of what forewent in the annals of folk and the wonders of yore, and of
times long gone before!) that in the city of Shám[311] there dwelt of
old a man Attáf hight, who rivalled Hátim of Tayy[312] in his generosity
and his guest-love and in his self-control as to manners and morals. Now
he lived in the years when the Caliph Harun al-Rashid was reigning in
Baghdad-city, and it happened on a day of the days that this Commander
of the Faithful awoke morne and melancholic, and right straitened was
his breast. So he arose, and taking Ja’afar the Barmecide and Masrúr the
Eunuch passed with them into the place where his treasures were stored.
Presently quoth he to the Wazir, “O Ja’afar, open to me this door that I
may solace me with the sight, and my breast may be broadened and haply
be gladdened by such spectacle.” The Minister did the bidding of his
lord, who, finding a room full of books, put forth his hand, and taking
up one of the volumes, opened and read. Then he fell to weeping thrice,
and thrice to laughing aloud,[313] whereat the Wazir considered him and
cried, “O King of the Age, how is it I espy thee reading and weeping and
laughing at one and the same moment when none so act save madmen and
maniacs?”[314] And having spoken on this wise he held his peace; but the
Prince of True Believers turned himwards and cried, “O dog of the sons
of Bermak, I see thee going beyond thy degree and quitting the company
of sensible men, and thou speakest vainly making me a madman in
saying:—None laugh and cry at one and the same time save maniacs?” With
these words the Caliph restored the volume to its place in the Treasury
and bade lock the door, after which the three returned to the Divan.
Here the Commander of the Faithful regarded Ja’afar and exclaimed, “Go
thou forth from before me and address me not again nor seat thee upon
the Wazirial seat until thou answer thine own question and thou return
me a reply concerning that which is writ and aligned in yonder book I
was reading, to the end thou learn why I wept and wherefore I laught at
one and the same hour.” And he cried at him in anger saying, “Off and
away with thee, nor face me again save with the answer, else will I slay
thee with the foulest of slaughter.” Accordingly Ja’afar fared forth and
hardly could he see with his eyes, and he kept saying to himself,
“Indeed I have fallen with a sore fall; foul befal it for a fall; how
fulsome it is!” Then he fared homewards where he encountered face to
face his father Yahyá the Bermaki, who was issuing from the mansion and
he recounted to him the tale, whereat his parent said, “Go at once,
abide not here, but turn thee Damascus-wards until shall terminate this
decline of fortune and this disjunction of favour, and at the ending
thereof thou shalt see wonders therein.”[315] Ja’afar replied, “Not
until I shall have laid a charge upon my Harím;”[316] but Yahya cried,
“Enter not these doors, hie thee at once to Al-Shám, for even so ’tis
determined by Destiny.” Accordingly the Wazir gave ear to his sire, and
taking a bag containing one thousand dinars and slinging on his sword
farewelled him; then, mounting a she-mule, alone and unattended by slave
or page, he rode off and he ceased not riding for ten days full-told
until he arrived at the Marj[317] or mead of Damascus. Now it so
fortuned that on that same day Attaf,[318] a fair youth and a well-known
of the “Smile of the Prophet,” and one of the noblest and most generous
of her sons had pitched tents and had spread a banquet outside the city,
where chancing to sight Ja’afar mounted on his beast, he knew him to be
a wayfarer passing by, and said to his slaves, “Call to me yonder man!”
