The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights: Volume 1

by Penguin; Robert Irwin; Malcolm Lyons; Ursula Lyons

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that Dau’ al-Makan told the chamberlain to show him the Damascus tribute that he had with him. The chamberlain showed him the chests of money, valuables and jewels, which he then took and distributed among the troops until nothing remained. The emirs then kissed the ground in front of him and prayed for his long life. ‘We have never seen a king who gave gifts like these,’ they said, before going off to their tents.

  The next morning, he gave the order to march, and on the fourth day they came within sight of Baghdad. They entered the city, which they found to have been adorned with decorations for the occasion, and Dau’ al-Makan went as king to the palace of his father and took his seat on the throne, while the emirs of the army, the vizier Dandan and the chamberlain of Damascus stood before him. He then gave orders to his private secretary to write a letter to his brother, Sharkan, giving an account of all that had happened from start to finish, and adding, at the end of it: ‘As soon as you have read this letter, make your preparations and come with your army so that we may set out to attack the infidels, take revenge on them for our father and clear ourselves of disgrace.’ He folded up the letter, sealed it and said to the vizier Dandan: ‘No one else can carry this letter but you. You must be courteous in what you say to him; tell him that if he wants his father’s kingdom, he can have it, and add: “And your brother, as he has told me, will be your deputy in Damascus.” ’

  The vizier left his presence and made his preparations for the journey. Next, Dau’ al-Makan ordered that the furnace man be given a magnificent residence, furnished with all splendour. There is a long story attached to this man. Dau’ al-Makan himself went off hunting and, on his return to Baghdad, one of the emirs presented him with what baffles description, a present of noble horses and slave girls of indescribable beauty. One of these girls caught his fancy and so he retired with her and lay with her that same night, at which she immediately conceived. Some time later, the vizier Dandan came back from his journey with news that Sharkan was on his way. He advised Dau’ al-Makan that he should go out to meet him, to which Dau’ al-Makan agreed. Accompanied by his great officers of state, he moved out for the distance of a day’s journey from Baghdad and pitched his tents to wait for his brother.

  In the morning, Sharkan arrived, accompanied by the troops of Syria – bold riders, fierce lions and heroes of the mêlée. The squadrons approached, with the dust clouds rising; on came the troops, with the banners of the columns fluttering. Sharkan and his companions came out to meet the Baghdadis. When Dau’ al-Makan caught sight of his brother, he was about to dismount to greet him, but Sharkan called out to stop him. Rather, he dismounted himself and walked for a few paces. When he was in front of Dau’ al-Makan, the latter threw himself on him. Sharkan clasped him to his breast and the two wept bitterly and consoled each other for their loss. Then they both mounted and rode off, accompanied by their troops, until they came in sight of Baghdad where they dismounted, and the two of them went up to the royal palace where they spent the night.

  The next morning, Dau’ al-Makan came out and gave orders for troops to be collected from all quarters, and a Holy War to be proclaimed. There was then a pause for the armies to arrive from the various regions, during which everyone who came received honourable treatment and promises of future advantages. In this way a whole month passed, with men arriving in successive waves. It was at this point that Sharkan asked his brother to tell him his story and Dau’ al-Makan explained everything that had happened to him from beginning to end, including the services rendered him by the furnace man. When Sharkan asked him whether he had repaid the man for these, he said: ‘Brother, I have not yet done that, but, I shall, God willing, reward him when I come back from this expedition…’

  Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the eighty-eighth night, SHE CONTINUED:

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that Sharkan asked Dau’ al-Makan whether he had repaid the furnace man for his services. He replied: ‘Brother, I have not yet done that, but, I shall, God willing, reward him when I return from this expedition, and have time for him.’

  Sharkan now realized that all that his sister, Nuzhat al-Zaman, had told him was true. He kept secret what had happened between the two of them and sent greetings to her and her husband the chamberlain, greetings which she returned. She invoked blessings on him and asked about her daughter, Qudiya-fa-Kana. On being told that the girl was well and enjoying the best of health and well-being, she praised Almighty God and thanked Sharkan. Sharkan himself then went back to his brother to consult him about the army’s march. They would move, said Dau’ al-Makan, when the full tally of troops had been reached and the Bedouin had come in from all quarters. He ordered provisions to be got ready and stores to be collected.

