The Enchanted Island.
_But it is not always the lucky one that carries away the plums;sometimes he only shakes the tree, and the wise man pockets thefruit._
Once upon a long, long time ago, and in a country far, far away,there lived two men in the same town and both were named Selim; onewas Selim the Baker and one was Selim the Fisherman.
Selim the Baker was well off in the world, but Selim the Fishermanwas only so-so. Selim the Baker always had plenty to eat and awarm corner in cold weather, but many and many a time Selim theFisherman’s stomach went empty and his teeth went chattering.
Once it happened that for time after time Selim the Fishermancaught nothing but bad luck in his nets, and not so much as asingle sprat, and he was very hungry. “Come,” said he to himself,“those who have some should surely give to those who have none,”and so he went to Selim the Baker. “Let me have a loaf of bread,”said he, “and I will pay you for it to-morrow.”
“Very well,” said Selim the Baker; “I will let you have a loafof bread, if you will give me all that you catch in your netsto-morrow.”
“So be it,” said Selim the Fisherman, for need drives one to hardbargains sometimes; and therewith he got his loaf of bread.
So the next day Selim the Fisherman fished and fished and fishedand fished, and still he caught no more than the day before; untiljust at sunset he cast his net for the last time for the day, and,lo and behold! there was something heavy in it. So he dragged itashore, and what should it be but a leaden box, sealed as tight aswax, and covered with all manner of strange letters and figures.“Here,” said he, “is something to pay for my bread of yesterday, atany rate;” and as he was an honest man, off he marched with it toSelim the Baker.
They opened the box in the baker’s shop, and within they foundtwo rolls of yellow linen. In each of the rolls of linen wasanother little leaden box: in one was a finger-ring of gold setwith a red stone, in the other was a finger-ring of iron set withnothing at all.
That was all the box held; nevertheless, that was the greatestcatch that ever any fisherman made in the world; for, though Selimthe one or Selim the other knew no more of the matter than the catunder the stove, the gold ring was the Ring of Luck and the ironring was the Ring of Wisdom.
Inside of the gold ring were carved these letters: “Whosoever wearsme, shall have that which all men seek--for so it is with good-luckin this world.”
Inside of the iron ring were written these words: “Whosoever wearsme, shall have that which few men care for--and that is the way itis with wisdom in our town.”
“Well,” said Selim the Baker, and he slipped the gold ring ofgood-luck on his finger, “I have driven a good bargain, and youhave paid for your loaf of bread.”
“But what will you do with the other ring?” said Selim theFisherman.
“Oh, you may have that,” said Selim the Baker.
Well, that evening, as Selim the Baker sat in front of his shopin the twilight smoking a pipe of tobacco, the ring he wore beganto work. Up came a little old man with a white beard, and he wasdressed all in gray from top to toe, and he wore a black velvetcap, and he carried a long staff in his hand. He stopped in frontof Selim the Baker, and stood looking at him a long, long time. Atlast--“Is your name Selim?” said he.
“Yes,” said Selim the Baker, “it is.”
“And do you wear a gold ring with a red stone on your finger?”
“Yes,” said Selim, “I do.”
“Then come with me,” said the little old man, “and I will show youthe wonder of the world.”
“Well,” said Selim the Baker, “that will be worth the seeing, atany rate.” So he emptied out his pipe of tobacco, and put on hishat and followed the way the old man led.
Up one street they went, and down another, and here and therethrough alleys and byways where Selim had never been before. Atlast they came to where a high wall ran along the narrow street,with a garden behind it, and by-and-by to an iron gate. The old manrapped upon the gate three times with his knuckles, and cried in aloud voice, “Open to Selim, who wears the Ring of Luck!”
Then instantly the gate swung open, and Selim the Baker followedthe old man into the garden.
Bang! shut the gate behind him, and there he was.
There he was! And such a place he had never seen before. Suchfruit! such flowers! such fountains! such summer-houses!
“This is nothing,” said the old man; “this is only the beginning ofwonder. Come with me.”
