At this, Rashid al-Din called to the eunuchs and the slave girls, ordering them to throw her down, which they did. He started to beat her violently as she cried out for help, but, as no help came, she gave this up and began to say: ‘God is enough for me and He will suffice.’ This went on until breath failed her and her moans ceased. When Rashid al-Din had beaten her to his heart’s content, he told the eunuchs to drag her out by the feet and throw her into the kitchen, where she was not to be given any food. The next morning the damned man sent for her and beat her once more, before ordering the eunuchs to throw her back again, which they did. When the pain of the beating had eased, she recited the formula: ‘There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Prophet of God,’ adding: ‘God is sufficient for me and how excellent a guardian is He.’ She then called for help to our lord Muhammad, may God bless him and give him peace.
Nights 315 to 334
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the three hundred and fifteenth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that Zumurrud called for help to our lord Muhammad, may God bless him and give him peace.
So much for her, but as for ‘Ali Shar, he stayed lying on the floor until the next day, when the effects of the drug cleared from his head. He then opened his eyes and called for Zumurrud, but there was no answer. He went into the inner room, but on finding only ‘empty air and the sanctuary far removed’, as the saying puts it, he realized that it must have been the Christian who was responsible for this. He wept, moaned and lamented, and through his tears he recited these lines:
Passion, do not spare me, but do not cease;
My heart finds itself between hardship and danger.
Masters, pity a slave humbled by the law of love,
A rich man among the people, who has become poor.
What can an archer do in a meeting with the foe
Whose bowstring snaps as he prepares to shoot?
When cares are multiplied for a young man,
Piled on each other, where can he escape from fate?
How many pains I took so we should not be parted,
But when fate strikes, then sight is blinded.
When he had finished this poem he sighed deeply and recited the following lines:
Those ones have left the sands of the tribe’s pasturage;
The wretched lover longs for where they dwelt.
They have turned towards their own place; the spring camp
Yearns for them, whose traces are now scattered and effaced.
The beloved halted to question it and it replied,
As with an echo: ‘There can be no meeting.’
This was a flash of lightning over the pasturage;
When it had gone, no gleam from it remained.
He was filled with regret when regret served no purpose; he wept and tore his clothes, and taking a stone in each hand he went round the city striking his breast with them, crying out: ‘O Zumurrud!’ He was surrounded by children calling out: ‘A madman, a madman!’ and all those who knew him wept for him and said: ‘This is ‘Ali Shar. What can have happened to him?’ This went on the whole day long, and when night closed in he fell asleep in a lane, only to do the same thing again when morning came. He spent the day wandering around the city with his stones, but that evening he went back to spend the night in his own house. His neighbour, a kindly old woman, saw him and said: ‘My son, may God bring you health. When did this mad fit come on?’ He answered her with these lines:
They said: ‘The one you love has made you mad’;
I said: ‘It is only madmen who enjoy this life.’
Forget about my madness; bring me its cause.
If that cures me, then cease your blame.
The old woman realized that he was a lover parted from his beloved, and she exclaimed: ‘There is no might and no power except with God, the Exalted, the Omnipotent! Please tell me, my son, about the misfortune that has befallen you, as maybe, if God wills it, He will enable me to help you.’ ‘Ali told her everything that had happened to him in his encounter with Barsum the Christian, brother of the soothsayer who called himself Rashid al-Din. After hearing this, she said: ‘My son, you are to be excused,’ and then she recited tearfully:
Lovers have sufficient torment in this world;
God forbid they should be tortured in hellfire.
They died of love, chastely concealing it,
A fact tradition witnesses for us.
When she had finished reciting this, she said: ‘My son, get up now and buy a basket of the kind that jewellers use. Then purchase bracelets, rings, earrings and other ornaments to suit women, sparing no expense. Put them all in the basket and bring it here. I’ll carry it on my head as though I was peddling the contents, and then I shall go around the houses looking for Zumurrud until, if God Almighty wills it, I shall get some news of her.’ ‘Ali was delighted by this and, after kissing her hands, he left in a hurry and brought her what she had asked for. She then got up and put on a patched gown, and, with a honey-coloured shawl over her head and a staff in her hand, she wandered round the alleys and the houses carrying the basket. She went from place to place, quarter to quarter and street to street until Almighty God led her to the mansion of the damned Christian, Rashid al-Din. In it she heard the sound of moaning and she knocked on the door.
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the three hundred and sixteenth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that the old woman heard the sound of moaning from inside the house and knocked on the door. A slave girl came down, opened it and greeted her. ‘I have these things to sell,’ said the old woman. ‘Do you have anyone here who might like to buy something?’ ‘Yes,’ replied the girl, and she brought the old woman into the house and sat her between the other girls. Each of them took something, and the old woman treated them with benevolence, lowering her prices for them. They were pleased with her kindness and her soft words, while, for her part, she was looking around the place trying to discover who had been moaning. She happened to turn in the right direction, and while treating the others with even more friendship and kindness, and after looking carefully, she discovered that there, lying on the ground, was Zumurrud. On recognizing her, she wept and said: ‘My children, why is this girl in such a state?’ The others told her the whole story and said: ‘This is not of our choosing. Our master ordered us to do this, but he is now off on a journey.’ ‘I want you to do something for me, children,’ she told them, ‘and that is to free this poor creature from her bonds until you learn that your master has returned, when you can tie her up as before. In this way you will win yourselves a reward from the Lord of all creation.’ ‘To hear is to obey,’ they said, and they untied Zumurrud and gave her food and drink. ‘I wish my leg had been broken and I had never come to your house,’ the old woman told them, but then she went to Zumurrud and said: ‘May God bring you health, my daughter. He will fetch you relief.’
She now told Zumurrud that she had come from her master ‘Ali Shar, and then instructed her to be ready on the following night and to listen for a sound. She went on: ‘Your master will come for you and stand underneath the house, by the stone bench, and whistle to you. When you hear that, whistle back and lower yourself from the window on a rope. He will then take you away.’ Zumurrud thanked the old woman, who went off to give ‘Ali Shar the news. She told him: ‘When night comes, go at midnight to such-and-such a quarter, which contains the house of the damned Rashid al-Din.’ After telling him how to recognize it, she went on: ‘Stand underneath it and whistle. Zumurrud will lower herself down to you, after which you can take her and go off with her wherever you want.’
‘Ali thanked her and, shedding tears, he recited these lines:
Let censurers stop their chattering;
My heart is distressed; my body thin and worn.
Tears produce a cha
in of truthful evidence,
Both when held back and when allowed to flow.
You who are untroubled by my cares and my ambitions,
Do not take trouble to ask me how I am.
A beloved with sweet lips, soft and well shaped,
Has captured my heart with honeyed kisses and a quivering form.
Since she left me, my heart has found no rest;
Sleep has not closed my eyes and patience has not helped my hopes.
You left me prey to longing, miserable,
Tossed around between the envious and the censurers.
I do not recognize what consolation is,
And never shall I hold another in my heart.
When he had finished this poem he sighed and, with more tears, he recited:
How excellent is the one who brought me good news of your coming,
For this was what I most wanted to hear.
Were the messenger content with a cast-off as a gift,
I would give him a heart torn when we took our leave.
‘Ali waited until it was dark and then, when the time of the rendezvous had come, he went to the quarter that his neighbour had described for him. He saw and recognized Rashid al-Din’s mansion and sat down on the bench beneath it. Here sleep overcame him – glory be to the One Who never sleeps – as passion had kept him from sleeping for some time and he had become like a drunkard. Then, while he lay asleep…
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the three hundred and seventeenth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that, while he lay asleep, a thief, who had come out that night into the outskirts of the city in order to steal something, was led by fate to pass beneath Rashid al-Din’s mansion. He circled round it but could find no way to climb into it, and in his circuit he came to the bench, where he found ‘Ali Shar asleep. He took his turban and after that, before he knew what was happening, Zumurrud looked out and, seeing him standing there in the darkness, thought that he was her master. She whistled and he whistled back, after which she let herself down on her rope, taking with her a pair of saddlebags filled with gold. When the thief saw this he said to himself: ‘This is a wonderful thing for which there must be some remarkable cause.’ He took up the saddlebags, hoisted Zumurrud over his shoulder, and set off with his booty like a flash of lightning. Zumurrud said: ‘The old woman told me that my loss had made you weak, but here you are, stronger than a horse.’ When he made no reply she felt his face and discovered a beard like a bath brush, as though a pig had swallowed feathers whose down had sprouted out through its throat. In her alarm she said: ‘Who are you?’ ‘Whore,’ he answered, ‘I am Jawan the Kurd, the cunning, one of Ahmad al-Danaf’s gang. There are forty of us and tonight we shall all bang away at your womb from evening till morning.’ When Zumurrud heard this she burst into tears and struck her face, but she realized that fate had overpowered her and that there was nothing she could do except to entrust herself to Almighty God. She submitted to the decree of God, exclaiming: ‘There is no god but God! As soon as I escape from one predicament I fall into another that is greater.’
The reason why Jawan had gone there was that he had told Ahmad al-Danaf that he had been to Baghdad before and knew of a cave outside the city which was big enough to hold forty men. He added: ‘I propose to go on ahead of you and bring my mother to the cave. Then I shall go back to the city and steal something there to bring you luck and keep it for you until you come. This will be your guest offering from me.’ ‘Do as you want,’ said Ahmad, and so the Kurd went on before them and got there first. After he had installed his mother in the cave, he went out and, on finding a soldier sleeping with his horse tethered beside him, he cut the man’s throat and took his clothes, his horse and his weapons, which he hid away with his mother in the cave, where he tied the horse. It was after this that he went back to Baghdad and walked through the streets until he reached Rashid al-Din’s house, where, as has already been told, he took ‘Ali Shar’s turban and made off with Zumurrud, his slave girl.
He ran on, carrying Zumurrud, until he brought her to his mother, whom he told to watch over her until he came back in the early morning. He then left.
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the three hundred and eighteenth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that the Kurd told his mother to watch over Zumurrud until he came back in the early morning. He then left.
Zumurrud told herself that she had better not let slip any chance of rescuing herself by some trick, saying: ‘How can I bear to wait for these forty men to come, all of whom will take their turn on me until I become like a sinking ship?’ So she said to the old woman: ‘Aunt, will you take me out of the cave so that I may delouse you in the sunshine?’ ‘Willingly, daughter,’ said the old woman. ‘For a long time I have not been near the baths, as these pigs keep on taking me round from one place to another.’ So Zumurrud went out with her and started to delouse her, killing the lice from her head, until the delighted old woman lay down to sleep.
At this point Zumurrud got up and dressed herself in the clothes of the soldier whom Jawan had killed, strapping on his sword round her waist and putting on his turban, until she looked like a man. She then mounted his horse and took the bags of gold with her, praying: ‘O kind Shelterer, shelter me for the sake of the dignity of Muhammad, may God bless him and give him peace.’ She then added to herself: ‘If I went to the city, I might be seen by some member of that soldier’s family, which would do me no good.’ So she turned away from it and rode off into the desert, taking her saddlebags with her, eating whatever was growing and drinking from streams, while her horse did the same. This went on for ten days and then on the eleventh she arrived at a pleasant and secure city, which had an air of solid prosperity. The cold of winter had left it and spring had come with its blossoms and roses. The flowers were blooming; there were running streams and the birds were singing.
When Zumurrud approached the city gate she found to her surprise that its troops, emirs and leading citizens were all gathered there and she said to herself: ‘There must be some reason why the people of the city are all here at the gate.’ She rode towards them and when she had got near, the soldiers hurried out to meet her before dismounting and kissing the ground in front of her, exclaiming: ‘God send you victory, our lord the sultan!’ The functionaries gathered in ranks before her and the soldiers arranged the people in order, repeating: ‘God send you victory, and may your arrival bring blessing to the Muslims, universal sultan. May God establish you, king of the age, unique in your period and time.’ When Zumurrud asked them what this was about, the chamberlain explained: ‘You have been given a gift by One Who is not miserly with His gifts. He has made you king of this city and ruler over all its people. You must know that it is the custom here that when the king dies leaving no heir, the troops move out of the city and wait for three days. Whatever man comes from the direction from which you came is appointed king. Praise be to God, Who has brought us a fair-faced Turk, but even if a lesser man had come, he would still have become our king.’
Zumurrud, who showed good sense in all that she did, said: ‘You must not think that I am one of the common Turks. I am highly born, but I became angry with my family and so went away and left them. Look at these saddlebags full of gold, which I have carried with me in order to allow me to give alms to poor beggars along my path.’ The townspeople called down blessings on her and were as glad to have found her as she was to have found them. She said to herself: ‘Now that I have got so far…’
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the three hundred and nineteenth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that Zumurrud said to herself: ‘Now that I have got so far, it may be that God will reunite me with my master here, and whatever He wishes, He has
the power to perform.’
She then entered the city, accompanied by the troops, who dismounted and walked in front of her until they brought her to the palace. There she too dismounted, and the emirs and grandees, with their hands under her arms, escorted her and sat her on the throne, all kissing the ground in front of her. When she had taken her seat she ordered the treasuries to be opened, and when this had been done she gave money to all the soldiers, who prayed that she be granted a long reign. Everyone, including all the people of her lands, obeyed her and things went on like this for some time. She issued orders and prohibitions, winning deep respect from the people because of her generosity and virtue. She abolished market taxes, freed prisoners and removed injustices, so that all the people loved her, but whenever she thought of her master she wept and prayed that God might reunite them.
One night, when she happened to think of him and of the days that they had passed together, she shed tears and recited these lines:
Time may have passed, but longing is still fresh;
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights: Volume 2 Page 8
