Al-Mahdi continued:—So I put in my sleeve the purse whose weight was
irksome to me; and turned to depart, but when I came to the house-door
he said, “O my lord, of a truth this is a safer hiding-place for thee
than any other, and thy keep is no burden to me; so do thou abide with
me, till Allah be pleased to grant thee relief.” Accordingly, I turned
back, saying, “On condition that thou spend of the money in this purse.”
He made me think that he consented to this arrangement, and I abode with
him some days in the utmost comfort; but, perceiving that he spent none
of the contents of the purse, I revolted at the idea of abiding at his
charge and thought it shame to be a burthen on him; so I left the house
disguised in women’s apparel, donning short yellow walking-boots[153]
and veil. Now as soon as I found myself in the street, I was seized with
excessive fear, and going to pass the bridge behold, I came to a place
sprinkled with water,[154] where a trooper, who had been in my service,
looked at me and knowing me, cried out, saying, “This is he whom
Al-Maamun wanteth.” Then he laid hold of me but the love of sweet life
lent me strength and I gave him and his horse a push which threw them
down in that slippery place, so that he became an example to those who
will take example; and the folk hastened to him. Meanwhile, I hurried my
pace over the bridge and entered a main street, where I saw the door of
a house open and a woman standing upon the threshold. So I said to her,
“O my lady, have pity on me and save my life; for I am a man in fear.”
Quoth she, “Enter and welcome;” and carried me into an upper
dining-room, where she spread me a bed and brought me food, saying,
“Calm thy fear, for not a soul shall know of thee.” As she spoke, lo!
there came a loud knocking at the door; so she went and opened, and
suddenly, my friend, whom I had thrown down on the bridge, appeared with
his head bound up, the blood running down upon his clothes and without
his horse. She asked, “O so and so, what accident hath befallen thee?”;
and he answered, “I made prize of the young man whom the Caliph seeketh
and he escaped from me;” whereupon he told her the whole story. So she
brought out tinder[155] and, putting it into a piece of rag bandaged his
head; after which she spread him a bed and he lay sick. Then she came up
to me and said, “Methinks thou art the man in question?” “Even so,”
answered I, and she said, “Fear not: no harm shall befal thee,” and
redoubled in kindness to me. So I tarried with her three days, at the
end of which time she said to me, “I am in fear for thee, lest yonder
man happen upon thee and betray thee to what thou dreadest; so save
thyself by flight.” I besought her to let me stay till nightfall, and
she said, “There is no harm in that.” So, when the night came, I put on
my woman’s gear and betook me to the house of a freed-woman who had once
been our slave. When she saw me she wept and made a show of affliction
and praised Almighty Allah for my safety. Then she went forth, as if she
would go to market intent on hospitable thoughts, and I fancied all was
right; but, ere long, suddenly I espied Ibrahim al-Mosili[156] making
for the house amongst his troopers and servants, and led by a woman on
foot; and looking narrowly at her behold, she was the freed-woman, the
mistress of the house, wherein I had taken refuge. So she delivered me
into their hands, and I saw death face to face. They carried me, in my
woman’s attire, to Al-Maamun who called a general council and had me
brought before him. When I entered I saluted him by the title of Caliph,
saying, “Peace be on thee, O Commander of the Faithful!” and he replied,
“Allah give thee neither peace nor long life.” I rejoined, “According to
thy good pleasure, O Commander of the Faithful!; it is for the claimant
of blood-revenge[157] to decree punishment or pardon; but mercy is
nigher to piety; and Allah hath set thy pardon above all other pardon,
even as He made my sin to excel all other sin. So, if thou punish, it is
of thine equity, and if thou pardon, it is of thy bounty.” And I
repeated these couplets:—
My sin to thee is great, ✿ But greater thy degree:
So take revenge, or else ✿ Remit in clemency:
An I in deeds have not ✿ Been generous, generous be!
