(CALLED "OF KUFA")[19]
Al Harith, son of Hammam, related: I was conversing at Kufa, in a
night whose complexion was of a two-fold hue, whose moon was as an
amulet of silver, with companions who had been nourished on the milk of
eloquence, who might draw the train of oblivion over Sahban. Each was a
man to remember from, and not to guard against; each was one whom his
friend would incline to, and not avoid. And the night talk fascinated
us until the moon had set, and the watching overcame us. Now when
night's unmingled dark had spread its awning, and there was naught but
nodding among us, we heard from the gate the faint sound of a wayfarer,
rousing the dogs; then followed the knock of one bidding to open. We
said, "Who is it that comes in the dark night?" Then the traveler
answered:
O people of the mansion, be ye guarded from ill!
Meet not harm as long as ye live!
Lo! the night which glooms has driven
To your abode one disheveled, dust-laden,
A brother of journeying, that has been lengthened, extended,
Till he has become bent and yellow
Like the new moon of the horizon when it smiles.
And now he approaches your courtyard, begging boldly,
And repairs to you before all people else,
To seek from you food and a lodging.
Ye have in him a guest contented, ingenuous,
One pleased with all, whether sweet or bitter,
One who will withdraw from you, publishing your bounty.
Said Al Harith, son of Hammam: Now when we were caught by the sweetness
of his utterance, and knew what was behind his lightning, we hastened
to open the gate, and met him with welcome; and said to the boy "Quick,
quick! bring what is ready!" Then said our guest, "Now, by him who has
set me down at your abode, I will not roll my tongue over your food,
unless ye pledge me that ye will not make me a burden, that ye will
not, for my sake, task yourselves with a meal. For sometimes a morsel
aches the eater, and forbids him his repasts. And the worst of guests
is he who imposes trouble and annoys his host, and especially with a
harm that affects the body and tends to sickness. For, by that proverb,
which is widely current, 'The best Slippers are those that are clearly
seen,' is only meant that supper-time should be hastened, and eating
by night, which dims the sight, avoided. Unless, by Allah, the fire
of hunger kindle and stand in the way of sleep." Said Al Harith: Now
it was as though he had got sight of our desire, and so had shot with
the bow of our conviction. Accordingly we gratified him by agreeing
to the condition, and commended him for his easy temper. And when the
boy brought what was to be had, and lighted the candle in the midst of
us, I looked close at him, and lo! it was Abu Zayd. So I said to my
company, "Joy to you of the guest who has come! Nay, but the spoil is
lightly won! For if the moon of Sirius has gone down, truly the moon of
poetry has risen: Or if the full moon of the Lion has waned, the full
moon of eloquence shines forth." Then ran through them the wine-glow
of joy, and sleep flew away from their eye-corners. And they refused
the rest which they had purposed, and returned to the spreading out of
pleasantry, after they had folded it. But Abu Zayd kept intent upon
plying his hands; however, when what was before him might be removed,
I said to him, "Present us with one of the rare stories from thy night
talkings, or some wonder from among the wonders of thy journeys."
He said, "Of wonders I have met with such as no seers have seen, no
tellers have told. But among the most wondrous was that which I beheld
to-night, a little before my visit to you and my coming to your gate."
Then we bade him tell us of this new thing which he had seen in the
field of his night-faring. He said, Truly the hurlings of exile have
thrown me to this land: And I was in hunger and distress, with a scrip
like the heart of the mother of Moses. Now, as soon as the dark had
settled, I arose, in spite of all my footsoreness, to seek a host or to
gain a loaf. Then the driver hunger, and Fate, which is by-named the
Father of Wonders, urged me on, till I stood at the door of a house,
and spoke, improvising:
Hail people of this dwelling,
May ye live in the ease of a plenteous life!
What have ye for a son of the road, one crushed to the sand,
Worn with journeys, stumbling in the night-dark night,
Aching in entrails, which enclose naught but hunger?
For two days he has not tasted the savor of a meal:
In your land there is no refuge for him.
