Sharara turned toward Tasveer and said, “Tasveer, my child, leave Shagufa here with me!” Tasveer answered, “Very well, aunt!” She left shortly afterwards and the false Shagufa stayed behind.
Princess Tasveer went staggering and stumbling on her way, inconsolable with the pangs of love-induced grief. She kept saying to herself, Ah, what a misfortune that I fell in love with the one who has sworn enmity to my life and my faith, as he is a slayer of sorcerers! His release from the prison is near impossible. Alas, alas, alas! He will lose his life for nothing! She was occupied with these reflections when suddenly the real Shagufa arrived before her, all naked and in tears. Princess Tasveer wondered what had happened to her in the time that she had been left with Sharara, and who had stripped her of her clothes.
Shagufa threw herself at the princess’s feet, and said, “My princess, I was accompanying you when I stopped along the way to answer the call of nature. A man appeared from the bushes all of a sudden and God knows what he did to me that I lost consciousness. He stripped me and left me tied to a tree. When I came to, I implored a passer-by to help me, and after freeing myself, I rushed before you. I consider myself fortunate that I again behold the face of Your Honor.”
The princess marvelled at the story, and thought, I should not breathe even a word of this to anyone. Perhaps one of Prince Badiuz Zaman’s friends put on Shagufa’s disguise and stayed behind to find some way for securing his release. If I talk about it, Sharara will hear of it and that poor soul will also be captured.
In her love for the prince, Tasveer did not show any consideration even for her own aunt. She sent for her attendants, had a change of clothes brought for Shagufa, and said to everyone, “Look at this wanton girl! She did not want me to learn what she had in mind, so she took leave to stay behind at my aunt’s house. Then she stole away God knows where so that even her clothes were stripped away.” Shagufa protested and said, “Pray believe me, I speak the truth!” The princess replied, “Quiet, you liar! I will never believe a word you say! I swear by Lord Sameri that if you speak again I will have you punished most severely!” After threatening Shagufa against opening her mouth about the incident or spreading the news of what had passed with her, the princess diverted herself with the sights of her garden. She put her hopes in the Omnipotent Causer of Causes7 to create a way for the prince’s release.
When Tasveer stepped into her garden, she found it a veritable thorn in the absence of her nightingale-like beloved. She could find neither peace nor rest. Her heart was marked by the prince’s love like the tulip; her gaze awaited the prince’s sight like the narcissus; and, with longing in her heart, she waited for the noble prince, all delicate and fragile like the spikenard.8
Now we return to the account of Amar Ayyar, the Bearder of Infidels, the Beheader of Sorcerers, and the Dagger Fighter Par Excellence, who had stayed behind in Sharara’s garden in Shagufa’s disguise.
Until evening, the false Shagufa occupied herself with making pleasantries and repartees with other female attendants. Now she would pinch someone; now press her cheek against a girl; now slip the attendants’ belongings into the zambil – a betel box here, a vanity box there. She carried on like this until evening and great excitement was caused by all her doings because nobody was able to find the thief.
Sharara had ordered food, wine and all manner of delicacies for dinner. After the meal, a carpet was spread on the crystal platform and the garden was lit up. The tent-pitchers decorated the summerhouse most beautifully by illuminating it with lamps, chandeliers, lotus-lights and other glass lights. Globes of light hung from every tree, making every branch drip with beads of light.
Gold and silver threads were cut into shreds, put in the fountainheads, and water released in the watercourses. When all the decorations were complete, singers, dancers and musicians were sent for and Sharara asked Shagufa to present herself.
The false Shagufa made her appearance dressed in a dancing girl’s gown, wearing eighty-four ankle bells. She asked Sharara’s female musicians and singers to sound their notes, then filled her mouth with pearls, produced a pair of reed pipes and put them to her lips.
Be it known that Angel Jibrail had taught Amar along with Amir Hamza. He had fed Amar three grapes. The first grape made Amar harmonious, with the harmony of Prophet Daud. The second grape allowed him to change into seventy-two different guises and, by the grace of God, assume the face that he turned his thought to. And the third grape gave Amar the power to fully understand and speak all languages of the world.
Tying one end of a brass wire to her big toe and pressing the other between her lips, the false Shagufa picked up a wine ewer and goblet in her hands and began dancing. She could make only a single ankle bell sound when she wished, or all together, or none. She strung pearls from her mouth onto the wire at every beat, and filled the goblet every so often to serve the assembly. Sounds of “Brava! Well done!” rose from all corners of the garden at her performance, which was full of dalliance and coquettish airs.
Sharara sat there, struck with wonder and marvelled whether what she saw before her was a human phenomenon, a spark, or a moving flame. It was an enchanting performance with the reed constantly playing the accompaniment, the pearls being strung continuously, and the wine circulating without end. Sharara showered the false Shagufa with praise and took off her necklace to give her as a reward. The false Shagufa made a salutation, went dancing to the sorceress and stuck out her head for Sharara to put the necklace around her neck. She then ended the tune and started singing with such fervor that everyone began to swoon from the song and the enchanting power of her melodious strains.
Sharara was enraptured and as she broke into tears from ecstasy, the false Shagufa stopped. The sorceress called out, “Do not stop the song now! You have brought me this far! Take me now to the end.” The false Shagufa answered: “Allow me to tell you my situation in verse:
“The free spirits must drink wine
And my eyes are like the goblets
My clay was kneaded with the juice of grape
In the first sip of my life was a drop of wine
In the wine house of the world I am the wise head on whom
The clergyman passed the decree to remain continuously
drunk.”
When Sharara heard these verses, she realized the girl desired a drink but was too modest and well behaved to ask for it directly. She was pleased by her refined manners and the fact that she served wine to everyone without taking a sip herself. Sharara immediately ordered the wine service to be presented. The attendants rushed to obey her orders and brought everything, including trays of wine, goblets, decanters and ewers. Sharara said, “O Shagufa, I was most pleased with your performance today! I hereby appoint you my confidant and enroll you among my companions. Be the cupbearer in this company and give me some wine, too!”
The false Shagufa approached and made an offering of five gold pieces. Sharara conferred a robe of honor on her, which the false Shagufa put on, and began organizing the wine service. The false Shagufa arranged the decanters and ewers of wine like a bouquet under the chandelier, placing the green glasses next to the red, setting them in such a way that light would fall directly on them and it would seem as if flower bouquets were placed on the floor. She kept busy sorting the cups and ewers so that she could drug all the wine. She managed to do so without inviting notice then resumed dancing. Holding a wine ewer under her arm and filling up a goblet, she danced up to Sharara and offered the goblet to her, saying:
“Drink, for the days of sorrow will soon pass
They did not last before, and they shall now pass.”
As Sharara extended her hand to take the cup, the false Shagufa tossed it into the air and caught it on her head without spilling a single drop. Then she extended her head before Sharara and submitted, “Nobles and royalty must be served wine on the platter of their servants’ head, my lady!”
Sharara could not cease marvelling at the many refinements she wit
nessed in the attendant. She raised the cup to her lips and her breath came in contact with the wine. Immediately, the wine leapt to the sky in flame. Left holding the empty cup, Sharara came to her senses speedily. After imprisoning Badiuz Zaman, she had deputed magic spirits to alert her if some trickster arrived to seek the prince’s release. It was a magic spirit that caused the wine to leap up in flame. Realizing that it was a trickster disguised as Shagufa, Sharara immediately recited an incantation and blew it on the attendant. Her face paint and makeup disappeared and Amar Ayyar appeared in his real form. Sharara ordered the sorceresses to arrest him and Amar was taken into custody without delay.
Sharara said, “You very nearly killed me, O rascal!” Amar answered, “O harridan! Do not think even for a moment that you are saved. Yours truly never returns unsuccessful from his mission. Rest assured that I will dispatch you to hell shortly!” Enraged by Amar’s words, Sharara had him tied to a tree and put a magic cordon around the garden so that he could not escape from it.
Sharara wrote a letter to Emperor Afrasiyab, containing the particulars of Amar’s capture. She informed him that she had arrested him and awaited the emperor’s orders whether she should dispatch Amar’s head to the court or send him there a prisoner. Sharara handed the letter to her attendant, Shola Rukhsar Flame-Cheek, with orders to take it to the court of the Emperor of Hoshruba.
Shola Rukhsar Flame-Cheek flew away by invoking her magic. She arrived at the banks of the River of Flowing Blood and called out, “O Emperor of Hoshruba! A messenger of Sharara seeks leave to be presented in your illuminated service!”
Afrasiyab was giving audience in the Apple Garden in the region of Batin when his magic alerted him to the call of Shola Rukhsar Flame-Cheek. He sent a magic claw, which picked up Shola Rukhsar Flame-Cheek from the riverbank and brought her before him.
Shola Rukhsar found herself in a summerhouse in the Apple Garden where Emperor Afrasiyab was giving audience with Empress Heyrat on a throne enchased with diamonds and gems and surrounded by thousands of nobles of Hoshruba and celebrated sorcerers. The sorcerers and sorceresses sat dressed in elegant costumes on ruby-sculpted seats whose feet were carved out in the shape of lion and elephant heads that spewed fire constantly. Among the many nobles present were:
Sorceress Princess Bahar of Spring-Quarter
Sorceress Princess Nafarman of the City of
Purple Poppy
Sorceress Princess Zaafran
Sorceress Princess Taus
Sorceress Princess Mushkeen-Mu Wonder-Mane
Sorceress Princess Makhmur Crimson-Eye
The five trickster girls stood with deference before Empress Heyrat. They were:
Sarsar Swordfighter, Queen of the City of Portraits
and the leader of trickster girls
Saba Raftar the Quick, Minister to Sarsar Swordfighter
Shamima Tunneler
Sunubar Snare-Roper
Tez Nigah Dagger-Fighter
The empress was attended by two sorceress aides:
Sorceress Yaqut
Sorceress Zamarrud
The emperor was attended by his four ministers:
Sanat Magic-Maker
Sarma Ice-Hurler
Baghban Magic-Gardener
Abriq Mount-Splitter
The emperor’s ministers moved the fly-whisk of phoenix feathers above the emperor’s head. All those present sat in quiet reverence before the grandeur and majesty of the royal court.
Shola Rukhsar curtsied before Afrasiyab and presented Sharara’s letter. After reading it, Afrasiyab wrote in reply:
“Kill Amar without delay!”
Shola Rukhsar then took her leave. Afrasiyab sent for a magic claw, which carried her across the River of Flowing Blood. She started from there for Sharara’s garden, which lay at a day’s journey, and where Amar Ayyar the Nightingale of the Grove of Trickery was tied to a tree.
At some late hour in the night, Sharara retired to the summerhouse to sleep. Amar began cudgelling his brains to find some way of freeing himself and killing Sharara. He was occupied with these thoughts when one of Sharara’s attendants, Saman Azar, happened to pass by. Amar gestured to her to approach him and said to her, “O faithful subject of Lord Laqa, I entreat you to hear me out!” When Saman Azar approached, Amar started crying. He said, “You know that I will be beheaded in the morning, and the executioner will deprive me of all my possessions. You know too, that I am a trickster in the employ of Amir Hamza and possess a great horde of jewels, pearls and gems. I will bestow my possessions upon you if you do me the kindness of witnessing my last wishes and acting in accordance with them.”
Saman Azar was tempted by the talk of riches. She sat down by Amar’s side and said, “Tell me what your last wishes are and how much gold and jewels you possess!” Amar answered, “Have no worries. There are riches enough to last you many lifetimes. Hear out my last wishes first! Once I am killed, you must purchase my corpse from Sharara and bury it after covering it in a winding-sheet. Next, go to my camp and distribute one half of my possessions among my children and my wife, and keep the other half for yourself.” Saman Azar said, “Very well! Now tell me what those possessions are.” Amar said, “Unfasten my one hand so that I may hand over all those possessions to you!” When Saman Azar unfastened Amar’s hand, he took out his trickster’s livery and put it on the ground. He said to Saman Azar, “My other hand is also tied. Unfasten it too, and take all that I ask you to take.”
Once both his hands were free, Amar opened the trickster’s livery and began putting out all items used in trickery – women’s and men’s costumes, sweetmeats, oils, and facial paints. Amar told her how he used them to disguise himself as a woman. He told her how he turned into a beggar, what he did to disguise himself as a king, and to what purpose the drugged sweetmeats and fruits were used, et cetera. Among other things, there was also a bag full of jewels and gold. Amar said, “This is yours!” Saman Azar felt she was in seventh heaven and put it to one side. As Amar resumed searching the livery, a small, most elegantly cut box of ruby, whose glitter illuminated the whole place, fell out of it and Amar quickly picked it up.
Saman Azar said, “What’s in that?” Amar replied, “My very soul, that’s what’s in it! All that I have earned in my life I have kept in it!” Saman Azar said, “Give this to me as well now!” Amar answered, “It is my intention to be buried with it!” Saman Azar said, “At least tell me what is inside this box!” Amar replied, “Inside is a priceless jewel for which even the Empire of the Seven Climes9 is too meagre a ransom!”
Saman Azar pleaded, “O Amar! In the end you will be killed. Give me this box as well and I will act most kindly toward your family and children!” Amar replied, “You would never have come across someone as liberal and generous in your life as me! Take it, it’s yours, too! But do open the box for me and let me have one last look at its contents!” Saman Azar took the box from Amar’s hand and tried to open it but was unsuccessful. Amar said, “Hold it close to your chest and pull it by applying pressure with both hands!” Saman Azar did as she was told. The box opened and the drug powder in it flew into her face. She sneezed and fell unconscious. Amar then freed himself of his fetters and carried away Saman Azar to a secluded corner in the garden. He disguised himself as Saman Azar and changed her face and appearance into his own with tricksters’ paints and oils. He applied an oil to her tongue that made it swell up and rendered her unable to speak. Then he carried Saman Azar to the tree where he had been tied and fastened her to it. Finally, putting all his tricksters’ apparatus back into his livery, he went to sleep in Saman Azar’s bed.
Amar slept on until the King of Stars10 dismissed his court and Heavens’ Prisoner11 was led into the field of the skies by the chain of rays. Sharara and her attendants rose from their slumber at the break of dawn. After the morning rituals, Sharara went and sat on the carpet spread on the platform in the summerhouse. All her female attendants, including the false Saman Azar, appeared in her service.
In the meantime, Shola Rukhsar Flame-Cheeks also returned with Emperor Afrasiyab’s reply and presented it to Sharara. She ordered that Amar Ayyar be brought forth and deputed a Calmuck Tartar12 woman to cut off his head.
The attendants unfastened the real Saman Azar disguised as Amar Ayyar while the Calmuck Tartar readied her dagger. Saman Azar was unable to protest because of her swollen tongue. She cried many tears and made signs but no one understood her. At Sharara’s command, the Calmuck Tartar cut off Saman Azar’s head with just one blow.
Because Saman Azar was a sorceress, a commotion arose at her death; her magic spirits clamoured, “Alas Saman Azar was killed!” and darkness enveloped everything. Amar took advantage of the darkness to hide in a nook.
Sharara of dark fortune was unnerved when she heard the noise and witnessed the darkness. She realized immediately that Amar Ayyar had pulled the wool over her eyes and escaped, and that the garden of Saman Azar’s life was destroyed instead. She said to her attendants, “Go and check Saman Azar’s quarters to see if that rebel is hiding there!” Her attendants flew like the zephyr to search for Amar but saw no one there and informed Sharara of it. She said, “Very well! Last night I put a magic cordon around the garden that would not allow anyone to escape from here. Fetch me the magic box that lies in the summerhouse on the center shelf! I am certain that thief is hiding among you disguised as an attendant. I will discover who it is with the help of the magic box.”
The magic box was brought before Sharara. When she opened its lid everyone saw a bracelet-like device fixed to its center. Sharara told them it would clasp the wrist of the one who was in disguise, and ordered them to put their hands one by one into it. When no one’s hand was caught in the clasp, Sharara said to them, “Put away the magic box. Amar is not among you. In the night I will invoke my magic and discover his whereabouts.” The attendants took away the magic box.
Hoshruba Page 6