Night fell in the meanwhile and Amar hid himself in a temple in a priest’s garb for the fear of being spotted by the chief vigil. In the morning, he went out disguised as a merchant and passed the magistrate’s chair where he saw Sarhang Misri sitting. Sarhang Misri saw him and walked up to Amar and asked, “Who are you and what is your name? Where have you come from and what has brought you to this city?”
Amar replied, “I am a merchant and have arrived from China. My name is Khvaja Taifus bin Mayus bin Sarbus bin Taq bin Tamtaraq Bazargan.” Sarhang Misri called two of his ayyars and said to them, “Go with Khvaja here and see what goods are there in his caravan and what kind of merchandise is stocked in his shop!”
Amar said, “I see that it is a city reigned over by turmoil, where the ruler’s deputies expose tradesmen to the hardship of searches!”
Sarhang Misri replied, “I am sending you to your camp accompanied by my men so that they may post a night vigil in the evening to guard you and attend to your comfort and needs!”
Amar replied, “In that case I appreciate your offer!” He then set out from there taking the two ayyars with him.
OF AMAR SWINDLING AND DUPING SARHANG MISRI’S AYYARS
Truthful spies and wise and cunning scribes recount that Amar took along the two ayyars and marched about the city’s neighborhoods. He paraded them all over town until afternoon, keeping them constantly occupied in conversation. In the end Amar led them to a baker’s shop where he feasted at their expense and then escaped, leaving them to settle with the baker.
Amar roamed around until evening and then went to a grain parcher’s kiln to sleep there. In the morning he disguised himself as a beggar and began reciting verses and asking for alms outdoors. By chance, Sarhang Misri happened by that place along with two of his ayyars. The moment their eyes met, Sarhang was convinced that this was none other than Amar. He sidled up to Amar, and after giving him a gold piece from his pocket caught hold of his hand. It was Amar’s wont to always wear an ayyar’s greased gauntlet. When Sarhang Misri called out to his ayyars, Amar laughed loudly and withdrew his hand from the gauntlet. Leaving it in Sarhang Misri’s hand, he escaped, leaping and bounding from roof to roof as before.
Amar hid in a ravine the whole day and trotted out from his hiding place in the evening disguised as a dervish. Two hours of the night had passed when he presented himself at a kebab seller’s shop. The kebab seller asked him, “Where do you come from, venerated sir?” Amar replied, “What business do you have with the name and domicile of a dervish?” When the kebab seller realized that he had the privilege of hosting a holy man, he led Amar upstairs, seating him with great cordiality and affection and then serving him meat and wine.
After a while he said to Amar, “If it is not offensive to you, there is no harm in giving out your name and domicile!” Amar replied, “I am the son of a beggar and have arrived from Ctesiphon.” The kebab seller said, “Did you ever come across Amar Ayyar?” Amar answered, “I stayed at his house for several days before coming here!” The kebab seller said, “Indeed he is a most ungrateful wretch.”
Amar asked, “What harm has he done you that you are so bitterly set against him?” He answered, “I am angry with him because he earned all his prestige, honor, and fame on account of Amir Hamza and yet he is oblivious to the welfare of Hamza, who has been held prisoner by the king of Egypt for so many days!” Amar replied, “Even if he did arrive here, what could he possibly do, as every traveler who arrives here is taken prisoner on suspicion of being Amar in disguise!” The kebab seller answered, “If he came to me, I would lead him straight to Hamza!”
Upon hearing this, Amar said, “O kebab seller! Amar presents himself before you! Now take me to Hamza!” The man replied, “What resemblance do you have with Amar? Even though I have not seen Amar, still his appearance is well-known to me. In the bygone days of my youth, I was also an ayyar.”
Amar took off his disguise and said, “Judge for yourself whether or not I am Amar!” Upon regarding this, the man embraced Amar and said, “The king of Egypt has imprisoned Hamza in the well where Yusuf was incarcerated by his brothers. Come, let me lead you there!”
The kebab seller also donned the trappings of trickery and set out alongside Amar. They had gone a short distance when they saw a man sitting outside a shop. On drawing close he noticed that it was none other than Muqbil Vafadar.
The three of them then headed for the fort and in good time arrived under its ramparts. They gained the wall with a rope and climbed up the ramparts.
On the roof they saw a person wearing a veil standing in wait. As Amar approached, the masked one came forward and placated him and kissed his hand and said, “My name is Zehra and I am the daughter of the king of Egypt! Prophet Ibrahim converted me to the True Faith in the realm of dreams and betrothed me to Muqbil. He gave me your whereabouts, and told me that Muqbil and Amar would come from such and such a tower and I should employ myself in ministering help and hospitality to them. I have been standing here since evening in anticipation of your arrival!”
She took off an ambarcha worth five thousand rupees and gave it to Amar as an offering, and promised him a further reward of five thousand gold pieces. Amar kissed her forehead and, securing the ambarcha in his possession, congratulated Muqbil and said, “Consider this a good omen. God willing, we shall soon find what we seek!” Then Zehra came down from the ramparts of the fort with these three companions, and they headed for the well of Yusuf where Amir was incarcerated.
OF AMIR HAMZA’S RELEASE FROM THE WELL OF YUSUF, AND OF HIS REGAINING HIS FREEDOM WITH ZEHRA MISRI’S ASSISTANCE
The pen draws out new fictions from the pit of nothingness, and the fingers exert themselves to unfold this wondrous tale on the paper’s bright expanse. When the four of them arrived near the well of Yusuf, Sarhang Misri appeared there, and said, “O Khvaja Amar! I was deep in my slumber when Prophet Ibrahim appeared to me in a dream and showed me visions of Heaven and Hell. He converted me to the True Faith and bade me to hasten to join the four of you to secure Hamza’s release!” Delighted, Amar embraced Sarhang Misri.
Sarhang Misri rendered unconscious the guards at the well of Yusuf and then beheaded them. Next he conducted Amar and his companions to the mouth of the well. Amar dropped a rope down and lowered himself into the well.
The captives heard a noise and reasoned that the king of Egypt had sent his executioner to execute them. Then Amar approached them and asked, “O believers in the True Faith, who among you is Aadi?” Aadi was frightened out of his wits. He pointed toward Munzir Shah Yemeni and said, “That’s him!” All the other prisoners laughed at his words. Amar said to Munzir Shah Yemeni, “O Aadi! The king of Egypt has ordered your release!”
Aadi bitterly repented his words then and cried out, “Sire! Aadi is, in fact, my name.” Amar said to him, “Indeed you were described to me as one with a tremendous gut, who has defiled the well from his excessive defecating. You should be taken out of the well, executed, and flung away as a corpse!” Upon hearing these words, Aadi’s blood curdled in his veins.
It became obvious to Amir Hamza from the conversation that the visitor could be none other than Amar. Amir sat on his haunches and bellowed, “God is Great!” whereupon all the links of his chains and the collar on his neck snapped open as if made of gossamer. To give Amar a good scare, Amir charged at him swinging the chains. Amar cried out, “O Arab! Is this how one conducts oneself with friends? Mark that I am your old faithful!” Amir Hamza embraced Amar and removed the chains of his companions. Then he climbed out of the well with them.
Amir headed straight to the king of Egypt’s palace, companions in his train. They searched for the king, but did not find any trace of him. Amir’s companions entered the back garden and began feasting on the guavas, apricots, and mulberries they found there.
Aadi presently felt an overpowering urge to empty his bowels, since he in his bovine greed had eaten several maunds of fruit. He took himself to the royal toilet cha
mber and began attending to nature’s call. The ill-starred king of Egypt had hid in the toilet for some reason, and he was soon sunk up to his head in Aadi’s ordure. Realizing that he would have no refuge there, he caught hold of Aadi’s testicles and hung from them for dear life. Feeling the terrible pain in his balls, Aadi jumped up and ran out of the chamber without washing himself, dragging the king of Egypt along with him. He ran raising a great hue and cry, shouting, “Terrible is the effect of this city’s air and water that it causes a man to excrete men!” Munzir Shah Yemeni and others came rushing to him and, upon seeing the king of Egypt dragging from Aadi’s testicles, rolled on the floor in fits of laughter. They had the king bathed and then conducted before Amir in his sorrowful state.
Amir Hamza said to him, “O King, you were meted out your just deserts! I have no desire for your kingdom, and you may possess it with joy, but convert to the True Faith you must, or else it will not bode well for you!” Then the king of Egypt made vile imprecations, whereupon Amir’s attendant dealt him a blow of his sword and beheaded him.
