sister said, “And Ni’amah ceased not absenting himself from his kith and
kin and patrial stead, that he might gain access to his handmaid, and he
incurred every peril and lavished his life till he gained access to her,
and her name was Naomi, like this slave-girl. But the interview was
short; they had not been long in company when in came the King, who had
bought her of her kidnapper, and hastily ordered them to be slain,
without doing justice by his own soul and delaying to enquire into the
matter before the command was carried out. Now what sayest thou, O
Commander of the Faithful, of this King’s wrongous conduct?” Answered
the Caliph; “This was indeed a strange thing: it behoved that King to
pardon when he had the power to punish; and he ought to have regarded
three things in their favour. The first was that they loved each other;
the second that they were in his house and in his grasp; and the third
that it befitteth a King to be deliberate in judging and ordering
between folk, and how much more so in cases where he himself is
concerned! Wherefore this King thus did an unkingly deed.” Then said his
sister, “O my brother, by the King of the heavens and the earth, I
conjure thee, bid Naomi sing and hearken to that she shall sing!” So he
said, “O Naomi, sing to me;” whereupon she played a lively measure and
sang these couplets:—
Beguiled us Fortune who her guile displays, ✿ Smiting the heart,
bequeathing thoughts that craze,
And parting lovers whom she made to meet, ✿ Till tears in torrent either
cheek displays:
They were and I was and my life was glad, ✿ While Fortune often joyed to
join our ways;
I _will_ pour tear-flood, _will_ rain gouts of blood, ✿ Thy loss
bemoaning through the nights and days!
Now when the Commander of the Faithful heard this verse, he was moved to
great delight and his sister said to him, “O my brother, whoso decideth
in aught against himself, him it behoveth to abide by it and do
according to his word; and thou hast judged against thyself by this
judgement.” Then said she, “O Ni’amah, stand up and do thou likewise up
stand, O Naomi!” So they stood up and she continued, “O Prince of True
Believers, she who standeth before thee is Naomi the stolen, whom
Al-Hajjaj bin Yusuf al-Sakafi kidnapped and sent to thee, falsely
pretending in his letter to thee that he had bought her for ten thousand
gold pieces. And this other who standeth before thee is her lord,
Ni’amah, son of Al-Rabi’a; and I beseech thee, by the honour of thy
pious forebears and by Hamzah and Ukayl and Abbas,[20] to pardon them
both and overlook their offence and bestow them one on the other, that
thou mayst win rich reward in the next world of thy just dealing with
them; for they are under thy hand and verily they have eaten of thy meat
and drunken of thy drink; and behold, I make intercession for them and
beg of thee the boon of their blood.” Thereupon quoth the Caliph, “Thou
speakest sooth: I did indeed give judgement as thou sayst, and I am not
one to pass sentence and to revoke it.” Then said he, “O Naomi, say, be
this thy lord?” And she answered, “Even so, O Commander of the
Faithful.” Then quoth he, “No harm shall befal you, I give you each to
other;” adding to the young man, “O Ni’amah, who told thee where she was
and taught thee how to get at this place?” He replied, “O Commander of
the Faithful, hearken to my tale and give ear to my history; for, by the
virtue of thy pious forefathers, I will hide nothing from thee!” And he
told him all that had passed between himself and the Persian physician
and the old nurse, and how she had brought him into the palace and he
had mistaken the doors; whereat the Caliph wondered with exceeding
wonder and said, “Fetch me the Persian.” So they brought him into the
presence and he was made one of his chief officers. Moreover the King
bestowed on him robes of honour and ordered him a handsome present,
saying, “When a man hath shown like this man such artful management, it
behoveth us to make him one of our chief officers.” The Caliph also
loaded Ni’amah and Naomi with gifts and honours and rewarded the old
nurse; and they abode with him seven days in joy and content and all
delight of life, when Ni’amah craved leave to return to Cufa with his
slave-girl. The Caliph gave them permission and they departed and
arrived in due course at Cufa, where Ni’amah was restored to his father
and mother, and they abode in all the joys and jollities of life, till
there came to them the Destroyer of delights and the Sunderer of
societies. Now when Amjad and As’ad heard from Bahram this story, they
marvelled with extreme marvel and said, “By Allah, this is indeed a rare
tale!”——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Forty-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Amjad and
As’ad heard this story from Bahram the Magian who had become a Moslem,
they marvelled with extreme marvel and thus passed that night; and when
the next morning dawned, they mounted and riding to the palace, sought
an audience of the King who granted it and received them with high
honour. Now as they were sitting together talking, of a sudden they
heard the townsfolk crying aloud and shouting to one another and calling
for help; and the Chamberlain came in to the King and said to him, “Some
King hath encamped before the city, he and his host, with arms and
weapons displayed, and we know not their object and aim.” The King took
counsel with his Wazir Amjad and his brother As’ad; and Amjad said, “I
will go out to him and learn the cause of his coming.” So he took horse
and, riding forth from the city, repaired to the stranger’s camp, where
he found the King and with him a mighty many and mounted Mamelukes. When
the guards saw him, they knew him for an envoy from the King of the
city; so they took him and brought him before their Sultan. Then Amjad
kissed the ground before him; but lo! the King was a Queen, who was
veiled with a mouth-veil, and she said to Amjad, “Know that I have no
design on this your city and that I am come hither only in quest of a
beardless slave of mine, whom if I find with you, I will do you no harm;
but if I find him not, then shall there befal sore onslaught between me
and you.” Asked Amjad, “O Queen, what like is thy slave and what is his
story and what may be his name?” Said she, “His name is As’ad and my
name is Marjanah, and this slave came to my town in company of Bahram, a
Magian, who refused to sell him to me; so I took him by force, but his
master fell upon him by night and bore him away by stealth and he is of
such and such a favour.” When Amjad heard that, he knew it was indeed
his brother As’ad whom she sought and said to her, “O Queen of the age,
Alhamdolillah, praised be Allah, who hath brought us relief! Verily this
slave whom thou seekest is my brother.” Then he told her their story and
all that had befallen them in the land of exile, and acquainted her with
the cause of their departure from the Islands of Ebony, whereat she
marvelled and rejoiced to have found As’ad. So she bestowed a dress of
honour upon Amjad, and he returned forthright to the King and told him
what had passed, at which they all rejoiced and the King went forth with
Amjad and As’ad to meet Queen Marjanah. When they were admitted to her
presence and sat down to converse with her and were thus pleasantly
engaged, behold, a dust-cloud rose and flew and grew, till it walled the
view. And after a while it lifted and showed beneath it an army dight
for victory, in numbers like the swelling sea, armed and armoured
cap-à-pie who, making for the city, encompassed it around as the ring
encompasseth the little finger;[21] and a bared brand was in every hand.
When Amjad and As’ad saw this, they exclaimed, “Verily to Allah we
belong and to Him we shall return! What is this mighty host? Doubtless,
these are enemies, and except we agree with this Queen Marjanah to fight
them, they will take the town from us and slay us. There is no resource
for us but to go out to them and see who they are.” So Amjad arose and
took horse and passed through the city-gate to Queen Marjanah’s camp;
but when he reached the approaching army he found it to be that of his
grandsire, King Ghayur, father of his mother Queen Budur.——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Forty-eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Amjad reached
the approaching host, he found it to be that of his grandsire, Lord of
the Isles and the Seas and the Seven Castles; and when he went into the
presence, he kissed the ground between his hands and delivered to him
the message. Quoth the King, “My name is King Ghayur and I come
wayfaring in quest of my daughter Budur whom fortune hath taken from me;
for she left me and returned not to me, nor have I heard any tidings of
her or of her husband Kamar al-Zaman. Have ye any news of them?” When
Amjad heard this, he hung his head towards the ground for a while in
thought till he felt assured that this King was none other than his
grandfather, his mother’s father; whereupon he raised his head and,
kissing ground before him, told him that he was the son of his daughter
Budur; on hearing which Ghayur threw himself upon him and they both fell
a-weeping.[22] Then said Ghayur, “Praised be Allah, O my son, for
safety, since I have foregathered with thee,” and Amjad told him that
his daughter Budur was safe and sound, and her husband Kamar al-Zaman
likewise, and acquainted him that both abode in a city called the City
of Ebony. Moreover, he related to him how his father, being wroth with
him and his brother, had commanded that both be put to death, but that
his treasurer had taken pity on them and let them go with their lives.
Quoth King Ghayur, “I will go back with thee and thy brother to your
father and make your peace with him.” So Amjad kissed the ground before
him in huge delight and the King bestowed a dress of honour upon him,
after which he returned, smiling, to the King of the City of the Magians
and told him what he had learnt from King Ghayur, whereat he wondered
with exceeding wonder. Then he despatched guest-gifts of sheep and
horses and camels and forage and so forth to King Ghayur, and did the
like by Queen Marjanah; and both of them told her what chanced;
whereupon quoth she, “I too will accompany you with my troops and will
do my endeavour to make this peace.” Meanwhile behold, there arose
another dust-cloud and flew and grew till it walled the view and
blackened the day’s bright hue; and under it they heard shouts and cries
and neighing of steeds and beheld sword glance and the glint of levelled
lance. When this new host drew near the city and saw the two other
armies, they beat their drums and the King of the Magians exclaimed,
“This is indeed naught but a blessed day. Praised be Allah who hath made
us of accord with these two armies; and if it be His will, He shall give
us peace with yon other as well.” Then said he to Amjad and As’ad, “Fare
forth and fetch us news of these troops, for they are a mighty host,
never saw I a mightier.” So they opened the city gates, which the King
had shut for fear of the beleaguering armies, and Amjad and As’ad went
forth and, coming to the new host, found that it was indeed a mighty
many. But as soon as they came to it behold, they knew that it was the
army of the King of the Ebony Islands, wherein was their father, King
Kamar al-Zaman in person. Now when they looked upon him, they kissed
ground and wept; but, when he beheld them, he threw himself upon them
weeping, with sore weeping, and strained them to his breast for a full
hour. Then he excused himself to them and told them what desolation he
had suffered for their loss and exile; and they acquainted him with King
Ghayur’s arrival, whereupon he mounted with his chief officers and
taking with him his two sons, proceeded to that King’s camp. As they
drew near, one of the Princes rode forward and informed King Ghayur of
Kamar al-Zaman’s coming, whereupon he came out to meet him and they
joined company, marvelling at these things and how they had chanced to
foregather in that place. Then the townsfolk made them banquets of all
manner meats and sweetmeats and presented to them horses and camels and
fodder and other guest-gifts and all that the troops needed. And while
this was doing, behold, yet another cloud of dust arose and flew till it
walled the view, whilst earth trembled with the tramp of steed and
tabors sounded like stormy winds. After a while, the dust lifted and
discovered an army clad in coats of mail and armed cap-à-pie; but all
were in black garb, and in their midst rode a very old man whose beard
flowed down over his breast and he also was clad in black. When the King
in the city and the city-folk saw this great host, he said to the other
Kings, “Praised be Allah by whose omnipotent command ye are met here,
all in one day, and have proved all known one to the other! But what
vast and victorious army is this which hemmeth in the whole land like a
wall?” They answered, “Have no fear of them; we are three Kings, each
with a great army, and if they be enemies, we will join thee in doing
battle with them, were they three times as many as they now are.”
Meanwhile, up came an envoy from the approaching host, making for the
city. So they brought him before Kamar al-Zaman, King Ghayur, Queen
Marjanah and the King of the city; and he kissed the ground and said,
“My liege lord cometh from Persia-land; for many years ago he lost his
son and he is seeking him in all countries. If he find him with you,
well and good; but if he find him not, there will be war between him and
you and he will waste your city.” Rejoined Kamar al-Zaman, “It shall not
come to that; but how is thy master called in Aiam land?” Answered the
envoy, “He is called King Shahriman, lord of the Khalidan Islands; and
he hath levied these troops in the lands traversed by him, whilst
seeking his son.” Now when Kamar al-Zaman heard these words, he cried
out with a great cry and fell down in a fainting fit which lasted a long
while; and anon coming to himself he wept bitter tears and said to Amjad
and As’ad, “Go ye, O my sons, with the herald, salute your grandfather
and my father, King Shahriman, and give him glad tidings of me, for he
mourneth my loss and even to the present time he weareth black raiment
for my sake.” Then he told the other Kings all that had befallen him in
the days of his youth, at which they wondered and, going down with him
from the city, repaired to his father, whom he saluted, and they
embraced and fell to the ground senseless for excess of joy. And when
they revived after a while, Kamar al-Zaman acquainted his father with
all his adventures and the other Kings saluted Shahriman. Then, after
having married Marjanah to As’ad, they sent her back to her kingdom,
charging her not to cease correspondence with them; so she took leave
and went her way. Moreover they married Amjad to Bostan, Bahram’s
