FullReads

There was once–the date is of no moment–a Sultan, and he had a Vizier named Ashimullah. This minister was a wise man, much trusted by his master; but he was held in some suspicion and dislike at the court because he had been born–or, if that be doubtful, had at least been bred–a Christian, and had been originally a prisoner of the Sultan’s armies.

But Ashimullah, for reasons which intimately concerned his own head, but need not concern anybody else’s, promptly found the true path; and, having professed a ready conversion to the tenets of Islam, rose rapidly to a high place in the service of the Sultan, so that his promotion never ceased until he was installed in the office of Grand Vizier. Yet, remembering his discreditable past, the Sultan was accustomed to exact from him the fullest and most minute observance of his religious duties. To such observance Ashimullah submitted, comforting himself with the example of Naaman the Syrian; for Ashimullah was still, in secret, a Christian, and his adherence to Islam was only a polite concession to public feeling. But there was one point on which his conscience struck him sorely, and this was no other than the question of wives. Ashimullah had one wife, a lady of great beauty and remarkable accomplishments, and for the life of him he could not see how, consistently with the religion which he held in his heart and with the honor that he owed to the lady, he could take any other wife. Such an act appeared to him to be a deadly sin, for it was most plainly held and laid down by the rules of his religion, and had moreover been amply proved by experience, that one wife was enough for any man. Therefore when the Sultan, hearing that Ashimullah had but one wife, and considering the thing very suspicious and unnatural, sent for him, and required him to order his establishment on a scale more befitting his present exalted position, Ashimullah was in sad perplexity. To obey was to sin, to refuse was likely to cost him his life; for if his master suspected the sincerity of his conversion, his shrift would be short. In this quandary Ashimullah sought about for excuses.

“O Commander of the Faithful, I am a poor man, and wives are sources of expense,” said Ashimullah.

“My treasury is open to the most faithful of my servants,” said the Sultan.

“A multitude of women in a house breeds strife,” urged Ashimullah.

“He who governs an empire should be able to govern his own house,” remarked the Sultan.

“I have no pleasure in the society of women,” pleaded Ashimullah.

“It is not a question of pleasure,” said the Sultan solemnly, and Ashimullah thought that he saw signs of suspicion on his master’s august face. Therefore he prostrated himself, crying that he submitted to the imperial will, and would straightway take another wife.

“I do not love a grudging obedience,” said the Sultan.

“I will take two!” cried Ashimullah.

“Take three,” said the Sultan; and with this he dismissed Ashimullah, giving him the space of a week in which to fulfill the command laid upon him.

“Surely I am a most unhappy man,” mused Ashimullah. “For if I do not obey, I shall be put to death; and if I do obey, I fear greatly that I shall be damned.” And he went home looking so sorrowful and perplexed that all men conceived that he was out of favor with the Sultan.

Now Ashimullah, being come to his house, went immediately to his wife, and told her of the Sultan’s commands, adding that the matter was a sore grief to him, and not less on her account than on his own. “For you know well, Star of my Heart,” said he, “that I desire no wife but you!”

“I know it well, Ashimullah,” answered Lallakalla tenderly.

“Moreover, I fear that I shall be damned,” whispered Ashimullah.