have been punished?" One said: "Doubtless, the female slave, because she did not cover up the milk." Another said: "The kite was to blame for having the snake in its mouth." Another said: "The snake, for dropping its venom in the milk." "Nay, nay," said a fourth, "but the giver of the entertainment, who left it to this slave to bring the milk." The prince said: All these opinions are mistaken. No one was to blame; it was the decree of God. "There are four things," continued the prince, "about which the wise do not distress themselves. First. One's daily bread; for however scant it be, it will undoubtedly suffice to conduct one to his grave. Second. Death, which none can avert or retard, and which ought, therefore, to be met with resignation. Third. One's destiny, which will not cease to attend a man, notwithstanding all his exertions. Fourth. Distress, which neither the wise nor the foolish can remedy. "One is constantly engaged in devotion; another is for ever in the tavern. Who leads the one to the street of the tavern? Who draws the other to the practice of devotion? "Many a man, though immersed in the water, has reached the shore, while the sailor has not seen it: many an alchemist has gone to his grave poor and naked as he first entered the world: many a grave-digger has found unexpectedly the treasure of Ferídún. The one and the other event are alike the ordinance of God. Whatever He decrees inevitably happens. If a man undergoes imprisonment and chains, it is not the order of any one, but the decree of destiny." When the king heard this address of his son, he was filled with admiration of his wisdom; he kissed his face, and took him to his bosom, and all his former love for him returned. He opened the doors of his treasury, and enriched the poor and needy. He set free the prisoners and debtors from their confinement. He now turned his thoughts to the philosopher Sindibád; and when he reflected how he had hazarded his life, his esteem for him increased, and he Asiat.Journ.N.S.VOL.36.No.141. D resolved to reward him munificently. He sent for him, and bestowed ample benefactions on the sage himself, his sons, and dependants. He then inquired of Sindibád how it happened, that the prince was at first averse to learning, and afterwards made such proficiency; how he was at first silent, and afterwards had his mouth opened? Sindibád kissed the hand of his majesty, and after offering vows for his prosperity, replied: "Your majesty is aware that every thing is restricted to its appointed season. The winds of winter come not in spring. The tree while it is but yet a sapling bears no fruit, but yields it when it has grown tall and affords a shade. The business was at first beset with difficulties. Much did I labour, and the seed which I sowed has sprung up, and yielded increase. The prince, O king, has now no equal in this age. On whatever science you question him, he will answer with correctness.' The king commended the exertions of Sindibád, and addressing the prince, desired him to explain his former backwardness. The prince replies by relating the story of a young woman who, having gone to the well for water, and happening to see a handsome youth, was so engrossed with her admiration of him, that she unconsciously tied the cord about her child's neck and let it down into the well instead of her pitcher, when its cries brought people to the well, who drew it out. So thoughtless is youth," said the prince. "Make not thyself uneasy, then, about the raw stripling, since time will render him mature. Thus was it with me. Youth is the season of gaiety and thoughtlessness. I then cared but for sport and the chace. That period is now past, and no one sees it a second time even in a dream. "Reason then became my guide; and when I distinguished right from wrong, my heart was plunged in thought. Virtue and knowledge are the only garments that never grow old. "Sire! I have seen three persons wiser than myself and more experienced in the world. The first, an infant at the breast, by the inspiration and aid of the Creator; the second, a little child of five years old; the third, a blind old man." [The conclusion next month.] LINES FROM THE NIGARISTAN. رضا جویان بسي باشند یاران کسی را تا بود در کوزه آبی وز آن پس گر نماند دستگاهش يكي ندهد سالمش را جوابي In poets, as true genius is but rare, True taste as seldom is the critic's share; Both must alike from heaven derive their light, These born to judge, as well as those to write.-Pope. Taste gives a brighter yellow to the topaz, a more celestial blue to the sapphire, and a deeper crimson to the ruby; it imparts a higher brilliance to the diamond, and a more transparent purple to the amethyst.-Chapone. Alison has a remark on painting, in his Essay on Taste, which may be quoted:-"The landscapes of Claude Lorrain, the music of Handel, the poetry of Milton, excite feeble emotions in our minds when our attention is confined to the qualities they present to our senses. It is then only we feel the sublimity or beauty of their productions, when our imaginations are kindled by their power, when we lose ourselves amid the number of images that pass before our minds, and when we waken at last from this play of fancy, as from the charm of a romantic dream." § Vix ea fatus erat, quum circumfusa repente Os humerosque deo similis; namque ipsa decoram Casariem nato genitrix, lumenque juventæ Purpureum, et letos oculis adflarat honores.-En, b. i. 596. |