While the tricksters made these preparations, Amar Ayyar headed along the bank of the River of Flowing Blood and arrived at a colorful garden that was the envy of paradise. Tall and soaring trees lined the garden. Every plant was bestowed richly by the bounty of the Eternal Gardener. And yet the garden was draped in sorrow and every flower sat on its branch with a rent collar, robbed of its beauty and charm.
Amar entered the garden and witnessed a woman dressed in black, who sat surrounded by several hundred slave girls wailing and lamenting. The woman was none other than the wife of sorceress Aafat, Princess Hilal Magic-Wringer. In the past, she had used that garden in Zahir for her pleasure jaunts; now she stopped there to spend the night in mourning before joining her husband to burn alongside him. That luminous moon of beauty sat marked by the eclipse of dread in the midst of her attendants, remembering her husband and suffering violent pangs of grief.
When Amar heard her lamentations, he realized she was sorcerer Aafat’s wife. Amar hid in a garden nook and disguised himself as an old woman. White-haired, with bent back and walking with the help of a stick, the false old woman arrived before Princess Hilal crying, “Ah, my son!” She introduced herself as Aafat’s nanny, vowed her life’s sacrifice to keep the princess from harm, and cried copiously in her embrace. Then she said to Princess Hilal, “O Princess, accompany me to the gate of the garden. Come alone as I am going to attempt your husband’s rescue and want you to hear the details.” Princess Hilal left her slave girls behind and followed the false old woman, who led her to a deserted spot and made her unconscious with an egg of oblivion. Amar now disguised himself as Princess Hilal, put on her clothes and put the real princess into his zambil.
The false Princess Hilal returned to her companions. After a few moments, she declared, “Lord! Lord!”116 Her companions and slaves fell down at her feet and cried, “O delicate flower of beauty’s garden, consider your youth and desist from the thoughts of dying with your husband. For the sake of lords Sameri and Jamshed, keep the fire of separation from burning your heart away.” The false Hilal answered,
“The one struck by fatal love’s arrow
Finds life a veritable burden to pass.
“I would not feed my body to the fire of disunion. I find it far preferable to die united with my lover and escape separation’s blaze.” The false princess cried bitterly after calling out,
“No one should witness the flame of searing love rising
Lovers burn and turn to ash without giving out smoke.”
Then the false princess sang,
“If my lips utter a sigh it would burn up the world, set
aflame the forest
But this wicked heart remains unburned though my sighs fill it.”
Then she ordered her attendants, “Bring my bridal dress and costume. I will decorate myself for my last journey on the path to eternal union when I enter the assembly of spirits in the company of my husband.”
The attendants brought out the dress and jewelery and carried them on trays to the false Princess Hilal, who decorated her locks, strung pearls in her hair, and left it loose. As she adorned herself, the layer of missi and lac dye on her lips was so captivating it robbed the lovers of all their sensory possessions and bled their souls. She decked herself in a red dress to further ignite the flame of love in the hearts of lovers; her attire showed her breasts to advantage with their high angle, further robbing the lovers of their peace of mind.
In short, after she was all dressed, fragrant as the jasmine and adorned as a sati,117 her lovely slave girls worshipped her and placed garlands and sweetmeat offerings around that delicate beauty. The false Princess Hilal sat on her throne and laughed joyously, for
Happy and cheerful she headed for her lover’s court
The false Hilal tossed and played with a magic coconut as the carriers led her throne to the pyre.
As she was carried along the paths of the tilism, sorcerers, citizens of the tilism and other creatures followed her. All of them promised offerings in her name if she answered their prayers. They worshipped her and asked for her blessings. When the false Princess Hilal saw throngs crowding the way, she stopped the procession and sang the denunciations of the worthless world. She enjoined everyone to engross themselves in thoughts of God. She said, “Hear that the one who loves his Lord, in whose soul the Lord resides, whose heart the Lord fills with Himself, the one who gives up his body and soul in His name, for such a one it is easy to give up life too. Without the oppressive garb of bodily existence, he discovers true happiness. The perfect act in this world is to love the Lord, for it leads to being in His presence every moment and becoming one with Him in the end.”
Pipes and cymbals played before the sati’s throne. She offered some the flowers torn from her garlands; to others she gave the ashes from the ceremonial worship fire. She went along her path offering injunctions to all who would listen.
Finally, the bright and luminous star emerged from the dome of the east, burning in the fire of separation of the Night Sky’s Beauty,118 and rode out on the throne of heaven to show the world the burn marks of his lover’s heart.
By the time it was daylight, the sati’s procession arrived in the field where the pyre had been built. Afrasiyab came out of his bedchamber and took his seat in the Dome of Light.
The calamity-struck Aafat, with his grieving heart, prayed continuously to God. He importuned the Lord and prayed to Him in the name of His favored ones, saying, “O my Lord, like Mahrukh, I too have converted to the True Faith. Ward off this calamity from my head.”
Sorcerer Aafat had not finished praying when a commotion suddenly rose and the false Princess Hilal’s procession arrived there. All those assembled rushed to see her. They thronged around her throne and inquired of her about their prospects. Some were curious to know when a child would be born to them. One who was destitute inquired when he would come into riches and estate. The false Princess Hilal answered their queries and her procession kept moving onward.
Witnessing the hubbub, Afrasiyab asked the sorcerers in his court, “What is the reason for this disturbance?” One of them answered, “The wife of sorcerer Aafat has arrived to burn with her husband as a sati.” When Afrasiyab sent for the false sati and she arrived before him, the emperor nearly lost consciousness, overwhelmed by her great beauty.
Afrasiyab endlessly reasoned with her, saying, “O charming beloved, give up the thought of dying a sati and ask me for land and riches and take me for your slave in love.” That false, moon-faced beauty answered, “O Emperor, my spirit would attain peace only when the fire of separation is quenched in my heart. Without it, gold and riches and estate are all as dirt to me.”
The sorcerers had already seated Aafat atop the pyre as instructed by the emperor. The false princess jumped down from the throne, joined Aafat and seated him in her lap.
The sorcerers approached and burned a lamp under her palm to collect lamp black and test whether or not her love was true and whether or not the fire of love had already consumed her body and soul. Everyone bore witness to the truth of her love: the flame did not burn her hand, the false princess Hilal kept smiling as lamp black collected on her palm.
By now the field was fully crowded. Empress Heyrat and her sorcerers stood around the pyre. Zargham and Jansoz, who were busy making arrangements in sorcerers’ disguises, brought canisters of oil and butter they had mixed with drugs and poured them on the logs of the pyre. Burq the Frank, disguised as sorcerer Tadbir, lit up a bunch of dried grass and threw it on the logs. Immediately, a flame blazed and sheets of fire rose up from the pyre. Amar – still disguised as the false Hilal – wrapped Aafat in the Net of Ilyas, stuffed him into the zambil and jumped into the cavity at the center of the pyre. Qiran already awaited him at the tunnel’s mouth and led Amar out the other end.
In the meanwhile, the whole pyre caught flame and smoke rose from the drugs sprinkled on the logs. The drug potions mixed in the oil and butter that Zargham and Jansoz had poured
on the pyre spread for miles. One after the other, the sorcerers who were gathered around the pyre, including Empress Heyrat, sneezed, and fell unconscious.
With faint repellent plugs in their noses, Amar and Qiran made their war cries, drew their daggers and began beheading enemy sorcerers. Soon Burq the Frank, Zargham and Jansoz also joined the killing spree.
Hearing the war cries of the tricksters, Queen Mahrukh, Princesses Bahar, Nafarman, Surkh Mu and others appeared in the sky and emerged from the ground to wreak havoc with their spells. They hurled steel magic balls, magic citrons and magic limes that shattered the spines of enemy sorcerers. As they died, the flames conflagrated higher and whirlwinds swept the field. The smoke rose so densely and in such abundance that it filled the chamber of the Dome of Light from where Afrasiyab surveyed the scene. All his courtiers were drugged senseless upon inhaling it. The Emperor of Hoshruba, who leaned out of the window, became unconscious himself and fell tumbling down the Dome of Light. Suddenly, the earth cleft and magic slaves emerged from the ground and caught him to break his fall.
Mahrukh Magic-Eye’s army came out of their hiding place and ambushed Afrasiyab’s sorcerers, who were killed, not in the thousands but in the hundreds of thousands. A wave of carnage surged and covered the foe. A river of blood began to flow.
When Mahrukh unsheathed the magic sword
Sparks flew in the thousands
Lightning and thunderbolts everywhere struck
The enemy corpses piled up in the battlefield
Such a terrible din rose from the arena
The old man heavens trembled with fear
The foe disappeared into fires of hell
Where Mehshar Lightning-Bolt fell
Like death, come to separate the body from soul
Like a thunderbolt it hovered on the head of the foe
The Cow of the Earth averted its eyes
From the blinding flash in the heavens
Even the bright star of the skies trembled with fear
When it recalled its flash and glare
From the sword’s dazzling flash
All vegetation burned up all of a sudden
The flames of the sword burned brighter
And like clouds heads began to shower blood
Amar looted the enemy’s goods and belongings and stripped the dead of their clothes. During the ensuing commotion, magic slaves carried Empress Heyrat to safety. They also restored Afrasiyab to consciousness. When he opened his eyes, Afrasiyab beheld the field in a doomsday like ferment, with his men swimming in blood and gore. Too ashamed by the sight, he awakened Heyrat from her faint and, by growing magic wings with a spell, flew away toward the region of Zulmat.
After Heyrat regained her senses, she invoked a magic cloud that rained and brought everyone to consciousness. As Heyrat prepared to repulse the attackers, Queen Mahrukh and Princess Bahar realized that they would be unable to capture the Dome of Light, and if Heyrat ordered the River of Flowing Blood to do so, it would surround them and they would become its prisoners. They immediately sounded the clarion to call their armies back to camp. The tricksters retreated into the wilderness. Thus, after the bloodshed and slaughter of the foe, Queen Mahrukh’s triumphant force returned to the safety of their encampment where large scale celebrations and revels were planned.
In the meanwhile, Amar and his trickster companions also presented themselves. Amar took sorcerer Aafat and Princess Hilal Magic-Wringer out of the zambil. Finding themselves rescued from the jaws of death and in the safety of the royal pavilion, they looked around in surprise.
Amar gave them all the details and said, “O Aafat, it was I who rescued you from the pyre in the disguise of the sati.” Aafat prostrated himself before Amar, who raised him into his embrace. Aafat made an offering to Queen Mahrukh and was awarded a robe of honor. Aafat and his wife Hilal were assigned their own pavilion, where they retired to rest and celebrate.
The bodies of Empress Heyrat’s slain sorcerers were carried away on her orders and her army returned crying and wailing to its camp. Heyrat thought of avenging herself on Mahrukh’s camp but decided to wait for Afrasiyab’s instructions in the matter.
By this time, a downcast Afrasiyab returned from Zulmat to the Apple Garden. He angrily ordered his first minister, Baghban Magic-Gardener, “Bring Amar a prisoner from Mahrukh’s court and punish anyone who interferes.”
Baghban sank into the ground by magic to travel subterraneously to avoid the danger of encountering tricksters.
In Mahrukh’s court, Amar Ayyar suddenly felt disquieted and became apprehensive. He realized that after suffering that terrible humiliation at his hands, the Emperor of Hoshruba would not let the matter pass but would try to take revenge. Amar said to himself, Afrasiyab will certainly dispatch someone to arrest me. It would be best for me to go into hiding.
Amar brought out a Kashmiri warrior from his zambil.
Be it known that Amar keeps many infidel sorcerers and warriors as prisoners in his zambil. They are fed by their jinn guards and the confines of the zambil appear to be a city to these prisoners. Furthermore, there are seven cities within the zambil. This zambil, which appears to the human eye in the shape of a small purse, was gifted to Amar by Prophet Aadam the Friend of God.
Amar made the Kashmiri unconscious, disguised the man as himself, put him into a bed in the front yard of the royal pavilion, and then disappeared by putting on the cape of invisibility.
In the meantime, Afrasiyab’s minister tore out of the earth in Mahrukh’s court and shouted, “Baghban Magic-Gardener is my name!” Mahjabeen’s sorcerer commanders hurled steel magic balls and magic citrons at him. Baghban foiled them and recited a spell that started a cold breeze that put Mahrukh’s entire court to sleep. When Baghban did not find Amar in the court, he decided to search outside before looking for Amar in the wilderness. He searched for Amar in the yards and inside the tents until he found him asleep in the yard and carried him off, putting a magic claw around Amar’s waist.
Before flying away, Baghban removed his spell from Mahrukh’s court. As they returned to consciousness, he shouted from the sky, “O rebels, the emperor only gave me orders to arrest Amar or else I would have beheaded all of you. I am taking Amar away. Is there any among you powerful enough to snatch him from me?”
The sorcerers in Mahrukh’s court readied their magic coconuts and magic devices to fight him again but Amar, who was present there in his cape of invisibility, whispered into Mahrukh’s ear, “I am hidden under the cape of invisibility. Stop your sorcerers from challenging him.”
Mahrukh intervened and said to her courtiers, “Do not confront him. God will protect Amar. Let Baghban take him away.” The sorcerers did not challenge Baghban, who flew away and in a short time arrived in the Apple Garden and threw the false Amar before Afrasiyab.
The emperor summoned the headman and ordered that the prisoner be brought to consciousness and executed. The sorcerers restored the false Amar to his senses. When the Kashmiri warrior opened his eyes he was confounded to find himself in the court of the majestic emperor. When he saluted Afrasiyab, the emperor said, “Regard O wretched trickster how quickly I apprehended you. Now you will die a most painful death!” The warrior said, “O Emperor, I am your humble servant, not a trickster. I am of your own faith – a Laqa worshipper.” Afrasiyab replied, “I will never be deceived by your false words again.” He ordered the executioner, “Kill him!”
The warrior again beseeched Afrasiyab, “O Emperor, satisfy yourself by every means but do me justice. I am from Kashmir. The True Believers defeated me and wished to convert me to their faith but I did not accept. Then Amar imprisoned me in his zambil. I am still perplexed by the way I was released and brought here.” Afrasiyab became doubtful when he heard his imploring and pleading and looked into the Book of Sameri. It read:
“The warrior tells the truth. Amar disguised him in his likeness. Then Baghban carried him away.”
Afrasiyab ordered that the face of the
warrior should be washed. The paints and lotions washed away and the warrior’s real face was revealed. Afrasiyab released him and conferred a robe of honor on him, and the warrior entered the emperor’s service.
Afrasiyab now said to Baghban, “It was not Amar whom you produced before me.” Baghban answered, “I brought him here thinking he was Amar. I should not be faulted since I am not adept in the art of tricksters; I truly thought it was Amar.”
Afrasiyab accepted Baghban’s excuse. The emperor now sent a magic claw to fetch the trickster girl Sarsar from Heyrat’s camp. The magic claw produced Sarsar in no time. When Sarsar saluted the emperor, Afrasiyab said, “You are a trickster. Search for Amar Ayyar and bring him to me a prisoner. If you fail me I swear upon my faith that I will kill you with my own hands. Do you not see the daring deeds performed by the enemy tricksters? What is the purpose of my having you as a trickster girl?”
Sarsar went away trembling in fear of the emperor’s wrath. She armed herself and departed on her mission. When she crossed the River of Flowing Blood, she met up with the other trickster girls and gave them the news. While they left to perform their trickeries, Sarsar disguised herself as an attendant and arrived in Mahrukh Magic-Eye’s camp.
As Sarsar made her rounds, she saw one of Mahrukh’s slave girls leave her pavilion on an errand. Sarsar approached her and said, “I request that you find me employment with the queen.” The attendant answered, “Go and submit your request in the court. I have no say in these matters.” Sarsar accompanied her and they went conversing together until they reached a deserted spot. There, Sarsar made her unconscious with an egg of oblivion and assumed her appearance, putting on the attendant’s costume and making herself into her likeness.
Then Sarsar returned to Mahrukh’s court. When she appeared before the queen, Mahrukh said, “Go and put a water bowl by the chair in the privy chamber. I have to attend to the call of nature.” Sarsar filled the water bowl and carried it there. In the meanwhile, Mahrukh also made her way there. Sarsar found her chance to make Mahrukh unconscious with an egg of oblivion. She then sat down to make herself into Mahrukh’s likeness and put on her clothes. Sarsar tied Mahrukh into a bundle and carried it dangling from one hand, heading for the storage area. She asked the attendants of the storage to step out as she wished to put something away in privacy. After they left, the false Mahrukh locked the real Mahrukh in a chest. Then she sent for the attendants, showed them the chest and said, “You are warned on pain of death not to open this chest!” The attendants put the royal seal on the chest.
Hoshruba Page 43