Night and Horses and the Desert

by Robert Irwin

  ‘In the first extract here, the jinn Wajh al-Ghul (his name means ‘face of a monster’) is dispatched by King Ghawwar to do battle with 'Antar. After a week’s marching Wajh al-Ghul’s army encounters that of 'Antar, but the battle goes badly for the former. Then Wajh al-Ghul is tempted to enter the heat of the fray …

  Then it was that a knight called al-Dahhash ibn al-Ra''ash advanced towards him and kissed the ground. He said, ‘My lord, by al-Lat and al-'Uzza be not rash. I shall go forth in single combat. I will show you what I can do with these horsemen.’ When Wajh al-Ghul heard him speak, he answered, ‘Hurry to achieve your wish. If you slay not Antar, then bring him to me captive so that I can deliver him to the great king.’ Then the other went forth on a pale charger, tall and thin, which raced against the wind. He bore a sharp sword and having entered the field of combat he loosed his horse’s reins and broke forth into verse. He had but finished when Ghasub attacked him. He was mounted on a fine-coated horse of unsurpassed speed. Over his chest he wore a hauberk of closely linked rings, impenetrable to the Indian blade nor could a well-aimed spear penetrate its doubled links. On his head he wore a pot de fer prized by Chosroes, king of Persia. It was hammered from iron plates. In his hand he grasped a sword as sharp as a razor.

  Then he attacked, roaring like a lion. He thrust his enemy through the heart, toppled him from the back of his steed, and he fell on the ground wallowing in his gore. Ghasub cried out with an eloquent tongue, ‘Woe to you, will you challenge us with words, bastards that you are! We are heroes of the Banu 'Abs, noble among men called by the name of “the terrible death”.’

  When they saw these deeds of Ghasub the gallant were in awe of him. None came out to challenge him in single combat, neither Arab nor negro. He therefore returned to his people and changed his horse. Once again he returned to the battlefield. He cried out, ‘Oh, sons of harlots, come out and fight this knight of 'Adnan.’ Wajh al-Ghul remained still, looking and listening. But he had become restive within. His eyes burned like embers when set alight. He charged forth from between the banners. He roared, and he made for Ghasub like a bird of prey when it strikes a dove. He taunted him in verse, then he unsheathed his Indian sword. He was a fighter skilled in every kind of weapon, and no man could face him when he screamed with all his voice.

  On that day he was clad in a jazerant of thick quilted cotton hidden by a covering of tightly woven mail. On his head he wore a casque which deflected blades of iron, nor could spears penetrate its thickness. When Ghamra saw him she feared for the safety of her son, and she wished to sally forth to bring him away from Wajh al-Ghul. She went to Antar and told him of the matter. She said to him, I fear this knight and what he may do to my son. I fear lest he arouse my emotions to a degree that I go forth to send back my son and fight the foe myself.’ When Antar heard her, he persuaded her not to act thus. He said to her, ‘Stay where you are. I will fulfil your hope. This devil is a doughty smiter and I alone can resist him.’ Then he went to his son and said to him, ‘What you have done today in battle is more than enough.’ When Ghasub heard the words of his father he realized that affection had inspired his sentiments. So he returned to his mother. She embraced him and kissed him. She thanked him and praised him.

  But then Wajh al-Ghul saw that he was angry, and he wondered how he could withstand the opponent who now faced him. He advanced towards Antar with caution and calculation. He said to him, ‘Woe to you, offspring of base blood. Who are you to turn aside my foe and deny me my vengeance?’

  Antar said, ‘Oh, offspring of apes and vilest creature of these lands. I am Antar ibn Shaddad, the mightiest of the Arabs in zeal and the firmest in resolve. No tongue can describe me and my noble deeds. I am the mine of valour and pride, unique in this age. I have attained every goal I have sought, and every enemy of mine is abandoned. My foe has been slain, his blood scattered in drops. I smite with iron swords and with the lofty lance. My flame burns brightest among the Arabs. I am the noblest born and the stoutest in rebuff. I am the viper in the valley bottom, the father of knights, Antar ibn Shaddad. I have only to come to this country to avenge Ghamra, to uproot every trace of you, and to ruin these towns so that no hearth will be left to be tended.’

  Al-Asma’i said that when Wajh al-Ghul heard Antar’s speech he was dark in his countenance. He said, ‘How happy is this day of combat. I will show all who is the doughty knight, and who is the one entitled to his praise.’ Then he attacked Antar with a pounce while Antar met him with cool resolve. Dust rose above them as they were locked in weighty struggle beyond the gaze of the courageous. Destiny decided their fate – glory be to Him who has decreed death and wretchedness and who has singled out life and glory for the elect. The knights were awestruck until their horses, restless beneath them, were aware that both parties to the fight were equally fatigued, hungry and thirsty in a confined desert where the sun had passed its zenith.

  Wajh al-Ghul sought to escape, but when Antar realized his intent he faced him, and when he was opposite him he thrust him with his spear in his left side. He leant from his saddle like a towering mountain and cried aloud, ‘Oh, 'Abs, oh, 'Adnan, I am Antar, the father of knights.’ Then the negroes saw Wajh al-Ghul covered in dust on the ground, and they all attacked Antar like the onset of blackest night. They called aloud in one great shout, ‘Oh, mighty knight and hero, may God cut short your life and rid the world of your evil. You have slain the knight of the desert.’

  When Antar saw the negroes attack and loose their reins he made a sign with his hand. He cried out to the Banu 'Abs, and they attacked behind him. They answered his call. They hurled cries into the hearts of Antar’s foes. Death was relief, and the battle raged on foot. The sea of mortality swelled, and the fire of fate burst into flame. Swords were blunted by hard blows, and spearpoints were moist with blood. The horizon became sombre and darkened. Amid the rage of nations skulls were severed from their bodies. Only the bones were left. Men roared like forest beasts, speaking in tongues which were unintelligible. Every negro leader was killed. Lawn al-Zalam and his son accomplished deeds of valour, so too the negroes who were beneath his sway and his cousins. As for Ghamra and her son Ghasub, and Maysara his brother, they were like a blazing fire which caught alight amidst dry firewood. Their fighting was a marvel, it stirred the spirit. Their sword was at close quarters and in remoter corners of the battlefield.

  After a little while Antar had split apart the other negro bands and the Arabs. His men forgot their cares. Every rank he attacked sought flight. As the night fell the negro warriors scattered. The Banu Quda'a and the soldiers of Lawn al-Zalam returned praising Antar and praying for his life to be prolonged, for he had endured much. He returned sorely stabbed, and like a red flower, bathed in human blood. He marched before his men. He was tired and bent, yet able to phrase his couplets as he sat in his saddle. Lawn al-Zalam said to him, ‘May God’s breath give joy to your heart. You have quenched your thirst in breaking asunder these innumerable warriors.’ In this wise their discourse continued until they reached their tents. They rejoiced at their success while the negro warriors said to one another, ‘By the All Knowing King, Lawn al-Zalam has fortified this knight with his utmost powers. Antar has no equal at this time. None can resist him.’

  COMMENTARY

  Al-Lat and al-'Uzza are pre-Islamic goddesses.

  Jazerant is a piece of armour.

  Lawn al-Zalam had previously defected to 'Antar’s army.

  The next short extract concerns the bizarre pagan city of King Hammam. King Ghawwar has written to him requesting help against 'Antar.

  This King Hammam was a man of great courage and stubborn in combat. He used to raid tribes and capture women. He used to attack a man mounted on horse or fighting on foot, and he thrust with spear and lance. He had a city constructed from white stone. There was none like it in that land. It was reported that the jinn had built it for our lord Solomon, son of David, peace be upon him. Near that city was a hill like a pyramid. It was covered with g
rowing vegetation, dark and obscure. In the middle of that hill was an upright sword over which a bird ceased not to hover. No one could pass by that sword unless his garments were white. If one whose clothes were dyed approached it, winds from all countries blew upon it, and a flood would come upon it until the villages which were round about it were almost destroyed; so violent were the rains.

  King Hammam was lord of the Land of Flags and Ensigns. In that place he had left those who could guard him by the payment of jamakiyya and diwan. At the base of it was a house. When one of the people died they left him in that house. They took the deceased and extracted his bones and stripped him of his flesh and pickled it. All the marrow in the bones would be removed, and they would place the bones in bags according to the status of the deceased. As for those who were revered their coverings were of Byzantine brocade, and the poor were placed in bags of cotton and sacking. They wrote on each the name of the occupant. They cast them in that house. As for the flesh, they cast it outside the city to the black crows so they could eat it. They allowed no other creature to eat any of it. They chased it away with arrows and with slings and catapults. All who were in that city were engaged in the manufacture of suits of mail; and coats of mail and helmets and swords and spears and everything concerned with weapons of war and other arms. They paid no tax or tribute to King Hammam, and none of the kings could take anything from them in that country …

  H. T. Norris (trans.), The Adventures of Antar

  (Warminster, Wilts., 1980), pp. 122–5, 155–6

  COMMENTARY

  This strange fantasy appears to draw on Arab early accounts of sub-Saharan Africa, as well as on Muslim distortions of Persian Zoroastrian burial practices.

  Jamakiyya means ‘pay’ or ‘salary’. Diwan in this context refers to a ‘financial bureau’ (and not a collection of poetry).

