Hašišar in plemkinja

Besedilo

Hašišar in plemkinja

It is told that, during the season of pilgrimage, while the people were circling the Kaaba and the place was thronged with pilgrims, a man was seen clinging to its curtains and praying from the depths of his heart, “I beseech You, O God, let her grow angry with her husband, so that I may lie with her.” A group of pilgrims heard him, seized him, and, after giving him a sound beating, brought him before the commander of the pilgrimage. “O commander,” they said, “we found this fellow in the holy precincts saying such and such.” The commander ordered him to be hanged, but the man said, “O commander, by the sanctity of God’s Messenger, God bless him and grant him peace, hear my story first, and afterward do with me as you please.” “Speak,” said the commander. The man said, “Know, O commander, that I am a hashish-eater who works in the sheep slaughterhouses, carrying the blood and filth to the rubbish heaps. One day, as I was going along with my laden donkey, I found people running away. One of them said, ‘Get into this alley, or they will kill you!’ I asked, ‘Why is everyone running?’ A servant told me, ‘These are the women of a great household.’ The servants were clearing the road before them, beating everyone and sparing no one. So I took my donkey into a turning…” But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she fell silent, leaving her tale untold.

When it was the two hundred and eighty-third night

She said, “It has reached me, O fortunate king, that the man continued: ‘So I took my donkey into a turning and stood waiting for the crowd to disperse. I saw servants carrying staves, with some thirty women, among whom was one as slender as a willow bough, perfect in beauty, grace, and charm; all the others were attending her. When she reached the entrance to the turning where I stood, she glanced to right and left, then called a eunuch to her and whispered in his ear. At once the eunuch came and seized me, and the people scattered. Another eunuch took my donkey and led it away; then the first bound me with a rope and dragged me after him. I had no idea what was happening. The people followed us, crying, “God does not permit this! He is a poor hashish-eater. Why have they bound him with ropes?” And they called to the eunuchs, “Have mercy on him, and may God Most High have mercy on you! Let him go!” I said to myself, “The eunuchs can only have seized me because their mistress smelled the filth and was disgusted. Perhaps she is pregnant, or the smell has done her some harm. There is no power and no strength save in God, the Most High, the Almighty!” I went on following them until they reached the gate of a great house. They entered, with me behind them, and led me farther in until I came to a vast hall whose beauties I cannot describe, furnished with magnificent carpets and cushions. The women entered the hall, while I remained bound beside the eunuch. I said to myself, “They are sure to torture me to death in this house, and no one will ever know that I have died.” Then they took me into a delightful bath adjoining the hall. While I was there, three slave girls came in, sat around me, and said, “Take off your rags.” I stripped off my tattered clothes, and one of them began scrubbing my feet, another washing my head, and the third massaging me. When they had finished, they set a bundle of clothes before me and said, “Put these on.” “By God,” I said, “I do not know how to wear them!” So they came forward and dressed me, laughing among themselves. Then they brought flasks of rosewater and sprinkled me with it, and I went out with them into another hall. By God, I cannot describe its beauty, so rich was it in ornament and furnishings! When I entered, I found a woman seated on a couch of bamboo.’” But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she fell silent, leaving her tale untold.

When it was the two hundred and eighty-fourth night

She said, “It has reached me, O fortunate king, that the man continued: ‘When I entered that hall, I found a woman seated on a bamboo couch with ivory legs, and a number of slave girls standing before her. When she saw me, she rose and called me over. I approached, and she bade me sit, so I sat beside her. She ordered the girls to bring food, and they served me sumptuous dishes of every kind, whose names I did not know and whose like I had never seen in my life. I ate my fill, and when the bowls had been removed and we had washed our hands, she ordered fruit to be brought. It was set before her at once, and she told me to eat, so I ate. When we had finished, she bade some of the girls bring flagons of wine, and they brought drinks of various colours. Then they lit the censers with every sort of incense, and a girl as lovely as the moon rose to pour our wine to the music of stringed instruments. Both I and the lady sitting beside me became drunk. All the while I believed I must be dreaming. Then she signed to some of the girls to prepare a bed for us, and they spread it in the place she indicated. She rose, took me by the hand, and led me there. She lay down, and I lay with her until morning. Whenever I clasped her to my breast, I breathed the scent of musk and perfume, and could only imagine that I was in Paradise or dreaming in my sleep. In the morning she asked where I lived, and I told her, “In such and such a place.” She gave orders for me to be shown out and handed me a kerchief embroidered with gold and silver, with something tied up in it. “Take this and go to the bath,” she said. I rejoiced, saying to myself, “If there are five copper coins in it, they will pay for my dinner today.” Then I left her, feeling as though I were leaving Paradise, and went back to the storeroom where I lived. I opened the kerchief and found fifty mithqals of gold inside. I buried them, bought two copper coins’ worth of bread and something to eat with it, and had my dinner. Then I sat by the door, pondering what had happened to me.

‘I remained like this until the afternoon, when a slave girl came and said, “My mistress wishes to see you.” I went with her to the gate of the house, and she asked leave for me to enter. I went in and kissed the ground before the lady. She bade me sit and ordered food and wine to be brought as before. Then I lay with her, just as I had on the first night. In the morning she handed me another kerchief containing fifty mithqals of gold. I took them, went back to my storeroom, and buried them. This continued for eight days: every afternoon I went to her, and at daybreak I left. On the eighth night, while I was sleeping beside her, a slave girl came running in and said, “Get up! Go to that room upstairs!” I went up and found that it overlooked the street. As I sat there, I heard a great commotion and the clatter of horses in the alley. The room had a small window overlooking the gate, and I looked through it and saw a young man riding up, as handsome as the full moon on the night of its rising. Mamluks and soldiers walked before him in attendance. He came to the gate, dismounted, and entered the hall, where he found her sitting on the couch. He kissed the ground before her, then approached and kissed her hand, but she would not speak to him. He went on humbling himself before her until he had made his peace with her, and he slept beside her that night.’” But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she fell silent, leaving her tale untold.

When it was the two hundred and eighty-fifth night

She said, “It has reached me, O fortunate king, that when the young woman’s husband had made his peace with her, he slept beside her that night. The man continued: ‘In the morning his soldiers came for him, and he mounted and rode out through the gate. Then she came upstairs to me and said, “Did you see that man?” “Yes,” I replied. “He is my husband,” she said, “and I will tell you what happened between us. One day he and I were sitting in the little garden within the house, when he rose from my side and stayed away for a long while. I wondered what was keeping him and said to myself, ‘Perhaps he is in the privy.’ I went to the privy, but did not find him there. Then I entered the kitchen, saw a slave girl, and asked her where he was. She showed him to me, lying with one of the kitchen maids. At that I swore a mighty oath that I would commit adultery with the filthiest, foulest man I could find. On the day the eunuch seized you, I had spent four days searching the city for such a man, and I found no one filthier or fouler than you. So I had you brought to me, and what God decreed for us has come to pass. I have now fulfilled my oath.” Then she said, “Whenever my husband takes that girl and lies with her again, I shall bring you back to enjoy what you enjoyed with me.” When I heard these words, and she pierced my heart with the arrows of her glances, my tears flowed until my eyes were sore, and I recited these verses:

“Let me kiss your left hand ten times over, and acknowledge its merit above your right: for your left has more lately touched your arse when washing away the shit.” Then she ordered me to be shown out. In all, I had received four hundred mithqals of gold from her, and I have been living on them ever since. I came here to pray to God—glory be to Him, the Most High—that her husband might return to the slave girl once more, so that perhaps I might return to my former pleasures.’ When the commander of the pilgrimage heard the man’s story, he released him and said to those present, ‘I beg you, pray for him, for he has his excuse.’”