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Story Of Jullanar Of The SeaJullanar Gives Birth
Jullanar Gives Birth
After this, Jullanar fulfilled her period, and she gave birth to a boy,
resembling the moon at the full, whereat the King experienced the utmost
happiness, because he had not before been blest with a son nor a daughter
during his life. They continued the rejoicings, and the decorations [of the
city], for a period of seven days, in the utmost happiness and enjoyment; and
on the seventh day, the mother of the Queen Jullanar, and her brother, and the
daughters of her uncle, all came, when they knew that Jullanar had given birth
to her child. The King met them, rejoicing at their arrival, and said to them,
I said I would not name my son until ye should come, and that ye should name
him according to your knowledge. And they named him Bedr Basim; all of them
agreeing as to this name. They then presented the boy to his maternal uncle,
Salih, who took him upon his hands, and, rising with him from among them,
walked about the palace to the right and left; after which, he went forth with
him from the palace, descended with him to the sea, and walked on until he
became concealed from the eye of the King. So when the King saw that he had
taken his son, and disappeared from him at the bottom of the sea, he despaired
of him, and began to weep and wail. But Jullanar, seeing him in this state,
said to him, O King of the age, fear not nor grieve for thy son; for I love my
child more than thou, and my child is with my brother; therefore care not for
the sea, nor fear his being drowned. If my brother knew that any injury would
betide the little one, he had not done what he hath done; and presently he
will bring thee thy son safe, if it be the will of God, whose name be exalted!
- And but a short time had elapsed when the sea was agitated and disturbed,
and the uncle of the little one came forth from it, having with him the King`s
son safe, and he flew from the sea until he came to them, with the little one
on his arms, silent, and his face resembling the moon in the night of its
fullness. Then the uncle of the little one looked towards the King, and said
to him, Perhaps thou fearedst some injury to thy son when I descended into the
sea, having him with me. So he replied, Yes, O my master, I feared for him,
and I did not imagine that he would ever come forth from it safe. And Salih
said to him, O King of the Land, we applied to his eyes a collyrium that we
know, and repeated over him the names engraved upon the seal of Suleyman the
son of Da`ud (on both of whom be peace!); for when a child is born among us,
we do to him as I have told thee. Fear not therefore, on his account,
drowning, nor suffocation, nor all the seas if he descend unto them. Like as
ye walk upon the land, we walk in the sea.
He then took forth from his pocket a case, written upon, and sealed; and
he broke its seal, and scattered its contents, whereupon there fell from it
strung jewels, consisting of all kinds of jacinths and other gems, together
with three hundred oblong emeralds, and three hundred oblong large jewels, of
the size of the eggs of the ostrich, the light of which was more resplendent
than the light of the sun and the moon. And he said, O King of the age, these
jewels and jacinths are a present from me unto thee; for we never brought thee
a present, because we knew not the place of Jullanar`s abode, nor were
acquainted with any trace or tidings of her. So when we saw thee to have
become united to her, and that we all had become one, we brought thee this
present; and after every period of a few days, we will bring thee the like of
it, if it be the will of God, whose name be exalted! For these jewels and
jacinths with us are more plentiful than the gravel upon the land, we know the
excellent among them, and the bad, all the ways to them, and the places where
they are found, and they are easy of access to us. - And when the King looked
at those jewels and jacinths, his reason was confounded and his mind was
bewildered, and he said, By Allah, one of these jewels is worth my kingdom!
Then the King thanked Salih of the Sea for his generosity, and, looking
towards the Queen Jullanar, he said to her, I am abashed at thy brother; for
he hath shewn favour to me, and presented me with this magnificent present,
which the people of the earth would fail to procure. So Jullanar thanked her
brother for that which he had done; but her brother said, O King of the age,
thou hadst a prior claim upon us, and to thank thee hath been incumbent on us;
for thou hast treated my sister with beneficence, and we have entered thine
abode, and eaten of thy provision; and the poet hath said, -
Had I wept before she did, in my passion for So`da, I had healed my soul
before repentance came.
But she wept before I did: her tears drew mine; and I said, The merit belongs
to the precedent.
Then Salih said, If we stood serving thee, O King of the age, a thousand
years, regarding nothing else, we could not requite thee, and our doing so
would be but a small thing in comparison with thy desert. - The King therefore
thanked him eloquently. And Salih remained with the King, he and his mother
and the daughters of his uncle, forty days; after which he arose and kissed
the ground before the King, the husband of his sister. So the King said to
him, What dost thou desire, O Salih? And he answered, O King of the age, thou
hast conferred favours upon us, and we desire of thy goodness that thou
wouldst grant us a boon, and give us permission to depart; for we have become
desirous of seeing again our family and our country and our relations and our
homes. We will not, however, relinquish the service of thee, nor that of my
sister nor the son of my sister; and by Allah, O King of the age, to quit you
is not pleasant to my heart; but how can we act, when we have been reared in
the sea, and the land is not agreeable to us? - So when the King heard his
words, he rose upon his feet, and bade farewell to Salih of the Sea and his
mother and the daughters of his uncle, and they wept together on account of
the separation. Then they said to the King, In a shhrt time we shall be with
you, and we will never relinquish you, but after every period of a few days we
will visit you. And after this, they flew towards the sea, and descended into
it, and disappeared.
The King treated Jullanar with beneficence, and honoured her exceedingly,
and the little one grew up well; and his maternal uncle, with his grandmother
and the daughters of his uncle, after every period of a few days used to come
to the residence of the King, and to remain with him a month, and two months,
and then return to their places. The boy ceased not, with increase of age, to
increase in beauty and loveliness until his age became fifteen years; and he
was incomparable in his perfect beauty, and his stature and his justness of
form. He had learned writing and reading, and history and grammar and
philology, and archery; and he learned to play with the spear; and he also
learned horsemanship, and all that the sons of the Kings required. There was
not one of the children of the inhabitants of the city, men and women, that
talked not of the charms of that young man; for he was of surpassing
loveliness and perfection; and the King loved him greatly. Then the King
summoned the Wezir and the emirs, and the lords of the empire, and the great
men of the kingdom, and made them swear by binding oaths that they would make
Bedr Basim King over them after his father; so they swore to him by binding
oaths, and rejoiced thereat; and the King himself was beneficent to the
people, courteous in speech, of auspicious aspect, saying nothing but what was
for the good of the people. And on the following day, the King mounted,
together with the lords of the empire and all the emirs, and all the soldiers
walked with him through the city and returned; and when they drew near to the
palace, the King dismounted to wait upon his son, and he and all the emirs and
the lords of the empire bore the ghashiyeh before him. Each one of the emirs
and the lords of the empire bore the ghashiyeh a while; and they ceased not to
proceed until they arrived at the vestibule of the palace: the King`s son
riding. Thereupon he alighted, and his father embraced him, he and the emirs,
and they seated him upon the throne of the kingdom, while his father stood, as
also did the emirs, before him. Then Bedr Basim judged the people, displaced
the tyrannical and invested the just, and continued to give judgment until
near midday, when he rose from the throne of the kingdom, and went in to his
mother Jullanar of the Sea, having upon his head the crown, and resembling the
moon. So when his mother saw him, and the King before him, she rose to him and
kissed him, and congratulated him on his elevation to the dignity of Sultan;
and she offered up a prayer in favour of him and his father for length of
life, and victory over their enemies. He then sat with his mother and rested;
and when the time of afternoon-prayers arrived, he rode with the emirs
before him until he came to the horse-course, where he played with arms till
the time of nightfall, together with his father and the lords of his empire;
after which he returned to the palace, with all the people before him. Every
day he used to ride to the horse-course; and when he returned, he sat to
judge the people, and administered justice between the emir and the poor man.
He ceased not to do thus for a whole year; and after that, he used to ride to
the chase, and to go about through the cities and provinces that were under
his rule, making proclamation of safety and security, and doing as do the
Kings; and he is incomparable among the people of his age in glory and
courage, and in justice to the people.
Now it came to pass that the old King, the father of Bedr Basim, fell
sick one day, whereupon his heart throbbed, and he felt that he was about to
be removed to the mansion of eternity. Then his malady increased so that he
was at the point of death. He therefore summoned his son, and charged him to
take care of his subjects and his mother and all the lords of his empire and
all the dependants. He also made them swear, and covenanted with them, that
they would obey his son, a second time; and he confided in their oaths. And
after this, he remained a few days, and was admitted to the mercy of God,
whose name be exalted! His son Bedr Basim, and his wife Jullanar, and the
emirs and wezirs and the lords of the empire, mourned over him; and they made
for him a tomb, and buried him in it, and continued the ceremonies of mourning
for him a whole month. Salih, the brother of Jullanar, and her mother, and the
daughters of her uncle, also came, and consoled them for the loss of the King;
and they said, O Jullanar, if the King hath died, he hath left this ingenuous
youth, and he who hath left such as he is hath not died. This is he who hath
not an equal, the crushing lion, and the splendid moon. - Then the lords of
the empire, and the grandees, went in to the King Bedr Basim, and said to him,
O King, there is no harm in mourning for the King; but mourning becometh not
any save women; therefore trouble not thy heart and ours by mourning for thy
father, for the hath died and left thee, and he who hath left such as thou art
hath not died. They proceeded to address him with soft words, and to console
him, and after that they conducted him into the bath; and when he came forth
from the bath, he put on a magnificent suit woven of gold, adorned with jewels
and jacinths, and he put the royal crown upon his head, seated himself upon
the throne of his kingdom, and performed the affairs of the people, deciding
equitably between the strong and the weak, and exacting for the poor man his
due from the emir; wherefore the people loved him exceedingly. Thus he
continued to do so for the space of a whole year; and after every short
period, his family of the sea visited him; so his life was pleasant, and his
eye was cheerful; and he ceased not to live in this state for a length of
time.
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