Tales of the Marvellous and News of the Strange (Hardcover Classics) (30 page)

He then called for her husband, the merchant, and asked him: ‘Did this damned woman tell you any of her story?’ When he said that she had, the king asked why he had not been on his guard against her and had then gone on to kill his cousin. When the man had nothing to say, the king told his servants to throw him into the fire with ‘Arus, saying that he had shown himself to be more blind than the one-eyed man. When this had been done all the man’s possessions were confiscated on his orders.

The assembly was about to break up when a servant came up and said: ‘May God preserve the fortune of the king! This woman, ‘Arus, asked your permission to purify herself before praying. You granted her this, and I gave her the water. When she had finished she gestured to me and said: “When you see me in the fire, scatter the water left over from my ablution after me.” I did nothing that she told me without your leave, but she has now been burned, so what are your orders?’

The king was astonished and taken aback, and as he didn’t know what to say or what ‘Arus had meant by this, he asked the vizier what he should do. ‘What can happen from this?’ the vizier asked; ‘Throw it in after her, may God and everyone else curse her.’ ‘Throw it into the pit as she told you,’ said the king, ‘so that we can see what she wanted.’

The servant went up and threw the water over the flames. ‘Arus had put in it some of the resin that the
jinni
had been in the habit of collecting from green trees, which would instantly burn whatever it touched. As soon as the servant had poured it out, the fire blazed up and with lightning speed it reached the roof and the sides of the council chamber. The servant ran off in panic but he was caught by a tongue of fire which burned him to death. The bewildered king jumped up from his throne and he had only just reached safety when the roof fell on the vizier, who had advised him to burn ‘Arus, leaving him buried beneath the debris.

‘God damn you, ‘Arus,’ exclaimed the king, ‘for both in your life and after your death you brought misfortune!’

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful, Who knows better, is Wiser, more Glorious and more Noble

They say that Harun al-Rashid was very restless one night and summoned Masrur, his executioner. When he arrived quickly the caliph told him that he could not sleep and wanted him to fetch someone to tell him a story that night which might fill the time and dispel his cares and worries. Masrur suggested that he should get up and enjoy a walk in his orchard, with its fine water-wheel, to which the words of the poet could apply:

I have heard this wheel sighing like a girl

Who sighs in grief for a lover who has gone.

It stirs my longing with its memory,

And from my eyes flow tears, themselves like eyes.

He said: ‘Then you can look at the birds with their various colours and at the beauty of the roses, as the poet has said:

Upon the beautiful blue sky

Pictures of all kinds have been drawn.

It is as though the moon that shines on us

Is like a mirror that has been unwrapped.

We can pass by the Tigris with the sailors lying down in their boats and chanting their various ditties until we fall asleep or morning comes.’

Harun said that he was not inclined to anything like that, and
Ja‘far
suggested that they should go up to the roof to look at the blue sky with its interwoven stars and the moon like a round shield of gold held by a negro, as the poet put it:

As though the rosy cheeks were overcast

When the lover took his leave and left.

He went on to point out that the palace contained three hundred girls, harpists, tambourine players, lutists, players on pipes and on
rebabs
, actresses and reciters. The caliph and his companions could sit in the assembly room; all the girls could come with their instruments and when well-strained wine had been brought in they could all sit eating, drinking and enjoying themselves. ‘You might succumb to the wine,’ he told Harun, ‘or you might fall asleep and wake up next morning with your head still affected by the strength of the wine. This would be as the poet has described it:

Greetings, spring camp! May the rain fall on you,

And long may your traces enjoy blessings.

Within your dwellings flourish songstresses,

Coquettes who mingle charm with bashfulness.

[lac.]
With cheeks of beauty and dark eyes.

Wine poured in glasses is like fire,

And as we sit these glasses seem like stars

That shine one following another in their course;

The noise made by its bottles seems to be

A burst of laughter, showing smiling teeth;

The colour of the candles imitates

The body of a lover whose loved one has gone,

And when the drums are beaten, they recall

The bells that call the caravan at dawn,

And when the flute repeats its melody

It seems that this is played by a whole group,

While from the
sarha
comes a different sound

Like that of frogs that croak in the moonlight,

And when its strings are touched the lute

Can tell us what it is they have to say.’

‘I have no desire for any of that,’ said Harun, at which Ja‘far suggested that he might bring out chests of jewels and inspect their colours, looking at the reddish-green translucent emeralds. The poet said:

Five persons and an angel

Are the noblest of all beneath the sky.

Whoever loves them lives through them,

And all perish who have forgotten them.

There is turquoise blue, of which another said:

She kissed the blue stone in my ring,

Saying: ‘Use this when you prepare my shroud.’

I said: ‘When union with you is no more,

I shall kiss this with blood and flowing tears.’

If I wore mourning, I should be afraid

Of gossip, so my ring shall mourn for me.

Then there is black, as in the lines:

I swear by four who bear the name Muhammad,

And by another four, each named ‘Ali,

By the two Hasans and by Ja‘far

And Moses: help me, for I follow them.

There is the glowing red ruby, as in the lines:

My redness comes from my heart’s blood;

Where is there any who lament?

I come from earth on which Husain was slain.

We can then inspect the stored treasures from Kush, Oman, Bahrain, Hind and Sind, as well as what comes from Persia, Yemen and Egypt, and we can look at materials from all the lands.’

When Harun told him that none of this attracted him, he said: ‘Commander of the Faithful, there is only one thing left.’ ‘What is that?’ Harun asked, and Ja‘far told him: ‘My master should cut off his servant Ja‘far’s head, as that might please him and relieve his depression.’ Harun said: ‘I am convinced that there is something that will relax me and remove my worries,’ to which Ja‘far replied that he was at a loss to know what this could be. Harun said: ‘My relative, the Prophet of God, may God bless him and his family and give them peace, said: “The enjoyment of my people lies in three things: that a man should see something that he has never seen before, hear something he has never heard or go where he has never gone.” In Baghdad, Ja‘far, there is nowhere that I have not been and nothing comes to it that I have not seen. So you will have to go out and find someone amongst the guards who is spending the evening in talk and who can tell me a story of infatuated lovers
and of a happy outcome to affliction, as this might have the effect I want, and either put me to sleep or pass the time until dawn.’ ‘Commander of the Faithful, to hear is to obey both God and you.’

Ja‘far went out of the door and saw amongst the guards the shaikh Abu’l-Hasan al-Khali‘ of Damascus, the storyteller, and he went back and told Harun of this. Harun told him to fetch the man, which he did, and Abu’l-Hasan greeted him with respect and invoked God’s mercy on him, saying: ‘Peace be on the Commander of the Faithful, who protects the lands of religion and defends the descendants of Abu Talib. May God smooth your path, give you pleasing gifts and bring you at last to Paradise, while sending your enemies to Hell.’

He then recited these lines:

May you enjoy your glory

While dawn succeeds the night,

And may you prosper endlessly

As long as nights shall last.

Since you are heaven for all men on earth.

Harun replied: ‘Peace be on those who follow right guidance, fear future destruction, obey the Omnipotent Lord and prefer the next world to this! Sit down, Abu’l-Hasan.’ ‘By God, Commander of the Faithful,’ Abu’l-Hasan replied, ‘I cannot do this until I am told whether I have been called here on this tranquil night for reward or punishment.’ Harun said: ‘You must know, Abu’l-Hasan, that I am suffering from sleeplessness and I want you to tell me a story tonight that I have never yet heard from you which may remove my cares and worries.’ ‘To hear is to obey, Commander of the Faithful,’ said Abu’l-Hasan, adding: ‘Do you want me to tell you of something that I have heard or something that I have seen?’ ‘News is not like sight and what the eye has seen has more truth than what the ear has heard,’ said Harun, ‘so if you have seen something novel, tell me about it.’ ‘On condition that you turn your whole attention, hearing and sight to me,’ said Abu’l-Hasan, and Harun told him: ‘I am both listening to you and looking at you, while my heart is your witness.’ ‘And you are not going to shout out in the room?’ asked Abu’l-Hasan, to which Harun replied: ‘As for that, the guards will not dare make a noise, as they are in awe of me.’

Abu’l-Hasan then began: ‘The Commander of the Faithful, may God prolong his days, should know that I was in the habit of getting a grant from Muhammad son of Sulaiman al-Rub‘i, the governor of Basra, the
guarded city, at a fixed time. I would go to Basra and stay with him for a few days, reciting poetry and telling him stories before taking what he gave me and returning to the service of my master, the caliph.

‘One year I went there as usual
[lac.]
and Muhammad instructed his officials and the prominent men to look after me, even telling the cook to give me only what I wanted. I felt a longing for fish and told the cook that this was what I wanted that day. “To hear is to obey,” he said, and soon afterwards fish was brought to me, and I ate my fill. This was followed by a feeling of heaviness which could only be cured by walking or drinking, and I could not drink in Muhammad’s house when he was not there.

‘I had gone to Basra on a number of occasions, but this house was all that I knew in the city. Were a Baghdadi friend to ask me whether I had seen the place I would say “yes”, but if he went on to ask if I knew such-and-such a street or such-and-such a square or district, I would have to say “no”, and he would tell me that I was lying and that I had never seen the city in my life. So I told myself that I would commit myself to making a tour of Basra to help my digestion.

‘I got up and started to walk round the city streets, but after a time I became terribly thirsty. I told myself that I could get a drink from a water-carrier, but then I thought that the jug of a water-carrier is used by lepers, paralytics and men with bad breath.
[lac.]
It might be that, if I were unlucky, someone like that might just have used it. So I went on along the road past houses and streets until I came to a small alley with five houses, one pair facing another and a fifth house in the middle. This last one was a sky-scraper with stone benches, mats from ‘Abadan, a door with two teak leaves, a black curtain, an iron knocker and a long hall. When I looked at it I saw that over it were inscribed these lines of poetry:

House, may no sorrow enter you

And may Time not betray your lord.

You are a welcoming house to every guest,

When he can find no other place to stay.

I had told myself that I would go up to the door and ask for a jug of water when from within came a voice full of longing, coming from a sad heart. Someone was singing these words:

By God, your Lord, my two companions, turn aside;

If you reproach him, he may turn to me.

Tell him of me and ask him why he kills me by forsaking me.

Then put a gentle question if he smiles:

“What harm could come were you to grant union?”

But if he shows you anger, say to him

In a rough tone: “We do not recognize this man.”

The voice that I heard was gentler than the breeze and more sorrowful than that of
Ishaq
your companion. It filled me with pleasure, and I told myself that if the singer was as beautiful as the voice, she would have everything. I went in to the house, moving from hall to hall until, when I came to the third, I could see behind it a girl with a perfect figure and swelling breasts, not too tall or too short, more beautiful than a statue and standing out more clearly than a way-mark. She was a well-brought-up Persian, as the poet described:

Created and perfected as she would have wished

Within the mould of beauty, neither tall nor short,

Round-breasted, like the sky, not too bright or too hot,

As though she was poured out from liquid pearls,

Showing a moon of beauty in each limb.

‘The girl, however, was suffering from an illness and was lying on a bed of ivory plated with gleaming gold. With her were maid-servants, who lifted the curtain, allowing me to look at her. She said: “Old man, have you no shame before Almighty God? This brings disgrace on white hair.” “Lady,” I replied, “I know my hair is white, but what is the disgrace?” She said: “What disgrace is fouler than that you should force your way into a house that is not yours and look at strange women?” I replied: “Lady, I am a stranger and strangers are blind. I am dying of thirst but I didn’t want to drink from the water-seller’s jug, which has been used by people suffering from diseases. I asked for a drink when I was some way from your house and when no one answered me I told myself that the halls stretched over a distance and I happened to be coming through when the maid raised the curtain and you caught sight of me.” “Is that so?” she said, and she then summoned a Turkish maid like a shining sun in a clear sky who, had she appeared to the people of the East, would have served them in place of sunrise. She was as the poet has described:

Is it your face I see or can it be the moon?

Are these your teeth or pearls set on a string?

Is this your figure stepping proudly, or a branch

Of the
ban
tree
, or a
samhari
spear
?

This slenderness has acted on my bones and waist

Until they are no thicker than a thread.

A lover may be killed by absence or closeness,

And I praise those who do not choose absence.

I thought that Babel was the home of magic,

Not knowing that it lives in Turkish eyes.

‘The girl was carrying a silver tray with a jug of red clay covered with a napkin of brocade, on which was an amber apple. I drank from the jug when she offered it to me and then stood up. Her mistress said: “Old man, we did not blame you when you forced your way in and we gave you the water you asked for, so now leave or else we will have you thrown out.” I said: “Lady, how can I go when I am as the poet has described:

Alas, my loneliness! As I stood at the door,

Its owner said: “Man, who are you?”

I am a stranger who has lost his way.

As I am helpless, will you be my guide?

“Go off, God guide you, this is not your way.”

How can I leave when I have business here?

‘The lady said: “Old man, what business do you have here and when did you see me so as to have business with me?” I told her: “Lady, I am an ignorant fellow, and it was thirst that forced me into your house, as even had I drunk no water for a month I could not bring myself to drink from the Tigris. I have no place of my own in Basra but when I happened to pass by the door of your house I heard a voice singing and I told myself that if the singer’s shape matched her poetry, she would have everything. I went through the halls until I came to this door and caught sight of you, who are as the poet has said: