He did this, telling both women and men, and the people came out with drums and pipes. Among them was Qudiya-fa-Kana, like the full moon spreading its radiant light in the thick darkness. Kana-ma-Kana went to meet her; their souls yearned for each other and one body longed for the other. No one at that time could talk of anything but Kana-ma-Kana, and the riders bore witness that he was the bravest champion of the age. ‘No one else should be our ruler,’ they said, ‘and the kingdom of his grandfather should be restored to him.’ As for Sasan, he went in to see Nuzhat al-Zaman, who told him: ‘I find that the people are talking about nothing except Kana-ma-Kana, referring to him in a way that beggars description.’ ‘To hear is not the same as to see,’ her husband replied. ‘I have seen him, but I have not noticed any quality of perfection in him. Not everything that is heard has been said, for people follow each other’s lead in eulogizing him and proclaiming their love for him. God has caused his praise to flow over men’s tongues, to win him the hearts of the Baghdadis, together with the false and treacherous vizier, Dandan, who has collected armies from all the lands. What ruler can be content to be under the authority of an insignificant orphan?’
‘What is it that you propose to do?’ asked Nuzhat al-Zaman. ‘I propose to kill him,’ said Sasan, ‘so that the vizier Dandan’s attempt may be frustrated, and he may resume his allegiance, as he will have no choice but to serve me.’ ‘Treachery to strangers is foul,’ said Nuzhat al-Zaman, ‘so how much worse it is when it comes to relatives. The right thing would be for you to marry your daughter, Qudiya-fa-Kana, to Kana-ma-Kana, and you should listen to what was said in an earlier age:
If Time raises a man up over you,
Although you are the more deserving,
Give him his due, hard though this may be;
He will reward you, whether you are near or far away.
Do not tell what you know of him,
Or else no benefits will come your way.
In the women’s quarters many are lovelier than the bride,
But it is the bride whom fortune aids.’
When Sasan heard what she had to say and grasped the point of the poem, he left her in anger, saying: ‘Were it not a matter of disgrace to kill you, I would cut off your head with my sword and end your life.’ ‘You are angry with me,’ she said, ‘but I am only joking with you,’ and, jumping up, she kissed his head and his hands. ‘You are right,’ she added, ‘and you and I will think of some scheme for killing him.’ Sasan was glad when he heard this and said: ‘Do it quickly and relieve my worry, as, for my part, I cannot think of a plan.’ ‘I shall work out a way,’ she assured him, and when he asked how, she said: ‘By means of my servant, Bakun, who is a prolific schemer.’
Bakun was one of the most ill-omened of old women, who held that it was not permissible to abandon wickedness. She had brought up Kana-ma-Kana and Qudiya-fa-Kana, Kana-ma-Kana being particularly fond of her, as a result of which he used to sleep at her feet. When Sasan heard what his wife had to say, he approved of her proposal and, having summoned Bakun, he told her what had happened and ordered her to try to kill Kana-ma-Kana, promising her favours of all kinds. ‘Your orders are to be obeyed,’ she replied. ‘Master, I want you to give me a lethal dagger so that I may kill him quickly for you.’ Sasan welcomed her agreement and produced for her a dagger that could almost forestall fate.
Bakun had heard stories and poems and had a repertoire of anecdotes and tales. After taking the dagger, she left the apartment, thinking about how to destroy Kana-ma-Kana. She went to him as he sat waiting for a rendezvous with Qudiya-fa-Kana, for, thinking of her that night, his heart was on fire with love. While he was in this state, Bakun came in to visit him, saying: ‘The time of union is at hand and the days of separation are over.’ When he heard this, he asked her how Qudiya-fa-Kana was and Bakun replied: ‘She is preoccupied by love for you.’ Kana-ma-Kana rose and put his own robes on her, promising her favours of all kinds. She said: ‘Know that I shall sleep in your room tonight and tell you things that I have heard, diverting you with tales of infatuated lovers, sick with love.’ Kana-ma-Kana said: ‘Tell me something that will cheer me and remove my distress.’ ‘Willingly,’ said Bakun and, sitting down beside him with the dagger hidden in her clothes, SHE CONTINUED:
Know, O prince, that the pleasantest tale that I ever heard goes as follows. A certain man used to love pretty women, on whom he spent his money, until he had lost everything and was reduced to poverty. In his destitution he started to wander through the markets, looking for something on which to feed himself. While he was walking, a nail pierced his toe, drawing blood. He sat down, wiped off the blood and bandaged his toe, after which he got up, crying out in pain. Passing by a bath house, he went in and took off his clothes. On entering he found the place clean and so he sat by the fountain and kept on pouring water over his head until he grew tired.
