Zgodba o drugem dekletu Amini

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Zgodba o drugem dekletu Amini

She said, “Commander of the Faithful, my father died and left a great fortune. A short time after his death, I married one of the most fortunate men of his day. I lived with him for a full year, and then he too died, leaving me eighty thousand dinars as my allotted share under the sacred law. I had ten outfits made, each costing a thousand dinars. One day, as I was sitting at home, an old woman came in. Her face was battered, her eyebrows plucked bare, her eyes bulging, her teeth broken, her nose running, and her neck crooked. As the poet said of her:

“An ill-starred crone whom Iblis, at a glance, would learn deceit from, though she spoke no word. So cunningly could she contrive to lead a thousand bolting mules with a spider’s thread. And as another poet said:

“An old woman, witchcraft in her very nature, who made permissible the most forbidden things: fingered as a child, sodomized as a maiden, a whore in middle age, a bawd when old. When the old woman entered, she greeted me and said, ‘I have an orphan girl in my care, and tonight I am holding her wedding feast. I have come to offer you a chance to earn merit and reward: attend her wedding, for she is brokenhearted and has no one but Almighty God.’ Then she wept and kissed my feet. Pity and compassion moved me, and I said, ‘Gladly.’ She said, ‘Make yourself ready. I shall come at nightfall and take you there.’ She kissed my hands and left. I rose and dressed and made my preparations. Presently the old woman returned and said, ‘My lady, the ladies of the city have arrived. I told them you were coming, and they were delighted. They are waiting for you.’ I got up, made myself ready, and took my slave girls with me. We walked until we reached a pleasant lane where a gentle breeze was blowing. There we saw a vaulted gateway crowned with a marble dome, solidly built, and beyond it a palace rising from the dust to hang among the clouds. When we reached the door, the old woman knocked. It was opened, and we went in. We found a passage spread with carpets, hung with burning lamps and shining candles, and adorned with jewels and precious metals. We walked along it until we entered a hall without equal, furnished with silken couches and lit with lamps and candles. At its far end stood a marble couch inlaid with pearls and gems, beneath a canopy of satin. A young woman, lovely as the moon, emerged from the canopy and said to me, ‘Welcome, a thousand welcomes, my sister! You have cheered me with your company and comforted my heart.’ Then she recited:

“‘Had this house known who had come to visit, it would have rejoiced, welcomed you, and kissed the ground beneath your feet. Its very being would have cried aloud: Welcome to the generous and noble!’ Then she sat down and said, ‘My sister, I have a brother who saw you at a wedding feast. He is a young man, handsomer than I am, and his heart has fallen deeply in love with you. He gave this old woman money to go to you, and she devised this trick so that I might meet you. My brother wishes to marry you according to the law of God and His Messenger, and there is no shame in what is lawful.’ When I heard her words and realized that I was secluded in the house, I said to the young woman, ‘Gladly.’ She rejoiced and clapped her hands. A door opened, and through it came a young man as lovely as the moon, just as the poet said:

“‘His beauty has grown greater—blessed be God! Exalted be He who fashioned and perfected him! He alone possesses all beauty; all mankind wanders bewildered by his loveliness. Beauty has written upon his cheek: I bear witness that none is fair but he.’ When I looked at him, my heart inclined toward him. He came and sat down, and then the judge entered with four witnesses. They greeted us and took their seats, drew up my marriage contract with the young man, and departed. The young man turned to me and said, ‘Blessed be our night!’ Then he said, ‘My lady, I have one condition to impose upon you.’ ‘My lord,’ I asked, ‘what is it?’ He rose, brought me a copy of the Qur’an, and said, ‘Swear to me that you will never choose another man over me or incline toward him.’ I swore to him, and he was overjoyed and embraced me. Love for him took complete possession of my heart. They brought us a meal, and we ate and drank our fill. When night fell, he took me to bed, and we lay in each other’s arms until morning. We continued in this way for a month, in happiness and delight. At the end of the month, I asked his leave to go to the market and buy some cloth, and he gave me permission. I dressed, took the old woman with me, and went down to the market. There I sat in the shop of a young merchant whom the old woman knew. She said to me, ‘This is a young fellow whose father died and left him a great fortune.’ Then she said to him, ‘Bring out your finest cloth for this young lady.’ ‘Gladly,’ he replied. The old woman began praising him, but I said, ‘We have no need of your praises. We only want to buy what we need from him and return home.’ He brought out what we asked for, and we offered him the money, but he refused to take anything. ‘Let this be my welcome to you today,’ he said. I told the old woman, ‘If he will not take the money, give him back his cloth.’ He said, ‘By God, I will take nothing from you. It is all a gift in return for a single kiss, which would be worth more to me than everything in my shop.’ The old woman said, ‘What good would a kiss do you?’ Then she turned to me and said, ‘My daughter, you have heard what this young man says. No harm will come to you if he takes a kiss, and you will get whatever you wish.’ ‘Do you not know that I have sworn an oath?’ I asked her. ‘Let him kiss you while you remain silent,’ she said. ‘You will have done nothing wrong, and you can keep the money.’ She kept making the matter seem harmless until she had drawn me into her snare and I agreed. I covered my eyes and screened myself from the people with the edge of my outer wrap. He slipped his mouth beneath it and pressed it to my cheek, but as he kissed me he bit so hard that he tore a piece of flesh from my cheek. I fainted, and the old woman caught me in her arms. When I came to, I found the shop closed and the old woman making a show of grief. ‘God has spared you something worse,’ she said. Then she added, ‘Come, let us go home. Pretend you are ill, and I shall bring you a medicine to treat the bite. It will heal quickly.’ An hour later I rose, distraught and terribly frightened, and walked home, where I made a show of being ill. My husband came in and said, ‘What happened to you on this outing, my lady?’ ‘I am unwell,’ I replied. He looked at me and asked, ‘What is this wound on your cheek, in such a tender place?’ I said, ‘When I went out today with your permission to buy cloth, a camel loaded with firewood pushed against me. It tore my veil and wounded my cheek, as you see, for the streets of this city are narrow.’ ‘Tomorrow,’ he said, ‘I shall go to the governor and complain, and he will hang every firewood seller in the city.’ ‘For God’s sake,’ I said, ‘do not take upon yourself the guilt of harming anyone! I was riding a donkey, and it bolted and threw me to the ground. I struck a piece of wood, which scratched and wounded my cheek.’ He said, ‘Tomorrow I shall go to Ja‘far al-Barmaki and tell him the story, and he will put every donkey driver in this city to death.’ ‘Will you kill everyone on my account?’ I asked. ‘What happened to me was by God’s will and decree!’ ‘It must be done,’ he said. He pressed me fiercely, then sprang to his feet and gave a tremendous shout. A door opened, and seven black slaves came out. They dragged me from my bed and flung me into the middle of the courtyard. He ordered one of them to hold me by the shoulders and sit on my head, and another to sit on my knees and hold my feet. A third came forward with a sword in his hand and said, ‘My lord, shall I strike her with the sword and cut her in two? Then each of us can take a piece and throw it into the Tigris for the fish to eat.’ ‘Such is the reward of one who betrays her oaths and her love,’ said my husband, and he recited:

“‘If another shares the one I love, I shall deny my soul its love and let longing destroy me. I shall say to it: O soul, die with honor, for there is no good in a love shared with a rival.’ Then he said to the slave, ‘Strike her, Sa‘d!’ The slave drew his sword and said, ‘Pronounce the profession of faith. Remember any last wishes you may have and make your will, for your life is at an end.’ I said to him, ‘Good slave, grant me a little time to declare my faith and make my last wishes known.’ Then I raised my head and considered my plight, and how I had fallen from honor into humiliation. My tears flowed, and I wept and recited these verses:

“‘You brought about our parting, then sat at ease; you kept my wounded eyes awake while you slept. Your dwelling is between my heart and eyes: my heart cannot forget you, nor can my tears be hidden. You pledged that you would remain faithful, but once you possessed my heart, you betrayed me. You had no pity for my longing and my anguish. Do you think yourselves safe from the blows of fate? I beg you by God, if I die, write upon my gravestone: Here lies one enslaved by love. Perhaps some sorrowing soul who knows love’s burning pain will pass the lover’s grave and take pity.’ When I had finished my verses, I wept. But when he heard the poetry and saw my tears, his anger only increased, and he recited these two lines:

“‘I left my heart’s beloved, not from weariness, but for a fault that called for us to part. My love desired another partner in our bond, but the faith within my heart admits no partners.’ When he had finished, I wept and pleaded for his mercy. I thought to myself, ‘I shall humble myself before him and speak gently. Perhaps he will spare my life, even if he takes everything I own.’ Then I told him of my suffering and recited these verses:

“‘By all you mean to me, were you just, you would not kill me; but in the judgment of separation there is no justice. You have burdened me with the weight of love, though I am too frail and weak to bear even my shirt. It is no wonder that my soul should perish; I wonder only how my body can endure without you.’ When I had finished my verses, I wept. He looked at me, rebuked and cursed me, then recited:

“‘You have neglected us for others’ company and openly forsaken us: this was not our way. We shall leave you, since you have abandoned what we sought, and bear your absence as you have borne ours. We shall love others, since you have turned elsewhere, and let the severing of our bond come from you, not us.’ When he had finished, he shouted to the slave, ‘Cut her in two! She is of no use to us.’ As the slave approached, I knew death was certain. I gave up all hope of life and entrusted myself to Almighty God. Just then the old woman came in, flung herself at the young man’s feet, and kissed them. ‘My son,’ she said, ‘by the care I gave you as I raised you, forgive this young woman. She has committed no sin deserving such a punishment. You are still young, and I fear the power of her prayers against you.’ The old woman wept and pleaded with him until he said, ‘I have pardoned her, but I must leave a mark upon her that will show for the rest of her life.’ He ordered the slaves to strip off my clothes, brought a rod of quince wood, and began beating my body. He went on striking my back and sides until I lost consciousness from the blows and despaired of my life. Then he ordered the slaves, when night fell, to carry me away, taking the old woman with them, and throw me into the house where I had lived before. They did as their master commanded and cast me into my house. I tended myself and treated my wounds, but when I recovered, my ribs were still marked as though they had been beaten with whips, as you can see. I continued treating myself for four months until I was healed. Then I went to the house where all this had happened, but found it in ruins. The lane had been demolished from end to end, and where the house had stood were heaps of rubble. I did not know why this had been done. So I came to this sister of mine, who shares my father, and found these two dogs with her. I greeted her and told her my story and everything that had happened to me. She said, ‘Who is safe from the calamities of time? Praise be to God, who brought you safely through!’ Then she told me her own story and all that had happened between her and her two sisters. She and I settled down together and never let the word marriage pass our lips. Later this young woman, the market shopper, joined us, and every day she goes out to buy whatever provisions we need. We lived in this way until last night, when our sister went out as usual to buy our supplies. Then came the porter and the mendicants, and you yourselves arrived in the guise of merchants. Today, before we knew it, we found ourselves standing before you. Such is our story.” The caliph marveled at this tale and had it recorded and deposited in his treasury. Dawn overtook Shahrazad, and she fell silent, leaving her tale untold.

When the eighteenth night came

She said, “I have heard, O fortunate King, that the caliph ordered the story to be entered in the records and placed in the royal treasury. Then he said to the first young woman, ‘Do you know anything of the female ifrit who enchanted your sisters?’ ‘Commander of the Faithful,’ she replied, ‘she gave me some of her hair and said, “Whenever you wish me to appear, burn a little of this hair, and I shall come to you at once, even if I am beyond Mount Qaf.”’ The caliph said, ‘Bring me the hair.’ The young woman brought it, and the caliph took it and burned a little. As its scent rose, the palace shook, and they heard a roaring and a clanging. Then the jinni appeared. She was a Muslim, and she said, ‘Peace be upon you, Caliph of God.’ ‘And upon you be peace, and God’s mercy and blessings,’ he replied. She said, ‘Know that this young woman has done me a kindness I can never repay. She saved me from death and killed my enemy. When I saw what her sisters had done to her, I could think only of avenging her upon them. I turned them into two dogs, though at first I had intended to kill them, but feared that their deaths would grieve her. If you wish to free them, Commander of the Faithful, I shall do so out of respect for you and for her, for I am a Muslim.’ He said, ‘Set them free. After that we shall take up the matter of the young woman who was beaten and investigate her case. If I find she has spoken the truth, I shall avenge her upon the man who wronged her.’ The ifrit said, ‘Commander of the Faithful, I shall tell you who did this to the young woman, wronging her and taking her property. He is one of those closest to you.’ Then the ifrit took a bowl of water, pronounced an incantation over it, and sprinkled the dogs’ faces, saying, ‘Return to your former human shapes.’ They became two young women again—glory be to their Creator! Then she said, ‘Commander of the Faithful, the man who beat the young woman was your son al-Amin. He had heard of her beauty and loveliness.’ The ifrit told him everything that had happened to the young woman. He marveled and said, ‘Praise be to God, who has brought about the deliverance of these two dogs through me!’ Then the caliph summoned his son al-Amin and questioned him about the young woman’s story, and he told him the truth. The caliph sent for the judges, the witnesses, and the three mendicants. He also summoned the first young woman and her two sisters, who had been enchanted in the shape of dogs, and married the three women to the three mendicants, who had told them they had once been kings. He made the men his chamberlains, gave them everything they needed, and lodged them in the palace at Baghdad. He restored the beaten young woman to his son al-Amin, gave her a great deal of money, and ordered that her house be rebuilt more splendidly than before. Then the caliph married the young woman who did the shopping and slept with her that night. In the morning he assigned her a separate residence, with slave girls to serve her, granted her an allowance, and had a palace built for her.”