Sultan Habib was improvising poetry and shedding tears in presence of
his sire, they heard a Voice which announced itself and its sound was
audible whilst its personality was invisible. Thereupon the youth shed
tears and cried, “O father mine, I need one who shall teach me
horsemanship and the accidents of edge and point and onset and offset
and spearing and spurring in the Maydán; for my heart loveth knightly
derring-do to plan, such as riding in van and encountering the horseman
and the valiant man.” And the while they were in such converse behold,
there appeared before them a personage rounded of head, long of length
and dread, with turband wide dispread, and his breadth of breast was
armoured with doubled coat of mail whose manifold rings were
close-enmeshed after the model of Dáúd[390] the Prophet (upon whom be
The Peace!) Moreover he hent in hand a mace erst a block cut out of the
live hard rock, whose shock would arrest forty braves of the doughtiest;
and he was baldrick’d with an Indian blade that quivered in the grasp,
and he bestrode, with a Samhari[391] lance at rest, a bay destrier of
black points whose peer was not amongst the steeds of the Arabs. Then he
took his station standing as a vassal between the Emir Salamah’s hands
and he addressed a general salam and he greeted all that stood afoot or
were seated. His salute they repeated and presently the pages hastened
forwards and aided him alight from his charger’s back; and after waiting
for a full-told hour that he might take somewhat of repose, the
stranger-knight and doughty wight advanced and said, “Ho thou the Emir,
I came hither to fulfil the want whereof thou expressedst a wish; and,
if such prove thy pleasure, I will teach thy son fray and fight and
prowess in the plain of sword-stroke and lance-lunge. But ere so doing I
would fain test thy skill in cavalarice; so do thou, O Emir, be first to
appear as champion and single combatant in the field when I will show
thee what horsemanship is.” “Hearkening and obeying,” replied the Emir,
“and if thou desire the duello with us we will not baulk thee thereof.”
Hereat his Shaykhs and Chieftains sprang up and cried to him, “O Emir,
Allah upon thee do not meet in fight this cavalier for that thou wottest
not an he be of mankind or of Jinn-kind; so be thou not deceived by his
sleights and snares.” “Suffer me this day,” quoth the Emir, “to see the
cavalarice of this cavalier, and, if over me he prevail, know him to be
a knight with whom none may avail.” Speaking thus the Emir arose and
hied him to his tent where he bade the slaves bring forth the best of
his habergeons; and, when all these were set before him, he took from
them a Davidian suit of manifold rings and close-meshed, which he
donned, and he baldrick’d himself with a scymitar of Hindi steel, hadst
thou smitten therewith a cliff it had cleft it in twain or hadst thou
stricken a hill it had been laid level as a plain; and he hent in hand a
Rudaynían lance[392] of Khatt Hajar, whose length was thirty ells and
upon whose head sat a point like unto a basilisk’s tongue; and lastly he
bade his slaves bring him his courser which in the race was the
fleetest-footed of all horses. Then the two combatants took the plain
accompanied by the tribesmen nor did one of them all, or great or small,
remain in camp for desire to witness the fight of these champions who
were both as ravening lions. But first the stranger-knight addressed his
adversary and speaking with free and eloquent tongue quoth he, “I will
encounter thee, O Emir Salamah, with the encountering of the valiant; so
have thou a heed of me for I am he hath overthrown the Champions some
and all.” At these words each engaged his foeman and the twain forwards
pressed for a long time, and the Raven of cut-and-thrust croaked over
the field of fight and they exchanged strokes with the Hindi scymitar
and they thrust and foined with the Khatti spear and more than one blade
and limber lance was shivered and splintered, all the tribesmen looking
on the while at both. And they ceased not to attack and retire and to
draw near and draw off and to heave and fence until their forearms ailed
and their endeavour failed. Already there appeared in the Emir Salamah
somewhat of weakness and weariness; natheless when he looked upon his