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the hundred and forty-third night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that the man sat by the fountain and kept on pouring water over his head until he grew tired. He then went to the cold-water room, where he found himself alone with no companions. Taking out a piece of hashish, he swallowed it, and as the drug went to his head he toppled over on to the marble floor. The hashish led him to imagine that a high functionary was massaging him, while two slaves stood at his head, one with a bowl and the other with the utensils needed for washing in the baths. When he saw that, he said to himself: ‘Either these people have mistaken who I am or else they are hashish eaters like me.’ He stretched out his legs and in his delusion he thought that the bath man said to him: ‘It’s time for you to go up, for you are on duty today.’ ‘Well done, hashish,’ he said to himself, laughing, and he sat there in silence. The bath man got up, took him by the hand and wrapped a band of black silk around his waist. The two slaves walked behind him with the bowl and utensils until they brought him to a private room, where they released perfumes into the air. He found the room full of fruits and scented flowers. The servants sliced a melon for him and sat him on an ebony chair, while the bath man stood washing him as the servants poured out the water. They rubbed him down expertly, saying: ‘Our lord and master, may you enjoy constant happiness.’ They then went out, closing the door on him, and when he imagined that, he got up, removed the band from his waist and started to laugh until he almost lost consciousness. He went on laughing for a while and then said to himself: ‘I wonder why they were addressing me as though I were a vizier, calling me “lord and master”. It may be that they have got things wrong for the moment but afterwards they will recognize who I am and say: “This is a good-for-nothing” and beat me on the neck to their hearts’ content.’
Finding the room too hot, he opened the door and, in his dream, he saw a small mamluk and a eunuch coming in. The mamluk had with him a package which he opened and out of which he took three silk towels, placing one on the man’s head, the second over his shoulders and the third round his waist. The eunuch gave him clogs, which he put on, and then other mamluks and eunuchs came up to him and supported him as he left the room, laughing, and went to the hall, which was sumptuously furnished in a way suitable only for kings. Servants hurried up to him and sat him on a dais, where they started to massage him until he fell asleep. In his sleep, he dreamt that there was a girl on his lap. He kissed her and placed her between his thighs, sitting with her as a man does with a woman. Taking his penis in his hand and drawing the girl to him, he pressed her beneath him.
At that point, someone called out: ‘Wake up, you good-for-nothing! It’s noon and you’re still asleep.’ He opened his eyes and found himself in the cold-water room surrounded by a crowd of people who were laughing at him. He had an erection and the towel had slipped from his waist. He realized, to his sorrow, that all this had been a drug-induced fantasy, and turning to the man who had woken him, he said: ‘You could have waited until I put it in.’ �
��Aren’t you ashamed, hashish eater,’ the people said, ‘to sleep with your penis erect?’ Then they slapped him until the back of his neck was red. He was hungry but in his dream he had tasted happiness.
When Kana-ma-Kana heard this story from Bakun, he laughed until he fell over. ‘Nurse,’ he said, ‘this is a remarkable story. I have never heard one like it. Do you have any more?’ ‘Yes,’ she said, and she continued to tell him witty tales and amusing anecdotes until he was overcome by sleep. Bakun stayed sitting by his head until most of the night had gone. ‘This is the time to seize the opportunity,’ she said to herself. Standing up, she drew the dagger, leapt at Kana-ma-Kana and was about to cut his throat when in came his mother. When Bakun saw her, she went up to greet her, but in her fear she started to tremble as though she was in the grip of a fever. This surprised Kana-ma-Kana’s mother, who roused her son, and when he woke up he found her sitting by his head.