They did his bidding and the stranger rode up to the party of friends,
and dismounting from his mule saluted them with the salam which they all
returned. Then they sat for a while[319] after which Attaf arose and led
Ja’afar to his house companied by all the company which was there and
they paced into a spacious open hall and seated themselves in converse
for an hour full-told. Anon the slaves brought them a table spread with
the evening meal and bearing more than ten several manners of meat. So
they ate and were cheered, and after the guests had washed hands, the
eunuchs and attendants brought in candles of honey-coloured wax that
shed a brilliant light, and presently the musicians came in band and
performed a right royal partition while the servants served up conserves
for dessert. So they ate, and when they had eaten their sufficiency
they[320] drank coffee; and finally, at their ease and in their own good
time, all the guests arose and made obeisance and fared homewards. Then
Attaf and Ja’afar sat at table for an hour or so, during which the host
offered his guest an hundred greetings, saying, “All kinds of blessings
have descended from Heaven upon our heads. Tell me, how was it thou
honouredst us, and what was the cause of thy coming and of thy favouring
us with thy footsteps?”[321] So Ja’afar disclosed to him his name and
office[322] and told him the reasons of his ride to Damascus from the
beginning to the end full and detailed, whereto Attaf rejoined, “Tarry
with me an thou please a decade of years; and grieve not at all, for thy
Worship is owner of this place.” After this the eunuchs came in and
spread for Ja’afar bedding delicately wrought at the head of the hall
and its honour-stead, and disposed other sleeping-gear alongside
thereof, which seeing the Wazir said to himself, “Haply my host is a
bachelor, that they would spread his bed by my side; however, I will
venture the question.” Accordingly he addressed his host saying, “O
Attaf, art thou single or married?”[323] “I am married, O my lord,”
quoth the other, whereat Ja’afar resumed, “Wherefore dost thou not go
within and lie with thy Harím?” “O my lord,” replied Attaf, “the Harim
is not about to take flight, and it would be naught but disgraceful to
me were I to leave a visitor like thyself, a man by all revered, to
sleep alone while I fare to-night with my Harim and rise betimes to
enter the Hammam.[324] In me such action would I deem be want of
courtesy and failure in honouring a magnifico like thine Honour. In very
sooth, O my lord, so long as thy presence deign favour this house I will
not sleep within my Harem until I farewell thy Worship and thou depart
in peace and safety to thine own place.” “This be a marvellous matter,”
quoth Ja’afar to himself, “and peradventure he so doeth the more to make
much of me.” So they lay together that night and when morning morrowed
they arose and fared to the Baths whither Attaf had sent for the use of
his guest a suit of magnificent clothes, and caused Ja’afar don it
before leaving the Hammam. Then finding the horses at the door, they
mounted and repaired to the Lady’s Tomb,[325] and spent a day worthy to
be numbered in men’s lives. Nor did they cease visiting place after
place by day and sleeping in the same stead by night, in the way we have
described, for the space of four months, after which time the soul of
the Wazir Ja’afar waxed sad and sorry, and one chance day of the days,
he sat him down and wept. Seeing him in tears Attaf asked him, saying,
“Allah fend from thee all affliction, O my lord! why dost thou weep and
wherefore art thou grieved? An thou be heavy of heart why not relate to
me what hath oppressed thee?” Answered Ja’afar, “O my brother, I find my
breast sore straitened and I would fain stroll about the streets of
Damascus and solace me with seeing the Cathedral-mosque of the
Ommiades.”[326] “And who, O my lord,” responded the other, “would hinder
thee therefrom? Do thou deign wander whither thou wilt and take thy
solace, so may thy spirits be gladdened and thy breast be broadened.
Herein is none to let or stay thee at all, at all.” Hearing these words
Ja’afar arose to fare forth, when quoth his host, “O my lord, shall they
saddle thee a hackney?” but the other replied, “O my friend, I would not
be mounted for that the man on horseback may not divert himself by
seeing the folk; nay the folk enjoy themselves by looking upon him.”