  After this, he visited his wife, who was now five months pregnant. He assigned learned men and arithmeticians to her service, providing them with salaries and allowances. Then, in the third month after the arrival of the Syrian troops, when the Bedouin and the other contingents had arrived from all parts, he set off, accompanied by the levies and the regular troops, with the columns following one after the other. The commander of the Dailami troops was Rustam, while the Turkish commander was Bahram. Dau’ al-Makan rode in the centre of the army with his brother Sharkan on his right and his brother-in-law, the chamberlain, on his left. The march continued for a month, with a three-day halt every week because of the size of the army. They continued in this way until they reached Byzantine territory, where the townsfolk, together with the villagers and the poor, all fled to Constantinople.

  When Emperor Afridun heard of the invasion, he went to Dhat al-Dawahi, for she had been the author of the scheme and had gone to Baghdad, killed ‘Umar ibn al-Nu‘man and brought back the slave girls, together with Princess Sophia, to their own land. On her return to her son, the king of Rum, and believing herself to be secure, she had said to him: ‘You can be consoled, as I have avenged the death of your daughter Abriza for you; I have killed King ‘Umar ibn al-Nu‘man and brought back Sophia. Now get up and leave for Constantinople to return the emperor his daughter and to tell him what has happened, so that we may all be on our guard and make our preparations. I will go with you to the emperor, for I think that the Muslims will not wait for us to attack.’ ‘Stay until they are close to our lands,’ the king replied, ‘so that we have time to get ready.’

  They then started to collect their men and to prepare. By the time they heard that the Muslims were on the march, they were ready, and Dhat al-Dawahi left with the advance guard. When they got to Constantinople, the emperor heard that Hardub, king of Rum, had arrived, and went out to meet him. When they met, Afridun asked Hardub how he was and why he had come. In reply, Hardub told him about the trick played by Dhat al-Dawahi and how she had killed the Muslim king and recovered Princess Sophia from him. ‘The Muslims have marched with all their men,’ Dhat al-Dawahi said, ‘and we must all unite to face them.’

  Afridun was delighted by the arrival of his daughter and the death of ‘Umar, and he sent for reinforcements from all his lands, telling them why ‘Umar had been killed. Christian troops hurried to join him, and within three months the muster of his armies was complete. The Franks came from their various regions, such as France, Austria, Dubrovnik, Jawarna, Venice and Genoa, together with other troops of the Banu’l-Asfar. When they had all gathered, the country was too small to hold them and so Afridun ordered them away from Constantinople. They left and the troops followed each other in succession on a column that extended for the distance of a ten-day journey. This route took them to the wide Wadi’l-Nu‘man, which is close to the salt sea. Here they halted for three days, and on the fourth, when they were intending to move off, they heard news of the arrival of the armies of Islam, the defenders of the religion of the best of mankind. Accordingly, they waited for another three days and on the fourth they saw a dust cloud that rose until it had filled all quarters of the sky. Before
an hour had passed it cleared away, its fragments rising into the air, and its darkness was extinguished by the stars of spearheads and lances and the gleam of white sword blades. There beneath it were the banners of Islam and the standards of Muhammadanism.

  The horsemen advanced like breaking waves, wearing hauberks that looked like clouds set as chain mail over moons. The two armies moved forward against each other and met face to face. The first challenger was the vizier Dandan with the Syrians, thirty thousand riders in all, and he was accompanied by the leaders of the Turks and the Dailamis, Bahram and Rustam, with twenty thousand men. Behind them were men from the region of the salt sea, wearing armour which made them look like moons travelling through the darkness of night. The Christians started to call on Jesus, Mary and the blackened Cross, and they closed in around Dandan and his Syrians.

  The plan for all this had been drawn up by the old woman, Dhat al-Dawahi. She had been approached by the emperor before he had moved out, and asked what tactics to use, for she, as he pointed out, was responsible for the crisis. ‘Know, O great king and mighty priest,’ she had said, ‘that I shall show you a scheme that would baffle Iblis himself, even if he had all his ill-starred hosts to help him.’

  Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the eighty-ninth night, SHE CONTINUED:

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that the plan for this had been drawn up by the old woman, Dhat al-Dawahi. She had been approached by the emperor before he had moved out, and asked what tactics to use, for she, as he pointed out, was responsible for the crisis. ‘Know, O great king and mighty priest,’ she had said, ‘that I shall show you a scheme that would baffle Iblis himself, even if he had all his ill-starred hosts to help him. You should send out fifty thousand men to embark on ships and sail to the Smoke Mountain. They should stay there without moving from their position until you are confronted by the banners of Islam. You must then attack the Muslim army. The troops that have come by sea will advance and take them from the rear, while we face them on the landward side and no single one of them will escape. We shall then be free from trouble and able to enjoy lives of continuous happiness.’ Afridun approved of what she said: ‘What an excellent plan this is of yours, mistress of the cunning old women and refuge of the priests in time of discord!’

  When the Muslims attacked the Christians in the valley, before they knew what was happening, fires were blazing among their tents, while swords were at work among the men. At that point the troops of Baghdad and Khurasan came up, a hundred and twenty thousand riders in all, with Dau’ al-Makan at their head. When the sea-borne infidels saw them, they moved in from the shore and followed in their tracks. Seeing them, Dau’ al-Makan shouted to his men: ‘Turn back against the infidels, you followers of the chosen Prophet; fight against the impious foe in obedience to the Merciful and Compassionate God.’ Sharkan advanced with another corps of the Muslim army numbering about a hundred and twenty thousand, while the infidel armies totalled some one million six hundred thousand men.

  When the Muslims joined forces they became confident and called out: ‘God has promised us the victory and has threatened the unbelievers with failure.’ The ranks clashed together with swords and spears. Sharkan cut his way through, raging among the masses of the foe and fighting with such ferocity as to turn white the hair of children. He continued to wheel round among the infidels, striking at them with his keen sword and shouting ‘Allahu akbar!’ until they were driven back to the seashore in a state of exhaustion. God granted victory to Islam and the soldiers were fighting as though drunk, but not on wine. In this battle the infidels lost forty-five thousand men, while three thousand five hundred Muslims were killed. Neither Sharkan nor his brother Dau’ al-Makan slept that night, as they were busy encouraging their men, visiting the wounded and congratulating them on their victory, their survival and the reward that would be theirs on the Day of Resurrection.

  So much for the Muslims. As for Afridun, the emperor of Constantinople, along with the king of Rum and his mother, Dhat al-Dawahi, they collected the army commanders and said: ‘We would have achieved our goal and satisfied our desires, but we failed because we were relying on our greater numbers.’ Dhat al-Dawahi said: ‘The only thing that will be of use to you is to seek favour from the Messiah and to hold fast to the true faith. By the truth of the Messiah, the one thing that strengthened the Muslim army today was that devil, Sultan Sharkan.’ The emperor then said: ‘Tomorrow, I intend to draw up the army and then send out against the Muslims the famous knight Luqa ibn Shamlut. If he meets Sharkan in single combat, he will kill him and he will then kill the other Muslim champions until not one of them is left. I intend tonight to consecrate you with the finest incense of all.’

  When his men heard this, they kissed the ground, for by the incense he meant the excrement of the Patriarch, the denier and the rejecter of the truth. The Christians used to compete with one another for this because of the value that they placed on its foulness, and the great Rumi priests would send it throughout their empire wrapped in pieces of silk and mixed with musk and ambergris. When kings heard of it, they would buy a dirham’s weight of it for a thousand dinars and they would send to ask for it to use as incense at weddings, while the other priests would mix it with their own excrement, as that of the Patriarch was not enough for ten provinces. The principal kings would mix a little of it with the kohl they used as eye ointment, and they employed this in their treatment of the sick and those suffering from stomach pains.

  When morning broke and light spread, the riders came out with their lances.

  Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the ninetieth night, SHE CONTINUED:

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that when morning broke and light spread, the riders came out with their lances. Afridun summoned his principal officers and his ministers of state. He distributed robes of state among them, traced the sign of the Cross on their faces and perfumed them with the incense that has just been described. Having done this, he summoned Luqa ibn Shamlut, known as the Sword of the Messiah, perfumed him and then smeared him with the excrement, which he sniffed and then spread on his cheeks and moustache. Nowhere in the lands of Rum was there a greater champion than this damned Luqa, or any better archer, swordsman or spearsman on the day of battle. He was an ugly man with the face of a donkey, the shape of an ape and the appearance of a snake. To be near him was harder to bear than to part from a beloved. His was the blackness of night, the foul breath of the lion and the daring of the leopard, and he was marked with the sign of the infidels.

  He now came forward to Afridun, kissed his feet and took his stand before him. The emperor told him: ‘I want you to go out to challenge Sharkan, sultan of Damascus, the son of ‘Umar ibn al-Nu‘man, for in this way the evil will be cleared away from us and our task will become easy.’ ‘To hear is to obey,’ replied Luqa, and the emperor made the sign of the Cross on his face, believing that victory would soon be theirs. Luqa then left the emperor’s presence and mounted a roan horse. He wore a red robe, with golden mail studded with gems, and he carried a lance with a trident head as though he was Iblis the damned at the Battle of the League.* He and his infidel followers set out, riding as though to hellfire. Among them was a herald who called out in Arabic: ‘People of Muhammad, let no one come out except your champion, the Sword of Islam, Sharkan, the sultan of Damascus.’

  Before he had finished speaking, there was a sound on the plain that all could hear. Galloping horses parted the ranks, calling to mind the day of wailing at the Last Judgement. Base men shrank in fear; heads turned and there was Sharkan. When Dau’ al-Makan had seen Luqa the damned coming on to the battlefield and had heard the herald, he turned to his brother and said: ‘They want you.’ ‘If that is so,’ replied Sharkan, ‘that is what I would most like.’ When they were sure of this and heard that the herald’s challenge was to Sharkan alone, they realized that the damned Luq
a was the champion of the lands of Rum. He had sworn to cleanse the earth of Muslims, or else be counted as one of the greatest losers. It was he who had caused bitter grief, causing Turks, Kurds and Dailamis to take fright at the harm that he did.

  So it was that Sharkan now rode out against him like an angry lion, mounted on a horse like a fleeing gazelle. He rode up to Luqa and brandished his lance as though it was a viper, reciting the lines:

  I have a roan horse, obedient to the rein, a raider,

  Who contents his rider with his exertions;

  I have a straight lance with a smooth head:

  Death itself is set within its wood.

  Mine is a sharp Indian sword; when unsheathed,

  You would think that lightning ripples on its blade.

  Luqa understood neither the meaning of this poem nor the passion contained in it. Instead, he struck his face with his hand, to show reverence to the Cross marked on it, after which he kissed his hand, laid his lance in rest against Sharkan and charged. He tossed a javelin with one hand until it was lost to sight and then caught it again with the other hand like a juggler. He then hurled it at Sharkan like a piercing meteor, to the consternation and alarm of the Muslims, but when it was near him, Sharkan astonished everyone by plucking it out of the air. He shook it in the hand in which he had caught it until it almost shattered, after which he threw it up into the air until it was out of sight and then caught it with his other hand faster than the blink of an eye. He cried out from the bottom of his heart: ‘By the truth of God the Creator of the seven heavens, I shall expose this damned man to disgrace throughout the world.’ He then threw the javelin at Luqa who, wanting to do what he had done, put out his hand to catch it in mid-air, but Sharkan forestalled him by hurling a second javelin which struck him in the middle of the Cross drawn on his face, and God hastened his soul to the Fire, an evil resting place. When the infidels saw him fall, they slapped their faces and burst into loud lamentation, imploring the help of the patriarchs of the monasteries…