One Thousand and One Nights, page 1050
“Al-Abbás from the side of Akíl is come; * Caravans and steeds he
hath plunderčd:
Yea; horses he brought of pure blood, whose necks * Ring with
collars like anklets wher’er they are led.
With domčd hoofs they pour torrent-like, * As they prance through
dust on the level stead:
And bestriding their saddles come men of war, * Whose fingers
play on the kettle-drum’s head:
And couched are their lances that bear the points * Keen grided,
which fill every soul with dread:
Who wi’ them would fence draweth down his death * For one deadly
lunge soon shall do him dead:
Charge, comrades, charge ye and give me joy, * Saying, ‘Welcome
to thee, O our dear comrŕde!’
And who joys at his meeting shall ‘joy delight * Of large gifts
when he from his steed shall ‘light.”
When the troops entered Baghdad, each of them alighted in his tent, whilst Al-Abbas encamped apart on a place near the Tigris and issued orders to slaughter for the soldiers, each day, that which should suffice them of oxen and sheep and to bake them bread and spread the tables: so the folk ceased not to come to him and eat of his banquet. Furthermore, all the country-people flocked to him with presents and rarities and he requited them many times the like of their gifts, so that the lands were filled with his renown and the fame of him was bruited abroad among the habitants of wold and town. Then, as soon as he rode to the house he had bought, the shopkeeper and his wife came to him and gave him joy of his safety; whereupon he ordered them three head of swift steeds and thoroughbred and ten dromedaries and an hundred head of sheep and clad them both in costly robes of honour. Presently he chose out ten slave-girls and ten negro slaves and fifty mares and the like number of she-camels and three hundred of sheep, together with twenty ounces of musk and as many of camphor, and sent all this to the King of Baghdad. When the present came to Ins bin Kays, his wit fled for joy and he was perplexed wherewith to requite him. Al-Abbas also gave gifts and largesse and bestowed robes of honour upon noble and simple, each after the measure of his degree, save only Mariyah; for to her indeed he sent nothing. This was grievous to the Princess and it irked her sore that he should not remember her; so she called her slave-girl Shafikah and said to her, “Hie thee to Al-Abbas and salute him and say to him, ‘What hindereth thee from sending my lady Mariyah her part of thy booty?’” So Shafikah betook herself to him and when she came to his door, the chamberlains refused her admission, until they should have got for her leave and permission. When she entered, Al-Abbas knew her and knew that she had somewhat of speech with him; so he dismissed his Mamelukes and asked her, “What is thine errand, O hand-maid of good?” Answered she, “O my lord, I am a slave-girl of the Princess Mariyah, who kisseth thy hands and offereth her salutation to thee. Indeed, she rejoiceth in thy safety and blameth thee for that thou breakest her heart, alone of all the folk, because thy largesse embraceth great and small, yet hast thou not remembered her with anything of thy plunder, as if thou hadst hardened thy heart against her.” Quoth he, “Extolled be He who turneth hearts! By Allah, my vitals were consumed with the love of her; and, of my longing after her I came forth to her from my mother-land and left my people and my home and my wealth, and it was with her that began the hardheartedness and the cruelty. Natheless, for all this, I bear her no malice and there is no help but that I send her somewhat whereby she may remember me; for that I sojourn in her country but a few days, after which I set out for the land of Al-Yaman.” Then he called for a chest and thence bringing out a necklace of Greek workmanship, worth a thousand dinars, wrapped it in a mantle of Greek silk, set with pearls and gems and purfled with red gold, and joined thereto a couple of caskets containing musk and amber-gris. He also put off upon the girl a mantle of Greek silk, striped with gold, wherein were divers figures and portraitures depictured, never saw eyes its like. Therewithal the girl’s wit fled for joy and she went forth from his presence and returned to her mistress. When she came in to her, she acquainted her with that which she had seen of Al-Abbas and that which was with him of servants and attendants and set out to her the loftiness of his station and gave her that which was with her. Mariyah opened the mantle, and when she saw that necklace (and indeed the place was illumined with the lustre thereof), she looked at her slave-girl and said to her, “By Allah, O Shafikah, one look at him were dearer to me than all that my hand possesseth! Oh, would Heaven I knew what I shall do, when Baghdad is empty of him and I hear of him no news!” Then she wept and calling for ink-case and paper and pen of brass, wrote these couplets:
Longsome my sorrows are; my liver’s fired with ecstasy; * And
severance-shaft hath shot me through whence sorest pangs I
dree:
And howso could my soul forget the love I bear to you? *
You-wards my will perforce returns nor passion sets me free:
I ‘prison all desires I feel for fear of spies thereon * Yet
tears that streak my cheek betray for every eye to see.
No place of rest or joy I find to bring me life-delight; * No
wine tastes well, nor viands please however savoury:
Ah me! to whom shall I complain of case and seek its cure * Save
unto thee whose Phantom deigns to show me sight of thee?
Then name me not or chide for aught I did in passion-stress, *
With vitals gone and frame consumed by yearning-malady!
Secret I keep the fire of love which aye for severance burns; *
Sworn slave406 to Love who robs my rest and wakes me
cruelly:
And ceaseth not my thought to gaze upon your ghost by night, *
Which falsing comes and he I love still, still unloveth me.
Would Heaven ye wist the blight that I for you are doomed to bear
* For love of you, which tortures me with parting agony!
Then read between the lines I wrote, and mark and learn their
sense * For such my tale, and Destiny made me an outcast be:
Learn eke the circumstance of Love and lover’s woe nor deign *
Divulge its mysteries to men nor grudge its secrecy.
Then she folded the scroll and givng it to her slave-girl, bade her bear it to Al-Abbas and bring back his reply. So Shafikah took the letter and carried it to the Prince, after the doorkeeper had sought leave of him to admit her. When she came in to him, she found with him five damsels, as they were moons, clad in rich raiment and ornaments; and when he saw her, he said to her, “What is thy need, O hand-maid of good?” Presently she put out her hand to him with the writ, after she had kissed it, and he bade one of his slave-girls receive it from her.407 Then he took it from the girl and breaking the seal, read it and comprehended its contents; whereupon he cried, “Verily, we be Allah’s and unto Him we shall return!” and calling for ink-case and paper, wrote these improvised couplets: —
I wonder seeing how thy love to me * Inclined, while I in heart
from love declined:
Eke wast thou wont to say in verseful writ, * “Son of the
Road408 no road to me shall find!
How oft kings flocked to me with mighty men * And bales on back
of Bukhti409 beast they bind:
And noble steeds of purest blood and all * They bore of choicest
boons to me consigned;
Yet won no favour!” Then came I to woo * And the long tale o’
love I had designed,
I fain set forth in writ of mine, with words * Like strings of
pearls in goodly line aligned: —
Set forth my sev’rance, griefs, tyrannic wrongs, * And ill device
ill-suiting lover-kind.
How oft love-claimant, craving secrecy, * How oft have lovers
‘plained as sore they pined,
How many a brimming bitter cup I’ve quaffed, * And wept my woes
when speech was vain as wind!
And thou:— “Be patient, ’tis thy bestest course * And choicest
medicine for mortal mind!”
Then unto patience worthy praise cleave thou; * Easy of issue and
be lief resigned:
Nor hope thou aught of me lest ill alloy * Or aught of dross
affect my blood refined:
Such is my speech. Read, mark, and learn my say! * To what thou
deemest ne’er I’ll tread the way.
Then he folded the scroll and sealing it, entrusted it to the damsel, who took it and bore it to her mistress. When the Princess read the letter and mastered its meaning, she said, “Meseemeth he recalleth bygones to me.” Then she called for pens, ink, and paper, and wrote these couplets:
Love thou didst show me till I learnt its woe * Then to the
growth of grief didst severance show:
I banisht joys of slumber after you * And e’en my pillow garred
my wake to grow.
How long in parting shall I pine with pain * While
severance-spies410 through night watch every throe?
I’ve left my kingly couch and self withdrew * Therefrom, and
taught mine eyelids sleep t’unknow:
’Twas thou didst teach me what I ne’er can bear: * Then didst
thou waste my frame with parting-blow.
By oath I swear thee, blame and chide me not: * Be kind to
mourner Love hath stricken low!
For parting-rigours drive him nearer still * To narrow home, ere
clad in shroud for clo’:
Have ruth on me, since Love laid waste my frame, * ‘Mid thralls
enrolled me and lit fires that flame.
Mariyah rolled up the letter and gave it to Shafikah, bidding her bear it to Al-Abbas. Accordingly she took it and going with it to his door, proceeded to enter; but the chamberlains and serving-men forbade her, till they had obtained her leave from the Prince. When she went into him, she found him sitting in the midst of the five damsels before mentioned, whom his father had brought for him; so she gave him the letter and he tare it open and read it. Then he bade one of the damsels, whose name was Khafifah and who came from the land of China, tune her lute and sing anent separation. Thereupon she came forward and tuning her lute, played thereon in four-and-twenty modes: after which she returned to the first and sang these couplets,
“Our friends, when leaving us on parting-day, * Drave us in wolds
of severance-grief to stray:
When bound the camels’ litters bearing them, * And cries of
drivers urged them on the way,
Outrusht my tears, despair gat hold of me * And sleep betrayed
mine eyes to wake a prey.
The day they went I wept, but showed no ruth * The severance-spy
and flared the flames alwŕy:
Alas for lowe o’ Love that fires me still! * Alack for pine that
melts my heart away!
To whom shall I complain of care, when thou * Art gone, nor fain
a-pillow head I lay?
And day by day Love’s ardours grow on me, * And far’s the tent
that holds my fondest may:
O Breeze o’ Heaven, bear for me a charge * (Nor traitor-like my
troth in love betray!),
Whene’er thou breathest o’er the loved one’s land * Greet him
with choice salam fro’ me, I pray:
Dust him with musk and powdered ambergris * While time endures!
Such is my wish for aye.”
When the damsel had made an end of her song, Al-Abbas swooned away and they sprinkled on him musked rose-water, till he recovered from his fainting-fit, when he called another damsel (now there was on her of linen and raiment and ornaments that which undoeth description, and she was a model of beauty and brightness and loveliness and symmetry and perfect grace, such as shamed the crescent moon, and she was a Turkish girl from the land of the Roum and her name was Háfizah) and said to her, “O Hafizah, close thine eyes and tune thy lute and sing to us upon the days of severance.” She answered him, “To hear is to obey” and taking the lute, tightened its strings and cried out from her head,411 in a plaintive voice, and sang these couplets,
“My friends! tears flow in painful mockery, * And sick my heart
from parting agony:
My frame is wasted and my vitals wrung * And love-fires grow and
eyes set tear-floods free:
And when the fire burns high beneath my ribs * With tears I
quench it as sad day I see.
Love left me wasted, baffled, pain-begone, * Sore frighted, butt
to spying enemy:
When I recal sweet union wi’ their loves * I chase dear sleep
from the sick frame o’ me.
Long as our parting lasts the rival joys * And spies with fearful
prudence gain their gree.
I fear me for my sickly, langourous frame * Lest dread of parting
slay me incontinently.”
When Hafizah had ended her song, Al-Abbas cried to her, “Brava! Verily, thou quickenest hearts from griefs.” Then he called another maiden of the daughters of Daylam by name Marjánah, and said to her, “O Marjanah, sing to me upon the days of parting.” She said, “Hearing and obeying,” and recited these couplets,
“‘Cleave to fair Patience! Patience ‘gendereth weal’: * Such is
the rede to us all sages deal:
How oft I plained the lowe of grief and love * Mid passions cast
my soul in sore unheal.
How oft I waked and drained the bitter cup * And watched the
stars, nor sleep mine eyes would seal!
Enough it were an deal you grace to me * In writ a-morn and
garred no hope to feel.
But Thoughts which probed its depths would sear my heart * And
start from eye-brows streams that ever steal:
Nor cease I suffering baleful doom and nights * Wakeful, and
heart by sorrows rent piece-meal:
But Allah purged my soul from love of you * When all knew secrets
cared I not reveal.
I march to-morrow from your country and * Haply you’ll speed me
nor fear aught unweal;
And, when in person you be far from us, * Would heaven we knew