Quoth Attaf, “At least delay thee a while that I may supply thee with
spending money to bestow upon the folk; and then fare forth and walk
about to thy content and solace thyself with seeing whatso thou wilt; so
mayest thou be satisfied and no more be sorrowed.” Accordingly, Ja’afar
took from Attaf a purse of three hundred dinars and left the house
gladly as one who issueth from durance vile, and he turned into the city
and began a-wandering about the streets of Damascus and enjoying the
spectacle; and at last he entered the Jámi’ al-Amawi where he prayed the
usual prayers. After this he resumed his strolling about pleasant places
until he came to a narrow street and found a bench formed of stone[327]
set in the ground. Hereon he took seat to rest a while, and he looked
about, when behold, fronting him were latticed windows wherein stood
cases planted with sweet-smelling herbs.[328] And hardly had he looked
before those casements were opened and suddenly appeared thereat a young
lady,[329] a model of comeliness and loveliness and fair figure and
symmetrical grace, whose charms would amate all who upon her gaze, and
she began watering her plants. Ja’afar cast upon her a single glance and
was sore hurt by her beauty and brilliancy; but she, after looking upon
the lattices and watering the herbs to the extent they required turned
her round and gazed adown the street where she caught a sight of Ja’afar
sitting and earnestly eyeing her. So she barred the windows and
disappeared. But the Minister lingered on the bench hoping and expecting
that haply the casement would open a second time and allow him another
look at her; and as often as he would have risen up his nature said to
him, “Sit thee down.” And he stinted not so doing till evening came on,
when he arose and returned to the house of Attaf, whom he found standing
at the gateway to await him, and presently his host exclaimed, “’Tis
well, O my lord! during all this delay indeed my thoughts have gone with
thee for that I have long been expecting thy return.” “’Tis such a while
since I walked abroad,” answered Ja’afar, “that I had needs look about
me and console my soul, wherefor I lingered and loitered.” Then they
entered the house and sat down, when the eunuchs served up on trays the
evening meal, and the Minister drew near to eat thereof but was wholly
unable, so he cast from his hand the spoon and arose. Hereat quoth his
host, “Why, O my lord, canst thou not eat?” “Because this day’s
noon-meal hath been heavy to me and hindereth my supping; but ’tis no
matter!” quoth the other. And when the hour for sleep came Ja’afar
retired to rest; but in his excitement by the beauty of that young lady
he could not close eye, for her charms had mastered the greater part of
his sense and had snared his senses as much as might be; nor could he do
aught save groan and cry, “Ah miserable me! who shall enjoy thy
presence, O full Moon of the Age and who shall look upon that comeliness
and loveliness?” And he ceased not being feverish and to twist and turn
upon his couch until late morning, and he was as one lost[330] with
love; but as soon as it was the undurn-hour Attaf came in to him and
said, “How is thy health? My thoughts have been settled on thee: and I
see that thy slumber hath lasted until between dawn and midday: indeed I
deem that thou hast lain awake o’night and hast not slept until so near
the mid-forenoon.” “O my brother, I have no Kayf,”[331] replied Ja’afar.
So the host forthwith sent a white slave to summon a physician, and the
man did his bidding, and after a short delay brought one who was the
preventer[332] of his day. And when ushered into Ja’afar’s room he
addressed the sick man, “There is no harm to thee and boon of health
befal thee:[333] say me what aileth thee?” “All is excitement[334] with
me,” answered the other, whereat the Leach putting forth his fingers
felt the wrist of his patient, when he found the pulsations pulsing
strong and the intermissions intermitting regularly.[335] Noting this he
was ashamed to declare before his face, “Thou art in love!” so he kept
silence and presently said to Attaf, “I will write thee a recipe
containing all that is required by the case.” “Write!” said the host,
and the Physician sat down to indite his prescription, when behold, a
white slave came in and said to his lord, “Thy Harim requireth thee.” So
the host arose and retired to learn what was wanted of him in the
women’s apartments, and when his wife saw him she asked, “O my lord,
what is thy pleasure that we cook for dinner and supper?” “Whatsoever
may be wanted,” he rejoined and went his ways, for since Ja’afar had
been guested in his house Attaf had not once entered the inner rooms
according as he had before declared to the Minister. Now the Physician
during the host’s visit to the Harem had written out the prescription
and had placed it under the pillow of the patient, and as he was leaving
the house he came suddenly upon the housemaster on return to the men’s
apartment, and Attaf asked him, “Hast thou written thy prescription?”
