Part 15

Then said he to her, "Cheer thy soul and promise it good; collect the papers and count them." She said, "Truly I counted them when I asked them back, and I found that one of them the hand of loss had seized." He said, "Perdition on thee, wretch; shall we be hindered, alas, both of the prey and the net, both of the brand and the wick? Surely this is a new handful to the load." Then did the old woman hasten back, retracing her path to seek her scroll; and when she drew near to me I put with the paper a dirhem and a mite, and said to her, "If thou hast a fondness for the polished, the engraved (and I pointed to the dirhem), show me the secret, the obscure; but if thou willest not to explain, take then the mite and begone." Then she inclined to the getting of that whole full moon, the bright-faced, the large. So she said, "Quit contention and ask what thou wilt." Whereupon I asked her of the old man and his country, of the poem, and of him who wove its mantle. She said, "Truly, the old man is of the people of Seruj, and he it was who broidered that woven poem." Then she snatched the dirhem with the snatch of a hawk, and shot away as shoots the darting arrow. But it troubled my heart that perchance it was Abu Zayd who was indicated, and my grief kindled at his mishap with his eyes. And I should have preferred to have gone suddenly on him and talked to him, that I might test the quality of my discernment upon him. But I was unable to come to him save by treading on the necks of the congregation, a thing forbidden in the law; and, moreover, I was unwilling that people should be annoyed by me, or that blame should arrive to me. So I cleaved to my place, but made his form the fetter of my sight, until the sermon was ended, and to leap to him was lawful. Then I went briskly to him and examined him in spite of the closing of his eyelids. And, lo! my shrewdness was as the shrewdness of Ibn 'Abbas, and my discernment as the discernment of Iyas. So at once I made myself known, and presented him with one of my tunics, and bade him to my bread. And he was joyful at my bounty and recognition, and acceded to the call to my loaves; and he set forth, and my hand was his leading cord, my shadow his conductor; and the old woman was the third prop of the pot; yes, by the Watcher from whom no secret is hidden! Now, when he had taken seat in my nest, and I had set before him what hasty meal was in my power, he said, "Harith, is there with us a third?" I said, "There is none but the old woman." He said, "From her no secret is withheld." Then he opened his eyes and stared round with the twin balls, and, lo! the two lights of his face kindled like the Farkadan. And I was joyful at the safety of his sight, but marveled at the strangeness of his ways. Nor did quiet possess me, nor did patience fit with me, until I asked him, "What led thee to feign blindness; thou, with thy journeying in desolate places, and thy traversing of wildernesses, and thy pushing into far lands?" But he made show as if his mouth were full, and kept as though busied with his meal, until, when he had fulfilled his need, he sharpened his look upon me and recited:

Since Time (and he is the father of mankind) makes himself blind to the right in his purposes and aims,

I too have assumed blindness, so as to be called a brother of it. What wonder that one should match himself with his father!

Then said he to me, "Rise, and go to the closet, and fetch me alkali that may clear the eye, and clean the hand, and soften the skin, and perfume the breath, and brace the gums, and strengthen the stomach: and let it be clean of box, fragrant of odor, new of pounding, delicate of powdering; so that one touching it shall count it to be eye-paint, and one smelling it shall fancy it to be camphor. And join with it a toothpick choice in material, delightful in use, goodly in shape, that invites to the repast: and let it have the slimness of a lover, and the polish of a sword, and the sharpness of the lance of war, and the pliancy of a green bough." Said Al Harith: Then I rose to do what he bade that I might rid him of the trace of his food; and thought not that he purposed to deceive by sending me into the closet; nor suspected that he was mocking of his messenger when he called for the alkali and toothpick. But when I returned with what was asked for, in less than the drawing of a breath, I found that the hall was empty, and that the old man and woman had sped away. Then was I extreme in anger at his deceit, and I pressed on his track in search of him; but he was as one who is sunk in the sea, or has been borne aloft to the clouds of heaven.

THE EIGHTH ASSEMBLY

(CALLED "OF MA'AKRAH")[22]

Al Harith, son of Hammam, related: Among the wonders of time, I saw that two suitors came before the Kadi of Ma'arrat an No'man. From the one of them the two excellencies of life had departed, while the other was as a bough of the ben tree. And the old man said: God strengthen the judge, as by him he strengthens whoever seeks judgment. Behold I had a slave girl, elegant of shape, smooth of cheek, patient to labor; at one time she ambled like a good steed, at another she slept quietly in her bed: even in July thou wouldst feel her touch to be cool. She had understanding and discretion, sharpness and wit, a hand with fingers, but a mouth without teeth: yet did she pique as with tongue of snake, and saunter in training robe; and she was displayed in blackness and whiteness; and she drank, but not from cisterns. She was now truth-telling, now beguiling; now hiding, now peeping forth; yet fitted for employment, obedient in poverty and in wealth: if thou didst spurn she showed affection, but if thou didst put her from thee, she remained quietly apart. Generally would she serve thee, and be courteous to thee, though sometimes she might be froward to thee and pain thee, and trouble thee. Now this youth asked her service of me for a purpose of his own, and I made her his servant, without reward, on the condition that he should enjoy the use of her, but not burden her with more than she could bear. But he forced on her too hard a work, and exacted of her long labor; then returned her to me broken in health, offering a compensation which I accept not.

Then said the youth: Sure the old man is more truthful than the Kata: but as for my hurting her it fell out by mistake. And now have I pledged to him in payment of his damage, a slave[23] of mine, of equal birth as regards either kin, tracing his lineage to Al Kayn, free from stain and disgrace, whose place was the apple of his master's eye. He showed forth kindness, and called up admiration; he nourished mankind, and set guard on his tongue. If he was placed in power he was generous, if he marked aught for his own he was noble with it; if he was supplied he gave of his supply, and when he was asked for more he added. He stayed not in the house, and rarely visited his wives, save two by two. He was generous with his possession, he was lofty in his bounty; he kept with his spouse although she was not of his own clay; and there was pleasure in his comeliness, although he was not desired for his effeminacy.

Then said to them the Kadi, "Now either explain or depart." Then pressed forward the lad, and said:

He lent me a needle to darn my rags, which use has worn and blackened;

And its eye broke in my hand by chance, as I drew the thread through it.

But the old man would not forgive me the paying for it when he saw that it was spoiled;

But said, "Give me a needle like it, or a price, after thou hast mended it."

And he keeps my _kohl_-pencil by him as a pledge: oh, the shame that he has gotten by so doing:

For my eye is dry through giving him this pledge; my hand fails to ransom its anointer.

Now by this statement fathom the depth of my misery and pity one unused to bear it.

Then turned the Kadi to the old man, and said, "Come, speak without glozing," and he said:

I swear by the holy place of sacrifice, and the devout whom the slope of Mina brings together;

If the time had been my helper, thou wouldst not have seen me taking in pledge the pencil which he has pledged to me.

Nor would I bring myself to seek a substitute for a needle that he had spoiled; no, nor the price of it.

But the bow of calamities shoots at me with deadly arrows from here and there:

And to know my condition is to know his; misery, and distress, and exile, and sickness.

Fortune has put us on a level: I am his like in misery, and he is as I.

He can not ransom his pencil now that it lies pledged in my hand:

And, through the narrowness of my own means, it is not within my bounds to forgive him for his offending.

Now this is my tale and his: so look upon us, and judge between us, and pity us.

Now when the Kadi had learned their stories, and was aware of their penury and their distinction, he took out for them a denar from under his prayer-cushion, and said, "With this end and decide your contention." But the old man caught it before the youth, and claimed the whole of it in earnest, not in jest, saying to the youth, "Half is mine as my share of the bounty, and thy share is mine, in payment for my needle: nor do I swerve from justice, so come and take thy pencil." Now there fell on the youth, at the words of the old man, a sadness at which the heart of the Kadi grew sullen, stirring its sorrow for the lost denar. Yet did he cheer the concern of the youth and his anguish by a few dirhems which he doled to him. Then he said to the two, "Avoid transactions, and put away disputes, and come not before me with wranglings, for I have no purse of fine-money for you." And they rose to go out from him, rejoicing at his gift, fluent in his praise. But as for the Kadi, his ill-humor subsided not after his stone had dripped; his sad look cleared not away after his rock had oozed. But when he recovered from his fit he turned to his attendants, and said, "My perception is imbued with the thought, and my guess announces to me, that these are practisers of craft, not suitors in a claim: but what is the way to fathom them, and to draw forth their secret?" Then said to him the Knowing One of his assemblage, the Light of his following: "Surely the discovery of what they hide must be through themselves." So he bade an attendant follow them and bring them back; and when they stood before him he said to them, "Tell me truly your camel's age: so shall ye be secure from the consequence of your deceit." Then did the lad shrink back and ask for pardon; but the old man stepped forward and said:

I am the Seruji and this is my son; and the cub at the proving is like the lion.

Now never has his hand nor mine done wrong in matter of needle or pencil:

But only fortune, the harming, the hostile, has brought us to this, that we came forth to beg

Of each one whose palm is moist, whose spring is sweet; of each whose palm is close, whose hand is fettered;

By every art, and with every aim: by earnest, if it prosper, and if not, by jest.

That we may draw forth a drop for our thirsty lot, and consume our life in wretched victual.

And afterward Death is on the watch for us: if he fall not on us to-day he will fall to-morrow.

Then said the Kadi to him, "Oh rare! how admirable are the breathings of thy mouth; well done! should I say of thee, were it not for the guile that is in thee. Now know that I am of those that warn thee, and will beware of thee. So act not again deceitfully with judges, but fear the might of those who bear rule. For not every minister will excuse, and not at every season will speech be listened to." Then the old man promised to follow his counsel, and to abstain from disguising his character. And he departed from the Kadi's presence, while the guile beamed from his forehead. Said Al Harith, son of Hammam: Now I never saw aught more wonderful than these things in the changes of my journeys, nor read aught like them in the records of books.

THE NINTH ASSEMBLY,

(CALLED "OF ALEXANDRIA")[24]

Al Harith, son of Hammam, related: The liveliness of youth and the desire of gain sped me on until I had traversed all that is between Farghanah and Ghanah. And I dived into depths to gather fruits, and plunged into perils to reach my needs. Now I had caught from the lips of the learned, and understood from the commandments of the wise, that it behooves the well-bred, the sagacious, when he enters a strange city, to conciliate its Kadi and possess himself of his favor: that his back may be strengthened in litigation, that he may be secure in a strange land from the wrong of the powerful. So I took this doctrine as my guide and made it the leading-cord to my advantages. And I entered not a city, I went not into a lair, but I mingled myself with its judge as water is mingled with wine, and strengthened myself by his patronage as bodies are strengthened by souls. Now while I was in presence of the judge of Alexandria one cold evening, and he had brought out the alms-money to divide it among the needy, behold there entered an ill-looking old man whom a young matron dragged along. And she said: God strengthen the Kadi and through him make concord to be lasting: know that I am a woman of stock the most noble, of root the most pure, of mother's and father's kin the most honorable: my character is moderation, my disposition is contentment; my nature is to be a goodly help-meet; between me and my neighbors is a wide difference. Now whenever there wooed me any who had built up honor or were lords of wealth my father silenced and chid them and misliked their suit and their gift: making plea that he had covenanted with God Most High that he would not ally himself save with the master of a handicraft. Then did Providence destine for my calamity and pain that this deceiver should present himself in my father's hall; and swear among his people that he fulfilled his condition: asserting that long time he had strung pearl to pearl and sold them for great price. Then was my father deceived by the gilding of his falsehood, and married me to him before proving his condition. And when he had drawn me forth from my covert, and carried me away from my people, and removed me to his habitation, and brought me under his bond, I found him slothful, a sluggard; I discovered him to be a lie-a-bed, a slumberer. Now I had come to him with apparel and goodly show, with furniture and affluence. But he ceased not to sell it in a losing market and to squander the price in greedy feeding, until he had altogether destroyed whatever was mine, and spent my property on his need. So when he had made to me to forget the taste of rest and left my house cleaner than my hand's palm, I said to him, "Sir, know that there is no concealment after distress, no perfume after the wedding. Rise up then to gain something by thy trade, to gather the fruit of thy skill." But he declared that his trade had been struck with slackness through the violence that was abroad in the earth. Also I have a boy by him, thin as a toothpick: neither of us gets a fill by him, and through hunger our weeping to him ceases not. So I have brought him to thee and set him before thee, that thou mayest test the substance of his assertion, and decide between us as God shall show thee.

Then turned the Kadi to him and said: "Thou hast heard thy wife's story; now testify of thyself: else will I discover thy deceit and bid thy imprisonment." But he looked down as looks the serpent; then girt up his garment for a long strife, and said:

Hear my story, for it is a wonder; there is laughter in its tale, and there is wailing.

I am a man on whose qualities there is no blame, neither is there suspicion on his glory.

Seruj is my home where I was born, and my stock is Ghassan when I trace my lineage:

And study is my business; to dive deep in learning is my pursuit; and, oh! how excellent a seeking.

And my capital is the magic of speech, out of which are molded both verse and prose.

I dive into the deep of eloquence, and from it I choose the pearls and select them:

I cull of speech the ripe fruit and the new; while another gathers but firing of the wood:

I take the phrase of silver, and when I have molded it men say that it is gold.

Now formerly I drew forth wealth by the learning I had gotten; I milked by it:

And my foot's sole in its dignity mounted to ranges above which were no higher steps.

Oft were the presents brought in pomp to my dwelling, but I accepted not every one who gave.

