The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights

by vol 02 (tr Malcolm C

  The next morning, as he sat on his couch surrounded by his clansmen, Gharib arrived with his own men and a following of youths. He approached Mirdas and when he kissed the ground before him Mirdas showed pleasure and rose to meet him before seating him at his side. ‘Uncle,’ said Gharib, ‘you made me a promise, so fulfil it.’ ‘My son,’ Mirdas replied, ‘Mahdiya is yours for all time, but you are short of money.’ ‘Ask what you want, uncle,’ Gharib said, ‘and I will raid the emirs of the Arabs in their own parts and the kings in their cities so as to bring you enough wealth to fill up the lands from east to west.’ ‘My son,’ Mirdas told him, ‘I swore by all the idols that I would only give Mahdiya to someone who would avenge me and clear away my shame.’ ‘Tell me on which king you want vengeance, so that I may go to him and smash his throne over his head!’ Gharib exclaimed. Mirdas replied: ‘I had a valiant son who went out hunting with a hundred heroes. They passed from valley to valley until, when they had gone far into the mountains, they reached the Valley of Flowers and the castle of Ham ibn Shith ibn Shaddad ibn Khald, the home of a black giant seventy cubits tall, who fights using trees that he tears out of the ground. When my son got there, this giant came out and killed him together with a hundred of his men. Only three escaped to bring the news back to me, and when I then collected my champions and went out to fight him we could not get the better of him. I was distressed that I could not avenge my son, and I swore that I would only give my daughter in marriage to someone who could do this for me.’

  When Gharib heard this, he said: ‘Uncle, I shall go to this giant and, with the help of Almighty God, I shall avenge your son.’ ‘If you do defeat him,’ said Mirdas, ‘you will win from him such treasures and wealth as no fire could consume.’ Gharib then said: ‘In order to hearten me in my quest, confirm for me publicly that you will give me your daughter’s hand.’ When Mirdas had done this, calling on the tribal elders to witness it, Gharib left full of joy that he had got what he hoped for and went to tell his mother what had happened. ‘My son,’ she said, ‘you have to realize that Mirdas hates you. He is only sending you off to that mountain in order to rob me of the sight of you, so take me with you and leave this tyrant’s lands.’ ‘Mother,’ he replied, ‘I shall not do that until I have got what I want and have overcome my enemy.’

  The next morning, in the light of dawn, he was about to mount his horse when two hundred of his young companions, powerful riders and fully armed, arrived and called out to him: ‘Take us with you to help you and to cheer you on your way.’ He welcomed them gladly, calling down blessings on them and saying: ‘Ride on, my friends.’ He and they travelled for two days, and at evening on the second day they dismounted beneath a towering mountain and fed their horses. Gharib himself went off to walk on the mountain, and he came to a cave from which light was shining. He went to its top end and there he discovered a three-hundred-and-forty-year-old shaikh, his eyes screened by bushy eyebrows and his mouth covered by a moustache, his whole appearance filling his visitor with reverential awe. ‘My son,’ the shaikh said, ‘it seems to me that you are one of the unbelievers who worship stones in place of the Omnipotent God, Who created night and day and the revolving sphere of heaven.’ On hearing this, Gharib shuddered and replied: ‘Shaikh, where is this Lord so that I may worship him and look my fill on Him?’ The shaikh told him: ‘No one in this world can look on this great Lord, my son. He sees but is not seen; He is seated on high but is present in every place through the signs left by His works; it is He who brings into being everything that is; He is the controller of Time and the creator of men and jinn; He has sent the prophets to guide His creation along the true path. Those who obey Him are brought into Paradise, but the disobedient are consigned to hell.’

