Unbloodied was left not a patch of ground
None was left alive in Baran’s camp. But as they were at the banks of the River of Flowing Blood and within easy reach of Afrasiyab’s renowned sorcerers on the other side of the river, Queen Mahrukh did not stay there long after the carnage and turned back to her encampment. Except for Amar, who was captured by sorceress Khumar, all other tricksters were freed and accompanied Mahrukh.
SORCERER GUHAR BAR THE PEARL-RAINER AND SORCERESS SADAF THE OYSTER
It was already night by the time they began their march. The luminous moon with its army of stars descended into the arena of the heavens and the great star hid its face from fear. After marching for some twenty miles, Mahrukh’s army realized they had lost their way. Mahrukh said, “It appears from the sights we see around us that we are in the region of Batin. Let us take another direction lest we are captured. It will be very difficult to escape if we are lost here.” Bahar answered, “You speak true. Let us hurry and leave.”
They changed direction and headed to their right. After they had marched another twenty miles, they saw a majestic palace that was lavishly appointed. It was draped with curtains of green, red and yellow Kashan velvet.140 Its doors were carved of sandalwood, and it had canopies of gold brocade and screens of pearl strings. Dew-catchers covered its roof while jewel-encrusted gold and silver water basins were installed outside. Many-colored glass lights, chandeliers, glass shades, lustres and crystal shades made in the shape of lotus flowers illuminated the palace. For miles on end, the expanse was decorated with colored crystal bowls potted with blossoming roses, tulips, narcissi, jasmines and poppies. Peacocks and pheasants preened themselves at the acclivity of the mountains that surrounded the place. Watercourses crisscrossed that most captivating and blossoming expanse and waterfalls cascaded down from the mountains in sheets.
A wondrous palace whose doors
With gold brocade canopies were equipped
It was adorned with gold-threaded screens and curtains
And outdoors, spring humbly stood
The silver strings stretched through the palace
Like moonbeams across the sky
The screens like the eyelashes
Enmeshed and hindered the vision
The feet of desire were tempted
By the velvet carpet spread indoors
Where the redolent unguents burned
Perfuming night and day the mind
With a gold thread carpet the ground was covered
From the Earth to the sky it shone
Earth’s surface and the face of the sky
Like the gold and silver foils it made
All white were the doors and roofs
Every arch appeared the morn of hope
Both Earth and sky were made of light
Wherever one turned one’s gaze there was light
All of them stopped in that captivating and blooming expanse to revive their spirits with such pleasant sights. Suddenly, a voice called out, “O Sorceress, watch where you trespass. this is one of the palaces used by the Emperor of Hoshruba for his excursions. You must retreat into a nook if you wish to rest here for the night.”
Mahrukh said to sorceress Mehshar Lightning-Bolt, “God knows what place this is and whose voice warned us. I never saw this palace in all my life. We are lost and must do all in our power to escape.”
Queen Mahrukh and others invoked their magic and rose into the air. They flew left for another twenty miles but no matter which direction they took they saw the same sights and mountains and tulip beds. Before long they had traversed a distance of three days march and yet they found themselves in the same expanse. Finally, they descended and Princess Bahar said to Mahrukh, “God’s will be done. We must spend the night here. In the morning we will find our way out. We should not fear anyone because we are no easy prey.”
While they conversed, a sorcerer appeared and said, “O Princesses, I recognize you and your friends. You are the ones who rebelled against Afrasiyab. But I have no enmity against you. You may rest here for the night and depart in the morning.” Mahrukh asked, “Can we get something to eat?” He answered, “Yes, everything will be provided.” After saying that, he left and returned momentarily with platters of food and wine. A carpet was spread on the floor at Mahrukh and Bahar’s orders and they sat down to eat and drink.
They asked the sorcerer, “What is your name and the name of this place?” He replied, “My name is Guhar Bar the Pearl-Rainer and I live in the environs. This is Mount Quartz – one of the areas where the Emperor of Hoshruba, Afrasiyab, comes for his excursions. For hundreds of miles the area between the regions of Zahir and Batin are similarly adorned. The River of Flowing Blood flows out of a pass in Mount Quartz. Where you have set camp is within the bounds of the Zahir region.”
The sorcerer Guhar Bar stayed with them until it grew late. Then he took his leave and went home and narrated the whole account of Mahrukh’s arrival to his mother, sorceress Sadaf the Oyster. She said to him, “My son, you must not allow them to rest here lest Afrasiyab should hear that we offered refuge to his enemies and makes us the target of his approbation.” Guhar Bar replied, “They will leave on their own accord in the morning. We have no issue with them and there is no witness to report anything to Afrasiyab.” His mother fell silent but later sent a message in secret to Empress Heyrat with a magic slave, containing an entire account of the events that had taken place.
Heyrat came to learn of them and said to her sorceress-aide, Zamarrud, “It appears that sorcerer Baran was killed. But all praise to the glory of Emperor Afrasiyab, we know that Mahrukh and his other enemies are now camped at Mount Quartz. There is nowhere they can run from there.” Both her sorceress-aides, Zamarrud and Yaqut answered, “May the calamities that mark you strike us instead. The Emperor of Hoshruba must have ordered his magic to encircle them.”
Heyrat mounted her magic peacock and departed for Afrasiyab’s court carrying sorceress Sadaf the Oyster’s letter. Upon arrival, she sat beside Afrasiyab and gave him sorceress Sadaf’s message. Afrasiyab read it and said, “I was also informed by the magic slaves that Baran had been killed and the prisoners set free. Now I have learned that they are camped at Mount Quartz. I will have them captured at once.”
SORCERER KAMIL
Afrasiyab recited a spell and struck his hands. A pitch-black, ungainly and ill-fated sorcerer presented himself. Afrasiyab ordered him, saying, “O sorcerer Kamil, the rebels are camped at Mount Quartz. Bring me all of them captive.” The sorcerer departed at Afrasiyab’s orders. Then Afrasiyab said to another sorcerer, “Go and tell the trickster girls to depart for Mount Quartz and safeguard sorcerer Kamil.”
The sorcerer dispatched by Afrasiyab with the message to the trickster girls conveyed the emperor’s orders to them and they left on their mission.
Now Afrasiyab said to Heyrat, “I will hold a fair at the Emerald Well in celebration of the rebels’ capture and destroy all of them. You should return to your camp and await my orders.” The empress departed and arrived at her camp.
Meanwhile, sorcerer Kamil arrived beside Mount Quartz and cried, “Hear O ingrates, there is nowhere you can run now!” He recited a spell on a magic coconut and threw it toward Mahrukh’s camp. It burst and released forty magic slaves. They shouted, “O rebels, your death brought you here!”
Bahar recited a spell and answered, “Who do you call a rebel? We are the believers of Sameri, Zardhasht and Jamshed, and the loyal subjects of Emperor Afrasiyab.” Kamil replied, “You are liars, you ingrates. Were you loyal, this calamity would not have struck you.” With these words, he signalled to the magic slaves, who surrounded Mahrukh and her army.
Sorcerer Kamil then threw a second magic coconut and it caused both Mahrukh and Bahar to sink up to their waists into the ground. They recited counterspells but to no avail. The magic slaves chained all of them with one chain and led them onward.
Sorceress Mehshar Lightning-Bolt and Raad, who had slept b
y the banks of a spring far from Mahrukh and her companions, escaped being imprisoned. When they woke up and returned to where Mahrukh and others had camped they found no one there. They flew in search of them and saw a sorcerer leading them away as prisoners tied with one chain. Seeing this, Raad sank into the ground and emerged beside sorcerer Kamil, who was taken unawares. When Raad screamed, Kamil fell unconscious from the deafening blast. Immediately, sorceress Mehshar struck from the heavens, cleaving Kamil in two, and sinking into the ground.
A terrible roar arose: “I was Killed, Sorcerer Kamil was my name!” All forty magic slaves created by Kamil’s magic were destroyed at his death. The links of the magic chain fell open and all the prisoners were released.
In the meanwhile, the collar of the morning was rent to reveal the world-illuminating sun. Mahrukh and her companions saw the path back to their camp. They headed toward it in a procession but the tricksters separated and took a separate path so that they might help them in time of need.
SORCERESS CHASHMAK ZAN LIGHTNING-BOLT
While Mahrukh and her warriors departed for their camp, Afrasiyab’s magic slave girls alerted him that sorcerer Kamil had been killed. He immediately sent for sorceress Chashmak Zan Lightning-Bolt and said to her, “Go and kill every single rebel. Bring me their heads. If you fail or do otherwise, I will punish you severely.” In a raging fury Sorceress Chashmak Zan immediately flew away on her mission.
But the trickster girls, who had departed earlier to safeguard Kamil, arrived there first and saw Mahrukh and her army on the way to their camp. They quickly disguised themselves as the tricksters and mingled among the commanders. While they made small talk with Princess Bahar and others, they kept blowing drug powder into the air. Mahrukh’s commanders inhaled it, sneezed and fell unconscious.
The trickster girls spread out their trickster mantles and tied up as many as they could carry. Then they hid the others in the bushes to come back for them later, and headed toward Heyrat’s court. Sorceress Chashmak Zan arrived there only after they were gone and did not find Mahrukh and her companions. Chashmak Zan’s rage and fury against the rebels only increased. She struck a mountain in anger and burned it to its core.
Now Burq the Frank was in the vicinity of that mountain. He saw a sorceress with gold and silver locks hit a mountain with a lightning bolt. Burq decided to kill her and disguised himself as a sorcerer. He tied idols from elbow to shoulder, hung a sorcerer’s bag around his neck and wrapped a snake made of pasteboard around his waist. In that guise he went before sorceress Chashmak Zan and said, “O Princess, is anything the matter? Why do you show such anger?”
Taking Burq for a sorcerer, Chashmak Zan narrated the whole account to him and said, “I feel totally powerless. I will now return and tell the emperor that Mahrukh and the others escaped. If he orders me, I will capture them from their own camp.” Burq answered, “Indeed, you are as powerful as you describe, but as you have come from afar, do take some rest first. I have some dry fruit that I can offer you should you wish.” The sorceress thought a moment then said, “There’s no harm in that. We are both as one. There are no formalities between sorcerers.” Burq took out drug-laced almonds, raisins and pistachios from his sorcerer’s bag and put them before the sorceress.
When the sorceress looked at the dry fruit with her magic gaze, it informed her that she must not eat them because they were drugged. Upon learning this, she angrily caught Burq in her magic claw and flew away and took him to Afrasiyab in the Apple Garden. Chashmak Zan said, “I could find no other, except this trickster.”
Afrasiyab reckoned that Chashmak Zan considered herself too delicate and precious and therefore did not search for the rebels, since there was no possibility that she had been unable to find them. He knew they were on their way to their camp. How could they have arrived at their camp before Chashmak Zan could reach them? Afrasiyab waxed wroth with her and said, “O whore, I did not order you to bring me one trickster and not search for your tribe. Get out of my sight and take this trickster to Empress Heyrat!”
Chashmak Zan was petrified by Afrasiyab’s censure and took Burq before Heyrat. The empress greeted her, gave her a seat in her court and asked her the reason for her visit. Before Chashmak Zan could answer, a sorcerer presented himself and said, “The trickster girls have arrived carrying bundles.” Heyrat asked her sorceress-aide Zamarrud to go to Sarsar’s pavilion and inquire who they had brought.
Zamarrud went and returned with the news that the trickster girls had captured Mahrukh and her commanders. When sorceress Chashmak Zan heard this she said to Heyrat, “The emperor is angry with me for not arresting the rebels. If you could ask Sarsar to give them into my custody I will take them before the emperor, receive forgiveness and kill all of the rebels in the emperor’s presence.” Heyrat said, “You may take them into your custody. I see no harm in that.”
From there, Chashmak Zan went to Sarsar and said to her, “Give the prisoners into my custody so that I can take them before the Emperor of the Tilism.” Sarsar replied, “You are an example of the crow that eats the fruits of the ringdove’s labors.141 There is no question of your taking the rebels before the emperor. We will take them because we caught them.”
The sorceress was angered by Sarsar’s reply and began cursing and abusing her. Sarsar signalled to Saba Raftar, who hit Chashmak Zan with an egg of oblivion and she crashed unconscious to the ground.
Sarsar bundled her up and took her before Heyrat and stated the facts. Heyrat became furious with Sarsar and said, “How dare you insult a princess of the tilism? Restore her to consciousness this instant!” Sarsar brought Chashmak Zan to consciousness.
The moment Chashmak Zan regained consciousness she shouted, “O Sarsar, I will flash and strike you momentarily and cut you in two.” Heyrat angrily censured, “Yes, kill the trickster girls who risk their lives night and day to protect yours and mine!” Chashmak Zan said, “O Heyrat, ever since you ascended the throne, blinds have fallen over your eyes. You have forgotten your humble days. I have no desire to stay a moment longer in this court.”
Sorceress Chashmak Zan quietly removed her spell from Burq the Frank and said to Sarsar before flying away, “I will report your deed to the emperor. Wait till he hears of it.”
Hearing these words, Sarsar became frightened and fell at Heyrat’s feet to seek her protection. She raised Sarsar and embraced her, saying, “Have no worries. Our heads will fall together.”
Now, Heyrat turned toward Burq the Frank and said to him, “Tell me now, what should be your reward?” Burq felt that his body did not feel oppressed but light and realized he was no longer under the magic spell. He answered, “O Empress, since I was brought here it means a few of you must die.” Heyrat shouted, “What nonsense you do talk, O wretch.” Burq replied, “I speak the very truth. Wherever we tricksters go we are not satisfied until we have plundered many and severed scores of heads.”
A furious Heyrat reached for a magic citron with which to hit Burq but he leapt, whacked Sarsar and ran away. The trickster girl ran in pursuit and immediately a hue and cry rose from the camp.
As Burq ran he kept shouting, “Run my friends, the enemy army has attacked.” Upon hearing that, Heyrat’s whole camp was thrown into turmoil. The sellers began packing their goods. The goldsmiths shouted, “They will have to kill us before they touch our money,” and lay down on top of their gold and coins. The women embraced their men, screaming, “For Lord’s sake, do not step out of the tent.” The men answered, “We will fight if anyone attacks us here. There’s no use going out.” In short, a great commotion held Heyrat’s camp in its grip.
Burq ran into the wilderness where he was finally cornered by Sarsar and they exchanged sword blows. Burq hit Sarsar’s wrist with the flat of his sword so as not to sever her arm. The rings on Sarsar’s fingers fell off from the expert blow. As Sarsar bent down to pick them up, she got entangled in the snare rope that Burq threw. But at that very moment, Heyrat arrived and, seeing Sarsar caught in the
snare rope, flashed and swooped down in the form of a magic claw to save the trickster girl. As Heyrat was out of sorts herself, she did not follow Burq as he ran to escape but instead carried away Sarsar across the River of Flowing Blood into the region of Batin.
Burq returned and picked up Sarsar’s rings. He disguised himself as a sorcerer and followed Heyrat across the river. When he arrived at the Bridge of Magic Fairies, the path opened up because of Sarsar’s special ring but a guardian of the river ran after Burq shouting, “O trickster, hand me the ring the emperor has given Sarsar or I will surely kill you.” Burq took off the ring whose jewel was engraved with Afrasiyab’s name and threw it away. But when he took a step forward flames began rising from the river, horrible noises filled the air, and he found his path blocked. Helpless, Burq turned back. He decided that he should help secure the release of his commanders now as he had already heard that Sarsar had brought them captive to Heyrat’s camp.
Burq changed his disguise to Sarsar’s and entered the trickster girls’ pavilion where Saba Raftar sat guarding the bundles made of Mahrukh and her commanders. Saba Raftar witnessed the false Sarsar enter, panting and sweating in a state of great disarray. Her short sword was badly serrated from combat and the bosses on the shield were broken. Seeing her in that condition, Saba Raftar asked, “What happened to you?” The false Sarsar answered, “Did you not hear? I had a fierce sword combat with Burq. Give me the bundles now so that I can take them before Heyrat.” With these words, the false Sarsar quickly moved to open the bundles and gave restoratives to Mahrukh, Bahar and others.
When Saba Raftar saw the sorceresses regain consciousness she ran to escape. Mahrukh and a handful of her sorcerers attacked Heyrat’s camp with magic citrons and magic limes. In the meanwhile, those of Mahrukh’s companions whom the trickster girls had left lying unconscious, regained their senses and arrived in the vicinity as well. Seeing Mahrukh and her companions battling Heyrat’s camp, they too charged, wielding their tridents, pentadents and magic devices. Heyrat’s camp had already been unnerved by Burq’s false rumors earlier. Now, when they found the battle upon them, they fled in utter panic. But the courageous ones among Heyrat’s warriors, and Afrasiyab’s illustrious sorcerers, fought back bravely.
Hoshruba Page 55