adversary’s skill in the tourney and encounter of braves he saw how to
meet all the foeman’s sword-strokes with his targe: however at last
fatigue and loss of strength prevailed over him and he knew that he had
no longer the force to fight; so he stinted his endeavour and withdrew
from brunt of battle. Hereat the stranger knight alighted and falling at
the Emir’s feet kissed them and cried, “O Sovran of the Age, I came not
hither to war with thee but rather with the design of teaching thy son,
the Sultan Habib, the complete art of arms and make him the prow
cavalier of his day.” Replied Salamah, “In very sooth, O horseman of the
age, thou hast spoken right fairly in thy speech; nor did I design with
thee to fight nor devised I the duello or from steed to alight;[393]
nay, my sole object was my son to incite that he might learn battle and
combat aright, and the charge of the heroic Himyarite[394] to meet with
might.” Then the twain dismounted and each kissed his adversary; after
which they returned to the tribal camp and the Emir bade decorate it and
all the habitations of the Arab clans with choicest decoration, and they
slaughtered the victims and spread the banquets and throughout that day
the tribesmen ate and drank and fed the travellers and every wayfarer
and the mean and mesquin and all the miserables. Now as soon as the
Sultan Habib was informed concerning that cavalier how he had foiled his
father in the field of fight, he repaired to him and said, “Peace be
with him who came longing for us and designing our society! Who art
thou, Ho thou the valorous knight and foiler of foemen in fight?” Said
the other, “Learn thou, O Habib, that Allah hath sent me theewards.”
“And, say me, what may be thy name?” “I am hight Al-’Abbús,[395] the
Knight of the Grim Face.” “I see thee only smiling of countenance whilst
thy name clean contradicteth thy nature;” quoth the youth. Presently the
Emir Salamah committed his son to the new governor saying, “I would thou
make me this youth _the_ Brave of his epoch;” whereto the knight
replied, “To hear is to obey, first Allah then thyself and to do suit
and service of thy son Habib.” And when this was determined youth and
governor went forth to the Maydan every day and after a while of delay
Habib became the best man of his age in fight and fray. Seeing this his
teacher addressed him as follows. “Learn, O Sultan Habib, that there is
no help but thou witness perils and affrights and adventures, wherefor
is weak the description of describers and thou shalt say in
thyself:—Would heaven I had never sighted such and I were of these same
free. And thou shalt fall into every hardship and horror until thou be
united with the beautiful Durrat al-Ghawwás, Queen-regnant over the
Isles of the Sea. Meanwhile to affront all the perils of the path thou
shalt fare forth from thy folk and bid adieu to thy tribe and patrial
stead; and, after enduring that which amateth man’s wit, thou shalt win
union with the daughter of Queen Kamar al-Zamán[396].” But when Habib
heard these words concerning the “Pearl of the Diver” his wits were
wildered and his senses were agitated and he cried to Al-Abbus, “I
conjure thee by Allah say me, is this damsel of mankind or of
Jinn-kind.” Quoth the other, “Of Jinn-kind, and she hath two Wazirs, one
of either race, who overrule all her rulers and a thousand islands of
the Isles of the Sea are subject to her command, while a host of Sayyids
and Sharífs[397] and Grandees hath flocked to woo her, bringing wealthy
gifts and noble presents, yet hath not any of them won his wish of her
but all returned baffled and baulked of their will.” Now the Sultan
Habib hearing this from him cried in excess of perturbation and stress
of confusion, “Up with us and hie we home where we may take seat and
talk over such troublous matter and debate anent its past and its
future.” “Hearkening and obedience,” rejoined the other; so the twain
retired into privacy in order to converse at ease concerning the
Princess, and Al-Abbus began to relate in these words—
_THE HISTORY OF DURRAT AL-GHAWWAS._
Whilome there was a Sovran amongst the Kings of the Sea, hight Sábúr,
who reigned over the Crystalline Isles,[398] and he was a mighty ruler
and a generous, and a masterful potentate and a glorious. He loved women
and he was at trouble to seek out the fairest damsels; yet many of his
years had gone by nor yet had he been blessed with boon of boy. So one
day of the days he took thought and said in himself, “To this length of
years I have attained and am well nigh at life’s end and still am I
childless: what then will be my case?” Presently, as he sat upon his
throne of kingship, he saw enter to him an Ifrit fair of face and form,
the which was none other than King ’Atrús[399] of the Jánn, who cried,
“The Peace be upon thee, Ho thou the King! and know that I have come to
thee from my liege lord who affecteth thee. In my sleep it befel that I
heard a Voice crying to me:—During all the King’s days never hath he
been vouchsafed a child, boy or girl; so now let him accept my command
and he shall win to his wish. Let him distribute justice and largesse
and further the rights of the wronged and bid men to good and forbid
them from evil and lend not aid to tyranny or to innovation in the realm
and persecute not the unfortunate, and release from gaol all the
prisoners he retaineth. At these words of the Voice I awoke astartled by
my vision and I hastened to thee without delay and I come with design to
inform thee, O King of the Age, that I have a daughter, hight Kamar
al-Zaman, who hath none like her in her time, and no peer in this tide,
and her I design giving thee to bride. The Kings of the Jann have
ofttimes asked her in marriage of me but I would have none of them save
a ruler of men like thyself and Alhamdolillah—glory be to God, who
caused thy Highness occur to my thought, for that thy fame in the world
is goodly fair and thy works make for righteousness. And haply by the
blessing of these thou shalt beget upon my daughter a man child, a pious
heir and a virtuous.” Replied the King, “Ho thou who comest to us and
desirest our weal, I accept thine offer with love and good will.” Then
Sabur, the King of the Crystalline Isles, bade summon the Kazi and
witnesses, and quoth the Ifrit, “I agree to what thou sayest, and whatso
thou proposest that will I not oppose.” So they determined upon the
dowry and bound him by the bond of marriage with the daughter of
Al-’Atrus, King of the Jinns, who at once sent one of his Flying Jann to
bring the bride. She arrived forthright when they dressed and adorned
her with all manner ornaments, and she came forth surpassing all the
maidens of her era. And when King Sabur went in unto her he found her a
clean maid: so he lay that night with her and Almighty Allah so willed
that she conceived of him. When her days and months of pregnancy were
sped, she was delivered of a girl-babe as the moon, whom they committed
to wet-nurses and dry-nurses, and when she had reached her tenth year,
they set over her duennas who taught her Koran-reading and writing and
learning and _belles-lettres_; brief, they brought her up after the
fairest of fashions. Such was the lot[400] of Durrat al-Ghawwas, the
child of Kamar al-Zaman, daughter to King ’Atrus by her husband King
Sabur. But as regards the Sultan Habib and his governor Al-Abbus, the
twain ceased not wandering from place to place in search of the promised
damsel until one day of the days when the youth entered his father’s
garden and strolled the walks adown amid the borders[401] and blossoms
of basil and of rose full blown and solaced himself with the works of
the Compassionate One and enjoyed the scents and savours of the flowers
there bestrown; and, while thus employed, behold, he suddenly espied the
maiden, Durrat al-Ghawwas hight, entering therein as she were the moon;
and naught could be lovelier than she of all earth supplies, gracious as
a Huriyah of the Virgins of Paradise, to whose praise no praiser could
avail on any wise. But when the Sultan Habib cast upon her his eyes he
could no longer master himself and his wits were bewildered from the
excitement of his thoughts; so he regarded her with a long fixed look
and said in himself, “I fear whenas she see me that she will vanish from
my sight.” Accordingly, he retired and clomb the branches of a tree in a
stead where he could not be seen and whence he could see her at his
ease. But as regards the Princess, she ceased not to roam about the Emir