daughter, and they all set out for the City of Ebony. And when they
arrived there, Kamar al-Zaman went in to his father-in-law, King
Armanus, and told him all that had befallen him and how he had found his
sons; whereat Armanus rejoiced and gave him joy of his safe return. Then
King Ghayur went in to his daughter, Queen Budur,[23] and saluted her
and quenched his longing for her company, and they all abode a full
month’s space in the City of Ebony; after which the King and his
daughter returned to their own country.——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Forty-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that King Ghayur set
out with his daughter and his host for his own land, and they took with
them Amjad and returned home by easy marches. And when Ghayur was
settled again in his kingdom, he made his grandson King in his stead;
and as to Kamar al-Zaman he also made As’ad king in his room over the
capital of the Ebony Islands, with the consent of his grandfather, King
Armanus and set out himself, with his father, King Shahriman, till the
two made the Islands of Khalidan. Then the lieges decorated the city in
their honour and they ceased not to beat the drums for glad tidings a
whole month; nor did Kamar al-Zaman leave to govern in his father’s
place, till there overtook them the Destroyer of delights and the
Sunderer of societies; and Allah knoweth all things! Quoth King
Shahryar, “O Shahrazad, this is indeed a most wonderful tale!” And she
answered, “O King, it is not more wonderful than that of
-----
Footnote 1:
The name is indifferently derived from the red sand about the town or
the reeds and mud with which it was originally built. It was founded
by the Caliph Omar, when the old Capital Madáin (Ctesiphon) opposite
was held unwholesome, on the West bank of the Euphrates, four days’
march from Baghdad and has now disappeared. Al-Saffáh, the first
Abbaside, made it his Capital and it became a famous seat of Moslem
learning; the Kufi school of Arab Grammarians being as renowned as
their opponents, the Basri (of Bassorah). It gave a name to the
“Cufic” characters which are, however, of much older date.
Footnote 2:
“Ni’amat” = a blessing; and the word is perpetually occurring in
Moslem conversation, “Ni’amatu ‘lláh” (as pronounced) is also a
favourite P. N. and few Anglo-Indians of the Mutiny date will forget
the scandalous disclosures of Munshi Ni’amatu ‘llah, who had been sent
to England by Nana Sahib. Nu’m = prosperity, good fortune, and a P. N.
like the Heb. “Naomi.”
Footnote 3:
_i.e._ “causing to be prosperous”; the name, corrupted by the Turks to
“Tevfik,” is given to either sex, _e.g._ Taufik Pasha of Egypt, to
whose unprosperous rule and miserable career the signification
certainly does not apply.
Footnote 4:
Lane (ii. 187) alters the two to four years.
Footnote 5:
_i.e._ “to Tom, Dick or Harry:” the names like John Doe and Richard
Roe are used indefinitely in Arab. Grammar and Syntax. I have noted
that Amru is written and pronounced Amr: hence Amru, the Conqueror of
Egypt, when told by an astrologer that Jerusalem would be taken only
by a _trium literarum homo_, with three letters in his name, sent for
the Caliph Omar (Omr), to whom the so-called Holy City at once
capitulated. Hence also most probably, the tale of Bhurtpore and the
Lord Alligator (Kumbhir), who however did not change from Cotton to
Combermore for some time after the successful siege.
Footnote 6:
Bin Yúsuf al-Sakafi, a statesman and soldier of the seventh and eighth
centuries (A.D.). He was Governor of Al-Hijaz and Al-Irak under the
fifth and sixth Ommiades, and I have noticed his vigorous rule of the
Moslems’ Holy Land in my Pilgrimage (iii. 194, etc.). He pulled down
the Ka’abah and restored it to the condition in which it now is.
Al-Siyuti (p. 219) accuses him of having suborned a man to murder Ibn
Omar with a poisoned javelin, and of humiliating the Prophet’s
companions by “sealing them in the necks and hands,” that is he tied a
thong upon the neck of each and sealed the knot with lead. In Irak he
showed himself equally masterful; but an iron hand was required by the
revolutionists of Kufah and Basrah. He behaved like a good Knight in
rescuing the Moslem women who called upon his name when taken
prisoners by Dahir of Debal (Tathá in Sind). Al-Hajjaj was not the
kind of man the Caliph would have chosen for a pander; but the Shi’ahs
hated him and have given him a lasting bad name. In the East men
respect manly measures, not the hysterical, philanthropic
pseudo-humanitarianism of our modern government which is really the
cruellest of all. When Ziyád bin Abihi was sent by Caliph Mu’awiyah to
reform Bassorah, a den of thieves, he informed the lieges that he
intended to rule by the sword and advised all evil-doers to quit the
city. The people were forbidden, under pain of death, to walk the
streets after prayers; on the first night two hundred suffered; on the
second five and none afterwards. Compare this with our civilised rule
in Egypt where even bands of brigands, a phenomenon perfectly new and
unknown to this century, have started up, where crime has doubled in
quantity and quality, and where “Christian rule” has thoroughly
scandalised a Moslem land.