He led the way down a long pathway between the trees, and Selimfollowed. By-and-by, far away, they saw the light of torches; andwhen they came to what they saw, lo and behold! there was thesea-shore, and a boat with four-and-twenty oarsmen, each dressedin cloth of gold and silver more splendidly than a prince. Andthere were four-and-twenty black slaves, carrying each a torch ofspice-wood, so that all the air was filled with sweet smells. Theold man led the way, and Selim, following, entered the boat; andthere was a seat for him made soft with satin cushions embroideredwith gold and precious stones and stuffed with down, and Selimwondered whether he was not dreaming.
The oarsmen pushed off from the shore and away they rowed.
On they rowed and on they rowed for all that livelong night.
At last morning broke, and then as the sun rose Selim saw sucha sight as never mortal eyes beheld before or since. It was thewonder of wonders--a great city built on an island. The island wasall one mountain; and on it, one above another and another abovethat again, stood palaces that glistened like snow, and orchards offruit, and gardens of flowers and green trees.
And as the boat came nearer and nearer to the city, Selim could seethat all around on the house-tops and down to the water’s edge werecrowds and crowds of people. All were looking out towards the sea,and when they saw the boat and Selim in it, a great shout went uplike the roaring of rushing waters.
“It is the King!” they cried--“it is the King! It is Selim theKing!”
Then the boat landed, and there stood dozens and scores of greatprinces and nobles to welcome Selim when he came ashore. And therewas a white horse waiting for him to ride, and its saddle andbridle were studded with diamonds and rubies and emeralds thatsparkled and glistened like the stars in heaven, and Selim thoughtfor sure he must be dreaming with his eyes open.
But he was not dreaming, for it was all as true as that eggs areeggs. So up the hill he rode, and to the grandest and the mostsplendid of all the splendid palaces, the princes and noblemenriding with him, and the crowd shouting as though to split theirthroats.
And what a palace it was!--as white as snow and painted all insidewith gold and blue. All around it were gardens blooming with fruitand flowers, and the like of it mortal man never saw in the worldbefore.
There they made a king of Selim, and put a golden crown on hishead; and that is what the Ring of Good Luck can do for a baker.
* * * * *
But wait a bit! There was something queer about it all, and that isnow to be told.
All that day was feasting and drinking and merry-making, andthe twinging and twanging of music, and dancing of beautifuldancing-girls, and such things as Selim had never heard tell of inall his life before. And when night came they lit thousands andthousands of candles of perfumed wax; so that it was a hard matterto say when night began and day ended, only that the one smelledsweeter than the other.
But at last it came midnight, and then suddenly, in an instant,all the lights went out and everything was as dark as pitch--nota spark, not a glimmer anywhere. And, just as suddenly, all thesound of music and dancing and merrymaking ceased, and everybodybegan to wail and cry until it was enough to wring one’s heart tohear. Then, in the midst of all the wailing and crying, a door wasflung open, and in came six tall and terrible black men, dressedall in black from top to toe, carrying each a flaming torch; and bythe light of the torches King Selim saw that all--the princes, thenoblemen, the dancing-girls--all lay on their faces on the floor.
The six
men took King Selim--who shuddered and shook with fear--bythe arms, and marched him through dark, gloomy entries andpassageways, until they came at last to the very heart of thepalace.
There was a great high-vaulted room all of black marble, and inthe middle of it was a pedestal with seven steps, all of blackmarble; and on the pedestal stood a stone statue of a woman lookingas natural as life, only that her eyes were shut. The statue wasdressed like a queen: she wore a golden crown on her head, and uponher body hung golden robes, set with diamonds and emeralds andrubies and sapphires and pearls and all sorts of precious stones.
As for the face of the statue, white paper and black ink could nottell you how beautiful it was. When Selim looked at it, it madehis heart stand still in his breast, it was so beautiful.
