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Hoshruba

Page 44

by Musharraf Ali Farooqi


  The false Mahrukh now returned to the court and sat on the throne.

  After some time, she said, “Lay out the food in the front yard. I wish to have my meal.” As ordered, the cook laid out the food and the false Mahrukh sat down to eat.

  Amar Ayyar removed his cape of invisibility and returned to the royal pavilion. When he came in and did not see Mahrukh on the throne, he asked for her. The courtiers told him she was having her meal in the front yard. When Amar came out, the false Mahrukh said, “Please have some food with me.” At first Amar declined but when the false queen insisted that he eat a little, Amar joined her.

  After they had eaten, the slave girls brought the bowls to wash their hands. The false Mahrukh offered Amar her hand towel, pushed her betel box toward him, and dismissed her attendants, saying, “You may wait for me in the court. I now wish to consult with Amar privately.” After they left, Amar wiped his mouth with the hand towel, which was steeped in a drug. Amar sneezed and immediately fell unconscious. Sarsar made a bundle of him, slit open the tent, and made her way speedily toward the River of Flowing Blood.

  The guards and soldiers saw her carrying a bundle but as she was disguised as their queen, they did not dare challenge her. However, Burq the Frank, who came from the direction of the wilderness, sighted the false Mahrukh flying out of the camp and recognized her as a trickster girl. He immediately drew his short sword and attacked her. Sarsar too, unsheathed hers and fought back. She approached Burq fighting and targeted him with her snare rope. Burq jumped up to clear its coils and upon landing hit Sarsar with an egg of oblivion, which made her sneeze and fall unconscious.

  As Burq reached for the bundled up Amar, he heard Saba Raftar’s war cry from the wilderness. She challenged Burq and fell upon him with her dagger drawn. As Burq fought her, Saba Raftar reached over to Sarsar and hit her in the face with an egg of awareness, which brought Sarsar to consciousness. Seeing Burq and Saba Raftar busy fighting, Sarsar saw her chance and ran away carrying Amar. As Burq tried to follow her, Saba Raftar blocked his path. Burq blew his trickster whistle so that another trickster would hear his call and stop Sarsar.

  Sarsar realized that if other tricksters came to Burq’s aid she would be cornered. She headed for the path that passed through the second tier of the Bridge of Magic Fairies. Sarsar called out, “O Bridge, give me way in the name of Emperor Afrasiyab!” The smoke parted immediately at her words, a path was revealed and Sarsar disappeared into it while Burq watched helplessly. Saba Raftar also dodged Burq and escaped, and the trickster returned to his camp.

  Upon arrival, Burq heard cries that Amar and Mahrukh had disappeared while having their meal. When Burq learned the details he said, “It appears to me that Sarsar carried away Amar and the real Mahrukh is lying unconscious somewhere in our camp.”

  The storekeeper said, “The queen had put something away in a chest. We should check its contents.” When Burq opened the chest he found Mahrukh locked within. He restored her to consciousness and seated her on the throne. The slave girl who had been rendered unconscious by Sarsar also returned to the court. Mahrukh was greatly distressed to hear of Amar’s capture and the whole camp continuously discussed the sad and tragic event.

  Now hear of the trickster girl Sarsar. As she escaped from Burq and passed over the Bridge of Magic Fairies, Amar regained consciousness. He opened his eyes and found himself tied in a bundle and carried on Sarsar’s back through a narrow, dark, and dreadful passageway that would turn the gall of braves to water. Amar regarded all this and kept silent.

  Sarsar now reached the Desert of Flames and called out, “O Desert of Flames, give me way in the name of Emperor Afrasiyab!” The flames made way too, and Sarsar crossed the Desert of Flames and came to stop when her path was blocked by a wall of darkness so intense that it could not be ascertained where the world ended and the heavens began.

  Suddenly, a sorcerer whose body glowed like a flame, materialized and caught Sarsar around her waist with a magic claw. He swung her over his head and hurled her into the air. Amar closed his eyes in fear and when he opened them after a moment he saw that a fiery magic slave was carrying them away. It arrived at a river of fire and dove into it where there was nothing but utter darkness. Amar was frightened out of his wits and kept silently reciting “Help, O Merciful God!” The fiery magic slave swam across the river and came out on the other bank. There, a magic trooper materialized and flew away, holding Sarsar by the hand.

  Finally, Amar saw a mountain appear in the distance. The magic trooper landed there and threw Sarsar down the mountain. Amar closed his eyes as Sarsar fell tumbling down. When he opened his eyes he saw Sarsar had landed in Afrasiyab’s Apple Garden.

  It was a garden that was created as a tilism. Protected from the hands of autumn, and the revolutions of time and chance, trees laden with flowers in eternal bloom lined the garden. Verdure and bright shrubbery refreshed the sight wherever one turned his gaze. The song birds and creatures made of magic sang and warbled in their honeyed tones, “O Afrasiyab! O Afrasiyab!” The garden’s entire landscape and buildings were a tilism. Every chamber and house was as charming as a fairy, with the columns and roof fitted with intricate fixtures and the summerhouse clustered with jewels.

  An array of aromatic herbs and flowers grew there

  An array of tilisms populated that expanse

  The walls and doors were made with magic

  On a different scheme than all doors and houses

  Neither fire could burn nor rain soak them

  Neither summer nor winter within were felt

  If one desired a thing within its walls

  That object presently appeared on a shelf therein

  The birds and beasts there of jewels were carved

  They ambled and flew far within its walls

  Roamed in the shape of animals all day

  And worked in the form of humans all night long

  Lustrous night lamp rubies embedded in walls

  In the day shone as rubies, in the night glowed as lamps

  Every flower, every thorn in that garden was of magic made

  Its roses and rose buds had no equal in creation

  The hours of clocks chimed and invisible, rang

  With the sound of dancing and clapping

  When left open the garden chambers

  Rang with the music of a myriad instruments

  And once closed the chambers gave off

  A thousand pleasant strains organ like

  Velvet carpets laid out and spread on its floors

  With the runes from Suleiman’s time on it inscribed

  The drapes and curtains in that garden’s tilism

  Drew at one’s desire and closed at one’s wish

  Afrasiyab sat on a throne in the center of the summerhouse and gave audience. Thousands of sorcerers stood humbly before him with their arms folded on their breasts.

  Upon arrival, Sarsar saluted the emperor and put the bundle of Amar before him. She said, “I present the emperor’s enemy. Your Honor’s slave girl performed the mission given her and risked her life to produce Amar before you.” Afrasiyab conferred a precious robe of honor on Sarsar and said, “Open the bundle.”

  The bundle was not yet opened when a magic claw brought the letter from King Suleiman Amber-Hair in which he had given an account of sorceress Hasina’s death and sought Afrasiyab’s aid at Laqa’s behest.

  Afrasiyab read Suleiman Amber-Hair’s note and wrote to Laqa in reply:

  “Your humble slave has captured Amar Ayyar, the deadly enemy of Your Lordship. I request you to send your devil designate, Bakhtiarak, to kill him with his own hand. On his return journey, I will accompany him with an army of sorcerers that will destroy Hamza’s forces.”

  Afrasiyab handed the message to sorceress Princess Khumar to take immediately to Laqa.

  SORCERESS KHUMAR

  Bearing the emperor’s reply, Princess Khumar flew away by magic and speedily arrived at the fortress of Mount Agate. In d
eference to Laqa, she decided to announce her arrival at the gates of the court.

  It so happened that the trickster Chalak had come to Mount Agate to spy on Laqa and his court in a macebearer’s disguise. Sorceress Khumar saw him standing at the gates and said to him, “O macebearer, announce in the court that Emperor Afrasiyab’s messenger sorceress Khumar has arrived from Hoshruba with a letter from the emperor.” The false macebearer replied, “Wait here, I will go and announce your arrival.” He stepped inside, waited a few moments, then came out and said to Khumar, “Come with me, O Princess, and receive your instructions.”

  Khumar followed Chalak, who brought her to a deserted corner and gave her a fruit, saying, “Lord Laqa has sent this fruit for you to eat before you appear in his presence. It will make your body glow with our lord’s divine light.”

  Khumar prostrated herself and said, “O lucky me! His Lordship shows such munificence, even toward his insignificant creatures. No sooner have I arrived than I receive a gift from his bounty!” After expressing her gratitude, Princess Khumar ate the fruit. The effects of that drugged fruit became manifest to Khumar immediately upon eating it. Her head went down and her feet went up and she fell unconscious.

  Chalak saw his chance. He took out his razor and shaved Khumar’s head clean. Then he took out Afrasiyab’s message from her bag and replaced it with one of his own composition. Afterwards, Chalak headed for Laqa’s court to await Khumar’s arrival.

  After some hours, Khumar regained consciousness. She got to her feet and said to herself, I must have lost consciousness from eating the fruit Lord Laqa sent. Indeed, such must be one of its properties. Surely, when the pollution and contamination of the former self are purged and the soul is renewed, a person would lose consciousness. Clearly, I am as clean and pure today as the moment I came out of my mother’s womb. Engrossed in these thoughts, Khumar headed for Laqa’s court. Every now and then she inspected her limbs to see if they had started glowing with divine light. It never occurred to her that her hair had been shaved off.

  Khumar entered the court and prostrated herself when she saw Laqa on the throne. The courtiers started laughing at the sight of the shaven-headed sorceress. Laqa said to Khumar, “Raise your head, O being of my creation! I bestow my mercy upon you.” Khumar finally raised her head and Laqa offered her a chair beside his throne. As she took her seat, Bakhtiarak addressed the court, reciting,

  “Neither her beauty altered nor my passion showed variance Even with her locks shaved I remain as miserable as before.”

  Khumar did not understand the import of what Bakhtiarak said. She produced the envelope from her bag and offered it to Laqa. At a sign from Laqa, his court secretary took the envelope from Khumar, opened it and took out the letter. Seeing that it was full of invectives and insults, he humbly said to Laqa, “I am unable to read this letter as it seems to be written in a talismanic hand.”

  Bakhtiarak said, “Let me read it.” When the court secretary gave him the letter and Bakhtiarak read it, he laughed uproariously and said, “Listen to the words of this missive, O Lord! It reads:

  ‘Hear, O disgraced bastard, clown, ass, idiot, pimp, inane bear of the dark path, who is monkey-like, swine-natured, hideous of face, ill-born, astray, foolish-faced, dark of complexion and darker of disposition – to wit, Zamarrud Shah, alias Laqa – who is eternally cursed in the court of heavens and blighted by God. Hear this, O accursed creature after thousands upon thousands of curses, and may God make you a burning log in hell! You turned thousands of creatures away from the True Faith. You are ordered to present yourself forthwith in the dignified court of Amir Hamza the Lord of the Auspicious Planetary Conjunction to convert to the True Faith and renounce your false claim of divinity, otherwise my forces will march against you and I will depute an army of sorcerers to bring you to the door of ruin and destruction; the eyes of regret will shed tears at your terrible end and none will remain who will even remember your name. Consider this short message a memorandum of ample warning. End of Letter. Thousands of curses upon your head!’”

  Laqa growled angrily like thunder and shouted, “That bastard Afrasiyab has courted a terrible calamity. I will now destroy him with an inauspicious fate and dispatch him hellward.”

  Witnessing Laqa in a rage, sorceress Khumar shook like an aspen leaf and said, “My Lord, this was indeed not the message sent by the Emperor of Hoshruba. It appears that along the way someone replaced the original. After Amar was captured and brought before Emperor Afrasiyab, he told his court secretary to write you to request sending your devil designate Bakhtiarak to kill Amar with his own hands and return leading an army of sorcerers to Mount Agate. Instead, I heard abuses written in this letter. It confounds me to think of an explanation for this marvel. But you are the Lord Almighty! To your eye all mysteries must be manifest and clear.”

  When he heard this speech, Bakhtiarak said, “Now I know how the letter was changed. Indeed, it is impossible to capture Amar. I know that he must have disguised another in his likeness and had him arrested. Amar must have accompanied you here secretly and found his chance to make you unconscious and replace the letter.”

  Bakhtiarak then asked Khumar, “O Princess, is it a fashion in Hoshruba for the women to shave their heads?”

  Khumar thought that Bakhtiarak spoke in jest. She replied, “O devil designate of Lord Laqa, it is indeed your function to make light of everyone. But I am too insignificant a creature and a mere devotee of our Lord to be a worthy target of your quips. Why do you imagine the women of Hoshruba would shave their heads when it is reputed that their ringlets are the fetters for lovers’ hearts and those bitten by the dark snakes of their captivating locks do not draw another breath?” Bakhtiarak said, “In that case, did you make a vow that you would shave your head before your audience with Lord Laqa? Feel your head; you will know whether or not you have any hair left on it or if I spoke in jest.”

  Khumar felt her head and realized that Bakhtiarak spoke true. Her head was shaved clean; not so much as a bristle was left standing. She broke into tears and cried, “O Bakhtiarak, you spoke true when you said that Amar must have accompanied me here. Indeed, I felt a heavy burden on my shoulders. I am sure he rode me all the way. Today I was given fruit to eat by a macebearer that made me unconscious. That man must have been Amar. He had shaved my head once before.”

  Bakhtiarak cried loudly, “Blessings upon Muhammad and his progeny! Curses upon Laqa! Regard, O Khumar, what a favored creature Amar is of Lord Laqa that he showed you this day! You will presently see him make an appearance.”

  Be it known that Bakhtiarak said these words only to check whether or not Amar Ayyar was present in Laqa’s court, for he knew well that Amar revealed himself whenever he was praised. Next, Bakhtiarak said, addressing Amar, “O True Master, pray show us your face if Your Honor has arrived here!”

  Chalak, who was present in Laqa’s court, had witnessed all these proceedings. He said to himself, I should appear before them in Amar Ayyar’s disguise. When Khumar sees him in Laqa’s court she will be satisfied and tell Afrasiyab that she saw Amar at Mount Agate. Afrasiyab will become doubtful and think that the one he captured was not Amar. He will release the real Amar and everyone would praise my trickery, which secured Amar Ayyar’s release from hundreds of miles away.

  Chalak went out of the court to assume the disguise. Bakhtiarak had not finished eulogizing about Amar when Chalak jumped over the pavilion and landed in the center of the court in Amar Ayyar’s disguise. To make sure that Bakhtiarak was satisfied with his identity, he conspicuously displayed a false mole on the white of his left eye and cried, “O Khumar! You barely escaped my hands! I had every intention of killing you!”

  When Khumar saw Amar she rushed at him, shouting, “O wretch deserving of beheading, you have invited your death by shaving my head a second time and disgracing me in the tilism and the court of Lord Laqa.” As she neared him, the false Amar Ayyar hit her in the face with an egg of oblivion. Khumar fell unconscious upo
n impact and the false Amar leapt away and escaped. Laqa’s attendants were well accustomed to the tricksters’ ways and knew better than to waste their time by giving them chase. None of them stirred from their place.

  Bakhtiarak restored Khumar to consciousness and said to her, “O Princess, now you should go back and show your shaved head to Afrasiyab, describe to him what passed with you, and take the reply to his missive.”

  Bakhtiarak dictated a reply to Afrasiyab’s letter from Laqa, which read:

  “I bestow my mercies on the Emperor of Hoshruba, Afrasiyab, who is a favorite among my favored creatures. Be it known to him that he is an unmindful king, easily tricked by his servants. His trickster girl brought him someone in the disguise of Amar Ayyar and he never felt the least suspicion. Amar Ayyar followed his messenger to our court. It would be little wonder if one day Amar killed him too, taking advantage of his lax guard. It is unworthy of our devil designate to visit the court of such a negligent and unaware person. He will pay the Emperor of Hoshruba a visit when he arrests the real Amar Ayyar. Now it is incumbent upon the emperor to send an army of sorcerers to the aid of His Lord or else His Lordship will visit his divine wrath on his tilism and go away in anger.”

  The court secretary wrote the letter, stamped it with Laqa’s seal, and handed it to sorceress Khumar. After receiving the letter, she prostrated herself before Laqa and said, “O Lord! Make my hair grow back.” Laqa replied, “Come to me on the day of Nowruz.119 I will grant you such beauty and charm that even the houris of my heaven will envy you and you will receive eternal youth.”

 

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