  Gharib then asked what the formula of worship might be for the followers of this great Lord, Who has power over all things. The shaikh said: ‘I am one of the people of ‘Ad, the unbelievers who acted tyrannically in the lands. God sent them a prophet named Hud, but they disbelieved him and God destroyed them with a blasting wind, but I and some others believed and were saved from punishment. Then I was with the people of Thamud and I saw what happened to them with their prophet, Salih. After Salih, the Almighty sent another prophet, named Abraham, the Friend, to Nimrod, the son of Kan‘an, and what happened to him is well known. When my own people who had believed in God died, I came to this cave to worship Him, and He supplies me with food for which I do not have to take thought.’ Gharib then asked: ‘What do I have to say in order to join the ranks of those who worship this mighty Lord?’ and the shaikh told him: ‘Say: “There is no god but the God of Abraham, the Friend of God.” ’ So Gharib accepted the faith of Islam with both his heart and his tongue, and the shaikh told him that the sweetness of the true faith was firmly lodged in his heart, after which he taught him some of the ordinances of Islam as well as some things from the sacred books.

  After all this, the shaikh asked Gharib for his name, and when Gharib had told him, he asked where he was going. Gharib told him his story from beginning to end until he got as far as mentioning the ghul of the mountain, in search of whom he had come.

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that when Gharib became a Muslim, he told his story to the shaikh from beginning to end until he got as far as mentioning the ghul of the mountain, in search of whom he had come. ‘Are you mad,’ the shaikh asked him, ‘that you come alone on this quest?’ Gharib told him that he had two hundred men with him, but the shaikh said: ‘Even if you had ten thousand, you could not defeat him. He is known as the ghul who eats men, God preserve us from him. He is one of the descendants of Ham, and is the son of Hindi, who colonized India, which is named after him. Hindi left this son, whom he called Sa‘dan the ghul, a headstrong tyrant and a rebellious devil. He eats nothing but human flesh and although his father, before his death, forbade him to do this, he was not to be stopped and became even more oppressive. With great difficulty and after a series of wars his father drove him out of India and he came here and built himself a castle in this valley, where he lives and to which he comes back after robbing travellers on the roads. He has five hulking and violent sons, any one of whom can attack a thousand champions, and he has collected enough wealth, spoils, horses, camels, cattle and sheep to fill the valley. I am afraid that he will harm you, but I shall ask Almighty God to grant you victory over him through the power of the declaration of His unity. When you attack unbelievers, call out: “God is greater,” for this will leave them helpless.’

  The shaikh then gave Gharib a steel mace weighing a hundred ratls, on which were ten rings which clashed like thunder when it was brandished, together with a jewelled sword made from a thunderbolt, which was three cubits long and three spans in width and which could cut a rock in two. He also presented him with a coat of mail, a shield and a volume of scripture, telling him to return to his men and to expound Islam to them. Gharib left, happy to have become a Muslim, and when he came to his men they greeted him and asked what had kept him away so long. He told them everything that had happened to him from start to finish, and when he had explained Islam to them they were all converted. The next morning he rode off to take leave of the shaikh, and, having done that, he went back to his men only to be confronted by a rider in full armour which allowed only the corners of his eyes to be seen. ‘Strip off your clothes, you Arab scum,’ the newcomer called to Gharib, ‘or else I shall destroy you.’ Gharib charged at him and the terrors of the battle that followed were enough to turn a child’s hair grey and to melt the solid rocks that were around them, but when the man took off his face-veil he turned out to be Gharib’s own half-brother Sahim.

  The reason why he had come there was that he himself had been away when Gharib had set out to find the ghul. On Sahim’s return, as he could not find Gharib, he had gone to his mother, whom he discovered in tea
rs, and when he asked her why she was weeping she told him that Gharib had left. Sahim allowed himself no rest but armed himself, mounted his horse and rode off until he reached his brother, after which they started to fight. When Sahim uncovered his face, Gharib recognized him and, having greeted him, he asked: ‘What led you to do this?’ ‘I wanted to see how I compared with you on the field and to test the strength of my cuts and thrusts,’ Sahim replied, and after Gharib had expounded Islam to him, he became a Muslim.

