Hoshruba

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by Musharraf Ali Farooqi


  Prince Asad called out to her, “Come closer so that I can give you my particulars and accompany you to your empress.” As Gulshan approached, Asad made sheep’s eyes at her. Gulshan believed he had become enamored of her. She decided she would ask the empress to confer him upon her as a reward, then bring him home and ravish him. She immediately put her hand in Asad’s hand, saying, “Come, let me take you to the empress.” Asad gave her a violent tug and as Gulshan fell, he caught her by the neck. He tore off a strip of cloth from his clothing and stuffed it into her mouth so that she could not cast a spell on him. He pinioned Gulshan and tied her to a column of the shop with her mantle. Asad gave her a few strokes of the lash for good measure which made Gulshan wince with pain. He then returned to eating sweets.

  The vendors protested and threatened but no one dared approach Asad. They returned to report to Empress Heyrat, who laughed when she heard of Asad’s cunning, and said to her sorceress-aide Zamarrud, “Go and take him prisoner and secure Gulshan’s release.” Zamarrud recited incantations and flew away.

  Immediately upon arrival, Zamarrud cast a spell on Prince Asad that made him lose power over his limbs. She released Gulshan and put a magic claw around Asad’s neck. Accompanied by Gulshan, she flew away with the prince, arrived in the Dome of Light and threw Prince Asad before Empress Heyrat.

  The prince saw a beautiful woman clad in gold finery sitting on a throne and seventeen hundred slave girls standing before her with bowed heads. Asad turned his face away. Stunned by Asad’s beauty, Empress Heyrat said to him, “O captive of grief and sorrow, of which garden are you a blossom? What chance brought you to these parts?” Prince Asad answered, “I am the grandson of Amir Hamza, the Lord of the Auspicious Planetary Conjunction. I have come here to conquer the tilism.”

  Heyrat was confounded to hear Amir Hamza’s name. Bewildered, she ordered her attendants to bring her a box. When they returned with it, Heyrat opened it and took out a portrait. Comparing it with the face of the prince, she found not the least difference between the two. She asked the prince, “Is your name Asad?” He answered, “Yes, this lowly slave of the Sublime Lord is indeed called Asad.”

  Heyrat said to her attendants, “Doubtless he is the Conqueror of the Tilism, since his name and particulars match the description given in the portrait. Throw him in the wilderness of the tilism. If he is indeed the Conqueror of the Tilism he will find his way out of it. Otherwise he will become lost and perish there.” The sorceresses recited incantations that made the prince lose consciousness. They carried him into the wilderness of the tilism and left him there.

  After a moment, the prince opened his eyes. Finding himself in a pasture, he rose and headed onwards. He witnessed a delightful garden, like the image of paradise. The ringdove sang of its love for the cypress, the dove of its love of the box tree, and the nightingale made plaints for its beloved rose.48 There were wells of sweet water at every few steps whose depth sang of the dance of the buckets. The beautifully marbled promenades made the grapevine envious. The place was fragrant with the smell of the jasmine, eglantine, night-flowering jasmine, double-flowered jasmine, tuberose and narcissus. In one place the red poppy flowered like bowls carved of rubies. The periwinkle bloomed in another corner. The sweet redolence of the orange, citron and lime trees inundated the senses. The spikenard sat enchantingly with its wind-swept curls and the lily sang the praises of the Gardener of Nature with a hundred tongues. The spring gale floated drunkenly above every flowerbed, full of conceit at their bloom.

  Streams and rivulets bounded by flowerbeds criss-crossed the garden. Trees enveloped in redolence and laden with flowers and fruits dotted the expanse. The surface of the lake undulated like a beloved’s gait. Lush, green and refreshing grasslands stretched for miles on end, abounding in deer, spotted antelopes and axis deer. The black cuckoo, the Indian bee-eater, parrots and maynahs sang on their perches and swung from tree branches. In the lake, the birds broke the surface of the water with their beaks. They wet and cleaned their feathers, flapped, and juddered.

