The Arabian Nights Entertainments - Complete eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 1,940 pages of information about The Arabian Nights Entertainments.

The Arabian Nights Entertainments - Complete eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 1,940 pages of information about The Arabian Nights Entertainments.

“Do not alarm yourself, prince,” replied the fairy:  “you ran a risk in fetching the water of the fountain of the lions for your father; but there is no danger in finding this man.  It is my brother Schaibar, who is so far from being like me, though we both had the same father, that he is of so violent a nature, that nothing can prevent his giving bloody marks of his resentment for a slight offence; yet, on the other hand, is so liberal as to oblige any one in whatever they desire.  He is made exactly as the sultan your father has described him; and has no other arms than a bar of iron of five hundred pounds weight, without which he never stirs, and which makes him respected.  I will send for him, and you shall judge of the truth of what I tell you; but prepare yourself not to be alarmed at his extraordinary figure.”  “What! my queen,” replied prince Ahmed, “do you say Schaibar is your brother?  Let him be ever so ugly or deformed I shall be so far from being frightened at his appearance, that I shall love and honour him, and consider him as my nearest relation.”

The fairy ordered a gold chafing-dish to be set with a fire in it under the porch of her palace, with a box of the same metal:  out of the latter she took some incense, and threw it into the fire, when there arose a thick cloud of smoke.

Some moments after, the fairy said to prince Ahmed, “Prince, there comes my brother; do you see him?” The prince immediately perceived Schaibar, who was but a foot and a half high, coming gravely with his heavy bar on his shoulder; his beard thirty feet long, which supported itself before him, and a pair of thick moustaches in proportion, tucked up to his ears, and almost covering his face:  his eyes were very small, like a pig’s, and deep sunk in his head, which was of an enormous size, and on which he wore a pointed cap:  besides all this, he had a hump behind and and before.

If prince Ahmed had not known that Schaibar was Perie Banou’s brother, he would not have been able to behold him without fear; but knowing who he was, he waited for him with the fairy, and received him without the least concern.

Schaibar, as he came forwards, looked at the prince with an eye that would have chilled his soul in his body, and asked Perie Banou, when he first accosted her, who that man was?  To which she replied, “He is my husband, brother; his name is Ahmed; he is a son of the sultan of the Indies.  The reason why I did not invite you to my wedding was, I was unwilling to divert you from the expedition you were engaged in, and from which I heard with pleasure you returned victorious; on his account I have taken the liberty now to call for you.”

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The Arabian Nights Entertainments - Complete from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.