Tales of the Marvellous and News of the Strange (Hardcover Classics) (25 page)

‘ “I jumped up straight away and went to the boat where the girls were and when I boarded it I found the musical instruments. We started to eat and drink and enjoy ourselves, and this went on until we had got to the end of the river opposite the orchard. When we got there we moored, intending to land, but before we knew it, out came the hundred young men with swords and other weapons. They pulled the boat in with no one there to resist them, and each one of them took a girl, with my lover taking me, and we spent the rest of the night with them in the orchard.

‘ “Before I had gone on board I had said to my mother: ‘At the end of the night go to my father weeping and shrieking. Tell him that one of the servants who had been with me had just come to you. He had been
wounded and he told you that scoundrels had attacked the girls in the great orchard where they had been lying in ambush. When the girls had come opposite it, they had rushed out and taken them. Tell him to go to the rescue, as the men will be preoccupied with the girls, and he can have them seized and killed. As I shall have been amongst the girls, this will conceal my condition.’

‘ “When night ended she went to my father as I had told her, and when she told him all this he was upset and furious. He gave immediate orders for all his soldiers to mount and he himself left his palace and rode out, until they had all caught up with him, both horse and foot. Before we ourselves knew what was happening they had surrounded us and were attacking our ravishers, seizing them and killing them to the last man. They then took us all to the boat so that we could return home, and there was no leader, vizier or officer in the kingdom whose daughter had not lost her virginity.

‘ “This caused general sorrow and grief, and on my father’s orders the fathers of the young men were arrested and imprisoned.

‘ “It was after this that the girl who had tricked me and introduced the young man to me had a private meeting with my cousin al-Yasr and my father and told them the whole story from start to finish. ‘It was ‘Arus al-‘Ara’is,’ she said, ‘who planned the rape of the girls so as to remove suspicion from herself.’ She explained that she had not told this to the king because she knew of his affection for me and had been reluctant to let him know something about his daughter that would displease him.

‘ “On hearing this my father and my cousin believed her and my father exclaimed: ‘The astrologers were right!’ and he regretted having killed them as well as the hundred young men. He ordered their fathers to be released from prison and given blood money for their sons, while provision was to be made for their women. He was filled with hatred for me and treated me harshly, refusing to meet me, to hear any talk of me or to mention me himself.

‘ “He had expelled me and my mother from the palace when I told my mother to go to al-Yasr to see how things were with him. It was clear that he was thinking about what the jealous girl had said, but my mother kept on talking to him until he asked my father for me. I was brought to him, and when he saw how beautiful I was he became totally infatuated with me and, concealing my condition, he said that he had found me to be a virgin whom no man had ever approached. My mother stayed with me in my husband’s palace, but my father continued to treat me harshly.

‘ “It was only a short time before my husband began to hate me. This was because he had with him a pious old woman who made him afraid of me, warning him not to trust me. She told him of what the astrologers had said about the evil omens attached to me and reminded him of what I had done to the daughters of the viziers and the leaders. This led him to turn away and change his behaviour towards me.

‘ “When I saw this from him and from my father, I told my mother not to worry as I would arrange to have both of them killed. She knew where my elder cousin was and I told her to go and talk to him and to bring him to an empty house belonging to a servant girl of hers and to let me know me when he was there.

‘ “She did this and I went to him in disguise. He had never seen me before and asked who I was. When I told him that I was his cousin ‘Arus al-‘Ara’is, he asked why I had come, and I told him that I wanted to talk to him about something and that I would keep nothing back from him. He embraced me joyfully, staring at me without speaking.

‘ “ ‘Cousin,’ I asked him, ‘would you like to become king with me as your wife?’ He wept and said: ‘Lady, this is something that cannot happen, and I am a poor man.’ ‘That doesn’t matter,’ I told him, and when he said that this could only be achieved through wealth and power, I told him not to worry, for I would get my mother to take enough money to him little by little. When the contents of his brother’s treasuries had been transferred to him he could recruit trusty helpers from amongst his father’s subjects and pay them enough to satisfy them. ‘I know that you have a just claim,’ I said, ‘as the kingdom belonged to your father, and your uncle got the better of him. People want money; they want you and will be ready to fight in a just cause, so that in this city you will find not merely ones and twos who want to fight but thousands. When you are firmly established with a thousand or two thousand followers, let me know, so that by a clever trick I can see that you get the kingdom without the need to fight a war.’

‘ “My cousin went back home and I returned to my palace, after which I started to send him money bit by bit, a thousand or two thousand dinars at a time. He followed my instructions and got large numbers of people to swear obedience to him. He kept this secret until he had collected two thousand men, all armed and equipped, waiting for my orders, and I was then delighted to get a secret message from him giving me the news.

‘ “At that point I pretended to be sick. I made it look as though I had
despaired of life and was certain of death. I drank straw water, which turned me yellow and changed my appearance, and I sent word to my father that I was sick and sorrowful and that I was afraid that I might die without having seen him. When my mother had told him this, he immediately rode to visit me and said: ‘Now that you are in such a state I can see that what the astrologers said was a lie.’ He came close to me, but I pretended not to be able to speak, and, after staying with me for a time and shedding bitter tears, he left in sadness.

‘ “I stayed like that for some days before pretending to be getting better and showing gradual signs of recovery, until it appeared that I had been cured and had returned to health. I went to my husband, al-Yasr, and told him of this, saying: ‘I vowed that, if I recovered, I would invite the whole court to a feast at which they could eat food of all kinds in my palace, led by you and my father, may God preserve you. I shall tie on an apron and carry a bowl from which I shall pour water for your hands and do all that I can to serve you.’ He agreed enthusiastically that this was the right thing to do and ordered that all the invitations that I wanted should be sent out.

‘ “I gave instructions that all the state officials, including viziers and officers, were to come to my palace, while my husband invited my father. They sat by themselves, eating, drinking and enjoying themselves while I was standing to serve them, but I was also watching the guests. When everyone, including those two, was busy with their food and drink, I took the opportunity to remove the crown and the royal robes. I then covered my head with a turban and mounted a horse that I had kept ready. On this I rode to al-Yasar, to whom I gave the crown and the robe, telling him to mount, which he did. He shouted to his men, and I told them to make for the palace and kill everyone in it.

‘ “Al-Yasar started out immediately with more than two thousand sworn followers who had been waiting for his call. They made for the palace and started to put the banqueters to the sword, as my father’s soldiers and his officers were unarmed. Most of them were killed, and this included everyone in the palace. The only ones to escape were al-Yasr and my father, who on hearing the shout had both fled from the bottom of the palace to the roof. As for my father, his heart was so filled with distress that he died there and then, but al-Yasr hid away, no one knew where.

‘ “Al-Yasar took his seat on the royal throne, and his companions took over the houses of those whom they had killed. A proclamation
was then made to end the violence, and the city settled down. After this I was married to al-Yasar, who was delighted with me, recognizing my value. He was deeply in love with me, and my life was unclouded.

‘ “One day, however, my uncle’s wife, the mother of al-Yasr and al-Yasar, went to see al-Yasar, weeping sadly, slapping her face and tearing her clothes, as she did not know whether her younger son was alive or dead. She began to warn al-Yasar about me, calling me a damned woman and saying: ‘You know what she did to the leaders of your people, the viziers and the officers. She schemed against them and destroyed them, together with her own father and her husband, your brother. Beware of her, my son.’

‘ “What she said had its effect on al-Yasar, and he made me a lofty apartment in the middle of the palace. He filled it with everything that might be needed and provided a maid to serve me as well as a steward to attend to the door and a doorkeeper to guard me, both of whom he trusted and of whom he approved. He gave orders that no servant, male or female, and neither my mother nor anyone else, should be allowed in.

‘ “I stayed there on my own, only seeing al-Yasar once at the start of each month. I regretted what I had done for him and began to think of how I could escape from him. So I started to show signs of love to the steward, talking to him and smiling at him. At times I would uncover my head for him to see and at times my wrist, until love for me was firmly fixed in his heart, and little by little he lost his wits.

‘ “When I was sure of that, I enticed him in and provided him with food and drink, and when the wine had had its effect and I had dazzled him with my beauty as he drank, he stretched out his hand to me, wanting to sleep on the bed with me. I let him do this and afterwards I told him that I wanted to have the pleasure of seeing my mother. He agreed willingly, saying that he would not disobey me, whatever I told him to do.

‘ “When he called my mother she came in and embraced me, starting to complain of her longing for me and telling me that she could not bear to be parted from me. She said that al-Yasar had sworn that if he found her with me he would have her drowned in the sea. ‘I am angry with him,’ I told her; ‘I only see him once a month and I regret what I did.’ ‘Where are your wiles and schemes that can rescue you from this?’ she asked, and I told her that I would see to it straight away.

‘ “I gave her a thousand dinars and told her: ‘Go round the whole city and look for some strong poison. Try it out on a dog or a cock, and if it
has an instant effect bring it to me, for my release and my life depend on this.’ She took the money and after she had been away for a while she came back with a small jug in which was a phial containing poison and yellow grease. ‘I’ve brought you what you want,’ she told me, and when I asked her what it was she said: ‘I went on through the city until I was directed to a chemist to whom I gave the thousand dinars without telling him who I was and I went on flattering him until he gave me this ointment, which you must put on your hands and feet. The poison only works on the feet, but if you have smeared yourself with the grease it will do you no harm. Sprinkle it wherever you want, and if anyone treads in it bare-footed, it will get into his feet and he will die. So now do what you want.’

‘ “I was delighted and I sprinkled a little of the poison by the door of my room and on the carpet. I brought in the steward and made him sit on the king’s bed, so that he would take his shoes off, and I began to eat and drink with him. I then told my mother to go to one of the king’s servant girls and tell her that she had gone to ask about me. She had not found the steward but as the door was open she had suspected that something was not right. So she had kept herself out of sight in order to look in, and she had found him drinking on the bed with me. Filled with concern about this and, maddened by distress and anger, she had been at a loss for words and so had told this to the girl. I went on: ‘If the girl asks you what she should do about the steward, tell her that you don’t know. She envies and hates me and so she will go off and tell the king, and, if he comes, the trick I have planned against him will succeed.’

‘ “My mother went off and did what I had told her, after which the servant girl hurried to tell the king. He got up in a fit of jealous rage to run to my room bare-footed and tripping over the skirt of his robe, brandishing a drawn sword. When he reached the door and saw the steward sitting beside me, he believed what he had been told about me. He lost control of himself and told the steward to get up and leave. When the man did, his legs collapsed and immediately afterwards the king trod on the poison and collapsed without a word. My old mother had followed him to stop him from coming in to me and she too stepped in the poison and fell dead.

‘ “I had smeared on the ointment and I left in disguise, only to be met on the road by a coal-black slave who had been one of my father’s servants and who knew me. He was living alone and he took me to his house, where I stayed in hiding. News that al-Yasar had been killed had
spread through the city. He had been succeeded by his young son, who was twelve years old, but then suddenly my former husband, al-Yasr, had put in an appearance with a band of supporters. He had fought against the youngster whose father I had killed and after many had fallen he won control of the kingdom, taking his place on the throne. He then proclaimed a general pardon, and the city settled down, with the people content to obey his orders.

‘ “He then ordered it to be proclaimed that whoever brought me to him could have whatever he wanted, and he made an energetic search for me in many places. For my part, I stayed with the black man for ten days, during which he never left me, night or day. This vexed me; I lost patience and wanted to free myself from him. One day I left him sleeping and went around the house, where I found a rope. I took this and put it round his neck without him noticing it in his drunken sleep. I started to choke him and, sensing this, he woke and shouted for help, drumming his heels, while I tightened the noose until he died.