Sharkan was delighted: hurrying to his horse, he mounted and, moving at a walk, he kept pace opposite her as she led the way to a drawbridge of poplar beams, where pulleys with iron chains were fastened with locks to hooks. Sharkan looked at the drawbridge and saw the girls who had been wrestling with his opponent standing there watching him. She went up to them and said to one of them in Greek: ‘Go to him, take the reins of his horse and bring him across to the convent.’ She herself went ahead as Sharkan followed over the drawbridge in a state of bewilderment at what he saw. ‘I wish that Dandan were with me here,’ he said to himself, ‘and that he could see these lovely faces with his own eyes.’ He then turned to his opponent and said: ‘Most beautiful lady, I have now two inviolable claims on you – one is that of companionship, and the second is that I have come to your home and accepted your hospitality, as a result of which I am now under your authority and direction. Would you perhaps do me the favour of coming with me to the lands of Islam so that you can look at all our gallant heroes and learn who I am?’
When she heard this, she grew angry and said: ‘By the truth of the Messiah, I had thought that you were a man of sound intelligence, but I now see the wickedness in your heart. How can you say something that shows you to be so deceitful, and how could I do what you suggest? I know that if I fell into the hands of your king, ‘Umar ibn al-Nu‘man, I would never be freed since there is no one to match me within his walls or his palaces, even though he is lord of Baghdad and Khurasan, with twelve palaces for the number of the months of the year and in each of them a concubine for every day of the year. Were I in his power, he would not be held back by any fear of me since, according to your creed, I would be lawfully yours, as is shown in your books by the words “or what your right hands have possessed”.* How is it, then, that you can talk to me like this? As for what you say about looking at the Muslim heroes, by the truth of the Messiah, that is a silly point. I watched your army when you came to our lands two days ago, and when they advanced, I saw no signs that they had been trained by kings. Rather, they looked like a collection of scattered groups. When you say “You will learn who I am”, I am not doing you a favour in order to get to know you, but to add to my own glory. Someone like you cannot speak like this to one like me, not even if you were Sharkan, the son of King ‘Umar ibn al-Nu‘man, the illustrious hero of the age.’ ‘Do you know Sharkan?’ he asked. ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘and I knew that he was coming here with an army of ten thousand men. His father, ‘Umar ibn al-Nu‘man, sent his army with him to help the emperor of Constantinople.’
‘Lady,’ said Sharkan, ‘I ask you to swear by your religious faith that you will tell me what is behind all this, so that I may be able to distinguish truth from falsehood and learn who is responsible for the evil.’ ‘By the truth of the Messiah,’ she said, ‘were I not afraid lest word would spread that I was a Byzantine girl, I would risk my life by riding out against the ten thousand Muslims, killing their leader, the vizier Dandan, and overcoming the champion, Sharkan. I would bring no shame on myself by this, as I have read Arabic books and studied what they have to say about good manners. I am not going to describe myself to you as brave, as you have already seen my trained skill and strength when I showed you my proficiency at wrestling. Had Sharkan been in your place tonight and had he been told to jump this stream, he could not have done it and I would like the Messiah to bring him before me in this convent so that I could come out against him, dressed as a man, capture him and put him in chains.’
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the forty-eighth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O auspicious king, that Sharkan listened to the Christian girl saying: ‘If I had Sharkan here, I would come out against him dressed as a man, capture him as he sat in his saddle and put him in chains.’ Sharkan was filled with a burning sense of pride and the self-respect felt by champions. He wanted to reveal himself to her and to strike out at her, but he was kept back from this by her beauty, and he recited:
When the lovely girl commits a single fault,
Her beauty supplies a thousand intercessions.
She then climbed up the path and, as he followed her, looking at her from behind, he saw her buttocks moving against each other like waves in a tumultuous sea, and he recited these lines:
In her face is worthy intercession,
Erasing her wrongdoing from the hearts to which it pleads.
At the sight of her I exclaim in wonder:
‘A full moon has risen on a perfect night.
Were the Queen of Sheba’s ‘ifrit to wrestle with her,
For all his reported strength, he would promptly be thrown down.’
The two of them went on walking until they came to a doorway arched with marble. The lady opened the door and she and Sharkan entered a long hallway vaulted with ten connected arches, each with a crystal lamp gleaming in it. At the end of the hallway they were met by girls carrying perfumed candles and wearing headbands embellished with gems of all kinds. The lady went ahead, followed by Sharkan, and when they reached the convent hall, Sharkan found it ringed with couches facing one another, covered with hangings adorned with gold. The floor was covered with tesselated marble of all kinds; in the middle was a pool with twenty-four golden fountains from which gushed water shining like silver. At the head of the hall was a throne spread with silks fit for a king. ‘Mount to this throne, master,’ said the lady.