“Yes,” answered the Leach, “I have written it and set it under his
head.” Thereupon the host pulled out a piastre[336] and therewith fee’d
the physician; after which he went up to Ja’afar’s couch and drew the
paper from under his pillow and read it and saw therein written,[337] “O
Attaf, verily thy guest is a lover, so do thou look for her he loveth
and for his state purvey and make not overmuch delay.” So the host
addressed his guest, saying, “Thou art now become one of us: why then
hide from me thy case and conceal from me thy condition? This Doctor,
than whom is none keener or cleverer in Damascus, hath learned all that
befel thee.” Hereupon he produced the paper and showed it to Ja’afar,
who took it and read it with a smile; then he cried, “This Physician is
a master leach and his saying is soothfast. Know that on the day when I
went forth from thee and sauntered about the streets and lanes, there
befel me a matter which I never had thought to have betided me; no,
never; and I know not what shall become of me for that, O my brother
Attaf, my case is one involving life-loss.” And he told him all that had
happened to himself; how when seated upon the bench a lattice had been
unclosed afront of him and he had seen a young lady, the loveliest of
her time, who had thrown it open and had come forward to water her
window-garden; adding, “Now my heart was upstirred by love to her, and
she had suddenly withdrawn after looking down the street and closed the
casement as soon as she had seen a stranger gazing upon her. Again and
again I was minded to rise and retire but desire for her kept me seated
in the hope that haply she would again throw open the lattice and allow
me the favour of another glimpse, so could I see her a second time.
However, inasmuch as she did not show till evening came on I arose and
repaired hither, but of my exceeding agitation for the ardour of love to
her I was powerless to touch meat or drink, and my sleep was broken by
the excess of desire for her which had homed in my heart. And now, O my
brother Attaf, I have made known to thee whatso betided me.” When the
host heard these words, he was certified that the house whereof Ja’afar
spoke was his house and the lattice his own lattice and the lovely and
lovesome young lady his wife the daughter of his paternal uncle, so he
said in his thought, “There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in
Allah, the Glorious, the Great. Verily we are Allah’s and unto Him shall
we return!” But presently he regained himself in the nobility of his
nature, and he continued, “O Ja’afar, thine intent is pure for that the
dame thou sawest yesterday was divorced by her husband; and I will
straightway fare to her father and bespeak him to the end that none may
lay hand upon her; and then will I return and let thee ken all
concerning her.” So saying he arose and went at once to his
cousin-wife[338] who greeted him and kissing his hand said to him, “Is
thy guest a-going?” Said he, “By no means: the cause of my coming to
thee is not his going, the reason thereof is my design of sending thee
to the home of thy people, for that thy father anon met me in the
market-street and declared to me that thy mother is dying of a colick,
and said to me:—Go send her daughter without delay so that she may see
her parent alive and meet her once more.” Accordingly the young wife
arose; and, hardly knowing how she moved for tears at such tidings, she
took her slave-girls with her and repairing to her home rapped at the
door, and her mother who opened to her cried on seeing her, “May this
thy coming (Inshallah!) be well, O my daughter, but how is it thou
comest thus unexpected?” “Inshallah!” said the wife, “thou art at rest
from the colick?” and the mother rejoined, “Who told thee I was colicky?
