Or by humble suit which besitteth Love ✿ Or by force more fitting my sovranty.
The Caliph admired these verses and said, “Now, take up thy lute and sing me a song setting out my case with three damsels who hold the reins of my heart and make rest depart; and they are thyself and that wilful one and another I will not name, who hath not her like.[[366]] So she took the lute and playing a lively measure, sang these couplets:—
Three lovely girls hold my bridle-rein ✿ And in highest stead my heart over-reign.
I have none to obey amid all mankind ✿ But obeying them I but win disdain:
This is done through the Kingship of Love, whereby ✿ The best of my kingship they made their gain.
The Caliph marvelled with exceeding marvel at the aptness of these verses to his case and his delight inclined him to reconciliation with the recalcitrant damsel. So he went forth and made for her chamber whither a slave-girl preceded him and announced to her the coming of the Caliph. She advanced to meet him and kissed the ground before him; then she kissed his feet and he was reconciled to her and she was reconciled to him. Such was the case with the Caliph; but as regards Shajarat al-Durr, she came to me rejoicing and said, “I am become a free woman by thy blessed coming! Surely Allah will help me in that which I shall contrive, so I may foregather with thee in lawful way.” And I said, “Alhamdolillah!” Now as we were talking, behold her Mameluke-eunuch entered and we related to him that which had passed, when he said, “Praised be Allah who hath made the affair to end well, and we implore the Almighty to crown His favours with thy safe faring forth the palace!” Presently appeared my mistress’s sister, whose name was Fátir, and Shajarat al-Durr said to her, “O my sister, how shall we do to bring him out of the palace in safety; for indeed Allah hath vouchsafed me manumission and, by the blessing of his coming, I am become a free woman.” Quoth Fatir, “I see nothing for it but to dress him in woman’s gear.” So she brought me a suit of women’s clothes and clad me therein; and I went out forthwith, O Commander of the Faithful; but, when I came to the midst of the palace, behold, I found the Caliph seated there, with the eunuchs in attendance upon him. When he saw me, he misdoubted of me with exceeding doubt, and said to his suite, “Hasten and bring me yonder handmaiden who is faring forth.” 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 naught, and when he heard my story, he pondered my case awhile, without stay or delay, and going into Shajarat al-Durr’s chamber, said to her, “How couldst thou prefer before me one of the sons of the merchants?” She kissed ground between his hands and told him her tale from first to last, in accordance with the truth; and he hearing it had compassion upon her and his heart relented to her and he excused her by reason of love and its circumstances. Then he went away and her eunuch came in to her and said, “Be of good cheer; for, when thy lover was set before the Caliph, he questioned him and he told him that which thou toldest him, word by word.” Presently the Caliph returned and calling me before him, said to me, “What made thee dare to violate the palace of the Caliphate?” I replied, “O Commander of the Faithful, ’twas my ignorance and passion and my confidence in thy clemency and generosity that drave me to this.” And I wept and kissed the ground before him. Then said he, “I pardon you both,” and bade me be seated. So I sat down and he sent for the Kazi Ahmad ibn Abi Duwád[[367]] and married me to her. Then he commanded to make over all that was hers to me and they displayed her to me[[368]] in her lodging. After three days, I went forth and transported all her goods and gear to my own house; so every thing 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 Al-Mutawakkil is a generous man and I fear lest he remember us with ill mind, or that some one of the envious remind him of us; wherefore I purpose to do somewhat that may ensure us against this.” Quoth I, “And what is that?;” and quoth she, “I mean to ask his leave to go the pilgrimage and repent[[369]] of singing.” I replied, “Right is this rede thou redest;” but, as we were talking, behold, in came a messenger from the Caliph to seek her, for that Al-Mutawakkil loved her singing. So she went with the officer and did her service to the Caliph, who said to her, “Sever not thyself from us;”[[370]] and she answered, “I hear and I obey.” Now it chanced one day, after this, she went to him, he having sent for her, as was his wont; but, before I knew, she came back, with her raiment rent and her eyes full of tears. At this I was alarmed, misdoubting me that he had commanded to seize upon us, and said, “Verily we are Allah’s and unto Him shall we return! Is Al-Mutawakkil wroth with us?” She replied, “Where is Al-Mutawakkil? Indeed Al-Mutawakkil’s rule is ended and his trace is blotted out!” Cried I, “Tell me what has happened;” and she, “He was seated behind the curtain, drinking, with Al-Fath bin Khákán[[371]] and Sadakah bin Sadakah, when his son Al-Muntasir fell upon him, with a company of the Turks,[[372]] and slew him; and merriment was turned to misery and joy to weeping and wailing for annoy. So I fled, I and the slave-girl, and Allah saved us.” When I heard this, O Commander of the Faithful, I arose forthright and went down stream to Bassorah, where the news reached me of the falling out of war between Al-Muntasir and Al-Musta’ín bi ’llah;[[373]] wherefore I was affrighted and transported my wife and all my wealth to Bassorah. This, then, is my tale, O Prince of True Believers, nor have I added to or taken from it a single syllable. So all that thou seest in my house, bearing the name of thy grandfather Al-Mutawakkil, is of his bounty to us, and the fount of our fortune is from thy noble sources;[[374]] for indeed ye are people of munificence and a mine of beneficence.” The Caliph marvelled at his story and rejoiced therein with joy exceeding: and Abu al-Hasan brought forth to him the lady and the children she had borne him, and they kissed ground before the Caliph, who wondered at their beauty. Then he called for inkcase and paper and wrote Abu al-Hasan a patent of exemption from taxes on his lands and houses for twenty years. Moreover, he rejoiced in him and made him his cup-companion, till the world parted them and they took up their abode in the tombs, after having dwelt under palace-domes; and glory be to Allah, the King Merciful of doom. And they also tell a tale concerning
[346]. Lane omits this tale because “it is very similar, but inferior in interest, to the Story told by the Sultan’s Steward.” See vol. i. [278].
[347]. Sixteenth Abbaside A.H. 279–289 (= A.D. 891–902). “He was comely, intrepid, of grave exterior, majestic in presence, of considerable intellectual power and the fiercest of the Caliphs of the House of Abbas. He once had the courage to attack a lion” (Al-Siyuti). I may add that he was a good soldier and an excellent administrator, who was called Saffáh the Second because he refounded the House of Abbas. He was exceedingly fanatic and died of sensuality, having first kicked his doctor to death, and he spent his last moments in versifying.
[348]. Hamdún bin Ismá’íl, called the Kátib or Scribe, was the first of his family who followed the profession of a Nadím or Cup-companion. His son Ahmad (who is in the text) was an oral transmitter of poetry and history. Al-Siyúti (p. 390) and De Slane I. Khall (ii. 304) notice him.