Tales of Wonder by Lord Dunsany

  How Ali Came to the Black Country

  Shooshan the barber went to Shep the maker of teeth to discuss thestate of England. They agreed that it was time to send for Ali.

  So Shooshan stepped late that night from the little shop near FleetStreet and made his way back again to his house in the ends of Londonand sent at once the message that brought Ali.

  And Ali came, mostly on foot, from the country of Persia, and it tookhim a year to come; but when he came he was welcome.

  And Shep told Ali what was the matter with England and Shooshan sworethat it was so, and Ali looking out of the window of the little shopnear Fleet Street beheld the ways of London and audibly blessed KingSolomon and his seal.

  When Shep and Shooshan heard the names of King Solomon and his sealboth asked, as they had scarcely dared before, if Ali had it. Alipatted a little bundle of silks that he drew from his inner raiment.It was there.

  Now concerning the movements and courses of the stars and theinfluence on them of spirits of Earth and devils this age has beenrightly named by some The Second Age of Ignorance. But Ali knew. Andby watching nightly, for seven nights in Bagdad, the way of certainstars he had found out the dwelling place of Him they Needed.

  Guided by Ali all three set forth for the Midlands. And by thereverence that was manifest in the faces of Shep and Shooshan towardsthe person of Ali, some knew what Ali carried, while others said thatit was the tablets of the Law, others the name of God, and others thathe must have a lot of money about him. So they passed Slod and Apton.

  And at last they came to the town for which Ali sought, that spot overwhich he had seen the shy stars wheel and swerve away from theirorbits, being troubled. Verily when they came there were no stars,though it was midnight. And Ali said that it was the appointed place.In harems in Persia in the evening when the tales go round it is stilltold how Ali and Shep and Shooshan came to the Black country.

  When it was dawn they looked upon the country and saw how it waswithout doubt the appointed place, even as Ali had said, for the earthhad been taken out of pits and burned and left lying in heaps, andthere were many factories, and they stood over the town and as it wererejoiced. And with one voice Shep and Shooshan gave praise to Ali.

  And Ali said that the great ones of the place must needs be gatheredtogether, and to this end Shep and Shooshan went into the town andthere spoke craftily. For they said that Ali had of his wisdomcontrived as it were a patent and a novelty which should greatlybenefit England. And when they heard how he sought nothing for hisnovelty save only to benefit mankind they consented to speak with Aliand see his novelty. And they came forth and met Ali.

  And Ali spake and said unto them: "O lords of this place; in the bookthat all men know it is written how that a fisherman casting his netinto the sea drew up a bottle of brass, and when he took the stopperfrom the bottle a dreadful genie of horrible aspect rose from thebottle, as it were like a smoke, even to darkening the sky, whereatthe fisherman..." And the great ones of that place said: "We haveheard the story." And Ali said: "What became of that genie after hewas safely thrown back into the sea is not properly spoken of by anysave those that pursue the study of demons and not with certainty byany man, but that the stopper that bore the ineffable seal and bearsit to this day became separate from the bottle is among those thingsthat man may know." And when there was doubt among the great ones Alidrew forth his bundle and one by one removed those many silks till theseal stood revealed; and some of them knew it for the seal and othersknew it not.

  And they looked curiously at it and listened to Ali, and Ali said:

  "Having heard how evil is the case of England, how a smoke hasdarkened the country, and in places (as men say) the grass is black,and how even yet your factories multiply, and haste and noise havebecome such that men have no time for song, I have therefore come atthe bidding of my good friend Shooshan, barber of London, and of Shep,a maker of teeth, to make things well with you."

  And they said: "But where is your patent and your novelty?"

  And Ali said: "Have I not here the stopper and on it, as good menknow, the ineffable seal? Now I have learned in Persia how that yourtrains that make the haste, and hurry men to and fro, and yourfactories and the digging of your pits and all the things that areevil are everyone of them caused and brought about by steam."

  "Is it not so?" said Shooshan.

  "It is even so," said Shep.

  "Now it is clear," said Ali, "that the chief devil that vexes Englandand has done all this harm, who herds men into cities and will not letthem rest, is even the devil Steam."

  Then the great ones would have rebuked him but one said: "No, let ushear him, perhaps his patent may improve on steam."

  And to them hearkening Ali went on thus: "O Lords of this place, letthere be made a bottle of strong steel, for I have no bottle with mystopper, and this being done let all the factories, trains, digging ofpits, and all evil things soever that may be done by steam be stoppedfor seven days, and the men that tend them shall go free, but thesteel bottle for my stopper I will leave open in a likely place. Nowthat chief devil, Steam, finding no factories to enter into, nor notrains, sirens nor pits prepared for him, and being curious andaccustomed to steel pots, will verily enter one night into the bottlethat you shall make for my stopper, and I shall spring forth from myhiding with my stopper and fasten him down with the ineffable sealwhich is the seal of King Solomon and deliver him up to you that youcast him into the sea."

  And the great ones answered Ali and they said: "But what should wegain if we lose our prosperity and be no longer rich?"

  And Ali said: "When we have cast this devil into the sea there willcome back again the woods and ferns and all the beautiful things thatthe world hath, the little leaping hares shall be seen at play, thereshall be music on the hills again, and at twilight ease and quiet andafter the twilight stars."

  And "Verily," said Shooshan, "there shall be the dance again."

  "Aye," said Shep, "there shall be the country dance."

  But the great ones spake and said, denying Ali: "We will make no suchbottle for your stopper nor stop our healthy factories or good trains,nor cease from our digging of pits nor do anything that you desire,for an interference with steam would strike at the roots of thatprosperity that you see so plentifully all around us."

  Thus they dismissed Ali there and then from that place where the earthwas torn up and burnt, being taken out of pits, and where factoriesblazed all night with a demoniac glare; and they dismissed with himboth Shooshan, the barber, and Shep, the maker of teeth: so that aweek later Ali started from Calais on his long walk back to Persia.

  And all this happened thirty years ago, and Shep is an old man now andShooshan older, and many mouths have bit with the teeth of Shep (forhe has a knack of getting them back whenever his customers die), andthey have written again to Ali away in the country of Persia withthese words, saying:

  "O Ali. The devil has indeed begotten a devil, even that spiritPetrol. And the young devil waxeth, and increaseth in lustihood and isten years old and becoming like to his father. Come therefore and helpus with the ineffable seal. For there is none like Ali."

  And Ali turns where his slaves scatter rose-leaves, letting the letterfall, and deeply draws from his hookah a puff of the scented smoke,right down into his lungs, and sighs it forth and smiles, and lollinground on to his other elbow speaks comfortably and says, "And shall aman go twice to the help of a dog?"

  And with these words he thinks no more of England but ponders againthe inscrutable ways of God.