When Sharkan had done this, she went off and was absent for some time. He asked some of the servants about her and they told him: ‘She has gone to her bedroom, and we are at your service, as she has ordered.’ They then produced various types of exotic foods and Sharkan ate until he had had enough, after which they brought him a golden bowl and a silver ewer. He washed his hands, but his thoughts were with his army, as he did not know what had happened to them in his absence. He also thought of how he had forgotten his father’s instructions and he remained in a state of perplexity, regretting what he had done, until dawn broke and day appeared. Sighing in distress over his actions and drowning in a sea of care, he recited these lines:
I do not lack resolve, but now misfortune
Has overtaken me in my affair; what can I do?
Could someone clear away this love from me,
I would use my own might and power to cure myself,
But as my heart has gone astray in love,
God is my only hope in my distress.
When he had finished these lines, a sight of great magnificence suddenly presented itself, and he saw more than twenty maids like moons grouped around the lady, who shone among them like the moon amidst stars as they screened her. She was wearing a regal brocade and around her waist was a woven girdle studded with every type of gem. This confined her waist but made her buttocks stand out until it looked as if here was a crystal sand hill beneath a silver branch, while her breasts were like two luxuriant pomegranates. When Sharkan saw that, such was his joy that his wits almost flew from him and he forgot his army and the vizier. He looked at her head and saw that she was wearing a chaplet of pearls interspersed with gems of all kinds. The maids to her right and left were holding up her train and she was swaying entrancingly.
At the sight of her beauty and grace, Sharkan sprang to his feet and cried out: ‘Beware, beware of this girdle!’ Then he recited:
She sways with heavy buttocks,
And is soft, with tender breasts;
While she hides the passion that she feels,
My own passion cannot be hidden.
With her maids following behind,
She is like a king with powers to loose and bind.
The lady gave him a long look and then did this again until she was certain that she had recognized him. Then she advanced towards him and said: ‘You have brought honour and light to the place, Sharkan. How did you pass the night, hero, after we went away and left you?’ Then she added: ‘Lying is a shameful defect among rulers, and es
pecially among great kings. You are Sharkan, son of King ‘Umar ibn al-Nu‘man. Do not hide the secret of your rank, and after this let me hear nothing from you but the truth, as lying leaves a legacy of hatred and enmity. The arrow of fate has pierced you and it is for you to give in and accept.’ He could not deny what she said and had to admit that she was right. ‘I am Sharkan, son of ‘Umar ibn al-Nu‘man,’ he agreed, ‘a man tortured by fate and cast up here, so do what you want with me now.’
She stood for a long time with her head bent, before turning to him and saying: ‘Take heart and console yourself. You are my guest and we are linked by the ties of bread and salt. You are covered by my protection, and so you can set your mind at rest. By the truth of the Messiah, were all the people of the land to wish to injure you, they could only reach you after I had lost my life in your defence. You are here under the protection of the Messiah and of me.’ Then she sat beside him and joked with him until his fear left him and he realized that, had she wanted to kill him, she would have done so the previous night.
She spoke in Greek to a girl, who went off for a time and came back with a glass and a table laden with food. Sharkan held back from eating, saying to himself that there might be something in the food, but the lady, realizing what he was thinking, said: ‘It is not like that; there is nothing in this food to suspect. Had I wanted to kill you, I would have done it by now.’ She went to the table and ate one mouthful of every dish. To her delight, Sharkan then ate and she ate with him until they both had had enough. They washed their hands, and she told the maid to bring scented herbs, as well as drinking cups of gold, silver and crystal, together with every kind of wine. When these had been fetched, the lady filled the first cup and drank the wine before him, as she had done with the food. She then filled a second and gave it to him and he drank. ‘See, Muslim,’ she said, ‘how you are enjoying the sweetest of pleasures.’ She went on drinking with him and pouring him drink until he lost control of his senses…
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the forty-ninth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O auspicious king, that she went on drinking with him and pouring him drink until he lost control of his senses, both because of the wine and out of the drunkenness of love. ‘Marjana,’ she then said, addressing the maid, ‘fetch us some musical instruments.’ ‘To hear is to obey,’ replied the girl, who left for a moment and came back with a Damascene lute, a Persian harp, a Tartar flute and an Egyptian zither. She took the lute, tuned it, tightening its strings, and then sang to it in a melodious voice – softer than the zephyr and sweeter than the water of Paradise – from a wounded heart:
God forgive your eyes; how much blood have they shed!
How many arrows have your glances shot!
I honour a beloved who mistreats the lover;
Pity and mercy are not for the lover to receive.
Fortunate is the eye sleepless because of you,
And blessed is the heart your love enslaves.
You are my owner and decree my death;
I ransom with my life the judge who passes this decree.
After this, every one of the maids got up, each with her own instrument, and recited for the lady verses in Greek, filling Sharkan with pleasure. Then it was the turn of their mistress to sing herself. ‘Muslim,’ she asked, ‘can you understand what I am saying?’ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘but I take pleasure in the beauty of your fingers.’ She laughed and said: ‘If I sing to you in Arabic, what will you do?’ ‘I would go out of my mind,’ he replied. So she took an instrument and sang in a different tempo:
How bitter is the taste of parting; can it be endured?
I faced three things: aversion, distance and abandonment.
I love a graceful one whose beauty captured me,
And so abandonment is bitter.
When she had finished these lines, she looked at Sharkan and found that he had indeed lost his senses and was lying at full length among the maids. After a time, he recovered and, remembering the song, he swayed with pleasure. The two of them then started to drink and they continued jesting and amusing themselves until the day had flown and night had lowered its wing. The lady then got up and when Sharkan asked about her, her maids told him that she had gone to her bedroom. ‘May God guard and protect her,’ he said. In the morning, a maid came to him and said: ‘My mistress invites you to go to her.’ He got up and followed her, and when he came near the place, the other maids accompanied him in a procession with tambourines and flutes until they came to a large door of ivory, studded with pearls and other gems.
When they entered, Sharkan found a large apartment, at the top end of which was a great hall, adorned with silks of all kinds. Within it were open windows looking out over trees and streams, together with lifelike images into which the wind could enter, setting in motion machinery inside them which gave the impression that they were speaking. The lady was seated watching them, and when she saw Sharkan, she got to her feet, took his hand and seated him beside her. She asked what kind of a night he had passed, and after he had invoked blessings on her, they sat talking. ‘Do you know anything relating to lovers and the slaves of love?’ she asked. ‘Yes, I know some poetry,’ he replied. ‘Let me hear it,’ she told him, and he recited:
Health and delight, untainted by disease,
To ‘Azza – how much of my honour is in her hands!
By God, whenever I came near, she sternly kept away,
And when I gave her much, she gave me little.
What was between us is now at an end,
And in my love for ‘Azza I am like a man
Who hopes a dwindling cloud will shade his midday sleep.
When she heard this, the lady said: ‘Kuthaiyir was a chaste man of clear eloquence, and how well he described ‘Azza in the lines:
Were ‘Azza to dispute on the point of beauty with the morning sun
Before a judge, he would rule in her favour.
Women have slandered her to men,
But may God set their cheeks beneath her feet.
‘Azza is said to have been extremely beautiful,’ the lady added, and she went on to ask Sharkan to recite some lines by Jamil Buthaina, if he knew any. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I know his poetry better than anyone.’ Then he recited Jamil’s lines:
They say: ‘Fight in the Holy War, Jamil; go on a raid.’
But what war do I want to wage except the war of women?
In every talk of theirs is joy,
And all their victims die a martyr’s death.
When I tell her my love is killing me,
She answers: ‘Stand firm and it will increase.’
‘Return some of my wits,’ I tell her, ‘so I may
Live amongst people.’ She says: ‘Far be it from you!’
You want to kill me and none other, while I see
No other goal to aim at except you.
‘Well done, prince,’ said the lady, ‘and this was well spoken by Jamil. But what did Buthaina want with Jamil to make him produce the half line “You want to kill me and none other”?’ ‘Lady,’ said Sharkan, ‘she wanted what you want with me, and even that will not content you.’ She laughed at his words and they went on drinking until the day ended with the coming of the darkness of night. She then got up and went to her bedroom, where she slept, while Sharkan slept in his own place. When he awoke, the maids came to him as usual, with their tambourines and musical instruments. They kissed the ground before him and said: ‘In the Name of God, please answer our lady’s summons to come to her.’ He got up and walked between them as they beat their tambourines and played their instruments until, on leaving the first apartment, he entered another, larger one, filled with statues and pictures of birds and beasts, that surpassed all description. Struck with wonder at the works of art that he saw there, he recited:
Has the watcher plucked fruits of necklaces –
Pearls set in gold from around throats,
And rosy cheeks in faces of topaz?
It is as though the colour of the violet
Matches the blue of eyes, daubed with antimony.
At the sight of Sharkan, the lady got up, took him by the hand and sat him beside her. ‘Prince,’ she asked, ‘are you any good at chess?’ ‘Yes, I am,’ he replied, ‘but don’t be as the poet said:
Passion folds and unfolds me as I speak;
A draught of love’s saliva slakes my thirst.
I came to play chess with her, and she played
With both the white and black, not pleasing me.
It was as though the king was next to the rook,
While looking for a game with the two queens.
If I try to establish what her glances mean,
Their coquetry, I tell you, destroys me.’
She then brought out a chess set for him and played with him, but every time that he was about to study her moves, he was distracted by her face, and put his knight where the bishop should have gone, and vice versa. She laughed and said: ‘If this is how you play, you know nothing.’ ‘This is the first game,’ he replied, ‘so don’t count it.’ When she had beaten him, he set out the pieces and played again, but she beat him a second time and then a third, a fourth and a fifth. Turning to him, she said: ‘You are beaten at every turn.’ ‘My lady,’ he replied, ‘how can anyone who plays with someone like you fail to be beaten?’ She then ordered food to be brought, and after they had both eaten and washed their hands, wine was produced and they drank. Taking a zither, she touched it skilfully and recited:
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights: Volume 1 Page 44