When all the preparations had been made, the furnace man went with the vizier to visit the king in order to say goodbye and to ask leave to set off on his journey. The king rose for him and embraced him, charging him to act justly towards his subjects and ordering him to prepare for a war against the infidels in two years’ time. They then said goodbye to each other, and al-Ziblkan al-Malik al-Mujahid left on his journey, having been instructed by Dau’ al-Makan to treat his people well. The emirs provided him with five thousand mamluks and servants who rode behind him, while in front was the grand chamberlain, together with Bahram, the leader of the Dailamis, Rustam, the leader of the Persians, and the Arab leader, Tarkash. They were there in attendance on him as a parting gesture, and after accompanying him for three days, they went back to Baghdad, while the sultan al-Ziblkan, the vizier Dandan and the troops that were with them carried on until they reached Damascus.
News had come by pigeon post to the Damascenes that King Dau’ al-Makan had appointed as ruler of Damascus a sultan named al-Ziblkan, to whom he had given the honorific title of al-Mujahid. When he arrived, the city was adorned with decorations and all the citizens came out to see the spectacle. The sultan entered in great procession, and after going up to the citadel, he took his seat on his royal throne, with the vizier Dandan standing in attendance on him and informing him of the appropriate stations and ranks of the emirs as they came in to kiss his hands and to invoke blessings on him. Al-Ziblkan welcomed them, giving them robes of honour and presenting them with gifts. He then opened the treasuries and distributed their contents to all the soldiers, whatever their rank, while ruling with justice. After this he began to make preparations for the journey of Princess Qudiya-fa-Kana, the daughter of Sultan Sharkan, providing her with a silken litter. He also made preparations for the vizier and produced money for him, but Dandan refused to take it, explaining: ‘You are new to the position and you may find yourself in need of money. At a later stage we shall accept it and we shall write to ask you for a subsidy for the holy war, or some other purpose.’ When Dandan was ready to set off, al-Ziblkan rode out to take leave of him. He had Qudiya-fa-Kana brought and placed in her litter, sending with her ten slave girls to attend on her. When Dandan had left, he returned to administer his kingdom, concerning himself with the provision of weapons and waiting for a summons to come from King Dau’ al-Makan.
So much, then, for him, but as for the vizier Dandan, he continued to traverse the various stages of his journey with Qudiya-fa-Kana until, after a month, he arrived at al-Ruhba. He then moved on to the outskirts of Baghdad, from where he sent a message to Dau’ al-Makan, announcing his arrival. The king rode out to meet him, but when Dandan was about to dismount, he told him not to do so and rode up beside him instead. To his question about al-Ziblkan, Dandan replied that all was well with him, and he gave news of the arrival of Qudiya-fa-Kana, the daughter of the king’s brother, Sharkan. Dau’ al-Makan was delighted and said: ‘Rest for three days from the hardships of your journey and then come to me.’ Dandan agreed and went off to his house, while the king returned to his palace. There he went in to visit his niece, Qudiya-fa-Kana, who was now eight years old. He was filled with joy when he saw her, although this was mixed with sorrow for her father. He had clothes made for her and presented her with jewellery and great quantities of ornaments. On his instructions, she was lodged with his son, Kana-ma-Kana, and the two of them grew up to be the most intelligent of the people of their age as well as the bravest.
While Qudiya-fa-Kana was prudent and intelligent, taking note of the consequences of her actions, Kana-ma-Kana turned out to be generous and noble, but unconcerned about the future. By the time that they had reached the age of ten, Qudiya-fa-Kana was in the habit of riding out with him on long trips to the country, where they would practise cutting and thrusting with sword and lance, and this went on until they were both twelve. At that time, the king had completed his plans for the Holy War and made all his preparations. He summoned Dandan and said: ‘You must know that I have determined on a plan, which I shall set out for you to study, and after that I want you to give me a quick answer.’ ‘What are you thinking of, king of the age?’ asked Dandan. Dau’ al-Makan replied: ‘I propose to appoint my son, Kana-ma-Kana, as king, so that I can take pleasure in him during my life and fight in his defence until death overtakes me. What do you think?’ Dandan kissed the earth in front of the king and said: ‘Know, king of the age, that this is an attractive idea, but this is not the right time for it, for two reasons. The first is that your son Kana-ma-Kana is young, while the second is that custom shows that whoever gives power to his son in his own lifetime does not live for long afterwards. This is my answer.’ ‘Know, vizier,’ said the king, ‘that I shall entrust my son to the care of the grand chamberlain who, as my sister’s husband, has become one of us and is answerable to me, having taken the place of my brother.’ ‘Do whatever you think right,’ replied the vizier, ‘for we shall obey your orders.’