Amir put Zehra Misri on the throne of Egypt and bestowed the charge of public offices on Sarhang Misri. Then Amir asked Muqbil to marry Zehra Misri. Muqbil replied with folded arms, “Until Your Honor marries Mehr-Nigar, this slave shall also remain unwed!”
Later Amar gave Amir Naushervan’s letter that he had recovered from the pigeon’s neck. Upon reading the letter Amir let out a cry of anguish and wept, and then addressed his eminent nobles, saying, “Consider, my friends, that I underwent all kinds of ordeals and trials on Naushervan’s account but he always played me false. Now, God willing, I shall march on Ctesiphon and reduce it to ruins, and give every single Sassanid’s wife and daughter to the equerries and cameleers to do with them as they please, as sure as my name is Hamza.”
Everyone present replied with one voice, “Your Honor speaks the very truth in maintaining that you fulfilled every last bidding of that ungrateful wretch! You must not countenance his evil further.”
Amir rode back to his camp and gave orders to prepare to march. Zehra Misri said to Amir, “I wish you to command me to ride alongside you as your riding companion and to wait upon the princess until she is married to Your Honor!” Amir acquiesced to her wishes and, leaving vizier Karvan behind as their deputy in the city, marched on Ctesiphon.
Now hear of Naushervan, who was seated on his throne one day when he suddenly proclaimed, “Go fetch Landhoor and Bahram from the prison and hang them on the scaffold before my eyes!” Buzurjmehr said, “From the divination of ramal it appears that Hamza is still alive and Your Honor’s star is in the house of bad omen. It would be judicious for Your Honor to go with the nobles of your court and harem on an excursion by arranging a hunting party. When the news of Hamza’s death reaches here, Your Honor may hang Landhoor and Bahram and rid the world of their existence!”
Naushervan agreed to this counsel and, leaving his commanders Harut Guraz-Dandan and Marut Guraz-Dandan behind with forty thousand troops to guard the city, he himself headed for Egypt at the head of a vast force.
Now hear an account of Hamza. He arrived at Ctesiphon within a matter of days to set up camp at Tal Shad-Kam as before. There many of his troops who had bivouacked in the woods in his absence also joined him. Two ayyars presented themselves to Amir and reported that Naushervan had left behind Harut and Marut Guraz-Dandan to guard the city and the prisoners with forty thousand troops. Amir then said to Amar Ayyar, “Go and tell Harut and Marut to send Landhoor and Bahram over. They will have not the least blame in the matter for I myself shall answer to the emperor!”
As Harut and Marut wished to invite an untimely death, they answered, “What authority does Hamza have that we should release the prisoners at his bidding? If he has any wherewithal he may come and take them himself!” Amar returned to Hamza and recounted their exact speech.
Amir passed the night in ecstasies of grief and rage, and early the next morning he charged the fort, besieging and attacking it from all sides. When Harut and Marut tasted Hamza’s wrath they immediately led Landhoor and Bahram from their prison to the ramparts of the fort and proclaimed, “O Hamza, your companions shall pay with their lives if a single troop advances from your army.”
Apprehensive that Landhoor and Bahram would die pointlessly, Amir commanded his army to advance not one step nor launch any attacks without his express orders. Then he said to Amar, “O Khvaja, think of some ruse to save their lives and punish those bastards at the same time.” Amar replied, “It is hardly a challenge beyond my scope. Those bastards and eunuchs are certain to fail in their strategy!”
Amar jumped across the moat, and addressed Harut and Marut, calling up to them, “Amir Hamza asks you not to kill Landhoor and Bahram. In return we shall retreat and not extend a single hand of molestation toward your city!” Then addressing Landhoor in Hindi and Bahram in the Chinese language, Amar said, “Amir states that the two of you are unfit to be called men, and are indeed nothing but craven cowards, the way you stand idle without moving a muscle!”
Landhoor and Bahram both felt the sting of these words and, bellowing “God is Great!” exerted themselves so that the links of their fetters snapped open like so many crude linkages. Upon this sight Harut and Marut Guraz-Dandan charged at them with drawn swords, but Bahram and Landhoor wrested the swords from their hands and dispatched them to Hell. They also killed those doing duty on the ramparts before Amar gained the wall and joined them. Some twelve or thirteen thousand Indian troops stormed the ramparts and rivers of blood flowed in the battle that ensued. Amar flung the fort gates wide open immediately and the army of the True Faith entered the city and handed a humiliating defeat to the royal army.
Then Amir Hamza entered the royal bedchamber accompanied by Amar and began searching for Princess Mehr-Nigar. Amar searched for the princess in the palace’s back gardens and in the gardens of Qasr-e Chahal Sutoon and Bagh-e Hasht Bahisht, but could catch no trace of her. He was almost out of ideas for her search when his eyes suddenly beheld a marble well in the foyer of one garden. When Amar approached the well, he found it covered with a slab weighing several hundred Tabrizi maunds. To move that slab was beyond Amar’s strength so he called Amir Hamza over to help.
Amir slid the slab over to one side and lowered himself into the well. He saw Princess Mehr-Nigar sitting there with her head cradled on her knees filling the skirts of her robe with tears. Raising her head at the sound of approaching steps, she caught sight of Amir and ran to him, falling upon his neck and proclaiming in a cascade of tears: “O Hamza! Do not tear me away from you again for I will be unable to withstand the pain of separation!”
Amir wiped her rose-tinted tears with his sleeve and said, “O soul of Hamza! The night of separation is over and the day of union has arrived.” Amir first helped Mehr-Nigar out of the well, then had all her attendants conducted out of there, and then he climbed out himself. He forthwith sent for a gold-inlaid litter for Mehr-Nigar’s conveyance, and headed for his camp at Tal Shad-Kam.
Mehr-Nigar said to Amir, “O Abul-Ala! For my sake now release the men of Ctesiphon, and restore the prisoners to freedom as your sacrifice.” Amir replied, “Your wish is my command!” He ordered all the prisoners to be set free instantly and all pillaged goods to be returned.
Now hear of Aadi, who was posted by the kettle drums when Amir gave his earlier orders for assault. While at his post, he espied a damsel, barely twelve years of age, who was like the sun in beauty, wandering in great confusion. She stumbled at every step from daintiness as she was clearly unused to such exertions. Aadi was greatly charmed by her ways and rushed from his post to catch her. He soon found out that she was Bakhtak’s daughter. Aadi thought, It is meet and proper that the Sahibqiran should have Naushervan’s daughter and I should have Bakhtak’s! He took her into his pavilion. That night, when he tried to ravish her, she was unable to bear the pain and cried loudly. Aadi desisted from his pursuits fearing that Amir would visit the most terrible chastisement
upon his head should the alarm reach his ears.
But after so many days of hard austerity he was unable to keep his hands off such succulent fruit. Throwing all modesty to the wind, he ordered the Timbal of Sikander to be sounded. Then he returned to his pavilion to renew congress with the girl. Lust prodded him on, and the devil was his counselor. She was too frail to receive Aadi’s phallus without injury, and the moment he squeezed her rear, her mouth opened like a sparrow’s and the avis of her soul flew from the confines of its corporeal prison.
When they heard the Timbal of Sikander, Landhoor, Bahram, Muqbil, and other commanders armed themselves and gathered in the Hall of Audience. Amar found all the illustrious nobles and kings armed to the teeth and in their saddles, and the entire army arrayed outside the hall ready for battle. Amar asked Landhoor and Bahram, “Why do you stand here armed, and who ordered you out?” They replied, “You should know the details yourself as you were with the Sahibqiran.”
Amar marveled greatly, wondering what had caused the alarm and what fresh mischief and new devilry was afoot. He kept his quiet for the moment and went to the assembly of trumpeters and said to Kebaba Chini and Qulaba Chini, “Amir demands to know at whose command the Timbal was sounded. Who brought you the orders?” They replied that it was Aadi who had ordered them to sound the Timbal.
Perplexed, Amar went to Aadi’s pavilion where he saw a most peculiar scene. Having killed a dainty damsel in her pubescence by forcing her maidenhead, Aadi sat with her corpse before him, contemplating his deed. Amar asked Aadi about the circumstances of her death, whereupon Aadi shamefacedly narrated the whole account.
Amar returned to Amir Hamza and narrated to him the entire account. Amir was enraged and said, “Have Aadi arrested so that I can bury him alive in the same grave where that girl is interred!” Mehr-Nigar interceded with Amir to pardon Aadi, and Amar added to her petition by saying, “Just imagine that in the same way Your Honor took a fortress by storm, he, too, forced open a citadel of virtue!”
The Adventures of Amir Hamza Page 26