Salamah’s garden until there approached her two score of snow-white
birds each accompanied by a handmaid of moon-like beauty. Presently they
settled upon the ground and stood between her hands saying, “Peace be
upon thee, O our Queen and Sovran Lady.” She replied, “No welcome to you
and no greeting; say me, what delayed you until this hour when ye know
that I am longing to meet the Sultan Habib, the dear one, son of
Salamah, and I long to visit him for that he is the dearling of my
heart. Wherefor I bade you accompany me and ye obeyed not, and haply ye
have made mock of me and of my commandment.” “We never gainsay thy
behest,” replied they, “or in word or in deed;” and they fell to seeking
her beloved. Hearing this the Sultan Habib’s heart was solaced and his
mind was comforted and his thoughts were rightly directed and his soul
was reposed; and when he was certified of her speech, he was minded to
appear before her; but suddenly fear of her prevailed over him and he
said to his thoughts, “Haply she will order one of the Jinns to do me
die; so ’twere better to have patience and see what Allah shall purpose
for me of His Almighty will.” But the Princess and her attendants ceased
not wandering about the garden from site to site and side to side till
they reached the place wherein the Sultan Habib lay in lurking; when
Durrat al-Ghawwas there stood still and said in herself, “Now I came not
from my capital save on his account, and I would see and be seen by him
even as the Voice informed me of him, O ye handmaidens; and peradventure
hath the same informed him of me.” Then the Princess and her suite,
drawing still nearer to his place of concealment, found a lakelet in the
Arab’s garden brimful of water amiddlemost whereof stood a brazen lion,
through whose mouth the water entered to issue from his tail. Hereat the
Princess marvelled and said to her bondswomen, “This be none other than
a marvellous lake, together with the lion therein; and when, by the
goodwill of Almighty Allah, I shall have returned home I will let make a
lakelet after this fashion, and in it set a lion of brass.” Thereupon
she ordered them to doff their dress and go down to the piece of water
and swim about; but they replied, “O our lady, to hear is to obey thy
commandment, but we will not strip nor swim save with thee.” Then she
also did off her dress and all stripped themselves and entered the
lakelet in a body, whereupon the Sultan Habib looked through the leaves
to solace himself with the fair spectacle and he ejaculated, “Blessed be
the Lord the best of Creators!” And when the handmaids waxed aweary of
swimming, the Princess commanded them to come forth the water, and said
“Whenas Heaven willeth that the desire of my heart be fulfilled in this
garden, what deem ye I should do with my lover?” and quoth they,
“’Twould only add to our pleasure and gladness.” Quoth she, “Verily my
heart assureth me that he is here and hidden amongst the trees of yon
tangled brake;” and she made signs with her hand whither Habib lay in
lurking-place; and he, espying this, rejoiced with joy galore than which
naught could be more, and exclaimed, “There is no Majesty and there is
no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great: what meaneth this lady?
Indeed, I fear to stay in this stead lest she come hither and draw me
forth and put me to shame; and ’twere better that of mine own accord I
come out of my concealment and accost her and suffer her to do all she
designeth and desireth.” So he descended from the topmost of the tree
wherein he had taken refuge and presented himself before the Princess
Durrat al-Ghawwas, who drew near and cried to him, “O Habib, O welcome
to Habib! and is it thus that we have travailed with love of thee and
longing for thee, and where hast thou been all this time, O my dearling,
and O coolth of my eyes and O slice of my liver?” Replied he, “I was in
the head of yonder huge tree to which thou pointedst with thy finger.”
And as they looked each at other she drew nearer to him and fell to
improvising:—
“Thou hast doomed me, O branchlet of Bán, to despair ✿ Who in worship
and honour was wont to fare,—
Who lived in rule and folk slaved for me ✿ And hosts girded me round
every hest to bear!”
[Illustration]
And anon quoth the Sultan Habib; “Alhamdolillah—laud be to the Lord, who
deigned show me thy face and thy form! Can it be thou kennest not what
it was that harmed me and sickened me for thy sake, O Durrat
al-Ghawwas?” Quoth she, “And what was it hurt thee and ailed thee?” “It
was the love of thee and longing for thee!” “And who was the first to
tell thee and make thee ware of me?” He replied saying, “One day it so
befel, as I was amongst my family and my tribe, a Jinni Al-Abbus hight
became my governor and taught me the accidents of thrust and cut and
cavalarice; and ere he left he commended thy beauty and loveliness and
foretold to me all that would pass between thee and me. So I was
engrossed with affection for thee ere my eyes had sight of thee, and
thenceforwards I lost all the pleasures of sleep, nor were meat and
eating sweet to me, nor were drink and winedraughts a delight to me: so
Alhamdolillah—praise be to Allah, who deigned conjoin me in such union
with my heart’s desire!” Hereat the twain exchanged an embrace so long
that a swoon came upon them and both fell to the ground in a fainting
fit, but after a time the handmaidens raised them up and besprinkled
their faces with rose-water which at once revived them. All this
happened, withal the Emir Salamah wotted naught of what had befallen his
son the Sultan Habib nor did his mother weet that had betided her child;
and the husband presently went in to his spouse and said, “Indeed this
boy hath worn us out: we see that o’ nights he sleepeth not in his own
place and this day he fared forth with the dawn and suffered us not to
see a sight of him.” Quoth the wife, “Since the day he went to Al-Abbus,
thy boy fell into cark and care;” and quoth the husband, “Verily our son
walked about the garden and Allah knoweth that therefrom is no issue
anywhither. So there shalt thou find him and ask him of himself.” And
they talked over this matter in sore anger and agitation. Meanwhile as
the Sultan Habib sat in the garden with the handmaids waiting upon him
and upon the Princess Durrat al-Ghawwas, there suddenly swooped upon
them a huge bird which presently changed form to a Shaykh seemly of
aspect and semblance who approached and kissing their feet humbled
himself before the lover and his beloved. The youth marvelled at such
action of the Shaykh, and signalled to the Princess as to ask, “Who may
be this old man?” and she answered in the same way, “This is the Wazir
who caused me forgather with thee;” presently adding to the Shaykh,
“What may be thy need?” “I came hither for the sake of thee,” he
replied, “and unless thou fare forthright to thy country and kingdom the
rule of the Jánn will pass from thy hand; for that the Lords of the land
and Grandees of the realm seek thy loss and not a few of the nobles have
asked me saying, O Wazir, where is our Queen? I answered, She is within
her palace and to-day she is busied with some business. But such pretext
cannot long avail, and thou, unless thou return with me to the region of
thy reign there shall betray thee some one of the Marids and the hosts
will revolt against thee and thy rule will go to ruin and thou wilt be
degraded from command and sultanat.” “What then is thy say and what thy
bidding?” enquired she, and he replied, “Thou hast none other way save
departure from this place and return to thy realm.” Now when these words
reached the ear of Durrat al-Ghawwas, her breast was straitened and she
waxed sorrowful with exceeding sorrow for severance from her lover whom
she addressed in these words, “What sayest thou anent that thou hast
heard? In very sooth I desire not parting from thee and the ruin of my
reign as little do I design; so come with me, O dearling of my heart,
and I will make thee liege lord over the Isles of the Sea and sole
master thereof.” Hereat the Sultan Habib said in his soul, “I cannot
endure parting from my own people; but as for thee thy love shall never
depart from thee:” then he spake aloud, “An thou deign hear me, do thou
abandon that which thou purposest and bid thy Wazir rule over the Isles
and thy patrial stead; so shall we twain, I and thou, live in privacy
for all time and enjoy the most joyous of lives.” “That may never be,”
was her only reply; after which she cried to the Wazir saying, “Carry me
off that I fare to my own land.” Then after farewelling her lover, she
mounted the Emir-Wazir’s back[402] and bade him bear her away, whereat
he took flight and the forty handmaidens flew with him, towering high in
