"Payne Volume IX" - читать интересную книгу автора (Paynes Versions)
When he saw me, he misdoubted of me exceedingly and said to his attendants, "Hasten and bring me yonder damsel." So they brought me back to him and raised the veil from my face, which when he saw, he knew me and questioned me of my case. I told him the whole truth, hiding nought, and when he heard my story, he bethought himself awhile, then rose and going into Shejeret ed Durr's chamber, said to her, "How couldst thou prefer one of the sons of the merchants before me?" She kissed the earth before him and told him her story from first to last, in accordance with the truth; wherewith he had compassion upon her and his heart relented to her and he excused her by reason of love and its conditions. Then he went away and her servant came in to her and said, "Be of good cheer; for, when thy lover came before the Khalif, he questioned him and he told him that which thou toldest him, word by word."
Presently the Khalif returned and calling me before him, said to me, "What made thee dare to violate the palace of the Khalifate?" "O Commander of the Faithful," answered I, "it was my ignorance and passion and my confidence in thy clemency and generosity that led me to this." And I wept and kissed the earth before him. Then said he, "I pardon you both," and bade me be seated. So I sat down and he sent for the Cadi Ahmed ibn Abi Dawud (46) and married me to her. Then he commanded to make over to me all that was hers and they brought her to me in bridal procession (47) in her lodging. After three days, I went forth and transported all her goods and gear to my own house; so all that thou hast seen, O Commander of the Faithful, in my house and whereof thou misdoubtest is of her marriage-equipage.
After this, she said to me, one day, "Know that El Mutawekkil is a generous man and I fear lest he bethink him of us, or that some one of the envious remind him of us; wherefore I have it in mind to do somewhat that may ensure us against this." "And what is that?" asked I. Quoth she, "I mean to ask his leave to go the pilgrimage and renounce (48) singing." "This is well thought," answered I; but, as we were talking, in came a messenger from the Khalif to seek her, for that El Mutawekkil loved her singing. So she went with the officer and did her service to the Khalif, who said to her, "Sever not thyself from us." (49) And she answered, "I hear and obey."
One day, after this, she went to him, he having sent for her, according to his wont; but, before I knew, she came back, with her clothes torn and her eyes full of tears. At this I was alarmed, misdoubting me that he had commanded to seize upon us, and said, "We are God's and to Him we return! Is El Mutawekkil wroth with us?" "Where is El Mutawekkil?" answered she. "Verily, El Mutawekkil's rule is ended and his trace is blotted out!" Quoth I, "Tell me what hath happened." And she said, "He was seated behind the curtain, drinking, with El Feth ben Khacan (50) and Sedekeh ben Sedekeh, when his son El Muntesir fell upon him, with a company of the Turks, (51) and slew him; and mirth was turned to misery and fair fortune to weeping and lamentation. So I fled, I and the maid, and God saved us." When I heard this, O Commander of the Faithful, I arose forthright and went down to Bassora, where the news reached me of the falling out of war between El Muntesir and El Mustain; (52) wherefore I was affrighted and transported my wife and all my good to Bassora. This, then, is my story, O Commander of the Faithful, nor have I added to nor diminished the truth by a syllable. So all that thou seest in my house, bearing the name of thy grandfather El Mutawekkil, is of his bounty to us, and the source of our fortune is from thy noble ancestors; for indeed ye are people of munificence and a mine of generosity.'
The Khalif marvelled at his story and rejoiced therein with an exceeding joy: and Aboulhusn brought forth to him the lady and the children she had borne him, and they kissed the earth before the Khalif, who marvelled at their beauty. Then he called for inkhorn and paper and wrote Aboulhusn a patent of exemption from taxes on his lands and houses for twenty years. Moreover, he rejoiced in him and made him his boon-companion, till time sundered them and they took up their abode in the tombs, after having dwelt in palaces; and glory be to God, the Most Merciful King!
KEMEREZZEMAN AND THE JEWELLER'S WIFE.
There was once, of old time, a merchant called Abdurrehman, whom God had blessed with a son and daughter, and for their much beauty and grace, he named the girl Kaukeb a Sebah (53) and the boy Kemerezzeman (54). When he saw what God had vouchsafed them of beauty and grace and brightness and symmetry, he feared for them from the eyes of the beholders (55) and the tongues of the envious and the craft of the crafty and the wiles of the profligate and shut them up from the folk in a house for the space of fourteen years, during which time none saw them save their parents and a slave-girl who waited on them. Now their father recited the Koran, (56) even as God sent it down, as also did their mother, wherefore she taught her daughter to read and recite it and he his son, till they had both gotten it by heart. Moreover, they both learned from their parents writing and reckoning and all manner of knowledge and accomplishment and needed no master.