The king then sent for the grand chamberlain, together with the officers of state, and said to them: ‘You know that my son, Kana-ma-Kana, is the champion of the age, unequalled in battle and war. I have made him your king, appointing the grand chamberlain, his uncle, as his guardian.’ The chamberlain said: ‘King of the age, it is your favour that has nurtured me.’ ‘Chamberlain,’ replied the king, ‘my son, Kana-ma-Kana, and my brother’s daughter, Qudiya-fa-Kana, are cousins, and I call all present to witness that I intend to give her to him as a wife.’ He then transferred to his son wealth that would baffle all description, after which he went to his sister, Nuzhat al-Zaman, and told her of this. She was delighted, saying: ‘These two are my children; may God preserve you and may you live a long life for their sakes.’ ‘Sister,’ he replied, ‘I have achieved what I wanted in this world and I can rely on my son, but you must keep an eye on him and on his mother.’
He passed several nights and days in giving instructions to the chamberlain and to Nuzhat al-Zaman with regard to his son, his niece and his wife. He then took to his bed, being certain that he was about to drink the cup of death, while it was the chamberlain who administered the affairs of the peoples and the lands. After a year, he summoned his son, Kana-ma-Kana, and the vizier Dandan. ‘My son,’ he said, ‘after my death this vizier will be your father. Know that I am leaving the transitory world for the world of eternity. I have achieved what I wanted here, but I have one heartfelt regret, which I hope that God will remove at your hands.’ Kana-ma-Kana asked his father what this was, and he replied: ‘It is that I should die without having taken vengeance for your grandfather, ‘Umar ibn al-Nu‘man, and your uncle, Sharkan, from an old woman called Dhat al-Dawahi. If God grants you victory, do not neglect to avenge this and to clear away the shame that the infidels have inflicted on us, but beware of the old woman’s wiles and listen to the advice of the vizier Dandan, who for years has been the pillar of our kingdom.’ Kana-ma-Kana accepted his counsel, and after this the king’s eyes filled with tears as his illness grew worse. His brother-in-law, the chamberlain, an experienced man, took charge of the affairs of state, with absolute authority, and this continued for a whole year, while Dau’ al-Makan was preoccupied with his disease, which continued to debilitate him for four years. The grand chamberlain’s administration won the approval of the citizens of the kingdom and the officers of state, while all the lands called down blessings on him.
So much for Dau’ al-Makan and the chamberlain, but as for the king’s son, Kana-ma-Kana, his only concern was to ride horses, practise with lances and shoot arrows. The same was true of his cousin, Qudiya-fa-Kana, and the two of them used to be out from first light until nightfall, when they would each go back to their mothers. Kana-ma-Kana would find his mother sitting by his father’s head, weeping and ministering to him all night long until morning, when he himself and his cousin would then go out again as usual. Dau’ al-Makan suffered prolonged pains, and in tears he recited the following lines:
My strength has gone;
my time is past;
Here I remain as you see me.
On the day of glory I outshone my people;
I was the first of them to fulfil what was wished for.
I wonder if I shall see before my death
My son as ruler of the people in my place,
Charging the enemy to take vengeance,
Cutting with the sword and thrusting with the spear.
I shall be the loser in all things, light or serious,
If God, my Master, does not mend my heart.
When he had finished his recitation, he leaned his head on his pillow, his eyes closed and he fell asleep. In a dream, he heard a voice saying: ‘Good news. Your son will fill the lands with justice; he will rule over them and the people will obey him.’ He woke from this dream happy at what had been revealed to him, and a few days later death struck him.