  They then rode on to the Valley of Flowers. The ghul caught sight of their dust and told his sons to ride out and fetch him this prey, at which all five mounted and set off towards the Arabs. Gharib, seeing that they were intent on attacking, set spurs to his horse and called out: ‘Who are you? What is your race and what do you want?’ By way of reply, Falhun, the eldest son of the ghul, said: ‘Dismount and tie each other up so that we may drive you to our father. He can then roast some of you and cook others, as it is a long time since he last ate human flesh.’ On hearing this, Gharib charged at Falhun, brandishing his mace so that its rings clashed with the sound of thunder, filling Falhun with dismay. Gharib struck him a light blow between his shoulder blades and he fell like a lofty palm tree, at which Sahim dismounted with some of his men and tied him up before putting a rope around his neck and dragging him along like a cow. When his brothers saw that he had been taken prisoner, they charged Gharib, but all but one were captured. The fifth fled back to his father, who said: ‘What is behind you and where are your brothers?’ His son told him: ‘They were captured by a boy with no hair on his cheeks and only forty cubits tall.’ ‘May the sun shed no blessing on you!’ exclaimed his father on hearing this, and then, coming down from the castle, he uprooted a huge tree and made for Gharib on foot, as he was too large to be carried by a horse. His son followed him, and when they came within sight of Gharib, the ghul attacked the Arabs without a word, crushing five of them with a blow of his tree. He then made for Sahim and aimed a blow at him with his tree, but Sahim swerved aside and the blow was wasted. In his fury the ghul threw away the tree and swooped on Sahim, snatching him up as a hawk snatches a sparrow. Gharib, seeing this, called out: ‘God is greater!’ and invoked the glory of Abraham, the Friend of God, as well as calling on Muhammad, may God bless him and give him peace.

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that when Gharib saw his brother was a prisoner in the hands of the ghul, he called out: ‘God is greater!’ and invoked the glory of Abraham, the Friend of God, as well as calling on Muhammad, may God bless him and give him peace. Turning his horse’s head towards the ghul, he shook his mace, crying out, as its rings clashed: ‘God is greater!’ He then struck the ghul on the ribs, laying him out unconscious on the ground and enabling Sahim to escape from his clutches. When the ghul recovered his senses he found himself tied up and fettered, while his son, seeing his father captured, turned in flight. Gharib, however, rode after him and unhorsed him with a blow of his mace that landed between his shoulder blades, so that he too was securely tied up with his brothers and his father, who were then dragged off like camels.

  The Arabs went to the castle, which they found filled with goods, money and treasures, and they also discovered twelve hundred Persians bound and fettered. Gharib took his seat on the ghul’s throne, which had once belonged to Sas, son of Shith, son of Shaddad, the son of ‘Ad, with his brother Sahim on his right and his men flanking him on the right and the left. He then ordered the ghul to be brought before him. ‘How do you find yourself now, you damned creature?’ he asked, and the ghul replied: ‘In the most miserable state of humiliation and confusion, master, seeing that I and my sons are roped like camels.’ Gharib told him: ‘I want you to adopt my religion, that is, the religion of Islam, and acknowledge the unity of God, the Omniscient, the Creator of light and darkness, Who made all things, the only God, the King and Judge, and to acknowledge that Abraham, the Friend of God, on whom be peace, was His prophet.’ The ghul and his sons were converted, and as they were sincere in their conversion, Gharib had them released. Sa‘dan the ghul then came forward to kiss Gharib’s feet, as did his sons, but Gharib stopped them and they stood with the others.

  Gharib now asked Sa‘dan about the Persians. ‘Master,’ replied Sa‘dan, ‘they are captives whom I took from Persia, and they are not alone.’ ‘Who is with them, then?’ Gharib asked, and Sa‘dan told him: ‘The daughter of Sabur, king of Persia, whose name is Fakhr Taj, and who has with her a hundred slave girls, radiant as moons.’ Gharib was astonished to hear this and asked Sa‘dan how he had come across them. ‘My sons and I went out with five of my slaves,’ Sa‘dan told him, ‘and as we found no booty on our way, we spread out through the open country and the deserts, but it seemed that only in Persia would we find what we wanted. We were still going around looking for spoil, so as not to go back empty-handed, when we caught sight of a dust cloud and sent out one of our slaves to investigate. He was away for some time and on his return he told us that this was Princess Fakhr Taj, daughter of Sabur, king of the Persians, Turks and Dailamis, travelling with an escort of two thousand riders. “That is good news you have brought,” I told the slave, “for there can be no greater spoils.” I and my sons then attacked the Persians, killing three hundred of them and capturing twelve hundred, as well as taking the princess together with the treasures and wealth that she had with her. We then brought them to this castle.’ On hearing this, Gharib asked: ‘Did you violate her?’ ‘No, by your life and by the truth of my new religion,’ Sa‘dan assured him. ‘That was well done,’ said Gharib, ‘for her father rules the world and will certainly send armies after her and ravage the lands of her captors. Whoever does not look to the consequences of his actions, as the proverb says, will not find that Time is his friend. So where is the princess?’ ‘I gave her and her maids a pavilion of their own,’ Sa‘dan told him, and when Gharib asked to be shown this, he said: ‘To hear is to obey.’