And already the van of the drooping darkness has gloomed;
And through bewilderment he is in restlessness.
Now in this abode is there any one, sweet of spring,
Who will say to me, "Throw away thy staff and enter:
Rejoice in a cheerful welcome and a ready meal?"
Then came forth to me a lad in a tunic, and answered:
Now by the sanctity of the Shaykh who ordained hospitality,
And founded the House of Pilgrimage in the Mother of cities,
We have naught for the night-farer when he visits us
But conversation and a lodging in our hall.
For how should he entertain whom hinders from sleepfulness
Hunger which peels his bones when it assails him?
Now what thinkest thou of my tale? what thinkest thou?
I said, "What shall I do with an empty house, and a host the ally of
penury? But tell me, youth, what is thy name, for thy understanding
has charmed me." He said, "My name is Zayd, and my birth-place Fayd:
and I came to this city yesterday with my mother's kindred of the Benu
'Abs." I said to him, "Show me further, so mayest thou live and be
raised when thou fallest!" He said, "My mother Barrah told me (and she
is like her name, 'pious') that she married in the year of the foray on
Mawan a man of the nobles of Seruj and Ghassan; but when he was aware
of her pregnancy (for he was a crafty bird, it is said) he made off
from her by stealth, and away he has stayed, nor is it known whether
he is alive and to be looked for, or whether he has been laid in the
lonely tomb." Said Abu Zayd, "Now I knew by sure signs that he was my
child; but the emptiness of my hand turned me from making known to
him, so I parted from him with heart crushed and tears unsealed. And
now, ye men of understanding, have ye heard aught more wondrous than
this wonder?" We said, "No, by him who has knowledge of the Book." He
said, "Record it among the wonders of chance; bid it abide forever in
the hearts of scrolls; for nothing like it has been told abroad in the
world." Then he bade bring the ink-flask, and its snake-like reeds, and
we wrote the story elegantly as he worded it; after which we sought to
draw from him his wish about receiving his boy. He said, "If my purse
were heavy, then to take charge of my son would be light." We said,
"If a _nisab_ of money would suffice thee, we will collect it for thee
at once." He said, "And how should a _nisab_ not content me? would any
but a madman despise such a sum?" Said the narrator, Then each of us
undertook a share of it, and wrote for him an order for it. Whereupon
he gave thanks for the kindness, and exhausted the plenteousness of
praise; until we thought his speech long, or our merit little. And
then he spread out such a bright mantle of talk as might shame the
stuffs of Yemen, until the dawn appeared and the light-bearing morn
went forth. So we spent a night of which the mixed hues had departed,
until its hind-locks grew gray in the dawn; and whose lucky stars
were sovereign until its branch budded into light. But when the limb
of the sun peeped forth, he leaped up as leaps the gazelle, and said,
"Rise up, that we may take hold on the gifts and draw payment of the
checks: for the clefts of my heart are widening through yearning after
my child." So I went with him, hand in hand, to make easy his success.
But as soon as he had secured the coin in his purse the marks of his
joy flashed forth, and he said, "Be thou rewarded for the steps of thy
feet! be God my substitute toward thee!" I said, "I wish to follow
thee that I may behold thy noble child, and speak with him that he
may answer eloquently." Then looked he at me as looks the deceiver on
the deceived, and laughed till his eyeballs gushed with tears; and he
recited:
O thou who didst fancy the mirage to be water when I quoted to thee
what I quoted!
I thought not that my guile would be hidden, or that it would be
doubtful what I meant.
By Allah, I have no Barrah for a spouse; I have no son from whom to
take a by-name.
Nothing is mine but divers kinds of magic, in which I am original and
copy no one:
They are such as Al Asma'i tells not of in what he has told; such as
Al Komayt never wove.
These I use when I will to reach whatever my hand would pluck:
And were I to abandon them, changed would be my state, nor should I
gain what I now gain.
So allow my excuse; nay, pardon me, if I have done wrong or crime.
Then he took leave of me and passed away, and set coals of the _ghada_
in my breast.