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47-3 - Niyaamaa
Bin Al-Rabiyaa and Naaomee:
Niyaamaa Meets Naaomee
According
to the arrangements set before, the woman came to Niyaamaa and took him to
the palace - she in the front and Niyaamaa behind her in the guise of a
woman. When the Caliph's servant tried to stop them, the woman said -
"She is the handmaid of Naaomee, the Caliph's favorite." The
servant allowed them to enter. They did not stop until they reached the
inner apartments where Naaomee was. Then she asked Niyaamaa to gather
courage and enter the Naaomee's chamber. She strictly instructed him not
to speak with anybody, nor to stop anywhere. She went with him up to the
door, the guard standing there asked her - "What kind of girl is
this?" "Our mistress wants to buy her." "But nobody
can enter without the Caliph's order, so you go back to him to bring his
orders, I cannot let
you pass here."
She
said - "O Servant, Use your brain, you know Naaomee, she has now
restored her health, and the Caliph is so happy about her. Now she wants
to buy this slave-girl, so don't stop her to go in, lest she knows about
it, gets angry and suffers a relapse. Because this may cause your head to
be cut off." Then she said to Niyaamaa - "Enter O Slave-girl,
Don't pay attention to him and do not tell the queen also that her guard
tried to stop you to enter."
Niyaamaa
bowed his head and entered the chamber. He should have turned towards his
left but he mistook the direction and he turned to his right. He counted
five doors and entered the sixth one. He found himself in a room richly
decorated with brocade and costly carpets. There was a couch kept on one
side of the room, he went in and seated himself there. As he was sitting, the
Caliph's sister followed by her hand-maid came in and took him as a
slave-girl, she asked him - "Who are you and why have you come
here?" He did not speak a word. She spoke again - "If you are
one of my brother's concubines and if he is angry with you, I will get you
his grace. Still he didn't answer anything. So she asked her slave-girl to
stand at the door and not to allow enter anybody there.
Then
she went to Niyaamaa and was amazed to look at his beauty and asked him -
"Tell me, who are you and what is your name, and how have you come
here, for I have never seen you in our palace. Still he did not answer. At
this she got angry. She put her hands on his bosom but found no
breasts. At this he said - "I am your slave, please protect me."
She said - "No harm will come to you, but tell me who are you and
who has brought you in my chamber?" He said - "My name is
Niyaamaa Bin Al-Rabiyaa of Koofaa and I have put my life on stake for my
slave-girl Naaomee, whom Al-Hajaj has brought here." The Caliph's
sister said - "Fear not, No harm will come to you." Then she
sent her slave-girl to Naaomee's chamber to tell her that her husband had
come to see her.
Meanwhile,
the old woman went to Naaomee's chamber and asked her if her husband came
there and she said "No. Maybe he has entered some other chamber and
is lost." Naaomee started weeping. The then the Princess' handmaid
came there and said to her - "My lady is calling you to her
banquet." Naaomee got up and walked behind her, the old woman also
followed her and said to her - "Maybe that your husband is with the
Princess and the secret is open." Naaomee went to the Princess, who
said to her - "Here is your husband sitting with me, it seems that he
has mistaken the place. But neither you nor he has to fear for
anything."
Naaomee
went to Niyaamaa to meet him and both fainted. When they came into senses,
the Princess said to them - "Sit down and we tell you how to get out
of this place to yours." The Princess said - "By Allaah, No harm
may fall upon you from us, trust me." Then she asked her handmaids to bring
food for them. They soon brought the food and all of them ate to their
satisfaction. Niyaamaa asked - "Where it would end?" The
Princess asked Niyaamaa - "Do you love Naaomee?" "I have
come here because of her only." Then she asked Naaomee - "Do you
love Niyaamaa?" "It was his love only which made me sick for all
these days."
Then
Naaomee asked for a lute (a musical instrument) and played it so lively
that it enchanted the hearers. She played it so long that the Caliph also came
there hearing it. Everybody got up and kissed the ground. As he saw
Naaomee playing the lute, he exclaimed - "Praised be Allaah, Who has
cured you?" Then he looked at Niyaamaa who was still in disguise of
the slave-girl. So he asked his sister - "Who is this?" She
replied - "You have a handmaid, one of your concubines and a good
friend of Naaomee who does not eat or drink without her." He said
"By Allah, She is as handsome as Naaomee. Tomorrow I will give her
another chamber, furniture and clothes etc in honor of Naaomee. Then the
Princess offered him food and he ate it in their company. After that they
cheered and laughed till mid-night.
Then
the Princess said - "Listen now to a story which I read in a book.
There lived a handsome Prince in the city of Koofaa, named Niyaamaa, son
of Al-Rabiyaa. He had a slave-girl named Naaomee whom he loved very much.
They had been brought up in one bed. When they grew up, the Time separated
them. She was kidnapped and sold to one of the kings for 10,000 Deenaar.
Now the girl loved her lord as much as her lord loved her. So he left his
house and set out to search for her. When he found her, he could reach
her, and her name was Naaomee, like this slave-girl. But their meeting
period was short that the King, who brought her from her kidnapper, came
in and hastily ordered them to be slain without doing justice to them. Now
what do you say, O King, of this King's wrong conduct?"
The Caliph
said - "This was indeed a strange thing. The King should have
pardoned them although he had the power to punish them. Besides he should
extend three favors to them - They loved each other, they were in his
house, and the third one, it is worthy for a King to judge a case after
thinking properly. While this King did an un-kingly deed." His sister
said to him - "O Brother, Whoever decides this he should abide it by his
decision. By deciding this you have decided against yourself."
She
then asked Niyaamaa and Naaomee to stand up. Then she said to her brother
- "This Naaomee is the same who was stolen by Al-Hajaj. He falsely
pretended in his letter that he bought her for 10,000 gold pieces. And
this other one who is standing beside her is her lord Niyaamaa. I request
you please pardon them and release them to be richly rewarded by Allaah in
the next world. They have eaten your food, and I beg you to pardon
them."
At
this the Caliph said - "You are speaking truth. I did give you the
judgment as you asked me, and I am not going to turn from it. O Naaomee,
Is he your lord?" "Yes, Sir." He said - "No harm will
fall on you, I give you each other. But O Niyaamaa, Who told you where she
was and showed you the way to come here?" Niyaamaa said -
"Because of your pious heart I will not hide anything from you."
And he told everything to him.
The
King asked his men to fetch the Persian physician. They brought him to him and he
was made a chief officer. He was bestowed robes of honor. Niyaamaa and
Naaomee were given loads of presents and lived there for seven days in
delight Then they left for Koofaa.
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