Showing the steps he takes to discover his property, and who the
diviner, Teez Negah, was.
The next morning, soon after the first prayers, a little man came into
my room, whom I soon discovered to be the diviner. He was a humpback,
with an immense head, with eyes so wonderfully brilliant, and a
countenance so intelligent, that I felt he could look through and
through me at one glance. He wore a dervishs cap, from under which
flowed a profusion of jet black hair, which, added to a thick bush of a
beard, gave an imposing expression to his features. His eyes, which by
a quick action of his eyelid (whether real or affected, I know not)
twinkled like stars, made the monster, who was not taller than a good
bludgeon, look like a little demon.
He began by questioning me very narrowly; made me relate
every circumstance of my life--particularly since my return to
Ispahan--inquired who were my fathers greatest apparent friends and
associates, and what my own suspicions led me to conclude. In short,
he searched into every particular, with the same scrutiny that a doctor
would in tracing and unravelling an intricate disorder.
When he had well pondered over every thing that I had unfolded, he
then required to be shown the premises, which my father principally
inhabited. My mother having gone that morning to the bath, I was
enabled, unknown to her, to take him into her apartments, where he
requested me to leave him to himself, in order that he might obtain a
knowledge of the localities necessary to the discoveries which he hoped
to make. He remained there a full quarter of an hour, and when he came
out requested me to collect those who were in my fathers intimacy, and
in the habit of much frequenting the house, and that he would return,
they being assembled, and begin his operations.
Without saying a word to my mother about the diviner, I requested her to
invite her most intimate friends for the following morning, it being my
intention to give them a breakfast; and I myself begged the attendance
of the âkhon, the capiji, my fathers nephew by his first wife, and a
brother of my mother, with others who had free entrance into the house.
They came punctually; and when they had partaken of such fare as I could
place before them, they were informed of the predicament in which I
stood, and that I had requested their attendance to be witnesses to the
endeavours of the diviner to discover where my father was wont to keep
his money, of the existence of which, somewhere or other, nobody who
knew him could doubt. I looked into each mans face as I made this
speech, hoping to remark some expression which might throw a light upon
my suspicions, but everybody seemed ready to help my investigation, and
maintained the most unequivocal innocence of countenance.
At length the dervish, Teez Negah (for that was the name of the
conjuror), was introduced, accompanied by an attendant who carried
something wrapped up in a handkerchief. Having ordered the women in the
andenûn to keep themselves veiled, because they would probably soon be
visited by men, I requested the dervish to begin his operations.
He first looked at every one present with great earnestness, but more
particularly fixed his basilisk eyes upon the âkhon, who evidently could
not stand the scrutiny, but exclaimed _Allah il Allah!_--there is
but one God--stroked down his face and beard, and blew first over one
shoulder and then over the other, by way of keeping off the evil spirit.
Some merriment was raised at his expense; but he did not appear to be in
a humour to meet any ones jokes.
After this, the dervish called to his attendant, who from the
handkerchief drew forth a brass cup, of a plain surface, but written all
over with quotations from the Koran, having reference to the crime of
stealing, and defrauding the orphan of his lawful property. He was a man
of few words, and simply saying, In the name of Allah, the All-wise,
and All-seeing, he placed the cup on the floor, treating it with much
reverence, both in touch and in manner.
He then said to the lookers-on, Inshallah, it will lead us at once to
the spot where the money of the deceased Kerbelai Hassan (may God show
him mercy!) is or was deposited.
We all looked at each other, some with expressions of incredulity,
others with unfeigned belief, when he bent himself towards the cup,
and with little shoves and pats of his hand he impelled it forwards,
exclaiming all the time, See, see, the road it takes. Nothing can stop
it. It will go, in spite of me. Mashallah, Mashallah!
We followed him, until he reached the door of the harem, where we
knocked for admittance. After some negotiation it was opened, and there
we found a crowd of women (many of whom had only loosely thrown on their
veils) waiting with much impatience to witness the feats which this
wonderful cup was to perform.
Make way, said the diviner to the women who stood in his path, as he
took his direction towards a corner of the court, upon which the windows
of the room opened--Make way; nothing can stop my guide.
A woman, whom I recognized to be my mother, stopped his progress several
times, until he was obliged to admonish her, with some bitterness, to
keep clear of him.
Do not you see, said he, we are on the Lords business? Justice will
be done, in spite of the wickedness of man.
At length he reached a distant corner, where it was plain that the earth
had been recently disturbed, and there he stopped.
_Bismillah_, in the name of Allah, said he, let all present stand
around me, and mark what I do. He dug into the ground with his dagger,
clawed the soil away with his hands, and discovered a place in which
were the remains of an earthen vessel, and the marks near it of there
having been another.
Here, said he, here the money was, but is no more. Then taking up
his cup, he appeared to caress it, and make much of it, calling it his
little uncle and his little soul.
Every one stared. All cried out, _ajaib_, wonderful; and the little
humpback was looked upon as a supernatural being.
The capiji, who was accustomed to such discoveries, was the only one
who had the readiness to say, But where is the thief? You have shown us
where the game lay, but we want you to catch it for us:--the thief and
the money, or the money without the thief--that is what we want.
Softly, my friend, said the dervish to the capiji, dont jump so soon
from the crime to the criminal, We have a medicine for every disorder,
although it may take some time to work.
He then cast his eyes upon the company present, twinkling them all the
while in quick flashes, and said, I am sure every one here will be
happy to be clear of suspicion, and will agree to what I shall propose.
The operation is simple, and soon over.
_Elbetteh_, certainly: _Belli_, yes: _Een che harf est?_ what
word is this? was heard to issue from every mouth, and I requested the
dervish to proceed.
He called again to his servant, who produced a small bag, whilst he
again took the cup under his charge.
This bag, said the diviner, contains some old rice. I will put a
small handful of it into each persons mouth, which they will forthwith
chew. Let those who cannot break it, beware, for Eblis is near at hand.
Upon this, placing us in a row, he filled each persons mouth with rice,
and all immediately began to masticate. Being the complainant, of course
I was exempt from the ordeal; and my mother, who chose to make common
cause with me, also stood out of the ranks. The quick-sighted dervish
would not allow of this, but made her undergo the trial with the rest,
saying, The property we seek is not yours, but your sons. Had he been
your husband, it would be another thing. She agreed to his request,
though with bad grace, and then all the jaws were set to wagging, some
looking upon it as a good joke, others thinking it a hard trial to the
nerves. As fast as each person had ground his mouthful, he called to the
dervish, and showed the contents of his mouth.
All had now proved their innocence excepting the âkhon and my mother.
The former, whose face exhibited the picture of an affected cheerfulness
with great nervous apprehension, kept mumbling his rice, and turning it
over between his jaws, until he cried out in a querulous tone, Why
do you give me this stuff to chew? I am old, and have no teeth:--it
is impossible for me to reduce the grain; and then he spat it out. My
mother, too, complained of her want of power to break the hard rice, and
did the same thing. A silence ensued, which made us all look with more
attention than usual upon them, and it was only broken by a time-server
of my mother, an old woman, who cried out, What childs play is this?
Who has ever heard of a son treating his mother with this disrespect,
and his old schoolmaster, too? Shame, shame!--let us go--he is probably
the thief himself.
Upon this the dervish said, Are we fools and asses, to be dealt with
in this manner? Either there was money in that corner, or there was
not--either there are thieves in the world, or there are not. This man
and this woman, pointing to the âkhon and my mother, have not done
that which all the rest have done. Perhaps they say the truth, they are
old, and cannot break the hard grain. Nobody says that they stole the
money--they themselves know that best, said he, looking at them through
and through; but the famous diviner, Hezarfun, he who was truly called
the bosom friend to the Great Bear, and the confidant of the planet
Saturn,--he who could tell all that a man has ever thought, thinks, or
will think,--he hath said that the trial by rice, among cowards was the
best of all tests of a mans honesty. Now, my friends, from all I have
remarked, none of you are slayers of lions, and fear is easily produced
among you. However, if you doubt my skill in this instance, I will
propose a still easier trial,--one which commits nobody, which works
like a charm upon the mind, and makes the thief come forward of his own
accord, to ease his conscience and purse of its ill-gotten wealth, at
one and the same time. I propose the _Hâk reezî_, or the heaping
up earth. Here in this corner I will make a mound, and will pray so
fervently this very night, that, by the blessing of Allah, the Hajji,
pointing to me, Will find his money buried in it to-morrow at this
hour. Whoever is curious, let them be present, and if something be not
discovered, I will give him a miscal of hair from my beard.
He then set to work, and heaped up earth in a corner, whilst the lookers
on loitered about, discussing what they had just seen; some examining
me and the dervish as children of the evil spirit, whilst others again
began to think as much of my mother and the schoolmaster. The company
then dispersed, most of them promising to return the following morning,
at the appointed time, to witness the search into the heap of earth.
[Illustration: The diviner and the rice. 27.jpg]