But to-day learning is the chattel of slackest sale in the market of him on whom hope depends.

The honor of its sons is not respected; neither are relationship and alliance with them regarded.

It is as though they were corpses in their courtyards, from whose stench men withdraw and turn aside.

Now my heart is confounded through my trial by the times; strange is their changing.

The stretch of my arm is straitened through the straitness of my hand's means; cares and grief assail me.

And my fortune, the blameworthy, has led me to the paths of that which honor deems base.

For I sold until there remained to me not a mat nor household goods to which I might turn.

So I indebted myself until I had burdened my neck by the carrying of a debt such that ruin had been lighter.

Then five days I wrapped my entrails upon hunger; but when the hunger scorched me,

I could see no goods except her outfit, in the selling of which I might go about and bestir myself.

So I went about with it; but my soul was loathing, and my eye tearful, and my heart saddened.

But when I made free with it, I passed not the bound of her consent, that her wrath should rise against me.

And if what angers her be her fancying that it was my fingers that should make gain by stringing;

Or that when I purposed to woo her I tinseled my speech that my need might prosper:

I swear by him to whose Ka'beh the companies journey when the fleet camels speed them onward,

That deceit toward chaste ladies is not of my nature, nor are glozing and lying my badge.

Since I was reared naught has attached to my hand save the swiftly moving reeds and the books:

For it is my wit that strings necklaces, not my hand; what is strung is my poetry, and not chaplets.

And this is the craft I meant as that by which I gathered and gained.

So give ear to my explaining, as thou hast given ear to her; and show respect to neither, but judge as is due.

Now when he had completed the structure of his story and perfected his recitation, the Kadi turned to the young woman, being heart-struck at the verses, and said, now that it is settled among all judges and those who bear authority that the race of the generous is perished, and that the times incline to the niggardly. Now I imagine that thy husband is truthful in his speech, free from blame. For lo! he has acknowledged the debt to thee, and spoken the clear truth; he has given proof that he can string verses, and it is plain that he is bared to the bone. Now to vex him who shows excuse is baseness, to imprison the destitute is a sin: to conceal poverty is self-denial, to await relief with patience is devotion. So return to thy chamber and pardon the master of thy virginity: refrain from thy sharpness of tongue and submit to the will of thy Lord. Then in the almsgiving he assigned them a portion, and of the dirhems he gave them a pinch; and said to them, "Beguile yourselves with this drop, moisten yourselves with this driblet: and endure against the fraud and the trouble of the time, for 'it may be that God will bring victory or some ordinance from himself.'" Then they arose to go, and on the old man was the joy of one loosed from the bond, and the exulting of one who is in affluence after need.

Said the narrator: Now I knew that he was Abu Zayd in the hour that his son peeped forth and his spouse reviled him: and I went near to declare his versatility and the fruiting of his divers branches. But then I was afraid that the Kadi would hit on his falsehood and the lacking of his tongue, and not see fit, when he knew him, to train him to his bounty. So I forebore from speech with the forbearing of one who doubts, and I folded up mention of him as the roll is folded over the writing: save that when he had departed and had come whither he was to come, I said, "If there were one who would set out on his track, he might bring us the kernel of his story, and what tissues he is spreading forth." Then the Kadi sent one of his trusty ones after him and bade him to spy out of his tidings. But he delayed not to return bounding in, and to come back loudly laughing. Said the Kadi to him, "Well, Abu Maryam!" He said, "I have seen a wonder; I have heard what gives me a thrill." Said the Kadi to him, "What hast thou seen, and what is it thou hast learned?" He said, "Since the old man went forth he has not ceased to clap with his hands and to caper with his feet and to sing with the full of his cheeks:

I was near falling into trouble through an impudent jade; And should have gone to prison but for the Kadi of Alexandria."

Then the Kadi laughed till his hat fell off, and his composure was lost: but when he returned to gravity and had followed excess by prayer for pardon, he said, "O God, by the sanctity of thy most honored servants, forbid that I should imprison men of letters." Then said he to that trusty one, "Hither with him!" and he set forth earnest in the search; but returned after a while, telling that the man was gone. Then said the Kadi, "Know that if he had been here he should have had no cause to fear, for I would have imparted to him as he deserves; I would have shown him that _the latter state is better for him than the former_." Said Al Harith, son of Hammam, Now, when I saw the leaning of the Kadi toward him, and that yet the fruit of the Kadi's notice was lost to him, there came on me the repentance of Al Farazdak when he put away Nawar, or of Al Kosa'i when the daylight appeared.

THE TENTH ASSEMBLY

(CALLED "OF RAHBAH")[25]