|
The history of Hazikin, King of Gazna. An Oriental Tale.
Hazikin king of Gazna had long reigned in prosperity: he was beloved by all his subjects, but one thing was wanting to render his happiness complete; he had no son to inherit his kingdom, and this consideration was a source of constant inquietude to him. He every day importuned heaven with prayers, to grant him a successor of his own begetting, and his prayers were at last heard. The prince Nourgehan was born, and his birth was celebrated by rejoicings, which surpassed, in magnificence, all that had ever been seen in Gazna before. The king, whose cares all concentered on his son, got a certain Coja, deeply versed in the science of astrology, to cast his nativity. But how great was the grief and surprize of the monarch, when he was assured by the Coja, whose skill he had often experienced, that this son, whom he looked upon as the best gift of heaven, should one day dethrone him! Hazikin was thrown into the utmost consternation upon hearing this, and immediately resolved to take the best measures, to prevent the misfortune with which he was threatened. He could not, however, so far surmount the instincts of nature as to resolve upon the death of his son; but he caused a report to be spread that the angel of death had called upon him; and immediately an universal mourning and sorrow succeeded to the joy and exultation which had a short time before been manifested by people of every rank. Hazikin, in the mean time, sent the prince to Hassan, a poor shepherd who dwelt upon the borders of Gazna, to be brought up in poverty and obscurity. The secret of the birth of Nourgehan was concealed even from Hassan himself: for the person who brought the child amused the peasant by an invented story; and to engage him to take care of it, paid him six sequins, promising to supply him with an annual sum more than sufficient to defray the charges he might be at. Hazikin now thought himself in perfect security, but it is in vain that weak mortals attempt to controul their destiny; what is written in the book of fate will come to pass, notwithstanding all their care to avoid it. Nourgehan being brought up among shepherds, and inured to exercise and labour, acquired a most vigorous constitution. His limbs were equally robust and active, and his aspiring mind was well suited to a body which seemed to be framed by nature for enterprise. Growing weary of the mean occupations of a shepherd, he left the place where he had been brought up, and, after having wandered some time, was received at length in the troops of the king of Deli. There he soon distinguished himself upon many occasions; insomuch that he was promoted to a considerable post, and acquitted himself so well, that every body concluded he would in a short time arrive to the highest military dignities. The expectations he had excited were not disappointed ; for in an engagement upon the borders of Deli, he saved the life of the king's son, and as a reward for so signal a service, was invested with the command of his troops. He went by the name of Calaf; and, notwithstanding all the honours conferred upon him, still thought himself the son of the poor peasant Hassan. A difference soon arising between the king of Deli and the king of Gazna, the former sent Nourgehan, at the head os a puissant army, to invade the territories of the latter; and Nourgehan, having defeated the troops of the king of Gazna, possessed himself of his capital city, and having caused him to be cast into irons, carried him captive to Deli. The king of Deli, who was greatly irritated against him, formed the cruel resolution to deprive him of sight, and detain him prisoner for the remainder of his days. This inhuman purpose was just going to be put in execution, when the Coja, who had calculated the nativity of Nourgehan entered, and taking him aside, addressed him in the following terms. "Oh, prince! know that Hazikin is your sire; you have already dethroned him. For this you are not to be blamed, as you were ignorant that he was your father, and as that event was predestined by the unalterable decree of fate: but strive to preserve him from the misfortune which now impends over him, or the black angels Zoubanya, and their chief Dabekh, will torment thee for ever in the other world." Nourgehan, being equally surprised and terrified at receiving this information, went to the king of Deli, and prostrating himself before him, intreated him in the most pathetic terms to spare the captive prince. The vindictive monarch, notwithstanding his great esteem for Nourgehan, positively refused to grant his request. This refusal occasioned a struggle in the breast of Nourgehan, between gratitude and filial piety; but the latter soon surmounted the former, and the prince, who was idolized by the army, easily found means to make a party, and having rescued his father, retired with him to the capital of Gazna. The virtuous Nourgehan would have reinstated his sire in his former dignity; but the old monarch, who was convinced by experience, that the decrees of fate are not to be reversed, consigned the reins of government to the abler hands of his son, and passed the rest of his life in tranquillity and retirement. Nourgehan long reigned over the people of Gazna in prosperity, and advanced the experienced Coja to the dignity of prime visir, in which important place he acquitted himself equally to the satisfaction of the people, and of his sovereign.
http://books.google.ru/books?pg=PA349&id=_jIJAAAAQAAJ&hl=ru#v=onepage&q&f=false The British Magazine, Or, Monthly Repository for Gentlemen & Ladies, Vol. II. For January 1761 - Авторы: Tobias George Smollett - p.349-350
С одной стороны, в повести - мотивы мифа о рождении героя, с другой, сильно напоминает сюжет драмы "Жизнь есть сон" Кальдерона, один из источников которой - история Лжедмитрия на Руси. Об имени Hazikin есть немного в пояснениях к книге "Сорок визиров" (турецкий вариант "Книги о семи мудрецах". В основе этой книги, точнее, в обрамляющей ее повести - история о молодой мачехе, оклеветавшей сына царя = вариант истории "Иосиф и жена Потифара", т.е., согласно ФиН, истории Есфири = Елены Волошанки):
..I may say that the king to whom the stories are told is by De la Croix named Hafikin;* by Belletete, Shah Hafiqin; by the Constantinople Text and the India Office MS., Shah Khanqin. These forms are all meaningless, and Behrnauer is doubtless correct in writing the name Shah-i-Khafiqayn=King of the Two Horizons, i.e. East and West, i.e. the whole world. The wicked step-mother and the silent prince, who are nameless in all the other versions, are called by De la Croix, Canzada (for Khan-zada=Khan-born, i.e. Child of the Khan) and Nourgehan (for Nur-i-Jihan=Light o' the World), respectively.
* In the English translation of De la Croix's work, this appears as Hasikin, the printer having mistaken the f for a long s.
https://archive.org/stream/historyoffortyve00shairich#page/410/mode/2up
|