The six men brought Selim up in front of the statue, and then avoice came as though from the vaulted roof: “Selim! Selim! Selim!”it said, “what art thou doing? To-day is feasting and drinking andmerry-making, but beware of to-morrow!”
As soon as these words were ended the six black men marched KingSelim back whence they had brought him; there they left him andpassed out one by one as they had first come in, and the door shutto behind them.
Then in an instant the lights flashed out again, the music began toplay and the people began to talk and laugh, and King Selim thoughtthat maybe all that had just passed was only a bit of an ugly dreamafter all.
So that is the way King Selim the Baker began to reign, andthat is the way he continued to reign. All day was feasting anddrinking and making merry and music and laughing and talking.But every night at midnight the same thing happened: the lightswent out, all the people began wailing and crying, and the sixtall, terrible black men came with flashing torches and marchedKing Selim away to the beautiful statue. And every night the samevoice said--“Selim! Selim! Selim! What art thou doing? To-day isfeasting and drinking and merry-making; but beware of to-morrow!”
So things went on for a twelvemonth, and at last came the end ofthe year. That day and night the merry-making was merrier andwilder and madder than it had ever been before, but the greatclock in the tower went on--tick, tock! tick, tock!--and by and byit came midnight. Then, as it always happened before, the lightswent out, and all was as black as ink. But this time there was nowailing and crying out, but everything as silent as death; thedoor opened slowly, and in came, not six black men as before, butnine men as silent as death, dressed all in flaming red, and thetorches they carried burned as red as blood. They took King Selimby the arms, just as the six men had done, and marched him throughthe same entries and passageways, and so came at last to the samevaulted room. There stood the statue, but now it was turned toflesh and blood, and the eyes were open and looking straight atSelim the Baker.
“Art thou Selim?” said she; and she pointed her finger straight athim.
“Yes, I am Selim,” said he.
“And dost thou wear the gold ring with the red stone?” said she.
“Yes,” said he; “I have it on my finger.”
“And dost thou wear the iron ring?”
“No,” said he; “I gave that to Selim the Fisherman.”
The words had hardly left his lips when the statue gave a greatcry and clapped her hands together. In an instant an echoing crysounded all over the town--a shriek fit to split the ears.
The next moment there came another sound--a sound likethunder--above and below and everywhere. The earth began to shakeand to rock, and the houses began to topple and fall, and thepeople began to scream and to yell and to shout, and the waters ofthe sea began to lash and to roar, and the wind began to bellow andhowl. Then it was a good thing for King Selim that he wore Luck’sRing; for, though all the beautiful snow-white palace about him andabove him began to crumble to pieces like slaked lime, the sticksand the stones and the beams to fall this side of him and that, hecrawled out from under it without a scratch or a bruise, like a ratout of a cellar.
That is what Luck’s Ring did for him.
But his troubles were not over yet; for, just as he came out fromunder all the ruin, the island began to sink down into the water,carrying everything along with it--that is, everything but him andone thing else. That one other thing was an empty boat, and KingSelim climbed into it, and nothing else saved him from drowning. Itwas Luck’s Ring that did that for him also.
The boat floated on and on until it came to another island that wasjust like the island he had left, only that there was neither treenor blade of grass nor hide nor hair nor living thing of any kind.Nevertheless, it was an island just like the other: a high mountainand nothing else. There Selim the Baker went ashore, and there hewould have starved to death only for Luck’s Ring; for one day aboat came sailing by, and when poor Selim shouted, those aboardheard him and came and took him off. How they all stared to seehis golden crown--for he still wore it--and his robes of silk andsatin and the gold and jewels!
Before they would consent to carry him away, they made him give upall the fine things he had. Then they took him home again to thetown whence he had first come, just as poor as when he had started.Back he went to his bake-shop and his ovens, and the first thing hedid was to take off his gold ring and put it on the shelf.
“If that is the ring of good luck,” said he, “I do not want to wearthe like of it.”
That is the way with mortal man: for one has to have the Ring ofWisdom as well, to turn the Ring of Luck to good account.
And now for Selim the Fisherman.
Well, thus it happened to him. For a while he carried the iron ringaround in his pocket--just as so many of us do--without thinkingto put it on. But one day he slipped it on his finger--and that iswhat we do not all of us do. After that he never took it off again,and the world went smoothly with him. He was not rich, but then hewas not poor; he was not merry, neither was he sad. He always hadenough and was thankful for it, for I never yet knew wisdom to gobegging or crying.
So he went his way and he fished his fish, and twelve months anda week or more passed by. Then one day he went past the baker shopand there sat Selim the Baker smoking his pipe of tobacco.
“So, friend,” said Selim the Fisherman, “you are back again in theold place, I see.”
“Yes,” said the other Selim; “awhile ago I was a king, and now Iam nothing but a baker again. As for that gold ring with the redstone--they may say it is Luck’s Ring if they choose, but when nextI wear it may I be hanged.”
Thereupon he told Selim the Fisherman the story of what hadhappened to him with all its ins and outs, just as I have told itto you.
“Well!” said Selim the Fisherman, “I should like to have a sightof that island myself. If you want the ring no longer, just let mehave it; for maybe if I wear it something of the kind will happento me.”
“You may have it,” said Selim the Baker. “Yonder it is, and you arewelcome to it.”
So Selim the Fisherman put on the ring, and then went his way abouthis own business.
That night, as he came home carrying his nets over his shoulder,whom should he meet but the little old man in gray, with the whitebeard and the black cap on his head and the long staff in his hand.
“Is your name Selim?” said the little man, just as he had done toSelim the Baker.
“Yes,” said Selim; “it is.”
“And do you wear a gold ring with a red stone?” said the little oldman, just as he had said before.
“Yes,” said Selim; “I do.”
“Then come with me,” said the little old man, “and I will show youthe wonder of the world.”
Selim the Fisherman remembered all that Selim the Baker had toldhim, and he took no two thoughts as to what to do. Down he tumbledhis nets, and away he went after the other as fast as his legscould carry him. Here they went and there they went, up crookedstreets and lanes and down by-ways and alley-ways, until at lastthey came to the same garden to which Selim the Baker had beenbrought. Then the old man knocked at the gate three times and criedout in a loud voice, “Open! Open
! Open to Selim who wears the Ringof Luck!”
Then the gate opened, and in they went. Fine as it all was, Selimthe Fisherman cared to look neither to the right nor to the left,but straight after the old man he went, until at last they came tothe seaside and the boat and the four-and-twenty oarsmen dressedlike princes and the black slaves with the perfumed torches.
Here the old man entered the boat and Selim after him, and awaythey sailed.
To make a long story short, everything happened to Selim theFisherman just as it had happened to Selim the Baker. At dawn ofday they came to the island and the city built on the mountain.And the palaces were just as white and beautiful, and the gardensand orchards just as fresh and blooming as though they had notall tumbled down and sunk under the water a week before, almostcarrying poor Selim the Baker with them. There were the peopledressed in silks and satins and jewels, just as Selim the Baker hadfound them, and they shouted and hurrahed for Selim the Fishermanjust as they had shouted and hurrahed for the other. There were theprinces and the nobles and the white horse, and Selim the Fishermangot on his back and rode up to the dazzling snow-white palace, andthey put a crown on his head and made a king of him, just as theyhad made a king of Selim the Baker.
That night, at midnight, it happened just as it had happenedbefore. Suddenly, as the hour struck, the lights all went out, andthere was a moaning and a crying enough to make the heart curdle.Then the door flew open, and in came the six terrible black menwith torches. They led Selim the Fisherman through damp and dismalentries and passage-ways until they came to the vaulted room ofblack marble, and there stood the beautiful statue on its blackpedestal. Then came the voice from above--“Selim! Selim! Selim!” itcried, “what art thou doing? To-day is feasting and drinking andmerry-making, but beware of to-morrow!”
But Selim the Fisherman did not stand still and listen, as Selimthe Baker had done. He called out, “I hear the words! I amlistening! I will beware to-day for the sake of to-morrow!”
