79-1 - Uns
Al-Vajood and the Vazeer's Daughter Al-Vard Fil-Akmaam:
Rose is in Love
Once
there was a King who was very powerful. His Vazeer's name was Ibraaheem
and he had an extraordinarily beautiful and brilliant daughter - Ar-Vard
fil-Akmaam. She
loved drinking, verses and rare stories. Her name was Rose-in-Hood, and
she was so named for her young and tender beauty. The King loved her in
his cups because of her fine manners.
Now it
was the King's annual custom to gather together all the nobles of the
kingdom and play with the ball (polo). So when the day came, the Vazeer's
daughter seated to see the game at her lattice and as the men were playing
ball, her glance fell on a youth among the guards who was also very handsome.
She looked at him again and again for he showed his white teeth while
smiling, he had a tall stature and broad shoulders. So she asked her nurse
- "Who is this young man? What is his name?" She said - "O
Dear, All the young men here are from troops. Which of them you are asking
for?" Rose said - "Wait till he comes here, then I will point
him out to you." She took an apple and as he rode by, she dropped it on
him. He immediately raised his head to see who did this to him and saw the Vazeer's daughter at the window. She was shining like a moon. He lost his
heart to her at the very same moment.
When
the game had finished and all had left the ground, she asked her nurse
again - "What is the name of that youth I showed to you."
"His name is Uns al-Vajood." she lay down on her couch and
sighed deeply for her love. She wrote some verse too on a sheet of paper
which she folded in a piece of gold embroidered silk and kept it under her
pillow.
One of
her nurses saw this, so she came up to her and talked to her till she had
slept. Then she stole the scroll from under her pillow and after reading
it knew that she had fallen in love with Uns al-Vajood. She kept the
scroll back at its place. When Rose got up, she said to her - "I am
your true counselor. Know that love is a fire which can melt even iron and
entails sickness and unease." Rose asked her - "And what is the
medicine of passion?" "Its medicine is enjoyment?" Rose
asked her - "And how one gets enjoyment?" She replied by writing
letters, sending messages and by greetings before the world. All these
things bring lovers together and make hard matters easy to communicate. So if you have
something in your heart, I am the fittest person to keep your
secret."
When
Rose heard this, her reason flew, but she controlled herself till she
should make sure, she said to herself - "Till now none knows about this,
nor will I trust this one with my secret, till I have tried her." The
nurse said to her - "I saw in my dream that a man came to me and said
- "Your mistress and Uns al-Wujood love each other so you serve them
by carrying their messages and keeping their secrets." I have told
you my vision, now it is you to decide."
Rose
said - "Can't you keep a secret?" She answered - "And how
should I not keep the secrecy, I am the flower of the tree." Then
Rose pulled out the scroll from under her pillow, on which she wrote the
verses and gave it to the nurse saying - "Carry me through this
letter to Uns al-Vajood and bring me his reply." The nurse took the
letter and went to Uns al-Vajood, kissed his hands, greeted him
courteously and gave him the paper. He read it and wrote back some verses
on the back of that paper. Then he folded the paper, kissed it gave to the
nurse to give it to her mistress. She took it and gave it to Rose, Rose
read it and wrote some verses at the foot of those verses. She also folded
the paper and gave it to her nurse to give it to Uns al-Vajood.
Now
when the nurse was taking the paper, she met the officer and he asked her
- "Where are you going?" "To the bath." But in her
fear and confusion, she dropped the letter unknowingly and went off
without thinking what she had done. One of the eunuchs saw it lying in the
way so he picked it up. When the nurse came to the door, she sought for it but
could not find it, so she turned back to her mistress and told her about
this.
Meanwhile
the Vazeer came out of the Haram and seated himself on a couch, that the
eunuch who had picked up the letter, came in holding it in his hand and
said - "O Lord, I found this paper lying upon the floor and picked it
up." The Vazeer took it, opened it, and read the verses written on
it. He understood their meaning, then he examined the writing and knew
that it was his daughter's. So he went her mother and wept a lot. His wife
asked him - "Why are you weeping so much?" He handed over that
letter to her. She took it and found it to be a love letter in her
daughter Rose's handwriting to Uns al-Vajood.
She
composed herself and said to her husband - "There is no use to weep.
The right course is to keep your honor and conceal the affair of you
daughter." And she went on comforting him. He said - "I fear for
my daughter because of this new passion, because you do not know that the
Sultaan loves Uns al-Vajood very much. and my fear has two causes: first
is for myself, it is that she is my daughter; and the second is because of
the King, that Uns al-Vajood is favorite of Sultaan, and great troubles
may come out of this affair. What do you say we should do?" She said
- "Have patience till I pray for the right direction."
So she
prayed a two-bow prayer to seek Divine guidance. After that she said to
her husband - "In the midst of the Sea of Treasures, there stands a
mountain named the Mount of Bereaved Mother, and nobody can go there
without suffering pains, distress and difficulties. You leave your
daughter there."
Accordingly
the Vazeer and his wife agreed to build a virgin castle to lodge their
daughter with necessary provision to be renewed each year and attendants
to serve her. So they gathered carpenters, builders and architects and
dispatched them to the mountain where they built an impregnable castle
never seen before. Then he made carriers ready for journey and going in to
his daughter by night asked her to proceed on a pleasure trip.
Hearing
this Rose became sad because of separation and wrote upon the door some
verses, so that her lover could know what has befallen on her such as
would make the flesh to shiver, hair to stare and hardest stone to melt
and tear from every eye a tear. After writing this she mounted and they
set forward with her till they came to the shore of the Sea of Treasures.
Here they pitched their tents and built a great ship to take her to that
mountain. When they had reached the mountain, the Vazeer asked his people
to set his daughter in the castle and come back to the shore where they
would breakup the vessel. They wept over what had befallen on them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Uns
al-Vajood rose in the morning and prayed his morning prayer, after which
he took his horse and went to the Sultaan. On the way he passed by the
Vazeer's house and he saw the verses written on the door by Rose. Reading
them, his senses failed him and he came back home where he passed his day
in excessive grief. As the night fell, he disguised himself in the rags
of a Faqeer and set out to wander in the night. He wandered all night and
till the Sun spread his heat all over. He saw a tree beside a stream of
cool water. He drank water and sat down under the shade of the tree.
Then
he again rose and wandered around till an extraordinary lion came upon
him. He gave himself up and turning towards the Temple of Makkaa. He
started reciting prayers usually read before death. He had read somewhere
in the books that if one flatters the lion, he can cheat him. So he
started saying - "O Lion of the forest, O Lord of the waste, O
Terrible Leo, I am a lover longing for my beloved, I have lost my
reasoning, that is why you hear my speech and be kind to me." When the
lion heard this, he drew back and sat on his hind legs, raised his head
and began to move his tail and paws.
Seeing
this Uns al-Vajood read some verses. When he had finished them the lion
rose, licked him with his tongue and walked on before him as if he was
asking him to follow him. So he followed him and they came upon a mountain
and he took him to the farthest side of the mountain where he came upon a caravan track
over the desert, and knew it to be that of Rose and her company. He took
the trail and the lion after making sure that he was following the track, went
away. Uns al-Vajood continued walking along the foot marks till he came to
dashing sea. The foot marks had disappeared after this point so he
understood that they took the ship from here. So he lost hope and read
some couplets.
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