Chapter 30 aben who died in his own maze

haqan el bohari . . . like a spider that spins a web and makes a camp. Chapter 29, Section 40 "This is the land of my ancestors," Dun Laven said with a wave of his hand.His open-minded gesture does not exclude the dim stars, including the dark wasteland, the ocean, and a magnificent and dilapidated building that looks like a deserted stable. His companion, Unwin, took the pipe from his mouth and humbly uttered some sounds of appreciation.It was an afternoon in the early summer of 1914; two friends, bored with a world without dangerous dignity, looked out over the barren hills of Cornwall.Dun Laven, with his black beard, was said to have written a long epic poem, his contemporaries could hardly figure out what meter to use, and could not grasp the main idea; Unwin published a treatise on Fermat did not write a theorem in the margin of Theophonto's book.Two people - need I say more? —both young, absent-minded, and sentimental.

"That was twenty-five years ago," Dunraven said. "Aben Hakam-el-Pohari, chief or king of an unknown tribe in the valley of the Nile, died at the hands of his cousin Said in the central room of that building. After so many years, the circumstances of his death Still unclear." Unwin obediently asked why. "There are several reasons," Deng Lavin said back. "First, the house was a labyrinth. Second, there was a slave and a lion guarding the house. Third, a secret treasure was missing. Fourth, the murderer was dead when the assassination took place. Fifth..."

Unwin got tired of listening and interrupted him. "Don't talk so magically," Unwin said. "Should be simple. You think of Poe's stolen letters, Zangwill's locked room." "Maybe it's a complicated thing," Dun Lavin said back. "You have to think about the universe." They climbed the steep sand dunes and came to the front of the maze.Looking closer, the maze looks like a straight, almost endless brick wall, with peeling paint, only as tall as a person.Deng Lawen said that the wall is circular, but the area is too large to detect the curvature.Unwin remembered Nicolas de Cusa's saying that a straight line is an arc of an infinite circle-... At midnight, they found a dilapidated door leading to a blocked and dangerous hallway.Dun Laven said that there are many intersecting corridors in the house, but as long as you keep turning left, you can walk to the center of the maze in more than an hour.Unwin obeyed.Careful steps echoed on the flagstones; corridors branched into narrower lanes.The house seemed to suffocate them, with a low roof.Because of the dark shadows, the two had to walk one after the other.Unwin went ahead.The ground was rough and uneven, the alleys were twisting and turning, and the invisible walls rushed towards them endlessly.Unwin groped slowly in the dark, listening to his friend's account of Aben Hakan's death.

"One of the earliest events I can remember," said Dun Laven, "is perhaps the sight of Aben Hakam-al-Bhari at Pentreth Harbor. A black man and a lion followed him; It was the first time I saw black people and lions, except in the illustrations of holy books. I was very young, and I was surprised by beasts that were as golden as the sun and people that were as dark as the night. What surprised me even more was Aben Hakan himself. I remembered that he was very tall; his skin was blue and yellow, his black eyes were half-closed, his nose was surprisingly large, his lips were thick, his beard was orange, his chest was broad and strong, and he walked very fast. Steady and silent. I came home and said: A king came in a boat. Later, when the masons were building the house, I expanded that title and called him the king of Babel.

"The news that the stranger would settle at Pentreth Port was welcomed; the size and shape of his house caused consternation and disapproval. It was intolerable that a house should have but one room, with endless corridors. A Moor could Living in such a house is not acceptable among Christians, people remark. Our vicar, Mr. Araby, has read many strange books, and found a story of a king who built a labyrinth and was condemned by God, and told it in his preaching. No. The next day, Monday, Aben Hakam visited the church; the circumstances of the brief meeting were unknown at the time, but the arrogance was no longer mentioned in the preaching, and the Moor was finally able to hire a plasterer to work for him. Years later, when Aben Hakan died, Arabi disclosed the main content of that meeting to the authorities.

"Aben Hakan stood up and said something to the pastor. It was this: No one can blame me for what I am doing now. My sin is so deep that even if I say the name of God for centuries, it will not be enough to alleviate it. My pain is in case; my sin is deep, even if I kill you with these hands now, it will not aggravate the pain caused by the axiom of infinity. My name is not known elsewhere: my name is Aben Hakan. Al-Bhari, I have ruled the tribes of the desert with a scepter of iron. With the help of my cousin Said, I have deprived those tribes of their wealth for many years, but God listened to their prayers and tolerated their rebellion. My men were defeated and slain; I escaped with the treasures amassed by years of exploitation. Said led me to the tomb of a saint at the foot of a rocky mountain. I commanded my slaves to watch over the desert; Said and I I was too tired, so I went to bed and rested. That night, I felt that countless snakes entangled me like a web. I woke up with fright; it was twilight, and Said was still sleeping next to me; a spider web rubbed against me. body, made me have that nightmare. I secretly calculated that the treasure was limited, and he might ask for a part. I had a dagger with a silver handle pinned to my waist; I pulled it out and cut his throat. When he was dying He said something vaguely, but I didn't catch it. I looked at him and saw that he was dead, but fearing that he would sit up again, I ordered the slave to smash his face with a big stone. Then we were in the wilderness Walking aimlessly, I finally saw the ocean. There were big ships sailing on the ocean. I thought that the dead could not cross the water, so I decided to cross the ocean and go somewhere else. On the first night of our voyage, I I dreamed that I killed Said. It happened again, but I understood what he was saying. He said this: Wherever you go, I will erase you, just as you erase me now His face is the same. I swore to thwart his threats; therefore I will hide in the heart of a labyrinth, that his ghost may not find me.

"He left after speaking. At first Araby thought the Moor was a madman, and the absurd labyrinth was the symbol and clear proof of his madness. Then he thought that the explanation of the Kurds fit the strange architecture and strange stories, But it doesn't match up with the strong appearance of Aben Hakan. Such things may be common in the Egyptian desert, and such strange things (like Pliny's lion) are a characteristic of a culture rather than a person ... Arabi consulted the old Times in London, and confirmed that there was indeed a report of a rebellion, and that Bohari and his famously cowardly ministers had indeed fled.

"Aben Hakan lived in the middle of the labyrinth after the masons finished their work. He was never seen again in the city; Arabi sometimes feared that Said had come to him to destroy him. On dark and stormy nights, there were often reports The roar of the lion, and the sheep in the fold clung closer to each other out of ancient fear. "In the small bay there are often ships from the eastern ports sailing to Cardiff or Bristol. Aben Hakan's slaves often come out of the maze (I recall that the maze was painted not light red but bright red at that time), and at the same time The crew talked in African languages, as if they were looking for the ghost of the minister among the crew. Everyone knew that those ships carried smuggled goods. Since they can carry embargoed wine and ivory, why can’t they carry the ghosts of the dead?

"Three years after the house was built, the Rose of Sharon moored at the foot of the hill. I did not see the sailing ship, and its image in my mind may have been influenced by the ancient lithographs of Abukir or Trafalgar. I knew she must be one of those well-crafted ships, not of a shipyard, but of a craftsman or a joiner. She was well polished, jet-black, and she ran smooth and swift. (Even if it wasn't actually the case, at least I imagined it was), the crew was mostly Arab and Malayan. "The Rose of Sharon was anchored at dawn one day in October. In the evening, Aben Hakan rushed into Arabi's house. His face paled with fright, and he stammered that Said had entered the maze, and that his slaves and lions were He was dead. He asked the authorities solemnly if they could protect him. Before Arabi answered, he ran out in the same fright as he had come in. This was his second and last visit to Arabi's house. Arabi Alone in the study, thinking in astonishment that that cowardly man had suppressed a fierce tribe in Sudan, and he was actually a man who had experienced many battles and killed people like hemp. The next day, he heard that the sailboat had set sail (it turned out to be Suyakin sailing to the Red Sea). Thinking it was his duty to verify the death of the slave, he went to the labyrinth. Pohari was out of breath and narrated something that was unbelievable, but he found a lion at a corner of the lane , the lion was dead, the slave was found in another corner, the slave was dead, Pohari was found in the central room, Pohari's face was smashed. At the man's feet was a corrugated box, The lock has been picked, and there is nothing inside."

The last few sentences were repeatedly paused, trying to increase the effect of the speech; Unwin guessed that Deng Lawen had said it many times, each time he pretended to be calm, but each time he responded coldly.He pretended to be interested and asked: "How did the lion and the slave die?" The uncorrectable voice said darkly and contentedly: "The face was also smashed." The sound of rain was added to the sound of footsteps.It seemed, Unwin thought, that they were going to spend the night in the labyrinth, in the central room of the story, and the discomfort of the long night would be an adventurous memory in retrospect.He remained silent; Deng Lawen couldn't hold back, and asked like a debt collector:

