Translation:The Three Princes of Serendip/Novella 1
Novella 1 - Monday
IN the land of Becher there lived a wise and prudent Muslim Emperor who had four wives, one was the daughter of his uncle, and the other three were daughters of great princes. And because he was a man of great learning, he used to bestow many courtesies and great signs of affection on talented men. And when he heard that any such men happened to be in his country, they were honored by him with magnificent and rich gifts. Hence, there were always a large number of such men around him with whom he spent time, when he was free of public duties, discussing various and virtuous subjects. It happened one day that he had a discussion with an excellent philosopher, who was reputed to have endless scientific knowledge about the beautiful and admirable wonders of nature. He asked if he would like to tell him any miraculous findings since he was made to believe that because of his advanced age and extensive learning he could learn from him some noteworthy things.
In this, he was not mistaken because the philosopher who was eager to please him said, "Sire, since I see your desire to learn about a wonderful secret of nature, I want to tell you about something I have never seen at any time in my life, nor learned something so important. Not so long ago, I happened to be in the western lands, where I had ventured to learn new things, having been informed that in these countries lived many men endowed with great and noble intellect. Accompanied by a wise and educated young man with whom I went from city to city, we used to discuss along the road the notable things of nature. One day he told me that he knew of one marvel that was superior to any other. Which was, that whenever he liked, he could kill an animal of any species, he would then speak some words, above the body of the dead animal and his own vital spirit would enter the body of the animal and leave his own body for dead while the animal would become alive with his spirit. He would stay there as long as he liked. When he returned with the animal's body to his own and spoke the same magic words, his vital spirit would enter his body again and, as before, the irrational animal would fall dead, and he would return to its previous state. Which seemed impossible to me and when he saw that he had difficulty persuading me, he proved it in my presence. Since I had never seen a greater miracle than this, I ardently desired to learn about it. I therefore entered into a long-time acquaintance with the young man, and because I constantly begged him, after a long time, he satisfied me by revealing it.”
After the philosopher had told this to the Emperor, the latter said, "How can you persuade me if I judge this miracle to be impossible without seeing the proof of it."
The philosopher replied: "Well, let's do the experiment, so you will easily believe it. "Let an irrational animal be brought to me here so I will show it all to you." Hence, the Emperor immediately ordered to find a sparrow, and gave it to the philosopher, who drowned it, and threw it to the ground. In a soft voice he spoke a few words over it, after which he immediately fell dead to the ground, and the revived sparrow began to fly about the room, where they were and after a good long time, it returned to the dead body of the philosopher, and sang over him until he was resuscitated while the sparrow remained dead there, as before. The Emperor endlessly admired this demonstration, and, just like the philosopher, he ardently desired to learn such a secret. He affectionately asked the philosopher, who did not know whether he could refuse to reveal it to him in its entirety.
Then after he had mastered the secret of the mystery, almost every day he had a bird brought, killed it, and as his spirit passed into it, his own dead body was left for dead. And after he had amused himself as much as he liked, he resuscitated himself by returning his spirit to his body again while leaving the bird dead.
And with this skill he discovered the inner thoughts of many of his vassals, and he punished the wicked and rewarded the good with many gifts and kept his Kingdom in supreme tranquility.
His counselor started to become aware of this matter, and knowing how dear he was to his Prince, he discussed with him one day how skilled he had become in this art, as he happened to tell him and show him, that he was aware of all of his secrets (thanks to him), and he begged him endlessly that he would reveal his secret to him. Because the Emperor was extremely fond of him, and therefore willing in any way to please him, he told him the secret. When the counselor did the experiment immediately, he realized that he had mastered it very well.
One day when he was together with his Lord on a hunt, and they were some distance away from the others in their party, they encountered two does which they killed. And it appeared to the counselor that this was an excellent opportunity to carry out an evil thought which his dark mind had harbored for some time.
"Please Sire," he said to the Emperor. "Since we are far removed from the party, why don't we let our spirits enter into the two does and amuse ourselves, by frolicking a little around these green hills?" “Certainly, replied the Emperor, you got a good idea, and couldn’t we have a lot of fun with this amusement." And having said these words, he dismounted his horse, and tied it to a tree. He immediately went to one of the dead does, and spoke the secret words and as his spirit entered into the doe, his body was left there for dead.
When the counselor saw this, he immediately dismounted his horse, taking care not to tie it otherwise, he rushed to the dead body of the Emperor, and likewise spoke the secret words over it. He left his own body for dead on the ground,and passed with his spirit into that of the Emperor. He mounted the horse of the Emperor and returned to the hunting party. And he sped towards the city, having the body and the shape of the prince, and he was revered by each as the Emperor.
And after he arrived at the royal palace, he asked many of the barons if they had news of the counselor in order to find the man. And he showed great anguish and pretended to believe that since he had strayed from the hunting party he had been devoured by a wild animal in the forest.
