The Arabian Nights II (38 page)

Marzawan embarked in a ship ready to set out to the Khalidan Islands, and they sailed with a fair wind for a whole month until they saw the city, but when they approached the harbor and were about to touch the shore, a strong wind blew, carrying away the yard, casting the sails in the sea, and overturning the ship with everyone on board. Each looked to himself, and Marzawan was drawn by the force of the current and conveyed beneath the king's palace in which was Qamar al-Zaman. It happened, as had been foreordained, that the princes and viziers were there in attendance on King Shahraman, who was sitting with the head of his son Qamar al-Zaman in his lap, while a servant whisked the flies away from him. Qamar al-Zaman had spent two days without eating or drinking or speaking. The vizier was standing at his feet, near the window overlooking the sea. When he raised his eyes, he saw Marzawan at his last gasp, on the verge of drowning in the current. Feeling sorry for him, the vizier approached the king and, bending his head toward him, said, “I beg your leave to go down to the palace courtyard and open the gate, in order to save a man who is about to drown in the sea and deliver him from his plight. Perhaps God, on this account, will deliver your son.” The king replied, “All that has happened to my son has been caused by you, and it may be that if you save this drowning man, he will discover the situation, see
my son in this condition, and gloat over our plight. I swear by God that if this man comes up, sees my son, and proceeds to divulge any of our secrets to anyone, I will strike off your head before his, for you, vizier, are the cause of all that has happened to us, from beginning to end. Do as you wish.”

The vizier went out, opened the courtyard gate, and walked twenty steps on the causeway until he reached the water and saw Marzawan at the point of death. He stretched his hand toward him and, seizing him by the hair of his head, pulled him unconscious out of the water, with his body full of water and his eyes bulging. The vizier waited until Marzawan came to himself. Then the vizier took off Marzawan's clothes and dressed him with others, putting on his head one of his page's turbans. Then he said to him, “I have been the means of saving you from drowning. Do not be the means of my death and yours.” Marzawan asked, “How so?” The vizier replied, “Because you are now about to go up and pass among viziers and princes, all sitting silently, because of Qamar al-Zaman, the king's son.” When Marzawan heard the name of Qamar al-Zaman, he realized that this was he about whom he had been hearing, but he said, “Who is Qamar al-Zaman?” The vizier replied, “He is the son of King Shahraman. He is lying restlessly, sick in bed, notksick in bed, not knowing nowing night from day. His wasting body is on the verge of death, for he spends the day on fire and the night in torment, and we have despaired of his life and are certain of his impending death. Beware of looking at him or anywhere else, except where you place your feet; otherwise you and I will lose our lives.” Marzawan said, “For God's sake, tell me more about this young man whom you have described to me, and tell me the cause of his sickness.” The vizier replied, “I do not know any cause, except that his father, three years ago, asked him to marry, but he refused. One morning he awoke and claimed that he had seen lying beside him a girl of such beauty as to dazzle the mind and defy description. He told us that he had taken her ring off her finger and put it on his own and put his ring on her finger, but we do not know the mystery behind this affair. For God's sake, son, come up with me into the pavilion, but do not look at the king's son; then go on your way, for the king is full of rage against me.” Marzawan said to himself, “By God, this is what I wanted.”

He followed the vizier until they entered the pavilion. The vizier sat at the feet of Qamar al-Zaman, but Marzawan proceeded until he stood before Qamar al-Zaman and looked at him. The vizier was about to die of fright and winked to him with his eyes to go away, but Marzawan pretended not to see him and kept looking at Qamar al-Zaman and, realizing that the prince was the object of his search, said, “Praise be to God who has made his figure like hers, his complexion
like hers, and his cheeks like hers.” Qamar al-Zaman opened his eyes and listened, and when Marzawan saw that he was listening to his words, he recited the following verses,

I find you joyful, plaintive, full of song,

Delighting in describing beauty's lot.

Are you in love or by some arrows pierced;

This is the mark of one in the heart shot.

Pour me out the wine and of Tena'um

And Suleyma and Rabab sing the praise.

I am jealous of the dress that covers her hips,

Her soft and delicate hips, and there stays.

I envy the cup that kisses her mouth,

When her lips caress the fortunate one.

Think not that I am slain by the keen sword,

No, I am by the arrows of her eyes undone.

Ah, when we met, I saw her fingers red,

As if with blood-red dye they had been dyed.

She said, inflaming my poor heart with love,

Speaking like one whose love she could not hide.

“Slowly, this is no red dye I have used,

Accuse me not of falsehood and deceit.

When you were lying fast asleep in bed,

My arms and hands were bare and indiscreet,

And when we parted, I shed tears of blood

And wiped them and my blood my fingers stained.”

Had I for passion wept before she did

I would have, ere regret, relief attained.

But she before me wept and made me weep

And say, “The winner of the race deserves the praise.”

Blame not my love, for my love's name I swear

That she torments and sets my heart ablaze.

I wept for one whose charm so graced her face

That no Arab or foreigner could like her be.

Lukman's wisdom she has and Joseph's loveliness

And David's tuneful voice and Mary's chastity,

While I have Jacob's grief and Jonah's stifled sighs

And Job's misfortunes and Adam's sorry plight.

Yet slay her not, although I die of love,

But ask her who to shed by blood gave her the right.

When Marzawan recited these verses, the words descended like balm on Qamar al-Zaman's heart, and turning his tongue in his mouth, he said, motioning with his hand, “Let this young man sit by my side.” When the king heard these words from his son, he was
extremely happy, for he had been angry at Marzawan and determined to strike off his head. He seated him by the side of his son and, addressing him courteously, asked him, “From what country are you?” Marzawan replied, “From the Interior Islands, the kingdom of King Ghaiur, Lord of the Seas and the Islands and the Seven Palaces.” King Shahraman said to him, “Perhaps my son's relief will be at your hand.” Then Marzawan turned to Qamar al-Zaman and whispered in his ear, “Take heart and be cheerful and happy. As for her on whose account you are in this plight, ask not for her condition on your account. You suppressed your feelings and fell sick, but she expressed them and raved, and now she is imprisoned and in the worst of plights, with an iron collar around her neck. But, God willing, your healing both will be at my hand.” When Qamar al-Zaman heard this, he revived and came to himself, and he motioned to his father the king to help him sit up, and the king, who was exceedingly happy, helped his son sit up. He then dismissed all the princes and viziers, while Qamar al-Zaman sat reclining between two cushions. Then the king gave orders to perfume the pavilion with saffron and to decorate the city, saying to Marzawan, “By God, son, this is an auspicious occasion,” and he treated him very courteously and called for food for him, and when they brought it, Marzawan ate, and Qamar al-Zaman ate with him. They passed the night together, and the king remained with them, in his great joy at the recovery of his son.

On the following morning, Marzawan and Qamar al-Zaman discussed the affair, and Marzawan said, “I am acquainted with the girl you met, and her name is Princess Budur, the daughter of King Ghaiur.” Then he related to him all that had happened to her from beginning to end and informed him of her great love for him, adding, “All that has happened to you with your father has happened to her with her father. You are without doubt her beloved, and she is yours. Take heart, and be resolute, for I will take you to her and unite you both. As one of the poets says,

If lover reject lover

And persist in his disdain,

I will, as does the pivot

Of scissors, unite the twain.”

He continued to encourage Qamar al-Zaman until he began to eat and drink regularly, felt revived, and recovered. Marzawan kept conversing with him, amusing him, cheering him, and reciting verses to him until he entered the bath, and when he did so, his rejoicing father gave orders to decorate the city again, bestowed robes of honor, gave alms, and freed those who were in the jails.

Marzawan then said to Qamar al-Zaman, “The sole purpose of my
journey here is to deliver Princess Budur from her predicament. Now we have to devise a strategy to go to her, for your father cannot bear to part from you. Tomorrow, ask your father's permission to go hunting in the desert. Then take with you a pair of saddlebags full of money, ride a swift horse, and take with you a spare one. I will do likewise. Say to your father, ‘I would like to divert myself in the desert, to hunt and enjoy the open country. I will spend only one night there. Do not worry about me.' ” Qamar al-Zaman rejoiced in Marzawan's plan and, going in to his father, asked his permission to go hunting, repeating what Marzawan had told him to say. His father gave his permission and said to him, “Stay no more than one night, and tomorrow come back to me, for you know that you are my only bliss in life, and I can hardly believe in your recovery from your recent illness.” Then he recited the following verses to his son,

If I had every blessing in the world

And all the kingdom of the Persian king,

If I see not your person with my eyes,

All this will not be worth an insect's wing.

Then he equipped Qamar al-Zaman and Marzawan, giving orders that they be furnished with six horses, as well as a dromedary to carry the money and a camel to carry the food and water. His father bade him farewell, pressed him to his breast, and said to him, “For God's sake, do not be absent from me more than one night, for even then I will be deprived of sleep.” Then he recited the following verses,

Your presence with me is my greatest joy;

Your absence is destructive pain within.

My life for yours, if my offense is love,

Then you are right, and serious is my sin.

Do you, like me, suffer the fire of love,

Which burns within and is to Hell akin?

Qamar al-Zaman, who had forbidden his attendants from going with him, and Marzawan mounted their two horses and, taking with them the dromedary, which carried the money, and the camel, which carried the food and water, entered the desert. They rode the first day till sunset, when they dismounted, ate and drank, fed their beasts, and rested a while. Then they mounted again and rode for three days. On the fourth day, they came to a spacious tract in which there was a thicket, where they dismounted. Then Marzawan took the camel and one of the horses, slaughtered them, and cut the flesh to pieces and stripped the bones. Then he took Qamar al-Zaman's shirt, trousers, and cassock, tore them in pieces, stained them with the blood of the horse, and threw them in a spot at the crossroads. Then, after they
ate and drank, they continued their journey. Qamar al-Zaman asked Marzawan the reason for what he had done, and he explained to him, saying, “When your father finds that you did not return the following day, he will ride and follow our track, and when he sees the blood and your clothes torn and bloodied, he will assume that something has happened to you at the hand of robbers or a wild beast of the desert. He will then give up all hope of you and return to the city, and by this strategy we will achieve our purpose.” Qamar al-Zaman said, “What you did is excellent.” Then they journeyed many days and nights, during which the tears never left Qamar al-Zaman's eyes, until they approached their journey's end, when he rejoiced and recited the following verses,

Will you disdain a lover who never forgets

And spurn him, after love with love you paid?

May I be by rejection punished if I lied;

May I your favor lose if I your love betrayed.

No sin have I committed to deserve your wrath,

And if I sinned, I for your pardon pray.

'Tis fortune's wonder that you me disdain,

But fortune brings new wonders every day.

When Qamar al-Zaman had finished reciting these verses, the islands of King Ghaiur appeared before him, and he was overjoyed and thanked Marzawan for his endeavors. They entered the city, and Marzawan lodged Qamar al-Zaman in an inn, where he rested for three days from the fatigue of the journey. Then he took him to the bath, dressed him in the attire of a merchant, and provided him with a set of instruments, as well as a divination tablet and an astrolabe of gold. Then he said to him, “My lord, go and stand beneath the palace of the king and call out ‘I am the scribe, the calculator, the astrologer. Where is he who seeks to consult me?' When the king hears you, he will summon you and take you to his daughter, your beloved, and when she sees you, she will recover, and her father will rejoice at her recovery, marry her to you, and divide his kingdom with you, for this has been his own condition.”

Qamar al-Zaman, following Marzawan's instructions, went out of the inn, dressed in merchants' attire and carrying with him the aforementioned instruments, and he walked until he stood beneath the palace of King Ghaiur and called out, “I am the scribe, the calculator, the astrologer. I am he who calculates, who knows what is hidden, who divines the answers, and who writes charms. Where is the seeker?” When the people of the city, who had not seen a fortuneteller or an astrologer for a long time, heard him, they assembled around him and gazed at him and, wondering at his beauty and
youthful charm, said to him, “Sir, for God's sake, don't do this to yourself, in your ambition to marry the daughter of King Ghaiur. See for yourself these hanging heads, for their owners have all been killed because of this, all led by their ambition to their destruction.” But Qamar al-Zaman paid no attention to their words. On the contrary, he raised his voice and called out again, “I am the scribe and calculator. I help the seeker to fulfill his wish,” while the people continued in their attempt to dissuade him until they were angry at him and said, “You are nothing but a foolish arrogant young man. Have pity on your youth, beauty, and charm,” but Qamar al-Zaman cried out, “I am the calculator and astrologer. Where is the seeker?”