It was her arrival that had saved his life, and the reason she had come was that Qudiya-fa-Kana had gone to her after overhearing her parents agreeing to have Kana-ma-Kana killed. ‘Aunt,’ she had said to his mother, ‘go to your son before this whore Bakun kills him,’ and she had told her the story from beginning to end. Kana-ma-Kana’s mother had gone without further ado. She came in while her son was asleep and Bakun was on the point of cutting his throat. When he woke up, he said: ‘You have come at a good time, mother. My nurse, Bakun, has been with me tonight.’ He then turned to Bakun, saying: ‘By my life, do you know any better story than the ones you have told me?’ ‘How can the ones that I have already told you compare with the even more pleasant one that I was going to tell you next? But I shall tell it to you another time.’
She got up, hardly believing that she had escaped. Kana-ma-Kana said goodbye to her, but in her cunning she could see that his mother knew what had happened. When she had gone off, Kana-ma-Kana’s mother said to him: ‘My son, this was a fortunate night, as Almighty God has saved you from this damned woman.’ When he asked her about that, she told him the story from start to finish. ‘Mother,’ he said, ‘a man destined to live has no killer, nor does he die if someone tries to take his life, but it would be prudent for us to leave these enemies. God acts according to His will.’ The next morning, he left the city and joined the vizier Dandan, and after he had gone, an interchange took place between King Sasan and Nuzhat al-Zaman which prompted her, too, to leave. She went to Dandan, and all Sasan’s officers of state who supported their cause joined them. They sat discussing tactics and agreed to make a revenge attack on the king of Rum. They set off on their expedition, but fell into the hands of Rumzan, king of Rum, after what would take too long to describe, as will be seen in due course.
The morning after they had been captured, Rumzan ordered Kana-ma-Kana, the vizier Dandan and their companions to be brought before him. When they came, he sat them by his side and ordered tables of food to be fetched. When this had been done, they ate, drank and relaxed, although they had believed they were going to die, for when the king had ordered them to be brought, they told each other that he had only done this because he intended to have them killed. Having reassured them the king said: ‘I have had a dream and when I told it to the monks, they said that the only man who could interpret it for me would be the vizier Dandan.’ ‘May it be something good that you saw, king of the age!’ replied Dandan.
‘Vizier,’ said the king, ‘I found myself in a pit like a black well and people were tormenting me. I wanted to get out of it, but when I tried to climb up, I fell back down and could not get free of the pit. I turned and saw on the ground beside me a girdle of gold. I put out my hand to take it, but when I picked it up, I saw that there were, in fact, two girdles. I tied them both around my waist and then found that they had become a single one. This was the dream that I had, vizier, while I was sound asleep.’ ‘My lord,’ said Dandan, ‘the meaning of your dream is that you have a brother or a nephew or a cousin, or some relation of your own flesh and blood, and he is among the best of your family.’
When the king heard this, he looked at Kana-ma-Kana, Nuzhat al-Zaman, Qudiya-fa-Kana, the vizier Dandan and their fellow captives, and he said to himself: ‘If I cut off the heads of these people, their troops will be disheartened by their loss, and I shall be able to return soon to my own country, lest I lose my kingdom.’ Having made up his mind to do this, he called for his executioner and told him to cut off Kana-ma-Kana’s head immediately. At that moment, his nurse came forward and asked him what he was proposing to do. ‘I have decided to kill these prisoners whom I am holding,’ he said, ‘after which I shall throw their heads to their companions. I and my men will then launch a concerted charge against them, killing some and routing the rest. This will be the decisive battle, and soon afterwards I shall go back to my own lands before anything happens there.’ When she heard this, the nurse came up to him and said, speaking in Frankish: ‘How can you think it good to kill your nephew, your sister and your sister’s daughter?’
