سندبادنامه 158

English (machine translation) 158

Language: English

158.1

Whatever the young man sees in a mirror, / the old man sees in a baked brick.
And they made another their leader, and entrusted to him the reins of their welfare and their command and prohibition.

When some days had passed in this state, one day the ram butted the woman with its horn.
The woman was pained by it, and struck the ram’s head with a stone. From the force of the blow, the ram fell off
its feet and fell unconscious. When it regained consciousness, it harbored malice in its heart, until one day
it saw the woman facing a wall, attacked, and gave her a butt with its horns such that she was pinned against the wall.
The woman had a blazing fire in her hand and struck the ram with it. The ram’s wool caught fire;
the ram, in terror of the fire, threw itself into the elephant-stable, and rubbed itself against
the bundles of reed so that the fire might be put out. The fire caught the reed and grew strong,
and the elephant-stable caught fire. Some of the elephants were wounded and some perished. And this news

158.12

Deliberation of the Viziers for the Release of the Prince
reached the ears of the king. On that account he became sorrowful, summoned the chief of the elephant-keepers, and said:

158.14

“What is the remedy for these elephants?” The chief of the elephant-keepers said: “The remedy is that concerning those that
are burnt, you endure patience; and those that are wounded, you continually rub monkey fat upon them, so that they recover.”

158.16

The king gave an order to the soldiers to shoot arrows and stones at whatever monkey they find on that mountain,
and take out their fat and rub it on the elephants. The crowd of people went forth, and
entered from the bottom and top of the mountain, and launched arrows and stones. The monkeys
were bewildered by that situation, and cried out: “At least tell us, what is the cause of killing and wounding us?
For so many years we have resided on this mountain, and not a single creature has suffered distress from us
that on that account we should deserve hostility and wrath.” The people recounted the tale
of the ram, the woman, the fire, and the elephants, and explained that strange event. The monkeys
said: “We deserve more than this calamity, since we did not listen to the words of our elder and leader.”
The viziers said: “Now what is our deliberation, and how must we hasten to confront this
important matter?” He said: “Expediency is that each day one of us should go into attendance and,

158.27

The Coming of the First Vizier before the Presence of the Shah
concerning the wile of women and their treachery, relate a tale, so that it may be that this immense calamity and this
huge misfortune may be repelled, and the bile of this occurrence that has happened may be soothed by the oxymel
of wisdom, and this punishment fall into delay and postponement, and mere imprisonment
suffice; and days of inauspiciousness turn to times of auspiciousness, and divine subtleties and heavenly aid
descend, and the king’s son find release from destruction;

Linked texts (1)

سندبادنامه — Ẓahīrī Samarqandī, Persian