“Then the Wezeer Sháheen descended from the deewán, and went to the lane of the cotton-weavers. ’Osmán saw him, and said, ‘Thou hast fallen into the snare, O Aboo-Farmeh! the time of payment is come; and the debt must be returned to the creditor. Dost thou know how to give me a bastinading?’ The Wezeer said, ‘My dream which I saw has proved true.’ ‘What was thy dream?’ asked ’Osmán. ‘I dreamed,’ said the Wezeer, ‘last night, that I was travelling, and some Arabs attacked me, and surrounded me, and I was straitened by them; and I saw thy master, the Emeer Beybars, upon a mount; and I called out to him, Come to me, O Emeer Beybars! and he knew me.’ The Wezeer Sháheen calling out thus, the Emeer Beybars heard him, and came down running, with his sword in hand; and found ’Osmán and the sáïses surrounding the Wezeer. He exclaimed, ‘’Osmán!’ and ’Osmán said, ‘He gave me a bastinading in the city of El-Karak; and I want to return it.’ The Emeer Beybars sharply reprimanded him. ‘And so,’ said ’Osmán to the Wezeer, ‘thou hast found a way of escape.’ The Wezeer Sháheen then said, ‘O Emeer Beybars, El-Melik ’Eesa hath sent me to thee: he intends to prefer an accusation against thee in the deewán of Esh-Shám, charging thee with having poisoned his father. Now, do thou arm all thy soldiers, and come to the deewán, and fear not; but say that which shall clear thee.’ Beybars answered, ‘So let it be.’ He then armed all his soldiers, and went up to the deewán, and kissed the hand of El-Melik ’Eesa; who said to him, ‘Art thou the Emeer Beybars, who poisoned my father?’ Beybars answered, ‘Prove against me that I poisoned thy father, and bring the charge before the judge, and adduce evidence: the Kádee is here.’ The King said, ‘I have evidence against thee.’ Beybars said, ‘Let us see.’ ‘Here,’ said the King, ‘are the Wezeer Eybek and Kala-oon and ’Aláy-ed-Deen.’ The Emeer Beybars asked them, ‘Do ye bear witness against me that I poisoned El-Melik Es-Sáleh?’ They answered, ‘Never: we neither saw it, nor do we know anything of the matter.’ The Kádee said, ‘Hast thou any witnesses beside those?’ The King replied, ‘None: no one informed me but they.’ The Kádee said, ‘O King, those men are hypocrites, and detest the Emeer Beybars.’ El-Melik ’Eesa thereupon became reconciled with the Emeer Beybars, and said to his attendants, ‘Bring a kaftán.’ They brought one. He said to them, ‘Invest with it the Emeer Beybars;’ and added, ‘I appoint thee, O Beybars, commander-in-chief of the army.’ But Beybars said, ‘I have no desire for the dignity, and will put on no kaftáns.’ The King asked, ‘Why, Sir?’ Beybars answered, ‘Because I have been told that thou drinkest wine.’ The King said, ‘I repent.’ ’So let it be,’ said Beybars: and the King vowed repentance to Beybars: and the Emeer Beybars said, ‘I make a condition with thee, O King, that if thou drink wine, I inflict upon thee the “hadd;”’ and the King replied, ‘It is right.’ Upon this the King invested the Emeer Beybars with a kaftán; and a feast was made; and guns were fired; and festivities were celebrated: and they remained in Esh-Shám three days.
“El-Melik ’Eesa then gave orders for departure; and performed the first day’s journey. On the second day they came to a valley, celebrated as a halting-place of the Prophet, the Director in the way to heaven: in it were trees, and brooks, and birds which sang the praises of the King, the Mighty, the Pardoner. El-Melik ’Eesa said, ‘Pitch the tents here: we will here pass the night.’ So they pitched the tents. And the day departed with its brightness, and the night came with its darkness: but the Everlasting remaineth unchanged: the stars shone; and God, the Living, the Self-subsisting, looked upon the creation. It was the period of the full moon; and the King felt a longing to drink wine by the side of the brook and greensward: so he called to Abu-l-Kheyr, who came to him, and kissed his hand. The King said to him, ’Abu-l-Kheyr, I have a longing to drink wine.’ The servant answered, ‘Hast thou not vowed repentance to the Emeer Beybars?’ The King said, ‘The door of repentance is open; so do thou obey me:’ and he gave him ten pieces of gold. The servant then went to a convent; and brought him thence a large bottle: and the King said to him, ‘If thou see the Emeer Beybars coming, call out hay! and as long as thou dost not see him, call clover!’ The servant answered, ‘Right:’ and he filled a cup, and handed it to the King. Now, ’Osmán was by the tents: and he came before the pavilion of El-Melik ’Eesa; and saw him sitting drinking wine: so he went, and told his master, the Emeer Beybars. Beybars came. Abu-l-Kheyr saw him coming from a tent, and called out to the King, ‘Hay! hay!’ The King immediately threw the cup into the brook; Abu-l-Kheyr removed the bottle; and the King set himself to praying: and when he had pronounced the salutation [which terminates the prayers], he turned his eyes, and saw the Emeer Beybars, and said to him, ‘Wherefore art thou come at this hour? Go, sleep: it is late.’ Beybars answered, ‘I have come to ask thee whether we shall continue our journey now, or to-morrow morning.’ The King said, ‘To-morrow morning.’ And the Emeer Beybars returned, vexed with ’Osmán; and said to him, ‘O ’Osmán, didst thou not tell me that the King was sitting drinking wine? Now I have been, and found him praying. Dost thou utter a falsehood against the Sultán?’ ’Osmán answered, ‘Like as he has smoothed it over, do thou also: no matter.’ Beybars was silent.