  Regarding these sights, Asad arrived at a flower garden where a number of men were busy tending the grounds. Asad inquired about the name of the place and asked why they tended the garden. They replied, “This is the Tilism of the Garden. All of us are princes of different lands. We set out on hunting expeditions and ended up in this place. Despite many attempts we could not find a way out of here and had no choice but to make it our abode. A princess lives here who is fond of flowers. We pick flowers and thread garlands for her. Her attendants come in the evening to take them to their mistress and bring us food in exchange. We forever keep our eyes on the bounty of God and live on that food. You, too, should now make garlands with us and eat and live here, since you will be unable to escape this garden. You will pass your life and receive food in the manner we describe.”

  Asad answered, “I seek God’s protection from this idea! May you prosper with your work; I will have nothing to do with gardening.” They answered, “You have freshly arrived, your stomach is full and you are all fat and plump. Once you have stayed here a few days and starved, and your fat has begun to dissolve, you will readily join us.”

  Asad moved away without responding to those comments. He decided to pick some fruit from the trees and drink from the stream. But when he reached for fruit hanging from the branches, it suddenly rose beyond his grasp. The fruit that had fallen on the ground also disappeared when he tried to pick it up. He attempted to climb the trees but found it impossible. He tried to drink from the stream but couldn’t. When he put his hand in the stream, water became sand at his touch. Helpless, he sat down in one corner. Toward the end of the day, slave girls beautiful as the full moon arrived in the garden leading female laborers carrying salvers of food. They called out, “O prisoners of the tilism, bring the garlands and get your food.” All the gardeners ran and exchanged the garlands they had made for food. The slave girls departed and the gardeners sat down to eat. Poor Asad could only watch them from a distance as they finished every last bit without offering him a morsel. That night Asad slept on an empty stomach.

  The moment the heavens’ Gold-Feathered Bird49 arrived in the sky’s pasture from its eastern nest, the prince rose and said his morning prayers. The prisoners occupied themselves as usual with the task of picking and threading flowers. After some time, they approached the prince and said to him, “O freshly bloomed flower of the orchard of youth! O pride and adornment of the garden of felicity! Why are you bent on eclipsing the spring of your life with the autumn of anguish? You have a face like a flower, but it is beginning to wilt. Come with us, make garlands, and have your fill of food in the evening. Or else you will die from hunger and thirst in the wilderness of the tilism and neither a morsel of food nor a drop of water will you find.” The prince answered, “Return to your work and stop trying to persuade me.” The gardeners went back to picking flowers.

  Finally that day also ended, and the slave girls arrived with salvers of food.

  The prince got up menacingly and ordered the slave girls to put all the food on the ground and leave. At his threats they called out to the prisoners, “Come quick! This fellow is stealing your food.” All the prisoners gathered there and accosted him. Asad broke the heads of a few of them with the hilt of his sword, slapped the slave girls and kicked the female laborers. He snatched all the food and stripped the slave girls of their clothes. He sat down within sight of the prisoners and started eating with great relish for their benefit. The slave girls returned naked to their mistress, crying and wailing loudly.

  PRINCESS MAHJABEEN DIAMOND-ROBE

  Their mistress was none other than Princess Mahjabeen Diamond-Robe, Emperor Afrasiyab’s niece and a princess of the tilism. On the first day of every New Year, Afrasiyab enthroned Princess Mahjabeen Diamond-Robe on the throne of the tilism and held festivities in her honor, in which eighteen thousand princesses and kings of the lands of Zahir the Manifest, Batin the Hidden, and Zulmat the Dark paid her their
allegiance and made her offerings.

  Because of Mahjabeen Diamond-Robe’s fondness for that meadow, Afrasiyab had constructed a house there for her. Mahjabeen Diamond-Robe lived in it with her aunt and Afrasiyab’s sister, sorceress Sandal the Crone.

  Sandal was away at Afrasiyab’s court when the slave girls arrived before Princess Mahjabeen Diamond-Robe crying. When the princess asked the reason for their distress, they replied that a new prisoner, who refused to make garlands and displayed the arrogance of might, had arrived in the tilism. He beat them as well as the other prisoners and snatched all the food.

  The princess said to them, “Send the palace guard to take the food to the prisoners.” The palace guard headed to the garden and the palanquin bearers walked behind her carrying salvers of food. Upon arrival, the palace guard called out, “O accursed prisoner, you have invited severe chastisement by raising your hand against royal officials and stealing food. How you bolt it down as if it was ordered for you! Indeed, your death flutters above your head.”

  Asad was incensed at these words and thought, I should make them suffer as much as I did in this horrible place. He rose and beat up the palace guard, took off her mantle and snatched her staff and bracelets. The palanquin bearers ran for safety, dropping the slavers of food. The prisoners of the Tilism of the Garden hid themselves in the first nook that offered a refuge.

  The great pandemonium created as Asad chased the palanquin bearers brought Princess Mahjabeen Diamond-Robe out from her house. She saw a beautiful youth chasing her servants.

  His two eyes were like two fawns who hunt beloveds

  His two eyebrows like two calamities were

  Whenever he opened his lips to laugh

  Salt on the hearts of lovers he sprinkled

  His face was resplendent as the sun and was set with a pair of coal black eyes. He was a latter day Yusuf in beauty. Even the dead in their graves opened their eyes to admire his bursting youth and winsome gait. The moment Princess Mahjabeen Diamond-Robe beheld him, she fell violently in love and called out, “There, there, O youth! What are you doing?”

  When the prince looked up he saw a fairy-like beloved who made his heart the prey of flying arrows of her gaze. He saw a luminous sun of the sky of excellence and an inestimable pearl of the oyster of love. Her jet black locks made light of the subterranean darkness. The luminous and neat parting of her hair was the envy of the Milky Way. Her forehead was bright and high like the aspirations of the lofty minded. Her brows were shaped like bows. Her breasts were swollen like pomegranates. Her perfect chin looked like a delicious apple. In her delicacy and charm she was like an elegantly cut ruby. Her gait was like the gait of the partridge dove, her speech sweet as a parrot’s, her height akin to a box tree, her cheeks as beautiful as the moon. Her shapeliness robbed the beauties of the world of all their conceit and they hid from her. She was the sun of the sky of elegance and beauty.

  The moment Prince Asad saw the light-incarnate beauty of Princess Mahjabeen Diamond-Robe he lost his heart and soul to her. The princess smiled and accosted Asad, saying, “O youth, the acts of stealing and thieving are most unbecoming. Tell me what you desire.” Regaled by her pearl-scattering speech, the prince replied, “O gracious friend! O essence of elegance! I was culpable of stealing food because I despaired for my life. I snatched food only after I had gone without several meals.” The princess said, “That you had been starving is obvious. But how can I help it? You must find yourself a shelter and a source of food.”

  The prince replied, “O Princess, I am thirsty for your comely sight and beg you the alms of your beauty.” The princess said, “Shamelessness is alive and well, I see. I ask you one thing and you reply about something else. I say one thing and you hear another. Go away! Leave now!” Asad answered, “O Princess, how can I leave now? Before the dictates of love we are all helpless. I would not raise my head from your doorstep now.”

  As they were having this conversation in the wilderness, the slave girls said to the princess, “It would be unwise to stay out in the open. Someone may accuse you of impropriety and cause you grief by pointing the finger of blame at you. It would be best to return home and bring him with you.” The princess said to Asad, “If you are really so starved, accompany me to my humble house. There you may have your meal and rest awhile.” Smiling and exultant, Prince Asad followed the princess to her house.

  Princess Mahjabeen Diamond-Robe left Asad behind and climbed the stairs to her room. She gave orders to her slave girls to set up a golden throne.

  In his eagerness, Prince Asad tried to follow the princess. After he had climbed a few steps he was suddenly lifted up by invisible hands and thrown down. The prince made another attempt and the same thing happened. He was thrown down similarly each time he tried to climb after the princess.

  In the meanwhile, the princess came out. She laughed at Prince Asad’s state, and said, “Did you think it would be child’s play to enter my chamber?” Then she said to her sorceress-aide, Dil Aaram, “Aunt Sandal put a magic cordon around my chamber so that no stranger could enter it. Work some spell so that a path is made through it, and I can take Asad inside.” Reciting an incantation, Dil Aaram struck her hands together and a path was immediately created through the magic cordon.