This was a source of great grief to the people of Baghdad, and high and low alike wept for him, but with the passing of time it was as though he had never been. The situation of Kana-ma-Kana changed and the Baghdadis deposed him, isolating him and his family. When his mother saw that, in her humiliation she said: ‘I must go to the grand chamberlain, hoping for mercy from the Kind and All-knowing God.’ She left her house and went to that of the chamberlain, who had become king and whom she found sitting on his carpet. She went to his wife, Nuzhat al-Zaman, and said, weeping bitterly: ‘The dead have no friends. May God never reduce you to need with the passage of years and may you continue to rule with justice the high and the low. You heard and saw the regal dignity and rank that we enjoyed, together with the wealth and the luxurious circumstances of our life. Now time has turned against us; the passing years have betrayed us and attacked us. I have come to you to ask for your favour, after having myself conferred favours, since when a man dies, his wives and daughters are humiliated.’ She then recited:
It is enough for you that death’s wonders become plain,
And what is hidden in life will not be hidden from us then.
These days are only stages on a journey,
Where disasters mingle with the waters that we reach.
Nothing so saddens me as the loss of noble men,
Who have been victims of great miseries.
When Nuzhat al-Zaman heard this, she remembered her brother Dau’ al-Makan and his son, Kana-ma-Kana. Inviting her visitor to approach, she went forward to meet her, saying: ‘By God, I am now rich while you are poor. The only reason that we did not go to look for you was that I was afraid that you might be broken-hearted were you to think that whatever we gave you was charity, while all the good things we enjoy come from you and your husband. Our house is yours; our place is yours; our wealth is yours, together with all that we have.’ She then gave the widow splendid clothes and set aside for her an apartment in the palace next to her own. The widow stayed there with her son, Kana-ma-Kana, enjoying an agreeable life. Kana-ma-Kana was dressed in kingly robes and he and his mother were assigned slave girls to serve them. Soon afterwards, Nuzhat al-Zaman told her husband about Dau’ al-Makan’s widow. His eyes filled with tears and he said: ‘If you want to see what the world will be like after you have left it, look at it when someone else has gone. Make sure that she is given an honourable lodging here…’
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the hundred and thirty-eighth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that when Nuzhat al-Zaman told her husband about Dau’ al-Makan’s widow, he told her to be sure that she was given an honourable lodging and her poverty relieved.
So much for Nuzhat al-Zaman, her husband and the widow of Dau’ al-Makan. As for Kana-ma-Kana and his cousin, Qudiya-fa-Kana, they grew up and flourished until, at the age of fifteen, they were like two fruit-laden branches or two shining moons. Qudiya-fa-Kana was one of the most beautiful of secluded girls, with a lovely face, smooth cheeks, a slender waist, heavy buttocks, a graceful figure, a mouth sweeter than wine, and saliva like the fountain of Paradise. A poet has described her in these lines:
It was as though her saliva was choice wine
And grapes were plucked from her sweet mouth.
Were she to bend, it is grape clusters that sway –
Glory to her Creator; none can describe her.
In her, Almighty God had united every beauty. Her figure put branches to shame; roses asked for mercy from her cheeks; while her saliva laughed the finest wine to scorn. She was a delight to both heart and eye, as the poet has said:
A beautiful girl, perfect in loveliness,
Whose eyebrows put to shame the use of kohl.
To the heart of her lover her glances are like a sword
Wielded by ‘Ali, Commander of the Faithful.
As for Kana-ma-Kana, he was remarkably handsome, perfect in form, unmatched in beauty, with courage showing between his eyes and testifying for him rather than against him. Hard hearts inclined to him; his eyes were dark; and when hair started to grow around his lips and down spread on his cheeks, many lines were written about it:
My excuse appeared only when his cheek sprouted down
And bewildering darkness moved over it.
He is a fawn; when others saw his beauty,
His eyes unsheathed a dagger against them.
