(CALLED "OF MA'AKRAH")[22]
Al Harith, son of Hammam, related: Among the wonders of time, I saw
that two suitors came before the Kadi of Ma'arrat an No'man. From the
one of them the two excellencies of life had departed, while the other
was as a bough of the ben tree. And the old man said: God strengthen
the judge, as by him he strengthens whoever seeks judgment. Behold I
had a slave girl, elegant of shape, smooth of cheek, patient to labor;
at one time she ambled like a good steed, at another she slept quietly
in her bed: even in July thou wouldst feel her touch to be cool. She
had understanding and discretion, sharpness and wit, a hand with
fingers, but a mouth without teeth: yet did she pique as with tongue of
snake, and saunter in training robe; and she was displayed in blackness
and whiteness; and she drank, but not from cisterns. She was now
truth-telling, now beguiling; now hiding, now peeping forth; yet fitted
for employment, obedient in poverty and in wealth: if thou didst spurn
she showed affection, but if thou didst put her from thee, she remained
quietly apart. Generally would she serve thee, and be courteous to
thee, though sometimes she might be froward to thee and pain thee, and
trouble thee. Now this youth asked her service of me for a purpose of
his own, and I made her his servant, without reward, on the condition
that he should enjoy the use of her, but not burden her with more than
she could bear. But he forced on her too hard a work, and exacted of
her long labor; then returned her to me broken in health, offering a
compensation which I accept not.
Then said the youth: Sure the old man is more truthful than the Kata:
but as for my hurting her it fell out by mistake. And now have I
pledged to him in payment of his damage, a slave[23] of mine, of equal
birth as regards either kin, tracing his lineage to Al Kayn, free from
stain and disgrace, whose place was the apple of his master's eye. He
showed forth kindness, and called up admiration; he nourished mankind,
and set guard on his tongue. If he was placed in power he was generous,
if he marked aught for his own he was noble with it; if he was supplied
he gave of his supply, and when he was asked for more he added. He
stayed not in the house, and rarely visited his wives, save two by two.
He was generous with his possession, he was lofty in his bounty; he
kept with his spouse although she was not of his own clay; and there
was pleasure in his comeliness, although he was not desired for his
effeminacy.
Then said to them the Kadi, "Now either explain or depart." Then
pressed forward the lad, and said:
He lent me a needle to darn my rags, which use has worn and blackened;
And its eye broke in my hand by chance, as I drew the thread through
it.
But the old man would not forgive me the paying for it when he saw
that it was spoiled;
But said, "Give me a needle like it, or a price, after thou hast
mended it."
And he keeps my _kohl_-pencil by him as a pledge: oh, the shame that
he has gotten by so doing:
For my eye is dry through giving him this pledge; my hand fails to
ransom its anointer.
Now by this statement fathom the depth of my misery and pity one
unused to bear it.
Then turned the Kadi to the old man, and said, "Come, speak without
glozing," and he said:
I swear by the holy place of sacrifice, and the devout whom the slope
of Mina brings together;
If the time had been my helper, thou wouldst not have seen me taking
in pledge the pencil which he has pledged to me.
Nor would I bring myself to seek a substitute for a needle that he had
spoiled; no, nor the price of it.
But the bow of calamities shoots at me with deadly arrows from here
and there:
And to know my condition is to know his; misery, and distress, and
exile, and sickness.
Fortune has put us on a level: I am his like in misery, and he is as I.
He can not ransom his pencil now that it lies pledged in my hand:
And, through the narrowness of my own means, it is not within my
bounds to forgive him for his offending.
Now this is my tale and his: so look upon us, and judge between us,
and pity us.
Now when the Kadi had learned their stories, and was aware of their
penury and their distinction, he took out for them a denar from
under his prayer-cushion, and said, "With this end and decide your
contention." But the old man caught it before the youth, and claimed
the whole of it in earnest, not in jest, saying to the youth, "Half is
mine as my share of the bounty, and thy share is mine, in payment for
my needle: nor do I swerve from justice, so come and take thy pencil."
Now there fell on the youth, at the words of the old man, a sadness at
which the heart of the Kadi grew sullen, stirring its sorrow for the
lost denar. Yet did he cheer the concern of the youth and his anguish
by a few dirhems which he doled to him. Then he said to the two, "Avoid
transactions, and put away disputes, and come not before me with
wranglings, for I have no purse of fine-money for you." And they rose
to go out from him, rejoicing at his gift, fluent in his praise. But as
for the Kadi, his ill-humor subsided not after his stone had dripped;
his sad look cleared not away after his rock had oozed. But when he
recovered from his fit he turned to his attendants, and said, "My
perception is imbued with the thought, and my guess announces to me,
that these are practisers of craft, not suitors in a claim: but what
is the way to fathom them, and to draw forth their secret?" Then said
to him the Knowing One of his assemblage, the Light of his following:
"Surely the discovery of what they hide must be through themselves."
So he bade an attendant follow them and bring them back; and when they
stood before him he said to them, "Tell me truly your camel's age: so
shall ye be secure from the consequence of your deceit." Then did the
lad shrink back and ask for pardon; but the old man stepped forward and
said:
I am the Seruji and this is my son; and the cub at the proving is like
the lion.
Now never has his hand nor mine done wrong in matter of needle or
pencil:
But only fortune, the harming, the hostile, has brought us to this,
that we came forth to beg
Of each one whose palm is moist, whose spring is sweet; of each whose
palm is close, whose hand is fettered;
By every art, and with every aim: by earnest, if it prosper, and if
not, by jest.
That we may draw forth a drop for our thirsty lot, and consume our
life in wretched victual.
And afterward Death is on the watch for us: if he fall not on us
to-day he will fall to-morrow.
Then said the Kadi to him, "Oh rare! how admirable are the breathings
of thy mouth; well done! should I say of thee, were it not for the
guile that is in thee. Now know that I am of those that warn thee, and
will beware of thee. So act not again deceitfully with judges, but
fear the might of those who bear rule. For not every minister will
excuse, and not at every season will speech be listened to." Then the
old man promised to follow his counsel, and to abstain from disguising
his character. And he departed from the Kadi's presence, while the
guile beamed from his forehead. Said Al Harith, son of Hammam: Now I
never saw aught more wonderful than these things in the changes of my
journeys, nor read aught like them in the records of books.