"Payne Volume VI" - читать интересную книгу автора (Paynes Versions)

The Khalif Haroun er Reshid was walking one day with Jaafer the Barmecide, when he espied a company of girls drawing water and went up to them, having a mind to drink. As he drew near, one of them turned to her fellows and recited the following verses:
ааааа Bid thou thy spright from my couch, I pray, At the season of slumber turn away,
ааааа So I may rest me and eke the fire In my bones that rages may have allay.
ааааа For me, the love-lorn, whom passion's hands Turn on the carpet of sickness aye,
ааааа Thou knowest well how it is with me: Doth thy favour last for a single day?
The Khalif marvelled at her beauty and eloquence and said to her, 'O daughter of nobles, are these verses thine own or a quotation?' 'They are my own,' answered she. 'If thou say sooth,' rejoined the Khalif, 'keep the sense and change the rhyme.' So she said:
ааааа Bid thou thy phantom forswear my stead At the season of sleep and drowsihead,
ааааа So I may rest me and eke the fire Be quenched in my body that rages red.
ааааа For me, a sick one, whom passion's hands Turn on affliction's unrestful bed,
ааааа Thou knowest well how it is with me: Can aught of thy favours stand in stead?
Quoth the Khalif, 'This also is stolen.' 'Nay,' replied she, 'it is my own.' 'If it be indeed thine own,' said Er Reshid, 'change the rhyme again and keep the sense.' So she recited the following:
ааааа Bid thine image hold off from my place of repose, What time in slumber men's eyes do close,
ааааа So I may rest me and eke the fire Be quenched in mine entrails that ever glows.
ааааа For me, a sick one, whom passion's hands Turn on the carpet of wake and woes,
ааааа Thou knowest well how it is with me: Are thy favours bought with a price, who knows?
Quoth Er Reshid, 'This too is stolen.' 'Not so,' said she; 'it is mine.' 'If it be so,' rejoined he, 'change the rhyme once more.' And she recited as follows:
ааааа Bid thou thine image no more molest My couch at the season of sleep and rest,
ааааа So I may ease me and eke the fire Be quenched that flames in my tortured breast.
ааааа For me, a sick one, whom passion's hands On the couch of weeping turn East and West,
ааааа My plight thou know'st; will thy favour ne'er Come back, relenting, to make me blest?
Then said the Khalif, 'Of what [part] of this encampment [art thou]?' And she answered, 'Of its midmost in dwelling and of its highest in tent-pole.' Wherefore he knew that she was the chief's daughter of the tribe. (51) 'And thou,' asked she, 'of what [art thou among] the guardians of the horses?' Quoth he, 'Of the highest in tree and of the ripest in fruit.' 'God protect thee, O Commander of the Faithful!' said she and called down blessings on him. Then she went away with the maidens of the Arabs, and the Khalif said to Jaafer, 'Needs must I take her to wife.' So Jaafer repaired to her father and said to him, 'The Commander of the Faithful hath a mind to thy daughter.' 'With all my heart,' replied he; 'she is a gift as a handmaid to His Highness our lord the Commander of the Faithful.' So he equipped her and carried her to the Khalif, who took her to wife and went in to her, and she became of the dearest of his women to him.
Moreover, he bestowed on her father largesse such as succoured him among the Arabs, till he was transported to the mercy of God the Most High. The Khalif, hearing of his death, went in to her, troubled; and when she saw him thus, she entered her chamber and putting off all that was upon her of rich apparel, donned mourning raiment and raised lament for her father. It was said to her, 'What is the reason of this?' And she answered, saying, 'My father is dead.' So they went in to the Khalif and told him and he rose and going in to her, asked her who had given her to know of her father's death; and she answered, 'It was thy face, O Commander of the Faithful!' 'How so?' asked he; and she said, 'Since I have been with thee, I never saw thee thus till now, and there was none for whom I feared save my father, by reason of his great age; but may thy head live, O Commander of the Faithful!' When the Khalif heard this, his eyes filled with tears and he condoled with her; but she ceased not to mourn for her father, till she followed him [to the grave,] may God have mercy on them both!
EL ASMA╧ AND THE THREE GIRLS OF BASSORA.
The Khalif Haroun er Reshid was exceeding restless one night and rising from his bed, fared from chamber to chamber, but could not compose himself to sleep. As soon as it was day, he said, 'Fetch me El Asmaя. (52) So the eunuch went out and told the doorkeepers, who sent for the poet and when he came, informed the Khalif. The latter bade admit him and said to him, 'O Asmaя, I wish thee to tell me the best thou hast heard of stories of women and their verses.' 'I hear and obey,' answered El Asmaя. 'I have heard great store of women's verses; but none pleased me save three lines I once heard from three girls.' 'Tell me of them,' said the Khalif. 'Know then, O Commander of the Faithful,' replied the poet, 'that I once abode a year in Bassora, and one day, as I was walking about, the heat was sore upon me and I sought for a place where I might take the noonday rest, but found none. Presently, however, I came upon a porch swept and watered, at the upper end whereof was an open lattice-window, whence exhaled a scent of musk and thereunder a wooden bench. I entered the porch, and lying down on the bench, would have slept, when, behold, I heard from within a girl's sweet voice talking and saying, "O my sisters, we are sat here to spend this day in each other's company; so come, let us each put down a hundred dinars and recite a line of verse; and whoso recites the goodliest and sweetest line, the three hundred dinars shall be hers." "With all our hearts," said the others; and the eldest recited the following verse:
ааааа By Allah, I should delight in him, if in dreams to my couch came he! But, an he visited me on wake, 'twould yet more marvellous be.
Quoth the second:
ааааа Only his image, in very deed, in slumber visited me; And 'Welcome!' straightway I said to him, 'a welcome fair and free!'
Then said the youngest:
ааааа With my soul and my folk I will ransom him, whom my bedfellow still I see Each night and whose scent is pleasanter than the scent of musk to me!"
Quoth I, "If [the speaker] have beauty after the measure [of the goodliness] of this [her speech] the thing is every way complete." Then I rose and was about to go away, when the door opened and out came a slave-girl, who said to me, "Sit, O elder." So I sat down again, and she gave me a scroll, wherein was written, in characters of the utmost beauty, with straight Alifs, (53) big-bellied Has (54) and rounded Waws, (55) the following: "We would have the Sheikh (whose days God prolong) to know that we are three maidens, sisters, sitting in friendly converse, who have laid down each a hundred dinars, on condition that whoso recites the best and most agreeable line of verse shall have the whole three hundred dinars; and we appoint thee judge between us: so decide as thou seest best, and peace be on thee!" Quoth I to the girl, "Bring me inkhorn and paper." So she went in and returning after a little, brought me a silvered inkhorn and gilded pens, with which I wrote the following verses:
ааааа I've heard of young beauties once that sat in converse frank and free And talked the talk of a man who's seen and proved all things that be;
ааааа Three like the dawnings of new-born day, they ravished every heart; Yea, tormentful to the yearner's soul were they, these maidens three.
ааааа They'd cloistered them, where no vision lewd their modesty might affront; The eyes of the spy were shut in sleep and none was there to see.
ааааа So they discovered the secret thoughts in their breasts that hidden lay And then to making of verse they fell, for pastime, in their glee.
ааааа Quoth one of them thus, -- a loveling rare, fulfilled of amorous grace, Her teeth for the sweet of her speech did smile at every word spake she, --
ааааа "By Allah, I should delight in him, if in dreams to my couch came he! But, an he visited me on wake, 'twould yet more marvellous be."
ааааа And when she had ended that which she gilt with smiles, the second sighed And warbled these words with a trilling note, like a bird upon a tree:
ааааа "Only his image, in very deed, in slumber visited me, And, "Welcome," straightway quoth I to him, "a welcome fair and free!"
ааааа But the third did better than th' other twain, for, answering, thus said she, With a word of her own that was sweeter still and goodlier, perdie,
ааааа "With my soul and my folk I will ransom him, whom my bedfellow still I see Each night and whose scent is pleasanter than the scent of musk to me!"
ааааа So, when I considered that which they said and sentence passed thereon, I judged not so as to give the wits a cause for mockery;
ааааа Nay, judgment I gave for the youngest maid and deemed her verse the best, For that I judged the words she spake e'en nearest the truth to be.