  Princess Mahjabeen took Prince Asad upstairs and seated him on the throne. At her orders, the slave girls laid out all manner of fine foods and tasty and colorful dishes. The princess said to Asad, “Help yourself and once you have eaten you may leave.” Asad replied, “O my life and soul, ever since I saw the apple of your chin my hunger and thirst have been satisfied. Now I am destined to feed on the flesh of my heart and drink my life blood. All I want now is to have you before my eyes. If you wish us to share food, step into the garden of True Faith, renouncing both sorcery and infidelity’s thorn-filled darkness.”

  The princess was stunned to hear these words. She thought awhile, then said, “I have not yet learned sorcery but I feel reservations about renouncing Lord Laqa and giving up the faith of Sameri. These names and persons are venerable and mighty.” Asad answered, “O Princess, if Laqa was indeed a true god, my grandfather Amir Hamza would not have been able to drive him from place to place.”

  Princess Mahjabeen was delighted when she heard Amir Hamza’s name and realized Asad was the scion of a noble and distinguished house. Enlightened by Asad’s words, she renounced Laqa worship. The prince and the princess then shared a meal while making love talk.

  SORCERESS SANDAL THE CRONE

  Suddenly, a whirlwind began to blow, they were enveloped in darkness and flaming bolts of lightning danced around them. Alarmed, the prince sought God’s protection from evil as he saw the hideous sorceress Sandal the Crone, arrive riding a dragon. She was wrapped in a black mantle and wore a blue kerchief on her head. Her hair was tangled and matted, her face was covered with clay, and necklaces of bones and skulls hung around her neck.

  Seeing Princess Mahjabeen cavorting with Asad, she called out, “O brazen girl! O destroyer of family honor! Who are you consorting with?” The princess hurriedly rose from Asad’s side and replied, “Aunt, this hungry and thirsty prisoner of the tilism has wandered here. I took pity on him, called him over and gave him food. Now I will send him away.”

  Sandal the Crone kept her silence but decided to change the princess’s residence thinking that if she continued to live there, she might become corrupted. Sandal knew that Afrasiyab’s prisoner was destined to die but she was captivated by Prince Asad’s comely looks, and said to herself, I am old and no one ever gives me a second look. I should ask Afrasiyab to spare this prisoner’s life and give him to me. This prisoner would be only too happy to have his life spared. I will take him with me and ravish him to my heart’s content. Indeed I must ravish him even now, and take him to my bed.

  Sandal the Crone made herself into a fifteen-year-old damsel by magic so that anyone who saw her was struck by her charm and beauty. She accosted Prince Asad and said, “O youth, it is improper
to thieve and steal.” Then she said to Princess Mahjabeen Diamond-Robe, “I am going to my room. Send him inside after persuading him to lie with me. I will then forgive your trespasses; otherwise you will be punished for cavorting with him.”

  After Sandal the Crone retired to her room, the princess said to Asad, “Congratulations! My aunt has fallen in love with you. What wonderful good luck that God bestowed on you a shapely and graceful beloved a mere seven-hundred-years old! Why indeed would you pay me any attention now! Go take your pleasure with her.”

  Asad rose without responding to the princess and headed toward Sandal’s room. Princess Mahjabeen Diamond-Robe’s eyes welled up with tears. She took Asad’s hand and said, “Have you already forgotten your professions of love? Or did you never mean what you said to me?” Prince Asad embraced the princess, wiped away her tears and consoled her, saying, “My love, I remain your slave. You will witness what I shall do when I am with this harridan Sandal.” The princess kept shedding tears but Asad tore himself away from her and entered Sandal’s room.

  Prince Asad saw Sandal sitting undressed on a throne with great coquetry. A tray of wine lay next to her. A couch with jewelled legs lay close by. Asad went and sat next to her. At first Sandal pretended coyness and ignored him, then gave Asad a cup of wine. Asad took it from her hand and said, “O love of my life, give me a sip from your cup so that I may drink what has touched your lips and bring solace to my heart. I am thirsty for the pure cup of union with you.” Prince Asad then picked Sandal up in his arms. While she cried, “No! No!” coquettishly, he laid her on the couch, put one hand on her neck, and entwined his legs with hers. Sandal reckoned that Prince Asad’s desire was awake, and her own would be now fulfilled.

 

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