no place in the whole world is more beautiful than the king’s gardens in babylon (bird-of-gold said). my white ducks, when they swam upon the lake, went amongst water lilies that were silver-white or all golden. beside the lake the irises grew, depths and depths of blue and gold and cloud-colored irises. i should never have left the side of that lake if i had not wanted to be amongst the trees that grew in the gardens above—palm trees of many kinds, and great cedar trees in the dark branches of which the doves built their nests. greatly did i admire the trees in the king’s gardens, for i had come from a country where there were no trees. all the palms were there—the date palm, and the royal palm, and the palm of the desert. they stood nobly by themselves or they made solemn avenues that led to monuments of the kings of babylon. in the grass there were golden poppies and little roses that just lifted themselves above the ground. there were great monuments, too—statues of[pg 94] kings and lions and chariots, and these reminded people of terrors and magnificences, and they were as a great wind that blew through the gardens.
and there were tulips on the ground, and there were golden fruits amongst gleaming leaves, and red pomegranates on the high trees, and there were spice trees that filled the garments of those who passed with fragrance. and all in a garden to themselves were the roses—a thousand rose trees, each tree with a thousand opened flowers. i wept when i saw that garden of roses, and i do not know why i wept.
all the birds that were lovely to look at or charming to hear singing were in that garden. the black birds with golden wings from my own country were there, and the birds of paradise from the land of the burning mountain. and it was told that the nightingales of persia and babylon and arabia brought their young here that they might learn to sing the more perfectly. also there were mocking birds that mocked every bird’s song but the song of the nightingale.
as for the beasts in the king’s gardens, the first[pg 95] one i made friends with was a lynx. he was not in a cage, but went roaming about, watching everything with eyes that never winked. and after i had come to know him and had made friends with him, the lynx brought me to the cages and the pits of the other beasts and with them i made friends.
of all the creatures that were there the one i was most fearful of was the queen serpent that was in the pit of the serpent. but the serpent allured me, and i used to sit above the pit, the lynx beside me, and watch her as she uncoiled herself and swayed her head about. and as i watched her i would beat on a little drum that i carried with me. i began to see that as i beat the drum and made music for her the serpent’s head would cease to sway and she would lower it, and then she would rest upon her coils as if she were sleeping. so i grew to have power over the serpent, and many times when i saw her try to draw down a bird that had come to the edge of the pit, i would beat upon the drum until her head sank down, when the bird would rouse itself out of the spell that the serpent’s eyes had for it, and fly away.
[pg 96]
so i stayed in the king’s gardens, part of the day with the thousand ducks that were about the lake, and part of the day with the ever-watchful lynx that went here and went there.
one day i came up from the lake after having decked myself with the blue herons’ feathers that lay about. i saw two where none but the king or the king’s ancient dwarf ever came. one was a man who wore a straight garment that had curious figures woven upon it, and who carried in his hand a staff that was formed of two serpents twining together. the one who was with him was a boy, and my heart went out to him because he was young, and i had seen no one who was young in my days in babylon. the two walked in the gardens, and i ran and hid from them.
a day came soon after when i came up from the lake and did not find the lynx who was my friend. i went searching for him, and at last i came upon him. he had gone up into one of the great chariots that were for a monument to a king. i saw him watching across the chariot. i went beside him,[pg 97] and the lynx did not move, but kept watching, watching.
before i saw what was coming i heard a great trampling noise. i saw trees break and fall down. flocks of birds came flying toward me, and i saw the deer start up and run. then i saw enormous shapes coming striding through the gardens. they were as men, but as men high as towers. as they came on, trees fell down before them, and beasts broke out of their pits and cages and crouched before them. the beasts were filled with fear, and they roared and screeched and trumpeted as if fearful things were about to happen to them. the giant men passed where i stood in the great chariot and they came to the gateway that led into the courts of the king’s palace. they put their hands to the stones above the gateway, and the heavy, mortared stones fell, leaving them a space high enough for them to pass through. i looked from the king’s palace toward the city, and i saw the way of the lions and it was black with people that fled from the palace—soldiers and servants and attendants. i saw the beasts[pg 98] of the gardens bound or crash through the broken gateway, entering the courts of the palace.
i saw the giant men come forth from the palace. now they held a man by the arms and dragged him along. they crossed the gardens dragging the man, and for a time i watched the dust that their progress made.
as i watched i saw some one come fleeing from the palace. he ran on, coming straight to the place from where i watched. he stumbled as he ran, and i saw him fall into the pit of the serpent. it had seemed to me as i watched him that this was the boy who had walked with the strange man in the gardens.
in my hands i had the little drum whose sound could put a spell upon the queen serpent. i ran toward the pit holding the drum. and when i bent over i saw that the head of the serpent was very near to the boy. i beat upon the drum, and the serpent heard, and her head ceased to sway about. then her head went down, and she remained in her coils upon the ground of the pit.
i drew the boy up, and i led him to the lake[pg 99] and i bathed his face and his hands. the day had almost passed before he was able to speak to me. then he told me who he was, and what the events were that had happened in the king’s palace. and that boy is the one who is before you now, o king of the western island, eean, the fisherman’s son, who was apprenticed to the enchanter.
