Tales of the Marvellous and News of the Strange (Hardcover Classics) (59 page)

Both she and Mauhub rode off, and her mare approached his horse, at which he swore that he would ride with her stirrup to stirrup. This was what she did, and on her arm she was carrying a Yemeni falcon, which was followed by hawks of other kinds, together with panthers and dogs. When they reached the hunting grounds they both turned aside and devoted the whole day to the chase with great success, leaving Mauhub delighted by the good fortune that ‘the vizier’ had brought.

When they returned to their tents she leaned across to say goodbye to
him, and he said: ‘Mukhadi‘, my brother, I would like you to come with me to my tent and take a meal there, so that we can spend the rest of this day in conversation.’ She excused herself, saying: ‘Sir, the queen is here and I must be in attendance on her. Otherwise I should quickly accept your offer.’ Mauhub mounted her on one of his own horses and entrusted her with greetings to the queen, imagining all the time that his friendly conversation had been with Mukhadi‘, not knowing that this was the queen.

Mauhub took the game that they had caught to his tent, while Mahliya went off to hers, suffering from redoubled distress and sorrow, as was Mauhub. She spent the night full of sadness and grief, finding the dawn slow to break, with her sleep burdened by thoughts. A letter then arrived from her father, urging her to hurry home, and she got up perplexed, fearful and full of tears, only to collapse in a faint. When she recovered, she was visited by her mother, who asked her what the matter was. She said: ‘I dreamed that I saw myself in a green garden with running streams whose trees were in leaf, but while I was looking at its beauty, suddenly an enormous lion filled the place with its roars and advanced on me and me alone. When it was in front of me, it crouched down and when I gestured to it, it abased itself to me. I grasped its mane and mounted on its back, at which it got up and set off with me at an even pace. I was filled with joy, but just then the messenger woke me with a letter from the king, and sorrow drained me of tears thanks to the loss of the pleasure that I had felt when riding through that well-watered place.’ Her mother told her: ‘Daughter, you have got your wish, as there is a good interpretation for this dream. The garden is a pleasant life, and the lion is the king of kings whom you will rule and who will submit to you.’ This cleared away some of her sorrow, but her thoughts remained centred on Mauhub, and how both of them had just then been urged by their fathers to hurry home.

To her own father she sent the best of answers and went straight to Mauhub, splendidly dressed in her finest clothes, accompanied by her mamluks laden with gifts for him. Amongst these was a mirror, which, when he looked into it, would show her to him, wherever she was. If he spread out a rug and lay down on it, were he to look at the mirror it would seem that he was lying there with her. When she arrived he went out to meet her and said: ‘Mukhadi‘, my brother, I am distressed at parting from you and feel great grief that you have to leave.’ ‘The queen has made up her mind to go off tomorrow, God willing,’ she said, ‘and so I
have come to say goodbye and to give you her greetings and a message to say: “I have sent you a gift to remind you of me when you are alone, and cheer you in your sadness. If you need anything from our country, entrust the affair to me, so that it may turn out well.” ’

This only increased his sorrowful cares, but he accepted the gift and when Mahliya rose he was still convinced that she was the vizier Mukhdadi‘. They took leave of one another, with Mauhub standing as Mahliya mounted. When she was in the saddle he said: ‘Mukhadi‘, my brother, give my greetings to the queen and tell her to write to me if she needs anything, and she will get a favourable reply.’ He then retired gloomily to his tent, weeping constantly and unable to sleep.

With him there was a beautiful gazelle that he had caught the first time he went hunting with Mahliya and which he had admired so much that he had kept it near him. When he was alone with his grief and his unbroken sorrows, the gazelle began to shed tears and moan, attracting his attention and astonishment. In the morning he sent for one of the priests of Baal and when the man came he said: ‘Look at this gazelle. I have seen something that alarmed me, for when something happened to me last night that made me cry, I saw it shedding tears to match mine.’ The priest said: ‘This is a human woman who is under a spell. Hers is a remarkable story, and I see that she will bring you great joy. If Your Majesty orders me to release her so that he may learn what she knows, I shall do it.’ ‘I should like that,’ said Mauhub, and the priest said something in a low voice, after which the gazelle shivered and became a lovely girl, whose beauty vied with the sun and put the moon to shame. Mauhub gave her something with which to cover herself and then started to ask her about herself and what had happened to her.

She said: ‘Great King Mauhub, know that this a marvellous affair and that my story is long, remarkable and strange, and I shall tell it to you so that you may learn from it and take pleasure in it. I am a woman of the stock of the old kings of Persia. My name is Haifa’, and I am the daughter of Jairun al-Mushawir, a king of Persia, handsome, a skilled horseman and a man both powerful and eloquent. I was his only child, and because of his love for me he built me a palace beside his own, filling it with furnishings and curtains. He made a garden for it in which he let loose various kinds of wild beasts and birds, causing streams to flow through it. He placed me there with a trustworthy nurse and he would send me all kinds of food and drink, but I would only see him once a year.

‘When I reached maturity, I found myself inspired to act slyly and I was attracted to obscenity, as the power of destiny encircled me. I went to the castle wall on the garden side and removed a stone so that I could look out. I was amazed at what I saw of the gardens, because I had thought that I and my nurse were alone in the world. After a time while I was watching I caught sight of a most beautiful gazelle. I had never seen anything like it in the palace. It had dark eyes with golden pupils, white patches on its legs and coloured horns that were like branches. It stopped opposite me as I admired it, and while I kept looking I called to my nurse and showed it to her. She too admired it, and I asked her to find some way of catching it, and she went down, stopped it and then took hold of it and brought it to me. I held it joyfully and fed it on husked sesame seeds dipped in honey, and I mixed milk and wine for it. I devoted all my attention to it, and, while I never stopped looking at it, it never stopped looking at me.

‘While I was sitting one day, the gazelle shivered violently and then appeared to me as a handsome young man. He looked at me, and I was startled and alarmed by his appearance, and he then came up speaking to me in pure, pleasant language that was sweeter than honey and softer than butter. “Don’t be afraid, delight of my eyes and goal of my hopes,” he said, “for you should know that I am a prince of the
jinn
who appear in the guise of gazelles, looking at this and that as we wander through desert wastes, and we enjoy ourselves in orchards and at the sight of lovely faces without arousing any suspicions. I have been living for some time in your garden and I saw you looking out like a branch of the
ban
tree or a shoot of sweet basil. I stayed bemused by love, looking at you again and again without your knowledge until love for you got the better of me and as my love-sickness increased I presented myself to you. I am known as the white-footed gazelle.”

‘He came forward, kissing my feet and sucking at them, and, by God, he made a great impression on my heart, attaching himself to it and taking over my hearing and my sight. I said: “Prince, I have fallen in love with you this instant, but my father is a giant who acts like a pharaoh, and I fear both for myself and for you.” “Lady,” he replied, “do not be sad but take comfort and consolation. I shall not ask you to do anything wrong, as my only concern is to look at you and enjoy your friendship. At night I shall be with you in my own shape but when morning comes I shall go back to being a gazelle. We can enjoy ourselves and play without anyone knowing.”

‘I set aside a pleasant room for him in my quarters and at nightfall I would go there with him and lock the door on us both. He would show himself to me in the most handsome of shapes, and we would eat and drink, enjoying recitations of poetry and marvellous conversation. He would tell me about pleasant things and sing
jinn
songs, before lying down on my bed. We would embrace each other and renew our covenant, swearing that neither of us would betray the other or take any substitute. We were swimming in an ocean of love and following one another in its pleasure and in the enjoyment of its sweetness, with no fear of hostile fate or of observant eyes. We were two matching branches or two shoots of sweet basil, doing nothing evil to arouse suspicion, and our love could not be crushed until treacherous Time put us to the test.

‘One night after we had been drinking we lay down for a healthful sleep, exchanging embraces, anointed with crushed musk, and enjoying conversation. The prince’s eyes then closed, and he fell asleep before me, to my great sorrow and distress. I was looking at his face and enjoying his beauty as though I was looking at a full moon or a sun appearing through the cloud, but just then my father suffered a painful seizure, which roused him from his bed. The maids and the servants shrieked, and the attendants and the children tore their clothes. I lost my wits and, being reluctant to disturb the prince from his sleep, I gradually removed his hand from me and got up. I opened the door of my palace and called to my nurse, whom I took with me to my father.

‘I stayed with him until he had recovered consciousness, but when the prince woke and did not find me there he went round the palace and when he could not see me he thought what any lover would think of his beloved and remained in a state of perplexity, alarm and distress. When he looked at the palace door and found it open, he was confirmed in his suspicion and, thinking that I had betrayed him, he turned back to his gazelle shape and fled away to his own land, alone and sorrowful. When I left my father and came back to the garden in an agitated state I could not find him. I rushed out, slapping my face in my confusion, not knowing in the darkness where to head for or where I was going. I went on from land to land and place to place until I despaired and was sure that I was going to die.

‘During the course of my travels I came on a valley full of grass and greenery with a stream of running water whiter than milk. There were many ostriches there, as big as elephants, which were grazing on the greenery and going back and forth to the river. With them was a man of
dazzling beauty who appeared to be herding them with a palm branch in his hand. When he saw me he called out harshly and came up, speaking roughly in a voice like rumbling thunder. “Woman, where have you come from?” he asked, adding: “There is no way through for you here.”

‘I burst into tears at this reception and exclaimed: “Alas for my gazelle! Alas for my master!” He then asked: “Who are you looking for?” and I told him: “I am Haifa’, the daughter of King Muhallab of Persia, and I have come in search of a gazelle with white feet or a man in a shirt.” He said: “This mountain marks the end of the lands of the
jinn
, and as it hard, black and smooth, you must go back to where you might find a way to your beloved. Otherwise you can spend the night as my guest, for it might be that a
jinni
will pass by, and I could ask him about this, for I feel pity for you in my heart.”

‘I sat with him, and he brought me food. When night fell a large and noisy company of
jinn
arrived. When I looked I saw amongst them a huge one in human shape riding on a snake as big as a towering palm-tree with another great snake wound round his head as a turban. When he opened his mouth fire came from his throat, and everyone else in his company, who were smaller than him, were mounted on snakes. He was preceded by a man carrying a banner, with huge and terrible flames flashing from the top of his spear.

‘He stopped beside my host, who greeted him and after welcoming him asked him whether in the course of his many wanderings he had come across my gazelle. He said in reply that this was the son of the king of his people and that between us was a distance of a two-year journey. “What do you want from him,” he asked, “for his father is an oppressive tyrant?” The ostrich-herd replied: “I want to meet him, as there is something that I need, so tell me the way.” The snake rider said: “If you want to get to him, mount one of these ostriches of yours, choosing one that is large and old, whose feathers have moulted away. It will take you the two-year journey in a single night and bring you to an old woman. When you see her, give her my name and make her swear by what she owes me. God willing, she will take you to the land of the gazelle.” He and his company then went off like a breath of wind, leaving the ground scorched.

‘My host told me that this was the king of the snakes, who journeys from east to west. He added: “I shall take you to the old woman he mentioned. She is the queen of the crows who part lovers, while I am king of the ostriches who unite hearts. It was I who was responsible for
the love between you and the gazelle, for these servants of mine roam through the world promoting love amongst God’s servants. When you get to her tell her that Hirmas, king of the ostriches, sends her his greetings and says: ‘This is my ring and my messenger. I feel pity in my heart for Haifa’ and I have entrusted her with this letter for you.’ ”

‘He wrote a letter, which he passed to me before summoning an enormous ostrich, which had lost all its feathers, leaving its skin smooth. He told it: “Take this human to the land of the old queen of the crows. See that she has an easy ride and then come back quickly.” I sat on its back, holding on to its neck as it flew between sky and earth, keeping my eyes shut. When dawn broke it told me to open them and get down, for this was the country of the old queen. I dismounted and found myself in a red land with interlacing trees, some of which were red with red leaves and green citrus-like fruit. There were flowing streams with fish to be seen in the clear water feeding on the green weeds, while on every tree there were as many as a thousand crows, both black and piebald.