Tales of the Marvellous and News of the Strange (Hardcover Classics) (23 page)

‘When she had taken her seat on her throne her maids congratulated her on her safe return. They would have liked to kill me, but the queen stopped them, while I was like a brick tossed down in the middle of them. The queen then got out something white and recited spells over it for some time before putting it in water and sprinkling it over me. Then she said: ‘Leave your human shape and take that of the ugliest of all birds.’ I fell to the ground and turned into an ugly bird, which she put on a shelf in the palace.

‘Just then the black bird appeared together with a white bird, with which it mated. When the white bird got up and spread its feathers the black bird flew away. The queen washed and took some of the water, which she put in a bowl on my shelf, telling me to drink it, as this was all she was going to give me. For three days I did not drink, but then one of the maids felt sorry for me and was impelled to bring me water and attend to my needs.’ She then went to Shaikh ‘Abdallah and told him what had happened. ‘There is no might and no power except with God the Omnipotent!’ he exclaimed, adding: ‘By God, the boy is dead, but you have achieved something, so finish it off by doing your best to take word to his mother.’ The girl asked who this was, and ‘Abdallah said: ‘She is Julnar of the Sea, the most skilful sorceress on the face of the earth, while in particular her mother is the greatest of calamities and disasters. You may be sure that the Almighty will single you out for reward, while Julnar will enrich you, and this will lead you to marriage, and you will be queen of the city.’ After he had encouraged her with these hopes, she agreed and promised to go that night to Julnar.

When it grew dark the girl whistled and recited a spell, which instantly produced a female devil, who said: ‘Give me your command.’ ‘I want
you to carry me to Julnar in the White Island, for I have some business with her,’ the girl said. ‘Lady,’ the devil told her, ‘I have been there, and Julnar is in the worst of states because of her son Badr. They have captured Jauhara, the daughter of Samandal, the supreme king of the sea, as well as Samandal himself, and are holding both as prisoners.’ ‘Take me there immediately, Maimuna,’ the girl said, and when Maimuna told her to mount she got on her back. After a mere blink of an eye the flight ended on the roof of Julnar’s palace, and the girl dismounted.

When she saw Julnar she recognized her as a sorceress and greeted her respectfully, saying: ‘Good news, lady! Your son is with Queen Lab, but he has been transformed into the ugliest of shapes, so help him while there is still time.’ The news spread, and Julnar and her brother raised the
jinn
clans and flew off with the girl, who was telling them the whole story from beginning to end, including the role played by Shaikh ‘Abdallah and how he had helped Badr.

Almost immediately the palace was taken by surprise, and the queen and everyone else in it were seized. The Badr bird was brought to his mother, who spat over him and recited a spell. A shudder ran through him, and he emerged as beautiful as the moon, although hunger and thirst had emaciated him until he was like an old water-skin.

Queen Lab was produced, and she, her mother and everyone in the palace, male and female, were put to death. Julnar then sent for Shaikh ‘Abdallah and when he came she jumped up and kissed the ground in front of him, as did Badr, and after kissing him between the eyes she said: ‘My son, had it not been for this man, you would have died.’ She presented him with a robe of honour and married him to the girl he had sent to tell her about Badr.

With Badr, her brother and her mother she went back to the White City, of which Badr was now king. The citizens stood up for him and came to kiss the ground before him and congratulate him on his safe return. For some days he sat on the throne and then he followed his uncle and told him that he wanted to see Samandal and to marry his daughter. ‘He is eager for that, my son,’ his uncle told him, and when Samandal was produced he welcomed Badr, rising for him and seating him on the royal throne. The qadi was summoned together with Princess Jauhara, Samandal’s daughter. A marriage contract was drawn up as well as an arrangement for the disposition of property, and this was followed by a wedding of unprecedented splendour.

Badr returned half of the kingdom to Samandal and went back himself to Julnar, with everything restored to its proper order. They all lived the best, most pleasant, comfortable and untroubled of lives until they were parted by the Destroyer of Delights and the Separator of Companions.

This is the story. Praise be to God Alone, and blessings and peace be on Muhammad, his family and his companions!

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Amongst the tales of past times it is recorded that there was once a great and powerful king who had no son. He prayed that Almighty God might grant him one to whom he could leave his throne after his death. Then one night when he lay with his wife she conceived through God’s will, and after nine months of pregnancy she gave birth to the most beautiful girl that had ever been seen. The baby was handed over to nurses, and her father continued to distribute alms and he would come every day to kiss her between the eyes.

This went on until one day the baby fell sick and, although the king collected wise doctors and men of learning and supplied them with whatever they wanted, she died, as God Almighty had willed. The king was broken by grief and spent a month mourning for his daughter and keeping away from his viziers, chamberlains and friends, staying alone with his sorrow.

Amongst his closest associates was a vizier distinguished for excellence of both life and doctrine, a man of generosity who showed sympathy to the poor, the weak and the widows. Many lived off the alms he distributed, and to them he acted as a father. When the king had suffered the loss of his daughter this man was so distressed that he no longer concerned himself with alms, as those who relied on him for food found out.

One day when he was seated by the king’s door a blind man to whom he had been used to showing charity came up and called down blessings on him, before asking why he had interrupted his gifts, adding: ‘I used to live thanks to your grace and that of Almighty God, and the fact that you have stopped has harmed me.’ ‘Don’t you see the sorrow and distress from which we are suffering?’ asked the vizier, adding: ‘By God,
this has distracted us from ourselves and from our own children, let alone from anyone else.’

When the blind man asked the cause of this grief, praying that God might distract his heart and remove the pain, the vizier told him that the king had suffered the loss of his fifteen-year-old
[sic]
daughter and was sunk in mourning. ‘This has had its effect on us,’ the vizier went on, ‘as he is shut up alone, shedding constant tears, while we are left as sheep without a shepherd.’ The blind man said: ‘Almighty God has a way to remove this grief from the vizier, the king and all his subjects, both high and low.’ ‘How is that?’ the vizier asked. The man said: ‘Put me where the king can hear what I say and I shall tell him something to cure his heart and remove his sorrow. If he summons me I shall tell him a story both fine and strange that will make him hate women and girls and make him glad that his daughter died.’ ‘If you manage to do that,’ said the vizier, ‘I shall shower you with bounty and give you whatever you want in the world.’

On the orders of the vizier he was taken away; his matted hair was combed and everything was done to make him respectable. Next day the vizier rode out with him and, accompanied by servants, he went up to the curtain that separated him from the king. He placed the man there, telling him where the king was and to say what he wanted, as the king would hear.

The blind man began by greeting the king, calling down blessings on him and expressing eloquent and effective admonishment. As the king listened he relaxed, and some of his sorrow left him. He ordered the man to be brought before him and told him of the effect his words had had on him, asking him for more, as this had struck a chord in his heart.

The blind man said: ‘I have an excellent tale that will console the king and lead him to hate scheming and treacherous women and girls. It is a long, remarkable and curious story containing a lesson for men of intelligence.’ ‘I like long stories,’ the king said, ‘as I want to get through the night, filled as I am with grief.’ In order to hear it, he brought the blind man close to him and told him to start.

‘May God bring you fortune,’ the man said, and he then started on his story, which his father had told him on the authority of his grandfather, who had once been the police chief of a city. One day this man had been sitting at the prison door, inspecting criminals whom he might pardon and release, so hoping for a great reward from God. After many had been freed he was brought a one-eyed man, at the sight of whom he
said: ‘Damn you! Didn’t I investigate your first crime when you plotted against the princess and were only saved from death by the death of her father from sorrow, after which you stayed in prison for a whole year? I then came across you again when you had attacked a woman in her own house and were seized by neighbours, who testified against you, after which you were beaten and imprisoned for another year. As for the third crime of yours that I looked into, this was when you tried to rape your own mother. I have freed you twice and I shall do so again today, but if you come back here again I shall cut off your head.’

‘Return me to prison,’ the man called out, ‘for I would prefer to stay there rather than meet the evil woman who will kill me. For God’s sake, spare me.’ ‘Who is this woman?’ asked the police chief, and the man said: ‘She is the one who got me imprisoned and pulled out my eye. It is a strange story.’

The police chief ordered him to be taken to his house, after which he called for him and said: ‘Now tell me your tale. Don’t conceal anything and tell the truth, for the best story is the truest. So tell me about the evil woman who did this to you.’

The man promised to tell the truth and gave his name, saying that he was a Bahraini merchant, who had been left a large fortune when his father had died. He went on: ‘I started to sail in distant seas, making vast profits and coming back safely to Bahrain. One year I set out for China together with three hundred traders. When we put out to sea we had a fair wind and settled weather, and for six months we sailed safely and contentedly with nothing in sight except sky and water. Then one day a violent wind came that took hold of our ship, driving it on like an arrow, without us having any idea where it was taking us.

‘This went on for seven days and nights until we came out into a sea that was dark as the blackest night. In the middle of it we saw a high mountain, at whose side was a great arch, through which the water poured. When we got near, the wind dropped, and we anchored by the foot of the mountain. We stayed there in a state of perplexity and we were disturbed to hear the crew whispering to each other.

‘We had with us an old man, who had sailed the seas for a hundred years and knew their dangers. We gathered around him and asked him where we were. “You are in a difficult place,” he said, “and there is no escape unless God wills it.” This filled us with such fear and agitation that we spent the whole night tearfully imploring God to help.

‘Next morning as the sun rose we saw something as big as a mountain
coming towards us and we asked the old man what it was. “This is an abominable beast that snatches people,” he said, “and whoever has reached the end of his allotted span is caught up by it and swallowed. The beast will then go away for the day, only to come back on the next and take another victim, and this will go on until God permits you to escape. If you try to fight it, it will smash the ship and destroy you all.” “Damn you,” we said; “who is going to want to throw himself overboard to be eaten?”

‘The old man said: “Each of you should write down his name on a lot, and these should all be put together. Then blindfold someone and get him to pick one of them, and then you should give the beast the man whose name comes out, whether he wants it or not. It may be that God, the Great and Glorious, through His power, will enable us to escape.” We did this, and the name was that of one of the merchants. Then the beast came close, and it was like the most enormous Bactrian camel, but greater and more terrifying. It had a frightening head and eyes and a wide mouth that could swallow a bale of cotton, while the repulsive smell that it gave off was unbearable. We were so frightened that most of us fell on our faces, swooning at the sight, but the rest went to the merchant and threw him to it in spite of his tears and cries for help. The beast swallowed him and then went away.

‘We spent several days weeping and wailing, looking for God to save us, and we continued to pick lots daily and to throw the losers for the beast to swallow. This went on for a long time, but then we all went back to the old man and said: “Enemy of God, you have made up your mind to destroy us one by one so as to take our goods and our wealth. By God’s truth, if the beast comes back, we will throw it you and you alone.”

‘ “I was fair with you,” he told us. “You draw lots, and if it is mine that comes out, then throw me in, but don’t blame me.” “We shall do that even without a lot,” we said, and then we asked whether he had thought of any way of freeing us from the beast. When he said “no”, we all agreed to do what we had said, and when it came at its usual time we tied him up and threw him to it, at which it swallowed him.

‘ “We’ve killed him now,” we said, “but what are we going to do tomorrow?” Everyone decided that we should fight. Either we would kill the beast and free ourselves from it or else it would kill us, and this would be better than having to taste the pangs of death every day.

‘We all agreed on this and next morning we armed ourselves with
what we had and told each other that we had to hold together. Then, before we had noticed it, there the beast was. We cried out to God, hoping to scare it, but when it saw what we were doing it attacked the ship ferociously and broke it in pieces with a single blow. All our goods sank, and the beast started to gulp us down, one by one.

‘I myself took hold of one of the ship’s timbers and got on top of it. The winds started to drive me to and fro, lifting me up and then plunging me down, until they propelled me through the arch beneath the mountain to emerge into another sea whose vivid green waters were the clearest that I had ever seen.

‘The waves then cast me up on what was beyond my experience, a beautiful island, well wooded and with many waters. I started to explore happily and I came to a spring of the purest water, sweeter than sugar and colder than snow. I drank my fill and then made for the biggest and tallest tree, where I sheltered at night, climbing down again when it was day.

‘For ten days I stayed there, seeing no single creature, but on the tenth day, when I was about to come down, I saw something huge swimming in the sea and making for the island. When it was near enough I saw that it was a black creature, which was pushing something along the surface with its hands and chest.

‘At this sight I retreated to my shelter in the tree and looked down to see what it was. It reached the island and came out of the water, and I could make out that it was the largest and blackest beast that I had ever seen, with thick lips like a camel but larger and more frightening. Its shape terrified me.

‘What it had been pushing through the water was a closed glass chest, which it put down when it came to the spring, and out of it, when it was opened, came a girl. She was like a full moon, the most perfectly beautiful that had ever been seen, with jewels and magnificent robes, and the splendour of her beauty illumined all that was around her.

‘The creature left her and went off to return later, leading a most enormous ram and carrying a huge fish as well as a large basket of fruits, the like of which I had never seen. From the bottom of the chest he produced a fire drill and lit a great fire with logs he had collected. He then skinned the ram, doused the fire and began to cut up the ram’s flesh and throw it on to the embers. When it was cooked he ate and gave the girl her share, and they both went on eating until they had had enough.

‘He then started to toy with the girl, getting closer and closer until he
could lie with her, while she did the same thing with him, as he muttered to her using words that I could not understand. He then climbed on her as she lay still, allowing him to take her, which he did five times without any sound or resistance on her part. I was astonished at how she could endure it. When he got off her, he put his head on her thigh and fell asleep like a great bull, snoring and snorting in his sleep with a sound like rumbling thunder.

‘When he was deeply asleep she eased his head gently from her thigh, got up and began to walk, swinging her hips and lighting the island with her radiant loveliness. On reaching the spring she undressed to bathe, and that beauty of hers robbed me of my wits until I could not look away.

‘When she came out of the water she began to walk amongst the trees, shedding tears and lamenting her plight, saying: “Lord Whom we worship, Who frees slaves and relieves the distressed, I beg You for a quick release so that I may rest from my troubles.”

‘On hearing this, I felt pity for her. On my finger was a ring engraved with the greatest name of God, and I thought of speaking to her but supposed that she might not be human, as I had never seen anyone more lovely, and so I held back. As she was wandering through the trees and repeating her prayers she happened to look up to where I was. After staring at me for some time she asked: “Are you a
jinni
or a man?” I was too afraid of her to say anything and she asked: “Why don’t you answer? Are you dumb and unable to speak or deaf and unable to hear? Say something and don’t be afraid, for I am human and I think that you are too. The only way that you are going to get away from this wild and desolate spot is through my help.”

‘I remained dumbfounded and said nothing, and after a time, when she could see that I was staying silent and not answering, she got up and went off towards her companion. She woke him up and said: “Friend, I have just been asleep and I dreamed that you had become smaller and weaker. I would like to see whether you are still as strong as you used to be.” He asked quickly what she wanted him to do, and she told him that she would like him to use all his strength to uproot a tree. “Say what you want,” he said, and she led him towards me. Terror filled my heart and I had despaired of life as she looked at me, but then she pointed to a tree nearby, which was so big that ten men working together with spades and axes could not have uprooted it.

‘Her companion rolled up his sleeves, tightened his belt and, with a
shout, tugged so powerfully that the whole island shook beneath me. Up came the tree, roots and all, and was tossed aside as the girl laughed. The two of them went back, and she stretched out her thighs for him until he fell asleep, snoring as he had done before. She then put his head down on the ground and hurried over to me.