“They passed the night there; and on the following morning El Melik ’Eesa gave orders for departure. They journeyed towards Masr; and when they had arrived at the ’A′dileeyeh, and pitched their tents, the Emeer Beybars said, ‘O our lord the Sultán, we have now arrived at Masr.’ The King answered, ‘I desire, O Beybars, to visit the tomb of the Imám [Esh-Sháfe’ee].’ Beybars said, ‘The thing is right, O our lord the Sultán: to-morrow I will conduct thee to visit the Imám.’ They remained that night at the ’A’dileeyeh; and on the following morning the Sultán rode in procession to visit the Imám, and returned in procession, and visited the tomb of his father, El-Melik Es-Sáleh Eiyoob; and then went in state to the Citadel: and the ’Ulama went up thither, and inaugurated him as sovereign, and conducted him into the armoury; and he drew out from thence a sword, upon which was inscribed ‘El-Melik El-Mo’azzam:’[[508]] wherefore they named him ‘’Eesa El-Mo’azzam.’ They coined the money with his name, and prayed for him on the pulpits of the mosques; and he invested with kaftáns the soldiers and the Emeer Beybars, the commander-in-chief. The Sultán then wrote a patent, conferring the sovereignty, after himself, upon the Emeer Beybars, to be King and Sultán. So the Emeer Beybars had two patents conferring upon him the sovereignty; the patent of El-Melik Es-Sáleh Eiyoob, and the patent of El-Melik ’Eesa El-Mo’azzam. Eybek and Kala-oon and ’Aláy-ed-Deen and their partisans, who hated Beybars, were grieved at this; but his friends rejoiced. The troops descended from the deewán, and went to their houses; and in like manner the Emeer Beybars descended in procession, and went to his house by the Kanátir es-Sibáa.
“Now the queen Shegeret-ed-Durr sent to El-Melik ’Eesa El-Mo’azzam. He went to her palace. She kissed his hand; and he said to her, ‘Who art thou?’ She answered, ‘The wife of thy father, El-Melik Es-Sáleh.’ ‘And what is thy name?’ said he. She replied, ‘The Queen Fátimeh Shegeret-ed-Durr.’ He exclaimed,[exclaimed,] ‘Oh! welcome! pray for me then.’ She said, ‘God bring thee to repentance!’ She then gave him a charge respecting the Emeer Beybars; saying, ‘Thy father loved him above all the chiefs, and entered into a covenant with him before God; and I, also, made a covenant with him before God.’ He answered, ‘O Queen, by thy life, I have written for him a patent conferring upon him the sovereignty after me.’ She said, ‘And thy father, also, wrote for him a patent, conferring upon him the sovereignty.’ The King then said to her, ‘Those chiefs created a dissension between me and him; and asserted that he poisoned my father.’ She said, ‘I beg God’s forgiveness! They hate him.’ After this the Queen remained chatting with him a short time; and he went to his saloon, and passed the night, and rose.
“On the following day he held a court; and the hall was filled with troops. And he winked to Abu-l-Kheyr, and said, ‘Give me to drink.’ Now he had said to him the day before, ‘To-morrow, when I hold my court, and say to thee, Give me to drink, bring me a water-bottle full of wine.’ So when El-Melik ’Eesa sat upon the throne, and the court, filled with troops, resembled a garden, the troops resembling the branches of plants, he felt a longing to drink wine, and said to Abu-l-Kheyr, ‘Give me to drink;’ and winked to him; and he brought to him the water-bottle; and he drank, and returned it. Then he sat a little longer, and said again, ‘Give me to drink, O Abu-l-Kheyr;’ and the servant brought the bottle; and he drank, and gave it back. He sat a little longer; and again he said, ‘Give me to drink.’ Kala-oon said, ‘O ’Aláy-ed-Deen, it seems that the Sultán has breakfasted upon kawárë’.’[[509]] Upon this the Wezeer Sháheen asked him, ‘What hast thou eaten?’ The King answered, ‘My stomach is heated and flatulent.’ The Wezeer, however, perceived the smell of wine; and was vexed. The court then broke up; and the troops descended. The Wezeer Sháheen also descended, and took with him the Emeer Beybars to his house, and said to him, ‘May God take retribution from thee, O Beybars.’ Beybars said, ‘Why?’ The Wezeer answered, ‘Because thou didst not accept the sovereignty.’ ‘But for what reason sayest thou this?’ asked Beybars. The Wezeer said, ‘The Sultán to-day drank wine, while sitting upon the throne, three times. When the Vicar of God, in administering the law, intoxicates himself, his decisions are null, and he has not any right to give them.’ Beybars replied, ‘I made a condition with him, that if he drank wine, I should inflict upon him the “hadd”; and wrote a document to that effect in Esh-Shám.’ ‘To-morrow,’ said the Wezeer, ‘when he holds his court, observe him; and take the water-bottle, and see what is in it. I perceived his smell.’ Beybars answered, ‘It is right:’ and he arose, and went to his house sorrowful. And he passed the night, and rose, and went to the court, and found it filled with troops; and he kissed the hand of the Sultán, and sat in his place. Presently the Sultán said, ‘Give me to drink, O Abu-l-Kheyr:’ and the servant brought the water-bottle; and the Sultán drank. Beybars took hold of the water-bottle; and said, ‘Give me to drink.’ The servant answered, ‘This is medicinal water.’ ‘No harm,’ said Beybars: ‘I have a desire for it.’ ‘It is rose-water,’ said the servant. Beybars said, ‘Good:’ and he took the bottle; and said, ‘Bring a basin.’ A basin was brought; and he poured into it the contents of the bottle before the troops; and they saw that it was wine. Then said the Emeer Beybars to the Sultán, ‘Is it allowed thee by God to be His Vicar, and to intoxicate thyself? Did I not make thee vow to relinquish the drinking of wine, and say to thee, If thou drink it I will inflict upon thee the “hadd;” and did I not write a document to that effect in Esh-Shám?’ The Sultán[Sultán] answered, ‘It is a habit decreed against me, O Beybars.’ Beybars exclaimed, ‘God is witness, O ye troops!’ and he took the Sultán, and beat him; and he was unconscious, by reason of the wine that he had drunk; and he loosed him, and departed from him, and went to his house.”
The second volume proceeds to relate the troubles which befell Beybars in consequence of his incurring the displeasure of El-Melik ’Eesa by the conduct just described; his restoration to the favour of that prince; and his adventures during the reigns of the subsequent Sultáns, Khaleel El-Ashraf, Es-Sáleh the youth, Eybek (his great and inveterate enemy), and El-Mudaffar; and then, his own accession to the sovereignty. The succeeding volumes contain narratives of his wars in Syria and other countries; detailing various romantic achievements, and the exploits of the “Fedáweeyeh,” or “Fedáwees,” of his time. The term Fedáwee, which is now vulgarly understood to signify any warrior of extraordinary courage and ability, literally and properly means a person who gives, or is ready to give, his life as a ransom for his companions, or for their cause; and is here applied to a class of warriors who owned no allegiance to any sovereign unless to a chief of their own choice; the same class who are called, in our histories of the Crusades, “Assassins:” which appellation the very learned orientalist De Sacy has, I think, rightly pronounced to be a corruption of “Hashshásheen,” a name derived from their making frequent use of the intoxicating hemp, called “hasheesh.” The romance of Ez-Záhir affords confirmation of the etymology given by De Sacy; but suggests a different explanation of it: the Fedáweeyeh being almost always described in this work as making use of “beng” (a term applied to hemp, and also to henbane, which, in the present day, is often mixed with hasheesh) to make a formidable enemy or rival their prisoner, by disguising themselves, inviting him to eat, putting the drug into his food or drink, and thus causing him speedily to fall into a deep sleep, so that they were able to bind him at their leisure, and convey him whither they would.[[510]] The chief of these warriors is “Sheehah,” called “Sultán el-Kiláa wa-l-Hosoon” (or “Sultán of the Castles and Fortresses”), who is described as almost constantly engaged, and generally with success, in endeavouring to reduce all the Fedáwees to allegiance to himself and to Beybars. From his adroitness in disguises and plots, his Proteus-like character, his name has become a common appellation of persons of a similar description. Another of the more remarkable characters in this romance is “Guwán”(or John), a European Christian, who, having deeply studied Muslim law, succeeds in obtaining, and retains for a few years, the office of Kádee of the Egyptian metropolis; and is perpetually plotting against Beybars, Sheehah, and other Muslim chiefs.
Much of the entertainment derived from recitations of this work depends upon the talents of the Mohaddit; who often greatly improves the stories by his action, and by witty introductions of his own invention.
CHAPTER XXIII.
PUBLIC RECITATIONS OF ROMANCES—Continued.
There is, in Cairo, a third class of reciters of romances, who are called “’Anátireh,” or “’Antereeyeh” (in the singular “’Anter′ee”); but they are much less numerous than either of the other two classes before mentioned; their number at present, if I am rightly informed, not amounting to more than six. They bear the above appellation from the chief subject of their recitations; which is the romance of “’Antar” (“Seeret ’Antar”). As a considerable portion of this interesting work has become known to English readers by Mr. Terrick Hamilton’s translation, I need give no account of it. The reciters of it read it from the book: they chant the poetry: but the prose they read, in the popular manner; and they have not the accompaniment of the rabáb. As the poetry in this work is very imperfectly understood by the vulgar, those who listen to it are mostly persons of some education.