Hearing this, Qut al-Qulub realized that one of these women must be the mother of her beloved and the other his sister. She wept until she fainted and, when she had recovered, she approached them and said: ‘No harm shall come to you. This is the first day of your good fortune and the last of your misery. So do not grieve.’
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the forty-fourth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O auspicious king, that Qut al-Qulub told them not to grieve. She then told the superintendent to take them home and get his wife to bring the two of them to the baths, to give them fine clothes to wear, to look after them and to treat them with the greatest respect. She gave him money and on the following day she rode to his house and went in to see his wife, who rose to greet her, kissed her hand and thanked her for her generosity. She looked at Ghanim’s mother and sister, who had been taken to the baths and given a change of clothes. The signs of their prosperity were clear and Qut al-Qulub sat talking to them for a time. Then she asked the superintendent’s wife about her sick patient. ‘He is still in the same state,’ she said. ‘Come with us and let us visit him,’ said Qut al-Qulub, and so she, the superintendent’s wife, together with Ghanim’s mother and his sister, went into his room and sat with him. Ghanim heard them mention the name Qut al-Qulub, and although his body was emaciated and his bones wasted, at this his spirit returned, and raising his head from his pillow, he called: ‘Qut al-Qulub!’ She looked at him and now realized for certain that this was Ghanim. ‘Yes, my darling,’ she called out. ‘Come near me,’ he said. ‘Are you perhaps Ghanim ibn Ayyub, the slave of love, the man robbed of his wits?’ she asked, and when he answered: ‘Yes, I am,’ she fell down in a faint.
On hearing this, Ghanim’s sister Fitna and his mother cried out in joy and fell fainting. When they had recovered, Qut al-Qulub said to Ghanim: ‘Praise be to God who has united me with you and with your mother and sister.’ Then she went up to him to tell him all that had happened to her regarding the caliph. ‘I told him the truth,’ she said, ‘and he believed me and approved of your conduct. He now wants to see you,’ and she added: ‘He has given me to you.’ Ghanim was filled with delight and Qut al-Qulub said to them all: ‘Don’t leave until I come back.’ She got up immediately and went to her apartments. She took the chest that she had brought from Ghanim’s house, and taking out some dinars, she gave them to the superintendent. ‘Take these,’ she said, ‘and bring each of these people four complete sets of clothes of the finest materials, as well as twenty kerchiefs and whatever else they need.’
She then took the two ladies to the baths, together with Ghanim, where she ordered them to be bathed, and when they came out and had put on their clothes, she prepared soup for them, together with galingale water and apple juice. She stayed with them for three days, feeding them on chicken and soup and giving them drinks made from refined sugar. After three days, their spirits were restored and she took them to the baths again, giving them fresh clothes when they came out. She then left them in the house of the superintendent and went to the palace, where she asked for an audience with the caliph.
When she was given leave to enter his presence, she kissed the ground before him and told him the story, explaining that her master Ghanim had arrived, as had his mother and his sister. When the caliph heard what she had to say, he told the eunuchs to bring him Ghanim. In fact, it was Ja‘far who went, but Qut al-Qulub forestalled him. She came to Ghanim and told him that the caliph had sent for him, and she advised him to speak eloquently and sweetly and to be of good courage. She dressed him in a splendid robe and gave him a large quantity of money, telling him to give it away liberally to the caliph’s attendants as he entered his presence. At this point, Ja‘far arrived, mounted on his mule of state. Ghanim got up to greet him, saluted him and kissed the ground before him. He shone brightly like a star of good omen and Ja‘far went off with him until they came into the presence of the Commander of the Faithful.
When he arrived there, he looked at Ja‘far, the emirs, the chamberlains, the deputies, the officers of state and the military commanders. He turned to the caliph, lowered his head to the ground and recited with agreeable eloquence:
Greetings to you, king of great majesty,
Whose generous deeds follow on one another.
None else can be extolled as holding such a rank,
Whether he be a Caesar or a Persian Lord of the Hall.
At your threshold kings on greeting you
Set on the ground the jewels of their crowns.
When you appear before their eyes,
In awe of you they fall prostrate on their beards.
Should they win your favour as they stand there,
They gain high rank and splendid sultanates.
The deserts and all the world cannot contain your army,
So pitch your camp on Saturn’s heights.
May the King of kings preserve you with His might;
You are the excellent director, the man of steadfast mind.
Your justice spreads through all the world,
And in it the farthest parts are equal to the nearest.
When he finished his poem, the caliph was delighted and admired his eloquence and the sweetness of his speech.
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the forty-fifth night, she continued:
I have heard, O auspicious king, that the caliph was delighted and admired his eloquence and the sweetness of his speech. ‘Approach,’ he said, and when Ghanim drew near, he asked him for his story and an account of what had happened to him. Ghanim sat and told him of his experiences in Baghdad, how he had gone to sleep in the graveyard and how he had taken the chest left by the slaves after they had gone. He went through the whole tale from beginning to end, but there is no advantage to be got from repetition. When the caliph saw that he was telling the truth, he presented him with a robe of honour, brought him up to him and said: ‘Forgive me my debt.’ ‘I forgive it, master,’ said Ghanim, ‘for the slave with all that he owns is still the property of the master.’
This pleased the caliph and he ordered that Ghanim should be given a palace of his own, with pay, allowances and gifts assigned to him in generous quantities. He moved there with his sister and his mother, and when the caliph heard that his sister Fitna lived up to the meaning of her name as a girl of enticing beauty, he asked Ghanim for her hand in marriage. ‘She is your maidservant,’ said Ghanim, ‘and I am your mamluk.’ The caliph thanked him and gave him a hundred thousand dinars. The notaries and the qadi were then fetched and marriage contracts were drawn up on the same day, one for the caliph and Fitna and one for Ghanim ibn Ayyub and Qut al-Qulub. Both marriages were consummated on the same night, and in the morning the caliph gave orders that the history of Ghanim from beginning to end should be written down and given a permanent place in his treasury, so that future generations might read it, wonder at the turns of fortune and entrust their affairs to God, the Creator of night and day.
‘This, however, is not more wonderful than the story of King ‘Umar ibn al-Nu‘man and his sons Sharkan and Dau’ al-Makan, and the strange and remarkable things that happened to them.’ ‘What is this story?’ asked the king, AND SHAHRAZAD SAID:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that in Baghdad, the City of Peace, before the caliphate of ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, there was a king called ‘Umar ibn al-Nu‘man. He was a ruler of great power, who had conquered the kings of Persia and of Byzantium. No one could endure his battle fire or rival him in the field, while in his anger sparks would fly from his nostrils. His conquests had spread to all parts; God had caused all His servants to obey him; his rule had spread to all cities; his armies had reached the farthest parts; and east and west were under his command, together with what lay between – India with its islands, Sind, China and its islands, the Hijaz, Yemen, the northern territories, Diyar Bakr, the lands of the bl
acks, the islands of the oceans, and the famous rivers, such as the Saihun, the Jaihun, the Nile and the Euphrates. He sent his messengers to the farthest cities to bring him news, and they came back to tell him that there throughout the lands there was justice, obedience and security, and that his people were praying for him. He was of high lineage, and gifts, presents and tribute came to him from all parts.
He had a son named Sharkan, who most closely resembled him. He was one of the scourges of the age, a man who overcame the brave and destroyed his enemies. His father loved him very dearly and named him as his successor. When Sharkan reached man’s estate at twenty years of age, God caused all His servants to obey him because of his force and hardiness. His father ‘Umar had four legal wives, but only one of them had given him a son, Sharkan, while the rest were barren and had produced no child. He also had three hundred and sixty concubines, equalling the number of the days of the Coptic year. They were of all nationalities, and each of them had an apartment made for her within a palace, twelve of which the king had built, one for every month of the year, each containing thirty apartments to make the number up to three hundred and sixty. The concubines who lived in them were each assigned one night which the king would spend with her, and it would be a full year before he came back to her.
Things continued like this for a period of time, during which the fame of Sharkan spread throughout the lands, to the delight of his father. His strength increased and he acted tyrannically and violently, capturing castles and cities. Then, in accordance with the decree of fate, one of ‘Umar’s concubines became pregnant. When this became known and the king learned of it, he was delighted and said: ‘I trust that all my descendants will be males.’ He took note of the day on which the girl conceived and began to treat her with favour. When Sharkan heard of her pregnancy, he was distressed, thinking that this was a blow for him, and that he might have a rival for the throne. ‘If this girl gives birth to a boy,’ he said to himself, ‘I shall kill her,’ but he kept this to himself.
So much for Sharkan, but as for the girl, she was a Byzantine who had been sent to ‘Umar as a gift from the emperor of Byzantium, overlord of Caesarea, together with many gifts. Her name was Sophia and she was the most beautiful and most chaste of women, with the loveliest face, while in addition to her dazzling beauty she had great intelligence. During her attendance on the king on the night that he spent with her, she said: ‘O king, I wish that the God of heaven would provide you with a son by me so that I may bring him up well and that through my training he may become a highly cultivated and modest young man.’ This pleased and gladdened the king.
Things went on like this until Sophia reached the term of her pregnancy and sat on the birthing chair. During this period she had been assiduous in performing good deeds and in serving God to the best of her power, while calling on Him to give her a virtuous son and allow her an easy labour, a prayer which God accepted. The king had entrusted a eunuch with the duty of telling him whether she had given birth to a boy or a girl, and Sharkan, too, had sent someone to bring him news. When Sophia did give birth, the midwives inspected the child and they found that it was a girl with a face more splendid than the moon. They told this to all who were present, and the messengers both of the king and of Sharkan went back to let their masters know. Sharkan was delighted when he heard, but after the eunuch had left, Sophia told the midwives to wait for a while, as she felt that there was still something in her womb. With another cry she went into labour again. God made this easy for her and she produced a second child, which, when the midwives looked at it, turned out to be a boy like the full moon, with a gleaming forehead and rosy cheeks. Sophia was filled with joy, as were the eunuchs, the attendants and everyone else who was there. When she was freed of the placenta, trills of joy resounded in the palace, and at the sound of them, all the other concubines were filled with jealousy.
When the news reached ‘Umar, he was pleased and happy. He got up and came to see Sophia. He kissed her on the head and then, looking at the newborn boy, he bent down and kissed him, as the slave girls beat their tambourines and played musical instruments. On his instructions the boy was named Dau’ al-Makan and his sister Nuzhat al-Zaman. He arranged for the children to have assigned their own wet nurses, attendants and children’s nurses to look after them, and he provided them with quantities of sugar, drinks, ointments, and so on, such as would tire the tongue to describe. When the people of Baghdad heard of what God had granted him, the city was adorned and drums were beaten to spread the good news. The emirs, viziers and officers of state came to congratulate him on the birth of his son and daughter, for which he thanked them, giving them robes of honour, together with additional favours, and he gave generous gifts to everyone present, both high and low.
Things went on like this for four years, with the king every few days asking about Sophia and her children. After four years, he ordered that a great quantity of jewellery, ornaments, robes and money should be given to her, with instructions that she was to bring the children up with a good education. While all this was happening, Prince Sharkan never knew that his father had had another son, as he had only been told of the birth of Nuzhat al-Zaman, while news of Dau’ al-Makan had been kept from him.
Days and years passed as he busied himself battling against the brave and riding out to challenge horsemen. Then, one day when the king was seated on his throne, his chamberlains entered, kissed the ground before him and told him of the arrival of envoys from the emperor of Byzantium, the lord of the great city of Constantinople, who were requesting an audience with him. ‘If the king admits them to his presence, we shall bring them in, but if not, his orders cannot be countermanded.’ The king gave his permission for the envoys to enter, and when they did, he received them courteously, asking them how they were and why they had come. They kissed the ground before him, saying: ‘Great and mighty king, know that we have been sent by Emperor Afridun, lord of the lands of Greece and of the armies of Christendom, whose royal seat is at Constantinople. He informs you that he is now waging a bitter war with an obdurate tyrant, the lord of Caesarea. The reason for this war is this. In former times, a king of the Arabs found on one of his conquests a treasure dating to the age of Alexander. From this he removed uncountable wealth, among which were three rounded gems, as big as ostrich eggs, from a mine of pure white jewels whose like is nowhere to be found. Each of these is inscribed with secret formulae in Greek characters. They have many powers of their own; indeed, if one of them is hung around the neck of a newborn child, as long as it stays in place, that child will never suffer pain, be stricken by fever or have cause to groan. When they fell into the hands of the Arab king and he discovered their secret powers, he sent the three of them to Emperor Afridun, together with other gifts and treasures. He fitted out two ships, one containing the treasure and the other crewed with men who were to guard it from attack while they were at sea. He himself had been certain that no one would be able to interfere with the ships as he was the king of the Arabs, while the course that they would follow to their destination led them across a sea controlled by Afridun, emperor of Constantinople, whose shores were peopled only by his subjects. When they had been fitted out, the ships sailed off, but as they came near our shores, they were attacked by pirates, including soldiers in the pay of the lord of Caesarea. These men seized everything that was in them – the gifts, the money and the treasures, including the three gems – and they killed the king’s men. When our emperor heard of this, he sent an army against them, which they defeated, and when he sent a second force, stronger than the first, they routed that too.
‘At this, Afridun in his anger swore that he himself would go out against them with all his men and that he would not return until he had left Armenian Caesarea as a ruin and had ravaged its lands, together with all the towns that were under the control of its king. The emperor’s request to the lord of the age, King ‘Umar ibn al-Nu‘man, the ruler of Baghdad and of Khurasan, is that he should aid him by sending an
army, so as to add to his own glory.’ The envoys added: ‘We have brought you from our emperor gifts of various kinds; he asks you to be graciously pleased to accept them, and to grant him aid.’ They then kissed the ground before him.
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the forty-sixth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O auspicious king, that the escort and the envoys from the emperor of Constantinople kissed the ground before ‘Umar, after having told him their story, and then produced the gifts, which comprised fifty slave girls – the most select to be found in the lands of Byzantium – together with fifty mamluks dressed in gowns of brocade with girdles of gold and silver. Each of them was wearing a golden earring in which was set a pearl equal in value to a thousand mithqals of gold. The same was true of the slave girls, whose dresses were made of the costliest materials. When he saw them, King ‘Umar accepted them gladly and gave orders that the envoys were to be treated with honour. He then went to ask the advice of his viziers as to what he should do. From among them one very old man, named Dandan, got up and, after kissing the ground before him, spoke as follows: ‘Your majesty, the best thing to do here is for you to fit out a large army under the command of your son Sharkan, which we would accompany as his servants. This counsel is to be preferred for two reasons, the first being that the emperor of Byzantium has asked you for protection and has sent you a present, which you have accepted; the second reason is that no enemy dares attack our lands and if your army protects the emperor of Byzantium so that his foes are defeated, the victory will be attributed to you and word of this will spread throughout the regions. In particular, when the news reaches the islands of the ocean and the people of the west hear of it, they will send you offerings of gifts and money.’
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights: Volume 1 Page 42