A city named Labtit was the royal capital of the land of Rum.* In it was a tower that was always kept locked, and whenever a king died and another Rumi succeeded him, the newcomer added a strong bolt, until there were twenty-four bolts on its door, one for each king. These kings were succeeded by someone who was not from the royal family, and this man wanted to remove the bolts so as to see what was in the tower. The leaders of the state strongly disapproved and tried to prevent him, but he refused to listen and insisted on opening the tower, and in spite of the fact that they offered him all the treasures and valuables that they had to stop him, he wouldn’t draw back.
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the two hundred and seventy-third night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that they offered him all the treasures and valuables that they had to keep him from opening it, but he would not draw back. He removed the bolts, opened the door and found inside the tower pictures of Arabs mounted on horses and camels, with long turbans and sword belts, carrying spears in their hands. He also found a written document and, on taking and reading this, he found that it said: ‘When this door is opened this land will be conquered by an Arab people resembling those pictured here, so beware, beware of opening it.’
That city was in al-Andalus and it was captured in that year by Tariq ibn Ziyad in the reign of the Umaiyad caliph al-Walid ibn ‘Abd al-Malik.† The king was put to the cruellest of deaths; his lands were ravaged and the women and children taken as captives. Wealth was plundered and vast amounts of treasure were found there, including more than one hundred and seventy crowns set with pearls, sapphires and other precious stones. A hall was discovered, big enough to allow spearsmen to gallop in it, and here there were vessels of gold and silver in indescribable quantities. They also found the table that had belonged to the prophet Solomon, son of David, upon both of whom be peace, made, it is said, from a green emerald, a table that is in the city of Rome to this day. The vessels were of gold and the dishes of chrysolite. A copy of the Psalms was found, written in Greek script on leaves of gold studded with gems, together with a book of gold and silver, listing the uses of stones, plants and minerals, together with talismans and the science of alchemy. There was another book dealing with how to set sapphires and other precious stones, how to prepare poisons and theriacs, together with a map showing the land, the sea, countries, cities and towns. There was another great hall filled with an elixir, one dirham’s weight of which would turn a thousand dirhams of silver into gold. In addition, there was a huge circular mirror of remarkable composition that had been made for the prophet Solomon, son of David, in which whoever looked could see the seven climes, while yet another room contained carbuncles that surpassed all description. Tariq had all these carried on camels to al-Walid ibn ‘Abd al-Malik. The Arabs spread through all the cities of this, one of the greatest of lands. This is the end of the story of Labtit.
Another tale told is that one day Hisham ibn ‘Abd al-Malik was out hunting when he caught sight of a gazelle. He followed it with his dogs and while he was in pursuit of it he saw a Bedouin boy pasturing his sheep. ‘Boy,’ he shouted, ‘follow that gazelle as it’s got away from me.’ The boy looked up and said: ‘You don’t know what good men are worth. You have looked at me slightingly and spoken scornfully, talking like a tyrant and acting like a donkey.’ ‘Damn you,’ said Hisham, ‘don’t you know who I am?’ The boy replied: ‘Your bad manners made you known to me when you began to speak without greeting me.’ ‘Damn you,’ repeated Hisham, ‘I am Hisham ibn ‘Abd al-Malik.’ ‘May God not show favour to your lands or bless the places you visit. You speak a lot but show little in the way of good manners,’ replied the boy.
Before he had finished speaking he was surrounded by the caliph’s men, all of whom were saying: ‘Peace be upon you, Commander of the Faithful.’ ‘Cut this short,’ Hisham told them, ‘and hold this boy.’ So they laid hands on him and when he saw the many chamberlains, viziers and officers of state, he showed no concern and asked no questions, but rested his chin on his chest, looking to see where to plant his feet, until he came and stood before Hisham. Then he bent his head towards the ground and neither greeted him nor spoke. One of Hisham’s servants said: ‘Bedouin dog, what stops you from greeting the Commander of the Faithful?’ ‘You donkey’s pack saddle,’ said the boy, ‘it was the long way that I had to come and the sweaty climb that kept me from greeting him.’ Hisham grew even more angry and said: ‘Boy, you have reached your last day; there is no hope for you and your life is over.’ ‘However little or much you say can do me no harm if my life span is cut short and my fate is not delayed.’ ‘Vilest of Bedouin,’ said the chamberlain, ‘do you in your position dare to answer back to the Commander of the Faithful?’ ‘May madness be quick to seize you and may misery and distress never leave you,’ the boy said. ‘Have you never heard the words of Almighty God: “There will be a day on which every soul will come to argue its own case”?’*
At this point Hisham got up in a fury and told the executioner: ‘Bring me the head of this boy, for what he has said is more than anyone could have imagined.’ The executioner took the boy and brought him to the execution mat. Drawing his sword, he set it against his head. ‘Commander of the Faithful,’ he then said, ‘here is a servant of yours whose arrogance is bringing him to his grave. If I cut off his head, shall I be guiltless of his blood?’ ‘Yes,’ replied Hisham. The executioner asked again and received the same answer. He then asked for a third time and the boy realized that if Hisham said yes this time, the man would kill him. So he laughed, showing all his teeth, and Hisham, even angrier than before, said: ‘I think you are out of your mind, boy. Don’t you realize that you are about to leave this world? Why do you laugh, as if to mock yourself?’ ‘If I am given an extension of life, nothing, small or great, can harm me, but some lines have come to mind. Listen to them, for you will be able to kill me when you want.’ ‘Produce them, but be brief,’ Hisham said, and the boy recited the following lines:
I have heard that once, through the decree of fate, a hawk captured a country sparrow.