but pass thou within.” So she entered the court and her father, Abdullah
Chelebi hight,[339] hearing her footstep from an inner room, asked,
“What is there to do?” “Thou mettest anon,” replied his daughter, “Attaf
thy son-in-law in the Bazar and didst tell him that my mother was sore
afflicted with a colick.” Hearing this he exclaimed, “This day I went
not once to the market-street nor have I seen a soul!” Now they had not
ceased conversing ere the door was rapped; and as the slave girls opened
it, they saw porters laden with the young lady’s gear and garments and
they led the men into the court where the father asked them, “Who sent
these stuffs?” “Attaf,” they replied, and setting down their loads
within went their way. Then the father turned to his daughter and said
to her, “What deed hast done that my son-in-law bade take up thy gear
and have it sent after thee?” And the mother said to him, “Hold thy
peace and speak not such speech lest the honour of the house be blamed
and shamed.” And as they were talking, behold, up came Attaf companied
by a party of friends when his father-in-law asked him, “Wherefore hast
thou done on this wise?” “To-day,” answered he, “there came from me a
wrongous oath: on account of my inclination to thy daughter my heart is
dark as night whereas her good name is whiter than my turband and ever
bright.[340] Furthermore an occasion befel and this oath fell from my
mouth and I bade her be the owner of herself.[341] And now will I beweep
the past and straightway set her free.” So saying he wrote a writ of
repudiation and returning to Ja’afar said, “From early dawn I have
wearied myself[342] for thy sake and have so acted that no man can lay
hand upon her. And at last thou mayst now enjoy life and go to the
gardens and the Hammams and take thy pleasure until the days of her
widowhood[343] be gone by.” Replied Ja’afar, “Allah quicken thee for
what thou wroughtest of kindness to me,” and Attaf rejoined, “Find for
thyself something thou requirest, O my brother.”[344] Then he fell to
taking him every day amongst the crowd of pleasure-seekers and solacing
him with a show of joyous spectacles[345] till the term of divorce had
sped, when he said to the Wazir, “O Ja’afar, I would counsel thee with
an especial counsel.” “And what may it be, O my brother?” quoth the
other; and quoth he, “Know, O my lord, that many of the folk have found
the likeness between thy Honour and Ja’afar the Barmecide, wherefore
must I fain act on this wise. I will bring thee a troop of ten Mamelukes
and four servants on horseback, with whom do thou fare privily and by
night forth the city and presently transmit to me tidings from outside
the walls that thou the Grand Wazir, Ja’afar the Barmecide, art recalled
to court and bound thither from Egypt upon business ordered by the
Sultan. Hereat the Governor of Damascus, ’Abd al-Malik bin Marwán[346]
and the Grandees of Syria will flock forth to meet and greet thee with
fêtes and feasts, after which do thou send for the young lady’s sire and
of him ask her to wife. Then I will summon the Kazi and witnesses and
will write out without stay or delay the marriage-writ with a dower of a
thousand dinars the while thou makest ready for wayfare, and if thou
journey to Homs or to Hamah do thou alight at whatso place ever pleaseth
thee. Also I will provide thee of spending-money as much as thy soul can
desire and supply to thee raiment and gear, horses and bât-animals,
tents and pavilions of the cheap and of the dear, all thou canst
require. So what sayest thou concerning this counsel?” “Fair fall it for
the best of rede which hath no peer,” replied Ja’afar. Hereupon Attaf
arose and gathering his men about his guest sent him forth the city when
the Minister wrote a writ and despatched it by twenty horsemen with a
trader to inform the Governor of Syria that Ja’afar the Barmecide was
passing that way and was about to visit Damascus on the especial service
of the Sultan. So the Kapújí[347] entered Damascus and read out the
Wazirial letter[348] announcing Ja’afar’s return from Egypt. Hereat the
Governor arose and after sending a present of provisions[349] without
the walls bade pitch the tents, and the Grandees of Syria rode forth to
meet the Minister, and the Headmen of the Province set out to greet him,
and he entered with all honour and consideration. It was indeed a day
fit to be numbered among the days of a man’s life, a day of general
joyance for those present, and they read the Farmán and they offered the
food and the forage to the Chamberlain and thus it became known to one
and all of the folk that a writ of pardon had come to Ja’afar’s hands
and on this wise the bruit went abroad, far and near, and the Grandees
brought him all manner of presents. After this Ja’afar sent to summon
the young lady’s father and as soon as he appeared in his presence, said
to him, “Thy daughter hath been divorced?” and said the other “Yes; she
is at home with me.” Quoth the Minister, “I would fain take her to
wife;” and quoth the father, “Here am I ready to send her as thy
handmaid.” The Governor of Sham added, “I will assume charge of the
dowry,” and the damsel’s father rejoined, “It hath already come to
hand.”[350] Hereat they summoned the Kazi and wrote out the writ of
Ja’afar’s marriage; and, having ended the ceremony, they distributed
meat and drink to the poor in honour of the wedding, and Abd al-Malik
bin Marwan said to Ja’afar, “Deign, O my lord, come hither with me and
become my guest, and I will set apart for thee a place wherein thou
canst consummate thy marriage.” But the other replied, “Nay, I may not
do so; I am sent on public affairs by the Commander of the Faithful and
I purpose setting off with my bride and marching without further delay.”
