A Tale of Four Dervishes (Penguin Classics)

by Mir Amman

  ‘“Once it so happened that the princess had gone to her father. I was saying my prayers without any fear when the princess suddenly came there saying to her nurse, ‘Let us see what that Persian is doing. Is he asleep or awake?’ When she did not find me in my room she was surprised and said, ‘Where has he gone, eh? I hope he has not fallen in love with someone else.’ Looking out for me she came to the place where I was saying my prayers. As she had never seen anyone saying prayers the way I was, she stood there watching me closely. When I had finished and raised my hands in prayer and prostrated myself, she laughed loudly and said, ‘This man has certainly gone mad. Look how ridiculous he looks doing all this?’ I was a bit alarmed as she laughed. Coming closer to me she said, ‘O Persian, what was all this?’ Before I could make any reply her nurse said, ‘My darling, I understand he is a Muslim and an enemy of the idols Lāt and Manāt. He worships God the Unseen.’ Upon these words the princess rubbed her hands with regret and said in anger, ‘I did not suspect at all that he was a Turk and did not believe in our gods. It was because of this alone that he had fallen under the wrath of our Idol. It was a folly on my part to save his life and keep him in my house!’ With these words she left. I was disturbed to hear these words. The anxiety as to what she might do to me did not let me sleep. I wept bitterly all night. Three days and nights I passed in anxiety. I couldn’t sleep a wink. On the third night the princess, inebriated and followed by her nurse, came to my apartment. She was full of anger and armed with a bow and arrow. She took her seat in the garden and asked the nurse for a cup of wine which she gave her. She drank it and said to her, ‘Is that Persian who has fallen under the wrath of our Great Idol still alive, or has he expired?’ The nurse replied, ‘Darling, he still has some life left in him.’ She said, ‘He has now fallen from my favour. However, ask him to come out.’ The nurse called me. I ran up to her and found that the princess had turned red in anger. I felt as if my soul had departed from my body. However, I paid my respects and stood there with folded arms. She gave me an angry look and said to her nurse, ‘If I kill this enemy of our religion with this arrow, will the Great Idol pardon me? You know I have committed a great sin by keeping him in my house and looking after him.’ The nurse, replied, ‘But darling, I don’t see any sin in that. You did not know that he was an enemy when you brought him here. You took pity on him and you will be rewarded for your good deed; and for the evil he has done he will be punished by the Great Idol.’ On hearing these words she said to the nurse, ‘Ask him to sit down.’ The nurse signalled and I sat down. The princess took another cup of wine and said to the nurse, ‘Give a cup to this wretched fellow too so that he may be easily killed.’ The nurse gave me one which I readily drank and bowed down to the princess in respect. She did not look straight at me. When I was a little inebriated I recited some verses to her; one of them said:

  I am taken by your charms for good;

  To what avail, then, will it be

  If I am spared my life!

  To what avail if one breathes a while

  Under the shadow of a sword!

  She smiled hearing this verse and asked the nurse, ‘Are you feeling sleepy?’ The nurse got the hint and said, ‘Yes, darling, I am.’ Then she took her leave. After a while, the princess asked me for a cup of wine. I quickly filled and presented it to her. Coyly she took it from me and drank it off. I fell at her feet. With a gentle pat on my back she said, ‘You fool, what wrong do you see in our Great Idol that you worship an Unseen God?’ I said, ‘Kindly try to be just and fair. Just ponder a little. That God alone is adorable who with only one drop of a fluid has created a lovely person like you and has given you such beauty and charm that may make a thousand men mad with passion. What is there in an idol to worship it? It is only a stone which the stone-cutters give a shape and thus cast a snare to trap the fools. Only those whom Satan leads astray consider the created as the Creator. They prostrate before one whom they themselves make. We are Muslims. We adore Him alone who has created us. For those who go astray is hell; and for us, the true believers, is heaven. Only when you have faith in God will you have the delights of heaven and be able to distinguish between truth and falsehood. Only then will you realize that your present belief is false.’

  ‘“These words softened her heart and by the grace of God she said with tears in her eyes, ‘Well, teach me your faith.’ I recited our creed which she sincerely repeated after me. Thus she renounced her former faith and became a Muslim. I laid myself at her feet. Till the morning she kept repeating the creed and prayed for atonement for her past aberrations. Then she said, ‘I have embraced your faith, but my parents are unbelievers still. How can it be helped?’ ‘You need not worry about that,’ I assured her, ‘as one sows, so shall one reap.’ She said, ‘They have engaged me to my uncle’s son and he is an idolator. If, God forbid, I am married to him and get pregnant, it will be very bad, indeed. Let us think about it now so that I may be free from fear.’ I said, ‘What you say is right. Please do whatever you think best.’ She replied, ‘I will no longer remain here. I will go somewhere else.’ ‘But how can you escape?’ I asked, ‘And where shall you go?’ She said, ‘First you should go leaving me here and stay with other Muslim travellers in the serai and let me know when a ship is to set sail for Persia. I will send my nurse frequently to you for this very purpose. When you let me know of it I shall leave this place and embark with you. Thus shall I free myself from these wretched idolators.’ I said, ‘My very life for you and your fidelity! But what about the nurse?’ She said, ‘That’s simple. I will give her a cup of strong poison.’ So the plan was made and the next day I went to the caravanserai and hired a room. During the separation I lived only on the hope of meeting her again.

  ‘“During the next two months the merchants of Turkey, Syria and Isfahan got together and planned to return by sea. They loaded their cargo on the ship. As we lived together we became familiar with each other. They said to me, ‘Won’t you come along? How long will you stay in this land of the unbelievers?’ I said, ‘What is there for me to take to my country? A slave woman, a chest and a dog—that is all that I have. If you could accommodate me in a little room and let me know its price, I shall be at ease and embark with you.’ They gave me a cabin and I paid for it.

  ‘“Having secured a cabin I went to the house of the nurse and said to her, ‘Mother, I have come to take leave of you for I am now going to my country. It will be, so fortunate for me if you kindly let me see the princess once more.’ Reluctantly she agreed. I told her where I would wait for them at night. Then I came back to the serai. I took my chest and bedding and entrusted them to the master of the ship and told him, ‘Tomorrow morning I shall bring my slave-girl.’ He said, ‘But come early as we shall weigh anchor in the morning.’ I said, ‘All right.’

  ‘“When night set in I went to the place fixed up with the nurse and waited there. When the first quarter of night had passed, the gate of the seraglio opened and the princess appeared in dirty clothes with a casket full of jewels. She gave me the casket and came along. Early in the morning we reached the seaside. We set out on a small boat and reached on board the ship. This faithful dog was with me still. When it was broad daylight we weighed anchor and set sail. We were smoothly sailing forth when we heard a volley of guns from the port. All of us were alarmed. The ship was anchored. We wondered if the Master of Port meant any mischief. All the merchants had beautiful slave-girls with them. They hid them in their chests lest the Master of Port should seize them. I also hid the princess in a chest. Meanwhile, the Master of Port appeared with his men on a small boat and he came on board the ship. Probably the king had learnt of the nurse’s death and the disappearance of the princess. Out of prudence and a feeling of shame he did not make public the incidents but he sent orders to the Master of Port saying: ‘I understand that the Persian merchants have beautiful slave-girls. I want to buy some for the princess. You should stop them and present all of them before me. Those I like will be paid for
and the rest will be returned.’