(Quoth Ibrahim), At this Al-Maamun raised his head to me an I hastened
to add these two couplets:—
I’ve sinned enormous sin, ✿ But pardon in thee lies:
If pardon thou, ‘tis grace; ✿ Justice an thou chastise!
Then Al-Maamun bowed his head and repeated:—
I am (when friend would raise a rage that mote ✿ Make spittle choke me,
sticking in my throat)
His pardoner, and pardon his offence, ✿ Fearing lest I should live a
friend without.
(Quoth Ibrahim), Now when I heard these words I scented mercy, knowing
his disposition to clemency.[158] Then he turned to his son Al-Abbas and
his brother Abu Ishak and all his chief officers there present and said
to them, “What deem ye of his case?” They all counselled him to do me
dead, but they differed as to the manner of my death. Then said he to
his Wazir Ahmad bin al-Khálid, “And what sayest thou, O Ahmad?” He
answered, “O Commander of the Faithful, an thou slay him, we find the
like of thee who hath slain the like of him; but an thou pardon him, we
find not the like of thee that hath pardoned the like of him.”——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Al-Maamun,
Prince of the Faithful, heard the words of Ahmad bin al-Khalid, he bowed
his head and began repeating:—
My tribe have slain that brother mine, Umaym, ✿ Yet would shoot back
what shafts at them I aim:
If I deal pardon, noble pardon ‘tis; ✿ And if I shoot, my bones ‘twill
only maim.[159]
And he also recited:—
Be mild to brother mingling ✿ What is wrong with what is right:
Kindness to him continue ✿ Whether good or graceless wight:
Abstain from all reproaching, ✿ An he joy or vex thy sprite:
Seest not that what thou lovest ✿ And what hatest go unite?
That joys of longer life-tide ✿ Ever fade with hair turned white?
That thorns on branches growing ✿ For the pluckt fruit catch thy sight?
Who never hath done evil, ✿ Doing good for sole delight?
When tried the sons of worldli- ✿ ness they mostly work unright.
(Quoth Ibrahim), Now when I heard these couplets, I withdrew my woman’s
veil from my head and cried out, with my loudest voice, “Allah is Most
Great! By Allah, the Commander of the Faithful pardoneth me!” Quoth he,
“No harm shall come to thee, O uncle;” and I rejoined, “O Commander of
the Faithful, my sin is too sore for me to excuse it and thy mercy is
too much for me to speak thanks for it.” And I chanted these couplets to
a lively motive:—
Who made all graces all collected He ✿ In Adam’s loins, our Seventh
Imam, for thee;[160]
Thou hast the hearts of men with reverence filled, ✿ Enguarding all with
heart-humility;
Rebelled I never by delusion whelmed ✿ For object other than thy
clemency;[161]
And thou hast pardoned me whose like was ne’er ✿ Pardoned before, though
no man pled my plea:
Hast pitied little ones like Katá’s[162] young, ✿ And mother’s yearning
heart a son to see.
Quoth Maamun, “I say, following our lord Joseph (on whom and on our
Prophet be blessing and peace!) let there be no reproach cast on you
this day. Allah forgiveth you; for He is the most merciful of those who
show mercy.[163] Indeed I pardon thee, and restore to thee thy goods and
lands, O uncle, and no harm shall befal thee.” So I offered up devout
prayers for him and repeated these couplets:—
Thou hast restored my wealth sans greed, and ere ✿ So didst, thou
deignèdest my blood to spare:
Then if I shed my blood and wealth, to gain ✿ Thy grace, till even shoon
from foot I tear,
Twere but repaying what thou lentest me, ✿ And what unloaned no man to
blame would care:
Were I ungrateful for thy lavisht boons, ✿ Baser than thou’rt beneficent
I were!
Then Al-Maamun showed me honour and favour and said to me, “O uncle, Abu
Ishak and Al-Abbas counselled me to put thee to death.” So I answered,
“And they both counselled thee right, O Commander of the Faithful, but
thou hast done after thine own nature and hast put away what I feared
with what I hoped.” Rejoined Al-Maamun, “O uncle, thou didst extinguish
my rancour with the modesty of thine excuse, and I have pardoned thee
without making thee drink the bitterness of obligation to intercessors.”
Then he prostrated himself in prayer a long while, after which he raised
his head and said to me, “O uncle, knowest thou why I prostrated
myself?” Answered I, “Haply thou didst this in thanksgiving to Allah,
for that He hath given thee the mastery over thine enemy.” He replied,
“Such was not my design, but rather to thank Allah for having inspired
me to pardon thee and for having cleared my mind towards thee. Now tell
me thy tale.” So I told him all that had befallen me with the barber,
the trooper and his wife and with my freed-woman who had betrayed me. So
he summoned the freed-woman, who was in her house, expecting the reward
to be sent for her, and when she came before him he said to her, “What
moved thee to deal thus with thy lord?” Quoth she, “Lust of money.”
Asked the Caliph. “Hast thou a child or a husband?”; and she answered
“No;” whereupon he bade them give her an hundred stripes with a whip and
imprisoned her for life. Then he sent for the trooper and his wife and
the barber-surgeon and asked the soldier what had moved him to do thus.
“Lust of money,” quoth he; whereupon quoth the Caliph, “It befitteth
thee to be a barber-cupper,”[164] and committed him to one whom he
charged to place him in a barber-cupper’s shop, where he might learn the
craft. But he showed honour to the trooper’s wife and lodged her in his
palace, saying, “This is a woman of sound sense and fit for matters of
moment.” Then said he to the barber-cupper, “Verily, thou hast shown
worth and generosity which call for extraordinary honour.” So he
commanded the trooper’s house and all that was therein to be given him
and bestowed on him a dress of honour and in addition fifteen thousand
dinars to be paid annually. And men tell the following tale concerning
-----
Footnote 148:
Ibrahim Abu Ishák bin al-Mahdi, a pretender to the Caliphate of
well-known wit and a famed musician surnamed from his corpulence
“Al-Tannín” = the Dragon or, according to others (Lane ii. 336),
Al-Tin = the fig. His adventurous history will be found in Ibn
Khallikan, D’Herbelot and Al-Siyuti.
Footnote 149:
The Ragha of the Zendavesta, and Rages of the Apocrypha (Tobit,
Judith, etc.), the old capital of Media Proper, and seat of government
of Daylam, now a ruin some miles south of Teheran which was built out
of its remains. Rayy was founded by Hoshang, the primeval king who
first sawed wood, made doors and dug metal. It is called Rayy
al-Mahdiyyah because Al-Mahdi held his court there: Harun al-Rashíd
was also born in it (A.H. 145). It is mentioned by a host of authors
and names one of the Makamat of Al-Hariri.
Footnote 150:
Human blood being especially impure.
Footnote 151:
Jones, Brown and Robinson.
Footnote 152:
Arab. “Kumm;” the Moslem sleeve is mostly (like his trousers) of ample
dimensions and easily converted into a kind of carpet-bag by
depositing small articles in the middle and gathering up the edge in
the hand. In this way carried the weight would be less irksome than
hanging to the waist. The English of Queen Anne’s day had regular
sleeve-pockets for memoranda, etc., hence the saying, to have in one’s
sleeve.
Footnote 153:
Arab. “Khuff” worn under the “Bábúg” (a corruption of the Persian
pá-push = feet-covers, papooshes, slippers). Lane M. E. chapt. i.
Footnote 154:
Done in hot weather throughout the city, a dry line for camels being
left in mid-street to prevent the awkward beasts slipping. The
watering of the Cairo streets of late years has been excessive; they
are now lines of mud in summer as well as in winter and the effluvia
from the droppings of animals have, combined with other causes,
seriously deteriorated the once charming climate. The only place in
Lower Egypt, which has preserved the atmosphere of 1850, is Suez.
Footnote 155:
Arab. “Hurák:” burnt rag, serving as tinder for flint and steel, is a
common styptic.
Footnote 156:
Of this worthy something has been said and there will be more in a
future page.
Footnote 157:
_i.e._ the person entitled to exact the blood-wit.
Footnote 158:
Al-Maamum was a man of sense with all his fanaticism. One of his
sayings is preserved, “Odious is contentiousness in Kings; more odious
vexation in judges uncomprehending a case; yet more odious is
shallowness of doctors in religions and most odious are avarice in the
rich, idleness in youth, jesting in age and cowardice in the soldier.”
Footnote 159:
The second couplet is not in the Mac. Edit. but Lane’s Shaykh has
supplied it. (ii. 339)
Footnote 160:
Adam’s loins, the “Day of Alast,” and the Imam (who stands _before_
the people in prayer) have been explained. The “Seventh Imam” here is
Al-Maamun, the seventh Abbaside—the Ommiades being, as usual, ignored.
Footnote 161:
He sinned only for the pleasure of being pardoned, which is poetical
and hardly practical or probable.
Footnote 162:
The Katá (sand-grouse) always enters into Arab poetry because it is
essentially a desert bird; and here the comparison is good because it
lays its eggs in the waste far from water which it must drink morning
and evening. Its cry is interpreted “man sakat, salam” (silent and
safe), but it does not practice that precept, for it is usually
betrayed by its piping Kata! Kata! Hence the proverb, “More veracious
than the sand-grouse;” and “Speak not falsely, for the Kata sayeth
sooth,” is Komayt’s saying. It is an emblem of swiftness: when the
brigand-poet Shanfara boasts, “The ash-coloured Katas can drink only
my leavings, after hastening all night to slake their thirst in the
morning,” it is a hyperbole boasting of his speed. In Sind it is
called the “rock pigeon” and it is not unlike a grey partridge when on
the wing.
Footnote 163:
Joseph to his brethren, Koran, xii. 92, when he gives them his “inner
garment” to throw over his father’s face.
Footnote 164:
Arab. “Hajjám” = a cupper who scarifies forehead and legs, a bleeder,
a (blood-) sucker. The slang use of the term is to thrash, lick,
wallop (Burckhardt, Prov. 34)
THE CITY OF MANY-COLUMNED IRAM AND ABDULLAH SON OF ABI KILABAH.[165]
It is related that Abdullah bin Abi Kilábah went forth in quest of a
she-camel which had strayed from him; and, as he was wandering in the
deserts of Al-Yaman and the district of Sabá,[166] behold, he came upon
a great city girt by a vast castle around which were palaces and
pavilions that rose high into middle air. He made for the place thinking
to find there folk of whom he might ask concerning his she-camel; but,
when he reached it, he found it desolate, without a living soul in it.