Another poet has said:
The souls of lovers drew upon his cheek
The image of an ant, perfected in red blood.
How strange to see martyrs living in hellfire,
Clothed in green silk of Paradise.
It so happened that, on one feast day, Qudiya-fa-Kana went out to celebrate the feast with some of her relatives at the court. She was surrounded in all her beauty by her slave girls; the roses of her cheek envied her beauty spot and camomile blossoms smiled from the lightning flashes of her mouth. Kana-ma-Kana started to walk around her, looking at her as she appeared like the shining moon. Plucking up his courage, he recited the following lines:
When will the heart, saddened by parting, find a cure?
When will rejection cease and the mouth of union laugh?
I wish that I knew whether I shall spend a night
With a beloved who feels something of my love.
When Qudiya-fa-Kana heard these lines, she made her disapproval plain to see. With a disdainful look she expressed her anger with Kanama-Kana and said to him: ‘Is it to put me to shame among your family that you mention me in your verses? By God, if you don’t stop talking like this, I shall complain of you to the grand chamberlain, the king of Khurasan and Baghdad, the just ruler, and he will bring disgrace and ignominy down on you.’ Kana-ma-Kana was indignant but made no reply and went back to Baghdad in a state of anger. Qudiya-fa-Kana went to her palace and complained to her mother of her cousin’s behaviour. ‘Daughter,’ replied her mother, ‘it may be that he did not intend to do you any harm. He is, after all, fatherless, and, in addition, he did not say anything that would disgrace you. Take care not to tell anyone about it for the news might get to the king and lead him to cut short the boy’s life, blotting out all memory of him and consigning him to the past.’
In spite of that, Kana-ma-Kana’s love for Qudiya-fa-Kana became well known in Baghdad and was the subject of gossip among women. He himself became depressed; he lost his powers of endurance and became helpless and unable to conceal his state from those around him. He wanted to disclose the grief of separation that was in his heart, but was afraid lest Qudiya-fa-Kana reproach him and be angry with him. So he recited:
When a day comes on which I fear reproach
From one whose serene nature has been clouded over,
I bear her harshness as a man endures
Cauterization while searching for a cure.
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the hundred and thirty-ninth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that when the grand chamberlain became king, he was
called al-Malik Sasan. He took his place on the royal throne and treated his subjects well. One day while he was seated there, he was told of the poetry recited by Kana-ma-Kana. He was filled with regret for what had passed and, going to his wife Nuzhat al-Zaman, he said: ‘It is very dangerous to combine esparto grass with fire. Men are not to be trusted with women as long as eyes glance and eyelids flutter. Your nephew Kana-ma-Kana has now reached man’s estate and he must be kept from visiting the ladies of the harem. It is even more necessary that your daughter be kept away from men, as girls like her should be kept in seclusion.’ ‘That is true, wise king,’ replied his wife, and next day, when Kana-ma-Kana paid his usual visit to his aunt and they had exchanged greetings, she said to him: ‘My son, there is something that I don’t want to say but which I have to tell you in spite of myself.’ When he told her to say it, she went on: ‘Your uncle, the chamberlain, the father of Qudiya-fa-Kana, has heard of the poetry that you recited about her and he has given orders that she is to be kept away from you. If there is anything that you need, I shall send it to you from behind the door, but you are not to see Qudiya-fa-Kana or to come back here from now on.’
On hearing this, Kana-ma-Kana got up and went out without speaking a single word. He came to his mother and told her what his aunt had said. ‘This is because you talked too much,’ she said. ‘The story of your love for Qudiya-fa-Kana has spread and is spoken of everywhere. How can you eat their food and then fall in love with their daughter?’ ‘Who should have her except for me?’ he asked. ‘She is my cousin and I have a greater right to her than any.’ ‘Don’t talk like that,’ said his mother. ‘Keep quiet, lest word of this reach King Sasan and lead to your losing her. It might multiply your sorrows or even lead to your destruction. They have not sent us an evening meal tonight and we may perish of hunger. Were we in any other city we should die of starvation or from the shame of having to beg.’
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights: Volume 1 Page 75