  Gharib then rose and walked to the pavilion with the ghul, where they found the princess, who, after having been cosseted in luxury, was sad, humiliated and in tears. At the sight of her, Gharib thought that the moon was close at hand and he glorified God, the Omniscient Hearer, while, for her part, on looking at Gharib, she recognized him as a valiant hero with the marks of courage showing in his face, testifying for him rather than against him. She got up and kissed his hands, before falling down at his feet and saying: ‘Champion of the age, I am under your protection. Save me from this ghul, as I’m afraid that he may deflower me and then eat me. Take me as a servant for your servants.’ ‘I promise to guard you safely until you are returned to your father and regain your imperial splendour,’ replied Gharib. The princess called down on him the blessings of long life and advancement, after which he gave orders that her men were to be set free. He then looked at her and asked what had made her leave her palace to travel through the deserts and so fall prey to highway robbers. ‘Master,’ she replied, ‘my father and his Persian subjects, together with the Turks, Dailamis and Magians, worship fire in place of the Omnipotent God. In our country there is what is known as the Monastery of Fire, where the daughters of the Magian fire worshippers come every year at the time of the feast and stay for a month before returning to their own lands. I and my maids went out as usual, and my father sent an escort of two thousand men to guard me, but we were attacked by this ghul, who killed some of us and captured the rest, before imprisoning us in this castle. This is what happened to us, champion of the age, may God guard you against the misfortunes of Time.’ ‘Don’t be afraid,’ Gharib repeated, ‘for I will return you to your imperial palace,’ at which she kissed his hands and feet.

  After leaving her, he gave orders that she should be treated with honour, and then the next morning he got up, performed the ritual ablution and prayed with two rak‘as, following the custom of our f
ather Abraham, the Friend of God, upon whom be peace, as did Sa‘dan the ghul, and his sons, while all the Arabs joined in prayer behind him. He then asked Sa‘dan to show him the Valley of Flowers. Sa‘dan agreed and he and his sons, together with Gharib and his Arabs and the princess and her maids, all went out. There were a hundred and fifty girls, together with a thousand slaves who acted as herds for Sa‘dan’s camels, cattle and sheep, and Sa‘dan told them to slaughter some of these, cook their morning meal, and serve it among the trees. Gharib went with the others, and when he saw the valley, he discovered that it was wonderfully beautiful, with trees standing in groups or in isolation. The nightingale was trilling its song and the turtledove was filling with its song the whole valley that God had made.

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that when Gharib and his men, together with the ghul and his followers, went to the Valley of Flowers, he found birds, among whom the turtledove was filling with its song the whole valley that God had made. The beautiful chant of the bulbul sounded almost human; no one could describe the lovely song of the blackbird; the pigeon’s voice could drive men mad with love; while parrots eloquently answered ringdoves. There were fruit trees with two types of every fruit, pomegranates sweet and sour on the branches, almond-apricots, camphor-apricots and Khurasanian almonds, plums intertwined in the branches of ban trees, oranges gleaming like fiery torches, citrons weighing down the branches, lemons, the remedy for loss of appetite, sorrel, which cures jaundice, and dates, red and yellow, on their parent trees, the creation of the Lord on high. It was about a place like this that the lovesick poet said: