The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights: Volume 2

by Penguin; Robert Irwin; Malcolm Lyons; Ursula Lyons

  Janshah walked on with the troops in single file in front of him until he came to his father, who, on seeing his son, threw himself down from the back of his horse and embraced him, shedding floods of tears. He then mounted, as did Janshah, and rode off with the troops on either side. When they reached the river bank the men dismounted and set up tents and pavilions, hoisting flags, beating drums both large and small, and sounding pipes and trumpets. On the king’s orders the servants brought a tent of red silk which they set up for the Lady Shamsa. For her part, she got up and, after removing her feather dress, she walked to the tent and sat down. When she was seated, King Tighmus, with his son Janshah at his side, walked towards her, and at the sight of the king she got to her feet and kissed the ground before him. He sat down with his son Janshah on his right and her on his left. After having welcomed her, he asked Janshah to tell him what had happened to him while he had been away, at which Janshah told him the story of his experiences from beginning to end, filling his father with astonishment. Turning to Shamsa, the king said: ‘Praise be to God by Whose aid you have done me the greatest of favours by reuniting me with my son.’

  Nights 515 to 534

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that King Tighmus said to Shamsa: ‘Praise be to God by Whose aid you have done me the greatest of favours by reuniting me with my son. I want you now to make a wish for whatever you want from me so that I may grant it as a favour to you.’ ‘What I want,’ said Shamsa, ‘is for you to build me a palace in the middle of a garden, with water flowing beneath it.’ ‘To hear is to obey,’ said the king, and while the two of them were talking, Janshah’s mother came forward, accompanied by all the wives of the viziers, emirs and leading citizens. On seeing her, Janshah left the tent to meet her and, after a long embrace, his mother, shedding tears of joy, recited these lines:

  I shed tears for the onslaught of delight,

  And I am overjoyed.

  Weeping is second nature to my eyes,

  Which shed tears of both joy and sorrow.

  The two of them then complained to each other of the hardships inflicted on them by separation and their painful yearnings, after which the king went to his own tent and Janshah went with his mother to his. While the two of them were sitting there, messengers arrived to tell Janshah’s mother that Shamsa was walking over to greet her. On hearing this, she got to her feet and welcomed her. The two ladies sat together for a time and then they both rose and went off, accompanied by the wives of the emirs and state officials until they reached Shamsa’s pavilion, in which they took their seats.

  King Tighmus distributed large quantities of gifts, treating his subjects with generosity in his delight at his son’s return, and they all stayed there for ten days, eating, drinking and enjoying themselves. On the king’s orders, his men then set off back to the city. He himself mounted, surrounded by his guards, with the viziers and chamberlains to his right and his left, and rode into the city, where Janshah’s mother and the Lady Shamsa went off to their own quarters. The city itself was splendidly decorated and adorned with ornaments and draperies, while drums of all sizes were beaten in celebration. Expensive brocades were spread beneath the horses’ hooves, the state officials showed their joy by producing gifts, and the spectators were dazzled. Food was provided for the poor and needy, the great wedding feast extended over ten days, and Shamsa was delighted by what she saw.

  The king then sent for the builders, architects and skilled craftsmen and told them to build a palace in the garden there. ‘To hear is to obey,’ they replied, and the work on which they then began was completed in all its splendour. Janshah, when he learned of what was being done, ordered the craftsmen to fetch a pillar of white marble which they were to hollow out until it looked like a box. When this had been done, he took Shamsa’s feather dress that enabled her to fly, put it in the pillar and buried it in the foundations of the castle, telling the builders to construct over it the arches on which the palace was supported.

  When it was finished, the huge palace was furnished, set, as it was, in the middle of the garden with streams flowing beneath it. The king then arranged for the wedding to be celebrated with a great feast, the like of which had never been seen. The Lady Shamsa was escorted to the palace, and after that all the attendants left. When she entered the palace, Shamsa detected the scent of her feathered dress…

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that when Shamsa entered the palace, she detected the scent of the feathered dress that enabled her to fly. She realized where it was and wanted to recover it, but she waited until midnight, when Janshah was sunk in sleep, before going to the pillar that supported the arches. She dug a hole alongside this, leading through to where the dress had been placed, and after she had removed the lead that had been poured over it, she took out her dress, put it on and immediately flew up to the roof of the palace. There she took her seat, telling the guards to fetch Janshah to her so that she could say goodbye to him. When he was told what had happened, he went there and saw her sitting on top of the roof wearing the dress. ‘Why have you done this?’ he asked, and she replied: ‘My darling, the refreshment of my eyes and the fruit of my heart, by God, I love you very deeply and I was filled with joy when I brought you back to your own land and met your mother and father. If you love me as much as I love you, then come to me in the jewelled castle of Takni.’ After that, she immediately flew away and went back to her own people.

  When Janshah heard what Shamsa said to him from the rooftop, he fell down in a faint, almost dead with grief, and the attendants went to tell his father about that. His father mounted and rode to the palace, and when he came in, it was to find his son stretched out on the ground. He burst into tears, realizing that Janshah was passionately in love with Shamsa. He poured rosewater over his face and when Janshah recovered and saw his father standing at his head, he wept in grief for the loss of his wife. When his father asked him what had happened, he said: ‘You have to know, father, that the Lady Shamsa is one of the daughters of the jinn and her beauty led me to fall passionately in love with her. I had in my possession a dress without which she could not fly, and I took it and hid it in a pillar hollowed out to form a box. I then poured lead on this and placed it in the foundations of the palace, but she dug down there and took the dress. She put it on and flew up to the palace roof from where she told me that she loved me, reminding me how she had brought me back home and had met you and my mother, and adding that if I loved her I was to go to the jewelled castle of Takni, to find her again. She then flew from the roof and went off on her way.’ ‘My son,’ said King Tighmus, ‘do not grieve, for we shall collect the merchants and those who have travelled through far lands and ask them about that castle. Then, when we find out where it is, we can go there to visit the Lady Shamsa’s family, in the hope that Almighty God will give her to you so that you may marry her.’

  The king immediately went out and summoned his four viziers, whom he told to collect all the merchants and travellers in the city and to ask them about Castle Takni. He promised fifty thousand dinars to anyone who knew the place and could direct him to it. ‘To hear is to obey,’ said the viziers when they heard this, and they went off immediately to carry out his orders, asking the travelling merchants about Takni, but no one could tell them anything about it. They went back to tell this to the king, and when he heard the news he told them to bring beautiful concubines, slave girls who could play musical instruments and singing girls such as were only to be found in royal palaces, in order to make Janshah forget his love for Shamsa. They did as he told them, and he then sent out scouts to explore all lands, islands and climes in order to ask about Castle Takni. These men spent two months on this fruitless
task, and when they returned to tell the king of their failure, he wept bitterly. He then went to see his son, and found him surrounded by concubines, slave girls, harpists and girls playing on dulcimers and other instruments, but none of this was consoling him for the loss of Shamsa. ‘My son,’ he said, ‘I have found no one who knows about Castle Takni, so I brought you others more beautiful than her.’ Janshah, on hearing his father’s news, wept and recited the following lines through his tears:

  Endurance has gone but love remains;

  My body is sick with the strength of passion.

  When will Time reunite me with Shamsa?

  My bones have decayed because of the fires of separation.

  There happened to be a bitter feud between King Tighmus and Kafid, the king of India, whom Tighmus had attacked, killing his men and plundering his goods. Kafid had armies and men of valour, in addition to a thousand paladins, each of whom was the leader of a thousand tribes, in every one of which were four thousand riders. He had four viziers, together with subordinate kings, nobles, emirs and numerous armies. He ruled over a thousand cities, each with a thousand castles, and he was a great and powerful king whose troops filled the whole land. He now heard that Tighmus was preoccupied by his son’s love for Shamsa and had left aside the affairs of government; his armies had diminished and he himself was filled with cares and worries because of what had happened to his son. So he gathered together his viziers, emirs and state officials and said to them: ‘You know that King Tighmus attacked our country, killing my father and my brothers as well as plundering our treasures. Every one of you lost a relative and had his wealth seized, his possessions plundered and his family taken captive. I now hear that he is preoccupied with the love affair of his son, Janshah, and has allowed the numbers of his troops to fall. This is the time for us to take our revenge, so prepare to set out, and get ready the equipment we need for an attack on him. There must be no slackness, as we are going to march against him, launch our assault, kill both him and his son and then take possession of his country.’

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that Kafid, the king of India, ordered his men to ride against the lands of King Tighmus, telling them: ‘Prepare to set out, and get ready the equipment we need for an attack on him. There must be no slackness, as we are going to march against him, launch our assault, kill both him and his son and then take possession of his country.’ ‘To hear is to obey,’ they said when they heard this, and each of them set about preparing equipment, supplies and weapons, as well as collecting men. After three months of this, when all the troops were ready, drums were beaten, trumpets blown and standards and flags set up. King Kafid led them all out and advanced to the borders of Tighmus’s territory in the lands of Kabul. When they arrived there, they plundered the lands, maltreating the inhabitants, slaughtering the old and taking the young as captives. When news of this reached Tighmus, he became furiously angry. He summoned the leading men of his kingdom, together with his viziers and emirs, and said: ‘You must know that Kafid has come to invade our country with the intention of meeting us in battle with armies whose numbers are known only to Almighty God. What is your advice?’ ‘King of the age,’ they replied, ‘our advice is to go out and fight so as to drive him from our lands.’ ‘Prepare for battle, then,’ said the king, and he produced for them coats of mail, armour, helmets, swords and all the weapons needed to kill champions and destroy chiefs. The soldiers were mustered, and when they had been equipped for war, the standards were set up to the beat of drums, trumpet calls and the sound of horns.

  Tighmus now led his men out to meet Kafid, and continued his march until the enemy were close by. He then camped in a valley called Wadi Zahran on the border of Kabul territory, and sent a messenger from his army with a letter to King Kafid. In it he had written: ‘This is our message to King Kafid. What you have done is the action of a ruffian, and were you really a king and the son of a king you would not have acted like this and you would not have come to my lands, plundering the goods of my people and maltreating my subjects. Do you not realize that all this is an outrage on your part? Had I thought that you would dare to attack my kingdom, I would have forestalled you and driven you back from my borders, but if you retreat and abandon the feud between us, well and good. If not, then come out to meet me on the field, and have the courage to stand against me in battle.’

  Tighmus sealed the letter and handed it to an aide-de-camp, whom he sent off, together with a number of spies, to scout for news. Having taken the letter, the messenger brought it to King Kafid and, as he approached, he could see tents of dark silk and blue silk flags. In between these tents there was a huge pavilion of red silk, surrounded by large numbers of guards. The messenger went up to it and, when he asked, he was told that this was the pavilion of King Kafid. He looked inside it and saw the king himself seated on a jewel-studded chair surrounded by his viziers, emirs and state officials. At this point he held out Tighmus’s letter and a number of Kafid’s guards came to take it from him and bring it to their king. When the latter had read it and grasped its contents, he wrote the following reply: ‘This is our message to King Tighmus: we are going to take our revenge and wipe away our disgrace with pillage and rapine, killing the old and enslaving the young. Come out tomorrow to the battlefield so that I may show you how to fight.’ When he had sealed the letter he handed it to the envoy, who took it and went off.

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that King Kafid handed the messenger the reply that he had written to the letter sent him by King Tighmus. The messenger took this and went back.

  When he came to King Tighmus, he kissed the ground before him, handed over the letter and told the king what he had seen. ‘O king of the age,’ he said, ‘I have seen more champions, together with horsemen and footmen, than can be counted, together with an endless supply of auxiliaries.’

  When Tighmus had read Kafid’s letter, he was furiously angry and ordered his vizier, ‘Ain Zar, to ride out to attack Kafid at midnight with a thousand riders, plunging into the middle of his army and killing them. ‘To hear is to obey,’ answered the vizier, and he then rode out with his men to attack King Kafid. Kafid, however, had ordered a vizier of his own, named Ghatrafan, to attack Tighmus’s army with five thousand horsemen and to kill them. Ghatrafan followed his orders, mounted and rode out with his men, making for Tighmus. By midnight they had covered half the distance when suddenly they came across ‘Ain Zar’s force. They both shouted their battle cries against one another, and a furious fight raged between them until dawn, but then Kafid’s men were beaten and took flight.

  Kafid was angered when he saw what had happened. ‘Damn you,’ he said to the fugitives, ‘how did you come to lose your champions?’ ‘King of the age,’ they told him, ‘when the vizier Ghatrafan mounted, we set off to attack Tighmus and continued on our march until midnight, by which time we were halfway there, but then ‘Ain Zar, Tighmus’s vizier, met us with an army and champions of his own near Wadi Zahran. Before we knew what was happening we were face to face with them in the middle of their army. We fought hard against them from midnight until morning. Many were killed, but ‘Ain Zar started to shout at our elephant, striking it in the face so fiercely that it took fright and started trampling down horsemen as it turned in flight. No one could see anyone else because of the dust clouds; blood was flowing in streams and had we not taken to our heels every last one of us would have been killed.’ ‘May the sun shine on you with anger rather than blessing!’ exclaimed Kafid when he heard this.

  As for the vizier ‘Ain Zar, he returned to tell King Tighmus what had happened. The king congratulated him on his safety, and in his delight he ordered drums to be beaten and trumpe
ts blown. He then inspected his men and found that they had lost two hundred strong and courageous riders. For his part, King Kafid prepared to lead out his whole force, and when he reached the battlefield he drew them up in fifteen ranks, each comprising ten thousand riders. They had with them three hundred paladins, specially picked champions, mounted on elephants. Banners and flags were raised, drums were beaten, trumpets blared and the champions came out to fight.

  Tighmus had drawn up his own army in ten ranks of ten thousand riders each, and he had with him a hundred paladins riding on his right and his left. When both sides were in position, every horseman of repute rode forward and the armies clashed. Broad as it was, the ground was too narrow for the horses; drums were beaten, trumpets and bugles blown and there was a deafening noise as horses neighed and men shouted, while thick dust clouds rose over their heads. The battle raged fiercely from the start of day until the approach of darkness, at which both sides parted and retired to their own camps.

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that both sides parted and retired to their own camps. On inspecting his troops, King Kafid was furious to find that he had lost five thousand men, while King Tighmus was equally angry at the loss of three thousand of his bravest followers. Kafid then came out to battle a second time and drew up his men as before. Both kings looked for victory and Kafid called to his men: ‘Is there any one of you who will ride out as a challenger on to the field and begin the battle for us?’ At that a champion named Barkik, a formidable paladin, came forward riding on an elephant. He dismounted to kiss the ground in front of Kafid and asked his permission to ride out. He then remounted and rode off, calling: ‘Will anyone dare to challenge me to a duel?’ When King Tighmus heard this, he turned to his men and said: ‘Which of you will go to meet this champion?’ From the ranks there then came a rider mounted on a huge horse, who, after kissing the ground before the king, asked permission to fight. He rode up to Barkik, who called to him: ‘Who are you to treat me so lightly that you come out against me alone? What is your name?’ ‘My name is Ghadanfar ibn Kamkhil,’ the rider replied. ‘I have heard of you in my own country,’ said Barkik, adding, ‘so now prepare yourself to fight between the ranks of the heroes.’