As the hawk flew off with it clutched in its talons, the sparrow spoke:
‘There is not enough of me to fill you, and even if you eat me, I am not worth it.’
The great hawk smiled proudly and the sparrow was allowed to escape.
For his part, Hisham smiled and said: ‘I swear by my relationship to the Apostle of God, may God bless him and give him peace, that had he said this to start with and asked for anything short of the caliphate, I would have given it to him.’ He told his servant to ‘fill the boy’s mouth with jewels’ and to give him a splendid reward. The man gave him a magnificent gift, which he took and went off on his way.
The end.
Another pleasant tale is that of Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi. Ibrahim was the brother of Harun al-Rashid, and when the caliphate passed to his nephew al-Ma’mun, he did not swear allegiance to him but went to Rayy, where he claimed the caliphate for himself. He stayed there for one year, eleven months and twelve days. Al-Ma’mun kept expecting him to resume his allegiance and rejoin him, but eventually, despairing of his return, he moved into Rayy with his horse and foot to search for him. When news of this reached Ibrahim he had no alternative but to go into hiding in Baghdad, in fear of his life. Al-Ma’mun offered a reward of a hundred thousand dinars to anyone who would inform on him.
Ibrahim said: ‘On hearing of this I was afraid…’
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the two hundred and seventy-fourth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that IBRAHIM SAID:
On hearing this I was afraid, and, not knowing what to do, I left my house at noon in disguise, with no idea of where to go. I went into a street which turned out to be a dead end, and I recited the formula: ‘We belong to God and to Him do we return.’ I then told myself t
hat I was in mortal danger and that if I retraced my steps, people would become suspicious of me in my disguise.
At the head of the street I saw a black slave standing by the door of a house. I went up to him and asked him if he had a place where I could stay for a time. ‘Yes,’ he said, and when he opened the door I entered a pleasant room furnished with carpets, rugs and leather cushions. After he had let me in he shut the door on me and went off. I thought that he must have heard of the reward and that he had gone out to inform on me, and so I remained simmering in agitation like a pot boiling on the fire as I thought over my position.
While I was in this state, the man came back with a porter who was carrying everything that could be needed, bread, meat, new pots and utensils, together with a new jar and new jugs. After he had unloaded what the porter was carrying he turned to me and said: ‘My life be your ransom. I’m a barber surgeon and I know that you will shrink from me because of my trade, so do what you want with these things, which I have not touched.’ I needed food and so I took a pot and cooked myself a meal such as I never remember having eaten before. When I had eaten my fill, the man said: ‘May God make me your ransom, master. Would you like some wine to drink, for it delights the soul and dispels care?’ ‘I would not dislike that,’ I agreed, for I wanted to be on friendly terms with him. So he brought me a set of new glasses, untouched by hand, and a jar of spiced wine. ‘Strain it for yourself as you like it,’ he told me and, after I had strained some excellent wine, he brought me a new cup together with fruit and flowers in new earthenware containers and said: ‘May I have your permission to sit beside you and drink my own wine by myself because of my pleasure in you and for you?’ ‘Do so,’ I told him, and as we both drank I could feel the effect of the wine creeping through us.
The man then got up and, going to a cupboard, he brought out a wide-bodied lute and said: ‘Master, it is not for me to ask you to sing, and it is for you in your great generosity to acknowledge any obligation to me, but if you think it right to honour your servant, the decision will be yours alone.’ I did not believe that he had recognized me and so I said: ‘Why should you think that I can sing well?’ ‘Glory be to God!’ he exclaimed. ‘You are more famous than that, lord. You are my master, Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi, who used to be our caliph. Al-Ma’mun has offered a reward of a hundred thousand dinars to anyone who informs on you to him, but with me you are safe.’
When he said that, he made the greatest impression on me and I was convinced of his noble qualities. So I agreed to his request and, taking the lute, I tuned it and started to sing. Thinking of how I had been parted from my children and my family, I began with the words:
It may be that He who guided Joseph’s family to him
And brought him glory as a captive prisoner
Will answer our prayers and reunite us,
For He, the Lord of mankind, is Omnipotent.
SHAHRAZAD CONTINUED:
The man experienced intense pleasure and the greatest of delight, for it used to be said that Ibrahim’s neighbours were transported with joy when they heard him say: ‘Boy, bridle the mule.’ In his joy and happiness the barber said: ‘Master, will you allow me to recite what occurs to me, even though this is not my craft?’ ‘Do so,’ said Ibrahim, ‘as this will be an extension of your courtesy and generosity.’ So, taking the lute, the man sang:
We complained to our beloveds of the lengthy night,
But they said: ‘How short we found the night.’
That was because sleep had quickly closed their eyes,
Although it had not closed our eyes at all.
When night is near that brings the lover harm,
We grieve, while they rejoice at its approach.
Were they to feel the pain that comes to us,
Like us they would be restless in their beds.
‘That was excellently done, you talented man,’ said Ibrahim. ‘You have dispelled my sorrows, so let me hear more such delicate lines.’ The barber then recited:
When a man’s honour is not tainted by reproach
Whatever cloak he wears is beautiful.
She finds it a fault that there are few of us,
But I reply that noble men are few.
How does our lack of numbers do us harm?
Our clients are respected and those of most clans despised.
We think it no disgrace to fall in fight,
Though that is what ‘Amir and Salul believe.
Love of death hurries on our fate,
While their fates loathe death and are slow to come.
We have some fault to find with what men say,
But when we speak no fault is to be found.
IBRAHIM WENT ON:
When I heard these lines I was filled with admiration and deeply moved. I fell asleep and didn’t wake until after evening. Then I washed my face and thought again of the high worth of this barber surgeon and his good manners. I woke him up and, taking a bag that I had with me containing a considerable number of dinars, I threw it over to him saying: ‘I entrust you to God’s keeping, for I am going to leave you. Please use what is in this bag for your own purposes, and when I am freed from my present fear, I shall give you a greater reward.’ The man handed the bag back to me and said: ‘Poor wretches like me are of no value to you, but how can it accord with my honour to accept a price for the chance that God has given me to meet you and to have you stay with me? If you say this to me again and throw the purse to me once more, I shall kill myself.’ So I put the bag, which was heavy to carry, in my sleeve…
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the two hundred and seventy-fifth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that IBRAHIM SAID:
I put the bag, which was heavy to carry, in my sleeve and turned away, but when I got to the house door he said to me: ‘Master, there is no better hiding place for you than here and it is no hardship for me to provide for you. Stay with me until God clears away your difficulties.’ So I went back and said that I would remain on condition that he used the contents of the bag for my expenses. He pretended to agree, and I stayed with him on those terms for several days, enjoying every luxury, but as he spent nothing from the bag I was ashamed to go on living there at his expense and to be a burden on him. So I got up and left him, disguising myself as a woman with yellow boots and a veil.
After I had left the house and come out on to the road, I became extremely frightened. I was intending to cross the bridge, but when I had come to a place that had been sprinkled with water a trooper who had once been in my service recognized me and called out: ‘This is the man wanted by al-Ma’mun.’ He held on to me, but for dear life’s sake I pushed him and his horse, overturning them in that slippery place, so that the man became an object lesson for those prepared to learn. People rushed up to him but I hurried on and crossed the bridge. On entering a street I found a house door open and a woman standing in its hall. ‘Lady,’ I said, ‘take pity on me and save me, for I am a man in fear.’ She welcomed me and told me to come in. She then took me up to a room, spread bedding for me, brought me food and said: ‘Calm yourself, for no one knows that you are here.’ While this was happening there was a violent knocking on the door and she went out to open it. In came my acquaintance, the man whom I had pushed over by the bridge, with a bandaged head and blood running over his clothes. He was without his horse and the woman asked him what had happened to him. He said: ‘I had got hold of the young man but he escaped,’ and he then told her the story. She produced some tinder, wrapped it in a rag and used this to bandage his head. She then spread bedding for him and he lay there injured.
She herself now came up to me and said: ‘I think that you must be the man he was talking about.’ When I agreed that I was, she told me that no harm would come to me and renewed her kindness to me, but after I had stayed with her for three days, she said: ‘I am afraid for you, lest this man find out about you and betray your
secret, as you fear, so make your escape.’ I asked to be allowed to stay until nightfall, and she told me: ‘There is no harm in that.’ When night came, I put on a woman’s dress and left her, making for the house of a freed-woman who had been a slave of mine. When she saw me, she wept for sorrow, praised Almighty God for my safety and left the house, pretending to be going to the market to lay in guest provisions for me. I thought that all was well, but before I knew it, there was Ibrahim al-Mausili coming with his servants and his troopers, led by a woman who, when I looked at her, turned out to be the one in whose house I was. She walked ahead of them and handed me over to them, leaving me staring death in the face.
I was taken to al-Ma’mun, wearing my disguise. He convened a general assembly and when I was brought in I greeted him as caliph. ‘May God not give you safety or life,’ he replied. ‘Slowly, slowly, Commander of the Faithful,’ I said. ‘The man who is owed blood revenge is entitled to punish or to forgive, but forgiveness is closer to piety. God has set your forgiveness above that of all others, just as he has set my crime above the rest. If you punish me, you are within your rights, and if you forgive me, it is through your graciousness.’ I then recited these lines:
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights: Volume 1 Page 116