"You say this story is not easy to explain?" Unwin replied, as if talking to himself: "I don't know if it's explainable. I just know it's fiction." Dun Laven suddenly swears that the Vicar's eldest son (Araby is presumably dead) and the residents of Pentrith can testify.Unwin was no less surprised than Deng Lawen, so he quickly apologized.Time seemed to pass more slowly in the darkness, and just when the two were worried about going astray and were very tired, a faint overhead light illuminated the first few steps of a narrow staircase.They went up the stairs to a dilapidated round room.Two signs continued to point to the hapless king's fears: a narrow window looking out on moor and sea, and a trap in the curved staircase.The room, while spacious, resembled a prison cell. On the one hand because of the rain, on the other hand because they want to experience life in the story, two friends spend the night in the maze.The mathematician sleeps soundly; the poet can't sleep, and he keeps circling in his mind two crooked lines that he thinks are terrible: The fierce and frightening lion has no face, Suffering slaves and kings lose face. Unwin thought he was not interested in the story of Pohari's death, but he awoke convinced he had solved the mystery.He was preoccupied all day, tossing and turning alone trying to straighten out the clues. Two nights later, he invited Dun Laven to a beer hall in London and said the following: "I said in Cornwall that the story you told was fiction. It was true, or might be true, but in the way you told it, it was clearly fiction. I will begin with the least plausible, which is that Speaking of mazes. A fugitive does not hide in a maze. He does not build a maze on the highlands, a red maze that sailors can see from afar. The world is a maze, and there is no need to build another. "To the man who really wants to hide, London is an excellent maze. There is no need to build a building with corridors leading to a watchtower. The wise opinion I am telling you now is that we listened to the maze the night before yesterday. The sound of the rain on the roof, I did not realize when I fell asleep; this insight suddenly enlightened me, so I put your nonsense aside, and do some serious and beneficial reflections." "According to the theory of cardinal numbers, say, or according to the fourth dimension of space," Deng Lavin commented. "No," Unwin said gravely. "I'm thinking of the labyrinth on Crete. The minotaur is kept in the center of the labyrinth." Deng Lawen has read many detective novels, and thinks that the answer to the mystery is always more boring than the mystery itself.There is something supernatural, even magical about the riddle; the answer is just a gimmick.To delay the inevitable answer, he said: "The Minotaur on coats of arms and statues has a bull's head. Dante's imagination has the head of a minotaur." "That statement applies to me, too," agrees Unwin. "It is important that the eccentric house befits the eccentric inhabitants. The Minotaur justifies the existence of the maze. But no one would argue that a maze is justified due to being threatened in a dream. Think of the image of the Minotaur (especially in In the case of a maze), the problem is solved. But I have to admit that at first I didn't know that the ancient image of the Minotaur was the key, thanks to your story for providing a more precise symbol: the spider's web." "Spider webs?" Dun Laven echoed, puzzled. "Yes. What amazes me most is that the cobweb (the common form of the cobweb, you understand, is Plato's cobweb) suggests to the murderer (because there is a murderer) his crime. You remember Al-Pohari Dreamed of a snake's web in the tomb of the saint, and woke up to find that a spider's web had induced his dream. Let us recall the dream of the web by Al-Pohari. The defeated king , His ministers and slaves fled to the desert with the treasure. They hid in the tombs. The minister fell asleep, and we knew that the minister was a coward; Stabbed him dead; his ghost terrorized the king a few nights later. None of this can be believed; I think the opposite is true. It was the brave king who fell asleep that night, but the cowardly Said who could not sleep. The sleep was Leaving the universe behind is no easy feat for a man who knows he is being pursued with sword drawn. Greedy Said leans over the sleeping king. He wants to kill the king ( Perhaps he had a dagger in his hand then), but dared not. He called slaves, hid part of the treasure in a tomb, and the two fled to Suyakin and England. He built a The tall red-walled labyrinth, not to ward off Bohari, but to lure him and kill him. He knew passing ships would carry news of a livid-skinned man, slaves, and lions to the various parts of Nubia. Port, Pohari will come to the maze sooner or later to find him. In that cobweb-like labyrinth, a trap has been laid in the last lane. Pohari is not afraid of the sky, the earth is not afraid, and he doesn't bother to take any precautions. The long-awaited day has finally come; Ah Ben Hakan disembarked in England, came to the door of the labyrinth, passed through the criss-crossing lanes, and perhaps had stepped up the first few stairs, when his ministers from the trap probably shot him dead. The slave killed the lion, Another bullet killed the slave. Then Sayyid stoned three faces. He had to; a disfigured corpse would raise the question of authenticity; As a whole, the first two have been deduced, and the last is settled. It is not strange that he spoke to Araby in a frightened manner; for he has just finished his dreadful deed, and is about to escape from England to recover the treasure." There was a moment of thoughtful or suspicious silence after Unwin finished speaking.Dun Laven ordered another glass of beer, and then expressed his opinion. "I accept that Aben Hakan is Saeed," he said. "You will say that such transfigurations are typical of detective novels, a convention that readers demand to follow. I find it hard to accept that you conjecture that a portion of the treasure remains in the Sultan. Remember that Said is fleeing the King and the King's enemies; It is more reasonable to assume that he stole all the treasure than burying some of it. Perhaps there are no coins left. This wealth, unlike the red gold of the Nibelungen, is not inexhaustible. It's over. So we can assume that Aben Hakan traveled across the ocean to claim back the squandered treasure." "Not squandering," Unwin said. "Instead of investing in the land of the heathen, building a big round brick trap to capture him and destroy him. If your guess is correct, Said's motivation was not greed, but hatred, fear. He stole Treasures, and realized that treasures are not the main thing for him. The main thing is to eliminate Aben Hakan. He pretended to be Aben Hakan, killed Aben Hakan, and finally became Aben Hakan." "Not bad," Dun Laven agreed. "He is a tramp who will one day remember that he was king, or pretended to be king, before he dies in obscurity."