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83-1 - Noor
al-Deen Alee and the Damsel Anees al-Jalees
Noor Takes Anees
"There
was a king, among the Kings of Basaraa, who loved the poor and needy and
cared for their needs. His name was King Muhammad bin-Sulaimaan al-Zainee.
He had two Vazeers - al-Mueen, the son of Shaavee; and al-Fazal, the son
of Khaakaan. Now al-Fazal was very generous of the people of his age so
that all people loved him, wise came to take advice from him, and they
prayed for his long life; whole the Vazeer al-Mueen bin-Shaavee hated
folks, did not love people and was a bundle of evils. So as much as the
people loved al Fazal they hated al-Mueen.
It so
happened one day that the King Muhammad was sitting on his throne, that he
summoned his Vazeer al-Fazal and said to him - "I wish to have a very
beautiful and skilled slave girl." The courtiers said - "Such a
girl is not be bought for less than 10,000 gold pieces." At this the
King called his treasurer and asked him to give 10,000 gold pieces from
his treasury to al-Fazal bin-Khaakaan. The treasurer gave the money and
the Minister went away.
Now he
used to go to the slave market daily and entrusted a broker for this
purpose. At the same time the King issued an order that girls worth over
1,000 gold pieces should not be bought or sold without being first
displayed to the Vazeer. So no broker purchased any slave girl worth over
1,000 without been paraded before the Minister, and none pleased the
Minister, till one day a dealer came to his house and found him taking the
horse to the King's palace. So he caught hold him and said to him -
"To whoever you are seeking, is at last found. She is here with
me."
So he
went and came back in a short while along with a beautiful girl of super
stature, five feet tall, clad in richest clothes. When the Vazeer saw her,
he admired her a lot and asked her price. The dealer said - "Her
market value is 10,000 Deenaars, but her owner swears that this sum will
not cover the cost of the chickens she has eaten, the wine she has drunk,
and the dresses bestowed upon her instructor, for she has learned
calligraphy and syntax and etymology, the commentaries of the Quraan, the
principles of religion, the canons of medicines etc etc."
The
Vazeer said - "Bring her master to me." The dealer brought her
master to the Vazeer. He was a very old Persian. The Vazeer asked him -
"Are you satisfied to sell this girl to the Sultaan for 10,000 gold
pieces?" He said - "By Allaah, If I offer her to the Sultaan
even for
nothing, it will be an honor for me." The Vazeer asked his man to
bring the money and weighed it to the owner. After taking the money, the
owner said - "I have to say one thing to you." "What?"
"That you should not carry this girl to the Sultaan today, because
she has just come here from a journey - the change of air has affected
her. Keep her in your palace for some 10 days, that she may recover her
looks and become again as she was. Then give her a nice warm bath, adorn
her in richest clothes and jewelry and then take her to the Sultaan."
The
Vazeer thought for a while and then approved the wisdom of the owner. So
he carried her to her private room, allowed her to have whatever she
wanted, and thus she stayed there for a while.
Now
the Vazeer had a son like a Full Moon. He did not know anything about the affair of the
girl. His father said to the girl - "Know O my daughter, That I have
bought you as a bedfellow of the King Muhammad, and I have a son who is
Satan for girls and leaves no maiden in neighborhood without enjoying her,
so be on your guard against him. Do not show him your face or let him hear
your voice." The girl said "OK".
After
a few days it so happened by the decree of Destiny, that the girl went to
take bath in the house, where some of the slave women bathed her and put
on her beautiful clothes and jewelry. This increased her beauty multifold
Then she went to the Vazeer's wife, kissed her hand. The Vazeer's wife
said - "O Anees al-Jalees, Are not our baths beautiful?"
"Except that I lacked your presence." So the Vazeer's wife said
to her slave women - "Come with us to bath, because it is quite a few
days since we went there."
So
they all went to the bath. She set two little slave girls at the door of
the private chamber where al-Jalees was there and said to them -
"Keep watch that none should go in." Presently the son of Vazeer,
Noor al-Deen Alee, came there and asked them about her mother and her
women. The girls replied - "They are in the bath." But Anees al-Jalees
had heard Noor al-Deen's voice from within. So she thought - "Oh,
This is the youth against whom the Vazeer had warned me that he does not
leave any girl in the neighborhood. I must see him once. So she sprang on
her feet, fresh from the bath, looked at Noor al-Deen and saw a youth like
a Full Moon. She took a thousand sighs. The young man also looked at her
and thousands of thoughts of care crept in his mind.
At
this he stepped up a little forward and cried out at those two little
girls. They got scared and stood aside. Noor walked towards Anees' door
and opening it asked her - "Are you the one, my father has bought for
me?" and she answered "Yes". At this he embraced her and
had her. When the two little girls saw this, they cried out and shrieked.
Seeing this the youth ran away with the fear of his ill-doing. Hearing the
shrieks of the slave girls, the Vazeer's wife also came out and asked them
- "What happened?"
They
said - "Noor al-Deen came and beat us, so we fled. Then he went to
Anees al-Jaees and embraced her. After this we don't know what he did
after that." So the lady went to Anees al-Jalees and asked her
"What happened?" She said - "As I was sitting here, a
handsome young man came in and asked me - "Are you the one, my father
has bought for me?" and I answered "Yes", because By Allaah,
I believed his words. He immediately came in and embraced me."
"Did he do anything else with you except this?" "Indeed, he
did, and he did it only three times." "So he did not leave even
you without dishonoring you."
The
Vazeer's wife wept and cried at this with the fear that the Vazeer might
kill him for this offence. In the meantime the Vazeer also came there and
asked them what was the matter. His wife said - "Swear, What I will
say to you you will listen to it carefully." He said, "I
will." Then she told him what his son had done. The Vazeer became
very sad at this, he beat his face. His wife consoled him - "Don't
kill yourself. I will give you 10,000 Deenaars of my own
money." He cried - "I don't need your money, I fear for my life,
lest it goes with money." She asked "How?" The
Vazeer said - "You don't know that here is our enemy - al-Mueen. As
soon as he will hear this, he will go to the Sultaan."
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