The king was furiously angry when he heard this. ‘You damned woman,’ he exclaimed, ‘didn’t you tell me that my mother was killed and my father poisoned? You gave me a jewel which you said had belonged to my father. Why didn’t you tell me the truth?’ ‘Everything that I said was true,’ she replied, ‘but my affair and yours is both strange and wonderful. My name is Marjana. Your mother, Abriza, was beautiful as well as famous among champions for her courage, which was proverbial. Your father was King ‘Umar ibn al-Nu‘man, the ruler of Baghdad and of Khurasan. There is no shadow of doubt about this, nor is it guesswork. King ‘Umar had sent out his son, Sharkan, on a raiding expedition in company with this vizier, Dandan. They had a number of adventures and your brother, Sultan Sharkan, who was in command, became separated from his men. He was entertained by your mother, Princess Abriza, in her palace. She had gone off alone to wrestle with us, her maids, and it was while we were doing this that Sharkan came across us. He wrestled with your mother, who got the better of him, thanks to her radiant beauty and her courage, after which she entertained him for five days in her palace. Her father heard of that from his old mother, Shawahi, whose nickname is Dhat al-Dawahi. Your mother had been converted to Islam by Sharkan, your brother, and he took her off secretly to Baghdad. Raihana and I, with twenty slave girls, went with her, having ourselves been converted by Sharkan.
‘When we came into the presence of your father, King ‘Umar, and he saw your mother, Princess Abriza, he fell in love with her. He went to visit her at night and lay with her, after which she conceived you. She had with her three jewels which she gave to your father, and he in his turn gave one to his daughter, Nuzhat al-Zaman, the second to your brother Dau’ al-Makan and the third to your brother Sharkan. Princess Abriza took this last one from him and kept it for you. When it was nearly time for her to give birth, she felt a longing for her own family and confided her secret to me. I met a black slave, named Ghadban, whom I told about this in private, and I induced him to travel with us. He took us out of the city and fled away with us. Your mother was close to her time and when we had crossed the boundaries of our own lands and were in an isolated spot, she fell into labour. It was then that the slave thought of playing us false. He approached your mother and tried to seduce her. She gave a great cry and recoiled from him, and so violently did she do this that she gave birth to you on the spot.
‘Just then, from the direction of our own lands a dust cloud rose and spread up in the air until it blocked the horizon. The slave feared for his life and in an excess of rage he struck Princess Abriza with his sword and killed her, after which he mounted his horse and made off. When he had gone, the dust cleared away to show your grandfather, Hardub, king of Rum. The king saw your mother, his daughter, stretched out dead on the ground. He found this hard to bear and he asked me how she had come to be killed and why she had secretly left his lands. I told him the whole story from beginning to end, and this is the reason for the hostility between the people of Rum and those of the lands of Bag
hdad.
‘We carried off the body of your dead mother and buried her, while I took you away and brought you up. I fastened Princess Abriza’s jewel on you and when you grew up and reached man’s estate, I could not tell you the truth of the matter, as if I had, war would have broken out between your peoples. Your grandfather, Hardub, king of Rum, told me to keep the secret and I was in no position to disobey his orders. This was why I kept the matter from you and never told you that your father was King ‘Umar. When you came to the throne, I told you a little of this, but it was only now that I could give you the full story, king of the age. This is all that I know, but you know better what opinion you hold.’
When they heard all this from Marjana, the king’s nurse, Nuzhat al-Zaman immediately gave a cry and said: ‘This king, Rumzan, is my brother, the son of my father ‘Umar. His mother was Princess Abriza, the daughter of Hardub, king of Rum, and I know this slave girl Marjana very well.’ When King Rumzan heard this, he was both angry and perplexed, and he immediately had Nuzhat al-Zaman brought before him. When he saw her he felt the tie of blood and he questioned her. She repeated the same story to him and what she said agreed with Marjana’s tale. He was then convinced, without a shadow of doubt, that he was an Iraqi and that his father had been King ‘Umar, as a result of which he got up straight away and released his sister, Nuzhat al-Zaman, from her fetters. She went up to him and kissed his hands, with her eyes full of tears. The king wept too and he felt fraternal tenderness and sympathy for his nephew, Prince Kana-ma-Kana.
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights: Volume 1 Page 79