Tales of the Marvellous and News of the Strange (Hardcover Classics) (9 page)

For six months he stayed there in this wretched state until one day the qadi of Fustat happened to pass the hospital. People complained to him that the man in charge was not looking after the patients or the lunatics properly and was taking its money for himself. The qadi, intending to investigate, dismounted and went in to see what things were like. His eyes fell on Talha, whom he recognized and addressed by name, at first getting no answer from him. The qadi had been one of his father’s greatest friends and he asked Talha what had brought him to this. At that point Talha said: ‘Master, the common people mistreated and afflicted me, taking me and throwing me in here six months ago.’

The qadi shed tears of pity and ordered him to be taken to the baths, sending him one of his own robes of honour and his riding beast. When he had been cleaned up in the baths, he came out, put on the robe, mounted the beast and went to the qadi’s house. He was taken in and brought up to the qadi, who gave him food and drink until he recovered, forgetting his distress and sufferings. It was then that the qadi asked him for his story, saying: ‘How did you lose what your father left you, and what happened to your slave girl Tuhfa, for I knew that you were very fond of her?’ On hearing Tuhfa’s name Talha was choked by tears, but, after having wept and sobbed noisily, he started to tell his story to the qadi from beginning to end.

The qadi wept out of pity for him and summoned the slave-dealer, whom he reproached for what he had done and from whom he took the
gold. He then said to Talha: ‘Would you like to hear how I think that, God willing, you may be reunited with Tuhfa?’ Talha asked about this, and the qadi said: ‘I shall give you some of my own money over and above what you have yourself, and I shall use it all to buy goods that you can take to Damascus. I shall then write you a letter addressed to the
‘udul
and the leading men of the city, asking them to help you buy back your slave girl. I hope that you may succeed and, if you do, come back here and I shall appoint you to a suitable post. I shall be there to help you, and you will also have what I hope will be a profit from your trading.’

Talha thanked the qadi, who then spent fifteen hundred dinars on buying goods suitable for Damascus, and he wrote a letter to its qadi and the
‘udul
, asking them to look after him and help him. He also got for him a letter from ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, the ruler of Egypt, to his brother
‘Abd al-Malik son of Marwan
. Talha was then sent off to Tanis, where he loaded his goods on a ship that was due to sail in the direction of Damascus. Two days off Tyre, however, it was wrecked, leaving Talha naked, penniless and sadder than before. He decided to make for Damascus, hoping to find employment as a servant so that he might be able to buy back Tuhfa.

When he got there he was a changed man, in the grip of misery and care, but when he saw the city from the outside it filled him with wonder and he sat down to rest before going in. He had with him some pieces of dry bread, salt and groats that someone had given him and he took these out as he sat by a stream in the shade of a tree. He broke the bread and left it on a stone as he crushed what salt he had and sprinkled it on top. He was about to eat when up came a rider on an Arab mare, dressed as a king and galloping in pursuit of a gazelle. After he had hunted it down he made for the shade of Talha’s tree as he was tired. He dismounted, took off his boots and gaiters and, after washing his hands, feet and face, he was about to stretch out on his back in the shade when Talha, who was embarrassed, called out: ‘Come here, master, the food is ready!’ at which the rider turned to look at him.

This turned out to be ‘Abd al-Malik son of Marwan, and Talha’s invitation prompted his admiration. He said to himself: ‘This man apparently comes from a good background, and courtesy demands that I should not treat him with haughtiness, for if I don’t accept, that will seem to be mockery and a show of pride on my part.’ He got up and sat with Talha, accepting some of the bread and salt, while Talha talked animatedly to him. He then asked Talha where he came from and when Talha had told him he was from Egypt he went on to ask for his name. When Talha told
him, ‘Abd al-Malik asked if he was the son of the qadi. ‘I am,’ said Talha, at which ‘Abd al-Malik asked: ‘How can you be Talha son of Malik when you are dressed like this?’ ‘A proper question,’ said Talha, ‘but things happen as God decrees and wills.’ ‘What has brought you to so wretched a state?’ ‘Abd al-Malik went on and when Talha burst into tears he pitied him and urged him to show endurance before repeating the question.

Talha now told him the whole story from start to finish, how he lost his money, approached the slave-dealer and sold Tuhfa. ‘So she is the only reason that you came here,’ said ‘Abd al-Malik, adding: ‘and who was it who bought her?’ ‘It was a Damascus merchant who bought her for another Damascene named Muhammad son of Salih,’ said Talha. ‘Abd al-Malik knew the man, and he told Talha to finish his remarkable story. Talha said: ‘When I knew that Tuhfa had been passed to someone else and there was no way in which I could get to her, I lost my wits and became mad. I was thrown into hospital and stayed there for six months, suffering the bitterness of a wretched life. Then, in accordance with the will of God, the Great and Glorious, it happened that the qadi of Fustat wanted to inspect the hospital and when he caught sight of me he recognized me and brought me out. He was good to me and gave me a large amount of money as well as advising me to come here and writing a letter for me to the qadi and the
‘uduls
. He also got me a letter from the emir to the caliph, may God prolong his life, asking for help with Muhammad son of Salih, in the hope that he might restore Tuhfa to me. Then my ship was wrecked at sea, and I lost all my goods. I emerged in the state that you see and made for Damascus, hoping to make the acquaintance of Tuhfa’s new master and be accepted by him as a servant. Were I to be taken on as a groom I might catch sight of her some day and hear about her before I give up the ghost. This is the true account of what happened.’

At this point he was choked by tears, as he heaved deep sighs and wept. ‘Abd al-Malik was filled with pity, but just then chamberlains rode up, dismounted in front of him and greeted him, while the emirs presented their respects. Talha realized that this must be ‘Abd al-Malik himself and he jumped to his feet and started to present excuses for having invited him to eat. ‘There was nothing wrong with that,’ ‘Abd al-Malik assured him. ‘I listened to your story and I gladly acknowledge that I am in your debt for the salt of yours that I ate. I swear by Almighty God to see that you get back both your slave girl and your riches. This I guarantee.’

‘Abd al-Malik ordered Talha to be taken to the baths, and one of his chief officials took him off, bringing with him a bundle of clothes suitable for a man of his rank. He mounted him on a sturdy beast and provided him with a fine house. ‘Abd al-Malik left him to recover from his tiredness and then summoned him together with the court officials. He sent for Muhammad son of Salih, only to be saddened by the news from his family that he had left for Egypt.

At his court there was a bitter enemy of Muhammad’s who was intensely jealous of him. This man said: ‘Commander of the Faithful, this is an impossible lie on his part, and he must have told his family to turn away your messenger so that he should not be summoned to your court. I saw him a few days ago, and no one has left for Egypt in this period. I can produce a witness who saw him leaving the baths.’ When he heard this ‘Abd al-Malik was furiously angry with Muhammad and gave immediate orders for his house to be plundered and for all the women there to be brought before Talha so that he could take back his slave girl Tuhfa as he had been promised, with the caliph’s guarantee.

Five hundred servants were sent to the house, but by the time they had got to the street in which it was, news that the caliph had ordered it to be plundered had preceded them. All the women and servants were frightened as they did not know what this was all about and so they rushed out and hid with neighbours. Tuhfa, seeing this, was terrified and went up to the roof of the house, over the boundary wall and then down into the next-door house. This belonged to a weaver, from whom she asked help and who hid her. Muhammad’s house was plundered with everything in it being seized, and all the women taken to the caliph. He ordered them to be shown to Talha so that if he saw Tuhfa he could take her, but amongst all of them Tuhfa was not to be found.

‘Abd al-Malik was saddened and he regretted having had Muhammad’s house plundered but said: ‘Nothing can counter the actions of Fate.’ He then told Talha: ‘You know what we have done and how we have brought down disaster on Muhhamad son of Salih in order to put your affairs in order and to reunite you with your slave girl. Now we shall present you with ten virgins in order to make up for her.’ ‘Commander of the Faithful,’ he replied, ‘I have no need of any other girl but my own,’ and he burst into tears. ‘So what do you want me to do with you?’ the caliph asked, and Talha replied: ‘Send me back home and give me some suitable employment.’ The caliph offered him the post of qadi that his father had held, but he declined out of respect for the current
holder, who had treated him so well. He was then offered a post in the administration, which he accepted, and he was handed a letter of appointment as overseer of Egyptian taxes and sent off to Egypt with a large gift of money. He was met by the emir,
‘Abd al-‘Aziz son of Marwan
, the qadi and the leading citizens and, on entering the city, he dismounted at a house that had been prepared for him. The qadi asked him about his journey and what had happened to him after they had parted, to which Talha replied with the full story from start to finish. This astonished the qadi, who praised God for having brought it to a happy ending. For a month Talha acted as overseer of the tax-gatherers of Egypt.

As for Tuhfa, after she had stayed for a long time with the weaver, she told him that she would prefer to go home to Egypt in the hope of finding her beloved master Talha and discovering what had happened to him after she left. She went to Muhammad’s treasure chamber and was happy to find in it a large sum of money as well as jewellery. She then asked the weaver if he would do her a favour in return for fifty dinars. ‘What do you want from me?’ he asked, and she said: ‘I want you to take me to Egypt and look after me on the way.’ He agreed, and she gave him money with which to buy food for the journey and pay for places in the caravan for them both. When they got there she told him to take her to the mosque of Malik, and when he asked about this he was shown the way.

The mosque was near the house of her master Talha, and she was distressed to see that its door was shut and it was abandoned. She paid the weaver what she had promised him, and he left for Damascus. For her part, she saw in the mosque a tailor who lived in a house next door to it, in whose hallway was the tomb of its former owner. She hired the house from the tailor and moved everything that she needed into it. Then she gave the tailor some money and said: ‘I am a stranger here on my own with no one to run errands for me. If I were to give you a
dirham
a day, would you find it acceptable to do this for me?’ He said: ‘Lady, even if you spent the whole time giving me orders, I would do whatever you wanted with the greatest willingness.’ She told him to buy the necessary food and drink for them both and she gave him a dirham, after which he left.

She spent the night there and very early next morning he came back to ask how she was and whether she wanted anything done for her. She said: ‘I have decided that I want you to buy me a slave girl to keep me company and act as my servant.’ The tailor agreed and fetched her a number of girls from one of the sale rooms, of whom she picked one.
The tailor bought her, and Tuhfa weighed out the money, after which she told him to buy her clothes. She treated the girl well and when she wanted something she would tell her to go to the mosque and speak to the tailor, telling him what to do.

The tailor had a witty way of talking and whenever the girl came to him on one of her mistress’s errands he would play around with her, flirting and joking and making her laugh at his elegant insults. One day Talha passed by his father’s mosque. He dismounted and went in before invoking God’s mercy on his father and on those who were praying there. This coincided with the arrival of Tuhfa’s girl on an errand from her mistress. She went to the tailor, flirting and joking with him and laughing as he insulted her. Talha heard and disapproved of this, cutting short his prayers and turning angrily to the tailor. ‘Damn you,’ he said; ‘when you are in a house of God, you must respect it and what you are doing is not permissible in a place like this.’ The tailor did not recognize him and said: ‘Sir, this girl is a trial to me.’ Talha asked if she was his slave girl, and he replied: ‘No, by God! She belongs to a lady who has so overwhelmed me with kindness that I cannot cause her any distress or find fault with anything that her slave girl does.’ ‘Who is this lady?’ Talha asked, and the tailor told him: ‘Sir, she came from Damascus and is prosperous, high-minded and open-hearted and she says that she was brought up in this street. I have never seen anyone lovelier or more generous.’

When Talha heard this, he wondered whether the lady could be Tuhfa. ‘Does she show herself to you?’ he asked the tailor. ‘Yes indeed,’ the man replied; ‘I run errands for her, and she provides me with my daily bread.’ ‘Describe her to me so I can have a picture of her,’ Talha told him, and he began to describe Tuhfa. Talha was convinced that this must be his slave girl, for he told himself that the description matched. ‘Is there any way for me to see her?’ he asked, and the tailor replied: ‘I think that you want to marry her and, by God, she will suit no one else.’ ‘Well, how can I see her?’ Talha repeated. ‘What would you give me to ask her in marriage for you?’ said the tailor, and Talha told him: ‘If you arrange for me to marry this woman whom you have described for me, I shall let you have a thousand dirhams from my own money.’ The tailor said: ‘Stay where you are until I come back.’