  Warfare is described in quite a different key in another anonymous narrative, The Delectable War between Mutton and the Refreshments of the Market Place. This curiosity, which dates from the Mamluk period, is a kind of dramatized version of munazara (the competitive comparison of one kind of person or thing with another). King Mutton, leader of the foods of the rich, alarmed by reports of the growing power of the foods of the poor, decides to wage war on their leader, King Honey. King Honey musters his vegetables, milk, cheese and fish to resist the onslaught of the foods of the rich. In the end, however, he is defeated by the defection to mutton of treacherous sugar, syrup and rendered fat. The mock-epic saga ends with the line, ‘And the boon companions related tales in praise of foods, attaching to each story the names of its transmitters.’ Despite the triumph of the food of the rich, this strange story is part of folk literature.

  In the name of Allah, the merciful, the compassionate! It has been told of the wonders of time that there was a monarch of powerful sway, called ‘King Mutton’. He was savoured by every caliph and sultan, and people were eager to taste him that he might ward off adversity from them. Invigorated by his healing powers, they implored Allah for the prolonging of his life. Whenever gratified at the sight of him, they thanked Allah for that favour. He used to sit in his fortress on lances, known as ‘hooks’, and none save the well-fed lambs might keep him company. His insignia were red and white, and his cuts glistened [with crimson]. In his presence stood people known as ‘Butchers’, incessantly wielding their cleavers and knives. In his kindness he adapted himself to every disposition, and was the healing salve applied to the wounds of hunger. In his service were enrolled only people of dinars and dirhams. He had a vizier, called the ‘Meat of Goats’, to whom no poor man came but he fortified him and supplied his want. He had also an emir, called ‘Beef’, in whom every noble found refuge when in need, and a clever and sociable chamberlain, called the ‘Scalded Meat’. He had, besides, special attendants who added to the glory of it all; they were called ‘Chicken’. Says the poet apropos:

  ‘When he appears in the assembly, you are the recipients of those favours with which pleasures are conjoined;

  ‘and when he is remote from his mansion, sadness overwhelms you, and you are overcome with grief.’

  And the narrator continues: And once when he appeared in his shining glory, overlooking the country and its market-places, and diverting himself with the radiance in the eyes of his admirers, behold searchers and spies came unto him, informing him that a nation, called ‘Paupers’, had given the Honey sway over the refreshments of the market, and had enlisted in his service in both East and West; and that he had engrossed their hearts and minds, and was content with the tribute of a baser coin than a dirham. [And the spies added:] ‘And if you are unmindful of them, they will degrade you and depose you from your throne.’ And the king grew angry at hearing this, and his demeanour became severe, yet he jestingly alluded to the situation in a verse:

  ‘Behold this is an age and you are of its neighbourhood; it has unjustly dispensed its laws and become oppressive.’

  Then he ordered a wise man into his presence, called the ‘Fat Tail’, renowned for his elegance and stately appearance, and said unto him: ‘Immediately proceed, delegated in power, to the king of the refreshments, and summon him to service and obedience; and in case he refuses, challenge him to prepare a banquet for us, if he thinks that the bounty of a king can vie in munificence with the bounty of a caliph.’ Then he improvised:

  ‘And here is a letter expressing our wish; convey it to him, and return with his answer.

  ‘And capture the hearts of his oppressed subjects with promises whose fulfilment will delight them when we draw nigh unto them.’ – And the narrator continues: In preparation for his departure, the messenger embarked upon a vessel called the ‘Frying Pan’. And the whiteness of his adipose layer was disclosed after he had been fried and the coating removed; and his scent became delightful after he had been boiled and cooked. And lo, his tissue proved immaculate, and his taste delicious. He then seated himself in his glass-jar cabinet, deigning to expose himself to view.

  And he proceeded on his way until he reached the shops of the sellers, where the [meat]-starved people approached him with hot breads. And he bestowed upon them his generosity, and satisfied their hunger with his fat. Thereupon he was met by the special officers of King Honey, such as rendered fat, syrup, butter and the various juices, contained in rows of vessels upon stone-benches. He was next met by the grand-vizier, called ‘Sugar’. They all introduced him to their king, the ‘Honey of bees’, to whom the Fat Tail made obeisance. And the king rose from his place when the Fat Tail was presented, and inquired about his welfare and about his experiences since the day he started on his journey. And the Fat Tail thanked the king for his great solicitude and overflowing kindness.

  Thereupon the king prescribed a rest for him in the palatial residence, and withdrew showing signs of fear. To quote the poet:

  ‘And he beamed with a beautiful and joyous and sweet countenance, and with a mien that was appealing.

  ‘And greeting in genial manner those prostrated before him, and they in turn saluted him with their fingers.’

  And the narrator continues: Afterwards the Fat Tail proceeded on his journey until he alighted upon the upper shop-shelves only to find himself surrounded by the special officers of the empire of Honey. And he began to run to and fro among the various personages, recounting the virtues of his king; and excited within them a desire to behold him, by revealing to them the secrets that would make them anxious to serve him, saying: