Tales of the Marvellous and News of the Strange (Hardcover Classics) (17 page)

‘We went out and, taking the sap, we mixed it with some of the earth from the container, smeared it on our hands and went up and opened the chest. There inside it was the crown wrapped in gold leaf. I was going to remove this from it when my companion shouted to me not to do that, and he lifted it out in its wrapping, before fainting with joy. He then called thrice on the centaur and, on seeing him come, he thanked him and kissed his hand. “I owe you a debt that I can never repay,” he told him, “and I shall never be able to thank you enough. Now tell me how to put it on, for it contains a jewel that no one can look at without being blinded, but its wearer will want to control it.” The centaur said: “I shall give you something to hold in your hand so as to counter what you fear. Now take what you want from here and go out, leaving the place as it was. I shall then fetch you what you want.”

‘We took the container and a quantity of gems as well as some of the golden lamps together with the great pearl, before putting everything else back as it had been. Then my companion said to the centaur: “Tell me what you have to say,” and the centaur replied: “Take the gall of an eagle and safflower and use that to make the image of a gazelle.” We made a net and used it to catch an eagle. We then took its gall and collected the safflower, from which we made a gazelle as we had been told, leaving it to dry and then carrying it in a box. Taking with us a large quantity of safflower, we mounted the elephants and went off by a different way from that by which we had come. I told my companion that he was going wrong, but he said: “I want to show you what I am going to do, so come with me and I shall bring you back to your people and give you these stones that I have with me, and you will keep me company.” I had no choice but to find out what he was going to do, and, when I had agreed to accompany him, he said: “Come with the blessing of God Almighty.”

‘We went on until we reached a large orchard, in whose centre was a lofty dome towering into the sky. It had iron doors, and round it was a great river with a bridge with iron gates, opposite which was a huge palace whose door was locked. We came to a place near this amongst the trees where we dug up a tent of brocade, which my companion erected, spreading out fine furnishings. “I want your help in what I am trying to do,” he told me, and I promised to follow his instructions. “In three days’ time,” he said, “all the kings of India will come to this orchard and
lodge in this palace, and you will then see a marvel. I want you to take this incense and this herb and continue to use it to spread perfume before me without allowing anything to distract you.”

‘I promised to do that and got up to burn a great amount of charcoal. Two days later he took the bigger of the two elephants and ornamented it with various decorations. He then took out royal robes and a jewelled corselet, which he put on, taking the gazelle in his hand. He then produced a delicate gold image, set with gems, which he placed on the back of the elephant, with the crown still covered over in front of him, and he told me to spread the perfume when he gave the word.

‘On the third day I saw that the palace had been opened up, and the Indians came out with their banners, which they set up by the orchard gate, and they decorated the dome beautifully. Soon afterwards a large dust cloud appeared, and there were the kings’ elephants and their troops. When they came up it could be seen that the kings were riding on white elephants and dressed in the most splendid of robes. They came towards where we were in the orchard, and when they were near my companion told me to spread the incense with no slackening. I did as he told me, and when it rose in the air he uncovered the crown and set it on his head.

‘When they saw it all the kings threw themselves on the ground before him, removing their own crowns and rubbing their faces in the earth as they prostrated themselves to him. For a long time he said nothing but then he told them to raise their heads, and, as they did, he was moving on out of the reach of the incense. He advanced to the orchard, where all the Indians prostrated themselves before him. Then he dismounted from his elephant, and we went to the dome in the orchard, which was draped with coverings of brocade and where there were golden chairs on which shaikhs were seated. When they saw him they prostrated themselves, uncovered their heads and removed the coverings from their idol. My companion went in and prostrated himself before it, after which he came out and took his seat on a throne with the kings standing before him. He then commanded what they thought was not right and forbade what they thought should not be forbidden, following in the path of previous kings.

‘He ordered the people to disperse and came out and rode to the palace, where he declared the slave girls and women common property. The kings came out and sat down by the door while I stood in front of them. My companion summoned a man, to whom he whispered
something before telling me to go with him to see what he had to say. The man took my hand and led me out, before saying: “What have you done to make him want you killed?” “He told you to kill me?” I exclaimed. “Yes,” said the man. “There is something I want you to do for me,” I told him, and when he asked what this was, I said that it was for him to take me to the kings, as I had something to say to them that would release them from their plight. He was filled with delight and, taking me to them, he told them about this. They all got up for me and said: “If you can free us we shall share our wealth with you and do anything for you that you want.” I asked them why they had prostrated themselves to my companion, and they told me: “Our books tell us that our great king, whose crown this is, will appear, put it on and come out to us. We shall have no choice but to obey him, as we are sure that no one but him can win the crown. When we saw the changes that he was introducing and that he was behaving in a way contrary to what is in our books we realized that this could not be he.”

‘I told them to come up to a high place and, when they did, I called three times to Mubashshir at the top of my voice. The centaur came quickly and asked what was wrong. I said: “Was this what I deserved from my companion? I helped him to take the crown, and when he got it he ordered me to be killed.” The centaur replied: “I knew that he would kill you,” so I then asked him to save me from him. “Ride on me,” he told me,” “so that I can take you safely back home,” but I said that I wanted him to show me how to disgrace and destroy my former companion and repay him for what he had done to me. He told me to take the gall of a kite, mix it with the safflower that I had and make the shape of a ferret to give to one of the kings. He was to take it to my companion while he was wearing the crown and it would then fall off. The great king, he said, would never act like this and would not appear until this was finished.

‘I set a snare and caught a kite, whose gall I took and mixed with safflower, from which I then shaped a ferret, as I had been told. I gave this to one of the kings and told him to go to my companion without fear. When he did so the crown fell from his head, and the king rushed up and killed him with his sword. The others gathered round and burned his corpse, after which they gave me everything that he had with him. As for the crown, they wrapped it again in its gold leaf and, after reverencing it, they rode back with me to the place from where it had been taken.

‘They treated me with all possible generosity, but I told them that I
wanted to return to my children. I took with me a large quantity of wealth and left the rest there. I then put to sea but came naked to
Jedda
, and I have come to visit the Commander of the Faithful in the hope that I may be enabled to go back to collect what I left there, as this was enough to make me and my descendants wealthy.’

‘Abd al-Malik was filled with astonishment at this tale and provided the narrator with fifty thousand dirhams. This is his story and what happened to him, and God knows better.

Al-
Fadl son of al-Rabi‘
son of Hisham said: ‘There was in
Malatiya
an old Rumi wall that the people there used to call the Wall of the Mother of Daughters. One day there came torrential rain followed by a severe earthquake, causing many stones to fall, some of which struck that wall. Next morning people went out to see what had fallen and they saw a golden tube. They went up to it and, after having demolished what was round it, they brought it down. On one side of it they discovered a golden lock and on the other a golden ring. They weighed it and discovered its weight to be twenty
ratls
.

‘The emir took it and offered it for sale unopened. A first bid of a thousand dinars was raised to two, then to three and finally to four. It was handed over to the last bidder, who ordered it to be broken open. In it was found a golden book with strange writing that nobody could read. The emir sent to a monk with a reputation for learning and a knowledge of old scripts. When he looked at the book he laughed and said: “Emir, did you find this in a golden tube in a wall?” and when the emir said “Yes,” he asked: “Did you break through to it or did it fall out thanks to an earthquake?” “It was an earthquake that did this,” the emir told him, and he said: “Had you broken through the wall it would have caused the destruction of your city, whereas if the earthquake did it, it is the lands of your enemy that will be destroyed, and you will get the contents.”

[lac.]
‘The emir told him to read what was written, but he said that he would only do this if he were given a satisfactory reward. The emir
ordered him to be given ten thousand dinars and asked if he were satisfied. “Yes,” he said, “and less would have been enough.” The emir then told him to read out what was written, and he began: “In the Name of God Almighty, this world is transient while the next world is eternal. Our actions are tied around our necks; disasters are arrows; people set themselves goals; our livelihood is apportioned to us, and our appointed time is decreed. The world is filled with hope, and good deeds are the best treasures for a man to store up. Toleration is an adornment, and hastiness is a disgrace.
[lac.]
A man’s wife is the sweet flower of his life and finds acceptance, as many such flowers do. Whoever wishes to see a wonder should go to the Scented Mountain.” “Stop! That is enough,” the emir said and when the people had dispersed and had all left his audience hall he asked the monk: “Do you know of any way to get to this place?” When the monk said that he did, the emir released from his prison those who deserved execution and set off for the mountain in company with the monk.

‘When he got there he halted at its foot and asked the monk where they should go. The monk told him that what they were looking for was in a cave in one of the gullies, and the emir told his men to scatter and look for it. They spent the day investigating the mountain but when they came back they said: “We saw nothing but a lot of gullies, all of which looked alike.” “Is there a sign that marks this gully out from the others?” the emir asked the monk. “Yes,” he said, “for opposite it is a huge stone snake with a frog in its mouth and a scorpion on its head.” “That’s what you must look for,” the emir told his men, and after three days of searching they found it in a large wadi, with the gully lying opposite the statue. When they looked they could see a great stone. There was writing over the door of the cave, and on the summit of the mountain was a huge statue on which birds were perching. There were rings with iron chains attached to a place on the mountain.

‘The emir marvelled at the statue and told the monk to pull on the chains. When he did the secret place opened up, and a flight of steps could be seen leading to it. “Go up,” the emir said, “for through the help of God we have got to where we wanted.” We went on up to the stairs and after climbing some two hundred steps we came out at a fine square room with three open doors, near each of which was a closed door. In the middle stood a giant statue of gilded brass with what looked like a covered bowl on its head, which it was holding with its hands.

‘When we got to the middle of the room and approached the statue,
the monk told one of the emir’s servants to go up to the closed door and strike it with a pick. He obeyed and struck a great blow, using all his strength, but at that the statue threw the bowl down from its head, revealing a pipe from which water flowed. We were in great danger, and the monk began to go round the room until he caught sight of a barred window. When he opened it the statue fell on its knees with its mouth open, and the water started flowing into this until it had all gone from the room.

‘We gave thanks to Almighty God for this, and the monk told us that there was nothing else that the statue could do. He ordered the servants to break the locks on the doors, and when they did we opened them and went into the rooms behind them. In them was more wealth than had ever been seen and an indescribable quantity of jewels. We almost died of joy, but the monk told us: “Take care that no one takes the cover from the bowl and looks in it or he will die.” Some of the servants rushed up to it, each thinking greedily that none but he would remove the lid. The one who did looked inside and dropped down dead, after which the cover went back on the bowl as it had been before. The monk implored us if we valued our lives to leave it undisturbed or we would all die.

‘He then told us to carry off the wealth and the jewels, which we did, loading them on our riding beasts, and, after leaving everything as we had found it, we went off to Malatiya. The emir presented the monk with a large quantity of money, and he gave each of the prisoners many dinars, while freeing the slaves and giving them gifts as well as clothes.

This is the complete story.’