  ‘“It was because of this that the Master of Port had himself come to our ship. Next to my cabin there was the berth of another person. He too had a beautiful slave-girl hidden in a chest. The Master of Port took his seat on that very chest and began rounding up all the slave-girls. I thanked God in my heart that it had nothing to do with the princess. When all the slave-girls were seated in a boat the Master of Port smilingly asked the owner of the chest on which he was sitting, ‘You also had a slave-girl, eh?’ A fool that he was, he said, ‘By your feet I swear, I alone have not. All of them have hidden their slave-girls in the chests because they feared you.’ So the Master of Port began to search all the chests. My chest was also opened and the princess taken out and carried away with the rest. I was highly grieved and said to myself, ‘It is quite baffling. I have known nothing but misfortune. I am losing my life as though, and God alone knows what treatment the princess will get?’ As a matter of fact, I felt so concerned about her that I forgot the danger to my own life. For the whole day and night I prayed to God for her safety. Next morning they brought all the slave-girls back to our ship. All the merchants were happy as each got back his slave-girl. But the princess alone was not among them. I asked them the reason. They said, ‘We do not know. Maybe the king has selected her.’ The merchants consoled me and said, ‘What is done, is done. Do not grieve now. We shall all pool in and give you its price.’ I was upset and said, ‘I will not go to Persia.’ To the boatmen I said, ‘Please take me with you to the shore.’ They agreed. I left the ship and took my seat in the boat. The dog also followed me.

  ‘“When I reached the port I kept with me only the casket of jewels which the princess had brought. All other things I distributed among the staff of the port. For one month I wandered from street to street in the city in search of the princess. One night I even managed to enter the king’s palace secretly to look for her there but could not find any trace of her. I was nearly done to death by this grief. I wandered about like a mad man. Then it occurred to me that my princess could only be in the house of the Master of Port and nowhere else. So I searched round his house to find some way to enter it. I found a sewer big enough for a man to walk through it. An iron grating was fixed at its mouth but I made up my mind to go into the house through it. So I took off my clothes, entered the sewer full of filth and broke open the grating with great difficulty. Thus entering the house I reached the private apartments. I put on the dress of a woman and began to search all around. I heard a voice from a room as if someone was praying to God. I went nearer and found it was the princess, weeping bitterly, prostrating herself and praying to God: ‘For the sake of the Prophet and for the sake of his companions and his progeny, deliver me from this country of unbelievers and let the person who showed me the path of Islam come safe to me.’ I ran up to her and threw myself at her feet. The princess embraced me and both of us fainted. When we came to I asked what had happened to her. She said, ‘When the Master of Port took all the slave-girls to the shore, I prayed to God that my secret might not be disclosed and that your life not be put in danger. The Great Veiler as He is, no one knew that I was the princess. The Master of Port examined all the slave-girls with a view to purchasing some for himself. He chose me and secretly sent me to his house. The rest he carried to the king. When my father did not find me among them he sent back all of them. This whole scheme was made to find me and now he has floated the rumour that the princess is ill. If I am not found in a few days they will announce that I am dead. And so the king will be spared disgrace. But I am now greatly distressed. The Master of Port has bad designs. He wants me to share his bed. I do not agree. So far he seeks my accord, but I wonder how long it will go on like this. On my part, however, I am determined that if he tries to impose himself on me by force, I shall kill myself. But since you have come here I shall think of another plan. If God wills it so, it will be done. Otherwise there seems to be no escape for me.’ I asked what it was. She said, ‘It can be carried through if you help me.’ I said, ‘I am always at your service. If you ask me I would even jump into blazing flames or put a ladder to the sky and ascend to the heavens. I would accomplish even the impossible if you say so.’ The princess said, ‘Go then to the temple of the Great Idol. At the entrance, they take off their shoes. A black carpet is spread there. It is the custom of this country that one who becomes poor and needy sits there and covers himself with that carpet. People who go to worship there give him whatever they can. When he collects some money in three or four days, the priests give him a robe of honour in the name of the Great Idol and see him off. He leaves the place a rich man and no one ever knows who he is. You also go and sit there, cover yourself well with that carpet and do not speak to anyone. After three days when the priests and the idolators give you the robe and want you to leave, you should keep sitting there. When they implore you much tell them: “I do not want money. Nor do I hanker after wealth. I am an oppressed man and I have come here to make a plaint. Better if the Mother of the Brahmins does me justice, or else the Great Idol will look to it and come to my rescue against the person who has wronged me.” You should not agree to leave, however much they persuade you, until the Mother of the Brahmins comes to you. She is very old—two hundred and forty years of age. Her thirty-six sons are the chief priests of the temple. She has the favour of the Great Idol and that is why she commands so much respect. All the people, high or low, consider it their privilege to act upon her advice. Holding the hem of her robe tell her: “O Mother, if you do not mete out justice to this aggrieved traveller, I will dash my head before the Great Idol. He will have mercy and intercede with you for me.” When she asks you about your complaint tell her: “I belong to Persia. I came here from so far a place to see the Great Idol and I have heard much of your justice. For many days I lived here in peace. My wife had also accompanied me. She is young and quite charming and beautiful. I do not know how the Master of Port saw her. He forcibly took her away from me and has kept her in his house. We Muslims believe that it is right for us to kill a stranger if he sees our wives or takes them away from us, and thus recover our wives, or else we should not take any food, for, as long as that stranger lives, the wife is forbidden to her rightful husband. As I am helpless I have come here to seek justice from you. And I trust justice will be done to me.”