So (quoth he) I alighted and, hobbling my dromedary,——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abdullah bin Abi
Kilabah continued:—I dismounted and hobbling my dromedary, and composing
my mind, entered into the city. Now when I came to the castle, I found
it had two vast gates (never in the world was seen their like for size
and height) inlaid with all manner jewels and jacinths, white and red,
yellow and green. Beholding this I marvelled with great marvel and
thought the case mighty wondrous; then entering the citadel in a flutter
of fear and dazed with surprise and affright, I found it long and wide
about equalling Al-Medinah[167] in point of size; and therein were lofty
palaces laid out in pavilions all built of gold and silver and inlaid
with many-coloured jewels and jacinths and chrysolites and pearls. And
the door-leaves in the pavilions were like those of the castle for
beauty; and their floors were strewn with great pearls and balls, no
smaller than hazel-nuts, of musk and ambergris and saffron. Now when I
came within the heart of the city and saw therein no created beings of
the Sons of Adam I was near swooning and dying for fear. Moreover, I
looked down from the great roofs of the pavilion-chambers and their
balconies and saw rivers running under them; and in the main streets
were fruit-laden trees and tall palms; and the manner of their building
was one brick of gold and one of silver. So I said in myself, “Doubtless
this is the Paradise promised for the world to come.” Then I loaded me
with the jewels of its gravel and the musk of its dust as much as I
could carry and returned to my own country, where I told the folk what I
had seen. After a time the news reached Mu’áwiyah, son of Abu Sufyán,
who was then Caliph in Al-Hijaz; so he wrote to his lieutenant in San’á
of Al-Yaman to send for the teller of the story and question him of the
truth of the case. Accordingly the lieutenant summoned me and questioned
me of my adventure and of all appertaining to it; and I told him what I
had seen, whereupon he despatched me to Mu’awiyah, before whom I
repeated the story of the strange sights; but he would not credit it. So
I brought out to him some of the pearls and balls of musk and ambergris
and saffron, in which latter there was still some sweet savour; but the
pearls were grown yellow and had lost pearly colour.——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-seventh Night,
She said, it hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abdullah son of
Abu Kilabah continued:—But the pearls were grown yellow and had lost
pearly colour. Now Mu’awiyah wondered at this and, sending for Ka’ab
al-Ahbar[168] said to him, “O Ka’ab, I have sent for thee to ascertain
the truth of a certain matter and hope that thou wilt be able to certify
me thereof.” Asked Ka’ab, “What is it, O Commander of the Faithful?”;
and Mu’awiyah answered, “Wottest thou of any city founded by man which
is builded of gold and silver, the pillars whereof are of chrysolite and
rubies and its gravel pearls and balls of musk and ambergris and
saffron?” He replied, “Yes, O Commander of the Faithful, this is ‘Iram
with pillars decked and dight, the like of which was never made in the
lands,’[169] and the builder was Shaddad son of Ad the Greater.” Quoth
the Caliph, “Tell us something of its history,” and Ka’ab said:—Ad the
Greater had two sons, Shadíd and Shaddád who, when their father died,
ruled conjointly in his stead, and there was no King of the Kings of the
earth but was subject to them. After awhile Shadid died and his brother
Shaddad reigned over the earth alone. Now he was fond of reading in
antique books; and, happening upon the description of the world to come
and of Paradise, with its pavilions and galleries and trees and fruits
and so forth, his soul moved him to build the like thereof in this
world, after the fashion aforesaid. Now under his hand were an hundred
thousand Kings, each ruling over an hundred thousand chiefs.[170]
commanding each an hundred thousand warriors; so he called these all
before him and said to them, “I find in ancient books and annals a
description of Paradise, as it is to be in the next world, and I desire
to build me its like in this world. Go ye forth therefore to the
goodliest tract on earth and the most spacious and build me there a city
of gold and silver, whose gravel shall be chrysolite and rubies and
pearls; and for support of its vaults make pillars of jasper. Fill it
with palaces, whereon ye shall set galleries and balconies and plant its
lanes and thoroughfares with all manner trees bearing yellow-ripe fruits
and make rivers to run through it in channels of gold and silver.”
Whereat said one and all, “How are we able to do this thing thou hast
commanded, and whence shall we get the chrysolites and rubies and pearls
whereof thou speakest?” Quoth he, “What! weet ye not that the Kings of
the world are subject to me and under my hand and that none therein dare
gainsay my word?” Answered they, “Yes, we know that.”——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the lieges
answered, “Yes, we know that;” whereupon the King rejoined, “Fare ye
then to the mines of chrysolites and rubies and pearls and gold and
silver and collect their produce and gather together all of value that
is in the world and spare no pains and leave naught; and take also for
me such of these things as be in men’s hands and let nothing escape you:
be diligent and beware of disobedience.” And thereupon he wrote letters
to all the Kings of the world and bade them gather together whatso of
these things was in their subjects’ hands, and get them to the mines of
precious stones and metals, and bring forth all that was therein, even
from the abysses of the seas. This they accomplished in the space of 20
years, for the number of rulers then reigning over the earth was three
hundred and sixty Kings; and Shaddad presently assembled from all lands
and countries architects and engineers and men of art and labourers and
handicraftsmen, who dispersed over the world and explored all the wastes
and wolds and tracts and holds. At last they came to an uninhabited
spot, a vast and fair open plain clear of sand-hills and mountains, with
founts flushing and rivers rushing, and they said, “This is the manner
of place the King commanded us to seek and ordered us to find.” So they
busied themselves in building the city even as bade them Shaddad, King
of the whole earth in its length and breadth; leading the fountains in
channels and laying the foundations after the prescribed fashion.
Moreover, all the Kings of earth’s several reigns sent thither jewels
and precious stones and pearls large and small and carnelian and refined
gold and virgin silver upon camels by land, and in great ships over the
waters, and there came to the builders’ hands of all these materials so
great a quantity as may neither be told nor counted nor conceived. So
they laboured at the work three hundred years; and, when they had
brought it to end, they went to King Shaddad and acquainted him
therewith. Then said he, “Depart and make thereon an impregnable castle,
rising and towering high in air, and build around it a thousand
pavilions, each upon a thousand columns of chrysolite and ruby and
vaulted with gold, that in each pavilion a Wazir may dwell.” So they
returned forthwith and did this in other twenty years; after which they
again presented themselves before King Shaddad and informed him of the
accomplishment of his will. Then he commanded his Wazirs, who were a
thousand in number, and his Chief Officers and such of his troops and
others as he put trust in, to prepare for departure and removal to
Many-columned Iram, in the suite and at the stirrup of Shaddad, son of
Ad, King of the world; and he bade also such as he would of his women
and his Harim and of his handmaids and eunuchs make them ready for the
journey. They spent twenty years in preparing for departure, at the end
of which time Shaddad set out with his host.——And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Shaddad bin Ad
fared forth, he and his host, rejoicing in the attainment of his desire
till there remained but one day’s journey between him and Iram of the
Pillars. Then Allah sent down on him and on the stubborn unbelievers
with him a mighty rushing sound from the Heavens of His power, which
destroyed them all with its vehement clamour, and neither Shaddad nor
any of his company set eyes on the city.[171] Moreover, Allah blotted
out the road which led to the city, and it stands in its stead unchanged
until the Resurrection Day and the Hour of Judgement. So Mu’awiyah
wondered greatly at Ka’ab al-Ahbar’s story and said to him, “Hath any
mortal ever made his way to that city?” He replied, “Yes; one of the
companions of Mohammed (on whom be blessing and peace!) reached it,
doubtless and forsure after the same fashion as this man here seated.”
And (quoth Al-Sha’abi[172]) it is related, on the authority of learned
men of Himyar in Al-Yaman that Shaddad, when destroyed with all his host
by the sound, was succeeded in his Kingship by his son Shaddad the Less,
whom he left viceregent in Hazramaut[173] and Saba, when he and his
marched upon Many-columned Iram. Now as soon as he heard of his father’s
death on the road, he caused his body to be brought back from the desert
to Hazramaut and bade them hew him out a tomb in a cave, where he laid
the body on a throne of gold and threw over the corpse threescore and
ten robes of cloth of gold, purfled with precious stones. Lastly at his
sire’s head he set up a tablet of gold whereon were graven these
verses:—
Take warning O proud, ✿ And in length o’ life vain!
I’m Shaddád son of Ad, ✿ Of the forts castellain;
Lord of pillars and power, ✿ Lord of tried might and main,
Whom all earth-sons obeyed ✿ For my mischief and bane;
And who held East and West ✿ In mine awfullest reign.
He preached me salvation ✿ Whom God did assain,[174]
But we crossed him and asked ✿ “Can no refuge be ta’en?”
When a Cry on us cried ✿ From th’ horizon plain,
And we fell on the field ✿ Like the harvested grain,
And the Fixt Day await ✿ We, in earth’s bosom lain!