He was now governing and ruling the empire. He did all those things that the real Emperor used to do; but because God Almighty never liked that deception could occur over the long term, it so happened that having been intimate with three of the wives of his Lord, he also wanted to have intimate relations with the daughter of the Emperor's uncle. And when he was lying beside her on the fourth night after returning from the hunt, she noticed that he caressed her differently than the Emperor used to. She knew the secret of her lord to pass his spirit into the body of a dead animal, and remembered that the counselor was never found after the hunt. Being a highly intelligent woman, she immediately realized the deception that had occurred to the Emperor. Although the counselor now had the body of the Emperor, nevertheless she immediately left the bed. She concealed that she suspected that a fraud had been committed, and said to him: "Sire, a little before you laid beside me, I had a great and horrible vision which I'm forbidden to tell you about at present. Therefore, I have decided to be chaste in the future, and beg you, please, to make me grateful by not coming to lie with me. In case you don't wish to accommodate me, I would kill myself, rather than acquiesce to you.”
These words greatly displeased the false Emperor. Nevertheless, since he passionately loved that woman, and was afraid that she would kill herself, he abstained from being intimate with her and contented himself by seeing her and conversing with her. However, he exercised all other affairs of the kingdom as a true and just Emperor.
Returning to the Emperor, who had been transmuted into a doe and was struck by all kinds of misadventure. He was chased a lot by bucks and often fiercely bitten by other wild animals. He decided to escape these misfortunes by wandering by himself to get away from other animals.
One day he found a parrot in the countryside who had died a short time before. And he convinced himself that he would have a less troubled existence if he were to enter the dead body with his spirit. He spoke the magic words over the body and instantly the doe was dead on the ground and he became the parrot. And he joined a flock of many other parrots who were captured in a net stretched out by a birdman from his capital city. And he imagined that if he allowed himself to be captured, he could return to his former state. He placed himself in a suitable place where he could be covered by the net and thereby captured together with many other birds and parrots, and put in a large cage, together with the others. And when the bird-catcher stretched out his net again, because he was endowed with reason and intelligence, he grabbed the peg which kept the cage closed with his beak and opened it. All the other birds flew away and he stayed in the cage by himself.
It wasn’t long before the bird-catcher returned to the place where the cage was placed, and he saw that the birds had fled and that the day's labors had been in vain. It had all gone wrong and when he approached the cage to lock the entrance door, so that the parrot who remained there was not going to escape, he was comforted by his wise and prudent words. This surprised him greatly and while it seemed impossible that a newly captured parrot could reason so wisely, he consoled himself by thinking that he could earn a lot of money with him. So, he continued talking to him and noticing that he answered him prudently, he collected his nets and put them away and immediately went towards the city with the parrot. And by discussing a great many things with him on the way and considering how wisely and intelligently the animal reasoned, he began to believe that he should be able to acquire great wealth with him.
Now he arrived in the city, and as he passed through the square, he was met by some friends of his, and while he stopped to talk to them, there was a great tumult not far from them and when the parrot asked his master, what the noise from the surrounding area was all about, he was told that there was a famous and beautiful harlot who had dreamed that she had spent the night before with a gentleman from the city whom she had met in the square. She grabbed his clothes and demanded a hundred scudi telling him that she had never been with any man for less money. A tumult arose when the gentlemen was unwilling to consent to this.
After the parrot heard this, he said, "It is really bad, master, that they are quarreling so fiercely. And if you let me come with you, I believe I can certainly reconcile them." So, knowing how prudent the gifted parrot was, the bird-catcher gave the cage with him in it to one of his friends that he had met in the square. There was a lot of tumult when they arrived there. And with words which acknowledged somewhat the issue between the gentleman and the harlot, he held them by the hand and led them in front of the parrot, telling them, "If you are content to allow this animal to pass judgment on your differences, I assure you that he will give you a fair verdict." The onlookers mocked these words because it seemed impossible to them that an irrational animal could do what the bird-catcher had said.
The gentleman who wanted to see such a miracle, addressed the harlot as follows, "If you agree," he said, "I shall consent in good faith to the judgment of the parrot on the issue between us." The harlot also agreed. They approached the cage, whereupon the parrot first interrogated them about their differences. After he had heard their testimony and they agreed to abide by the judgment he would pass on them, he ordered that a large mirror should be placed in front of his cage. This was carried out at once; the mirror was placed before him on a table, and his master who was standing in front of it was told to hold it upright. The parrot then addressed the gentleman and told him to immediately put the hundred scudi that the harlot asked him to pay on the table.
The harlot was extremely happy and cheerful, believing that she could fill her purse with them, and the gentleman reluctantly disbursed the money in front of the mirror. "And you, madam," said the parrot, don't touch the scudi which you see gathered on the table but instead that pile of one hundred that you see inside the mirror. For if you were with the gentleman in a dream, it is only fair that the compensation you asked for, should also be dreamlike. The people gathered there were amazed at the sentence and could hardly believe what they saw with their eyes, that an animal without reason had pronounced this verdict with such prudence. Because of this the name of the parrot became well-known and famous throughout the city.
When this news reached the ears of the Empress, she judged that the spirit of the Emperor, her husband, dwelt in the animal, endowed with so much reason and prudence, and she ordered that the parrot and the bird-catcher should be brought in front of her immediately. The ministers were tasked to carry out the order and when the bird-catcher arrived at the royal palace, he was brought immediately into the presence of the Empress.
She questioned the bird-catcher for a long time about the capture of the animal and his qualities. She made him understand that if he would sell the bird to her, he would receive such a remuneration that he would no longer have to be a bird-catcher.
After the words spoken by the empress, he said, "Madam, the bird, and I are in your power, and the greatest favor that I can ask of you is that you receive the bird as a gift from me because I esteem your gratitude more than any great wealth I could acquire with it."
The Empress greatly admired these words, and could barely believe that the bird-catcher had been endowed with such a noble soul. She accepted the parrot and immediately arranged that he would receive five hundred scudi per year as compensation for his immense generosity. She had a rich and honorable cage made into which the bird was moved, and had it placed in her room and for most of the day she discussed various matters with him.
Now the parrot had been living with the Empress day and night for two months, and he had never seen that the false Emperor had slept with her which made him very happy and cheerful, notwithstanding the miserable state in which he found himself. As they were conversing one morning at a time when she was alone in her room the Empress said, "I truly see, wise and prudent animal, because you converse with me about various things so intelligently and prudently, that I cannot persuade myself, that you are irrational. Indeed, I am certain that you are the spirit of some noble person, and you have turned yourself into a parrot through some magic art. So, if this is true, I kindly ask you to be willing to reveal it to me."
When the Empress spoke these words, the parrot could no longer conceal who he was because of the love that he felt for this woman. He told her the whole history from the beginning, and the reason that he was so miserable and unhappy because of the maliciousness and disloyalty of the counselor.
The Empress replied that she herself had noticed from the unusual way in which she was caressed that he was a false Emperor, and as soon as she had to be intimate with him, she made him understand that she would kill herself with her own hands instead.
"If you wish," the parrot told her, "you will be able to remedy everything and help me return to my former state and take revenge on the wicked and treacherous counselor."
She answered that this was what she desired above all else and begged him to tell her how this could be realized.
"In the future," replied the animal, when the false Emperor wants to approach you with my body, show him that you are happy and cheerful by starting to caress him. “Certainly,” tell him, “I can consider myself the unhappiest woman in the world and I am dying of pain, for loving you as much as I do, from being deprived of being able to enjoy you, as I once did, due to being suspicious, when I think about you, that it has been such a long time that I saw your spirit pass into the dead body of an animal and amuse yourself with that.”
"So, for no other reason above else than to be intimate with you, and believing that to immediately please you, he must prove to you that he is the true Emperor, he will let his spirit pass into any dead animal. This will give us the opportunity to be able to fully avenge his perfidy." Because, if he does this, you open the cage for me, and I fly over my dead body, and return with my spirit into it. I shall have recovered my former state, and we will live a happy, and peaceful life." When the animal had spoken these words, the Empress immediately carried out his advice.
When the false Emperor entered her room on the evening of the same day, and conversed with her about various things, she started to convey to him what the parrot had instructed her.
Whereupon he, who did not desire anything more than her grace and love, said to her, “Madam, in truth there has been great injustice done to you and to myself for too long. Therefore, if this was the reason that my person arose suspicion, it is only now that I understand to have caused such a doubt in you. But now, let me bring a hen here and I will show you, that up to now you have been greatly deceived."
And this order was carried out immediately and a living hen was brought into the room. And when the others were dismissed, they locked themselves inside the room, alone with the parrot. The false Emperor strangled the hen with his own hands and speaking the magic words over the body, his spirit passed into it while leaving his own body for dead on the floor. Whereupon the Empress, who saw this, promptly opened the cage, and the parrot, as it flew over the Emperor's dead body, moved its spirit into it by virtue of the magic words, and the parrot remained dead. This delighted the Empress beyond measure and weeping tenderly, she held the true Emperor, her husband, in a long embrace. Then, having caught the hen, which, when it saw its misfortune ran away, they cut off its head and threw it into the fire which was in the room. None of this was seen by anyone of the court, and assuming that the parrot was dead, they left the room. And a great feast was ordered for the ladies and the lords of the court on the next day.
Thereafter, the Emperor dismissed the three other wives, and retained the one, who was the daughter of his uncle. And after so many disasters he regained his empire and lived with his wife a long and happy life in supreme tranquility.
After the storyteller had finished his story, Beramo presented him with precious gifts, because he had greatly enjoyed the events in the story. He was given permission to return to his homeland a wealthy man.
Beramo was rather amused by the story that he was told, and began to believe that the advice of the young people helped to rejuvenate him. Following their recommendation, early on Tuesday morning he was brought in a timely manner to the second palace, which was adorned all over with purple, and placed in a bed. His entire court and he himself were dressed in the same color. He had the damsel of the second region be brought into his presence and after having discussed with her many things for a good amount of time, he gave orders that the second storyteller should come.
He came before him, kissed his hands, and was ordered by the counselor to tell his story. Following the order, he began his story quickly as follows: He came before him, kissed his hands, and was ordered by the counselor to tell his story. Following the order, he began his story quickly as follows: