THE STORY OF THE PORTER WITH THE YOUNG LADIES
The third saâlouk, who curiously enough is also a king, son of a king, starts his story. He is lost at sea and arrives on an unknown island that seems terrifying.
ON THE SIXTEENTH NIGHT
Sheherazade started
THE STORY OF THE THIRD SAÂLOUK
“O lady full of glory, do not believe that my story is as wonderful as that of my two companions! Because my story is infinitely more amazing.
If on my companions, these two, the misfortunes were inflicted simply by fate and fatality, me, it is something else! The reason for my shaved beard and my damaged eye is that, by my fault, I brought fate on myself and filled my heart with worries and sorrows.
Here is! I am a king, son of a king. My father was called Kassib, and I am his son. When the king, my father, died, I inherited the kingdom and reigned, ruled justly, and did much good to my subjects.
But I had a great love for travel by sea. And I did not deprive myself of it, because my capital city was located by the sea; and, over a very wide expanse of sea, I had islands that belonged to me, and which were fortified in a state of defense and battle. And I wanted one day to go and visit all my islands, and I had ten large ships prepared, and I had provisions put in them for a month, and I left. The voyage lasted twenty days, at the end of which, one night among the nights, we saw the contrary winds raging against us, and that until dawn; then, as the wind had calmed down a little and the sea softened, at sunrise we saw a small island where we could stop a little: we went ashore, we did a little cooking to eat, we ate, we rested for two days, to wait for the end of the storm, and we set out again. The journey lasted another twenty days, until one day we lost our way; the waters in which we sailed became unknown to us and also to the captain. For the captain, in truth, no longer recognized this sea at all! So we said to the lookout: "Look carefully at sea!" And the lookout went up the mast, then down, and said to us and said to the captain: “To my right, I saw fish on the surface of the water; and, in the middle of the sea, I distinguished in the distance something which sometimes seemed black and sometimes white! »
At these words from the lookout, the captain was terrified; he threw down his turban, tore his beard, and said to all of us: “I announce our loss to you all! And not a single one will come out safe and sound!" Then he began to cry, and we too, with him, began to cry over ourselves. Then I asked the captain: “O captain, explain to us the words of the watchman!" He replied, “O my lord, know that the day the contrary wind blew we lost our way, and it has been so lost for eleven days already; and there is no favorable wind that can bring us back to the right path. Now, know the meaning of this black and white thing and of these fish floating near it: tomorrow we will come to a mountain of black rocks, which is called the Mountain of Magnet, and the waters will drag us by force to the side of this mountain, and our ship will be torn to pieces, because all the nails of the ship will fly away, attracted by the Mountain of Magnet, and will stick on its sides; for Allah Almighty endowed with a secret virtue this Mountain of Magnet which, thus, attracts to itself all things made of iron! Also, you cannot imagine the enormous quantity of iron things which have accumulated, hanging on this mountain, since the time that ships have been drawn to it by force! Allah alone knows the quantity. Moreover, one sees shining, from the sea, at the top of this mountain, a dome in yellow copper supported by ten columns; and on this dome, there is a rider on a copper horse; and in the hand of this rider is a spear of copper; and on the chest of this horseman, there is, suspended, a lead plate engraved entirely with unknown and talismanic names! Now, know, O king, that as long as this rider is on this horse, all the ships that pass under it will be cut to pieces, and all the passengers will be lost forever, and all the irons of the ships will be stuck against the mountain! There will therefore be no possible salvation before this rider is thrown from this horse!"
At these words, O my mistress, the captain began to weep profusely, and we were certain of our irretrievable loss, and each of us bade farewell to his friends.
And, in fact, hardly had the morning come, we were very close to this mountain with black magnetic rocks, and the waters dragged us by force to its side. Then, when our ten ships arrived at the bottom of the mountain, all of a sudden the nails of the ships began to fly by thousands, with all the irons, and went to stick on the mountain; and our ships parted, and we were all thrown overboard.
So all day we were in the power of the sea, and some were drowned and others saved, but the greatest part was drowned; and those who were saved could never know or find each other, for the terrible waves and contrary winds scattered them in every direction.
As for me, O my mistress, Allah Almighty has saved me to reserve me other sorrows, great sufferings, and great misfortunes. I was able to cling to a plank, and the waves and the wind threw me on the coast, at the foot of this mountain of magnets!
Then I found a path that led to the top of the mountain, which was built in the form of stairs carved into the rock. And immediately I invoked the name of Allah Most High, and...
At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.
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