第49章

Now when the carpenter fell on his back，he waxed exceeding wroth；but he dissembled his wrath for fear of the whelp and sat up and smiled in his face，saying，'Well，I will make for thee the house.' With this he took the planks he had brought and nailed together the house，which he made in the form of a chest after the measure of the young lion. And he left the door open，for he had cut in the box a large aperture，to which he made a stout cover and bored many holes therein. Then he took out some newly wrought nails and a hammer and said to the young lion，'Enter the house through this opening，that I may fit it to thy measure.' Thereat the whelp rejoiced and went up to the opening，but saw that it was strait；and the carpenter said to him，'Enter and crouch down on thy legs and arms！' So the whelp did thus and entered the chest，but his tail remained outside. Then he would have drawn back and come . out；but the carpenter said to him，'Wait patiently a while till I see if there be room for thy tail with thee.' The young lion did as he was bid when the carpenter twisted up his tail and，stuffing it into the chest，whipped the lid on to the opening and nailed it down；whereat the whelp cried out and said，'O carpenter，what is this narrow house thou hast made me？ Let me out，sirrah！' But the carpenter answered，'Far be it，far be it from thy thought！ Repentance for past avails naught，and indeed of this place thou shalt not come out.' He then laughed and resumed，'Verily thou art fallen into the trap and from thy duress there is no escape，O vilest of wild beasts！' Rejoined the whelp，'O my brother，what manner of words are these thou addresses'to me？' The carpenter replied 'know，O dog of the desert！ that thou hast fa]len into that which thou fearedst： Fate hath upset thee，nor shall caution set thee up. ' When the whelp heard these words，O my sister，he knew that this was indeed the very son of Adam，against whom he had been warned by his sire in waking state and by the mysterious Voice in sleeping while；and I also was certified that this was indeed he without doubt；wherefore great fear of him for myself seized me and I withdrew a little apart from him and waited to see what he would do with the young lion. Then I saw，O my sister，the son of Adam dig a pit in that place hard by the chest which held the whelp and，throwing the box into the hole，heap dry wood upon it and burn the young lion with fire. At this sight，O sister mine，my fear of the son of Adam redoubled and in my affright I have been these two days fleeing from him.'But when the peahen heard from the duck this story，And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the One Hundred and Fortyseventh Night，She said，It hath reached me，O auspicious King，that when the peahen heard from the duck this story，she wondered with exceeding wonder and said to her，'O my sister，here thou art safe from the son of Adam，for we are in one of the islands of the sea whither there is no way for the son of Adam；so do thou take up thine abode with us till Allah make easy thy case and our case. Quoth the duck，'I fear lest some calamity come upon me by night，for no runaway can rid him of fate by flight.'Rejoined the peahen，'Abide with us，and be like unto，us；'and ceased not to persuade her，till she yielded，saying，'O my sister，thou knowest how weak is my resistance；but verily had I not seen thee here，I had not remained.'Said the peahen，'That which is on our foreheads[142] we must indeed fulfil，and when our doomed day draweth near，who shall deliver us？ But not a soul departeth except it have accomplished its predestined livelihood and term.

Now the while they talked thus，a cloud of dust appeared and approached them，at sight of which the duck shrieked aloud and ran down into the sea，crying out，'Beware！ beware！ though flight there is not from Fate and Lot！'[143] After awhile the dust opened out and discovered under it an antelope；whereat the duck and the peahen were reassured and the peacock's wife said to her companion，'O my sister，this thou seest and wouldst have me beware of is an antelope，and here he is，making for us. He will do us no hurt，for the antelope feedeth upon the herbs of the earth and，even as thou art of the bird kind，so is he of the beast kind. Be there fore of good cheer and cease care taking；for care taking wasteth the body.'Hardly had the peahen done speaking，when the antelope came up to them，thinking to shelter him under the shade of the tree；and，sighting the peahen and the duck，saluted them and said，'I came to this island today and I have seen none richer in herbage nor pleasanter for habitation.'

Then he besought them for company and amity and，when they saw his friendly behaviour to them，they welcomed him and gladly accepted his offer. So they struck up a sincere friendship and sware thereto；and they slept in one place and they ate and drank together；nor did they cease dwelling in safety，eating and drinking their fill，till one day there came thither a ship which had strayed from her course in the sea. She cast anchor near them and the crew came forth and dispersed about the island. They soon caught sight of the three friends，antelope，peahen and duck，and made for them；whereupon the peahen flew up into the tree and thence winged her way through air；and the antelope fled into the desert，but the duck abode paralyzed by fear. So they chased her till they caught her and she cried out and said，'Caution availed me naught against Fate and Lot！'and they bore her off to the ship. Now when the peahen saw what had betided the duck，she removed from the island，saying，'I see that misfortunes lie in ambush for all. But for yonder ship，parting had not befallen between me and this duck，because she was one of the truest of friends.'Then she flew off and rejoined the antelope，who saluted her and gave her joy of her safety and asked for the duck，to which she replied，'The enemy hath taken her，and I loathe the sojourn of this island after her.'Then she wept for the loss of the duck and began repeating，'The day of parting cut my heart in twain：