At the king’s invitation, Amar moved into the castle of Devdad with his whole camp. When the princes Hurmuz and Faramurz learned this news, they sent a message to Naushervan asking him to personally lead the campaign against Amar. However, Buzurjmehr advised Naushervan against it when he asked his opinion. Then Naushervan heard news that Zhopin’s brother Bechin Kamran was on his way to enter his service with two hundred thousand troopers. Naushervan received him with honor and narrated to him his woes. Upon learning of the emperor’s troubles, Bechin offered to join the campaign against Amar and vowed to defeat him.
Upon his arrival Bechin Kamran criticized Zhopin, Jahandar, and Jahangir for failing to defeat Amar. Zhopin asked him to test the waters for himself and the next day Bechin assaulted the castle. His army retreated with many losses after Amar showered them with Greek fire. However, Bechin and Zhopin reached the gates of the castle and were about to break them down when Naqabdar Naranji-Posh arrived to Amar’s aid. In the pitched battle that was fought, eighty thousand infidels, including many of Naushervan’s renowned commanders, lost their lives. Again the Naqabdar Naranji-Posh went away despite Amar entreating to him to reveal his identity.
When Naushervan received the news of the new defeat suffered by his army, he was wroth with Bakhtak, whose son Bakhtiarak had not proved himself at all useful against Amar. Bakhtak wrote a note of reprimand to his son whereupon Bakhtiarak used a forged letter to convince Khvaja Arbab, one of King Antar Devdadi’s sons, that Naushervan would richly reward him if he helped in Amar Ayyar’s capture. Khvaja Arbab proposed to the princes that they use a tunnel which opened in his house to enter the castle with their armies and then capture Amar and take control of the castle.
However, Khvaja Arbab’s daughter, Dil-Aavez, felt dismay that her father was willing to barter away the lives of innocent men because of his avarice. She immediately informed Amar Ayyar who arrived at Khvaja Arbab’s house some hours before the arrival of Hurmuz’s men and put him under arrest.
After partaking of the feast Khvaja Arbab had prepared for the princes, and having Aadi Madi-Karib stuffed with choice dishes, Amar deputed him to sit at the mouth of the tunnel and capture all the men who might come out of it. In this manner Amar was able to capture four hundred enemy commanders.
When none of his commanders returned to make a report, Zhopin became suspicious and took caution before he put his head out of the tunnel. As a result Aadi was unable to get a good hold on him. Zhopin got away with the sacrifice of his ears, which Aadi presented to Amar. After Zhopin raised the alarm, Amar fired many fiery missiles into the tunnel, which burnt ten thousand troops who were in there. The princes Hurmuz and Faramurz returned to their camp with only a handful of men.
The next morning Amar hanged Khvaja Arbab and all four hundred of Naushervan’s commanders. Then he had molten lead poured into the tunnel and sealed it.
Hurmuz and Faramurz sent the news of their defeat to Naushervan with Sabir Namad-Posh Ayyar.
Now for some news of the Sahibqiran. When six months had passed, Amir said to Aasman Peri, “Now the time has come to fulfill your promise. Send me back to my world and carry out your pledge.” Aasman Peri said, “I will send you back after one year has passed.” Upon hearing these words Amir was enraged and said irately, “O Aasman Peri, do you have any fear of God in your heart? Six months ago you swore before two prophets that after this period you would send me to my world!” Aasman Peri answered, “The retribution for breaking my word will be mine alone, so have no worries on that account!”
Amir took his complaints to Emperor Shahpal, who comforted Amir, showed him much favor, and offered him words of consolation. Seating Amir on a throne that very instant, he ordered four devs to carry Amir to his world. When Aasman Peri received this news, she arrived there holding Quraisha in her arms and said to Amir, “O Abul-Ala, have you no love for your daughter either? If I have wronged you, what is her crime?” Amir answered, “When you come to visit me in the world of humans, bring her with you. But now I must depart.” Thus speaking, Amir ordered the devs to carry his throne aloft and departed from there.
Aasman Peri returned to her quarters tearful and heartbroken from Amir’s departure. She sent for Rizwan Perizad and said to him, “Go to the Sahibqiran on the pretext of bidding him adieu to convey my orders to the throne bearers. Tell them that they are to travel no farther than the Dasht-e Ajaib, where they should leave Amir and then return here.” Rizwan Perizad flew away and speedily approached Hamza’s throne. Amir saw his arrival as an ominous sign. He said to the devs who were bearing his throne, “Return to Shahpal and do as I command you!” When the devs resisted, Amir grasped the hilt of his sword and said, “If you do not return, I will kill every single one of you!” The devs were thus forced to return Amir’s throne to Shahpal’s court. When Shahpal accosted the devs after hearing Amir’s account, the devs told him that they would not act in defiance of Aasman Peri’s orders. When the emperor confronted Aasman Peri she told him to keep out of her conflict with her husband.
Hearing this, Amir dismounted the throne and heaved such a terrible sigh of anguish that the whole castle shook from its impact. Then he said, “O Aasman Peri, you made the prophets witness your promise to me and then you betrayed your word. God willing, His wrath will overtake you.” With these words, Amir headed for the wilderness crying with the frenzy of a man deranged and distraught.
Amir Hamza had traveled in this wise for fifteen days when he came upon a castle where jinns with unbraided hair were busy praying, soliciting the court of heavens. It appeared that a towering dev with ears like an elephant was forcefully and relentlessly besieging them. Amir felt pity for those inside the castle and he challenged and routed the devs.
Half of the devs’ army was slaughtered and the rest turned tail and ran. The king of the castle embraced Amir and seated him on the throne with great honor and said, “I am the same jinn, Junaid Shah Sabz-Posh, the elder brother of Emperor Shahpal, whom you freed from the Tilism-e Shatranj-e Suleimani.” He took Amir into the castle of Sabz Nigar, asked about his welfare and said, “If my life can be of some service to you, I am willing to sacrifice it at a word from you.” Amir replied, “Do me the kindness of having me transported to my world. For as long as I live, I will remain indebted to you.”
Upon hearing this, the king contemplated for a while. Then he sent for his vizier Khvaja Rauf Jinni and said to him, “Tell Amir that if he marries my daughter, Rehan Peri, who is enamored of him, I will have him conducted to his homeland on the ninth day from today.” After an initial refusal, Amir accepted the proposal. Sabz-Posh married Amir to Rehan Peri with great fanfare.
However, on the first night Amir slept with a sword between Rehan Peri and himself. She thought that it was perhaps a human custom to sleep with a sword between man and wife. That night Amir encountered Mehr-Nigar in his dreams yet again, and saw her suffering on account of their separation. He woke with a start and took to the desert like a frenzied man.
In the morning, Rehan Peri’s mother, Durdana Peri, saw her daughter sleeping by herself. She woke her up and asked, “Where is the Sahibqiran?” She replied, “I do not know. In the night he slept with a sword between us. Then I do not know where he went because I, too, went to sleep.”
Durdana Peri was upset upon hearing this account and reported it to Sabz-Posh. He said, “Why did Amir agree to marry my daughter if such was not his desire? Everyone will say that there must be some fault with my daughter that caused Amir to leave her after marrying her, for nobody would turn away from a day-old bride without good reason.” He immediately sent for the peris and devs and ordered them to find Amir Hamza and to bring him into his court.
Now hear of Aasman Peri. One day she bedecked herself in a crimson dress and went to the court of her father. She turned toward Abdur Rahman and said, “Pray check where Amir is now and discover his whereabouts.” After interpreting the geomancy pattern, Abdur Rahman did not give the whole account. He said only, “On account of you
Amir tarries all distressed and distraught, and he suffers many a hardship.” As Aasman Peri was sitting next to Abdur Rahman and was well versed in geomancy herself, she glanced at the calculations of the horoscope and said, “How wonderful it is to see that Sabz-Posh, despite being my uncle, still married his daughter to my husband, and showed neither regard for my prestige and honor nor any fear of my burning wrath. I have learned today that he is not an uncle to me but a rival. I shall no longer call myself by the name of Aasman Peri if I do not burn his land down to cinder and punish him most severely.” She then mounted a throne and, taking along an intrepid army of devs, headed for the castle of Sabz Nigar.
OF AASMAN PERI MARCHING WITH AN INTREPID ARMY ON SABZ NIGAR AND LAYING THE CITY TO RUIN, AND OF HER TAKING SABZ-POSH AND REHAN PERI AS PRISONERS AND INCARCERATING THEM IN THE ZANDAN-E SULEIMANI
The narrator says that when Aasman Peri arrived at the castle of Sabz Nigar, she ordered her attendants to restrain Junaid Sabz-Posh and Rehan Peri at once. Then Aasman Peri laid to ruin the city of Sabz Nigar and returned to Gulistan-e Irum. For many days she punished Sabz-Posh and Rehan Peri with a thousand strokes of the lash each day. Then she had them thrown into the Zandan-e Suleimani.
The news of Aasman Peri’s ravages reached Shahpal. He tore his collar in grief and rushed bareheaded and barefoot to the prison. He threw himself at his brother’s feet crying copious tears, and made every apology to attempt to wash away Sabz-Posh’s rancor. Although Shahpal said all this and more, he did not console Sabz-Posh in the least.
Sabz-Posh opened his lips to entreat the Court of Heaven and said, “O Almighty Lord! Visit your wrath and retribution on Aasman Peri for the harsh treatment I suffered at her hands. Cast her lot among the damned!” He went away in tears to return to his land and cursed Aasman Peri without cease.
Now hear some news of that fickle creature, Aasman Peri. There lived in the seventh realm of Qaf a dev, Ra’ad Shatir, whom everyone considered peerless in courage and valor. When Prophet Suleiman departed from this world, Ra’ad Shatir, who was a nephew of Ifrit Dev, constructed two castles in the Seven Enchanted Seas of Suleiman, which he named Siyah Boom and Sufaid Boom, furnishing the castles with luxurious trappings and devising a tilism to guard them.
The news of Amir Hamza’s exploits enraged Ra’ad Shatir and he immediately flew from the castle of Siyah Boom carrying Suleiman’s net, which he had acquired by some devious means after the prophet’s death. Ra’ad Shatir imprisoned everyone in Gulistan-e Irum and ordered the guards of the jail to put them to torture. Only Abdur Rahman escaped imprisonment, for he had left earlier for his home on some errand. When Abdur Rahman learned of this, he cast lots and discovered that Amir Hamza was to the north of the city, and he departed immediately upon a throne in search of him.
Now hear of the Sahibqiran. When he stepped out of the city of Sabz Nigar, he walked for several days in the desert, and after crossing it, rested at the foot of a hill that was situated not too far from the abode of Abdur Rahman. Hardly a moment had passed when he saw Abdur Rahman approaching on a throne. Amir received him very kindly and Abdur Rahman gave him a complete and detailed account of his chance escape and the capture of Shahpal, Aasman Peri, Quraisha, and the chiefs of the races of devs and jinns and all the hardships that they were undergoing. Amir Hamza replied, “It was on account of their swearing false oaths and tormenting me that they were overtaken by God’s wrath!” Abdur Rahman said, “All that Your Honor states is true, but I still entreat you to devise some way of securing their freedom in consideraion of your relationship to them.”
Abdur Rahman was finally able to persuade Amir to undertake the mission despite great reluctance on his part, and told him that only Shah Simurgh could convey him there. He then took him to his home and ordered a celebratory feast in Amir’s honor.
After the feasting was over, Abdur Rahman seated Amir on a throne and ordered four jinns to take it to the abode of Shah Simurgh with the utmost diligence. The four jinns carried Amir’s throne aloft and rose as high as the stars. Amir looked down but could see only an expanse of water stretched beneath him. The jinns carried his throne for seven days and seven nights. On the eighth day, a few hours had passed before sunrise when they placed Amir’s throne on the seashore.
Huge tall trees grew by the shore whose branches almost reached up toward the lofty tree of Tooba in Paradise. On top of those trees was a wooden castle of great expanse and vastness, adorned with all kinds of trappings. Amir asked the jinns, “Who has constructed this castle?” They answered, “O Sahibqiran! This is not a castle but the abode of Shah Simurgh.”
After the messenger jinns returned to their city, Amir heard a clamor arising from a tree. When Amir looked up, he observed that Simurgh’s young were making the noise. Each one of them was bigger in size than an elephant. They cried continuously. When Amir looked around to see what had terrorized and frightened them, he beheld a dragon climbing their tree. Amir killed the dragon by shooting arrows at him and saved the young ones from the beast. Then he cut the dragon into pieces and fed his meat to the chicks with the point of his pike. Having had their fill, the young ones retired into their nest to sleep. After a few hours a pair of Simurghs returned carrying food for their young. The Simurghs saw Amir Hamza sleeping under the tree and they said to each other, “It seems that this man who lies sleeping under the tree is the one who has long caused us much grief by eating up our children. Today as well he ate our young, and this is why they did not come out of the nest. We must kill him without delay.”
Upon hearing these words, the Simurghs’ young emerged from their nest. They told their parents about the dragon and how Amir had slain him. Shah Simurgh was very grateful to Amir Hamza. Witnessing that Amir was exposed to the sun, he shaded him with one wing and with the other began fanning him. Feeling this pleasant sensation Amir opened his eyes. Witnessing the Simurgh standing over him, he reached for his bow and quiver when the Simurgh said, “O Quake of Qaf! First you put me in your debt and gratitude, and now you are bent on killing me. Those were my young whom you saved from the dragon!” Amir asked, “How did you learn my name?” The Simurgh replied, “I heard from Prophet Suleiman that a man would arrive here some time in the future and save the Simurgh’s young from the dragon. His name would be the Justice of Qaf and his mission would be to slay the devs.” Amir asked, “What is the name of this frontier?” The Simurgh answered, “It is called the Baisha-e Qaza va Qadar and it lies outside the dominions of Qaf.”
The Sahibqiran said, “I have come to you in need and in a most distressed state.” The Simurgh replied, “Your word is my command!” Amir said to him, “I ask that you carry me to the castle of Sufaid Boom where Ra’ad Shatir has imprisoned Shahpal and his court.” The Simurgh answered, “I will take you there and do you this service. But make sure to bring seven rations of food and seven portions of water to carry on my back. When I feel hungry and thirsty you should give me a morsel to eat and a sip to drink!”
Amir caught seven blue antelopes on the plain and skinned them and made water skins of their hides and filled them with sweet water. Then he climbed on the Simurgh’s back carrying the water skins and blue antelopes. The Simurgh said to him, “O Sahibqiran, do not carry on your person any weapons of steel lest the mountain of magnet that lies in the middle of the Magnetic Sea draw and claim them.” Amir took the dagger of the champion warrior Sohrab and tucked it away in his shoe with great care. The rest of the weapons he handed to the Simurgh who hid them in his feathers.
The Simurgh then reached for the heights of the heavens and when Amir looked down he saw that the earth was the size of a small jewel. For as far as he could see there was only water to behold. As they were flying over the Magnetic Sea, Amir lost his weapons which were attracted by the magnetic force.
Amir fed one antelope to the Simurgh each time they flew over a sea. When flying over the Sea of Fire, however, Amir put the blue antelope in the Simurgh’s mouth, but he withdrew his hand quickly because of the h
eat of the blaze and the antelope fell into the Sea of Fire. The Simurgh’s strength soon began to decline and Amir saw that it was only a matter of a few breaths before they would both fall into the Sea of Fire and drown. He immediately put the bread-cake given him by Prophet Khizr into the Simurgh’s mouth and freed him of all hunger. The simurgh landed on the other side of the Seven Seas and congratulated Amir.
However, the loss of his weapons weighed heavily on Amir’s heart. Suddenly someone called out, “Peace be with you!” Amir saw it was holy Khizr. He restored to him all the weapons. Then holy Khizr went away, and Amir decorated himself with his weapons and gazed upon the expanse before him. Amir saw before them two hills: One was as white as the dawn and the other as dark as the night of lamentations. Amir said to the Simurgh, “Are these white and black hills or something else?” He answered, “These are the castles of Sufaid Boom and Siyah Boom.” Amir said, “I now bid you adieu, and you will always have my gratitude for helping me reach this place!”
The Simurgh pulled out three feathers from his wing, gave them to Amir, and said, “If, God forbid, you ever fall into difficulty, you should burn one of these feathers and I will come to your help that very instant. The second feather you should put in the aigrette of your horse and adorn him with it. Give the third feather to Khvaja Amar Ayyar as a gift from me!”
Then the Simurgh flew away to his nest and Amir headed toward the castles. He had gone some distance when a lion appeared and attacked him. Amir cut him in two and skinned him and draped the hide on his shoulders. When Amir arrived at the castle of Siyah Boom, he saw four hundred devs seated at the gates to make sure that no stranger should enter or trespass there.
The Adventures of Amir Hamza Page 37