Then I gave the scroll to the girl, who went in with it, and presently I heard a noise of dancing and clapping of hands and tumult. Quoth I to myself, "It is time for me to go." So I rose from the bench and was about to go away, when the damsel cried out to me, saying, "Sit down, O Asmaя!" "Who gave thee to know that I was El Asmaя?" asked I, and she, "If thy name be unknown to us, thy poetry is not." So I sat down again and behold, the door opened and out came the first damsel, with a dish of fruits and another of sweetmeats. I ate of both and praised their fashion and would have gone away; but she cried out, saying, "Sit down, O Asmaя!" Wherewith I raised my eyes to her and saw a rosy palm in a saffron sleeve, meseemed it was the full moon breaking out from under the clouds. Then she threw me a purse containing three hundred dinars and said to me, "This is mine and I give it to thee in requital of thy judgment."
Quoth the Khalif, 'Why didst thou decide for the youngest?' 'O Commander of the Faithful, whose life God prolong,' answered El Asmaя, 'the eldest said, "I should delight in him, if he visited my couch in sleep." Now this is restricted and dependent upon a condition, that may befall or may not befall; whilst, for the second, an image of dreams came to her in sleep, and she saluted it; but the youngest said that she actually lay with her lover and smelt his breath sweeter than musk and she engaged her soul and her folk for him, which she had not done, were he not dearer to her than her soul.' 'Thou didst well, O Asmaя,' said the Khalif and gave him other three hundred dinars, in payment of his story.
IBRAHIM OF MOSUL AND THE DEVIL.
(Quoth Abou Ishac Ibrahim el Mausili), I asked Er Reshid once to give me a day's leave that I might be private with the people of my household and my friends, and he gave me leave for Saturday. So I went home and betook myself to making ready meat and drink and other necessaries and bade the doorkeepers shut the doors and let none come in to me. However, presently, as I sat in my sitting-chamber, with my women about me, I was ware of an old man of comely and reverend aspect, clad in white clothes and a shirt of fine stuff, with a doctor's hood on his head and a silver-handled staff in his hand, and the house and porch were full of the sweet smell of the essences with which he was scented. I was greatly vexed at his coming in to me and thought to turn away the doorkeepers; but he saluted me after the goodliest fashion and I returned his greeting and bade him be seated. So he sat down and entertained me with stories of the Arabs and their verses, till my anger left me and methought my servants had sought to pleasure me by admitting a man of such good breeding and elegant culture.
Then said I to him, 'Art thou for meat?' 'I have no need of it,' answered he. 'And for drink?' asked I. 'That is as thou wilt,' said he. So I drank off a pint of wine and poured him out the like. Then said he, 'O Abou Ishac, wilt thou sing us somewhat, so we may hear of thy fashion that wherein thou excellest high and low?' His words vexed me; but I dissembled my annoyance and taking the lute, played and sang. 'Well done, O Abou Ishac!' said he; whereat my anger redoubled and I said to myself, 'Is it not enough that he should come in to me, without my leave, and importune me thus, but he must call me by my name, as though he knew not the right way to address me?' Quoth he, 'If thou wilt sing again, we will requite thee.' I swallowed my annoyance and took the lute and sang again, taking pains with what I sang and rising thereto altogether, because of his saying, 'We will requite thee.' He was delighted and said, 'Well done, O my lord!' Then said he, 'Dost thou give me leave to sing?' 'As thou wilt,' answered I, deeming him weak of wit, in that he should think to sing before me, after that which he had heard from me. So he took the lute and swept the strings, and by Allah, meseemed they spoke in the Arabic tongue, with a sweet and liquid and murmurous voice; then he began and sang the following verses:
ааааа A heart that is cankered with grief I have: who will sell me therefor A heart that of cankers is whole, unwounded of ulcer or sore?
ааааа But no, not a soul will consent to barter a heart against mine; For whoso should buy were condemned to sickness and woe evermore.
ааааа He'd groan with the groaning of him who's wounded and choking with wine, For the longing that lives in my heart and gnaws at its innermost core.