Tales of the Marvellous and News of the Strange (Hardcover Classics) (39 page)

In the Name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful

They say – and God knows better, and is greater and more noble – that Harun al-Rashid was seated one day in the caliphal palace with Masrur, his servant, when Ja‘far son of Yahya the
Barmecide
came in and greeted him. ‘Peace be on you,’ he replied, ‘and on all who follow right guidance and fear the consequences of evil-doing.’

He went on to say that he was feeling depressed and wanted to walk around the markets of Baghdad dressed as a common person in the hope that he might find relief from worry and depression. ‘I shall obey God and the Commander of the Faithful,’ Ja‘far told him, at which Harun removed his robes and put on the clothes of a commoner, tucking back his forelock and disguising himself so that he looked like an Arab merchant. Ja‘far did the same, and the two of them left the palace and walked from place to place until they reached the bank of the Tigris.

Sailors were shouting invitations to would-be pleasure trippers, and Harun urged Ja‘far to go on board with him so they might spend the rest of the day with them. Ja‘far agreed, and Masrur called to the sailors to bring in the boat so they could board. They did this and when Harun’s party were all on board they set off on their pleasure cruise.

While they were on their way and enjoying themselves to the full, ten small boats came into sight from the direction of Basra, laden with Andalusian copper. On the prows of each squadron of five of them were fifty men with nautical flags and Hijazi streamers, and in their waists were more men, hairless and beardless, holding Egyptian clubs and ornamented bucklers and wearing brocade with gilded turbans on their heads. They were holding crossbows and shooting at birds in the air, laughing if they hit one, cheering noisily and shouting: ‘God is greater’, and ‘Praise be to the bringer of good news and the warner [Muhammad].’

Harun the caliph said: ‘Ja‘far, do you see how fine these ships are and the luxuries they have on board, the Chinese pepper, cinnamon, camphor, amber, pungent musk, aloes and splendid clothes?’ Ja‘far told Masrur to ask who owned the ships and all their cargoes, together with their crews. Masrur said: ‘I went up and after greeting them I put this question to them, and they told me that the owner was a Basran merchant called Abu Muhammad the Idle, adding: “And how would it be if he were energetic!” ’

Another man there said: ‘Don’t be surprised by this, master, as this is all a drop in the ocean for him.’ Harun was very angry and he disembarked and told Ja‘far to go back to the palace with him, as they had had enough of the pleasure cruise. When they got there he took his seat on his throne thoughtfully and filled with wonder. Just then a servant entered with a golden ring on his finger, wearing on his head a crown of red gold studded with pearls and other gems. He kissed the ground and, after calling down blessings on the caliph, he said: ‘Master, your sister sends you her greetings and says that she made this crown for your son al-Mu‘tasim, but it lacks one central jewel.’

Harun ordered chests of jewels to be produced and when they had been opened, he began to examine them one by one and was saddened when he failed to find one that would suit. An old man came up to him and told him that what he wanted could only be found with a Basran merchant called Abu Muhammad the Idle. This so angered Harun that he ordered a message to be sent immediately by pigeon to Basra, ordering that Abu Muhammad be sent to him.

When it was afternoon the emir Muhammad son of Sulaiman al-Rub‘i was seated in his state room when the postmaster came in with the pigeon. ‘God willing, it will be good news,’ said the emir and he opened the message, read it and grasped its contents. He got up immediately and set off with his escort to the house of Abu Muhammad, whose servants jumped up and went to tell their master that the emir was at the door. Abu Muhammad looked out in alarm and, seeing the emir, he went down, kissed his hand and welcomed him. ‘God willing, this will be a blessed day!’ he exclaimed. ‘There is nothing but good,’ replied the emir, adding: ‘you should know that the Commander of the Faithful has sent to ask for you.’ ‘I am at the command of God, the Commander of the Faithful and you,’ said Abu Muhammad, ‘but give me time to say goodbye to my children.’ ‘Impossible,’ said the emir, ‘for I have come out to look for you, and this is the caliph’s letter, written in his own
hand.’ ‘There is no might and no power except with the Great and Glorious God!’ exclaimed Abu Muhammad, and no one who utters these words is ever left abandoned.

He then turned to a servant of his who was out of his mind with fear and said: ‘Go to the shop and fetch me my kerchief.’ The man hurried off and brought it, and Abu Muhammad put it in his sleeve. The emir sent him under escort to the river bank, where they put him in a boat that sailed to
Wasit
and from there to Baghdad, where they brought him to the caliph.

Permission was asked for him to enter, and when this had been granted he entered and kissed the ground before Harun, who welcomed him and told him to be seated. When he had taken his seat he said: ‘Let the Commander of the Faithful ask whatever he wants.’ And as he did so he put his hand in his sleeve, took out the kerchief and placed it in front of himself. He then presented a number of gifts, including a golden bird with eyes of rubies and feet of emeralds, which Harun admired, as there was nothing like it in his treasuries. ‘There is something inside it that is finer than what is outside, master,’ said Abu Muhammad. Harun ran his hand over the bird’s back, which turned, and as it moved from a crack a weighty pearl fell out, gleaming like a star in the sky. Its beauty and radiant light illumined the room and it was followed by another. This went on until seven had come out, dazzling the eyes, each one worth the revenue of Baghdad.

‘Fine, by God, fine!’ exclaimed Harun and he then called for the crown that his sister had sent him and placed one of the pearls in it. To his great delight it filled the space as though it had been made for it, and he asked Abu Muhammad, who had told him that he needed such a gem. ‘No one told me, Commander of the Faithful,’ Abu Muhammad replied, ‘and had the emir Muhammad allowed me to go back to my house, I would have brought a finer present than this.’ ‘By God,’ said Harun, ‘whoever named you “the Idle” made a mistake. How was it that you got all this wealth? Tell me your story.’

‘To hear is to obey, Commander of the Faithful,’ replied Abu Muhammad and he went on: ‘Know, master, that my father was a wretchedly poor man who acted as a servant and who brought me up until I was ten years old. I would never move from where I was and I was so lazy that I would eat and drink lying on my side. Whenever people gave any food to my mother she would bring it to me and tell me to eat, but I was too lazy to do this, and my mother would feed me with her own hands. I
found it hard to speak but I would say: “Chew it before giving it to me, mother,” and she would chew the bread until it became smooth as broth before putting it in my mouth. All this was because I was too idle to move my jaws.’

This angered Harun, and he said: ‘There could have been no other boy like you, but go on and tell me the rest of your story.’ Abu Muhammad continued: ‘We lived in a place without walls or a roof and we had nothing with which to build it up apart from straw and reeds, which we used as a shelter from the heat of the sun. My mother would go out to look for food for me, and I would sit without stirring from where I was. She would tell me to go out and play with the other children as, if I went off with them, I might lose some of my idleness. I would pay no attention, and she would bring some of them in to me, hoping that they might pull me out, but I would burst into tears and not stir from where I was, until she lost patience and dragged away my waist wrapper from under me. I would leave half my body to burn in the sun while the other half was in the shade and because I was so lazy I couldn’t move into the shade, and I would stay like that until my mother came and, seeing the state I was in, she would feel sorry for me and move me out of the sun into the shade. She was bitterly distressed that I was too lazy to earn myself a living.’ ‘By God,’ exclaimed the caliph, ‘whoever called you Idle was quite right.’

Abu Muhammad went on: ‘I stayed like that until one day my mother got hold of a genuine dirham. She brought it to me and said: “Get up, my son, and go out to look at what the people are doing. ‘Abd Allah al-Basri has made a pious endowment in order to win a reward from God. He is about to set off for India, and the whole city and its people are in an uproar. Everyone, high and low alike, has gone out to look at the procession that he has ordered to move to the great square. There are many ships nearby, and the master of the procession is seated on an iron chair surrounded by servants, retainers and slaves.”

‘My mother kept pressing me to go and told me to take the dirham and go out to enjoy looking at the people. I got on my feet, thinking that the earth would not be able to support me. I was knocked, pushed and jostled but I didn’t raise my head or speak to anyone. Mucus was dribbling down my face, and I was in the depth of misery, with people laughing at me as I cried. Eventually I got to ‘Abd Allah al-Basri, surrounded as he was by people. I greeted him and said: “Master, take this dirham and buy me something that will do me some good, for I am a boy without a
father.” I was then overcome by tears and started back home. ‘Abd Allah asked the people round him angrily whether they knew me. “Yes,” they told him, “he is known as Abu Muhammad the Idle.”

‘The ships then put to sea, making for India and China. God decreed that they should have a safe voyage, and they were successful in their trading, while ‘Abd Allah made a great profit on what he bought and sold. They had with them a quantity of dates, both dried and unripe, and these he presented to the ruler of China, who was ill and had been told by his doctors to eat Iraqi dates. He was delighted by ‘Abd Allah’s gift and presented him with a magnificent robe of honour as well as other gifts, including a huge quantity of money.

‘The traders put back to sea and sailed for twenty days, but on the twenty-first the ships came to a halt and were unable to move in any direction. “There is no might and no power except with the Great and Glorious God!” exclaimed ‘Abd Allah. Then he noticed a rag tied to the mast and remembered Abu Muhammad the Idle. He told the merchants that it was because of Abu Muhammad’s dirham that the ships had halted, as he had been told to buy something that might be of use to him. The merchants asked him to take any of their goods that he wanted and give this to him, but ‘Abd Allah said: “I can’t take anything from any of you, even if you were to give me all the ships’ cargoes, as I have to buy something he will find useful.”

‘The ships were lying close to one of the islands of the Zanj, and so ‘Abd Allah boarded a small boat and left his ship with some of his slaves, taking the dirham with him. He came across a feeble old man who had with him a number of apes, amongst whom was one that was weak, ugly and sickly. “What are you asking for one of these apes?” ‘Abd Allah asked him, and the man told him: “Ten dirhams.” “I want a cheap one,” ‘Abd Allah told him, and the man said: “There is this sickly one.” “How much is it?” asked ‘Abd Allah. “Two dirhams,” said the man. “We have only one,” ‘Abd Allah told him, “which is on deposit for a poor man, so sell it for him.” The man took the dirham and handed over the ape, but said: “It will only eat a sweet made of sugar, with almonds and poppies, so don’t feed it on anything else.” ‘Abd Allah’s men agreed, and a slave took it and carried it on board.

‘When this had been done, the ships moved off with the permission of Almighty God and sailed on until they reached Basra, but before they had got to the coast none of those on board had been able to eat a single mouthful without the ape on the rigging above them snatching some of
it. Because it caused them such trouble they thought of throwing it overboard, but ‘Abd Allah told them to let it be, saying: “It gives you amusement, and you laugh at it. God has nearly brought us home in safety thanks to the blessing of its orphan master.” So they sailed on to Oman, where they saw men diving and bringing out jewels and pearls, all of which the merchants bought.’

The narrator continued: ‘While they were doing this, the ape jumped up, removed its collar and jumped into the sea to the delight of the merchants, who said: “Now we’ve got rid of this destructive creature.” They told ‘Abd Allah about this and when he accused them of having thrown it in deliberately they denied it and said that they knew nothing about it. ‘Abd Allah was saddened, but just then up came the ape with two oysters in its paws and another in its mouth. It took these to ‘Abd Allah and then, quick as a flash, it dived again and after a time it came back with three more. It went on doing this until after ten dives it had brought out thirty oysters.

‘Everyone on board was astonished at this, and when the ape jumped back to its place beneath the mast they began to covet the gems. ‘Abd Allah opened the oysters and in each one of them to his astonishment and that of the others he found a pearl worth the revenue of Syria and Iraq. He took these into his keeping, and the merchants, who were amazed at what the ape had done and astonished by the pearls, asked him to sell them some of them. “I can’t dispose of them,” ‘Abd Allah told them, “as they belong to the ape’s owner.”

‘They sailed on towards Basra, which God had decreed that they should reach in safety, and when word spread of their arrival the people flocked out joyfully to meet their relatives. My mother told me to get up to go to look at the ships and greet ‘Abd Allah and ask him what Indian treasures he had bought with my dirham. All this brought out my energy. I got up, not wanting to stay where I was, and when I had gone to ‘Abd Allah and exchanged greetings, I asked him what he had bought for me in the way of merchandise. “Here it is,” he said, and he produced a small box from which he removed something wrapped up. Out of this he took the thirty pearls, each worth the revenues of Iraq.

‘I was overjoyed, and my laziness left me. I got up full of energy, immeasurably happy and fortunate, as God had opened the door for me. ‘What do you think of my advice?’ my mother asked. ‘Abd Allah told me about the ape and how it had dived into the sea, telling me to keep it and to be sure not to sell it. It was worth a hundred
qintars
of
gold, he said, and was the cause of my fortune. He told me only to feed it on sweets made of sugar with almonds and poppies, and he advised me with the greatest earnestness not to neglect it. He sold some of the pearls for me to the merchants for fifty thousand dinars and handed the rest to me.