As for Nimeh, when he returned home, he sat down on his bed and cried, “Ho, Num!” But she answered not; so he rose in haste and called out, but none came to him, for all the women in the house had hidden themselves, for fear of him. Then he went in to his mother, whom he found sitting with her cheek on her hand, and said to her, “O my mother, where is Num?” “O my son,” answered she, “she is with one who is worthier than I to be trusted with her, namely, the devout old woman; she went forth with her to visit the fakirs and return.” “Since when has this been her wont,” asked Nimeh, “and at what hour went she forth?” Quoth his mother, “She went out early in the morning.” “And how camest thou to give her leave for this?” said he, and she replied, “O my son, it was she persuaded me.” “There is no power and no virtue but in God the Most High, the Supreme!” exclaimed Nimeh and going forth, in a state of distraction, repaired to the chief of the police, to whom said he, “Dost thou practice on me and steal my slave-girl away from me? I will assuredly complain of thee to the Commander of the Faithful.” “Who has taken her?” asked the chief of the police, and Nimeh answered, “An old woman of such and such a favour, clad in woollen raiment and carrying a rosary of thousands of beads.” “Find me the old woman,” rejoined the other, “and I will get thee back thy slave-girl.” “Who knows the old woman?” said Nimeh. “And who knows the hidden things save God, may He be glorified and exalted?” replied the official, who knew her for El Hejjaj’s agent. Quoth Nimeh, “I look to thee for my slave-girl, and El Hejjaj shall judge between thee and me.” And the master of police answered, “Go to whom thou wilt.” Now Nimeh’s father was one of the chief men of Cufa; so he went to the palace of the governor, whose chamberlain went in to him and told him what was to do. El Hejjaj bade admit him and enquired his business. Quoth Nimeh, “Such and such things have befallen me.” And the governor said, “Bring me the chief of the police, and we will bid him seek for the old woman.” Now he knew that the chief of the police knew her; so, when he came, he said to him, “I wish thee to make search for the slave-girl of Nimeh ben er Rebya.” And he answered, “None knoweth the hidden things save God the Most High.” “Thou must send out horsemen,” rejoined El Hejjaj, “and look for the damsel in all the roads and towns.” Then he turned to Nimeh and said to him, “An thy slave-girl return not, I will give thee ten slave-girls from my house and ten from that of the chief of the police.” And he said to the latter, “Go and seek for the girl.” So he went out and Nimeh returned home, full of trouble and despairing of life. He had now reached the age of fourteen and there was yet no hair on his cheeks. He shut himself up from his household and ceased not to weep and lament, he and his mother, till the morning, when his father came in to him and said, “O my son, El Hejjaj hath put a cheat on the damsel and stolen her away; but from hour to hour God giveth relief.” But grief redoubled on Nimeh, so that he knew not what he said nor who came in to him, and indeed his charms were changed and he was in sorry case. In this plight he abode three months, till his father despaired of him, and the physicians visited him and said, “There is no cure for him but the damsel.” One day, Er Rebya heard tell of a skilful Persian physician, whom the folk gave out for accomplished in medicine and astrology and geomancy. So he sent for him and seating him by his side, entreated him with honour and said to him, “Look into my son’s case.” So he said to Nimeh, “Give me thy hand.” Accordingly, the young man gave him his hand and he felt his pulse and his joints and looked in his face; then he laughed and turning to Er Rebya, said, “Thy son’s only ailment is in his heart.” “Thou sayst sooth, O sage,” answered Er Rebya; “but apply thy skill to the consideration of his state and case and acquaint me with the whole thereof and hide nought from me.” Quoth the Persian, “He is enamoured of a girl, who is either in Bassora or Damascus; and there is no cure for him but reunion with her.” “An thou bring them together,” said Er Rebya, “thou shalt have of me what will rejoice thee and shalt live all thy life in wealth and delight.” “This is an easy matter,” answered the Persian, “and soon brought about;” and he turned to Nimeh and said to him, “Fear not; no hurt shall befall thee; so take heart and be of good cheer.” Then said he to Er Rebya, “Give me four thousand dinars of your money.” So he gave them to him, and he said, “I wish to carry thy son with me to Damascus, and God willing, we will not return thence but with the damsel.” Then said he to the youth, “What is thy name?” And he answered, “Nimeh.” “O Nimeh,” said the Persian, “sit up and be of good heart, for God will reunite thee with the damsel. So put thy trust in Him and eat and drink and be cheerful and fortify thyself for travel, for we set out for Damascus this very day.” So he sat up whilst the Persian made his preparations and took of Er Rebya, in all, the sum of ten thousand dinars, together with horses and camels and beasts of burden such as he needed for the journey. Then Nimeh took leave of his father and mother and journeyed with the physician to Aleppo. They could get no news of Num there, so fared on to Damascus, where they abode three days, after which the Persian took a shop and adorned its shelves with gilding and stuffs of price and stocked them with vessels of costly porcelain, with covers of silver. Moreover, he set before himself vases and flagons of glass full of all manner ointments and syrups, surrounded by cups of crystal, and donning a physician’s habit, took his seat in the shop, with his astrolabe and geomantic tablet before him. Then he clad Nimeh in a shirt and gown of silk and girding his middle with a silken kerchief embroidered with gold, made him sit before himself, saying to him, “O Nimeh, henceforth thou art my son; so call me nought but father and I will call thee son.” And he replied, “I hear and obey.” The people of Damascus flocked to gaze on the youth’s goodliness and the beauty of the shop and its contents, whilst the physician spoke to Nimeh in Persian and he answered him in the same tongue, for he knew the language, after the wont of the sons of the notables. The Persian soon became known among the townsfolk and they began to resort to him and acquaint him with their ailments, for which he prescribed. Moreover, they brought him the water of the sick in phials, and he would examine it and say, “He, whose water this is, is suffering from such and such a disease.” And the patient would say, “Verily, this physician says sooth.” So he continued to do the occasions of the folk and they to flock to him, till his fame spread throughout the city and into the houses of the great. One day, as he sat in his shop, there came up an old woman riding on an ass with housings of brocade, embroidered with jewels, and drawing bridle before his shop, beckoned to him, saying, “Take my hand.” So he took her hand, and she alighted and said to him, “Art thou the Persian physician from Irak?” “Yes,” answered he, and she said, “Know that I have a sick daughter.” Then she brought out to him a phial and he looked at it and said to her, “Tell me thy daughter’s name, that I may calculate her horoscope and learn the hour in which it will befit her to take medicine.” “O brother of the Persians,” answered she, “her name is Num.” When he heard this, he fell to calculating and writing on his hand and presently said to her, “O my lady, I cannot prescribe for the girl, till I know what countrywoman she is, because of the difference of climate: so tell me where she was brought up and what is her age.” “She is fourteen years old,” replied the old woman, “and was brought up in Cufa of Irak.” “And how long,” asked he, “has she sojourned in this country?” “But a few months,” answered she. When Nimeh heard the old woman’s words and the name of his slave-girl, his heart fluttered and he was like to swoon. Then said the Persian to the old woman, “Such and such medicines will suit her case;” and she rejoined, “Then make them up and give them to me, with the blessing of God the Most High!” So saying, she threw him ten dinars, and he bade Nimeh prepare the necessary drugs; whereupon she looked at the youth and exclaimed, “God have thee in His holy keeping, O my son! Verily, she is like thee in age and favour.” Then said she to the physician, “O brother of the Persians, is this thy slave or thy son?” “He is my son,” answered he. So Nimeh made up the medicine and laying it
in a little box, took a piece of paper and wrote thereon the following verses:
So Num but vouchsafe me a glance, to gladden my heart and my
mind, Let Suada unfavouring prove and Juml, an’t please her,
unkind.
“Forget her,” quoth they unto me, “And thou shalt have twenty
like her.” I will not forget her, I swear, for never her
like should I find.
He put the paper in the box and sealing it up, wrote on the cover the following words in the Cufic character, “I am Nimeh ben er Rebya of Cufa.” Then he gave it to the old woman, who bade them farewell and returning to the Khalif’s palace, went in to Num, to whom she delivered the box, saying, “O my lady, know that there is lately come to our town a Persian physician, than whom I never saw a more skilful nor a better versed in matters of sickness. I showed him the phial and told him thy name, and he knew thine ailment and prescribed a remedy. Then, by his order, his son made thee up this medicine; and there is not in Damascus a comelier or more elegant youth than this son of his nor hath any the like of his shop.” Num took the box and seeing the names of her lord and his father written thereon, changed colour and said to herself, “Doubtless, the owner of this shop is come in search of me.” So she said to the old woman, “Describe this youth to me.” “His name is Nimeh,” answered the old woman; “he is richly clad and perfectly handsome and has a mole on his right eyebrow.” “Give me the medicine,” cried Num, “and may the blessing and help of God the Most High attend it!” So she drank off the potion and said, laughing, “Indeed, it is a blessed medicine.” Then she sought in the box and finding the paper, read it and knew that this was indeed her lord, whereat her heart was solaced and she rejoiced. When the old woman saw her laughing, she exclaimed, “This is indeed a blessed day!” And Num said, “O nurse, I have a mind to eat and drink.” So the old woman said to the serving-women, “Bring a tray of dainty viands for your mistress;” whereupon they set food before her and she sat down to eat. Presently, in came the Khalif and seeing her sitting eating, rejoiced; and the old woman said to him, “O Commander of the Faithful, I give thee joy of thy slave’s recovery! Know that there is lately come to our city a physician, than whom I never saw a better versed in diseases and their cure. I fetched her medicine from him and she has taken of it but once and is restored to health.” Quoth he, “Take a thousand dinars and provide for her treatment, till she be completely recovered.” And he went away, rejoicing in the damsel’s recovery, whilst the old woman betook herself to the physician, to whom she delivered the thousand dinars and a letter that Num had written, giving him to know that she was become the Khalif’s slave. He gave the letter to Nimeh, who knew her hand and fell down in a swoon. When he came to himself, he opened the letter and found these words written therein: “From the slave despoiled of her delight, her whose reason hath been beguiled and who is separated from the beloved of her heart. Thy letter hath reached me and hath dilated my bosom and rejoiced my heart, even as saith the poet:
The letter reached me, never may the fingers fail thee aught,
That traced its characters, until with sweetest scent
they’re fraught!
’Twas as unto his mother’s arms when Moses was restored Or as to
blind old Jacob’s hands when Joseph’s coat was
brought.”
When he read these verses, his eyes ran over with tears and the old woman said to him, “What ails thee to weep, O my son? May God never make thine eye to shed tears!” “O my lady,” answered the Persian, “how should my son not weep, seeing that this is his slave-girl and he her lord Nimeh ben er Rebya of Cufa? Indeed, her recovery depends on her seeing him, for nought ails her but the love of him. So, O my lady, take these thousand dinars to thyself (and thou shalt have of me yet more than this) and look on us with eyes of compassion; for we know not how to bring this affair to a happy issue but through thee.” Then she said to Nimeh, “Art thou indeed her lord?” “Yes,” answered he, and she, “Thou sayst truly; for she ceases not to name thee.” Then he told her all that had passed from first to last, and she said, “O youth, thou shalt owe thy reunion with her to none but me.” So she mounted at once and returning to Num, looked in her face and smiled, saying, “O my daughter, it is just that thou weep and fall sick for thy separation from thy master Nimeh ben er Rebya of Cufa.” Quoth Num, “Verily, the veil has been withdrawn for thee and the truth revealed to thee.” “Be of good cheer,” rejoined the old woman, “and take heart, for I will surely bring you together, though it cost me my life.” Then she returned to Nimeh and said to him, “I have seen thy slave-girl and find that she longs for thee yet more than thou for her; for the Commander of the Faithful is minded to foregather with her, but she refuses herself to him. But if thou be stout of heart and firm of courage, I will bring you together and venture myself for you and make shift to bring thee to her in the Khalif’s palace; for she cannot come forth.” And Nimeh answered, “God requite thee with good!” Then she went back to Num and said to her, “Thy lord is indeed dying of love for thee and would fain see thee and foregather with thee. What sayst thou?” “And I also,” answered Num, “am dying for his sight.” So the old woman took a parcel of women’s clothes and ornaments and repairing to Nimeh, said to him, “Come apart with me into a privy place.” So he brought her into the room behind the shop, where she painted him and decked his wrists and plaited his hair, after which she clad him in a slave-girl’s habit and adorned him after the fairest fashion of woman’s adornment, till he was as one of the houris of Paradise; and when she saw him thus, she exclaimed, “Blessed be God, the most excellent Creator! By Allah, thou art handsomer than the damsel! Now, walk with thy left shoulder forward and swing thy buttocks.” So he walked before her, as she bade him; and when she saw he had caught the trick of women’s gait, she said to him, “Expect me to-morrow night, when, God willing, I will come and carry thee to the palace. When thou seest the chamberlains and the eunuchs, fear not, but bow thy head and speak not with any, for I will ward thee from their speech; and with God is success.” Accordingly, on the morrow she returned at the appointed hour and carrying him to the palace, entered and he after her. The chamberlain would have stayed him, but the old woman said to him, “O most ill-omened of slaves, this is the handmaid of Num, the Khalif’s favourite. How darest thou stay her?” Then said she, “Enter, O damsel!” And they went on, till they drew near the door leading to the inner court of the palace, when the old woman said to him, “O Nimeh, take courage and enter and turn to the left. Count five doors and enter the sixth, for it is that of the place prepared for thee. Fear nothing, and if any speak to thee, answer not neither stop.” Then she went up with him to the door, and the chamberlain on guard hailed her, saying, “What damsel is that?” Quoth the old woman, “Our lady hath a mind to buy her.” And he said, “None may enter save by leave of the Commander of the Faithful; so go thou back with her. I cannot let her pass, for thus am I commanded.” “O chief chamberlain,” replied the old woman, “use thy reason. Thou knowest that Num, the Khalif’s slave-girl, of whom he is enamoured, is but now restored to health and the Commander of the Faithful hardly yet credits her recovery. Now she is minded to buy this girl; so oppose thou not her entrance, lest it come to Num’s knowledge and she be wroth with thee and suffer a relapse and this bring thy head to be cut off.” Then said she to Nimeh, “Enter, O damsel; pay no heed to what he says and tell not the princess that he opposed thine entrance.” So Nimeh bowed his head and entered, but mistook and turned to his right, instead of his left, and meaning to count five doors and enter the sixth, counted six and entering the seventh, found himself in a place carpeted with brocade and hung with curtains of gold-embroidered silk. Here and there stood censers of aloes-wood and ambergris and sweet-scented musk, and at the upper end was a couch covered with brocade, on which he seated himself, marvelling at the exceeding magnificence of the place and knowing not what was appointed to him in the secret purpose of God. As
he sat musing on his case, the Khalif’s sister entered, followed by her handmaid, and seeing him seated there took him for a slave-girl and said to him, “What art thou, O damsel, and who brought thee hither?” He made no reply and she continued, “If thou be one of my brother’s favourites and he be wroth with thee, I will intercede with him for thee.” But he answered her not a word; so she said to her maid, “Stand at the door and let none enter.” Then she went up to Nimeh and looking at him, was amazed at his beauty and said to him, “O lady, tell me who thou art and how thou camest here; for I have never seen thee in the palace.” Still he answered not, whereat she was angered and putting her hand to his bosom, found no breasts and would have unveiled him, that she might know who he was; but he said to her, “O my lady, I am thy slave and cast myself on thy protection; do thou protect me.” “No harm shall come to thee,” said she; “but tell me who thou art and who brought thee into this my lodging.” “O princess,” answered he, “I am known as Nimeh ben er Rebya of Cufa, and I have ventured my life for my slave-girl Num, whom El Hejjaj took by sleight and sent hither.” “Fear not,” rejoined the princess; “no harm shall befall thee.” Then, calling her maid, she said to her, “Go to Num’s chamber and bid her to me.”
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