When Kemerezzeman came to years of manhood, his mother said to her husband, 'How long wilt thou keep thy son Kemerezzeman sequestered from the eyes of the folk? Is he a boy or a girl?' And he answered, 'A boy.' 'If he be a boy,' rejoined she, 'why dost thou not carry him to the bazaar and seat him in thy shop, that he may know the folk and they him, to the intent that it may become notorious among them that he is thy son, and do thou teach him to buy and sell. Belike somewhat may betide thee; so shall the folk know him for thy son and he shall lay his hand on thy leavings. But, if thou die, as the case now is, and he say to the folk, "I am the son of the merchant Abdurrehman," they will not believe him, but will say, "We have never seen thee and knew not that he had a son;" wherefore the magistrates will take thy goods and thy son will be despoiled. In like manner, I mean to make my daughter known among the folk, so haply some one of her own condition may demand her in marriage and we will marry her to him and rejoice in her.' Quoth he, '[I did thus] of my fear for them of the of the eyes of the folk and because I love them and love is exceeding jealous, and well saith he who made the following verses:
ааааа I'm jealous of myself and of my sight for thee And of thy self and place and time and Fate's decree.
ааааа Though in mine eye for aye I set thee, ne'er, I trow, Of union strait and close should I aweary be.
ааааа Ay, if with me thou wert united every hour Until the Judgment Day, 'twould scarce suffice to me.'
'Put thy trust in God,' said his wife, 'for no harm betideth him whom He protecteth, and carry him with thee this very day to the shop.'
Then she clad the boy in the richest of clothes and he became a ravishment to all who looked on him and an affliction to the hearts of lovers His father took him and carried him to the market, whilst all who saw him were ravished with him and accosted him, kissing his hand and saluting him. Quoth one, 'The sun hath risen in such a place and shineth in the market,' and another, 'The place of rising of the full moon is in such a quarter ;' and a third, 'The new moon of the Festival [of the breaking of the fast of Ramazan] hath appeared to the creatures of God.' And they went on to allude to the boy in talk and call down blessings upon him.
Abdurrehman rated the folk for following the boy, to gaze upon him, for they crowded upon him, behind and before; and he was abashed at their talk, but could not hinder them from talking; so he fell to reviling the boy's mother and cursing her for that she had been the cause of his bringing him out. Then he walked on till he reached his shop and opening it, sat down and seated his son before him: after which he looked out and saw the thoroughfare blocked with people, for all the passers- by, going and coming, stopped before the shop, to gaze on that fair-faced one, and could not leave him and all the men and women crowded about him, applying, to them- selves the words of him who saith:
ааааа Thou didst beauty create a temptation to us And saidst, 'O my servants fear [Me and abstain].'
ааааа Behold, Thou art lovely and loveliness lov'st: How, then, shall Thy creatures from loving refrain?
When Abdurrehman saw the folk thus crowding about him and standing in rows, men and women, to gaze upon his son, he was sore abashed and confounded and knew not what to do; but presently there came up from the end of the bazaar a man of the wandering dervishes, clad in haircloth garments, [the apparel] of the pious servants of God and seeing Kemerezzeman sitting there as he were a willow wand springing from a mound of saffron, wept copiously and recited the following verses:
ааааа I saw a sapling on a sand-hill grow, As 'twere a moon at full and all aglow.
ааааа 'Thy name?' I questioned, and he said, 'A pearl' Quoth I, 'Mine! Mine!' but he replied, 'No! No!' (57)
Then he fell to walking, now drawing near and now moving away, and wiping his gray hairs with his right hand, whilst the heart of the crowd was cloven asunder for reverence of him. When he looked upon the boy, his eyes were dazzled and his wit confounded, and the saying of the poet was exemplified in him:
ааааа What while yon fair-faced loveling was in a certain place And the new moon of Shawwal (58) shone glittering from his face,
ааааа There came a reverend elder, who walked with leisure pace: His steps a staff supported and in his looks the trace
ааааа Of abstinent devoutness was plain unto the sight.
ааааа The days he had made proof of and eke the nights essayed; In lawful and unlawful he had not spared to wade.
ааааа But wasted bones were left him, with parchment skin bedight.
ааааа A Moor (59) in this same fashion the sheikh himself did show, For by his side a youngling was ever seen to go:
ааааа He in the love of women an Udhri (60) was, I trow; In either mode (61) seductive and throughly versed, for lo,
ааааа Zeid (62) was to him as Zeyneb, (63) to wit, and wench as wight.
ааааа Distraught he was with passion for this and th' other fair; He mourned the camp, bewailing the ruins bleak and bare: (64)
ааааа Of his excess of longing, thou'dst deem him, as it were, A sapling that the zephyr still bendeth here and there.
ааааа Cold-heartedness pertaineth to stones alone aright.
ааааа Yea, In the way of passion experienced was he, Sharp-witted in Love's matters and quick indeed to see.
ааааа He'd prove Love's hard and easy, its valley and its sea, And buck and doe delighted to clip indiff'rently;
ааааа He burnt alike when beardless and when his beard was white. (65)
Then he came up to the boy and gave him a sprig (66) of sweet basil, whereupon his father put his hand to his pouch and gave him some small matter of money, saying, 'Take thy portion, O dervish, and go thy ways.' He took the money, but sat down on the bench before the shop, opposite the lad, and fell to gazing upon him and heaving sigh upon sigh, whilst the tears flowed like springs welling forth. The folk began to look at him and remark upon him, some saying, 'All dervishes are lewd fellows,' and other some, 'Verily, this dervish's heart is set on fire for love of this youth.'
When Abdurrehman saw this, he said to the boy, 'Come O my son, let us shut the shop and go home, for it boots not to buy and sell this day; and may God requite thy mother that which she hath done with us, for it is she who hath brought all this about!' Then said he to the dervish, 'Rise, that I may shut my shop.' So the dervish rose and Abdurrehman shut his shop and taking his son, went away. The dervish and the folk followed them, till they reached their dwelling, when Kemerezzeman went in and his father, turning to the dervish, said to him, 'What wouldst thou, O dervish, and why do I see thee weep ?' 'O my lord,' answered he, ' I would fain be thy guest this night, for the guest is the guest of God.' Quoth the merchant, 'Welcome to the guest of God! Enter, O dervish !' But he said in himself, 'If he be enamoured of the boy and require him of lewdness, needs must I slay him this night and bury him secretly. But, if there be no lewdness in him, the guest shall eat his portion.'
Then he brought him into a saloon, where he left him with Kemerezzeman, after he had said privily to the latter, 'O my son, when I am gone out, sit thou beside the dervish and sport with him and provoke him to dalliance. I will watch you from the window overlooking the saloon, and if he seek of thee lewdness, I will come down to him and slay him.' So, as soon as Kemerezzeman was alone with the dervish, he sat down by him, and the latter began to look upon him and sigh and weep. Whenever the lad spoke to him, he answered him kindly, trembling the while and groaning and sobbing, and thus he did till the evening meal was brought in, when he fell to eating, with his eyes on Kemerezzeman, but stinted not from weeping. When a fourth part of the night was past and talk was ended and the time of sleep come, Abdurrehman said to the lad, 'O my son, apply thyself to the service of thine uncle the dervish and gainsay him not :' and would have gone out; but the dervish said to him, 'O my lord, carry thy son with thee or sleep with us.' 'Nay,' answered the merchant; 'my son shall lie with thee: peradventure thy soul may desire somewhat, and he will do thine occasion and wait upon thee.' Then he went out and sat down in an adjoining room, wherein was a window giving upon the saloon.
As soon as he had left them, the lad came up to the dervish and began to provoke him and make advances to him, whereupon he waxed wroth and said, 'What talk is this, O my son? I take refuge with God from Satan the Stoned! O my God, indeed this is an iniquity that pleaseth Thee not! Hold off from me, O my son !' So saying, he arose and sat down at a distance; but the boy followed him and threw himself upon him, saying, 'O dervish, why wilt thou deny thyself the delight of my possession, seeing that my heart loveth thee ?' With this the dervish's anger redoubled and he said, 'An thou refrain not from me, I will call thy father and tell him of thee.' Quoth Kemerezzeman, 'My father knows my mind to thee and it may not be that he will hinder me: so heal thou my heart. Why cost thou hold off from me? Do I not please thee?' 'By Allah, O my son,' answered the dervish, 'I will not do this, though I be hewn in pieces with sharp swords!' And he repeated the saying of the poet:
ааааа My heart the fair desireth, both wench and wight; I sigh For all I see: yet passion leads not my wit awry.
ааааа Nay, though I still behold them morning and eventide, Nor sodomite, believe me, nor whoremonger am I.
Then he wept and said, 'Arise, open the door, that I may go my way, for I will lie no longer in this place.' Therewith he rose to his feet; but the boy caught hold of him, saying, 'Look at the brightness of my face and the redness of my cheeks and the softness of my sides and the daintiness of my lips.' Moreover he discovered to him a leg that would put to shame wine and cupbearer (67) and gazed on him with looks that would baffle enchantment and enchanter; for he was surpassing of loveliness and full of tender blandishment, even as saith of him the poet:
ааааа I never can forget him, since of intent the fair A leg to me discovered, as flashing pearl it were.
ааааа So marvel not if on me the flesh should rise; for lo, the Day of Resurrection's a day of shanks laid bare. (68)
Then he displayed to him his bosom, saying, 'Look at my breasts. They are goodlier than girls' breasts and my spittle is sweeter than sugar-candy. So leave scruple and abstinence and cast off piety and devoutness and take thy delight of my possession and enjoy my beauty. Fear nothing, for thou art safe from hurt, and leave this dulness, for it is an ill habit.' And he went on to discover to him his hidden charms, striving to turn the reins of his reason with his [graceful] bendings, whilst the dervish averted his face and said, 'I seek refuge with God! Shame upon thee, O my son! This is a forbidden thing, and I will not do it, no, not even in sleep.' The boy pressed upon him, but the dervish escaped from him and turning towards Mecca, addressed himself to prayer.
When Kemerezzeman saw him praying, he left him till he had prayed a two-bow prayer and saluted, (69) when he would have accosted him again; but the dervish again repeated the intent (70) and prayed a second two-bow prayer, and thus he did a third and a fourth and a fifth time. Quoth Kemerezzeman, 'What prayers are these ? Art thou minded to take flight upon the clouds? Thou lettest slip our delight, whilst thou passest the whole night in the prayer-niche.' So saying, he threw himself upon the dervish and kissed him between the eyes: and he said, 'O my son, put away from thee the devil and betake thee to the obedience of the Compassionate One.' Quoth Kemerezzeman, 'An thou do not with me that which I wish, I will call my father and say to him, "The dervish is minded to do lewdness with me." Whereupon he will come in to thee and beat thee, till thy bones be broken upon thy flesh.'
All this while Abdurrehman was watching with his eyes and hearkening with his ears, and he was certified that there was no lewdness in the dervish and said in himself, 'An he were a lewd fellow, he had not stood out against all this importunity.' The boy continued to beguile the dervish and every time he addressed himself to prayer, he interrupted him, till at last he waxed exceeding wroth with him and was rough with him and beat him. Kemerezzeman wept and his father came in and wiped away his tears and comforted him. Then said he to the dervish, 'O my brother, since thou art on this wise, why didst thou weep and sigh, when thou sawest my son? Is there a reason for this?' 'Yes,' answered the dervish; and Abdurrehman continued, 'When I saw thee weep at sight of my son, I deemed evil of thee and bade the boy do with thee thus, that I might try thee, purposing in myself, if I saw thee require him of lewdness, to come in upon thee and slay thee. But, when I saw thy carriage towards him, I knew thee for one of those who are virtuous to the utmost. But, God on thee, tell me the cause of thy weeping!'
The dervish sighed and said, 'O my lord, fret not a closed (71) wound.' But the merchant said, 'Nothing will serve but thou must tell me.' 'Know, then,' began the other, 'that I am a dervish who wander in the lands and the countries, admonishing myself by the traces (72) of the Creator of Night and Day. It chanced that one Friday I entered the city of Bassora in the forenoon of the day and saw the shops open and full of all manner wares and goods and meat and drink; but they were deserted and there was in them neither man nor woman nor girl nor boy: nor in the markets and the streets was there dog nor cat nor yet voice heard nor creature seen. I marvelled at this and said to myself, "I wonder whither the people of the city are gone with their dogs and cats and what hath God done with them ? " Now I was anhungred, so I took hot bread from a baker's oven and going into an oilman's shop, spread the bread with butter and honey and ate. Then I entered the shop of a sherbet-seller and drank what I would; after which, seeing a coffee-shop open, I went in and saw the pots on the fire, full of coffee; but there was no one there. So I drank my fill and said, "Verily, this is a strange thing! It seems as if death had stricken the people of this city and they had all died forthright, or as if they had taken fright at some- thing that hath befallen them and fled, without having time to close their shops."
As I pondered this matter, I heard a sound of drums beating; whereat I was afraid and hid myself: then, looking out through a crevice, I saw fourscore damsels, like moons, come walking through the market, two by two, with uncovered heads and faces displayed; and in their midst a young lady, riding on a horse that could hardly move its feet for that which was upon it of trappings and housings. Her face was unveiled, and she was adorned with the costliest ornaments and clad in the richest of raiment and covered with gold and silver and jewels. About her neck she wore a collar of gold and on her bosom were necklaces of the same metal; her wrists were clasped with bracelets, that shone like stars, and her ankles with bangles of gold set with precious stones. The slave- girls walked before her and behind and on her right and left and before her was a damsel girt with a great sword, with hilts of emerald and hangers of gold, set with jewels.
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