The Grandees of Syria spent that night until morning without any being
able to snatch a moment of sleep, and as soon as dawned the day Ja’afar
sent to summon his father-in-law and said, “On the morrow I design
setting forth, and I desire that my bride be ready for the road;”
whereto replied the other, “Upon my head be it and my eyes!” Then
Abdullah Chelebi fared homewards and said to his daughter, “O my child,
Attaf hath divorced thee from bed and from board, whereas Sultan Ja’afar
the Bermaki hath taken thee to wife, and on Allah is the repairing of
our broken fortunes and the fortifying of our hearts.” And she held her
peace for displeasure by cause that she loved Attaf on account of the
blood-tie and his exceeding great generosity. But on the next day
Ja’afar sent a message to her sire informing him that the march would
begin about mid-afternoon and that he wished him to make all ready, so
the father did accordingly; and when Attaf heard thereof he sent
supplies and spending-money.[351] At the time appointed the Minister
took horse escorted by the Governor and the Grandees, and they brought
out the mule-litter[352] wherein was the bride, and the procession rode
onwards until they had reached the Dome of the Birds,[353] whereat the
Minister bade them return home and they obeyed him and farewelled him.
But on the ride back they all met Attaf coming from the city, and he
reined in his horse and saluted the Governor and exchanged salams with
his companions, who said to him, “Now at the very time we are going in
thou comest out.” Attaf made answer, “I wotted not that he would set
forth this day, but as soon as I was certified that he had mounted I
sent to summon his escort and came forth a-following him.”[354] To this
the Governor replied, “Go catch them up at the Dome of the Birds, where
they are now halting.” Attaf followed this counsel and reaching the
place alighted from his mare, and approaching Ja’afar embraced him and
cried, “Laud to the Lord, O brother mine, who returneth thee to thy home
with fortunes repaired and heart fortified;” and said the Minister, “O
Attaf, Allah place it in my power to requite thee; but cease thou not to
write me and apprise me of thy tidings; and for the nonce I order thee
to return hence and not to lie the night save in thine own house.” And
his host did his bidding whilst the cousin-wife hearing his voice thrust
her head out of the litter and looked upon him with flowing tears,
understanding the length to which his generosity had carried him. So
fared it with Attaf and his affair; but now give ear to what befel him
from Abd al-Malik bin Marwan. As they hied them home one who hated the
generous man asked the Governor, “Wottest thou the wherefore he went
forth to farewell his quondam guest at so late a time as this?” “Why
so?” answered the other; and the detractor continued, “Ja’afar hath
tarried four months as a guest in his household, and disguised so that
none save the host knew him, and now Attaf fared not forth for his sake
but because of the woman.” “What woman?” enquired the Governor, and the
other replied, “His whilom wife, whom he divorced for the sake of his
stranger, and married her to him; so this day he followeth to enjoin him
once more concerning the Government of Syria which perchance is promised
to him. And ’tis better that thou breakfast upon him ere he sup upon
thee.” The other enquired, “And whose daughter is she, is not her sire
Abdullah Chelebi?”[355] Whereto the man answered, “Yes, O my lord, and I
repeat that she was put away to the intent that Ja’afar might espouse
her.” When the Governor heard these words, he was wroth with wrath
galore than which naught could be more, and he hid his anger from Attaf
for a while of time until he had devised a device to compass his
destruction. At last, one day of the days he bade cast the corpse of a
murthered man into his enemy’s garden and after the body was found by
spies he had sent to discover the slayer, he summoned Attaf and asked
him, “Who murthered yon man within thy grounds?” Replied the other,
“’Twas I slew him.” “And why didst slay him?” cried the Governor, “and
what harm hath he wrought thee?” But the generous one replied, “O my
lord, I have confessed to the slaughter of this man in order that I and
only I may be mulcted in his blood-wite lest the neighbours say:—By
reason of Attaf’s garden we have been condemned to pay his fine.” Quoth
Abd al-Malik, “Why should I want to take mulcts from the folk? Nay; I
would command according to Holy Law and even as Allah hath ordered, ‘A
life for a life.’” He then turned for testimony to those present and
asked them, “What said this man?” and they answered, “He said:—I slew
him.” “Is the accused in his right mind or Jinn-mad[356]?” pursued the
Governor; and they said, “In his senses.” Then quoth the Governor to the
Mufti, “O Efendi, deliver me thine official decision according to that
thou heardest from the accused’s mouth;” and the Judge pronounced and
indited his sentence upon the criminal according to his confession.
Hereupon the Governor gave order for his slaves to plunder the house and
bastinado the owner; then he called for the headsman, but the Notables
interfered and cried, “Give him a delay, for thou hast no right to slay
him without further evidence; and better send him to gaol.” Now all
Damascus was agitated and excited by this affair, which came upon the
folk so suddenly and unforeseen. And Attaf’s friends[357] and familiars
came down upon the Governor and went about spreading abroad that the
generous man had not spoken such words save in fear lest his neighbours
be molested and be mulcted for a murther which they never committed, and
that he was wholly innocent of such crime. So Abd al-Malik bin Marwan
summoned them and said, “And ye plead that the accused is Jinn-mad this
were folly, for he is the prince of intelligent men: I was resolved to
let him live until the morrow; but I have been thwarted and this very
night I will send and have him strangled.” Hereupon he returned him to
prison and ordered the gaoler to do him die before day might break. But
the man waxed wroth with exceeding wrath to hear the doom devised for
Attaf and having visited him in prison said to him, “Verily the Governor
is determined to slay thee for he was not satisfied with the
intercession made for thee by the folk or even with taking the legal
blood-wite.” Hereat Attaf wept and cried, “Allah (be He magnified and
glorified!) hath assigned unto every death a cause. I desired but to do
good amongst the garden folk and prevent their being fined; and now this
benevolence hath become the reason of my ruin.” Then, after much ‘say
and said’ the gaoler spake as follows, “Why talk after such fashion? I
am resolved to set thee free and to ransom thee with my life; and at
this very moment I will strike off thy chains and deliver thee from him.
But do thou arise and tear my face and pluck out my beard and rend my
raiment; then, after thrusting a gag[358] into my mouth wend thy ways
and save thy life and leave me to bear all blame.”[359] Quoth Attaf,
“Allah requite thee for me with every weal!” Accordingly the gaoler did
as he had undertaken and his prisoner went forth unhurt and at once
followed the road to Baghdad. So far concerning him; but now hear thou
what befel the Governor of Syria, Abd al-Malik bin Marwan. He took
patience till midnight, when he arose and fared accompanied by the
headsman to the gaol that he might witness the strangling of Attaf; but
lo and behold! he found the prison-door wide open and the keeper in sore
sorrow with his raiment all rent to rags and his beard plucked out and
his face scratched and the blood trickling from his four sides and his
case was the miserablest of cases. So they removed the gag from his
mouth and the Governor asked him, “Who did with thee on this wise?” and
the man answered, “O my lord, yesternight, about the middle thereof, a
gang of vagabonds and ne’er-do-wells as they were ’Ifrits of our lord
Sulayman (upon whom be The Peace!), not one of whom I recognised, came
upon me and ere I was ware of them they broke down the prison door and
killed me;[360] and when I would have cried aloud and shouted for aid
they placed yonder gag in my mouth, then they wounded me and shredded my
dress and left me in the state thou seest. Moreover they took Attaf
after breaking his chains and said to him:—Go and lay thy complaint
before the Sultan.” Now those who accompanied the Governor said, “This
be a gaoler and the son of a gaoler, nor during all his days hath anyone
charged him with letting a prisoner out of hand.” Quoth Abd al-Malik to
the wounded man “Hie thee to thy house and stay there;” whereat he
straightway arose and went his ways. After this the Governor took horse,
he and his escort; and all rode off to search for Attaf during a term of
four days and some of them dug and dug deep down while the others
returned after a bootless errand, and reported that they had failed to
find him. Such was the case with the Governor of Syria; and now give ear
to the adventure of Attaf. He left not wayfaring until but a single
stage remained between him and Baghdad when robbers came upon him and
stripped him of all his clothes, so that he was compelled to enter the
capital in foulest condition, naked even as his mother bare him. And
after some charitable wight had thrown an old robe about him and bound
his head with a clout (and his unshorn hair fell over his eyes)[361] he
fell to asking for the mansion of the Wazir Ja’afar and the folk guided
him thereto. But when he would have entered the attendants suffered him
not; so he stood at that gate till an old man joined him. Attaf enquired
of him saying, “Hast thou with thee, O Shaykh, an ink-case and pens and
paper?” and the other replied, “I have; but what is thy need thereof?
tell me, so may I write for thee.” “I will write myself,” rejoined
Attaf; and when the old man handed to him the gear, he took seat and
indited an address to Ja’afar informing him of all that passed from
first to last, and especially of his own foul plight.[362] Presently he
returned the ink-case and reed pens to the Shaykh; and, going up to the
gate, asked those standing about the doors, “Will ye not admit for me
this missive and place it in the hand of his Highness, Ja’afar the
Bermaki, the Wazir?” “Give it here,” said they, and one of them took it
with the intent of handing it to the Minister when suddenly the cannon
roared;[363] the palace was in a hubbub and each and everyone cried,
“What is to do?” Hereat many voices replied, “The Sultan, who hath been
favoured with a man-child, biddeth decorate the city for seven days.”
Hereat the attendant, who had charged himself with the letter, threw it
in that confusion from his hand and Attaf was led to gaol as a vagrant.
Anon Ja’afar took horse and, after letting read the Sultan’s rescript
about the city-decorations, gave command that all the prisoners be
released, Attaf amongst the number. As he issued forth the gaol he
beheld all the streets adorned with flags and tapestry, and when evening
approached eating-cloths and trays of food were set and all fell-to,
while sundry said to Attaf who was in pauper plight, “Come and eat
thou;” for it was a popular feast.[364] And affairs went on after this
same fashion and the bands made music and cannon was fired until ended
the week of decoration during which the folk ceased not to-ing and
fro-ing. As evening evened Attaf entered a cathedral-mosque and prayed
the night-prayers when he was accosted by the eunuchs who cried, “Arise
and gang thy gait, that we may close the mosque-door, O Attaf,” for his
name had become known. He replied, “O man, the Apostle of Allah saith,
‘Whoso striveth for good is as the doer thereof and the doer is of the
people of Paradise:’ so suffer me to sleep here in some corner;” but
quoth the other, “Up with thee and be off: yesterday they stole me a bit
of matting and to-night I will bolt the door nor allow any to sleep
here. And indeed the Apostle of Allah (whom the Almighty save and
assain!) hath forbidden sleep o’ nights in the mosques.” Attaf had no
competence to persuade the Castrato by placing himself under his
protection, albeit he prayed him sore saying, “I am a stranger in the
city nor have I knowledge of any, so do thou permit me here to pass this
one night and no more.” But as he was again refused he went forth into
the thoroughfares where the street dogs barked at him, and thence he
trudged on to the market where the watchmen and warders cried out at
him, till at last he entered a ruinous house where he stumbled when
walking and fell over something which proved to be a youth lately
murthered, and in tripping he fell upon his face and his garments were
bewrayed and crimsoned with blood. And as he stood in doubt as to what
must be done the Wali and the watch, who were going round the town by
night, met him face to face; and as soon as they saw him all rushed at
him in a body and seizing him bore him to the gaol. Here we leave
speaking of him; and now return we to Ja’afar and what befel him. After
he had set out from Damascus and sent back Attaf from the Dome of the
Birds he said in his mind, “Thou art about to consummate marriage with a