I do not know what I should have done had I been king of thatisland and had I known that in a twelvemonth it would all cometumbling down about my ears and sink into the sea, maybe carry mealong with it. This is what Selim the Fisherman did [but then hewore the iron Ring of Wisdom on his finger, and I never had thatupon mine]:
First of all, he called the wisest men of the island to him, andfound from them just where the other desert island lay upon whichthe boat with Selim the Baker in it had drifted.
Then, when he had learned where it was to be found, he sent armiesand armies of men and built on that island palaces and houses, andplanted there orchards and gardens, just like the palaces andthe orchards and the gardens about him--only a great deal finer.Then he sent fleets and fleets of ships, and carried everythingaway from the island where he lived to that other island--all themen and the women and the children; all the flocks and herds andevery living thing; all the fowls and the birds and everything thatwore feathers; all the gold and the silver and the jewels and thesilks and the satins, and whatever was of any good or of any use;and when all these things were done, there were still two days lefttill the end of the year.
Upon the first of these two days he sent over the beautiful statueand had it set up in the very midst of the splendid new palace hehad built.
Upon the second day he went over himself, leaving behind himnothing but the dead mountain and the rocks and the empty houses.
So came the end of the twelve months.
So came midnight.
Out went all the lights in the new palace, and everything was assilent as death and as black as ink. The door opened, and in camethe nine men in red, with torches burning as red as blood. Theytook Selim the Fisherman by the arms and led him to the beautifulstatue, and there she was with her eyes open.
“Are you Selim?” said she.
“Yes, I am Selim,” said he.
“And do you wear the iron Ring of Wisdom?” said she.
“Yes, I do,” said he; and so he did.
* * * * *
There was no roaring and thundering, there was no shaking andquaking, there was no toppling and tumbling, there was no splashingand dashing: for this island was solid rock, and was not allenchantment and hollow inside and underneath like the other whichhe had left behind.
The beautiful statue smiled until the place lit up as though thesun shone. Down she came from the pedestal where she stood andkissed Selim the Fisherman on the lips.
Then instantly the lights blazed everywhere, and the people shoutedand cheered, and the music played. But neither Selim the Fishermannor the beautiful statue saw or heard anything.
“I have done all this for you!” said Selim the Fisherman.
“And I have been waiting for you a thousand years!” said thebeautiful statue--only she was not a statue any longer.
After that they were married, and Selim the Fisherman and theenchanted statue became king and queen in real earnest.
I think Selim the Fisherman sent for Selim the Baker and made himrich and happy--I hope he did--I am sure he did.
So, after all, it is not always the lucky one who gathers the plumswhen wisdom is by to pick up what the other shakes down.
* * * * *
I could say more; for, O little children! little children! there ismore than meat in many an egg-shell; and many a fool tells a storythat joggles a wise man’s wits, and many a man dances and junketsin his fool’s paradise till it comes tumbling down about his earssome day; and there are few men who are like Selim the Fisherman,who wear the Ring of Wisdom on their finger, and, alack-a-day! I amnot one of them, and that is the end of this story.
* * * * *
_Old Bidpai nodded his head. “Aye, aye,” said he, “there is avery good moral in that story, my friend. It is, as a certainphilosopher said, very true, that there is more in an egg thanthe meat. And truly, methinks, there is more in thy story thanthe story of itself.” He nodded his head again and stroked hisbeard slowly, puffing out as he did so a great reflective cloud ofsmoke, through which his eyes shone and twinkled mistily like starsthrough a cloud._
_“And whose turn is it now?” said Doctor Faustus._
_“Methinks ’tis mine,” said Boots--he who in fairy-tale always satin the ashes at home and yet married a princess after he had goneout into the world awhile. “My story,” said he, “hath no moral,but, all the same, it is as true as that eggs hatch chickens.”Then, without waiting for any one to say another word, he began itin these words. “I am going to tell you,” said he, how--_