air. Presently, the Sultan Habib shed bitter tears; his mother hearing
him weeping sore as he sat in the garden went to her husband and said,
“Knowest thou not what calamity hath befallen thy son that I hear him
there groaning and moaning?” Now when the parents entered the garden,
they found him spent with grief and the tears trickled adown his cheeks
like never-ceasing rain-showers;[403] so they summoned the pages who
brought cucurbits of rose-water wherewith they besprinkled his face. But
as soon as he recovered his senses and opened his eyes, he fell to
weeping with excessive weeping and his father and mother likewise shed
tears for the burning of their hearts and asked him, “O Habib, what
calamity hath come down to thee and who of his mischief hath overthrown
thee? Inform us of the truth of thy case.” So he related all that had
betided between him and Durrat al-Ghawwas, and his mother wept over him
while his father cried, “O Habib, do thou leave this say and this thy
desire cast away that the joys of meat and drink and sleep thou may
enjoy alway.” But he made answer, “O my sire, I will not slumber upon
this matter until I shall sleep the sleep of death.” “Arise thou, O my
child,” rejoined the Emir, “and let us return homewards,”[404] but the
son retorted “Verily I will not depart from this place wherein I was
parted from the dearling of my heart.” So the sire again urged him
saying, “These words do thou spare nor persist in this affair because
therefrom for thee I fear;” and he fell to cheering him and comforting
his spirits. After a while the Sultan Habib arose and fared homewards
beside his sire who kept saying to him, “Patience, O my child, the while
I assist thee in thy search for this young lady and I send those who
shall bring her to thee.” “O my father,” rejoined the son, “I can no
longer endure parting from her; nay, ’tis my desire that thou load me
sundry camels with gold and silver and plunder and moneys that I may go
forth to seek her: and if I win to my wish and Allah vouchsafe me length
of life I will return unto you; but an the term of my days be at hand
then the behest be to Allah, the One, the Omnipotent. Let not your
breasts be straitened therefor and do ye hold and believe that if I
abide with you and see not the beloved of my soul I shall perish of my
pain while you be standing by to look upon my death. So suffer me to
wayfare and attain mine aim; for from the day when my mother bare me
’twas written to my lot that I journey over wild and wold and that I see
and voyage over the seas seven-fold.” Hereupon he fell to improvising
these verses:—
“My heart is straitened with grief amain ✿ And my friends and familiars
have wrought me pain;
And whene’er you’re absent I pine, and fires ✿ In my heart beweep what
it bears of bane:
O ye, who fare for the tribe’s domain, ✿ Cry aloud my greetings to
friends so fain!”
Now when the Emir Salamah heard these his son’s verses, he bade pack for
him four camel loads of the rarest stuffs, and he largessed to him a
she-dromedary laden with thrones of red gold; then he said to him, “Lo,
O my son, I have given thee more than thou askedst.” “O my father,”
replied Habib, “where are my steed and my sword and my spear?” Hereat
the pages brought forward a mail-coat Davidian[405] and a blade
Maghrabian and a lance Khattian and Samharian, and set them between his
hands; and the Sultan Habib donning the habergeon and drawing his sabre
and sitting lance in rest backed his steed, which was of the noblest
blood known to all the Arabs. Then quoth he, “O my father is it thy
desire to send with me a troop of twenty knights that they may escort me
to the land of Al-Yaman and may anon bring me back to thee?” “My
design,” quoth the sire, “is to despatch those with thee who shall
befriend thee upon the road;” and, when Habib prayed him do as he
pleased, the Emir appointed to him ten knights, valorous wights, who
dreaded naught of death however sudden and awesome. Presently, the youth
farewelled his father and mother, his family and his tribe, and joining
his escort, mounted his destrier when Salamah, his sire, said to his
company, “Be ye to my son obedient in all he shall command you;” and
said they, “Hearing and obeying.” Then Habib and his many turned away
from home and addressed them to the road when he began to improvise the
following lines:—
“My longing grows less and far goes my cark ✿ After flamed my heart with
the love-fire stark;
As I ride to search for my soul’s desire ✿ And I ask of those faring to
Al-Irák.”