  ‘“After the princess had given me all these instructions I took my leave and came out by the same sewer and put the iron grating in its place. At dawn I went to the temple and covering myself well with the black carpet, sat down at the entrance. Within three days a huge amount of gold and silver and fine cloth was heaped up before me. On the fourth day the priests came to me praying and singing devotional songs. They offered me the robe and wished me to leave. I did not agree to it and cried out to the Great Idol to help and protect me and said, ‘I have not come here to beg. I have come to seek justice from the Great Idol and the Mother of the Brahmins. Until justice is meted out to me I shall not leave this place.’ They went to the old woman and told her what I had said. Then a priest came to me and said, ‘Come, the Mother has sent for you.’ Covered with that very carpet I went to her apartment. I saw that the Great Idol was placed on a throne studded with rubies, diamonds, corals and pearls. An old woman, dressed in black, sat nearby, reclining regally on cushions placed on a seat with a rich covering of gold. Two boys, about ten or twelve years of age, stood on her right and left. She called me before her. With utmost respect I went forward and kissed the foot of the throne and then held the hem of her robe. She asked me my story. I related to her as the princess had advised me. On hearing it she said, ‘Do the Muslims keep their women in seclusion?’ I said, ‘Yes, God bless your children. It is our ancient custom.’ She said, ‘Your religion is good. Just now I will send orders that the Master of Port be produced here before me with your wife. I shall give that ass an exemplary punishment so that he may not dare commit such an act again, and that others also may learn a lesson therefrom.’ Then she
asked her men, ‘Who is the Master of Port who dares to take another’s wife by force?’ They told her his name. On hearing his name she said to the boys standing by her, ‘Take this man immediately with you to the king and tell him: “The Mother says it is the warning of the Great Idol that the Master of Port oppresses the people. He has taken the wife of this man by force. His guilt is decidedly great. Let all his property be attached and given to this Turk whom I favour most, or else you shall be destroyed tonight and suffer our wrath.”’

  ‘“The two boys came out of the temple and mounted their horses. All the priests followed them, blowing their shells and singing hymns. All the people of the city, high and low, collected the dust from the ground where the two boys put their feet and kissed it as they considered it sacred. In this way they proceeded to the fort. The king got the news. He came out barefoot to receive them. He then conducted them with great respect into the fort, got them seated with him on the throne and asked them, ‘What is it that has made you honour me by your visit today?’ The two Brahmin boys told him what the Mother had asked them to convey and threatened him with the wrath and fury of the Great Idol. The king said, ‘So, this is the case.’ He ordered the revenue officials to immediately go and bring before him the Master of Port with the woman so that he might look into the crime and duly punish him. These words disturbed me and I thought, ‘This is not well for me, for, if they bring the princess too with the Master of Port, the secret will be revealed and I don’t know what will happen to me then.’ This thought unnerved me and in my heart I looked up to God. My countenance changed as I trembled and almost fainted with fear and anguish. The boys guessed that I was not pleased with the king’s order. They got up in anger and thundered, ‘Man, you have gone mad! You are cast away from the favour of the Great Idol. You think we tell a lie that you want to send for them here and ascertain the crime? Now beware, you have provoked the wrath of the Great Idol. We have conveyed the orders. Now be careful, or else suffer the Great Idol’s wrath.’