KARIM'S GOOD FORTUNE
ONE evening Dada asked Karim, "How would you like to travel, as
Mashaddi did, who was once a soldier of the Shah, and was blessed by a
visit to the sacred shrine of the holy Imam Reza when the Shah sent his
regiment to Mashad to frighten the Turkmans. Wouldn't you like to be
called 'Mashaddi,' too?"
"It would be splendid," replied Karim. "Only yesterday Mashaddi was
telling me about this shrine. The room inside is just covered with gold
and silver and bright stones, and splendid rugs. The blessings the
Imam gives to those who visit it cannot be counted.
"But the mullah says that the tomb of the Imam's sister, Fatima, in
the city Kum is almost as holy, and it is much nearer. The dome of
its roof is covered with flashing gold, and inside is a silver gate,
with tiles of such beautiful colours that he can't describe them. And
Mashaddi has seen the palace of the Shah at Teheran, too. He says that
he saw a throne covered over with carved gold, and everywhere in this
gold are set flashing emeralds and rubies and other precious stones.
Mashaddi called it the 'Peacock Throne,' and said that the great Nadir
Shah brought it from India when he went to that country with an army to
fight the Great Mogul!
"But I cannot travel,--the Shah isn't asking for soldiers now."
"That is so," said Dada. "But the mullah has taught you how to behave
before khans (noblemen). Our agha (master) is coming here in a few
weeks, and I am going to take you to call upon him."
"Our agha is a kind master," broke in Nana. "It happened the last time
he came that he passed Abbas' field when he was tying up the sheaves.
Of course Abbas hurried to put a sheaf in the road before him as a
present. The agha threw two silver coins into the sheaf for Abbas! That
is a good deal better than the copper shahis one usually gets."
"He is a just man," added Dada. "He doesn't eat up all that the poor
have, like the master of Hissar. The people there can never pay all
that man wants, especially since the poor harvest seven years ago.
That man had his servants put some wheat in each house. Of course the
people cooked and ate it--poor things, they were hungry. Then he told
them that because they had eaten up his wheat they owed him money for
it. The interest they pay each year is one fifth of what they owe. But
he cannot get it from most of them, although his ferashes (officers)
have thrashed the men so that they went limping about for two weeks.
Our agha takes only what is due, one tenth of the crop, and his
servants don't take very much, either. Ahmad was the only man he had
bastinadoed last year, and Ahmad was trying to cheat him. He said that
he had no money, when really he did have some buried in a bowl in a
corner of his house."
"They say that our agha may even become the governor," added Shahbaz,
who had just come in. "I heard in the city last week that the Shah had
given him the title 'The Good Fortune of the State.'"
"May God so will!" said Dada. "He will be as good a governor as Rashid
Khan, the 'Glory of the King's Court.' When he was governor a woman
could walk safely from here to the city with a purse full of gold in
her hand. I remember that once I saw the heads of two thieves stuck on
the tops of poles before his house. He cut off the hands of a lot of
rascals, too. But it isn't so now. Only last week some Kurds stole five
cows from the herd of Hissar. The foolish boys had taken the animals up
into the hills, where no men were near."
"Karim has learned to read our language, and to behave properly," said
Grandmother. "Perhaps he will find grace in the eyes of the agha, so
that he may want him as a servant."
"O Dada, do you think that could be?" cried Karim.
"I shall beg this of the agha," said Dada, "and the mullah has promised
to help me. If God will, we shall find favour, and all our faces will
be made white with joy."
On the next day a horseman arrived, to announce that the agha himself
would come within a week. When the horseman reached the door of
Abdullah's house, Abdullah met him with low bows, and said, "This is no
longer my house, but yours. I am your servant."
The rider got off his horse and went into the house. Here Nana had
ready as tasty a supper as she could cook.
The next day the "white beards" (old men who manage village affairs)
came to call. They brought two large trays piled high with apples,
grapes and pears, with a coat of blue broadcloth, and one toman
in money. Now for three days everyone was busy. The agha's house
was swept, carpets were put down, and plenty of food made ready for
cooking. Most important of all, the money tax was collected. This must
be paid to the agha because he was the master of the village. Abdullah
was the "kedkhoda" or village head.
Sometimes the taxes made him and the white beards very anxious, for all
the money must be collected. But this year the harvest had been a good
one, and only three men told Abdullah that they could not pay what was
expected. The white beards were much displeased.
They said, "You will make our faces black before our agha. We shall
have to tell him, 'These three men only did not pay.' What he will do
God knows. Our agha has many ferashes."
The three men cried, and their wives screamed and tore their hair. They
offered to pay one half, or three quarters, but the white beards only
replied,
"We must leave it to the agha."
Finally, on the day before the agha arrived, the last shahi due was
paid to Abdullah.
The master looked very much pleased the next afternoon, when Abdullah
and the white beards, with many bows, offered him the taxes in full,
with a present of ten tomans and three large baskets of grapes besides.
"You have made my face white," he said. "And you, kedkhoda; in all of
my villages I have no one better than you. You have made my eyes to
shine; speak, then, that I may make your face white. What wish have
you?"
"O agha!" replied Abdullah, "what we have done is nothing, it is dirt,
and we are as the dirt under your feet. And yet, since you have stooped
to notice me, and have filled my mouth with sugar by your words, I have
indeed a request, that I shall make, since you so command.
"I have a son. He is a worthless boy, indeed, and yet he has studied
long with our mullah, and has read the holy Koran, and the books of the
poets. If he could live with you, if only to sweep the straw for your
horse's stall, why, then, indeed you would lift my head to the clouds
and fill my mouth with laughing."
"Is he with you?" asked the agha. "Let him enter."
The man at the door called Karim, who was waiting outside, dressed in
a new blue broadcloth coat. As he entered he bowed low, and then stood
at the end of the room, politely covering his hands in his coat-sleeves.
"What is your name?" asked the agha.
"Thanks to God, your servant's name is Karim."
"Which of our poets have you read?"
"A few of the pearls of wisdom of Sheikh Sa'adi have lodged in my
skull, thanks to the thumpings of our mullah."
"Indeed," added Abdullah, proudly, "he is not stupid. If it please you,
he can recite well."
"It is well," said the agha. "Let me hear you, my lad."
So Karim recited a poem, in a sing-song voice, as he had been trained
by the mullah.
As he closed the agha rubbed his hands with pleasure. "This is
wonderful! Who would have expected such knowledge in a village
peasant? You say that the mullah taught you. He shall have a reward for
such faithful service. And you," he added, turning to Abdullah, "your
request is granted. Nasr'ullah, my groom, will find a place for your
son with him."
[Illustration: THE GOVERNOR'S PALACE.]