Footnote 7:
The old bawd’s portrait is admirably drawn: all we dwellers in the
East have known her well: she is so and so. Her dress and manners are
the same amongst the Hindus (see the hypocritical female ascetic in
the Katha p. 287) as amongst the Moslems; men of the world at once
recognise her and the prudent keep out of her way. She is found in the
cities of Southern Europe, ever pious, ever prayerful; and she seems
to do her work not so much for profit as for pure or impure enjoyment.
In the text her task was easy, as she had to do with a pair of
innocents.
Footnote 8:
Koran, xxv. 70. I give Sale’s version.
Footnote 9:
Easterns, I have observed, have no way of saying “Thank you;” they
express it by a blessing or a short prayer. They have a right to your
surplus: daily bread is divided, they say and, eating yours, they
consider it their own. I have discussed this matter in Pilgrimage i.
75-77, in opposition to those who declare that “gratitude” is unknown
to Moslems.
Footnote 10:
Cufa (Kufah) being a modern place never had a “King,” but as the Hindu
says, “Delhi is far”—it is a far cry to Loch Awe. Here we can hardly
understand “Malik” as Governor or Viceroy: can it be syn. with Zú-mál
(moneyed)?
Footnote 11:
Abd al-Malik has been before mentioned as the “Sweat of a Stone,” etc.
He died recommending Al-Hajjaj to his son, Al-Walid, and one of his
sayings is still remembered. “He who desireth to take a female slave
for carnal enjoyment, let him take a native of Barbary; if he need one
for the sake of children, let him have a Persian; and whoso desireth
one for service, let him take a Greek.” Moderns say, “If you want a
brother (in arms) try a Nubian; one to get you wealth an Abyssinian
and if you want an ass (for labour) a Sáwahíli, or Zanzibar negroid.”
Footnote 12:
Probably suggested by the history of Antiochus and Stratonice, with an
addition of Eastern mystery such as geomancy.
Footnote 13:
Arab. “Kárúrah”: the “water-doctor” has always been an institution in
the East and he has lately revived in Europe—especially at the German
baths and in London.
Footnote 14:
Lane makes this phrase “O brother of the Persians!” synonymous with “O
Persian!” I think it means more, a Persian being generally considered
“too clever by half.”
Footnote 15:
The verses deal in untranslatable word-plays upon women’s names, Naomi
(the blessing) Su’adá or Su’ád (the happy, which Mr. Redhouse, in
Ka’ab’s Mantle-poem, happily renders Beatrice); and Juml (a sum or
total) the two latter, moreover, being here fictitious.
Footnote 16:
“And he (Jacob) turned from them, and said, ‘O how I am grieved for
Joseph!’ And his eyes became white with mourning.... (Quoth Joseph to
his brethren), ‘Take this my inner garment and throw it on my father’s
face and he shall recover his sight....’ So, when the messenger of
good tidings came (to Jacob) he threw it (the shirt) over his face and
he recovered his eye-sight.”—Koran, xii. 84, 93, 96. The commentators,
by way of improvement, assure us that the shirt was that worn by
Abraham when thrown into the fire (Koran, chapt. xvi.) by Nimrod (!).
We know little concerning “Jacob’s daughters” who named the only
bridge spanning the upper Jordan, and who have a curious shrine-tomb
near Jewish “Safed” (North of Tiberias), one of the four “Holy
Cities.” The Jews ignore these “daughters of Jacob” and travellers
neglect them.
Footnote 17:
Easterns, I have remarked, mostly recognise the artistic truth that
the animal man is handsomer than woman; and that “fair sex” is truly
only of skin-colour. The same is the general rule throughout creation,
for instance the stallion compared with the mare, the cock with the
hen; while there are sundry exceptions such as the Falconidæ.
Footnote 18:
The Badawi (who is nothing if not horsey) compares the gait of a woman
who walks well (in Europe rarely seen out of Spain) with the slightly
swinging walk of a thoroughbred mare, bending her graceful neck and
looking from side to side at objects as she passes.
Footnote 19: