The Man of Wiles in Popular Arabic Literature: A Study of a Medieval Arab Hero 9780748645039

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THE MAN OF WILES IN POPULAR ARABIC LITERATURE

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THE MAN OF WILES IN POPULAR ARABIC LITERATURE a study of A medieval arab hero

MALCOLM C. LYONS

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© Malcolm C. Lyons, 2012 Edinburgh University Press Ltd 22 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LF www.euppublishing.com Typeset in JaghbUni Regular by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire, and printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 0 7486 4502 2 (hardback) ISBN 978 0 7486 4503 9 (Webready PDF) ISBN 978 0 7486 5420 8 (epub) ISBN 978 0 7486 5419 4 (Amazon ebook) The right of Malcolm C. Lyons to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Contents

List of Sources Introduction

vi vii

CHAPTER 1 Section 1: ʿAli al-Zaibaq Section 2: Sirat ʿAntar

1 1 17

CHAPTER 2 Section 1: Qissat al-Zir Salim Section 2: Sirat Bani Hilal

28 28 35

CHAPTER 3 Section 1: Hamzat al-Pahlawan Section 2: Qissat Firuz Shah Section 3: Saif b. Dhi Yazan

43 43 71 88

CHAPTER 4 Dhat al-Himma

95

CHAPTER 5 Section 1: Sirat Baibars Section 2: Shiha

147 147 164

CHAPTER 6 Analysis and Conclusion

215

Index of Names

247

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Sources

Kitab al-Muqaddam ʿAli al-Zaibaq, Cairo, n.d. Sirat ʿAntar b. Shaddad, Cairo, 1962 (8 vols) Sirat al-Zahir Baibars, Cairo, n.d. (5 vols) Sirat al-Amira Dhat al-Himma, Cairo, n.d. (70 parts) Sirat Bani Hilal al-Kubra, Beirut, n.d. Taghribat Bani Hilal, Beirut, n.d. Qissat Firuz Shah b. al-Malik Darab, Beirut, n.d. (4 vols) Qissat al-Amir Hamzat al-Pahlawan, Cairo, n.d. (4 vols) Qissat Faris al-Yaman al-Malik Saif b. Dhi Yazan, Cairo, n.d. (4 vols) Qissat al-Zir, Cairo, 1871 Qissat al-Zir Abi Laila al-Muhalhil, Beirut, n.d.

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Introduction

Attempts to interpret or define any given civilisation may not unreasonably appear presumptuous or at best a labour of Sisyphus. The size of the structures involved and the complexity of their ingredients are not unlike the sand from which the Scottish wizard Michael Scott required his restless servant to make ropes. This does not mean, however, that their elements, the individual grains of sand, should not or cannot be studied. In such investigations the various fields of history, including those of religious, political and economic development, clearly have major parts to play, as have both geographical imperatives and social factors. Amongst all these, however, it is literature that has the most immediately audible voice. In the case of Arabic literature scholarship has naturally focused on the literary heritage of ‘pure’ Arabic, derived from the pre-Islamic and early Islamic Arabian Peninsula, and preserved as a badge of identity during the Umaiyad and ʿAbbasid caliphates. The works of its authors reflect the views and concerns of those who were trying to preserve their position as the dominant class in an increasingly diverse society in which Arabs found themselves so numerically diminished that they could be described as the white blaze on the body of a black bull. By contrast, in this society popular literature, whatever its roots, could prosper only through an appeal to a mass audience of mixed backgrounds that had a smaller share in the interests of the elite. Like the Commedia dell’ Arte, popular Arabic story-telling was dependent on characters defined by their roles, rather than developed by the insights of their creators. They can be seen as influenced by improvisation, but in the main they represent an almost spontaneous formulation of the ambitions and thoughts of an otherwise inarticulate audience. Unlike conscious products of learning and

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creativity, on their own level they reflect rather than direct the culture into which they were born. Given the enormous bulk of material available, it is not surprising that the Arab characters range beyond the Pantaloons, Captains, Harlequins, Inamoratas and Soubrettes of the Commedia, but their identities are still circumscribed. Some of them have been familiar to European readers since Galland’s translation of the Arabian Nights, but the Arabian Nights and the tales loosely connected with it form no more than one species of a genus. The majority of the works recited by the Cairene story-tellers of Edward Lane’s day, and described by him in his classic An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, fall more naturally into the category of hero legends.1 Studies of any aspect in this field face a number of immediate difficulties. The significance of written copies of the texts is shown by the Arabian Nights in the story of the search for a version of the narrative of Saif al-Muluk, as well as in conventional references to the copying and storing of memorable tales. To set against this, because of the oral element and the accretive nature of the traditions there can be no ur-text from which all later copies are derived, but rather there is an accumulation of variously reported anecdotes that may vary as widely in their coverage of the same event, as The Ballad of Chevy Chase differs from The Ballad of Otterburn. In this context, Lane notes the licence to extemporise enjoyed by the story-tellers/reciters, a process familiar to students of the works of Lord and Parry. The texts themselves contain duplicates of Biblical stories and ben trovato anecdotes found in Herodotus. They preserve vestiges of old gods and goddesses, and these, together with folklore motifs, link them directly to the outside world in a way in which ‘classical’ Arabic literature does not. For dating, in the case of tribal records rough approximations may be possible. Elsewhere, as with the Sirat Baibars, there can be a clear terminus a quo, but in view of the accretions this is of little more use than the recognition that in the case of the Iliad this terminus is the siege of Troy. In spite of the reservations that this background must introduce, a number of points are obvious. Hero cycles, whatever their origin, must necessarily have a hero. He may be a champion, a Roland or an ʿAntar, or a king, like Arthur, Charlemagne or Vladimir, the ‘Little Sun’ of Kiev, but, whatever his setting, it is he who is allowed to direct the narrative. In order that this may be provided with tension he must have an opponent of stature, whether this is a sympathetic figure such as that of Hector, or a treacherous and despicable Ganelon, while the longer his recorded career extends, the more secondary characters, both male and female, cluster around him. In the Arabic texts, however, between him and these secondary figures another less obvious, and apparently less necessary, character

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Introduction

ix

continually intrudes, who, for the sake of convenience, is presented here as the Man of Wiles. The conventional epithet, Man of Wiles, was applied to Odysseus, whose roles include those of champion, wanderer and favourite of the goddess Athene, who helped him change his shape. He was the ‘sacker of cities’, whose bow none of Penelope’s suitors could bend, and who won the foot race at the funeral games of Patroclus. Greek, however, is far from being the only culture apart from Arabic in which these characteristics are developed. It has been noted of the Sumerian god, Enki, that his contests ‘are nearly always tests of cunning and magic’.2 It was Enki amongst whose gifts was ‘the art of dissimulation’,3 and this is an art that has been widely investigated on various levels. Among its practitioners is the Trickster, described in relation to North American Winnebago story-telling as representing ‘the spirit of anarchy and disorder’, who ‘breaks the most important Winnebago taboos not only with impunity but also with sympathy’.4 There is the Tibetan smyon-pa, the mad saint, whose inspiration frees him from all conventions.5 In some of his characteristics the character is akin to Enid Welsford’s Fool,6 or to Charlemagne’s companion, Basin the thief. He may rise to a heroic level, as where Rambaud wrote of the Russian Volga, the son of the snake: ‘il connait toutes les ruses et toutes les artifices de la magie divine; il sait toutes les langues’. It was Volga who possessed ‘le don de prendre à volonté toute espèce de forme, attribué aussi à Loki’.7 Similarly, Dumézil describes Syrdon of the Nartes as being able to go to another world and return when he wants.8 The purpose of the present work is to investigate Arabic avatars of this character and what relationship, if any, they have not only to each other but to their possible relatives in other literatures, and in addition to consider the purpose that they serve. This could be introduced through an investigation of shared characteristics, but it is proposed here to follow the technique used by Dumézil in his Loki, and to set out in some detail the contexts in which the characters occur before any attempt is made to draw conclusions. Of the story cycles covered a number have a tribal basis. The Sirat ʿAntar is concerned with the glory of the Banu ʿAbs; the Sirat Dhat al-Himma deals with the Banu Kilab and their rivalry with the Banu Sulaim; the various accounts of the Banu Hilal extend to cover their move to North Africa, while references in them to the Qissat al-Zir cover feuds between the clans of Bakr and Taghlib. As well as these tribal tales there is a lengthy cycle based on the career of the Mamluk Sultan Baibars. The Qissat al-Amir Hamzat al-Pahlawan revolves around an Arab hero who defeats the Persian empire, and in the Qissat Firuz Shah an equally fictional Persian hero lords it over the Arabs. Finally, the unhistorical world-conqueror Saif b. Dhi Yazan ends as master of both men and jinn.

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Depending on their background, the settings for these tales range from the desert to the city, but while their origins may favour the former, the audiences described by Lane are city dwellers, and it is unsurprising that the one major character who plays a role in the predominantly urban Arabian Nights and whose exploits are expanded into a cycle of his own is the street-wise ʿAli al-Zaibaq. It is with a summary of his exploits in this cycle that the investigation begins. Note: Superscript numbers are used throughout this work to indicate sources and round brackets, ( ), give references. 1. An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, London, John Murray, 1860, p. 391. Cf. Einhard, Vita Caroli Magni, 29: ‘barbara et antiquissima carmina, quibus veterum regum actus et bella canebantur memoriaeque mandavit’. 2. S. N. Kramer and J. Maier, Myths of Enki, The Crafty God, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1989 , p. 2. 3. Kramer and Maier, Myths of Enki, p. 62. 4. A. R. Velie, American Indian Literature, Norman, OK, University of Oklahoma Press, 1991, p. 57. 5. R. Stein, Recherches sur l’Epopée et la Bardeau Tibet, Paris, 1959, p. 490. 6. The Fool, London, Faber & Faber, 1935. 7. La Russie Epique, Paris, 1876, pp. 32–3. 8. Loki, Paris, Flammarion 1986, p. 217.

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Chapter

1 Chapter 1 Section 1: ʿAli al-Zaibaq

Section 1: ʿAli al-Zaibaq

In the compilation of his adventures ʿAli al-Zaibaq is not only a Man of Wiles, but is at times to be seen as a diminutive version of the heroic ʿAbd al-Wahhab in the Sirat Dhat al-Himma, who, with his mother, represents irresistible force. In the case of ʿAli al-Zaibaq, his mother was the daughter of the qadi of the Fayyum, whose two brothers, surprisingly in view of their father’s position, were thieves. After they had struck her for not opening a door for them, she went out, disguised as a bedouin, and robbed them. She then claimed that life in the Fayyum was too restricted and the family moved to Cairo, where the Lady Zainab, a Cairene saint, told her in a dream that she was to marry Hasan Ra’s al-Ghul, a leading figure in the underworld, and give birth to a son who would be the supreme trickster of Egypt and Syria. For her part she told Hasan that she would not marry him until he became police chief of Cairo in place of his rival, Salah al-Kalbi, which he succeeded in doing. On her wedding night she challenged her bridegroom to a duel and they fought until morning, leaving her attendants and the singing girls to say: ‘we have never heard of a wedding like this’. Hasan was then advised to drug her, after which, as happened to the mother of ʿAbd al-Wahhab, he deflowered her while she was unconscious. In accordance with narrative convention, she conceived instantly and she told Hasan that she would not allow him to lie with her again for nine months. During this time Hasan tried to sleep with Salah’s slavegirl, Khaizuran, who promptly poisoned him and made her escape. Before dying he told Fatima that her son must avenge him. The pregnant Fatima moved to a cave where, without the aid of a midwife, she gave birth to a boy, ʿAli, who was as big as a one-year-old child. What follows recalls Serbo-Croatian legends, where a supernatural being, the vila, can

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become a hero’s possestrina, or ‘sister-in-God’. One of Hasan’s freed slaves, Salim, came to see the child, but it was nowhere to be found. An hour later, it was heard crying and was discovered wearing ‘a robe from a treasure chamber’, together with a jewelled necklace, while its body was smeared with what looked like gleaming quicksilver (zaibaq). The explanation was that the wife of a jinn king, who lived in the Mountains of the Moon by the sources of the Nile, was pregnant, and a soothsayer had predicted that her daughter, Sisban, would be saved by ʿAli from a marid. It was because of this that he had been briefly carried off to her, and on his return Salim captured a lioness, whose milk was used to nurture him, a motif repeated in the Qissat al-Zir (24–29). At an early stage the young ʿAli was taught the Quran by his grandfather, Abu Nur, but his schooldays were characterised by a defiance of authority. He pelted his sleeping schoolteacher with date stones, stole a dish of his cream in spite of having been told that it was poisoned, and got him to fall down a well. Finally, he accused him to his wife of being a pederast, while telling him that she had been caught sleeping with a deformed man. In spite of all this his grandfather found that he could recite the whole of the Quran as ‘he had an insight into what was hidden’. Attempts to apprentice him to a weaver, a potter, a harness-maker and a Jew all failed, and eventually he collected a gang of boys and chased away a force sent against him by the police-chief, Salah (29–34). ʿAli’s metier turned out to be that of trickery and deception, but to underline his moral acceptability, the Lady Zainab appeared again to Fatima in a dream, telling her to send him to Ahmad al-Danaf in Alexandria and saying that he would become police-chief in Cairo, this being the summit of his ambition. On his arrival in Alexandria he first had to negotiate a deadly trap at Ahmad’s door, and the man who greeted him almost pulled off his hand when he grasped it. Among his preliminary tests was to go alone to a desolate place where he was confronted by an ʿifrīt, which disappeared when he called on Zainab’s name. He was then taken on as an apprentice by Ahmad and among the skills he acquired was that of the use of drugs and their antidotes, as well as how to throw a grapnel to help him scale walls. Before graduating he had to fight with a club against Ahmad’s band, climb into a villa to steal money, and bore a hole through a shop wall in order to remove butter and honey. At the end of all this, on his way back to Cairo he was met by a dervish, whom he recognised as Ahmad and who had designed this as a final test of his powers of observation (36–38). On his return to Cairo he began to play tricks on Salah. In one of these he dressed as a girl, supposedly taking refuge from a forced marriage. ‘She’ asked Salah for a hundred dinars, but Salah said to himself that, after lying with her, he would kill her and take back the money. ʿAli bastinadoed him and proceeded to drug the sultan’s Jewish doctor before taking his place, and when Salah retired

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to a closely guarded mansion, he managed to draw off the guards, break in, drug him and beat him ‘without mercy’. In a more complicated plot he dressed as a Jew and stole one of the possessions of a dead girl which had been offered for sale. The women of the quarter swore to kill any Jew who went there, and Salah, who came disguised as a Jew, thinking that he was on the track of stolen goods, was savagely beaten and taken before the sultan to have his hand cut off for theft (38–41). ʿAli’s next victim was the wali, a pederast, who saw the disguised Fatima beating a boy whom she claimed to be her late husband’s mamluk, but who was, in fact, ʿAli. She sold him for fifty dinars, and he drugged and beat his purchaser, as well as plundering his goods. When, after more tricks, Fatima told ʿAli to give Salah a rest, he went to work in a bath house, but Salah visited it, wanted to lie with him and was drugged and beaten for his pains. ʿAli then disguised himself as a girl, who passed a note to Salah and signed to him to follow ‘her’, an adventure which ended in another beating for the would-be seducer (42–45). Finally, in this sequence two common motifs of popular literature are combined. In the first of these ʿAli found a man sleeping with his head on his mother’s lap, only for this to turn out to be her brother. Uncle and nephew went to raid the house of the vizier, where Salah had prepared a trap filled with pitch. The uncle was caught and, as in the famous story of Rhampsinitus,1 he told ʿAli to cut off his head, so that his body would not be recognised. ʿAli subsequently used drugs to have Salah’s son substituted for the supposed criminal. After this he presented himself to the sultan, who told him: ‘your father was a brother to me’ (46–48). Up to this point, ʿAli’s on-goings in Alexandria and Cairo fit into the pattern of the master-thief, but, as had been marked out at his birth, his role now changes to that of the hero who can fight both men and jinn. He entered a bath house, from which he had been asked by Salah to remove jinn, and was met by smoke and flame. In it he found his jinn ‘sister’, Sisban, who had been kidnapped by the son of the Red King, and, when the kidnapper fell asleep, ʿAli killed him. He himself was later seized and taken to the Red King, from whom he had to be rescued by Sisban’s father. Sisban herself brought him back to the bath house, where the kidnapper’s body was put in the furnace. Salah and his men thought that it was ʿAli who had been killed, and they washed what was left of the corpse in boiling water (48–50). Later, again on Salah’s prompting, ʿAli was asked to fetch a crystal box made by Greek philosophers, and Lady Zainab appeared in a dream, telling him to go. On his way he cut off the ears of two suitors of Salah’s daughter, and in the manner of a true hero, he rescued a second kidnapped princess from a cave. In her father’s city he rescued another ʿAli, who was being led to execution, and for

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three days the two of them fought off two hundred men before the king, Bandar Khan, learnt of what had happened to his daughter (51–54). After his daughter had been returned to him, he told ʿAli of the whereabouts of the box, to reach which he would have to cross two quicksilver seas, an obstacle faced by another Man of Wiles, Shiha, in the Sirat Baibars, and, as with Judar in the Arabian Nights, he would be confronted by a simulacrum of his mother, which guarded the treasure. He prayed to Zainab and she gave him a green palm branch, something shown in the Sirat Baibars to have magic qualities. He overcame all the difficulties and brought down the box, which had been suspended a hundred cubits above him, only to discover that his camels had died after drinking from the quicksilver sea and that he had no provisions for the seven-month journey back to the ship that had brought him from Bandar Khan’s city. Here his connection not just with the world of the jinn but with the superior dimension of sanctity is again emphasised by the reappearance of Zainab, who told ʿAli to pick up the box and who then, with a single push, returned him instantly to his ship (54–57). On his way home from Bandar Khan’s city he fell into a number of traps set by Salah, the point of the anecdotes being to show the superior skill of his mother, who came to his rescue in various disguises, including that of Salah’s own wife, and such was his reputation that when he eventually approached Cairo, the Cairenes came out in procession to greet him. The caliph Harun wanted the box that he had brought and, in return for it, to the annoyance of the scheming Dalila, who was to be his main opponent, ʿAli asked for favour to be shown to Ahmad al-Danaf. Dalila had been in the habit of receiving money from police chiefs throughout the lands of the caliphate, and when nothing came from Egypt she sent one of her agents to Salah, who explained that he had been deposed. ʿAli then cut off the man’s ears and when Dalila brought a complaint to Harun’s court, Ahmad al-Danaf promised to resign his position if she could get the better of ʿAli in a contest of cunning (58–64). This introduces the struggle between two protagonists, both of whom operate outside the bonds of conventional morality and while one sinks ever deeper into villainy, the other is confirmed in his association with sainthood. At first the contest is presented as a game of skill, governed by rules. Ahmad al-Danaf had made it a condition that, before it began, ʿAli should see Dalila’s real face, but when she went to Cairo Salah told her that, if she agreed to this, she would never be able to trick him. As a result, she ignored the condition and checked on ʿAli by dressing as an old woman carrying chickens in a basket and allowing them to escape outside his headquarters. She spent four months familiarising herself with the by-ways of Cairo and then began on a series of

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tricks marked at the start by the murder of a child whose head was cut off as the child was being carried through the streets on its father’s shoulder. ʿAli asked the father why he had tied a string of ornaments around the baby’s head – ‘don’t you know what it is like in Cairo?’ – but was told that, while the citizens had been frightened during Salah’s time in office, now that ʿAli was in charge they had felt safe (64–65). What follow are anecdotes transferred to Baghdad in the Arabian Nights. Dalila cheated a jeweller out of his goods by leaving a kidnapped child whom he took as surety. ʿAli dressed as a mamluk and Dalila got money from the wife of an emir by pretending to sell him to her, and she then murdered a female soothsayer to whom he had gone for help. In the story of the childless wife who is persuaded to strip by Dalila’s claim that if her mad son touched her, she would instantly become pregnant, ʿAli himself is introduced and loses his clothes. The woman loses her jewellery and exclaims: ‘this was worth a thousand dinars and my husband will kill me if he hears about it’. As in the Arabian Nights, she removes the contents of a dyer’s shop, steals a donkey, and arranges for the donkey-driver’s teeth to be pulled out (65–72). Fatima had told ʿAli that Dalila was at work but he had not believed it, thinking that Ahmad al-Danaf would have sent him word. Fatima suggested that perhaps Ahmad had given a note to Dalila to pass to him, and she went on to remark that ‘birds of a feather flock together’ and that Dalila must be staying with Salah. Salah’s house was searched, but although all the stolen property, apart from ʿAli’s clothes, was recovered, Dalila had vanished. Salah was hanged for having harboured thieves and ʿAli, armed with written confirmation that no one had seen Dalila’s face while she was in Cairo, addressed a prayer to Zainab and set off in pursuit (72–73). The account of his journey from Cairo to Baghdad is a mixture of heroic narrative and trickery, with the latter predominating. As in the Arabian Nights, ʿAli joined a caravan, whose leader saw that he was ‘a generous fellow who doesn’t eat anything until he has provided food for his companions’. He killed a lion that was as big as a buffalo and routed attacking bedouin, but when he reached Damascus the tone of the narrative changes. In the first of many similar episodes he was drugged by Dalila posing as a coffee seller. He was then concerned to reinstate a twenty-year-old police chief who had lost his job because of his age ‘as no one was in awe of him’, and this was followed by an encounter with bedouin camped in four hundred tents, whom he drugged and who were freed by Dalila, only to be recaptured by Fatima. Dalila later killed what she thought was ʿAli and had his head tanned, stuffed with straw and given glass eyes. She sent her followers to buy henna from a perfume seller, but this caused inflammation, and her own hair started to fall out. Both the perfume seller and the tanner were

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ʿAli, who left a note saying: ‘I have a thousand heads and you only cut off one’ (73–77). Dalila then drugged him, disguised, first, as a coffee seller and next as a Kurdish horseman, leaving him on both occasions to be rescued by his mother. Later, after Lady Zainab had whispered in his ear, he woke to discover a corpse, only to be drugged by a loaf of bread that he found beside it as he tried to dig a grave, and again it was his mother who saved him. He was given a night’s lodging in the home of girls whom he had seen carrying water. He had refused to eat until everyone shared the meal with him lest one of them be Dalila, but his mother woke him to say that they had all been killed and that Dalila was telling the local villagers that he was the murderer (78). One of the more complicated tricks is where he gave a gold piece to a supposedly blind man, who put it in his mouth before rejecting it as being under weight. ʿAli put it in his own mouth and was drugged again, the ‘blind’ man being Dalila, now described as ‘fouler than Iblis’. His mother rescued him and later killed the police chief of Hama, ʿAyesha ‘the viper’, whom ʿAli replaced with his own protégé. He was tricked by women who claimed to be waiting for their brother – ‘why are you looking at us? Haven’t you any women of your own?’ – and finally, when he reached the Euphrates, Dalila, disguised as a bedouin woman, provided him with an inflated skin on which to cross. It sank in the middle of the river, but, ‘as all Egyptians can swim’, he escaped (79–82). The next sequence of episodes takes place in Baghdad. As soon as Dalila arrived there she fastened a picture of ʿAli to the city gate and posted two hundred men to intercept him. He managed to enter in disguise and took lodgings with a ‘Jew’, who turned out to be his mother. As in the Arabian Nights, he had difficulties in finding Ahmad al-Danaf and Ahmad told the man who opened the door for him: ‘if his hands are soft, kill him’. Ahmad complained that, by allowing Dalila to bring back his robe, he had destroyed his prestige, but he was delighted to learn that Dalila herself had broken her word by not letting him see her true face. ʿAli made a fruitless attack on Dalila’s khan, and this prompted her to pass the robe to her daughter, Zainab. The scene then shifts to the caliph’s court, where God inspired Harun and Jaʿfar, the vizier, with love for ʿAli, while the mufti hated him and the qadi said that the court should have many doors ‘so that when someone like this ʿifrīt comes in by one, we could escape by another’. Dalila claimed that ʿAli had dressed up someone to do the deeds of which he had accused her and Harun told Ahmad to judge between them. His verdict was that both of them were in the wrong, and that, in order to prove himself, ʿAli must recover his robe by trickery rather than force (82–86). What follows is a variant of the version given in the Arabian Nights. ʿAli

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made an unsuccessful attempt on the khan disguised as a water-carrier, but then met and drugged a freed black slave who was lodging in it and who was employed by the merchants to deliver mail to Basra. When the man recovered from the drug, Fatima enlisted his help and he gave ʿAli all the information he needed about the merchants, his own family and that of his master, as well as about the dishes cooked by Dalila’s maid. Fatima then dyed ʿAli black, making his hair curly and his eyes red, and he took letters to Basra and returned with the replies. Dalila had recognised him but his supposed former master refused to believe her and, although she scrubbed him so roughly with a horse-brush, soap and water that his skin peeled off, its colour did not change. He had brought a basket full of olives for ‘his’ children and correctly answered Dalila’s questions about them, but in spite of all this, she told her daughter Zainab: ‘I shall go on saying that this is ʿAli’ (86–89). ʿAli himself moved out from his room at night, but the guard dogs barked and later he was seized by the gate-keeper. This turned out to be Fatima, who poisoned the dogs and drugged the guards, before guiding him through various death traps to Zainab’s room. Zainab was alerted by an alarm bell, but ‘pretended that she not heard anything’, telling herself: ‘let him take his robe’. She was, in fact, wearing it and, as ʿAli was ‘ashamed’ to drug her, he slipped it off while ‘she made herself not feel’. A sense of chivalry stopped him from kissing her, and after rejoining his mother he left the khan wearing his robe ‘as though he were king of the world’ (89–99). Harun was fond of Zainab, and when Dalila said that she was going to complain to him that ʿAli had raped her, Zainab objected: ‘are you going to put me to shame because of your games?’ A messenger, sent to fetch ʿAli, told him: ‘if you did it, run off to Egypt and I’ll say that I couldn’t find you’. ʿAli defended himself before Harun, saying: ‘unlike Dalila, I never killed anyone or stole anything’. ‘What is more serious than dishonouring a girl?’ Harun asked, and it was decided that Zainab should be examined in the harem. Dalila had to be stopped from deflowering her with her fingers and Zainab was duly declared a virgin, with Dalila being cursed by Harun (92). Dalila now told ʿAli to go back to Cairo, promising that he need not send any more money to Baghdad, but, instead, he proposed another contest, to which she agreed, stipulating that there was to be ‘no killing and no blood’. ʿAli agreed on condition that he be allowed a sight of her real face, which was such that ‘were devils to see it, they would look for shelter’. To start with, Zainab plays an active role in the episodes that follow, arranging for herself supposedly to be sold as a slave. The first is a version of what is found in the Arabian Nights. She lured ʿAli to a house belonging to one of her mother’s agents, where she pretended to lose her bangle down a well – ‘my

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mother will wring my neck’. When ʿAli stripped off his robe and went down to look for it, she left him at the bottom of the well and brought the robe back to Dalila, who had been accusing her again and again – ‘as often as the cup rattles against the water jar’ – of having given it to him. ʿAli was rescued by a thief, who by trickery and force got him clothes and a mule. When Fatima saw her son come back dressed in a fur mantle and riding on the mule, she assumed, unconvincingly, that he must have become a lawyer. She thanked God for having guided him to follow the path of ‘noble learning’ like his grandfather, quoting: ‘learning raises halls without pillars, while ignorance destroys the seats of grandeur’. He explained what had happened; she asked him what he would give for the return of his robe and when he said ‘my life’, she handed it to him, as it was she who had dressed up as Dalila. ʿAli later returned the clothes and the mule and compensated the victims (93–98). In the next episode it was Dalila who sold Zainab to ʿAli, who was dressed as a white-bearded Baghdadi merchant. He later drugged Dalila, but when he ‘stretched out his hand’ to Zainab, she said that she was under the protection of Fatima, after which he freed her. The mufti, on being asked, said that, as he had bought her, he could have her as a concubine, but when the full story emerged, the qadi contradicted that on the grounds that, as she was a free woman, the sale was invalid. Harun spat in Dalila’s face, but was also prepared to kill ʿAli had he lain with Zainab. Her virginity was again confirmed and ʿAli asked Harun to make it clear that the contest was between him and Dalila alone. Zainab was removed to the caliph’s harem, only to reappear, without explanation, in a later episode (99–102). Elsewhere in this cycle ʿAli appears as a beautiful woman who falls on a child, which is then found to be dead. Dalila accused him of having broken the rules of the contest by having strangled it, but in fact he had bought the child’s body after its death. Dalila is now painted in even blacker colours. She is shown as a ‘Magian, who does not recognise a distinction between right and wrong’, and as a lesbian, here an infallible mark of villainy. She even goes to bed with Fatima, only to succumb to a drug that Fatima has put on her neck, while in the same way the qadi and the mufti, both pederasts, are drugged by the disguised ʿAli. Dalila dressed Zainab as a mamluk to entice ʿAli, himself disguised as a homosexual Persian merchant, but Zainab resisted when he began to fondle her and was eventually returned to the caliph’s harem. The caliph himself was involved when ʿAli, dressed as a dervish, claimed to teach alchemy, an art ‘of which he knew nothing at all’. Zuraiq, who plays a prominent part in the Arabian Nights’ story, is introduced as Dalila’s brother. Some details found in the Arabian Nights are duplicated, but when ʿAli falls into a pit dug by Zuraiq, it is Sisban who has to rescue him (103–115).

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Zuraiq’s son was removed in a cloud of smoke, apparently by a mārid, and when he and Dalila complained to Harun that no one was to be hurt or killed, he was returned, but not the money that had been taken with him. Finally, Dalila was drugged by Fatima, who had arranged to be sold to her as a slave-girl, and she then disguised herself as Dalila and told the caliph that she was resigning from her position in favour of ʿAli. When the real Dalila recovered she was forced to concede defeat and confirm her resignation (115–118). The next section covers the familiar topic of the bridal quest, which is normally set on an heroic level, but is adapted here to the circumstances of a master thief. ʿAli held a reception attended by the caliph’s court and its ladies. He had been worried about the expense, but Fatima had covered her face in luminous paint, dressed in green, the colour of Paradise, and got money from Harun by claiming to be Lady Zainab. It was during the course of this that ʿAli displayed one of the characteristics of the Fool by showing his proficiency as a gymnast. The caliph’s wife, Zubaida, gave Zainab a valuable caftan to pass on to him and as she did this he caught a glimpse of her breasts and fell in love. His men had been saying that every proper leader must have a wife and so he asked for her hand (123–125). She was made to ask for the crown of Chosroe and the caftan of Ezra, and, although Fatima warned him that Dalila was intending to get him killed, ʿAli agreed to the request. It was Fatima who arrived first at Chosroe’s capital and drugged ʿAli when he lodged in a khan there. Later she disguised him as a eunuch and, having dressed herself as a merchant, she gave him to Chosroe. She killed the only servant who had access to the crown, and it was ʿAli who accompanied Chosroe through a series of death-traps to fetch it. His way home was blocked by Chosroe’s troops and he had to be rescued by Sisban before he could return to Baghdad, where the crown was taken in a procession to Harun who gave it to Zainab. She returned it to him (125–128). The quest for the caftan took ʿAli to Tiberias, where he fell foul of Ezra’s magic, being shut in a room which filled with blood and then, as in the Arabian Nights, he was turned into a donkey. The pattern of the Arabian Nights is continued in that ʿAli, the donkey, was given to a water-carrier, whose daughter, Sara, helped him. Lady Zainab appeared to Fatima in a dream and gave her a palm branch, with which she killed Ezra, and Sara then restored ʿAli to his human shape and produced the caftan. In the Arabian Nights she marries him, but here she agrees to be married to one of his followers. After the caftan had been given to Harun, passed on to Zainab and returned, the wedding took place (128–131). Dalila had not attended it and the episodes that follow trace the final phase of her villainy, including what are in this context the improbable wars for which she was responsible. She began by claiming to have adopted Sufism, and she arrived

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at Harun’s court in a procession to say that she was going on pilgrimage and to name ʿAli as her heir in the event of her death. In Damascus she pretended to be ill and, after disguising one of her followers as herself, she returned to Baghdad and stole the crown and Ezra’s caftan, which she passed to Chosroe. She then ‘recovered’, but claimed to be unable to complete the pilgrimage that year. Harun, discovering the theft, gave ʿAli forty days in which to get back what had been taken, after which he would be executed, but on Jaʿfar’s intercession, he was allowed an extension of another forty days. At the end of this period it was Dalila who interceded for him – ‘my son-in-law would not dare do this; this is the work of a Magian’ (131–142). She then went to Tabriz saying that she was going to look for news. ʿAli followed her and saw her being led in chains, accused of having tried to steal the king’s crown. He went to the prison in which she was being held and was trapped in a pit by the door. A rescue attempt by Ahmad al-Danaf failed and Dalila told Chosroe to collect his armies so as to conquer the lands of the Arabs. Lady Zainab appeared to Fatima in a dream and it was on her prompting that Shah Ardashir captured Tabriz and freed the prisoners. Meanwhile Dalila managed to seize Harun but was herself struck down by Fatima, while ʿAli captured Chosroe, who was freed only after promising never to attack the Arabs again (132–139). Dalila was apparently hanged in sight of Harun, but this turned out to have been a substitute. Later, ʿAli’s two sons vanished and one of them was found hanged in a forest with a note saying that this was the work of Dalila, who had tried to strangle her own daughter, but, on finding this too difficult, had removed and tortured her children. She herself went to Rome, and incited the Christian king to set out against Baghdad. ʿAli recognised her ‘as a money-changer recognises a false coin’, and, wearing shining clothes, he climbed to the top of the Church of Gold, pretending to have flown from Jerusalem. Dalila challenged him to do that again, and with the help of Sisban he succeeded, leaving Dalila to say that, had she known he could fly, she would have played no single trick on him. Sisban then removed Harun, Dalila and ʿAli to Baghdad and the sequence of adventures ends with Dalila’s execution (140–148). With the death of Dalila this version of the story enters a different dimension, abandoning city streets for the lands of the jinn. The ostensible reason for this is the quest for one of Dalila’s anklets, the second of which had been given to Zubaida. ʿAli travelled to the city of Dhat al-Abraj, where he spent four years teaching a would-be apprentice, Muhammad b. Mustafa. The boy had seen a girl in a dream in which he had tried to run off with her and had become involved in a fight. ʿAli went with him to the city of the dream, where Muhammad caught sight of the girl at a window and received a note from her in which she told him that she was Nuzhat al-Zaman, the daughter of Shah Muhammad. That evening

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he saw a black slave climbing out of the window and carrying a chest. He followed the man to a building in an orchard, where it turned out that inside the chest was Nuzhat al-Zaman herself, who had been brought there on the orders of Ghadab, a repulsive one-eyed suitor of hers, whom her father had rejected. He told her that he no longer wanted her but that she was to be raped by his forty slaves. Muhammad intervened, but was overpowered and it was ʿAli who came to the rescue, killing Ghadab and returning Nuzhat al-Zaman to her palace. With her father’s consent, she was then married to Muhammad (148–150). ʿAli continued his search for the anklet and found himself on an island by a castle whose gate was shut. He fell asleep and, on waking, was surrounded by jinn girls who asked him if he was a doctor. The episode that follows is one of the many in which a sick princess – in this case, one suffering from a swollen stomach – can only be cured by a particular doctor, in this case, ʿAli. Her father had intended to send a marid to fetch him, but had been told that he was under the protection of Lady Zainab, ‘the guardian of Cairo’. ʿAli duly cured the princess, after which, by way of reward, he asked to be given the anklet. The princess, Zuhra, told him that this was not something she could do as it was held by Queen Danhasha, the daughter of the lord of the Blue Mountain. She was not only a Magian cannibal, but ‘meaner than a bitch who ate her own whelps’ (150–151). Zuhra took ʿAli as near Danhasha’s city as she could go, and he then called on the name of Muhammad and on ‘the pure lady, the guardian of Cairo’. This is followed by a version of the folklore story of the umpire who steals the ball, the prize here being the cap of invisibility, which ʿAli took from two disputing mārids. He used it to gain entrance to the city, but incautiously dislodged it by scratching his head after which he had to be rescued by Sisban, whose father remarked that the jinn fear sorcerers as the sick fear the angel of death (153–154). From then on, in spite of Danhasha’s formidable reputation, it took neither trickery nor violence to obtain the anklet. A wedding was being held to which the jinn girls flocked, eager to see Sisban’s human ‘brother’. Danhasha had been invited, and had refused – ‘she does not want to meet anyone’ – but when a second message was sent to say that unless she came, all the guests had sworn by Solomon’s seal not to speak to her again, she arrived and sat by herself looking like a monkey. She was asked about the anklet and put on the one that ʿAli had with him to check that it was hers and then refused to give it back. Sisban offered Danhasha her own anklets, while the jinn girls handed ʿAli their bracelets, at which, for no clear reason, Danhasha handed over both anklets (155–158). ʿAli now wanted to go home, pointing out that he had been away for a long time, but Sisban, playing the part of Calypso, insisted on taking him with her to the Mountains of the Moon. When eventually she let him go, he was carried by one of her servants, Simsim, whom he instructed not to fly too high so that he

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could look at the landscape. When he reached Isfahan he found it being attacked by a Magian king and was transmogrified into ‘the hero of the age’, refusing Simsim permission to destroy the attackers and defeating them by his own prowess. Simsim could take him no further for the time being, as jinn, like cats, require lengthy and regular periods of sleep. ʿAli set off on his own for Baghdad, but was met on the way by Chosroe, who insisted on entertaining him in his own city. There they spent their evenings singing and drinking, ‘until the room itself danced with delight’, but this was a preliminary to Chosroe’s real purpose. ʿAli was drugged and imprisoned, to be kept for sacrifice at the Nairuz festival (158–167). Harun had been getting impatient, as he had sworn to Zubaida not to visit her until he could bring her the anklet. He had dreamt that ʿAli had fulfilled his mission and Jaʿfar had pointed out that ‘the dreams of sincere Muslims are part of divine revelation’. Ahmad al-Danaf with others of his men was sent to get information, but in spite of the fact that he drugged and then killed Chosroe’s guards, he failed to find Chosroe himself and returned to advise Harun to lead out his armies. On the advice of his vizier, Chosroe left his city gates open and claimed that he knew nothing of ʿAli’s whereabouts. Harun refused to accept this and Chosroe’s men came out to fight (167–170). Meanwhile Sisban, who had herself been asleep, woke up and threatened to kill Simsim, who searched through prisons and underground dungeons for ʿAli, but without success. As a last resort he reverted to his ʿifrīt shape, with ‘arms like winnowing forks, legs like ships’ masts and burning eyes’, and sat on Chosroe’s chest, threatening him until he told him where ʿAli was. ʿAli was taken to Sisban and then returned to Harun. Chosroe’s advisers had pointed out that the jinn could destroy his city in less than the blink of an eye; he had surrendered and Harun was about to have him executed when ʿAli was produced and peace was made (172–176). The next sequence of episodes involves the familiar motif of the discovery of a lost son and the father–son duel. Harun’s emissary, the emir Husain, was sent to collect taxes from a bedouin clan in the region of Mardin. He was entertained by shaikh Sabbah, whose ‘son’, Asad al-Ghaba, looked like ‘a moon appearing from beneath the clouds’. Asad exclaimed: ‘what is this city man trying to do, taking money from you?’, and was not convinced when Sabbah explained that the money was for ‘God’s caliph’. Asad waited until Sabbah had gone hunting, and when Husain left with the money, he followed in pursuit, captured him and sent him to Harun to say that taxes could be levied only on enemies of religion. His father repeated that Harun had been appointed by God, but Asad asked: ‘are you afraid of a city dweller when you have Asad al-Ghaba with you?’ Sabbah then told him that he was not his son, but had been taken as a baby from the

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mouth of a lioness, and he left with his own following of youngsters, saying that he was going to set up as an emir on his own (176–180). A series of battles followed, after which Asad advanced on Baghdad. Harun told Ahmad al-Danaf that he was too old to fight, but Ahmad went out and was defeated. He was followed by ʿAli, and he and Asad fought for seven days and nights, during which ʿAli had refrained from using drugs, and was wounded on the thigh. After treatment he recovered and was about to fight again when a veiled rider, ‘like a rock’, came up and, after a day’s fighting, lifted Asad from his saddle. This turned out to be Fatima, and when Asad had threatened Harun and was about to be executed, he was recognised as ʿAli’s son, appointed emir of the bedouin and married to the daughter of the emir Nur al-Din (183–196). The story now reverts to Cairo, which was being terrorised by a deformed creature sent there by the king of Abyssinia. The tale involves another sick princess, who had been ill for a year, with doctors who cured her within forty days being promised whatever they wanted, while those who failed were to be killed. An Indian had told her father that she could be cured only on Crocodile Island, where there was a species of herb that produced a liquid ‘sweeter than sugar’. The cure was successful and the princess decided to stay there for another month ‘to sniff the air’. During this period she fell asleep on the river bank where she was raped by a crocodile. As a result she became pregnant and after ten months of agony she died, still not having given birth. The child cut from her womb was found to be black, with a long head like a crocodile and undivided legs, which prevented him from climbing steps. The king had intended to have him killed, but his viziers pointed out that he would be impervious to weapons and as a result he was allowed to live (199–203). It was this creature, Salabun, who was sent to Cairo, where he terrorised the city, leaving the citadel in a state of siege. Ahmad al-Danaf asked leave from Harun to go there, saying that he wanted to visit his sister, another Fatima. ʿAli wanted to go with him – ‘how can I leave him when he has been the only source of blessing to me in this world?’– but later turned back together with his mother and son, leaving Ahmad with Hasan Shuman and Ibrahim Abu Hatab. On their arrival in Cairo they found most of the city shut up, with only the elderly in the markets. Fatima told her brother that she had married in his absence, but that her husband and two sons were dead, the only surviving child being a daughter, ʿAyesha (203–204). ʿAyesha was distressed because since Salabun’s arrival she had been too afraid to go to the baths and Ahmad decided to send her there under the escort of Ibrahim Abu Hatab. Ibrahim had told himself: ‘when these women go to the baths they sit there until afternoon or just before sunset’, and he had gone off for a stroll, leaving ʿAyesha to be kidnapped by Salabun’s men. Ibrahim was told

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what had happened and challenged Salabun, who allowed him to strike three blows in return for one, which killed him. ‘The world is becoming dark in my eyes’, said Ahmad, and he too was struck down and later died. In a variant of the story of ʿAli’s attack on Dalila’s khan, Hasan Shuman followed Salabun’s cook to the market, drugged, strangled and buried him, before taking over his identity. Although he then produced enough banj2 to drug five hundred men for twenty-four hours, Salabun still managed to eat five platefuls containing it before collapsing. Hasan used a drugged candle to make the guards unconscious, after which he killed them, leaving the room awash with blood. The girls whom Salabun had kidnapped, including ʿAyesha, were freed (204–213). Hasan now considered that there was no need for him to write to ʿAli, as he thought that Salabun must be dead, but after twelve hours he recovered and rushed out with a huge sword to recover ʿAyesha. He found her in her house, killed her mother, but could not climb after her when she took refuge upstairs. Eventually he fell asleep and she took the opportunity to escape to the citadel. Meanwhile, Hasan Shuman had returned to Baghdad to alert ʿAli, who asked permission from Harun ‘to free the people of Muhammad from cares and distress’. He asked that his son, Asad, be appointed in his place, saying that he himself wanted to stay in Cairo and repent of his sins. His mother, Fatima, was left behind to look after Asad (214–220). On ʿAli’s arrival in Cairo, inured as he was to the sight of jinn in their various terrifying forms, his hair stood on end when he saw Salabun. Salabun proposed his usual three blows in exchange for one, but ʿAli’s sword shattered at his second blow and he collapsed in a faint. It was then that Salabun’s head was cut in two. Asad had been told by Lady Zainab in a dream that it was only he who could kill Salabun, adding that both he and his father were under her protection. He had left with Fatima and had arrived in time to rescue his father. At the death of Salabun the jubilant Cairenes decorated the city for forty days; the police chief offered to resign in favour of ʿAli, but ʿAli pointed out that his position in Baghdad had been more important and that he now wanted to retire and repent (221–224). With the death of Salabun the active part played by ʿAli in this narrative is nearly at an end. ʿAyesha was married to Hasan Shuman; Asad and Fatima returned to Baghdad and ʿAli’s wife, Zainab, missed her husband but found consolation in her son. For no given reason, Harun left his son Ma’mun on the caliphal throne and travelled in disguise to Cairo, with Jaʿfar and Mansur, where he was told that ʿAli was in the Azhar Mosque, listening to sermons and accounts of the traditions of the Prophet. The sequence of episodes that follow are divorced from the main stream of the narrative and provide a version of the Arabian Nights story of Judar, in which ʿAli has no part to play until the end,

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when Judar presented ten girls whom he had rescued to Harun, five each to Jaʿfar and Mansur, and one to ʿAli. ʿAli married his girl and, in a brief and brutal end to the story, Zainab, hearing of this, came to Cairo and poisoned him. She herself was killed by Asad, who then occupied himself with fasting and prayer until his own death. This obviously conflated version represents an accumulation of literary genes rather than an organic growth. The exceptional circumstances of ʿAli al-Zaibaq’s birth are those of a hero and it was a relative of the lioness whose milk he drank that later suckled his son, Asad al-Ghaba, a minor hero pure and simple. His early dislike of authority and, in particular, his recruitment of a band of his own contemporaries to fight Salah al-Kalbi’s men have heroic parallels, and other episodes that clearly fit into this category are where, as ‘the champion of the age’, he fights against armies and rescues princesses. His predetermined role, however, as predicted by Lady Zainab before his birth, was that of the supreme trickster of his age and it is this role that he performs in the Arabian Nights in his contest with Dalila. Here he is the linear descendant of the thief in the story told by the Egyptians to Herodotus who was ordered by his brother, trapped in the treasure chamber of King Rhampsinitus, to cut off his head lest he be recognised. He later removed his brother’s corpse, which had been hung up as a warning, by arranging for the guards to get drunk, after which he shaved their right cheeks. The king promised him immunity, admiring his skill and marrying him to his daughter, saying that as the Egyptians outdid all other nations in the field of trickery, he outdid all the Egyptians. Dalila develops into a villainess to match Dhat al-Dawahi, the ‘Mother of Calamities’, who is found in the story of ʿUmar b al-Nuʿman in the Arabian Nights. Dhat al-Dawahi stands out not only as a vicious and evil lesbian, but as a dedicated opponent of Islam. For her part, Dalila is admittedly a lesbian and is once said to be a Magian, but in general her wickedness lacks external motivation. She kidnaps the caliph and raises armies to attack Islam, but, although in her contests with ʿAli she breaks rules and sheds innocent blood, this is for personal pride rather than ideological gain. The same applies to ʿAli, who, through most of the episodes, is testing his skill in fields of cunning. He can perform as a gymnast, and he had been taught how to climb walls as an aid to his career as a thief, but his two most frequently quoted branches of expertise are those of drugs and disguise. He was taught the use of drugs in his apprenticeship and he used them against a Jewish doctor, Salah the police-chief, the wali and, on one occasion, an entire bedouin clan. In spite of this he ‘felt ashamed’ to drug Zainab and only succeeded in stealing the robe that she was wearing with her passive co-operation, while he refused to use

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drugs against his unknown son. Among his disguises, often achieved with the help of his mother, were those of a mamluk, a eunuch, a girl escaping from an unwelcome marriage, a beautiful woman with a child, a dervish, a white-bearded merchant, a perfume seller, a tanner and a black courier. Because of his skill he could boast that he had a thousand heads; his fame was such that the Cairenes came out in procession to welcome him home, and because of this reputation they felt safe when he was chief of police Cleverness rather than heroism sets the tone of the work, allowing Dalila’s daughter to describe her tricks as ‘games’, while ʿAli is happy to enter a contest in which no blood is to be shed. As far as morality was concerned, although he used lies merely to cause trouble between his teacher and his wife and had the entrée to the world of jinn, from before his birth he was connected to the higher sphere of saintliness. Although Islam has a less important role to play here than in other cycles, Lady Zainab appeared to his mother in a dream and throughout his career she used dreams to communicate with him. More dramatically, she appeared in person to save him from starvation by moving him instantly over a seven-month journey to his ship. Beyond the services she did him, the literary importance of her guardianship links him firmly to Cairo, the city under her protection. In spite of his adventures in Baghdad, and his career as a world traveller, it is in Cairo, and as a city man and an inheritor of a Pharaonic tradition, that his career begins and ends. 1. Herodotus 2.121. 2. Described by Lane in his Arabic–English Lexicon as ‘a certain torpifying plant’ and identified as henbane or nepenthe.

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Chapter 1 Section 2: Sirat ʿAntar

Section 2: Sirat ʿAntar

Shaibub

Unlike ʿAli al-Zaibaq, ʿAntar, the eponymous hero of his cycle, was born and bred in the desert and, in contrast to a number of his heroic confrères, he had a real existence as a warrior and one of the masters of early Arabic poetry in the last decade of the sixth century. His story begins, continues and ends among tribal feuds. The Banu ʿAbs had raided the Banu Jadila, and among the spoils they had taken was Zabila, the mother of two sons, Jarir and Shaibub. It is recorded later that Shaibub’s father was the Black King, Ghawwar, and it is he who is made to serve as the cycle’s Man of Wiles. Shaibub himself had been captured together with his brother when he was seven years old, but the raiders had been intercepted by the Banu Jadila. For three years he had acted as a camel herd for his captors, until the Banu Jadila had themselves been attacked by the ʿAbsians. Zabila and her sons had fallen to the lot of Shaddad, by whom she gave birth after a painful day-long labour to a black, snub-nosed baby as big as an elephant. This was ʿAntar, who soon began to follow the beaten track of heroism. He saw and fell in love with ʿAbla, the daughter of Shaddad’s brother Malik, who considered that his background and behaviour made him an unwelcome suitor. It is his marriage quest that forms the earliest part of the cycle, which is later expanded to enable him to fight with Persians, Indians, Byzantines, Franks and an assortment of Black kings (1.121 sq.). The background of his cycle is governed by the principles of bedouin shame culture, where wealth was measured in camels rather than cash. The duties of hospitality and the value set on truth-telling are shown in a setting of constant raiding and the imperatives of revenge. A shepherd boy, having given shelter to

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Shaibub, considers it his duty to sacrifice his life in his defence (1.217). DhuʾlKhimar, facing Shaibub and two others, asked for fair play, to which Shaibub replied: ‘when did you ever fight fairly?’ (7.52). Where ʿAntar is released by terrified women in order to defend them against raiders, he keeps his word and surrenders himself after having routed the enemy, leaving Shaibub to object: ‘what is this bad idea and what has got into your brain?’ (3.77). By contrast, neither of them see anything wrong with an attempt to murder ʿAntar’s Byzantine concubine, lest she give birth to a son who might help the Christians (7.196 sq., cf. 8.219), although when in ʿAntar’s early days Shaibub had volunteered to go to an enemy and cut his throat, ‘so that nobody need think of him again’, ʿAntar had told him to wait (1.276). The immediacies of this world limit imaginative extravagance. Magic, for instance, is restricted to the appearance of a ‘wily sorceress’, whose spells have to be countered by an amulet made by a Syrian priest (7.450), while an embattled Arab leader is told by a mysterious voice to call on the name of Muhammad, which he does with dramatic results (7.70). In later sections the jinn have a part to play, as where ʿAntar kills a mārid and is warned by a jinn king to beware of his kin (7.126), but for the most part it is only the sound of the night wind cooling the sand that alerts the bedouin to their presence (cf. 7.153). Mecca is the centre of worship but it is still a domain of idols, the chief of whom, al-Hubal, foretells in a dream of the arrival of ‘a man of noble lineage who will guide people to the clear way’ (5.307). The God of Moses and Abraham (1.267), ‘Who existed before time’ (5.455), can see the movements of an ant’s feet on a dark night (5.321). Shaibub swears by ‘the God Who taught Adam the names’, while dismissing a band of robbers as ‘despicable slaves . . . with no religion or creed’ (3.300). In such a context no Man of Wiles can rely on supernatural help to allow him to disregard the boundaries of space as ʿAli al-Zaibaq did. To make up for this Shaibub characteristically appears at a distance as an unrecognisable figure in the desert or the mountains. He may be described prosaically as a thin man with long legs (3.261), but, more imaginatively, he is a devil in human form (1.64), an ʿifrīt who outstrips the storm wind (5.415), a spotted snake or a hairless wolf (2.132). Characteristically he shows himself on a mountain peak playing on a pipe and dancing defiance to his baffled enemies (1.296), or calling out an invitation to the wild beasts of the desert (3.412), but elsewhere he melts away into the darkness in disguise. The beginning and end of his career are clear, but a summary of its middle risks being swallowed up in an endless series of feuds and battles. For that reason it is proposed here to deal with characteristics, pictures and anecdotes, after the framework of the role has been set out. Most obviously, Shaibub acts as Teucer to ʿAntar’s Ajax, using his skill as

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an archer to defend the champion when he closes with his enemies. ʿAntar tells him: ‘guard my back with your arrows and I shall show you what fighting is’ (1.185). Shaibub goes before him like a storm wind (2.312); he runs at his side ‘like a lightning flash or a shooting star’ (2.247); he is like ‘a fighting wolf’ as he circles round him with his arrows (1.301) and he fights beside him like a fiery spark. When ʿAntar is surrounded by spears like reeds in a thicket, Shaibub moves into the battle dust like lightning flashing through clouds (1.199). As an archer his most dramatic success was when ʿAbla was about to be killed. She had been thrown down on her face by a slave who was kneeling on her back, knife in hand. She was calling for help and as the slave was about to strike, Shaibub shot him through the shoulder (2.432). Elsewhere he caused a stampede of elephants by shooting one of them through the eye (8.375). When he fought one of his rivals, Damis (2.231), a cunning horse-thief, who could outstrip gazelles when he ran and who could speak all languages, they both exhausted their quivers and turned to their daggers. Shaibub eventually stabbed Damis in the chest and then cut his throat from ear to ear. Elsewhere, when he was unable to use his bow, he killed five attackers with his dagger and it was with this that he wounded his as yet unknown son, al-Khudruf (5.43). The morale of his enemies was one of his targets. When ʿAntar had killed the formidable Khalid, the husband of al-Jaʾida, ‘the lioness’, Shaibub cut off his head, ‘that looked like that of a devil’, and raised it on the tip of his spear to discourage his men (3.417). Another devil’s head was that of Nazih, which Shaibub caught as ʿAntar struck it off, calling out to his followers: ‘this is the head of your leader’ (2.234). Less dramatically, in the case of King Laun al-Zalam, he merely shouts to the Blacks: ‘who are you fighting for? Your king has been captured ignominiously’ (6.130). In less bellicose contexts he acts as a groom, looking after ʿAntar’s horse, the unequalled al-Abjar, fetching him when ʿAntar needs him, tending his wounds and recovering him when he had been stolen, whistling to prompt a whinny of recognition. He looks after ʿAntar’s sword, al-Zami, and massages his feet when he is tired. The Byzantines are shown as making statues of both him and ʿAntar, recalling the Zeus/Hermes identification found in the Acts of the Apostles. Shaibub, in fact, shares a number of characteristics with Hermes. While he has no winged sandals, as a runner he is preternaturally fast. He is known as ‘Father of the Winds’ (2.188); he runs ‘like a bird in flight or an escaping panther (1.366), moving like a cloud with his feet not appearing to touch the ground and striking the lobes of his ears (2.128). He is like a torrent or water spurting from a narrow pipe (2.56), and when he appeared running like a gale or a black and white vulture, with wild beasts bolting in front of him, he was moving too fast to be seen (5.218). Not only does he run, but he also leaps like a gazelle (2.132). When

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the contents of a sack of gold were scattered as largesse, he snatched them out of the air, jumping like a panther, so that no single coin reached the ground (2.155). This hyperactivity is transferred to his riding style, since, when his horse trotted, he swayed on top of it as though he was trying to get ahead of it (3.6). Towards the end of his career he and his son, al-Khudhruf, gave a demonstration in a Byzantine arena, where he outran horses and his son outran gazelles (7.188). On one occasion he was pursued by scouts from the Banu Kalb, but escaped in the dark of night like a storm wind, leaving them to exclaim: ‘This must have been a mārid or a devil, for had he been a man he could not have done this, as he outstripped our horses’ (6.390). That he could do this even when handicapped is underlined when ʿAntar saw him running with his hands tied behind his back and a long rope trailing from his neck. He was being pursued by twenty horsemen with spears, but their horses were worn out as they had had to gallop through deep sand (2.278). He is given a role in the historic horse race between one of the finest Arab colts, Dahis, and the mare, al-Ghabraʾ, which led to a bitter tribal feud elaborated in the cycle’s text (3.197). He had backed himself to beat both horses and when there was an objection – ‘you bastard, how is it that if you win you will get a hundred camels and if you lose you will only pay fifty?’ – he replied: ‘I am on two legs, and a horse has four and a tail’. The race was over a long distance, much of it out of sight of spectators, and a slave was posted in a defile to interfere with Dahis. As the dust would make it impossible to distinguish between the horses at a distance, he was told to collect pebbles and throw them in fours. Al-Ghabraʾ had been timed over the course and if, when the leading horse came near, the slave still had up to half of his pile left, this would be Dahis, as, in fact, it was. The slave had been instructed to attack it, but Shaibub, who had seen what was happening, killed him with his dagger. He stopped to treat Dahis, but when he saw al-Ghabraʾ coming, he ran off and won his race. Elsewhere he shares with Hermes the role of guide. He explained to a lady whom he was escorting: ‘I was brought up from my early days to cross deserts, but I was afraid for my brother, ʿAntar, because he knew little about the way’ (6.387). It then took him four days to cover what would have taken a rider ten, while on another occasion he guided ʿAntar’s men in three days over what was normally a seven-day journey (2.92). When he was sent to look for ʿAbla he had to search through Yemen and pass Sanʿa before hearing that she was being held by the Banu Tayy (2.34). He went to their camp, pretending to belong to the clan of Juhaina, and when everyone, including the dogs, were asleep, he heard her lamenting ‘like the dove of the valley’. He was happy to leave clearly marked tracks and would use his skill to find the loneliest of routes. He knew the ways to and from ʿAbsian territory and

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the choke points which Iraqi travellers had to pass in order to find water. Water was, of course, a matter of life and death and he boasted: ‘I know more about these parts than anyone else and there is no water hole here that I don’t know and cannot describe’ (2.137). Even he, however, was not infallible and he managed to lose both his own wife and ʿAntar’s bride when he led them towards water holes that in his experience had always been full, summer and winter alike. He found them dried up and by the time that he had got back, the women had vanished (6.36). He knew the lands of Yemen and volunteered to guide the ʿAbsians to Zabid and Aden, ‘where I can find shelter for you in the mountains’, and he went on to trace the route back to ʿAbsian territory (2.137). When ʿAntar set out to fetch wine, Shaibub told him that there was plenty of it in the land of Taima and this could be reached by two routes, one of a month’s journey starting from Iraq, and the other from Yemen that would take eleven days. He recommended the first of these and when ʿAntar asked why, he explained that the Yemeni route passed a valley and a forest inhabited by jinn, leading ʿAntar to boast that he feared neither man nor jinn (7.124). On his way back from a raid, he lost his way in the Desert of the Idols, where nothing was to be heard apart from the sounds of the jinn (7.153). He explained that it was years since he was there last, but even so he knew that to the right was the Land of the Flies, near which was the dangerous Wady Sarikh. ʿAntar repeated that he was not afraid of jinn, but five riders, ‘like dried-up palm trees’, appeared and when ʿAntar’s son, Ghadban, accosted them, they cut him down without a word. Shaibub used his expertise to guide the ʿAbsians to a refuge in the mountains of Radm, whose entrance could be held by ten men against any attackers. When they were threatened by the vastly superior army of al-Malik al-Aswad, he stayed on guard by the water, dashing sleep from his eyes when he saw them approaching. He crouched on all fours to watch as they fell on the water like sand grouse, after which his first act of ‘wicked cunning’ was to drive off their camels (2.104). When ʿAntar proposed to set out with Ghamra to the lands of the Blacks who had raided her tribe, Shaibub objected that this was very dangerous, in part because of the length of the journey through the desert, and he told of a desert called al-Makhafa (Fear), in a country ruled by the dangerous king Ghawwar b. Dinar. Ghamra asked how he came to know all this, and he replied: ‘no one knows those parts as well as I do, for their people are mine’ (2.41). In themselves none of these characteristics can be classified as wiles, and the justification of Shaibub’s description as ‘the man who stirs up trouble amongst the Arabs of the desert and destroys the lands’ (4.99), and ‘the man of wiles’ (7.126) can best be seen in anecdotes. Shaibub’s father, King Ghawwar, said of

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the son he had lost thirty years earlier that ‘he was a devil and must have turned out to be a horse-thief’ (4.260). His qualities are shown in an early episode which describes how ʿAntar and his half-brothers used to be sent out as camel herds. Shaibub had fallen into the habit of stealing cloaks from his sleeping clansmen, which the three of them would hang on bushes and use as targets for their spears, so cutting them in pieces. One day they noticed Shaddad coming to inspect his stock and ʿAntar told Shaibub to use his cunning to save them from a beating. Shaibub instructed the others to drive the camels out of sight and he then threw himself down before Shaddad, pouring dust on his head and tearing his clothes, leading Shaddad to suppose that raiders had driven off his stock. Shaibub then told him that it was a huge swarm of locusts that had blocked the valley in which the camels had been pasturing and that he and his brothers had had to beat them off with their cloaks, which had been torn to bits. ‘You’re lying, you bastard!’ Shaddad exclaimed, asking when had anyone ever seen or heard of locusts doing that to clothes, but Shaibub explained so convincingly that these locusts had been as big as sparrows that his story was believed (1.134). His mastery of disguise does not match that of the city-bred ʿAli al-Zaibaq, but it is appropriate enough in a bedouin context. When ʿAbla had been spirited away to be married to one of ʿAntar’s rivals, Shaibub disguised himself in a woman’s clothes as a slave-girl carrying a water skin and wearing a dirty old burqa, a necklace of coloured shells, copper anklets, beads, chains and bells. He went to the camp where ʿAbla was being held and, while the guests thought that he was a slave-girl, the slave-girls took him for a guest. He danced around in a spiral, bemusing the women, and then snatched a lute from the hand of one of them, with which he entered ʿAbla’s tent. He pretended to be tired and rested there until the women had dispersed and after talking to ʿAbla he went back to tell ʿAntar where she was (2.343). When he was sent to look for a special breed of camel, ‘he laid down his bow and his quiver and put on old, patched clothes. With a stick over his shoulder he made for the pasturages’ (1.362). The slaves there found that he spoke with a Hijazi accent and looked like an ʿAbsian. They invited him to stay with them, promising that their master would marry him to a slave-girl. While he was with them he learnt how to distinguish the camels for which ʿAntar had been asked, and returned to give him the news. On another occasion he dressed as a poor bedouin to look for two other captives, ʿAntar’s uncle Malik and his cousin ʿAmr. He was intercepted by a black slave who asked him: ‘what do you want, cousin?’ (3.160). Shaibub wounded him with his dagger and took him back to ʿAntar, whose formidable appearance, together with Shaibub’s boldness, overawed him. ʿAntar proposed to enter the camp himself, but Shaibub objected that he had never done that kind of thing

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before and would be captured, whereas he could escape by leaping like a gazelle between the tents. When ʿAntar insisted, Shaibub told him to leave his weapons and dress like a slave, carrying a load of brushwood. When ʿUrwa and Muqri al-Wahsh were captured by ʿIfrit al-Sawahil, Shaibub brought out what were described as the tools of his trade and put on worn-out black clothes, with a blue band fixed around his head (5.161). He hung ‘something black’ over his face and smeared his face and body with gazelle’s blood. Calling himself Shuʿaib, he claimed to be from the lands of the Banu Kalb, and he told ʿIfrit’s men that he had not come for money but to show his courage, only to find himself outmatched by ʿAntar. It was then that he was put in charge of the prisoners. He exchanged threats with Muqri al-Wahsh, and when ʿUrwa said that this was Shaibub, Muqri objected: ‘you have no brain left! How could Shaibub risk his life amongst the tribes?’ The guards were then distracted when the ʿAbsians rode out to battle. In order to rescue a captive from what was to turn out to be his own father he put his arm in a sling, as though it was broken, and rubbed his face in the ground until it became enflamed – all this being part of his ‘wiles and cunning’ (4.202). When those who saw him asked what had happened he told them that a man called Shaibub had struck him with a stick and would have killed him had he not managed to get away. The camp which he had entered was a parasang away from the town and near it he killed and ate a gazelle. King Ghawwar, returning from the camp, caught sight of the fire and rode towards it. Shaibub put the fire out with sand and dug himself a hole some distance away, leaving only his mouth and his eyes above the surface. Ghawwar insisted that there had been a fire, but his men could find no trace of it and when they left, Shaibub came out and followed them until he caught sight of the captive and his guards. A beautiful slavegirl was waiting for the king, but when she was told that he had gone to inspect the fire, she allowed herself to be distracted by a black man as big as a buffalo, with whom she made love. Shaibub thought of killing them both, but decided that this would be too dangerous, and he waited until the king had returned and fallen asleep, after which he released the captive. Not every disguise was successful. Once, in order to enter an enemy camp Shaibub dressed himself as a poet, with a fringed turban set on his head like a dish. The place was full of riders, who were preparing to meet ʿAntar’s attack, and the slaves told ‘the poet’ that they trusted only people whom they could recognise. He was brought before the king whom he impressed with his poetry, but as he was about to be sent off with a reward he was recognised by a horse-thief, who laughed when he was told that this was a poet, identifying him as ‘the man of wiles’, Shaibub. He was about to be crucified when ʿAntar, who had become anxious, came to his rescue (7.123).

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On other occasions it was by stealth rather than by disguise that he succeeded. When al-Harith had been captured, Shaibub, holding his dagger, crept into the enemy camp, at times on his belly and at others on his back or on all fours. He killed sleeping guards, released al-Harith and told him to crawl after him. He cut the throat of a guard and then slit open his belly to stop any sound. Al-Harith was too enfeebled to climb a mountain and so Shaibub carried him to the summit from which he shot down at the pursuers. Their leader pointed out that he would have to come down at night to pick up his arrows and when he did he was captured – ‘you have fallen, have you, you devil?’ – but he later escaped and ran off into the desert (3.304). When ʿUrwa was captured, Shaibub spent three days and nights searching for him. On arrival at the camp where he was being held he addressed the slaves as ‘cousins’ and told them that he was a poor man with a family to support and no protector, and that he had lost five fat female camels and a splendid stallion. They sympathised as he shed tears, pretending to be broken-hearted. He then saw the smoke of a fire and asked whether there was to be a wedding or a feast, but was told that a prisoner was going to be burnt to death. He decoyed away the fighting men, promising them an opportunity to ambush the ʿAbsians, after which he freed ʿUrwa (5.203). In order to rescue another prisoner, ʿAmir b. Tufail, who had been captured by Zaid al-Khail, he went to a pool near Zaid’s camp, where he scratched his head and removed lice from his clothes. A party of Zaid’s slave-girls arrived and after he had talked to them, one of them asked him whether the water of the pool was all that he wanted by way of guest provision. He told her that he was just resting and, after asking the way to Zaid’s tent, he went off leaning on a stick and dragging his feet until he found where ʿAmir was being held. Just as ʿAmir was saying: ‘if only I could be rescued tonight’, Shaibub promptly appeared and freed him. He then killed the groom who was in charge of Zaid’s horse with a dagger ‘sharper than a razor’s edge and swifter than the blink of an eye’. Zaid heard the horse whinny and, mistaking Shaibub for the groom, he asked why this was. ‘I don’t know’, replied Shaibub, ‘but I was saying just now that it wanted water.’ Zaid told him to take it to the end of the camp, but Shaibub said that it needed open country as it had not been ridden for some days and was whinnying angrily. Zaid let him go off and he left with his spoils (5.282). Not all the plans were of Shaibub’s devising. When ʿAntar’s sons were captured while drunk by Saʿsaʿ, whose father ʿAntar had killed, one of Saʿsaʿ’s men approached ʿAntar and suggested that he should take Shaibub back as a prisoner and claim to have found him in the tribe’s pasture grounds. He would be recognised and imprisoned, after which the man would release him and tell him where to find horses and weapons. He could then free ʿAntar’s sons, and when ʿAntar

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himself attacked, they could join in the fighting. Shaibub was unimpressed and exclaimed: ‘you stupid black man! This is a twisted plan; who is going to agree to being tied up?’ ʿAntar was sure that no treachery was intended and asked: ‘how can you be afraid when I am behind you?’ Shaibub pointed out the weakness of the argument: ‘if I come before the king and he knows that I am your brother and orders my head to be cut off, what will you do then? Can you stick my neck together again after I have been killed?’ ʿAntar laughed and Shaibub eventually agreed. The plan was carried out and, in spite of the fact that one of Saʿsaʿ’s men recognised him, it worked successfully (4.94). Shaibub’s familiarity with disguise was of use defensively as well as offensively. One episode started with ʿUrwa and Muqri al-Wahsh drinking when a packman appeared from the desert and Shaibub was told to fetch him. The ‘packman’, dressed in a tattered fur with a torn fringe and an old green turban, impressed them with his eloquence, saying that he had seen in a dream that ʿAntar would succeed in his ambition to hang up an ode of his own in the Kaʿba, and asked to be taken on as a servant. Shaibub was told to look after him and for ten days all went well. Then, when Shaibub was invited to go and drink with ʿAntar, the man refused to go with him, saying: ‘I can’t do that. You drink with important kings but I am a poor man and can only sit with people like myself.’ In fact, he had intended to murder Shaibub had he stayed, but instead he took the jubba that Shaibub used to wear when grooming ʿAntar’s horse, al-Abjar, took the horse and rode off (5.387). It turned out that he was a professional horse-thief by the name of alMukhtalis, who had been hired by al-Luqait to steal al-Abjar. Not content with his success he tried to repeat the trick by returning disguised as a black man with long legs and blue eyes and volunteering to steal al-Abjar back again. Shaibub, who had been searching for him, had followed him from al-Luqait’s camp, thanks to his knowledge of the country, and identified him on his return. At first ʿAntar refused to believe him, saying that the thief was white, but Shaibub pointed out that this was a trick and when al-Mukhtalis was stripped, his body was seen to be white. The text notes: ‘in those days Arab horse-thieves knew about many herbs and drugs’ (5.400). Shaibub later posted the ʿAbsians in ambush outside al-Luqait’s camp, telling ʿAntar that he and his men were expecting the arrival of a bride. ʿAntar told him to enter the camp at night, but he insisted on going by daylight. Thanks to the wedding feast al-Luqait and his men were drunk and Shaibub introduced himself as having been sent to warn them against ‘Shaibub’: ‘I know him and no one can escape if he is after them as he is a devil in human form who always wins and is never beaten.’ Al-Luqait gave him twenty slaves and ten riders to help him look after al-Abjar and the mare he had fetched as its mate, but Shaibub

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dismissed most of them, saying that they must be tired. The three who were left fell into a drunken sleep and Shaibub got to his feet like an angry panther and killed one of them, after which he slowly approached al-Abjar, whistling to him as he had been used to do. Al-Abjar recognised the sound and neighed, after which Shaibub made off with both him and the mare. In another, less fully elaborated, context it appears to have been his alertness to the possibilities of treachery that saved ʿAntar’s life. Rabiʿa b. Ziyad, whose brother, ʿUmara, had been in love with ʿAbla and who was himself one of ʿAntar’s enemies, planned to poison ʿAbla, saying: ‘I know that if she dies, he will die too.’ In fact, ʿAntar had been quarrelling with her because she had told him to kiss her foot, saying that after having hung up his ode in the Kaʿba he had become too proud. She passed him the poisoned cup, presumably as a gesture of reconciliation, but Shaibub’s instinct for danger led him to knock it to the ground (6.445). Here and throughout it is Shaibub’s relationship to the hero, ʿAntar, that gives point to his narrative career. In part, as some of the earlier examples have shown, this is merely a matter of allowing ʿAntar to confine himself to fighting, while he scouts and passes on information. In his early days it was he who was warned by the wife of ʿAntar’s father, Shaddad, that Malik and ʿAmr were planning to ambush him in the desert. Later he told ʿAntar that his ode in the Kaʿba had been torn down and he also passed on a boast by a rival champion, al-Hani, that he had had to pick up ʿAntar from the ground five times during a battle with the Persians and that he would be a match for him in a duel. During the course of a battle, he was the scout who returned, calling out to ʿAntar: ‘take care, brother, take care! Men are coming from the ravine and from between the mountains with spears in their hands’ (1.329). In spite of his reputation for daring, he tended to advise prudence. When the young ʿAntar was facing difficulties among his own tribe, Shaibub’s advice was that he should drive off a flock of camels to the mountains and wait there to see what would happen. Similarly, on being told that ʿAntar had been asked to fetch a dowry for ʿAbla from Iraq, Shaibub told him to wait and to ask for help. Before two other expeditions, one against Yemen and the other to the lands of the Blacks, he warned ʿAntar that he had too few men. When in an enemy camp the disguised ʿAntar proposed to toss a bundle of firewood into a fire burning in front of the chief’s tent, he objected, and when ʿAntar insisted, he said: ‘don’t blame me if you get the worse of it’ (3.169). On his return from reconnoitring a huge Persian army that was advancing on Mecca, ʿAntar told him: ‘don’t tell me about these Persian tinkers and make them out to be greater than they are’ (6.206). In fact, ʿAntar was captured, but later released by the Persians, and when Shaibub met him he burst out laughing,

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exclaiming: ‘the Persians have made you into a tinker and castrated you, as well as well as cutting off your beard’ (6.288). When ʿAntar, who was drunk at the time, stripped off his mail and put on black silk before attacking the Blacks, Shaibub shouted out: ‘what are you doing? You’re acting like a fool’ (6.142). This type of interchange was typical of their relationship. When ʿAntar told Shaibub to guard ʿAbla, he said: ‘I will do it better than you.’ In an extended exchange, when Shaibub had come back from an enemy camp, ʿAntar asked him about their numbers and added: ‘I know that you are good at counting champions, even if you don’t have the endurance to meet them.’ The angry Shaibub replied: ‘I’m braver than you, black man, and, by God, I’ll teach you your own worth and repay you for what you said.’ He added that in battle he would fight as hard as he could and then, if he was outmatched, he would make his escape, whereas if the enemy were to kill ʿAntar’s horse, he would be left ‘like a woman’ (5.212). A similar taunt represents rough humour. When Muqri al-Wahsh claimed that three of them, himself, ʿAntar and Shaibub, could face their enemies, ʿAntar told him that they could only count Shaibub as a half. Muqri al-Wash said: ‘leave him alone and don’t annoy him’, but all Shaibub said was: ‘this is no time for joking’ (5.222). Another insult was not taken so lightly. Shaibub told ʿAntar that a slave-girl was in love with him and had been sleeping with him for three nights. ʿAntar asked: ‘what can she see in you to make her love you?’, to which Shaibub replied angrily: ‘you are nothing but a stupid man’ (6.452). Earlier he had taunted ʿAntar by saying: ‘I see that you have grown old and your day has passed’ (6.171). For all that, the closeness of the ties between them were underlined by the fact that when ʿAntar was falsely reported to be dead, Shaibub fell sick through sorrow (6.204). ʿAntar was nervous when he was away too long on his scouting expeditions and once told him: ‘I only look to you in matters of importance’ (2.166). Not surprisingly, it was after Rabiʿa had told his brother that ʿAntar’s good fortune had gone that Shaibub was found dead, with his throat cut, this being the work of the brother of al-Mukhtalis who had been killed for stealing al-Abjar (8.418).

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2 Chapter 2 Section 1: Qissat al-Zir Salim

Section 1: Qissat al-Zir Salim

Kulaib

Among the mirages and shifting sands of pre-Islamic Arabian history the outlines, if not the details, of the War of Basus are sufficiently clear to underline its importance. R. A. Nicholson in his Literary History of the Arabs summarised one of the sources that cover it, the commentary of Tibrizi on the Hamasa of Abu Tammam. He writes: Towards the end of the fifth century AD Kulaib, son of Rabiʿa, was chieftain of the Banu Taghlib, a powerful tribe which divided with their kinsmen, the Banu Bakr, a vast track in north-eastern Arabia, extending from the central highlands to the Syrian desert. His victory at the head of a confederacy formed by these tribes and others over the Yemenite Arabs made him the first man in the peninsula, and soon his pride became no less proverbial than his power.1

Nicholson went on to note that Kulaib was married to Halila (her name was, in daughter of Murra, a chief of the Banu Bakr, who had a son named Jassas. A problem arose when Basus, here described as Jassas’ aunt, who was living under his protection, was joined by Saʿd, a client of hers, whose camel had strayed into a pasture and destroyed a lark’s nest that Kulaib had sworn to protect. This led to a quarrel between Kulaib and Jassas during which Jassas threatened to kill Kulaib if he injured the camel. Jalila did what she could to act as a peacemaker but, after another incident involving the camel, Kulaib shot it through the udder and Basus accused Jassas of failing to protect his clients. Roused by this he followed Kulaib, who had gone out unarmed, and killed him.

fact, Jalila),

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As far as historical fiction is concerned, the principal hero of the cycle is Kulaib’s brother, Muhalhil al-Zir, and its episodes as given in an undated Beirut text were studied by Shawqi ʿAbd al-Hakim in his work Al-Zir Salim Abu Laila al-Muhalhil.2 Shawqi sees here an insight into ‘the totemic past of the Arabs’. Where Kulaib disguises himself in the skins of foxes and wolves, Shawqi relates this to totemism in that the wearer acquires animal powers and characteristics and is protected from hostile forces, while Kulaib’s daughter has a totem name, Yamama, (pigeon or dove). He is not content to stop there but goes on to describe Yamama as a ‘moon sorceress’ and later ‘a goddess’. Similarly, Jalila is another soothsayer/moon goddess, and, while Yamama is compared with Cassandra, Jalila not only plays Clytemnestra to the Yemeni king Hassan’s Agamemnon, but is linked through supposed etymology to Delila. That she is also thought to have a match in Abraham’s barren wife, Sarah, is supported by an interpretation of her need for lion’s milk. Shawqi takes ‘milk’ to be ‘sperm’ and when a reference to wool is added, he says that according to popular belief this is applied to the vagina to aid conception. None of this carries more conviction than Louis ʿAwad’s comparison of the War of Basus with the Trojan War, based on the fleet of ships sent to help Hassan, but it must be asked how in view of what is at least a semi-historical desert background the Man of Wiles can be allowed to intrude. In fact, he is found not as a developed character but in a single series of episodes in Kulaib’s life, after which Kulaib himself returns to being a chieftain/king. Although the episodes are found in the Beirut text, it is a more colourful Egyptian-based version that will be quoted here. The Yemeni king Hassan al-Tubbaʿ is introduced as saying that he ruled the whole earth, Sind, Hind, the Valley of Brass, the lands of the Franks, of the Christians, the Kurds, the Druze, the worshippers of the Great Goddess (? Al-Kabira), China, the lands of the Nile and the Seven Seas. He had built a palace soaring above the city walls, supported on four lofty pillars set over the sea. He had 1,000 white concubines, as well as 2,000 servant girls and 200 hundred viziers (p. 2 sq.). When he was 500 years old his chief vizier found him weeping because of an alarming dream. In this he had seen his palace darkened and attacked by fire as thunder rolled, followed by a flood that overwhelmed the mountains, at which point he woke up in terror. A sand diviner was summoned and, having been promised safety, he told the king that his life was over: you have few years left; three full years remain, and in the fourth year what you saw in your nightmare will come about. You will see a young boy with wide

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The Man of Wiles in Popular Arabic Literature eyes, a beardless boy with no hair on his cheeks. Seven full years make up his life span. His name is Kulaib and he is a child of Rabiʿa whose people live in the land of the Nile, their town being Talbana. His mother is al-Wayaliya. He will come to you by trickery from his town, bringing you gifts laden on camels. He will bring you Jalila daughter of Murra, coming to you by a trick. He will attack you alone in your palace when you have no helper. He will draw your curved sword and take off your head together with your right side, and you will die on the carpet. Most glorious of kings, you will die seated on the carpet.

To this the king replied: Your words are false. By God, had I not promised you safety, I would have cut through you with my sword. I am king Hassan al-Tubbaʿ who rules the whole world and am I to be killed by a young boy? What you say is a lie.

The vizier asked the diviner where the king would die, and when he was told that he would die in his palace the vizier suggested pulling it down. He promised to build another lofty palace, adding: ‘if the boy comes there I shall bring his head while you are seated and I will fetch people to watch beneath the palace, night and day, sleeplessly’. The diviner said: Your words, vizier, are false. Were people to be immortal, Adam and Eve would be in good health. Our father Noah – where is he and where are the former kings? At the end of time all people will perish; they will become dust like those who came before them. All jinn and men will die . . . The heavens and the earth will be folded up as well as the stars with all the heavenly lights. The heavens and the earth will be folded up with the permission of God, the Lord of the worlds.

Nothing more is recorded of the new palace, but the diviner suggested that in place of the one man whom the king usually sent to Egypt for tribute he should send fifty. Were Kulaib to kill them and return the money to ‘his country’, the dream would have been a true one. The king followed his advice and sent a message to Murra, ‘sultan of the land of Egypt’, whom he addressed as ‘you camel rider’, threatening that, if the tribute were not forthcoming, he would massacre Murra’s people, ‘young and old’. Hassan’s vizier volunteered to take the letter, promising that, were ‘the child’ to appear, he would bring back his head together with the tribute (p. 7 sq.). When he reached ‘the city of Qais’, where ‘the sons of Murra kissed the ground before him as a sign of obedience’, Murra himself agreed to hand over the tribute, and splendid food was provided on plates of gold and silver. The

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vizier and his men then travelled through the country on their mission as far south as Aswan, and, after passing through ‘the land of the Christians’, they reached Damanhur. When vast quantities of goods and wealth had been collected Murra reminded Kulaib, who had queried this, that his father, Rabiʿa, had refused tribute and had been killed. In reply, Kulaib promised to fetch back everything that had been taken and to kill Hassan’s vizier, even if Hassan himself were there at the time. He took his father’s arms, mounted a bay horse with a jewelled bridle, and told his mother what he was going to do. When he caught up with the vizier’s escort he called them ‘treacherous sons of dogs’, and killed the vizier and all but one of his men. The sole survivor was sent back to tell Hassan that Kulaib, ‘a sevenyear-old boy’, had come from Talbana in ‘the land of the Nile’, and that ‘his father’s head is seeking Hassan’s head’. On hearing this, the king sent a summons to his men to muster in ninety days, and 2,000 war drums were beaten, ‘causing the fixed mountains to shake’. Murra told his clan to evacuate Egypt, but Kulaib ordered everyone to stay where they were while he went alone to face the invaders. He put on furs with a burnoose of silk and a tall tarbush and, after his mother had prayed for him, he mounted a donkey. When he reached Hassan’s army, with its variously dressed contingents, a Syrian guided him to where Hassan, ‘the master of the world’, was seated in a splendid pavilion ornamented with tapestries. Kulaib was allowed to enter, with his cheek like a shining star and his mouth like a round ring. He told Hassan: I know of a girl for you, unlike any other in the whole world . . . Her head is like the head of a dove; it is like the mindless dove. Her forehead beneath her headband is like the rising moon; her eyes enslave; they enslave those who look. Her cheek is like a star . . . Over her forehead are pearls, carnations, rosewood and jasmine. Her mouth is like a jewelled ring; her teeth are pearls with a soft translucence (?); her hair is let down in eighty locks; the locks flow down loosely. The neck of the girl is like that of a gazelle or like gleaming diamonds. Her chest is like diamonds with wonders like fragrant vines, and her breasts . . . are like gleaming pomegranates or shining jewels, with butter, scented musk, amber and branches of jasmine. Seven coverings of satin are folded over her jutting breasts. Her belly is fold on fold, like cotton, fresher than dough, over her navel. You see every fruit over her navel, delighting those who look. If you set your wishes on a girl, this one will divert you over the years. Her name is Jalila daughter of Murra.

Kulaib went on to promise to fetch Hassan any rebel he wanted, and when the king told him of the boy who had robbed him of his tribute, he said that he knew

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him and that ʿAzraʾil, the angel of death, sat at his right hand. Hassan told him to fetch both Kulaib and the girl, agreeing in return to appoint him sultan of Egypt and to allow him three years in which to establish his authority before the tribute was to be handed over. This was confirmed in a letter to Murra, and Hassan added that he himself was going back to Yemen. On his return to Egypt Kulaib found the towns desolate and when he asked his mother ‘where are the bedouin, the great ones of Egypt?’ she told him that they had left two days earlier. Kulaib followed them and gave Hassan’s letter to Murra, telling him to read it to the tribes. They all then turned back and after three days’ rest Kulaib summoned ‘the great ones’, and, in reply to a question from Murra, he asked for skilled craftsmen, including silk weavers, an expert Christian goldsmith from Tanta and a carpenter from Bilbais, who told him how Hassan had earlier massacred his family (p. 16 sq.). Preparations were made for gifts to be taken to Hassan. Trees were selected from whose timbers chests containing armed men were to be made, and the men themselves were picked. It is only at this point that Jalila comes on stage, as Kulaib’s drums are beaten. On hearing them Hassan summoned his sand diviner, who told him that Kulaib was on his way with 80,000 riders accompanied by Jalila. He warned that there were men in chests, and, at that, Hassan sent out a formidable servant of his to check. This man used a mace to break open three chests, but he had found nothing except the treasures destined for Hassan when he looked at Jalila. A poetic convention refers to the fatal glances of a beautiful girl, and this is developed here as, when Jalila looks back at him, he falls unconscious on the ground and is stabbed by Kulaib and hacked into seventy pieces by his men. Jalila became afraid, telling Kulaib that Hassan had sand diviners, astrologers and experienced advisers. She advised him to go back, but he told her that he had put his trust in God and they proceeded to Hassan’s palace, where they were confronted by another diviner, an old woman who had passed her life in isolation. She greeted Kulaib by name and when she told him that she knew about his chests, he had nothing to say. Jalila, however, intervened and offered the diviner such splendid gifts that she returned to Hassan and told him that what was being brought him was gold and gems, after which the chests were carried into the palace. This was the signal for Jalila to make her entrance: She climbed the stairs, moving proudly like a gazelle of the desert. She came in to the king in his palace; she came to the sultan and kissed his hands. Hassan said: ‘Welcome! You have brought life to the dwellings and the guarded space. Welcome, Jalila! You have illumined my land and its towns. Welcome, daughter

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of Murra! I shall make your people great in the towns, but I want union with you, girl, to perfect the love that has burnt my heart.’ She said: ‘Act with probity (?). This is the daughter of Murra; this is a free woman. I do not accept copulation during menstruation; I swear by the life of your head that my flow of blood will not stop for eighty days’ (p. 19 sq.).

Hassan’s face ‘was filled with anger’ and Jalila, afraid that the plot might fail, suggested that a performance by her jester might be enough to stem her blood. She called out to Kulaib from the window, using ‘the language of Nejd’, which Hassan did not understand, and he came in dressed as a Fool and mounted on a wooden camel. At that point another diviner, described as the king’s vizier, warned his master that this was Kulaib the son of Rabiʿa, that the Arabs of Qais were his greatest enemies and that the chests contained men. Here Jalila intervened, producing a book of genealogy, which showed that the vizier’s ancestors had been the enemies of those of the king since the days of Cain and Abel. The king promptly exiled him, but was again angered when Kulaib refused to perform on a chain stretched over the hall unless he was given Hassan’s sword. Again Jalila soothed him, allowing him to fondle her, and she told him of her jester: ‘on some days he is clothed and on others he is naked. Sometimes he will fast all day and at others he will eat a hundred loaves.’ When Kulaib asked her for Hassan’s sword, Hassan could not understand what he was saying and Jalila said: ‘he speaks as a hungry man whose wits have gone astray’. The king said: ‘bring him a tray of food, my tray of food, so he may eat what he wants’. Kulaib said: ‘I have sworn not to eat this food; I eat the crocodiles of the water.’ The king said: ‘take him to the water side, Jalila, for there are frogs in the water’. He remained unwilling to hand over his sword but Jalila stripped down to her shift, at which he agreed. Kulaib then fetched the sword and returned roaring like a camel. Hassan, realising his position, offered him his throne, wealth and the hand of Jalila, pointing out that God shows mercy to the merciful, and he then tried to escape, only to be surrounded by the men from Jalila’s chests. He recited a list of prophecies, including that Kulaib would be killed by Jassas and that al-Zir would build pyramids of skulls. He mentioned the mission of Muhammad, but for the most part the picture painted of the future was gloomy, extending until the coming of Gog and Magog and the end of the world. After this Kulaib killed him. Kulaib has a further part to play as a clan chieftain who marries Jalila, the daughter of Murra, and after having become involved in the War of Basus he is killed by her brother Jassas, whose struggle with al-Zir, Kulaib’s brother, fills the rest of the cycle. Someone described by Nicholson as ‘the first man in the peninsula’

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was clearly not, in terms of clan history, a Hermes, an Odysseus or an ʿAli alZaibaq. What does, however, emphasise the importance of the character of the Man of Wiles is that even where it cannot be developed audiences were prepared to welcome its superimposition onto other roles, as here where Kulaib briefly becomes a master of disguise and a gymnastic Fool. This is a picture reproduced in another tribal story, that of the Banu Hilal. 1. Literary History of the Arabs, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1930, pp. 55 et seq. 2. Qissat al-Zir Salim Abu Laila al-Muhalhil, Beirut, Dar Ibn Khaldun, 1982.

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Chapter 2 Section 2: Sirat Bani Hilal

Section 2: Sirat Bani Hilal

Abu Zaid

In Edward Lane’s An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians,1 quoted earlier, he writes: The most numerous class of reciters is that of persons called ‘Shoʿera’ (in the singular ‘Shaʿer’, which properly signifies a poet). They are also called ‘AbooZeydeeyeh’ or ‘Aboo-Zeydees’, from the subject of their recitations, which is a romance entitled ‘the Life of Abu-Zeyd’ (‘Seeret Aboo-Zeyd’). The number of these Shoʿera in Cairo is about fifty; and they recite nothing but the adventures related in the romance of Aboo-Zeyd. This romance is said to have been founded upon events which happened in the middle of the third century of the Flight; and it is believed to have been written not long after that period; but it was certainly composed at a much later time, unless it have (sic.) been greatly altered in transcription.

The text of the printed version of Sirat Bani Hilal al-Kubra begins with the claim that it is a sequel to the story of al-Zir, while the eponymous ancestor of the clan was a contemporary of the Prophet and had become one of his companions. The printed compilation, together with the Taghribat Bani Hilal,2 represents a collection of stories connected with his descendants, developed and adapted by reciters in a form whose sequence is of less importance than the characters that link them. Among these none is restricted to the framework of the Man of Wiles, but the importance of this character is underlined by the fact that a selection of his characteristics and functions are transferred to Lane’s major hero, Abu Zaid, on whom much of the dramatic interest of the work centres.

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Abu Zaid’s genealogy is given in full and the circumstances of his birth mark him out as exceptional. The Hilalis had fought in defence of the emir of Mecca against a Byzantine army that had come to avenge the death of their emperor, Heraclius, at the hands of the Prophet, and in gratitude the emir had offered the hand of his daughter Khadra to the young Hilali champion, Rizq. He warned Rizq that any child of hers might have a dark complexion, ‘like that of a slave’, but, in fact, her first child was a white daughter. After four years she still had no son and she prayed for one, ‘even if he is black’, a prayer that was granted. In spite of his father-in-law’s warning, Rizq was angered by the baby’s colour and promised to divorce Khadra, ‘even though my body is fettered by her love’. She and her child, Barakat, were taken in by the hospitable Zahlan, whom Barakat, later to be named Abu Zaid, took to be his father. Soon he found himself fighting against his real father in defence of Zahlan, and his first recorded act of deception was to eat a hashish pill which would cause a slow death unless whoever had swallowed it turned a somersault. He then claimed to have been wounded and he heard Khadra saying that it was his own father who had killed him (34–68). He soon established himself as a champion. ‘The Hilalis are sparrows and Abu Zaid is a hawk’ acknowledged his rival Diyab (T.426), who eventually killed him, and as a champion he acted the part of an Islamic ʿAntar, ‘knowing about all kinds of war’ (664). As a result the bulk of his career lies outside the scope of this investigation, which is restricted to characteristics that are seen elsewhere as delineating the Man of Wiles. Abu Zaid is explicitly identified as ‘a master of schemes and wiles’ (270), and he says of an opponent: ‘if he has one wile, I have a thousand’ (T.328). He had studied languages and was said to know seventy-two of them (178), of which Persian, Turkish, Kurdish, Italian, Hebrew and Syriac are named. He could leap like a gazelle (721); as a wrestler he killed his opponent and with a single arrow he brought down an archer who had shot at him forty times as he prayed (T.287). Disguise and drugs were among his weapons. He acted as a guide on major expeditions to India and North Africa, while on a smaller scale it was he who led the Hilalis to a safe ford when they were menaced by floods (T.381). It is not explained how he came to be in possession of a ‘magnetic stone’ (T.288) that helped him in his role as a rescuer of prisoners, but the cap of invisibility was part of the spoils that he took from the sorcerer lord of al-ʿArish (714), and a copper drum inscribed with ‘great names’ was discovered by him in the castle of the king of Yemen. He was responsible for teaching the emir Badran, who became ‘a great sorcerer’ (594); he could interpret dreams and act as a sand diviner, and more significantly he could invoke supernatural forces. Angels helped him against jinn kings and the mysterious figure of al-Khidr told him to call on his name when he was in difficulties (180).

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Not all details of this kind need to be expanded, but some at least can be set in context. One of his early adventures began when the Hilalis were being threatened by an Indian king and Hasan, their sultan, asked for a volunteer to go out to reconnoitre. Abu Zaid told him: ‘only I can make this journey as the way is dangerous’. It was in this context that the languages he knew are mentioned, and he is also said to know ‘the Greatest Name of God’, although how he had learnt it is not explained. In order to test his Indian disguise he approached Hasan and Diyab with a staff and bowl, and escaped recognition (177–178). In the course of his journey he reached a desolate region whose water he could not drink for fear of the venom of the vipers that abounded there, and he was confronted by a radiant figure dressed in green who greeted him by name and introduced himself as al-Khidr. Al-Khidr told him that were he to continue walking as he was doing for a hundred years, he would still be in the same desert, but by trusting in God he could reach its edge ‘on the eighth day’. He told Abu Zaid about the fire-worshipping Indian king and added that the elephants, on whom his army relied, were the natural enemies of horses, but could be intimidated by a rhinoceros. He promised that Abu Zaid would meet one of these animals and gave him a woollen rope with which to lead it ‘like a sheep’ (179–180). After he had arrived at his destination he came across a funeral during which the corpse was burnt. As this was anathema to a Muslim he recited the confession of faith, which led to his being seized and brought before the king. The king asked him who he was and, talking ‘in Indian’, Abu Zaid answered: ‘I am a man like you.’ When it turned out that he was not a fire-worshipper, he was condemned to death, and only escaped when, thanks to al-Khidr, an alarm was raised that the Muslims were attacking. In the course of his subsequent flight he came to a mountain where a huge serpent followed by a rhinoceros used to drink from a spring, and the inhabitants promised him that, were he to kill the serpent, they would help him catch the rhinoceros. He promptly used lime to poison the carcasses of ten dead goats, which the serpent ate and died, after which the rhinoceros was trapped in a pit and was later used to defeat the Indians (181–184). The next mission, suited to an artful horse-thief, was when Hasan ‘fell in love with the description [of a horse]’ belonging to the emir al-Jaʿbari, which was kept in iron fetters and guarded day and night by four slaves (250). Abu Zaid volunteered to fetch it by means of a trick, and he travelled disguised as a dervish, telling al-Jaʿbari’s chief herdsman that he had come from Jerusalem. In the course of their conversation, the man complained to him that his wife was distressed by the fact that after fifteen years she was still childless. Abu Zaid tied knots in a cord, reciting over it a number of sacred names, a recognised magical practice, and although the episode is not completed in the text, the treatment can be presumed to have been successful, leading to the removal of the horse (253).

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An early example of Abu Zaid’s role as a rescuer of prisoners comes when Diyab and 100 Hilali emirs were being held captive by Indians. Abu Zaid took eleven men, dyed them black, ‘the colour of slaves’, dressed them as Indians and gave them sticks of banj to burn. They reached the prison at midnight, drugged the guards and released the Hilalis. This was followed by two more episodes involving magic (643). Abu Zaid had dreamed that a lion had attacked Nejd, and by consulting the sand he discovered that the sorcerer, Tayyar, had petrified a number of Hilali emirs. He inscribed talismans on steel and made himself invisible by the use of a spell. Later he killed Tayyar, and when he was attacked with a poisoned javelin by Tayyar’s employer, the emir Nadir, Nadir was shot down by his servant, Abuʾl-Qumsan (643–646). When Jews captured a number of Hilalis, partly by sorcery, Abu Zaid disguised himself, making his beard ‘like carded cotton’, and staff in hand he went to the Jewish leader, Salqantas. He was carrying ‘books of the Christians and Jews’, claiming to have been sent by ‘the chief monk of our lands’, and he warned Salqantas to be wary of Abu Zaid. He claimed to want to convert the prisoners to Judaism and dressed them in Jewish clothes, after having dyed their beards, so that they became figures of fun. Although no more details are given, this, apparently, led to their rescue (714). In a dispute about liberality Abu Zaid claimed that al-Madi was the most generous of men. He was told by Hasan, the ‘sultan’ of the Hilalis, to settle the matter by finding out whether al-Madi would be willing to give away his wife. He dyed his beard white, produced wrinkles in his skin and put on old clothes, but was recognised by Hasan when he went to the diwan. He approached al-Madi, leaping like a gazelle and playing his viol in twenty-four different modes. Al-Madi handed over his wife and said that were ‘the poet’ not white and old, he would be Abu Zaid (725). The wife was later returned. An example of an occasion when Abu Zaid arrived as his name was being mentioned was when, on his way to reconnoitre Tunis, he and his companions heard the emir Mughamis praying: ‘Merciful God, send me Abu Zaid’, and going on to explain that his father had told him to ask for Abu Zaid’s help in cases of hardship. Saʿid, a former servant of Mughamis’ father, who had dispossessed him, sent a number of black slaves to fetch ‘the poets’, and Abu Zaid welcomed them as ‘my cousins who drink buza’. When he appeared before Saʿid he recited a boastful poem: ‘I protect the orphans with sword and spear’, and Saʿid said: ‘were it not for your black colour, I would cut off your head’. One of the three Hilalis who were with him intervened: ‘excuse him, for he is one of the slaves’, and later Abu Zaid succeeded in killing Saʿid and restoring Mughamis (T.20–26). On their arrival at Tunis, Abu Zaid and the three other Hilalis were arrested. Al-ʿAllam, one of the lieutenants of the sultan, al-Zanati, asked Abu Zaid who he

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was and he said: ‘we are poets from the east and our custom is to praise emirs’, adding that they had heard of the generosity of al-Zanati. He called himself Mahmud and gave his companions false names, but al-ʿAllam replied that this was Abu Zaid, ‘the master of guile and of wiles’. Al-Zanati then addressed him as ‘meanest of the Blacks’ and intended to have all the ‘poets’ hanged, but his daughter, Suʿda, fell in love with one of them and saved them from execution, suggesting that ‘the slave’ be sent back to fetch a ransom. Al-Zanati said of Abu Zaid: ‘I see that his lips are huge because of how much he talks’ (T.42). Abu Zaid returned from Tunis without his companions and the Hilalis decided to move to Tunis to rescue them, taking Abu Zaid as their guide. On their way they fell into a number of difficulties. When a group of them were captured by al-Dubaisi, Abu Zaid, dressed in a silk robe with a shawl over his head, went to him, speaking in Persian and pretending to be a dervish from Baghdad. Al-Dubaisi asked him to pray that God might fetch him Abu Zaid, ‘the wily deceiver’. Abu Zaid then said that he wanted to pass the night in the mosque, but he went instead to the dungeon where the prisoners were being held and where their guards told him that they were on the watch lest Abu Zaid try to rescue them ‘by guile and cunning’. He lit a drugged candle and they fell unconscious. After arming the prisoners he went to the city gate and sat with the guards, before drugging them with sweetmeats (T.48–77). Later Maria, the daughter of the emir Budir, fell into the hands of seven Persian kings, who were opposing the Hilalis, and was taken to Kufa. Abu Zaid went there in disguise with his servant, Abuʾl-Qumsan, entering the town through a narrow passage and going around the markets speaking fluent Persian, until he reached what he rightly took to be the palace. He climbed a cypress tree and saw though a window the seven kings, as well as the Arab chief Nuʿman, drinking with Maria. She was reciting a poem in which she asked the Hijazi wind to carry a message to Abu Zaid. Nuʿman eventually took her to his own house and Abu Zaid ‘thanked him in his heart’ (T.99–100). When he had got back to camp the Hilalis sent a message to the Persian king, Kharmand, demanding Maria’s return. Kharmand tore it up and sent out his own messenger. This man saw someone who turned out to be Abu Zaid riding with bowed head as though he was ill. He called out: ‘stop, you bastard’, and Abu Zaid allowed him to catch up with him, before pretending to be dismounting and then striking him down with his mace (T.101–102). Diyab was kidnapped and held prisoner in Cyprus. Abu Zaid set out to rescue him, and on landing there he was met by a monk who knew of his errand and greeted him by name. Abu Zaid asked: ‘who is Abu Zaid?’ and claimed to be a servant of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre before killing the monk. He met the ruler of Cyprus, Harras, who was on his way to hunt, and offered him incense

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and candles for his churches. Harras addressed him by name, but was apparently deceived when Abu Zaid told him that he was ‘the servant of King Mithqal’. He was invited to court, where he said that he had visited all the monasteries; he asked questions that no one could answer and answered questions put to him. He claimed that he wanted to torture Diyab, but added that he should be fattened up first. Another monk, Maghlub, arrived and told Harras that this was Abu Zaid, and when Abu Zaid claimed to be from Jerusalem, Maghlub said ‘this is the first lie’, adding that he had been in Jerusalem himself for forty years and had never heard of him. Abu Zaid recited from the Gospels and the Psalms and after Maghlub had accused him of being a thief, he asked and answered difficult questions. That night he smeared his body with a form of grease that made it immune to fire before telling Harras that he had been visited by forty divine messengers who fly round the world and who had told him to get Harras to prepare a fire which both he and Maghlub should enter. He was the first to do this, having recited the Greatest Name of God, and was seen sitting there ‘as though in a green garden’. Maghlub was burnt to death (T.225–234). On their way to ʿAintab a number of Hilali leaders, including Hasan, were captured by a sorcerer, Abu Bishara (247), posing as a perfume seller. Abu Zaid confronted him and advised him to go and sell his perfumes to women rather than to oppose warriors, but he was temporarily paralysed when Abu Bishara threw a handful of dust at him. Later, the Hilali women proposed to go to the rescue themselves, but Abu Zaid said that Abu Bishara could not be faced either by men or by jinn and that he would ask for help from God. He dressed as a dervish with a staff and a jug and followed behind Abu Bishara, who turned round and paralysed him again. He then called on al-Khidr, ‘who helps all who appeal to him’, and was released. Abu Bishara came back to kill him and this time, when Abu Zaid prayed to God for help, al-Khidr’s voice was heard, ‘causing the mountains to shake’. A hand covered Abu Bishara’s mouth so that he could not utter a spell and Abu Zaid drew a sword from his staff and killed him (T.247–254). He dressed in the dead man’s clothes and went to Sahyun where the prisoners were being held. When he asked one of them where Abu Zaid was now, he was told, ‘he will soon come to you’. Abu Zaid said that the prisoners should not be killed until the monks of Cyprus and Aleppo, as well as all those to whom blood vengeance was due, were assembled to watch, but later he said that he would kill them only after he had fetched Abu Zaid. He then propounded riddles as well as a number of questions – what five living things eat and drink but have no father or mother? – awarding five chickens stuffed with rice to those who answered. He then managed to get the lord of Sahyun and his vizier drunk, after which he released the prisoners (T.254–266). When the Hilalis approached Damascus, Abu Zaid suggested that he should

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go to reconnoitre. He and his companions dressed as poets, but a sand diviner suggested that they might be spies and that one of them might be Abu Zaid. They were tested with questions by twenty-four Damascene poets, after which Abu Zaid won a wrestling match, killing his opponent, and followed this by killing with a single shot a Damascene archer who had shot forty arrows at him while he was praying. Shaibub, the ruler of Damascus, exclaimed: ‘undoubtedly you are one of Solomon’s ʿifrīts’. He and the others were imprisoned, but when the guards were asleep he took out ‘a magnetic stone’ and released the fetters, after which they all returned to Hasan (T.277–288). Abu Zaid then told Hasan that he wanted to enter the city disguised as a doctor (296). He dyed his face white and put on a short jubba together with the most splendid robes and a large turban. When he was asked to treat Shaibub, who had earlier been wounded, Shaibub recognised him and called out weakly that this was Abu Zaid, the master of wiles. Those of his men who were present asked him what Shaibub had said and he told them that he wanted them to leave the room. When they did, he cut Shaibub’s throat and went to a mill where he changed his clothes. Shaibub’s brother, Sahsah, arrived in pursuit and asked about the owner of the horse that was standing by the mill door. Abu Zaid told him that it belonged to the miller, whom Sahsah then killed. It was in a reference to the sorcerer al-Bardawil, lord of al-ʿArish, that Abu Zaid said: ‘if he has one wile, I have a thousand’ (328). Before going to challenge him, Abu Zaid hung talismans on himself and on his horse and then rode thrice round the tower where al-Bardawil was sleeping. Al-Bardawil proposed to use his cap of invisibility, but Abu Zaid prayed that God might send angels to help him, and it was these angels who drove off the jinn kings who were supporting al-Bardawil. Al-Bardawil was killed and Abu Zaid took the spoils, including the cap (T.328–342). In Egypt Abu Zaid told Hasan that he wanted to use a trick against its ruler, Farmand, that had never been employed before, although, in fact, it is akin to the one used by Kulaib in the Qissat al-Zir. He took with him forty women, including Hasan’s sister al-Jaziya, and forty chests, each with two compartments, one containing silks and the other an armed man. He himself danced and laughed and was introduced as a jester (muharrij) named Qishmir. Farmand drank with each of the women and when he became drunk Abu Zaid drugged him, stripped him and wrapped him in an old blanket. The men were then brought out of the chests and the palace was plundered (T.359–364). A less successful version of this ruse is the last attributed to him in the Taghribat. As al-Zanati was not prepared to come out from the shelter of the walls of Tunis while Abu Zaid was in the Hilali camp (515), he dressed as a woman and got al-Jaziya to provide 100 girls with whom the two of them went to

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the city gate, where al-Jaziya told the gate-keeper that they had come ‘to buy and sell’. The man went to al-Zanati who said: ‘I read their books before they came here and this is a scheme of Abu Zaid’s.’ The gate remained closed and for the rest of the work Abu Zaid’s actions are confined to his role as a hero (T.515–517). Lane’s account of the Cairene reciters suggests that Abu Zaid was taken to be the main hero of the cycle, although the text itself stresses his position as one of three leaders, the others being Diyab and Hasan. Unlike ʿAli al-Zaibaq, Shaibub and Kulaib, he is a major champion who rose to prominence because of his prowess in battle. This, however, has not stopped him from accumulating characteristics of the Man of Wiles, such as a mastery of languages and of disguise as well as a knowledge of distant lands. In particular, unlike Shaibub and Kulaib, he has a clear relationship with the supernatural. He comes when his name is called, he knows the Greatest Name of God and he is helped by the mysterious figure of al-Khidr, who intervenes in this world to carry out the purposes of God. 1. An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, London, John Murray, 1860, p. 391. 2. Page references to this are introduced by T.

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3 Chapter 3 Section 1: Hamzat al-Pahlawan

Section 1: Hamzat al-Pahlawan

ʿUmar

The Qissat al-Amir Hamzat al-Pahlawan in its printed form leaves aside tribal history, and in its mixture of distant memories, distorted geography and pure imagination it is typical of later Arabic hero legends. It is set in a pre-Islamic context but, unlike other stories, such as that of the Snake Queen Bulukiya in the Arabian Nights, it contains no references to the forthcoming mission of the Prophet Muhammad. In it virtuous Arabs and others are merely shown to worship God in contrast to fire-worshipping Persians, while its eponymous hero Hamza swears by the God of Moses and Abraham. Hamza is the son of the emir of Mecca and was subsidised by Chosroe, the emperor of Persia, to whom the Arabs paid tribute. Chosroe’s concern for him was due to a dream interpreted by one of his viziers, the saintly Buzurjmihr, as showing that an Arab was destined to come to the aid of the Persians. In fact, at first Hamza did act in Chosroe’s service, but their relationship was soured when the Persian princess, Mihrdukar, fell in love with him, and the villain of the first half of the story, the evil vizier Bakhtak, did all he could to prevent their marriage. This led to a war between Arabs and Persians, with a decisive battle being fought, improbably, at Tangier. Eventually, Chosroe died and Bakhtak was executed, both being succeeded by their sons. The pattern of Arab–Persian hostility then restarted, with the action being transferred beyond the range of conventional geography. Although Hamza continued to play his central role, more and more attention was diverted to his sons, and by the time the work ends the Arabs have finally triumphed. In this story the Man of Wiles, ʿUmar, the son of an unnamed slave, plays an

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extended role, rising from being the ‘staff’ on which Hamza leans to become the guardian and protector of the whole Arab army and the guarantor of their good fortune. His characteristics can be isolated in order to compare them with those of his confrères. For instance, he is an archer, a runner and a gymnast. He acts as a scout and a guide; he is a rescuer of prisoners and a master of disguise, skilled in the use of drugs, who detects treachery and gives advice. The development of his role, however, suggests that his abilities and qualities can be shown more clearly in the contexts in which they occur. Not the least unusual feature here was ʿUmar’s birth. Chosroe’s dream had shown that he was to be helped by a lion, and when Buzurjmihr prayed to God for an explanation, it was revealed that the lion was to be a horseman from the Hijaz, and, more specifically, from Mecca. Buzurjmihr was sent there to ensure that this rescuer would be brought up at Chosroe’s expense, and he found that the wife of Ibrahim, the emir of Mecca, was nearing the end of her pregnancy. On the sixteenth day of his visit she gave birth to a son, Hamza, and, realising that this was an auspicious day, Buzurjmihr extended Chosroe’s subsidy to cover all Meccan boys born at that time. It was ‘one of the wonders of time that in a small city eight hundred boys should be born on that same day and not one girl’. As it happened, one of Ibrahim’s slaves had married a black girl who was in the seventh month of her pregnancy. When her husband learnt that Buzurjmihr was giving money to the fathers of the eight hundred, he went back to his wife who exclaimed: ‘this is not the time for me to give birth, so how can I produce a child today?’ At that he struck her with a door bolt and she instantly went into labour. Her husband rushed to cut the umbilical cord and he wrapped the baby in an old rag and took him, covered in blood, to Buzurjmihr. Buzurjmihr foresaw that the child was destined to help Ibrahim’s son, Hamza, and that he would be ‘the staff on which he will rely throughout his life’ (1.8 sq.). The boy, named ʿUmar, had a small round face, with little eyes ‘like holes’, and small, slender arms and legs, ‘like threads’. He became Hamza’s constant companion and from his earliest days he not only distinguished himself as a runner, but practised jumping from heights until he became ‘one of the disasters of the age’. He was an unerring archer and by the age of ten he had become ‘one of the leading ʿayyārs’, a term whose meaning is coloured by context but which has much of the archaic sense of ‘knave’ (1.8). The text supplies a few anecdotes of his youth. One day he jumped over the wall of an orchard in order to steal pomegranates for Hamza. The owner stood under the tree to intercept him, but ʿUmar jumped down and escaped by throwing sand into his eyes. Hamza told him: ‘people’s property must be protected and it is not right for us to attack it’. He was sentenced by Ibrahim to fifty lashes, but

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Hamza killed three servants who were about to beat him, pointing out that ʿUmar was under age and that he would never be allowed to do this again (1.9–11). When the young Hamza displayed his virtuosity on the exercise ground, ʿUmar, who could outrun a horse, circled around him picking up the spears that he threw before they could fall to the ground. He was not without caution and when Hamza was confronted by a lion he warned him not to approach it. ‘Are you afraid of a desert cat, monkey-face?’ Hamza asked, and, after having killed it, he gave ʿUmar some of its heart to eat in order to let him share its strength. ʿUmar was told not to spread the story, but like others who play his role, he did precisely the opposite, explaining that ‘something like this cannot be kept secret’ (1.12–14). Hamza was told by the divine messenger, al-Khidr, that it was his mission to exalt the Arabs, and when he recruited his 800 Meccan contemporaries to form a praetorian guard, ʿUmar picked forty men of his own, training them in archery and the arts of the ʿayyārs. It was at this point that Hamza was disturbed to find Arabs in the service of an Arab king, Nuʿman of Hira, collecting taxes for the effeminate Persians. ʿUmar explained that not only did the Persians outnumber the Arabs but they all obeyed one king, unlike the Arabs, for whom division was a habit (1.15–17). Hamza proposed to attack Hira, and this was followed by a confused series of episodes in which he befriended Makhluf, the suitor of Nuʿman’s daughter, al-Qannasa. He freed al-Qannasa after she had been seized by another suitor, and married her to Makhluf on his own authority. She resented this and killed her bridegroom on her wedding night, but was later herself killed by Hamza in her father’s court. Hamza had to fight his way out to the palace gate, where ʿUmar was waiting with the horses. ʿUmar guarded his back when later he captured Nuʿman and, although to start with he told ʿUmar to cut off his head, they were later reconciled (1.18–40). Hamza had already come to the help of a party of Persian merchants who had been robbed by the brigand chief, Asfaran. ʿUmar had advised him to call up his 800 Meccans, but without waiting for this Hamza successfully attacked Asfaran, who then joined his service (1.26–31). The next episode covers the danger seen by Chosroe in his dream and deals with a threat posed by Khartin of Hisn Khaibar. Hamza was sent against him and called for ‘his brother’ ʿUmar, who is described as having with him his bow and arrows and wearing round his waist a leather belt holding daggers; he had on red leather boots and a small, round steel helmet with a thin copper chain fastened beneath his chin. He was told to deliver a letter to Khartin and was astonished by his ugliness, his bulkiness, and the length of his hair, eyelids and eyebrows. After some fighting Hamza cut Khartin in half and ʿUmar volunteered to take his head

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to Chosroe. When asked why, he explained that he expected a huge reward: ‘you know that my band of ʿayyārs, whom I chose for myself, are fond of money and are always asking for their pay but up till now there has been nothing’. He spent his journey thinking of how much he was going to get and then, when he arrived at court, he found Chosroe surrounded by his nobles. Wanting to give the good news before delivering the letter, he shouted from the door to attract attention and then threw down Khartin’s head. Chosroe told Buzurjmihr to explain to him that there was not enough money there to provide him with a proper reward, but that he would get this in Madaʾin. ʿUmar complained that if he told this to his men they would laugh at him and refuse to believe it. Buzurjmihr pointed out that Chosroe was not mean, but ʿUmar replied: ‘I’m afraid that he is simple-hearted and that the vizier Bakhtak will trick him’ (1.44–62). He then entered the court dressed in a short black tunic with a belt of embroidered red leather. The tunic was narrow at the chest and sleeves, and broad at the waist with many bells, and there were also bells on his tall cap. He jumped up to a chain over the door, somersaulted down, greeted Chosroe and then leaped up to a high window and back, somersaulting again as he did so. Chosroe laughed, but Buzurjmihr told ʿUmar that this was enough. ʿUmar explained that he wanted the promise of reward kept, and when Chosroe gave him 1,000 dinars he objected that he had forty men, ‘and how much do you think each of them will get?’ Chosroe then produced 10,000 dinars, after which ʿUmar jumped out of the window and climbed a hill by his camp from which he threw the money down, laughing to see his men scrambling for it. Too late, he regretted having given it all away, and he was criticised by Hamza for having led the Persians to think of the Arabs as beggars (1.65–66). It is now that the princess Mihrdukar is introduced. ʿUmar was in the habit of guarding Hamza’s tent at night, ‘going from one side to another and patrolling around it like a devil’. He intercepted a messenger who told him: ‘I am an Arab like you’, to which he replied: ‘you may be an Arab but you’re dressed like a Persian’. The man explained that he was bringing a note from Mihrdukar, who had told him to go to ʿUmar, and ʿUmar agreed to help ‘on condition that you give me enough of her wealth’. In her note Mihrdukar explained that she had to marry Hamza or die of hopeless love. ʿUmar, with an eye on his reward, urged him to accept, ‘what honour is greater that this?’, but Hamza said: ‘I’m doubtful, monkey-face, and I’m afraid that she may not be as beautiful as she should be.’ ʿUmar then told the messenger that Hamza could not write a reply as he had no ink or paper, but he added that the princess could be assured that she would get what she wanted: ‘but don’t forget the money you promised me’. Later Hamza stressed the practical difficulties involved, pointing out that Chosroe would consider it a disgrace to marry his daughter to a bedouin. ʿUmar countered this by

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saying that if the qadi and the girl were willing and there were witnesses, ‘then you can take her in spite of all’, and he offered to bring her from her palace. Hamza objected that that would be the act of a thief (1.72–77). After Hamza had succeeded in a number of dangerous tasks, Chosroe told Buzurjmihr to ask him what he wanted and to grant this, ‘even if it is my throne and my crown’. In fact, to the consternation of the Persians, he asked for Mihrdukar’s hand and it was left to the envious vizier Bakhtak to suggest that the request should not be refused, but that Hamza should be sent out against the rebellious Maʿqil in the castle of Tizan in the hope that he might be killed. Hamza said that he would take no one with him except ʿUmar, whom he told to give extra fodder to the horses and to find the way. ʿUmar offered to go alone, but Hamza told him: ‘I only want to scratch myself with my own finger-nail.’ Bakhtak did his best to ensure the failure of the quest by sending a warning to Maʿqil, who posted men to look out for a rider accompanied by a black man, but added: ‘I don’t want anything to happen to that man, because he worships the Great and Glorious God.’ On Hamza’s arrival Maʿqil pointed out that they both worshipped the same God and suggested that they should join forces, sack Madaʾin and take Mihrdukar by force. Hamza refused and the two fought all day, at the end of which Maʿqil invited him into his castle. Hamza saw that he was sincere, but looked towards ʿUmar ‘as though asking advice’ and ʿUmar told him to accept the invitation. When Maʿqil subsequently surrendered, ʿUmar was delighted, telling Hamza that he now had an ally on a par with him in strength and daring (1.79–119). He was sent to bring the news to Chosroe in Madaʾin and arrived at the Arab camp frowning and silent. Asfaran realised what he wanted and said: ‘tell us what happened and I’ll give you 500 dinars’, to which Nuʿman promised to add another 500. ʿUmar gave them his good news and then went to Chosroe turning somersaults in the air, whirling around like a spinning top and clapping his hands with joy. He was given 1,000 dinars and his men swarmed round him like hornets, or like children around their mother. As before, he scattered the dinars, only to find, to his regret, that all the money had gone (1.119–125). Hamza’s next mission was to attack Andahuq of Serendib. On his way there he came across forty shaikhs in a monastery on a mountain top, who addressed him by name and explained that al-Khidr had told them about him long ago. They gave him a poisoned spear that al-Khidr had left for him – which he is never shown to use in the story – together with an embroidered robe. When ʿUmar heard of this he insisted on going to the shaikhs, claiming: ‘had you taken me with you, I would have got the same as you’. He too was greeted by name and was told: ‘your portion with us is better than that of the emir’. He was presented with a jewelled sword ‘unequalled in that age’, but asked: ‘haven’t you anything

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else for me? If so, hand it over.’ Another shaikh promptly gave him a dagger with a diamond hilt, ‘better than the sword’ and known as ‘Ismaʿil’s dagger’, after with he turned to a third and said: ‘do you have anything for me?’ The man gave him the leather ‘bag of Ismaʿil’ measuring one square cubit, that could never be filled. He also received leggings that would prevent him from feeling tired, however far he walked, and a kohl stick together with a mirror that would allow him to assume anyone’s shape or to see wherever he wanted to go. He experimented by removing the sleeping king Nuʿman from his tent and taking his shape, after which the emirs came one by one to present their respects. He later explained to Nuʿman: ‘I know that this was a great liberty, but I wanted to be a king.’ Nuʿman gave him 1,000 dinars (1.129–138). While riding ahead of the Arabs, Hamza, Maʿqil and ʿUmar caught sight of what turned out to be Andahuq and his ʿayyār, Shihan, who had been hunting. Shihan approached ʿUmar, despising him because he was black and ‘curiously formed’. ‘Damn you, you bastard, tell me who you are and who are these scum with you’, he said, but instead of replying ʿUmar kicked him to the ground and then carried him back to Hamza. After prolonged fighting Andahuq surrendered and joined Hamza’s service. Later, while Chosroe was seated in his court, he saw a man wheeling round and round, turning somersaults in the air, clapping his hands and singing. This was ʿUmar, to whom he presented 1,000 dinars. ʿUmar then suggested shooting Bakhtak, and he asked Hamza: ‘what do you think would happen if I did? Chosroe would be angry but would then accept it.’ Hamza, however, pointed out that this would destroy the friendship between Arabs and Persians (1.140–154). Bakhtak’s next plan to delay Hamza’s marriage was to send him to collect taxes that he claimed were owed to Chosroe by the Arabs. Hamza and his men went to Aleppo, and ʿUmar told them that from there their route lay by Diyar Bakr, Edessa and Mosul to Constantinople. In Constantinople Hamza was seen by the emperor’s daughter Zuhrban, who fell in love with him. She went out at night in her most splendid dress in the hope of meeting him, but was alarmed to find ʿUmar on guard. When she told him what she wanted, he said: ‘I have good news for you, as this is what I want myself.’ At first Hamza was reluctant to admit her, telling ʿUmar that it would be ‘a shame and a disgrace’ for him to meet her at that time of night. ʿUmar denied that there would be anything wrong, explaining that the princess only wanted a few words with him, and when she did come, filling the air with her scent, Hamza was persuaded to ask for her hand. The first of his many weddings then took place (1.163–188). The Arabs next moved to Caesarea whose king, Caesar, plotted to kill them by diverting the course of a river and then building baths on foundations of salt in its bed. ʿUmar was suspicious but it was not until the eleventh day of their

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stay that Caesar suggested that the Arabs should go to the new baths. It was his daughter, Miriam, who warned them of their danger, as the river was turned back to its old channel and the baths collapsed. Caesar was then killed, but Miriam, who was in love with Hamza, went out by night wearing a black veil, and met ʿUmar, to whom she promised money. He urged Hamza to marry her and she renewed her promise, offering him a slave-girl as well. When the marriage had been agreed, it was decided that the time of the wedding should be left to ʿUmar, who claimed that the shaikhs in the monastery had taught him how to distinguish between lucky and unlucky days. He explained to Miriam that Hamza never did anything without his approval and added pointedly that she had not yet kept her promise to reward him. She told him that she had been waiting until after the wedding, but she then collected gold and tried fruitlessly to fill the bag of Ismaʿil. She thought that there must be a devil in it, but Hamza later told her that ʿUmar had got it from ‘the men of God’. ʿUmar was given half of the gold and, to his own belated regret, he again threw it down from a hill to his men (1.189–203). The Arabs were ambushed in the narrows near Beirut and Hamza blamed ʿUmar for having failed in his duty, telling him he should always go ahead to reconnoitre, to which ʿUmar replied: ‘I didn’t want to go off leaving you and it never occurred to me that king Kisrawan of Beirut would attack us treacherously.’ The Beirutis drew back and ʿUmar was sent with a message, which the king refused to answer, but later, when he was killed, the city surrendered (1.206–212). The next extended episode involving ʿUmar took place outside Sidon, whose king had told him: ‘tell Hamza that I neither obey nor disobey. I shall not pay him the money nor collect the tribute nor go out to fight him.’ The Arabs camped outside the city and a solitary rider, later identified as al-Muʿtadi, killed 150 of them and vanished into the night. Later he fought against Hamza and proved to be so dangerous an opponent that ʿUmar had to divert his attention by whirling round and round him. Hamza admitted that al-Muʿtadi was the more powerful man but asked God and al-Khidr to aid him (1.215–218). Next day ʿUmar again distracted al-Muʿtadi and this time followed him back to his castle, where he was greeted by his sister, Salwa, to whom he complained about the man whom he described as ‘a fox and more cunning than a fox’, with ‘a smooth forehead, a dark face, round eyes, a big waist and small feet’. ʿUmar had been watching through a window, but was seized by Salwa, who had seen his shadow. She shut him in the kitchen, which had no window, saying to herself that she was wilier than him, but when she went off to light the fire, he freed himself ‘with the greatest ease’, put banj on the fire and tied himself up again. When Salwa lit the fire she collapsed, while ʿUmar blocked his nostrils to avoid the effects of the drug and he then carried off Salwa in the bag of Ismaʿil. When

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Hamza went out to fight next day, ʿUmar again distracted al-Muʿtadi, who surrendered. Salwa and Hamza fell in love, and with ʿUmar’s approval they were married (1.218–222). Tyre, whose king was an idolater, provided another test for the Arabs. The Tyrians launched a surprise night attack and ‘not a few’ of the Arabs were killed before Hamza, roused from sleep by ʿUmar, mounted and drove them back into the city. After the Arabs had made a number of abortive attacks of their own, ʿUmar scouted around the walls, hoping to find a dog or a cat coming out through a hole, but instead he came across a man and a woman apparently making for Hamza’s tent. It turned out that the woman was the king’s wife, the man being his vizier, and they said that they had a proposal to make. They both worshipped God and were in love with one another, as a result of which the king had maltreated his wife and dismissed the vizier. The queen had then stolen the keys to the sea-gate and, although ʿUmar was suspicious of possible treachery, the Arabs passed through the gate; the city fell and the vizier was appointed king (1.224–228). When the Arabs reached Cairo they found two brother kings, who told ʿUmar that they did not want to fight and were prepared to pay tribute. ʿUmar returned and told the Arabs that he was suspicious, but shortly afterwards the kings arrived in the camp and invited Hamza and his officers to visit Cairo next day. Hamza and Maʿqil were then trapped in a tower with an iron door and a window twenty cubits from the ground. The kings posted troops by the gates to seize what Arabs they could, and, in particular, ‘that black slave, or rather the ʿifrīt, the ill-omened devil’, ʿUmar. ʿUmar used the sword given him by the shaikhs to defend himself, shouting: ‘damn you, you scum, do you want to fall into the hands of ʿAzraʾil, the angel of death?’ He then jumped to the top of the city gate and from there to the top of the wall, before dropping to the ground, fifty cubits below (1.237–242). Before trying to rescue Hamza, ʿUmar went out to reconnoitre and discovered that 100,000 Egyptian troops had arrived from Damietta, led by the formidable Ghaitsham, and he was afraid of leaving the Arabs until he saw how they could cope with him. In fact, Ghaitsham captured a number of Arab paladins and one of the two kings of Cairo ordered his chief ʿayyār, Sari, to guard them, for fear of ʿUmar. ʿUmar promised to rescue them on condition that he be allowed to fight Ghaitsham himself, and using his kohl stick he turned himself into a blind Egyptian. With a bag under his arm he went to Ghaitsham’s tent, where he was stopped by guards to whom he said with an Egyptian accent: ‘let me reach the father of the poor’. Then, having lit his pipe, with a staff in his hand he approached Sari, who asked him for some of his sweet-scented tobacco. ʿUmar added banj to the tobacco and blocked his own nose, while Sari and the guards

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fell down asleep. He filed through the prisoners’ fetters before going back to camp to tell Nuʿman, still with his Egyptian accent, that they had been killed. As this is a typical example of his sense of humour the episode ends in laughter with the Egyptian king describing him as ‘wicked and wily, a man who could steal kohl from the eye and sleep from the eye-ball’ (1.248–258). In fulfilment of his condition, he then came out to fight Ghaitsham with an iron mace. He was dressed in polished leather from which dangled little bells, while there were more bells attached to his tall hat. These startled Ghaitsham’s horse, causing him to fall, and he then abandoned his arms and ran away, leaving ʿUmar to sell his horse and his weapons, after haggling over the price (1.258–259). He saw in his mirror where Hamza was being held and promised the Arabs that he would free him that night. In fact, the door to Hamza’s prison was opened by an Egyptian princess, Durrat al-Sadaf, who had fallen in love with him and had been supplying him and his companion with food and drink. On discovering this, ʿUmar shut the door again from the outside and Hamza, realising what had happened, called out: ‘open the door, monkey-face, and don’t scare us’. ʿUmar said that he would agree only if credit for the rescue of the captives were given to him, while he was prepared to allow Durrat al-Sadaf to be praised for having saved their lives. The Cairenes subsequently asked for quarter and ʿUmar was sent to stop the killing and looting (1.259–267). The Arabs then returned to Persia and ʿUmar entered Madaʾin dressed as a Persian chamberlain. He was impressed by the size of the armies Chosroe had collected and Buzurjmihr told him to advise Hamza to stay for the time in Aleppo as the days were unpropitious. Hamza refused and came out to fight. One of Bakhtak’s agents, Zubin, had joined the Arabs in disguise, carrying a poisoned sword that Bakhtak had given him. At first he could not get near Hamza as ʿUmar would allow no one, Persian or Arab, to approach, but when ʿUmar was sent off on an errand Zubin took the opportunity to strike Hamza and ʿUmar returned to find him groaning in pain. Buzurjmihr provided medicine, but said that the Arabs must retire to Mecca. They were joined by Mihrdukar, who had run away from the palace (1.270–277). ʿUmar was told by Hamza to fortify Mecca, and he instructed the Arabs not to start fighting until they were told to do so by Buzurjmihr. Later, when the Persians attacked, ʿUmar and his ʿayyārs, together with Hamza’s 800 Meccans, launched flights of arrows, while ʿUmar himself was like ʿAzraʾil, the angel of death, or Israfil, blowing on his trumpet for the Day of Judgment. Zubin and the Persian survivors took flight and Buzurjmihr told ʿUmar that God would send someone to disperse the Persian army (1.282–2.4). Meanwhile ʿUmar had got news that a large Persian provision train was coming up. He dressed as a Persian with a round cap and bells and met the

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caravan, clapping his hands, singing and dancing and saying: ‘I am Chosroe’s servant and his Fool.’ The caravan guard were Blacks and ʿUmar welcomed them as cousins, inviting them to a convivial evening before they went on to the Persian camp. Their leader accepted, saying that Blacks had great affection for one another. His men laughed at ʿUmar’s antics, beating their drums and clapping their hands as he danced. He then drugged their wine before killing them and taking the camels and the provisions with the help of his own ʿayyārs (2.4–6). ʿUmar was in the habit of being the first to visit Hamza each day and now he was alarmed to hear him speaking apparently to himself: ‘I have never heard of anyone still in his right mind talking to himself.’ In fact, Hamza was talking to a jinni who had come to ask for his help, and when the Arabs went out to fight, with ʿUmar wearing a short-sleeved black leather tunic that seemed to be part of his own skin, it was the jinni who routed the enemy (2.8–12). While ʿUmar had been sent on an errand, Hamza was removed to the lands of the jinn. With the Arabs in disarray, ʿUmar volunteered to go to Madaʾin, where Buzurjmihr told him that Hamza would return through the territories of Marrakesh and that the Arabs would meet him in Tangier. In his absence Mihrdukar’s brother, Farmuztaj, arrived at the Arab camp, where Mihrdukar told ʿUmar that she wanted nothing to do with him. The Arabs made him write letters to all his father’s governors ordering them to surrender, with ʿUmar checking what he wrote. When eventually he stopped doing this, Farmuztaj sent an order to one of them, telling him to kill the messenger who brought it. As a result, ʿUmar was hurled from the top of the castle wall, only to be caught in mid-air by a jinni named Kandak. This was because Hamza had become involved with a jinn princess, Asmabari, who had insisted that he marry her. It was her servant, Kandak, who had rescued ʿUmar, having been sent to fetch the Muslim qadi to perform the ceremony and ʿUmar to act as witness. When ʿUmar opened his eyes he thought that he must be in Paradise and, after Hamza had explained the position, he said that he wanted to check whether Asmabari was a suitable match. Hamza realised that he wanted money and before the wedding took place, the episode of the gold poured into the bag of Ismaʿil was repeated. ʿUmar was then taken back to the Arabs and the gold was again thrown to the ʿayyārs (2.20). After a year and a half ʿUmar looked in his magic mirror and saw Hamza, whose face had been so darkened by the sun and his hair had grown so long that he was unrecognisable. ʿUmar caught sight of him riding towards the camp and was about to shoot at him when Hamza called out: ‘don’t do that, monkey-face! I’ve escaped from the jinn, so how is it that I’m going to be killed by you?’ (2.60–63).

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The Persian army now arrived and ʿUmar, reconnoitring as usual, caught sight of Chosroe’s royal banner, but although he waited for an hour, so huge was the army that he could not see its wings or its rear. What followed was a decisive defeat for the Persians and the loss of their banner, to which Hamza, helped by Andahuq and ʿUmar, had cut his way. The victorious Arabs then celebrated multiple marriages, with Hamza marrying both Mihrdukar and Salwa, while Maʿqil married Durrat al-Sadaf and a Maghribi girl, Dhat al-Jamal, who had seen him from a window in her father’s castle. As usual, ʿUmar objected until Nuʿman ordered him to be given 500 dinars for each bride and groom and Hamza gave him another 3,000. His ʿayyārs followed after him like ‘a swarm of cats’ and he told them to drink, dance and sing. Music was played and by evening everyone was drunk (2.66–86). When the Arabs left Tangier, ʿUmar advised them to go to Aleppo to look for news of the Persians. ʿUmar went to Madaʾin, where he saw Iflantush, who, Buzurjmihr told him, was Chosroe’s nephew, and Turban, his niece, who had promised to kill Hamza. Buzurjmihr advised the Arabs to wait for Chosroe to attack Aleppo, warning that there would be ‘unlucky days’. The bad luck was again provided by Zubin, who wounded Hamza, this time with a poisoned javelin. He tried to give him the coup de grâce, but was unhorsed by ʿUmar, who shot at him but had no time to kill him because of his anxiety for the wounded Hamza. When later he went to get medicine from Buzurjmihr, he was told that the Arabs must retreat to Aleppo (2.93–102). In a duplication of the attack on Mecca, the Persians attacked Aleppo only to be driven off by arrows, particularly those of ʿUmar and his ʿayyārs. On the advice of Buzurjmihr, Hamza was kept from fighting and his son by Zuhrban, al-Yunini, took his place, having arrived with 30,000 riders. Al-Yunini asked ʿUmar to take him to the Persian camp in disguise so that he might identify the Persian leaders, but the pair got into difficulties when al-Yunini gave himself away (2.108–116). Three days later al-Yunini again asked ʿUmar to disguise him with his kohl stick so that he could see Zubin. ʿUmar objected that he would not have enough self-control and that his father would be angry, but eventually they were both disguised as Persian chamberlains. When Zubin talked of attacking the Arabs, al-Yunini changed colour, but ʿUmar managed to keep him in check. Outside the camp, on their way back, they came across a pavilion that belonged to Zubin. ʿUmar killed one of its guards and after the rest had fled the two Arabs found that it was being used as a prison for Turban, whom Zubin had snatched from her bed and tied up in order to force her to marry him. ʿUmar told al-Yunini who she was and what had happened. At first his advice was to ‘leave the fire-worshippers to do what they want to one another’, but eventually he told Turban who they were,

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after which she accepted conversion and agreed to marry al-Yunini. She then helped fight the Persian guards, while ʿUmar was sent for help. Later Zubin was captured, but when he pretended to be converted, to the amazement and anger of the Arabs, and in particular of ʿUmar, Hamza spared his life, and he was joined by Chosroe’s nephew, Iflantush (2.117–134). In the episodes that immediately follow ʿUmar has a restricted part to play. Hamza had an ominous dream in which he saw a flock of crows carrying off his father, Ibrahim, and it was suggested that ʿUmar should go to Mecca. He was reluctant to leave, but instructed his ʿayyārs to watch over the Arabs. After a five-day journey he met the commander of Hamza’s Meccan regiment, who was coming with the news that Ibrahim and other Meccan leaders had vanished. To save the man the trouble of walking ʿUmar put him in the bag of Ismaʿil and brought him to Hamza. He then went to Madaʾin where he was told by Buzurjmihr that the kidnapped Meccans had been taken to Nahrwan, from where he succeeded in rescuing them in company with Hamza and Maʿqil (2.141–145). Hamza was carried off by Asmabari, leaving ʿUmar to find his horse, alYaqzan, grazing. At first al-Yaqzan shied away from him, but at his call it came up and sniffed him, while he kissed it. As Hamza’s spear was still fastened to the saddle, he said: ‘if my guess is right, he must be with Asmabari’. He then went to consult Buzurjmihr, who confirmed that this was true (2.147–150). After having waited for a time to see whether ʿUmar was playing a trick, Zubin launched a night attack on the Arabs and captured Turban and her newly born son, together with Mihrdukar and hers. ʿUmar had returned by short-cuts over difficult country and so had missed Zubin as he was taking his prisoners back to Madaʾin. He went to Buzurjmihr, who told him what had happened, at which he promised not only to free the captives but to get Chosroe and Bakhtak to kiss his hand ‘of their own free will’. Maʿqil volunteered to go with him and he eventually agreed to this after first pointing out that Maʿqil would not be able to keep up with him: ‘I can cover in a day what you cannot cover in a month’ (2.150–154). On his way back from the lands of the jinn Hamza had married Lauʿat alQulub in a palace near Basra. ʿUmar arrived there with Maʿqil and climbed up to a window, from which he heard Lauʿa’s maid, Fanus, singing. Lauʿa was saying that the Arabs could not be in difficulties as they had ʿUmar with them, whom Hamza had described as a man of sense, without whom the Arabs were worth nothing. ʿUmar went in and fell in love with Fanus, to whom he sang a sentimental song, while Lauʿa winked at Hamza. She then told Fanus that she was going to marry her to ʿUmar, and she later had a son by him, Shah Dib. ʿUmar remarked that if Hamza had the time he would marry all the women in the world. Later both Lauʿa and Fanus were carried off by enemies, only to be

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removed from them by Asmabari and her daughter, Quraisha, and left in a small town (2.180–181). ʿUmar went to Madaʾin where he was told by Buzurjmihr that Mihrdukar and Turban were to be burnt to death at the Nairuz festival in Khurasan, where they were taken with an escort of 50,000 men by Hudhad the chief priest of the Fire. On hearing this ʿUmar promised to do something so remarkable that it would be remembered until the end of time, and he went on to ask for details of Hudhad and the practices of fire worship. He then left for Wady Khurasan, taking with him fifteen of his ʿayyārs, and what followed was, perhaps, his crowning achievement (2.180–181). Hudhad was in the pavilion of the sacred fire with his twelve acolytes. One of these came out to relieve himself and was seized by ʿUmar, who promised to spare his life if he told the truth, but then killed him when his questions had been answered. He put on the dead man’s robes and used the mirror to assume his shape, after which he drugged and killed all the others, including Hudhad, putting his ʿayyārs in their places. Their leader, Shihan, was told to order the officers of the escort to stay where they were, while the priests went in procession to the city. No one was to approach the pavilion, as it was holy ground. ʿUmar then instructed his men to carry him to the city on Hudhad’s throne, and when they complained of the weight he threatened to tell the Fire to burn them. Shihan laughed and said: ‘we’ll carry you out of the camp and then tip you on to the ground – and let the Fire do what it wants with us’. When they were about to put him down, he said: ‘go on or else I shall depose you’ (2.182–184). On his arrival in the city crowds flocked to see him; women threw down flowers from their windows and people kissed the ground on which he had trodden. Chosroe came for an audience and, after having been kept waiting, he was eventually allowed to kiss ʿUmar’s hand. Shihan then delivered a speech in praise of fire, adding that the Fire was angry with ʿUmar, while ʿUmar told Chosroe to hand over the prisoners and to come himself in three days’ time to watch their execution. Mihrdukar was produced and refused to kiss his hand, pointing out that fire can be extinguished by a little water or the urine of a donkey, while for her part Turban said that God would soon send ʿUmar to free her. ʿUmar demanded, and received, all the spoils taken from the Arabs, which, he said should be the property of the Fire temples, while both Bakhtak and Chosroe added splendid presents (2.186–189). ʿUmar then left, being carried out apparently asleep. At the end of the day his men complained: ‘that’s enough fancy stuff; we are dead tired and you are cheerful’. He had another interview with Mihrdukar who reduced him to tears by stressing that ʿUmar would certainly save her. After he had revealed himself he asked whether she had really believed this. ‘Yes’, she answered, adding: ‘I

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used to tell Turban not to fear being put to death, as you would not abandon us.’ ʿUmar then cut up Hudhad’s throne and put its pieces into the bag of Ismaʿil. Shihan asked for a bit, saying: ‘we worked harder than you’, and ʿUmar promised that, when he had shown it to Hamza, the ʿayyārs could have it all, adding, of the clothes they had taken from the priests, that: ‘the gold that is on them will make us rich’ (2.190–191). When Hudhad was reported missing Bakhtak suspected a trick on ʿUmar’s part, and thanks to a loathsome smell near his pavilion the corpses were discovered. Chosroe promised half of his kingdom to anyone who brought him ʿUmar, but he then swore to kill anyone who mentioned the Arabs to him again (2.192–193). For some time no news of Chosroe came to the Arabs, leading ʿUmar to propose to go to Madaʾin. When Andahuq objected that this would be dangerous, he said that no Persian would be able to recognise him. When he got there, Buzurjmihr told him of the price Chosroe had put on his head and warned the Arabs to be on their guard. Meanwhile Hamza’s horse, al-Yaqzan, had been stolen by Persian ʿayyārs, but Chosroe refused to keep it in Madaʾin lest ʿUmar come to recover it and he proposed that it be sent to the Black King, Farhud of Takrur. Buzurjmihr, who knew about this, considered that the horse was irretrievable, but ʿUmar insisted that Hamza would track it down (2.195–199). In fact, the Arabs reached Takrur where they fought for some days before ʿUmar went to Farhud’s palace to investigate. There he was suddenly seized and Farhud was told: ‘this is the head of the Arabs and their glory’. The enemy ʿayyār, ʿUmar b. Shaddad, had realised that his namesake was bound to come and that when there was an extra person present in the court, this would be he. His own men had been instructed that when he put his hand on his head they were all to touch their left ears with their left hands, and whoever failed do this would be ʿUmar. ʿUmar had no idea how he had been discovered, being convinced that ‘no one in the world could recognise him’(2.206–211). He addressed his black gaoler, Firar, as ‘cousin’, and insisted that he was not concerned about the fate of the Arabs: ‘I am a stranger to them and nothing more than their slave.’ He added that blacks only serve whites out of fear and he offered to join Farhud’s service. When Firar said that there was no hope of that and that Farhud would not change his mind about having him killed, ʿUmar said that he realised this, but that he was sad about his treasures. Firar did his best to ingratiate himself in order to be given these, and ʿUmar handed over what, improbably, he still had with him, including the sword, the mirror and the kohl. The last treasure was a little box, the size of a walnut, which he claimed would produce any food that might be wanted. It could be opened only by a hollow screw and when Firar failed to work this, ʿUmar told him to use his teeth. The

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screw then injected banj into his nose, and ʿUmar, having freed himself, drugged Firar’s two ʿayyārs and cut off their noses and ears (2.215–217). In the meantime, Hamza had been captured by other ʿayyārs and sent off to a distant castle. ʿUmar proceeded to arrange a ten-day truce for the burial of the dead and he borrowed all Mihrdukar’s jewellery, promising to return it. He told the Arabs to collect what weapons they could find and loaded these on a merchant ship that he had captured, killing the crew. With his kohl stick he transformed himself into Qabid son of Mukhlis, the supreme king of the Blacks, and, dressed in royal robes with a great banner flying at his mast-head, he sailed to the castle where Hamza was being held prisoner. There he pretended to be angry with Farhud for having started a war without his permission and promised to appoint the lord of the castle as king in his place. On being invited inside he drugged the food, killed the garrison and freed Hamza (2.219–222). After this expedition, which ended with the recovery of al-Yaqzan and with Farhud joining Hamza’s service, ʿUmar advised Hamza to appoint a king over the Arabs so that they could become as united as the Persians. Against Mihrdukar’s wishes, it was her only son, Qubat, who was chosen. Hamza was unwilling to talk to her about this and it was ʿUmar who went in his place and told her that he loved Qubat like his own life, after which she agreed to the proposal. Qubat promptly chose ʿUmar as his vizier, and when ʿUmar objected that he did not want to leave Hamza, Qubat told him that to refuse would be the first act of rebellion (2.223–235). It was then that, with Qubat’s permission, ʿUmar went to look for Andahuq, who had earlier returned to his own lands, which had been attacked by Turkmans. ʿUmar, disguised as a dervish ‘so that even his own brother would not recognise him’, was advised to approach Andahuq because of his well-known generosity. In fact, Andahuq gave him 600 dinars, and he was so obviously displeased that Andahuq told him to take it or leave it, to which ʿUmar replied that he was a money lover and that there were many of the same kind who looked to him for support. Andahuq was angry, but ‘did not want to break his spirit, as he was a poor dervish, one of the men of God’. It was then that Shihan, ʿUmar’s leading ʿayyār, arrived and shouted out: ‘don’t be so greedy, dervish’. Andahuq recognised Shihan and it was after this that ʿUmar revealed himself. On his return to the Arab camp, he entered Hamza’s pavilion frowning and Hamza realised that it was a long time since ʿUmar had had money for his ʿayyārs. Each of those present offered 1,000 dinars, all of which he scattered for them (2.238–244). In a continuing war with the Persians ʿUmar had at first only a minor part to play. He went back to Madaʾin, where he was told by Buzurjmihr that Chosroe had sent for Dahur al-Hindi, and Buzurjmihr agreed with him that the Arabs should attack Nahrwan. Turban’s son, Saʿd, led out a force of Kurds, against

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Hamza’s wishes, and refused to listen when ʿUmar asked him to stop. Hamza was wounded by Dahur, who fought from the back of an elephant, and ʿUmar had to carry him off and then go to Buzurjmihr for medicine. Later Saʿd asked to be allowed to fight, but ʿUmar suggested that they get advice from Buzurjmihr, who told him that only a newcomer could kill Dahur and that the Arabs should hold back until his arrival. ʿUmar looked in his mirror and saw a black-eyed rider with red hair accompanied by a dark youth with thin legs. The rider turned out to be Rustam, the son of Miriam, while the youth, whom ʿUmar described as being without manners, was his own son by one of Miriam’s slave-girls. He was like his father with a small head, thin arms and legs, and a thick waist and body. In order to encourage him to fight ʿUmar told Rustam that his father had been killed by Dahur and, as Buzurjmihr had foretold, he then succeeded in killing him (2.245–282). The Arabs camped outside Madaʾin and there were some friendly interchanges, which made ʿUmar suspicious. Rustam was captured by Hasana the daughter of King Hamdan, but Hamza knocked her off her horse and she was seized by ʿUmar. Buzurjmihr warned ʿUmar that Chosroe had recruited a new champion, Raʿd, from the Bilad al-ʿAjaʾib, a short, large-headed and bloodthirsty man. He foresaw that a time of misfortune was coming, advising the Arabs to stay where they were, and this time Hamza said that they must take his advice (2.285–3.31). Another young rider arrived with a small ʿayyār who could outrun a horse. ʿUmar tried to find out from the ʿayyār who the rider was, but could get nothing out of him. The rider killed Raʿd, and he turned out to be Saʿd, Hamza’s son by Lauʿat al-Qulub, while the ʿayyār was his own son, Shah Dib, whose mother was Fanus (3.35–37). After this failure, Chosroe tried to recruit two new champions, Harun of al-Bardaʾ and Turki Tawus from Tartary, leaving Buzurjmihr certain that if these two joined forces, the Arabs would be defeated. ʿUmar decided to look at Harun and, disguised as a dervish, he came to a small church, inhabited by a cripple attended by twelve monks, whose advice Harun had been in the habit of accepting. On his arrival ʿUmar changed into the dress of a monk, and as there was no door, he called out and, after having been seen from a window, he was hauled up on a rope to present a forged letter of introduction. He then killed the cripple and took his identity, telling the monks that ‘his visitor’ had taught him to fly and had himself then flown back to Rome. If they found him gone, they would know that he had flown to Rome for a brief visit. He then went to Harun’s court and told him that he should not support the fire-worshipping Chosroe against the God-fearing Arabs (3.45–49). Hamza was angered by the description ʿUmar gave on his return of Harun’s

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prowess: ‘that is enough of this nonsensical babble’. Mihrdukar tried to get Hamza to apologise and he later told ʿUmar: ‘had you told me about this man’s courage privately, I would not have criticised you’. Eventually, at Mihrdukar’s request, ʿUmar agreed to patch up the quarrel (3.50–51). At this point Saʿd, encouraged by his mother, Turban, tried to provoke Harun to attack and ʿUmar, dressed as a dervish, followed him. Hamza went out against Harun himself, taking ʿUmar with him, in spite of the fact that the Arabs wanted him to stay to face Chosroe. Hamza and Harun wounded each other and, without ʿUmar’s knowledge, Hamza was removed by Asmabari. ʿUmar asked a group of herdsmen about the battle and, after finding Hamza’s horse, he thought that he must be dead. He promised to kill everyone in the city and, starting with the herdsmen, he then routed Harun and his guards, after which he took up position on a high hill from where he hurled stones into the city with a sling. He caused such panic that ‘there was no one there who did not see him that night in his sleep’. He then left a scarecrow in his place, dressed in his clothes and wearing a turban, and went back to the Arabs, while Hamza, whose wound had been treated by Asmabari, returned and called out to the scarecrow, mistaking it for ʿUmar (3.51–59). When Hamza eventually defeated Harun, ʿUmar was reconciled with him on receiving 5,000 dinars. He proceeded to warn of the threat from Turki Tawus, but Hamza claimed that even if he were absent from the Arabs for ten years, they would still be able to look after themselves. Meanwhile, Bakhtak got help from his brother, Bakhtiyar, a master of many branches of wisdom. Bakhtiyar became friendly with Qubat, arousing ʿUmar’s suspicions. After three weeks he succeeded in killing Qubbat with a dagger while the camp was asleep, only to be met and killed himself by ʿUmar (3.60–80). Mihrdukar was frantic because of the loss of her son and this led to a quarrel between her and Hamza, who ordered ʿUmar to collect her clothes and her jewels and to take her back to Chosroe. ʿUmar, knowing that Chosroe would kill her, took her instead to Aleppo. The Arab army dispersed in disgust and Hamza was told by ʿUmar that this was because he had handed back the Persian standard. Hamza, having suffered a change of heart, blamed ʿUmar for having returned Mihrdukar, and threatened to kill himself if she had been harmed. ʿUmar told him that he had left her in Aleppo and advised him to go to Mecca while he himself went back to Aleppo. In fact, it was Hamza who went to Aleppo, only to find that Mihrdukar had taken poison rather than fall into the hands of the Persians. Hamza stayed by her grave and, in spite of the fact that ʿUmar warned him that his father was afraid that the Persian would attack Mecca while it was undefended, he refused to leave. ʿUmar took back al-Yaqzan as well as his armour (3.81–106).

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Hamza was then drugged and carried off to Madaʾin by Qarqadan, a leading Persian ʿayyār, who had disguised himself and his companions as dervishes. ʿUmar had been told by Ibrahim to bring Hamza back to Mecca by any means needed, but Nasir of Aleppo told him that it was thought that he had already gone there, adding: ‘we have not seen any enemy here’. ʿUmar went to Madaʾin and when Buzurjmihr told him what had happened, he promised to reassemble the Arab army within a month. He managed to approach Hamza disguised as one of the Persian guards, and Hamza told him that the first champion to ‘raise the shout’ beneath the cross on which he had been exposed would become sultan over the Arabs (3.108–113). In order to keep his promise to raise troops ʿUmar visited first Hamza’s son Rustam and then Andahuq, telling them to rendezvous at Wady ʾl-Kamal, after which he collected the rest of the Arab leaders in a period of forty days. He posted his ʿayyārs to stop any news reaching the Persians, which they did by killing everyone they met, a figure put at 2,000, and on entering the Persian camp he found Hamza exposed on his cross in ‘a pitiable state’. He pointed out to the Arabs that they would have to fight day and night lest the Persians kill him at night. In fact, the Persians kept moving the cross to keep it out of the reach of the Arabs and ʿUmar, described here as ‘the dust-coloured viper’, shouted at the Arabs in anger. At this point, yet another of Hamza’s sons, Badiʿ al-Zaman, arrived and ʿUmar thanked God that Hamza had had so many wives (3.113–134). After bitter and prolonged fighting Hamza was rescued, although everyone except Buzurjmihr thought that what they had brought down from the cross was a corpse, and ʿUmar was the only one allowed to visit him. Badiʿ al-Zaman asked what reward he wanted and again he produced the bag of Ismaʿil: ‘it could contain the whole earth and make it vanish’. The money that he did receive was scattered for his ʿayyārs, as ‘when a dinar came into his hands he gave it to them’. One of Hamza’s legs was found to be shorter than the other and both ʿUmar and Buzurjmihr thought that it was incurable until al-Khidr restored it in a dream (3.136–142). Hamza considered the possibility of an attack on the city of Khurasan, but decided that it was impregnable. ʿUmar went to investigate and, on finding a dog outside the city walls one evening, he said to himself: ‘there is no one out here who keeps dogs’. Dressed as a Persian he followed the dog through an underground passage and went on to Chosroe’s court, only to be struck down by a Khurasanian ʿayyār. That was because Bakhtak had noticed a strange chamberlain listening to what was being said and had realised that this must be ʿUmar. Bakhtak advised Chosroe that he should not be killed immediately but exposed on the city wall, so that when the Arabs came to rescue him they could be shot down. Meanwhile he was put in an underground prison where he told

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his gaoler about his treasures and persuaded the man to fetch a wine-skin, from which they both drank. Under the influence of the wine the gaoler was induced to enter the bag of Ismaʿil, from which he could not get out. ʿUmar freed one of his hands and unlocked his leg shackles. He then drugged the son of the king of the city, who was imprisoned and later executed by mistake. The gaoler, on being released, decided to throw in his lot with ʿUmar and the pair crawled out of the city (3.154–161). ʿUmar went to Hamza’s pavilion dressed as a dervish and objected when he was given fifty dinars. He knocked down Shihan, who had not recognised him and had told him to leave, and at this Hamza threatened to kill him if he set eyes on him again. ʿUmar then revealed himself, and when Hamza pointed out that many Arabs had been killed in abortive attempts to rescue him, he told him that he had wanted to show the gaoler how much the Arabs loved him (3.164–165). As had happened at Tyre, ʿUmar intercepted a man and a woman who had come out of the city at night and who, this time, turned out to be the king of the city and his wife. The king blamed Bakhtak and Chosroe for everything that had happened and bargained to be allowed to keep his throne in return for opening a gate. He also wanted to ensure that there would be no pillaging, something that Andahuq said could not be guaranteed because of the number of ‘beggars, dervishes and low-class followers there were amongst the Arab ranks’. ʿUmar, however, was prepared to give the guarantee and the city fell, leading to the seizure of Chosroe and Bakhtak by ʿUmar and his ʿayyārs. Chosroe was released by Hamza, who felt sorry for him: ‘he wept over what had passed’, but died later in Madaʾin. As for the principal enemy of the Arabs, the vizier Bakhtak, ʿUmar smeared him with naphtha and pitch, set him alight and laughed as he died. Shah Dib then scattered his ashes in the desert, saying that they would produce enough scorpions to fill the world (3.165–172). There was a dispute over the succession to the Persian throne between Chosroe’s sons, Farmuztaj and Farukh Shah. Qasim, the son of Rustam, supported Farukh Shah and threatened Badiʿ al-Zaman, who was in favour of Farmuztaj, the elder of the princes. ʿUmar told Hamza to pay no attention to Qasim, a boy who did not have all his wits about him and who was intent on pursuing a feud with Badiʿ al-Zaman. After some episodes in which ʿUmar was not involved, he was warned by Buzurjmihr that Badiʿ al-Zaman was in danger. His mirror showed him a ruined castle, by the side of which Badiʿ al-Zaman was tied up in the middle of a stream with a stone placed over his chest. ʿUmar went to the rescue and carried him off in the sack of Ismaʿil, thinking that he was dead because he was ‘cold as snow’. Buzurjmihr, however, discovered that there was still life in him and he was treated with hot bricks. He was unable to explain what had happened as he had been kidnapped while asleep, but Buzurjmihr said

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that it must have been the work of the new Chosroe, Farmuztaj, and his vizier Bakhtiyar, the son of Bakhtak (3.173–188). To confirm this ʿUmar went to Madaʾin where he found the new emperor plotting with Bakhtiyar, who was saying that his father’s blood was calling for revenge. He had arranged for the kidnap of Badiʿ al-Zaman, taking advantage of the fact that ʿUmar was not there to protect him. The Arabs then attacked Madaʾin and after fifteen days of fighting the city fell and was later destroyed. Chosroe and Bakhtiyar had fled and Hamza vowed to follow them, having sworn to kill Bakhtiyar (3.188–199). In the course of the pursuit ʿUmar was again blamed when the Arabs fell into another ambush, which Hamza said would have been avoided had the ʿayyārs picketed the heights. By representing himself as a Persian he discovered from the inhabitants of a sea-side city that Chosroe was in the city of Sabaʾil, ‘with our god, al-Khwand, its ruler’. When he asked about this he was told: ‘yes, alKhwand is like us, but his power and his greatness make it right for him to be a god’. Buzurjmihr later told Hamza that al-Khwand had ‘a sky of crystal and a paradise of flowers’, as well as a hell into which he hurled his enemies (3.202–244). The Arabs were attacked by a mārid, who was controlled by a magic ring held by al-Khwand. The mārid could not kill Hamza, but the mārid could not, in turn, be killed by Hamza as he could cover 1,000 cubits in the blink of an eye, and he had to be frightened off by Asmabari. After being asked to help ʿUmar and his men bury the dead, Asmabari told ʿUmar to persuade Hamza ‘to sleep with me and to keep me with him even for a week’. ʿUmar doubted whether this would be possible as Hamza had not thought of women since the death of Mihrdukar. At that point Asmabari told him that Mihrdukar was not dead; she had left a corpse in her place and taken Mihrdukar to a doctor in the west, who had cured her (3.267). ʿUmar complained that she had not been in the habit of giving him gifts and, otherwise, he would not have allowed Hamza to forget her. She told him that she had brought him the cap of invisibility, at which he said that, in that case, he would make Hamza stay with her for a week and a day, causing her to clap her hands with pleasure. He tested the cap by slapping Andahuq and then Harun, leading Hamza to say that Asmabari must have brought devils with her. ʿUmar then went to al-Khwand’s capital, Sabaʾil, and climbed in by the city gate, before entering the palace and tracking down Chosroe. He had cut off some of al-Khwand’s beard when the cap was suddenly removed by Asmabari who, it was later explained, had been annoyed because he had gone off and left her (3.271–274). On finding himself exposed ʿUmar explained that he knew al-Khwand to be a true god. He had himself been on the point of death when he had been transported

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to his palace and the hair of the beard, which he rubbed over his face, had cured him. Bakhtiyar objected that he had come to kill al-Khwand, but he asked to be appointed the greatest of his angels, as Bakhtiyar was the greatest of his devils. Bakhtiyar then told Chosroe that they would have to move their sleeping quarters or else ʿUmar would kill them. ‘Every breath of wind’ that was heard they took to be ʿUmar, and ʿUmar himself put al-Khwand’s throne in the bag of Ismaʿil, climbed out of the palace and told the gate guard that he was being sent to the Arabs with a secret message. On his return to camp he thought of killing Asmabari, but she laughed at him and when he said that he would forgive her only in return for the cap, she retorted that he had not kept his promise. In fact, when she told Hamza of her approach to ʿUmar, he had objected: ‘am I at ʿUmar’s command?’ and she had burnt the cap in anger and left without saying goodbye (3.274–278). On finding ʿUmar gone and his goods stolen or broken al-Khwand had Bakhtiyar beaten, while ʿUmar brought al-Khwand’s throne out from the bag of Ismaʿil and scattered gold for his ʿayyārs (3.278). The next section is centred on the doings of Badiʿ al-Zaman, who had left Hamza in anger thanks to his feud with Qasim and had wandered off, not knowing where he was going. He met ʿUmar and thought that Hamza must have sent him for a reconciliation, but in fact ʿUmar was carrying a letter to say that Sinjam, the city of his wife Kuhin, was being attacked by one of her former suitors, Bahran, and Hamza had refused to help. Bahran and Badiʿ wounded each other and ʿUmar treated Badiʿ’s wound, which was serious but not fatal (3.285–4.7). Buzurjmihr interpreted a dream seen by Hamza as meaning that Badiʿ was facing yet more danger. Badiʿ had helped another God-fearing king, Sandrus, by killing a lion that was keeping him from an orchard and he had then been stripped of his clothes and removed by al-Khidr. ʿUmar, after a forty-one-day search, had reached Sandrus’ city and found the clothes, which led him to threaten the citizens, who, he thought, must have been responsible for Badiʿ’s death. He was told about the lion, but, as the clothes had not been torn, when he brought them back to the Arabs Buzurjmihr was sure that Badiʿ must still be alive (4.12–22). After a prolonged series of adventures Badiʿ took on the identity of ‘sultan Bihzad’ and Buzurjmihr angered Hamza by talking of his power and left in disgust. Badiʿ’s former opponent, Bahran, who had joined the Arabs, was then found decapitated and Qasim was about to be executed as the murderer when ʿUmar appeared, stopped the execution and said that Qasim was innocent: ‘ʿUmar was not afraid of Hamza or of anyone else’. He then produced the heads of both Bahran and his killer, who was one of al-Khwand’s ʿayyārs. ʿUmar had met him on his way back to Sabaʾil and had thrown his body in through a

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window by the gate. He asked Hamza to be reconciled with Buzurjmihr, ‘without whom you would have been dead long ago’, adding that any other people but the Arabs would have made him their sultan (4.42–56). ʿUmar went to reconnoitre Badiʿ/Bihzad’s army and, finding no guards, he said to himself: ‘these people don’t know about treachery’. He was then seized by Badiʿ and was astonished that a great king should be keeping watch himself. Badiʿ addressed him by name and told him details of his past life, making him wonder whether he was confronted by ‘a magician or a prophet’. Badiʿ then presented him with 1,000 dinars as well as a robe of honour and released him (4.76–77). Qasim was defeated in a duel by Badiʿ, whom none of the Arabs had recognised. He claimed that this was thanks to the excellence of Badiʿ’s horse and asked ʿUmar to steal it for him. When ʿUmar pointed out that, on being released by Badiʿ, he had sworn not to harm him, Qasim insisted that it was only the horse that he wanted, and ʿUmar promised to steal it ‘when the opportunity comes’ (4.79–80). Later, when Badiʿ was told that his horse was missing, he realised that ʿUmar must be responsible and exclaimed: ‘I know that his wickedness has no bounds.’ In fact, ʿUmar had taken advantage of the wedding of Badiʿ to a warrior queen, Sarkhaba, when, finding the stable groom asleep, he had ‘almost flown for joy’. Badiʿ complained that ʿUmar had broken his word and threatened to punish him, while ʿUmar admitted to Hamza: ‘yes, I swore not to attack him but what I attacked was his horse’. He went on to say that he would enter the camp and cut Badiʿ’s throat, and he paid no attention when Hamza pointed out that this was a man of God (4.86–88). When ʿUmar did slip in like a snake, Badiʿ was waiting and seized him. Sarkhaba asked her husband: ‘why not kill him?’, but Badiʿ told her that in this war he did not want to kill anyone. Next morning ʿUmar was tied down on the ground and threatened by Bihzad’s giant turtle. Qasim tried to rescue him but was struck by Badiʿ, who had him beaten and then sent back to Hamza together with ʿUmar. They were both angry and later, when Badiʿ revealed himself, ʿUmar complained that he had thought that ‘Bihzad’ was an enemy of the Arabs, whereas Badiʿ knew who he was. Badiʿ offered him money and they were reconciled (4.89–106). ʿUmar then brought news of the arrival of the formidable Tahmaz, who wielded a fifteen-cubit long knife. Tahmaz was struck down by Hamza, who then infuriated the Arabs by freeing him, leading ʿUmar to tell him: ‘you no longer have any standing in the camp’, adding that the Arabs considered him senile and good for nothing. Hamza, who had been wounded, was treated in a cave by a shaikh whose beardless attendant reminded ʿUmar of what Asmabari had

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told him about Mihrdukar. Later, when Hamza said that he wanted to go back to the cave, ʿUmar told him that he had gone there himself and had found no one. He had thought of saying that the ‘youth’ must be Mihrdukar, but had decided against this while she was still in disguise (4.108–124). The feud between Qasim and Badiʿ took a new twist when Badiʿ’s son, Nur, fell in love with Qasim’s daughter and, in the course of a fight against al-Khwand’s men, Qasim pretended to have been unsighted and aimed a blow at him. Thanks to ʿUmar’s foresight, the Arabs arrived in time to drive off the enemy. That night Nur set out to visit Qasim in order to convince him that he was still in love with his daughter, and ʿUmar followed unnoticed. He listened to what was being said and passed on word to Hamza, who thought that the marriage might bring an end to the feud. ʿUmar doubted whether Qasim would agree, but rather than refuse, he asked for a set of jewels known as the Pleiades, that were in the lands of Kaʾus Shah, as a wedding gift (4.125–136). ʿUmar told Nur to take him with him as he would not be able to find his way on a twenty-five-day journey through the wilderness. Nur did not want him, lest Qasim object that he had not obtained the jewels by himself, but at Hamza’s request ʿUmar changed his appearance so as to be unrecognisable. He then investigated Kaʾus’ city, which had two viziers, one the God-fearing ʿAbd Allah al-Rammal and the other Dush Qadam, a master of sand divination. Nur was confident that he could get what he wanted by force, but Dush, realising that he had come to steal the jewels, had him captured by having stones and logs thrown down on him from the roof tops. ʿAbd Allah intervened to prevent him from being killed on the spot and that evening ʿUmar used his magic mirror to assume Dush’s shape, climbing over the roofs and seizing the real Dush, whose place he took. He then warned Kaʾus that the Pleiades would be in danger for three days and should be entrusted to him for safe-keeping. When he was given them, he went to Nur’s prison where he drugged the gaoler with a candle impregnated with banj and then killed him as he lay unconscious (4.138–142). On being released Nur started to walk back but was met by ‘Dush’, who gave him his horse and said that he would come with him as he ‘liked walking’ and could not stay in the city. Nur did not want his company and made up his mind to kill him, later explaining: ‘you will tell my people what you have done for me and my reputation will be lowered’. ʿUmar saw that he was looking at him ‘with the eye of treachery’, and jumped out of range of the spear that was being aimed at him. At that point he revealed himself, but, although Nur ‘showed joy’, he thought that he had lost his chance of marriage, as Qasim had told him to accept no help. ʿUmar was convinced that he was ‘good-hearted’, but in spite of this he stayed alert and when on the sixth day as they were eating Nur attacked him with

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a dagger he jumped away and exclaimed: ‘had you not been foul and treacherous you would not have associated with Qasim’. Nur rode off but ʿUmar followed, seized him that night and whipped him. Later they both apologised, but Nur had still not learnt his lesson. He found himself unable to attack in the darkness as either ʿUmar did not sleep or else he took such precautions that no one could get near him, but when he pretended to be off guard Nur took the opportunity to again thrust at him with his spear. It was then that ʿUmar asked: ‘what harm does it do you to be indebted to me? All the Arab riders acknowledge the favours I have done them . . . I am the servant of the Arabs and it is the duty of a servant to serve his master loyally.’ He later gave Nur another beating before saying that, as he had now reached safe ground, he could be left on his own (4.143–145). ʿUmar then discovered a table set out with food for passers-by and assumed that ‘one of God’s servants has done this very praiseworthy thing’. A man was eating at the table with a servant standing by, and ʿUmar asked for a spoonful, thinking that this could not be a trick as no one could have known that he was coming. It was, however, a trap set by Bakhtiyar; the food was drugged and ʿUmar was being dragged off when he was rescued by Qasim (4.145–146). Hamza, seeing the marks of a beating on Nur’s body, was angry with ʿUmar, who referred to his own services and to the defects in Nur’s upbringing, but Hamza turned him away, saying that the Arabs could do without him. ʿUmar responded by calling him stupid and, although Badiʿ told Hamza that he was in the wrong, Hamza said that Nur should not be blamed, adding: ‘it is unheard of that a servant should lift his hand against his master’. Badiʿ protested: ‘ʿUmar is much better than my son [Nur], for there are many like him amongst the Arabs’, but Hamza told him that the Arabs owed Nur a debt because he had killed Tahmaz, whereas ʿUmar thought that they could not live without him. It was only later that he became anxious, remembering that ‘God has been with us while ʿUmar was guarding the camp’, and he dreamed that a jewel had vanished from his hand. Buzurjmihr told him that the jewel was ʿUmar, but added that ‘he will return one day’ (4.148–150). After leaving the Arabs ʿUmar went to the city of Sarkhaba’s father, another al-Khwand – ‘how many al-Khwands are there in these lands?’ He was dressed as a dervish and in the doorway of a shop he saw a merchant and a handsome youth, his supposed son, Faraj, who was, in fact, an Arab who had been carried off when the mārid attacked the Arabs at al-Sabaʾil. The merchant invited him to stay (4.151–152). Every Thursday this Khwand was in the habit of going to a palace outside the town where he would provide hot food for no fewer than 10,000 of the citizens, claiming to have created it by his divine power. ʿUmar went there and stayed behind after the crowd had gone and as he had not prostrated himself,

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he was taken before al-Khwand. He explained that he had had a disease of the bladder and had prayed to be cured. At first, he said, al-Khwand had seemed to have been forgetful or unwilling, but at last ‘you remembered and cured me and it is true that there is nothing you cannot do’. Because of his apparent faith he was allowed to spend the night in the palace and he found and destroyed a dumb-waiter system worked by pulleys that provided the food. He then went to al-Khwand’s palace over the roofs, drugged and removed him and took his place. He summoned the merchant and told him to order Faraj, his supposed son, to lead an army against the Arabs. When the merchant pointed out that Faraj had never held a sword, the bogus god promised to give him victory, but allowed him to surrender if he were not winning. Faraj returned with a wounded hand, having only saved himself by flight (4.152–156). ʿUmar himself disguised as a dervish approached the ʿayyār guarding the Arab camp and found him gloomy and perplexed. Although the guards and the ʿayyārs had not slept, seven riders had been carried off each night: ‘this is all because ʿUmar is not with us’. ʿUmar blamed himself and later, when he had caught sight of seven men dressed as Arabs, he lay in hiding outside the camp ‘like fire hidden by stones’. When the men came back with seven prisoners, he seized one of them, who told him that they had been sent by Kaʾus Shah under the leadership of Khafif al-Tayyar. ʿUmar had promised to spare the man but later said that, although he was sorry to break his word, ‘unfortunately I find your existence a burden for me’. Having killed him, he took his place and left, carrying his prisoner, who turned out to be Nur. They all went to a ship where Khafif beat and abused the Arabs, among whom was Hamza himself. Hamza tried to encourage the others by telling them of an agreement he had with ʿUmar that if he shouted three times, ʿUmar would come. They laughed at him, thinking that he was mad, but at the third shout ʿUmar answered and they remained silent ‘as though birds were perched on their heads’. ʿUmar and Hamza were reconciled and the prisoners were released (4.157–160). Another champion, al-Farrash, lord of the City of the Sunrise, succeeded in capturing a number of Arabs. Bakhtiyar was afraid that they might be rescued and he warned al-Khwand against ʿUmar, telling him about his mirror and how he could take whatever shape he wanted. ʿUmar had gone to the sea shore, where he saw a boat with a ninety-year-old shaikh and twelve young followers. The shaikh entered a tent and, in a repeat of the episode of Hudhad and the priests, ʿUmar seized one of the men who came out alone, promising not to kill him if he told the truth. He then killed both him and his companions and took the shape of the shaikh, substituting his own ʿayyārs for the twelve disciples. Using his assumed spiritual authority, he instructed Farrash to hand over his captives, with whom he then returned to the Arab camp. Later he came out himself to challenge

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Farrash, dancing around him with his cap and bells, striking at his horse and eventually stripping him of his weapons and clothes. The Arabs laughed and Farrash was subsequently killed (4.164–171). Hamza had helped Nur against another warrior princess, ʿAnqa, whom Nur later married, but who left him. The Arabs were relieved to see him coming back escorted by ʿUmar, who entertained them ‘with the oddest of movements’, and then promised them victory over al-Khwand. He found an old wood-cutter who was too weak both to cut wood and carry it. ʿUmar offered to help him, but then killed him and took his shape. He brought the wood to al-Khwand, telling him that, thanks to him, he had been cured of his disease and adding that he wanted a stick and a donkey on which to fight the Arabs. Bakhtiyar recognised him ‘because of his movements and his speech’, but al-Khwand refused to believe him and beat him with a shoe. ʿUmar told the Arabs that he must be allowed to capture their champions so that they could later be freed to attack the city from the inside. Qasim objected that he must have been bribed by al-Khwand, but Hamza told him: ‘if that is how intelligent you are, you had better sit with the boys’. As ʿUmar on his donkey began to capture the Arabs who rode against him, Bakhtiyar again warned alKhwand, and this time was beaten unconscious for his pains. It was only Qasim who refused to co-operate. He killed ʿUmar’s donkey and ʿUmar escaped only by tricking him with a drugged mantle, which he claimed to have magic properties. On recovering his senses, Qasim shouted out that this was ʿUmar, but, although he was supported by Bakhtiyar, al-Khwand had both of them beaten. Qasim eventually admitted to ʿUmar that he was wrong and ʿUmar shook his hand. The prisoners were then released and the city fell (4.183–187). No trace of Chosroe or Bakhtiyar was found as they had escaped using the magic ring. Al-Khwand himself was discovered hiding behind a false wall in a latrine, having given himself away by coughing, but he was later rescued by the mārid servant of the ring. The fugitives were all given shelter by King Kaʾus Shah, a huge, broad-shouldered and courageous man, who fought against the vanguard of the pursuing Arabs and captured a number of their champions. His God-fearing vizier, ʿAbd Allah, said that the prisoners should be kept alive, but Bakhtiyar objected that in that case ʿUmar would rescue them. The Arab vanguard, lacking leaders, retreated, but were met by ʿUmar, who was bringing up the main body of Hamza’s men. They were ‘drunk with fatigue’ when they reached Kaʾus’ city, and ʿUmar could find no way in, nor could he climb the walls because of the vigilance of the guards. The vizier ʿAbd Allah asked Badiʿ, who was among the prisoners, to send ʿUmar to him when he arrived (4.188–206). ʿUmar was, in fact, sent in as a messenger, going in disguise for fear of Bakhtiyar, and after having delivered his message he was relieved to get away

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as he had been afraid of being recognised. Later Hamza and Kaʾus agreed to fight a duel and ʿUmar disguised himself as a townsman. Qasim was creating a disturbance in the prison, where his fellow prisoners were abusing him and, covered by this distraction, ʿUmar managed to attract Badiʿ’s attention without at first revealing who he was lest relief show on his face. He intervened to stop Qasim from attacking one of Kaʾus’ emirs, knocking him down and kicking him until he ‘howled like a dog’, after which he warned Badiʿ not to tell Qasim who had beaten him (4.207–213). That night he climbed the palace wall and mounted the stair. Confronted by a locked room, he was afraid to try a key lest it make a noise in the lock and so he used a grappling hook to climb to the window. In the room was a locked chest which he could not open, and at that point he heard footsteps approaching. The room was dark and he lay on the floor, dagger in hand, as the newcomer opened the chest and threw out heavy carpets that fell on him. He slid out ‘like a snake’ from the last of them and when he was left alone in the room he piled them up to help him reach a high window. From this vantage point he heard Chosroe and Bakhtiyar talking and he managed to drug them by throwing in a lamp wick impregnated with banj. He then entered the room, where he shaved off Bakhtiyar’s right eyebrow, whisker and beard, before tying the pair up. He left to look for the vizier ʿAbd Allah, to whom he introduced himself, and, as a proof of his identity, he used his kohl stick to take on the likeness of Bakhtiyar. He told ʿAbd Allah that he would not be able to get back into the city unless there was a secret way, and this, in fact, existed in the form of an underground passage running from beneath a carpet in the palace, down a stone stair and out beneath the walls to a wall with a wooden door, for which he was given the key (4.215–226). When Kaʾus was killed in battle, ʿUmar went in through the secret passage as fast as he could, but when he got to the stair he was knocked to the ground by the corpse of Kaʾus’ son, which was dropped from above. On coming out in the palace and discovering ʿAbd Allah and the prisoners, he took on the shape of the dead man and lay stretched out on the floor. The Arab prisoners, who had killed the man and thrown him down, discovered him there and lifted him up with trembling hands only to find, when they put him down, that they could not lift him again. The others were losing their nerve, but Badiʿ drew his sword and said: ‘even if you don’t want to die, I want you to’. ʿUmar jumped to safety and then told Badiʿ who he was. Badiʿ was prepared to give him ‘some seconds’ grace, after which he appeared as Bakhtiyar. Badiʿ was again on the point of attacking him, thinking that he must be a mārid, when ʿAbd Allah laughed and told him who he was. Andahuq refused to shake his hand, complaining that he had frightened them (4.232–238).

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When the fugitives reached the door at the end of the passage they found that it was self-locking and that ʿUmar had left the key on the wrong side. The door was too strong to break and ʿUmar was in despair when they were heard and rescued by Hamza. In the apparently empty palace ʿUmar found al-Khwand, his son, Chosroe and Bakhtiyar. Bakhtiyar smiled at him as the mārid carried them off and ʿUmar could not tell where they were going as he admitted that he had no knowledge of Persian (4.242–261). Chosroe had fallen ill and was treated by his unrecognised sister, Mihrdukar. ʿUmar discovered her identity and told the Arab leaders, who were afraid lest sudden joy be too much for Hamza. For his part, ʿUmar told Hamza that his men were in need of money and that he did not accept gifts but would only take what he had earned. He proposed to sell three bits of good news: the raising of the dead; the finding of a shaikh and a youth; and the interpretation of a dream, all of which added up to the fact that Mihrdukar was still alive. Hamza was speechless with joy and jumped up to go to her but was not allowed to leave before ʿUmar had been paid (4.266–287). In the episodes that follow the fugitives were captured, with Bakhtiyar being executed and Chosroe restored to power. ʿUmar has little part to play, but characteristically he is last seen ‘leaping like a gazelle’, at the head of the victorious Arabs. It is not merely the individual characteristics of the Man of Wiles that are shown in detail throughout ʿUmar’s career, but also the paradox of his character. He has no claim to saintliness and it is Hamza and not he who is directly helped by alKhidr, but the sheikhs to whom al-Khidr entrusted gifts for Hamza had more for him. He is both the glory and the good fortune of the Arabs. In part his apparent defects are represented humorously, as in his constant search for money, but he is both ruthless and faithless, killing a weak old wood-cutter and breaking his promise to spare those whom he has questioned. How closely this paradox comes to the essence of his character must be looked at in relation to other Men of Wiles still to be investigated.

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Section 2: Qissat Firuz Shah

Bihruz

Hamza and ʿUmar devoted their careers to fighting and defeating Persians, while by contrast the major actors in the Qissat Firuz Shah are themselves Persians. Firuz Shah was the son of King Darab of Persia and was brought up with Farkhuzad, the son of Filzur, one of Darab’s seven champions. The vizier of Darab’s father-in-law set out for Darab’s court with a colt that he intended to present to Firuz Shah. On his way he rescued a girl who had been held captive by a ghul by whom she had had a son, Bihruz, who is the Man of Wiles in this text. The vizier foresaw that Bihruz would grow up to perform wonderful deeds and left him and his mother in the care of Filzur (1.5–23). Later Firuz Shah left for Yemen on a bridal quest for princess ʿAin al-Hayat, which involved him and Farkhuzad in a series of dangerous adventures. Darab wanted news of him and Filzur told him: I have thought of a brave young ʿayyār who can do all that we want if we send him to Yemen, for there he can find out for us how our sons are and, if need be, he can help them . . . This is Bihruz, the son of the ghul. I taught him all that was needed to make him into a brave ʿayyār and he turned out better than I could have hoped. He is now twelve years old but is well-grown and he has done great deeds of the kind that the most stalwart of men could not perform. (1.134)

Bihruz came to court and was described as having a large head, bright eyes, thin legs and keen sight. Darab could not believe that he was only twelve, and Bihruz told him: ‘my master, Filzur, tells me that I shall be in your service all my life

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and this fills me with joy’. Later he went off with Shayaghus, a painter, both dressed as ʿayyārs with daggers concealed under their clothes. On his arrival at the coast he covered his ʿayyār’s clothes and told the twelve-man crew of a passing fishing boat that he had accidentally been left on shore by his fellow merchants who were on their way to the Island of the Birds. He offered them money to take him there, but when a storm threatened the boat they thought that he must be responsible and told him to jump into the sea or else they would throw him overboard. At that point he removed his outer clothes and they could see that he was dressed as an ʿayyār, carrying a dagger. They had no weapons of their own and so did not dare touch him (1.134–181). Eventually they came ashore on an island, which turned out to be the home of al-Safra the witch. The fishermen scattered to pick fruit from the trees, while Bihruz went to a lofty palace that had high windows and no observable door. When eventually he got in, he climbed a flight of steps and found an open room at the end of which al-Safra was seated ‘with sparks flying from her eyes’. He promptly found himself lying paralysed on the floor, and when he told her that he and his companions had been driven there by a storm, she went out to cast the same spell on them. Then, as far as Bihruz was concerned, she suffered a change of heart and, reflecting on the fact that she was now ninety and that he was a good-looking young man, she decided to marry him (1.181–183). She first kissed him and then took a glass from a cupboard and poured some of its contents over him to release him from his paralysis. He was taken aback to hear her proposal of marriage, not only because of her age and extreme ugliness but because he did not want to be distracted from his quest. Had he not possessed the firmness needed to cope with so gruesome a situation, he would have preferred death a thousand times over but, to her delight, he pretended to agree (1.183–184). To delay things he then pleaded weakness caused by hunger and the hardships of his voyage. Al-Safra agreed to a three-day delay, and food and drink materialised when she called for them. Next day she told him that she was going to the city of her teacher and flew off on her magic throne, leaving him astonished and dismayed by her powers. He went to bring food to the paralysed fishermen, two of whom had already died, and he then came to a dark room where he discovered Firuz Shah chained as a prisoner and praying to God for help. When Bihruz approached him he asked how he had managed to get there, when not even Solomon’s ʿifrīts could approach the island (1.184–188). When they turned to discussing escape, Bihruz suggested killing al-Safra when she was off her guard, but Firuz Shah told him that she had placed a hair on his legs that was heavier than the heaviest iron fetter, and unless its spell were

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broken he would not be able to move. Bihruz told him that he hoped to find out her secrets on the following day (1.192). Al-Safra later arrived in the form of a huge snake in order to show him the power of her magic. He complained that in her absence he had been distracted by the noise of jinn in the palace and she explained that what he had heard were the moans of Firuz Shah, whom she proposed to kill in order to mark their wedding. She told him about the hair, and went on to say that she had two liquids, one used for enchantments and the other to release their victims. Each was kept in a separate glass (1.192–193). At this point Bihruz made an even greater display of affection as he realised that, in spite of the fact that Firuz Shah was an impatient man, the affair could not be rushed. Before she left next day she promised to show him her treasures and when she had gone he took more food both to Firuz Shah and to the fishermen, two more of whom had died. Firuz Shah told him that for the next two days their lives depended on his being alert, and when Bihruz warned that even if they got free, they could not escape from al-Safra’s magic, he reassured him that it would be easy for him to kill her if his weapons were returned to him (1.194–195). This time she came back in the shape of a lion, roaring and foaming at the mouth. She then showed him not only the two magic flasks but also a cloak embroidered with talismans and pictures of birds, beasts, mārids and devils, whose wearer would be immune to all spells and could not be hurt by savage animals or birds. She put the keys to their cabinet under her pillow and when she had flown off next day, Bihruz removed them and took the flask containing the antidote to magic. He freed Firuz Shah, who suggested that, in whatever shape al-Safra returned, Bihruz should attract her attention by kissing her, so giving him an opportunity to kill her. In fact, al-Safra was late in coming and Bihruz thought that she might have found out about their plan. Firuz Shah dismissed his fears and al-Safra appeared in the form of a huge bull, carrying what seemed to be a corpse, but later turned out to be Farkhuzad. Firuz Shah cut her in half with a single blow, and both Farkhuzad and the surviving fishermen were freed from their enchantments (1.195–200). After having taken what they wanted from al-Safra’s palace, the whole party sailed in the fishing boat to the White Island, where Iran Shah, al-Safra’s adopted son, was lord and where Firuz Shah and Farkhuzad had earlier been captured by al-Safra. The two of them went ashore while Bihruz stayed to guard the boat, sending one of the fishermen to follow them to see what would happen. They attacked Iran Shah’s city on their own and killed more than 1,000 men, but were eventually captured when stones and timbers were thrown down on them from the house (1.200–204). The fisherman went back to give the news to Bihruz, after which he took the

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precaution of drugging them all with banj lest they be tempted to sail away. He then revived his informant so that he might guide him to where the prisoners were being kept. In order to avoid the gate guards Bihruz scaled the wall and hauled the fisherman up after him. He used a pick-lock to get into a room where Iran Shah was snoring loudly, and, after having killed him with his dagger, he took the keys to where the prisoners were being held. Farkhuzad was blaming Firuz Shah for his rashness, while Firuz Shah was saying that Bihruz would come to the rescue. Bihruz used keys that he had taken from Iran Shah to release their fetters and, after arming the pair, he cut off Iran Shah’s head and carried it on the point of his dagger to discourage resistance. The troops and the citizens surrendered and the army commander was appointed king (1.204–208). The centre of attention now shifts to a prolonged battle between the Persian army of Firuz Shah’s father, King Darab, and that of Shah Surur of Yemen, the father of Princess ʿAin al-Hayat, who had been reinforced by the formidable Black king, Tumar. Mounted on an elephant, Tumar had captured a series of Persian champions, the last being Filzur, whose horse had collapsed under the weight of Tumar’s blows. Tumar’s ʿayyārs had then pounced on him as he lay on the ground and carried him off. He was sentenced to death, but as the executioner was raising his sword, he collapsed on the ground, having been struck down by Bihruz. All those present were astounded by the daring of this handsome young man, dagger in hand, with sparks flashing from his eyes, and they realised that he must be one of the Persian ʿayyārs, who were later described as ‘like ʿifrīts who fly between the ranks without anyone knowing of them’. He left the executioner where he was and handed Shah Surur a letter from Firuz Shah, who told him that he had killed al-Safra and threatened to attack him with 25,000 riders. Bihruz did not wait for a reply but left ‘like a breath of wind’. The execution was postponed and the prisoners were sent off to a seemingly impregnable island (1.217–295). An explanation is now inserted of Firuz Shah’s movements. Having left the city of Iran Shah he had insisted, against Farukhshah’s advice, on going ashore on an island. After it had grown dark, he heard Bihruz calling for help and, following the sound of his voice, he caught sight of four men who were carrying him towards a fire where they were proposing to sacrifice him. Firuz Shah cut them down and Bihruz explained that he had gone off alone to relieve himself and had then been kidnapped. Farkhuzad managed to dissuade Firuz Shah from launching an attack on the islanders, describing them as jungle dwellers (1.296–297). The narrative now resumes its sequence. Bihruz had hurried back with news of Filzur’s plight, at which Firuz Shah and Farkhuzad rode off to the rescue, without telling their troops where they were going for fear that an enemy ʿayyār might hear. They succeeded in intercepting the prisoners’ escort and the battle

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that followed, which saw Bihruz using his dagger, ended with the prisoners being freed and the escort annihilated. Against Farkhuzad’s advice Firuz Shah insisted on going on to attack the castle to which the prisoners were being taken. Bihruz was sent there with a threatening message, which had to be pulled up to a window on the end of a rope, and which was met with a threatening reply. Bihruz told Firuz Shah that above the gate there was a small, round, barred window beneath which stood a tree. He proposed to climb the tree, throw his grappling hook to the window and attach a rope ladder, which only he and Firuz Shah were to climb. When he neared the top he raised his cap on the point of his dagger and moved it to and fro to see whether it would be noticed by guards. As the coast appeared to be clear, he filed through the window bars and entered, followed by Firuz Shah. The garrison were taken by surprise and when the gate had been opened, the castle fell (1.300–306). In the main battle between Darab and Shah Surur, that was now resumed, Tumar was killed and Shah Shujaʿ, the son of Shah Surur, was captured. He was temporally freed by Hilal, a Yemeni ʿayyār, and then recaptured by a Persian ʿayyār, Shabrank, who brought him and Hilal to Darab. Darab at first intended to have Hilal executed, but Hilal argued that he had only been doing his duty as a loyal servant, after which he offered to transfer his loyalty to Darab, who accepted him. Bihruz, whose eyes were shooting out sparks, refused to take responsibility for him, describing him as wicked and cunning, and adding that he was intending to betray the Persians (1.347–364). His suspicions proved justified when Hilal managed to decoy and capture Farkhuzad and Khurshid Shah, as well as Shabrank. When he heard of their loss Bihruz almost choked with rage as he reminded Darab that he had warned him of the man’s treacherous nature. Darab asked why he had not kept a better watch over him, to which Bihruz answered that he had been sure that the intended target was Firuz Shah and so it was he whom he had guarded day and night, not allowing Hilal an opportunity to approach. He swore to recapture Hilal and to free his prisoners (2.14–23). In order to achieve this he went out with Shayaghus and at a point half way between the two armies he dug a pit, in which Shayaghus was to wait for Hilal, who was sure to return. Shayaghus had been told what to say and when Hilal did pass by, he attracted his attention by moaning. He claimed to have been there for three days and to be on the point of death. At first Hilal told him to wait, promising to return after he had finished reconnoitring the Persian army, but on being offered money he lifted him out and hoisted him on to his back. Shayaghus promptly squeezed his throat, after which Bihruz arrived and tied him up. While Shayaghus took him to Darab, Bihruz went to the enemy camp, where he saw Shabrank fastened to tent pegs. He crawled slowly up to him and released him

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by cutting through his bonds, after which he was sent back to warn Darab that the Blacks were planning a surprise attack on his camp. Bihruz himself joined the twelve Yemeni emirs who were under orders to take Farkhuzad and Khurshid Shah to Egypt and who accepted him under the impression that he had been sent by Shah Surur (2.24–52). The emirs divided into two groups with six being on watch at all times, leaving Bihruz no opportunity to free the prisoners, whether he was on or off watch. His hope was that when they arrived at al-Taʾif they would feel secure enough to relax their vigilance, as the prisoners would be kept in a locked room. On their arrival, to his fury, they were led around the streets to provide a spectacle for the citizens before being taken to the palace of al-Mundhir, son of al-Nuʿman, the lord of the city. That night the emirs decided that it would only be necessary for one man to stay on guard, and Bihruz was picked for the task. As it happened, al-Mundhir’s daughter, Taj al-Muluk, had seen Khurshid Shah from her window and had fallen in love with him. She had proposed to go with her duenna, each carrying a dagger, to see whether she could rescue him. Meanwhile Bihruz had drugged the emirs and was in the process of killing them when she arrived. When she had explained why she was there, he challenged her to prove her sincerity by killing the rest of them, which she promptly did. Khurshid Shah agreed to marry her as soon as Firuz Shah married ʿAin al-Hayat, but he and Farkhuzad did not accept her suggestion that they should make their way out of the city and escape, preferring instead to force its surrender, which they did (2.53–72). The Persian army moved to Egypt where ʿAin al-Hayat had been sent to marry the son of the Egyptian king al-Walid. After fighting in which the Persians had the upper hand, Darab agreed to a truce, to the frustration of Firuz Shah, who was desperate to join ʿAin al-Hayat. He sent for Bihruz and told him to get ready to enter Cairo that night. Bihruz pointed out the difficulties involved in any attempt to reach the princess, saying that she was not on her own but was with al-Walid’s daughter, Turan Takht. Firuz Shah dismissed this, saying that he only wanted to talk to her and reassure her about the war (2.97–191). Bihruz then put on his lightest clothes and took with him his dagger and his climbing equipment. He and Firuz Shah reached the Nile, which Bihruz swam across twice, first, carrying his own clothes and then those of Firuz Shah. They approached Cairo from a direction where, as Bihruz had found earlier, there were no guards. Disguised as an Egyptian peasant and speaking with an Egyptian accent, he accosted a pair of Cairenes who were discussing the discovery of two corpses near Turan Takht’s palace, one of which was that of her drunken cousin, a rejected suitor of hers. The Cairenes guided the two Persians to her palace, and Bihruz led the way up to the roof, from where he went to where he could see ʿAin al-Hayat and Turan Takht, who were drinking and reciting poetry (2.192–194).

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When Firuz Shah arrived, Turan Takht tactfully left the lovers alone, but as midnight approached, Bihruz, who had been in another room, came to say that it was time for Firuz Shah to go. It was then that ʿAin al-Hayat mentioned that Darab’s cousin, Musaffar Shah, who had been kidnapped in mistake for Firuz Shah, was being held in the Dungeon of the ʿifrīts. On hearing this, Firuz Shah threw away his wine glass and told Bihruz to guide him there, although ʿAin alHayat tried to dissuade him, saying that this was a task for ʿayyārs and not for kings (2.195–196). Bihruz agreed with her and told Firuz that, although he was his superior in the arts of war, ‘you are no good as an ʿayyār’. Firuz refused to listen and set off, sword in hand. In the fighting that followed Bihruz, using his dagger and leaping like a gazelle, helped him as long as he could until, when he himself had been covered with wounds, he decided that the time had come to leave as, were both he and Firuz to be captured, there would be no one to rescue them. He used his grappling hook to climb to a roof, while, after more furious fighting Firuz, bleeding from his wounds, fell through the flimsy covering of a cellar, and lay there unnoticed by his enemies. He was later joined by Bihruz, both being too weak through loss of blood to move any further. They were rescued and sheltered by a Persian butcher, Abuʾl-Khair, who bandaged their wounds and brought them a doctor (2.197–199). The episodes that follow involve Hilal, who had been rescued from the Persians, and an Egyptian thief, Tariq, described as able to steal a foetus from its mother’s womb. During the course of these Bihruz is described as the only ʿayyār superior to Hilal and as a devil who could pierce the most solid of barriers and squirm through the narrowest of holes uninjured and unseen. It was Tariq, however, having changed sides after having been captured by the Persians, who took the lead in freeing Musaffar Shah from his dungeon. He went there accompanied by Bihruz and Abuʾl-Khair, pretending to be Syrian merchants, and they bribed the gaoler to open the door so that they could give food to the prisoners as an act of charity. It was also Tariq who suggested that as a safety measure he should take Musaffar Shah back to Firuz Shah, while Bihruz and Abuʾl-Khair went by a different route. They all then returned to the Persian camp (2.203–228). In his next adventure, Bihruz was helped by yet another turncoat, Badr Fatat, the servant of al-Walid’s vizier, Bidanish. His opponent was the sorcerer, al-Muqantar, who could move mountains, whose spittle could dry up the sea and whose aid had been asked for by al-Walid. He lived behind a magic barrier with a stone gate guarded by a huge serpent, where he was visited by Bidanish together with Badr Fatat. He agreed to help the Egyptians, giving Bidanish a magic ring that would allow him to pass the serpent, and Bidanish passed this to Badr Fatat for safe-keeping. Thanks to al-Muqantar’s magic a number of Persian

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champions, including Firuz Shah, were snatched from the battlefield, leaving the Egyptians to get the better of the fighting (2.249–256). Bihruz volunteered to investigate and Badr Fatat arrived to explain what had happened, after which he promised to fetch the magic ring. When he had retrieved it he passed it to Bihruz who said that, if he thought that anyone else could take his place with the army, he would set off at once to rescue the prisoners. Tariq offered his own services and Bihruz left, taking with him Badr Fatat and the ʿayyār of Musaffar Shah, as well as the magic robes of al-Safra that served to ward off spells (2.258–295). The serpent was shooting flames from its mouth like a volcano but Bihruz led the way, holding the ring so that he and his party could pass in safety. They prostrated themselves before al-Muqantar and flattered him with a fulsome eulogy, before Bihruz explained that they had come from the farthest west, where their teacher had died and they now wanted to be accepted by him as his servants. He already had twelve disciples, but he welcomed the new-comers and gave Bihruz a peculiarly nauseous drink which he had himself been able to swallow only after practice. Bihruz drained his glass with no sign of disgust, something that indicated to al-Muqantar that he was destined to become a sorcerer of the highest rank. This good impression was reinforced when Bihruz ate two whole roasted rats, heads and all, with apparent gusto, after which he was asked by al-Muqantar to prepare a drink of his own. He did this by pounding up reptiles and using the bitterest of fruits, and then, by adding banj to the mixture, he succeeded in drugging both al-Muqantar and his disciples. He pierced al-Muqantar’s nostrils with a needle that al-Safra had told him would prevent sorcery. Later, when alMuqantar had recovered his senses, Bihruz, who had searched the palace without finding Firuz Shah and the other prisoners, demanded to be shown where they were. He noticed that al-Muqantar had glanced at his bed to see whether it had been moved, and, taking this as a clue, he discovered beneath it an underground vault where they were being held. He used his ring to free them from their fetters and the whole party returned to the Persian camp, where Bihruz later killed alMuqantar (2.295–2.306). After a series of adventures involving other pairs of lovers in which he was not involved, Bihruz appeared in Malatya, having been sent out by Firuz Shah to find news of ʿAin al-Hayat. He had arrived in the clothes of a dervish, but he had then changed his disguise to that of a black slave. The city fell to a ‘Roman’ army led by Timurtash, and Bihruz killed one of the attackers and dressed himself in the man’s uniform. He was present in Timurtash’s court where Qahr, a supporter of Darab, was being beaten and he heard Qahr threatening his tormentors with ‘Bihruz who patrols the lands day and night and knows everything that happens in them; he moves faster than lightning and it is as though he is present

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everywhere . . . He will rescue me in spite of you, as he rescued his people from al-Muqantar the sorcerer.’ On hearing this Bihruz determined to free him and that night he extracted a peg from the tent where he was being held, filed through his fetters and removed him from the city (3.33–81). Qahr told him that could not go off on his own without weapons and he asked Bihruz to leave him in a cave while he fetched what was needed. In the cave he came across the former lord of Malatya, Saif al-Daula, and his wife, together with ʿAin al-Hayat, whom they had been sheltering. He wanted to remove them to safety, but ʿAin al-Hayat insisted that she could not go on without food, and as a result he left to fetch both provisions and clothing. While he was absent, Hilal the ʿayyār, who had been sent out to look for her by her father Shah Surur, arrived at the cave dressed as a dervish. He recognised the fugitives and succeeded in drugging and then removing them. When Bihruz returned with food, clothes and horses, he found the cave empty. He rode off hoping that they might have gone on ahead, but after a fruitless search he concluded that they must have been carried away by Hilal, and he had to go back and give the news to Firuz Shah (3.81 sq.). As the Persian army advanced Bihruz caught sight of an enemy ʿayyār, Kudak, on the hills overlooking the Valley of Flowers. He scattered his own men so as to cut off his retreat and then captured him. Kudak was a fluent Persian speaker, as ‘the ʿayyārs of kings used to study foreign languages because of their need for them’, and, on being confronted and threatened by Darab, he offered to change sides. When asked who would stand surety for him, he named Bihruz, who promptly vouched for his sincerity (3.85–87). In the battles that followed Bihzad was wounded and the Persian army remained inactive until he had recovered. The delay frustrated and agitated Firuz Shah, who was distressed by his inability to reach ʿAin al-Hayat. Bihruz volunteered to fetch her, although Firuz Shah warned him against Hilal, who, he said, would recognise him even if he adopted a thousand disguises. He asked to be given Shayaghus and Tariq, and when they had joined him he set off on his quest (3.152–153). They entered Caesarea dressed as Yemenis, but after they had taken lodgings in an inn, Bihruz changed into Roman clothes and wandered through the markets. He met a half-drunk soldier who was sitting on his own, and in the course of conversation the man told him that ʿAin al-Hayat had been transferred to an island some days distant from the city and placed there in an inaccessible castle with iron gates. This, he said, was to keep her out of the reach of a Persian ʿayyār, a bastard named Bihruz who could steal kohl from the eyeballs (3.154). After taking leave of him Bihruz returned to tell his companions to dress as

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Romans with caps on their heads, and they left taking with them a letter forged by Bihruz, purporting to come from Shah Surur with orders for the commander of the castle garrison to hand ʿAin al-Hayat over to the messengers who had been sent to fetch her. The commander pointed out that he could not do this until he had been shown Caesar’s ring and, although Bihruz concealed his annoyance, the castle gate was shut in his face. He and his companions reckoned that they could neither break in nor take the ring from Caesar himself, surrounded as he was by a thousand chamberlains. They went back from the island to the mainland where in their disguise as Romans they raised no suspicions among the harbour guards. Then as they were making their way back along the coast they saw a light in the hills and on investigation they discovered ten tents, in the largest of which was ʿAin al-Hayat’s prospective bridegroom, Caesar’s son, Anbush, who was coming to fetch her (3.155–157). While Anbush lay asleep, guarded by three emirs, Bihruz removed a tent peg and filled the interior with drugged smoke. When this had cleared he went in and after he had used his dagger to kill the three emirs, he killed Anbush and cut off his head. To his delight he discovered that the prince had with him his father’s ring, which he instantly took back to the castle. ʿAin al-Hayat was handed over to him together with Saif al-Daula and Qahr, who were being held there as prisoners. When they reached the mainland Bihruz was afraid that they might be recognised and arrested. On Tariq’s advice ʿAin al-Hayat and Saif al-Daula’s wife were stained black to look like slave-girls. Saif al-Daula and Qahr were treated in the same way, while Bihruz and his companions dressed as Yemeni emirs (3.163–166). When the death of Anbush was discovered, numbers of Caesar’s troops were sent out in all directions to find the killers. One of these patrols intercepted Bihruz and his companions, who offered no resistance, claiming to be Yemeni merchants coming from Damascus who had lost their way, but the commander of the troop insisted that he was under orders to take everyone he met to Caesar. On their arrival at Caesarea they were recognised by Hilal, but as he wanted to claim the credit for their capture himself, he confirmed that they were in fact Yemenis and dismissed their escort. They were then locked in a room near the city gate, while Hilal himself went to Caesar confident of a huge reward, claiming to have drugged and captured them in a cave (3.167–171). During his absence, Shayaghus, who could bite through iron, volunteered to use his teeth to free them from their bonds. He first released Bihruz, who when his hands had been freed, untied the others. He then climbed the city wall and, using the ropes with which they had been tied up, he hauled them up and let them all down on the far side except for Shayaghus, who had been last in the line and who was recaptured by Hilal. He was taken to Caesar and, after having wasted

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as much time as he could in order to help the others escape, he was executed (3.171–176). Bihruz and his party were pursued by horsemen until, when he alone had any strength left, he tried to draw them off by running into the desert. He could not outpace them and so he turned off into hills where they could not follow him. The plight of the others appeared to be hopeless when an unknown rider on a horse as big as a camel suddenly appeared and drove off the Romans with a ponderous mace, before snatching up ʿAin al-Hayat. Bihruz shouted to him to stop, but he paid no attention and rode out of sight ‘like a flash of lightning’. All that Bihruz could do was to rejoin the Persian army and give them the news, causing Firuz Shah to fall down in a faint (3.177–181). Battle resumed between the Persians and Caesar, who had been reinforced by a Chinese army led by Mankukhan. An unknown rider dressed in black and mounted on a black horse killed Mankukhan’s son, but told the Persians that he had not come to help them and that for every one of their enemies he killed he would kill one of them. Bihruz, now described as Firuz Shah’s ‘special ʿayyār’, told him that the attacker reminded him of the abductor of ʿAin al-Hayat, but because he was not sure he had not followed him. He and Firuz Shah then agreed to track him down and the same task was entrusted by Caesar to Hilal. On the following day, when the unknown rider returned to challenge the armies, Bihruz led Firuz Shah to the wady from which he had appeared, and Hilal went there too, from a different direction (3.226–234). On his way back the rider was intercepted by Firuz Shah. Bihruz, dagger in hand and never still, circled round him like a jinni, until after a five-hour fight, the rider jumped to the ground to avoid a blow from Firuz Shah and then revealed herself as a girl, promising to tell him who she was when he came to her palace. She threw down her sword and Bihruz, who did not trust her, picked it up (3.237–238). When they reached the palace, followed noiselessly by Hilal, she told Firuz Shah that her name was al-Murhafa and that she was the sister of the jinn princess Jahan Afruz who was in love with him and whom she had promised to make him marry before he married ʿAin al-Hayat. In her palace Firuz Shah and ʿAin al-Hayat were reunited and al-Murhafa produced Hilal, whom she had found creeping around the palace ‘like a snake’. His ears and nose were cut off, but he used a candle to burn through the ropes with which he was tied and returned with his news to Caesar. Caesar gave him a force with which to intercept Firuz Shah but he was recaptured and handed over to Bihruz, who executed him with a version of the Death of a Thousand Cuts (3.240–260). ʿAin al-Hayat was unwilling to marry without the consent of her father Shah Surur, and both she and Darab wrote him letters, whose delivery was entrusted

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to Bihruz. Bihruz dressed all his ʿayyārs as Romans and first approached Farkhuzad, who was in Caesar’s camp after having left the Persian army because of a quarrel with his brother, Bihzad. Firuz persuaded him to rejoin his friends and, crawling on his back, he removed a peg from Caesar’s tent, entered and killed him with his dagger. He then went to the tent of Shah Surur, who was so nervous that the slightest thing would terrify him. Having been presented with the letters he was persuaded by Bihruz to go back with him to Darab’s camp, where he was welcomed. The episodes that follow include his return to his Yemeni kingdom and multiple marriages, including those of Firuz Shah first to Jahan Afruz and then to ʿAin al-Hayat (3.270–388). The final section of the narrative centres around Firuz Shah’s expedition to China, undertaken in order to free Persian prisoners. During the course of this a Chinese ʿayyār, Yawank, an expert in every branch of his profession, a master of disguise who knew ‘all the languages of the world’, was sent to kidnap Firuz Shah, but was warned against Bihruz, who never slept at night or left his master unguarded for a single hour (Bihruz is ‘the prince of the ʿayyārs of his age’) (3.404–4.28). In fact, Yawank kidnapped Musaffar Shah, having mistaken him for Firuz Shah. After this loss the Persians took extra precautions and Yawank was unable to find a way into their camp again. The military stalemate that followed irritated Firuz Shah, who called for Bihruz and told him that he had made up his mind to enter the city. Bihruz tried to dissuade him and offered to go himself, but when Firuz Shah insisted, he fetched Chinese peasant costumes and, dressed in these, the two passed through the city gates unsuspected (4.29). They were astonished by the size of the city but found their way to the huge royal palace, which they had no difficulty in entering. Firuz Shah almost choked with rage when he heard Yawank promising King Jahan that he would bring him before him hobbled like a camel, and Bihruz had to restrain him from attacking there and then. The two left and while they were wondering where to spend the night they were accosted by a stranger who invited them to his house. Bihruz asked why he should want to do this for peasants, to which the man replied that, if they were peasants they would not be speaking in Persian. He was a Persian named Akh Saʿdan, who had been unsuccessful as a trader and had eventually joined the service of the Chinese vizier as a clerk. His wife was dead and the only people in his house were his two sons and a maid-servant (4.35–36). Bihruz used the house as a base from which to reconnoitre roads leading to the prison where the Persian captives were being held. On one of his expeditions he came across Kirman Shah and the ʿayyār al-Ashwab coming in, disguised as Chinamen, to find news of Firuz Shah, whose disappearance had caused consternation in the Persian army. Bihruz took them to the safety of Akh Saʿdan’s house

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and the episode was then repeated, first with Farkhuzad and Badr Fatat and then with Qahir Shah and an unnamed ʿayyār (4.38–40). Firuz Shah became concerned about the effect that the loss of their leaders might have on his army, but he was determined not to leave until he had succeeded in rescuing the prisoners. Bihruz pointed out that, although he could kill the gaoler and free them, escape would be difficult as the alarm would immediately be raised, a problem that Firuz Shah dismissed on the grounds that they would be safe in the house of Akh Saʿdan. Bihruz then approached the gaoler and asked for alms, claiming to be a poor peasant who had lost his livelihood and was forced to beg. The gaoler tried to turn him away but was stabbed to death, and Bihruz was cutting through the prisoners’ fetters when he heard shouts from the street and had to make his escape before being cut off. He was concerned that, on hearing the news, the king would order a search to be made for the would-be rescuer. In fact, Yawank almost beat the prisoners to death in an attempt to find out who this was, and so many guards were posted around the gaol so that not even an ant could pass unnoticed. Bihruz pointed out that as the city gates were locked he and the others could do nothing but wait (4.40–47). The position of the Persian army worsened with the arrival of reinforcements for the Chinese, led by King Didar, and the capture of Bihzad. Meanwhile, the prisoners, who were suffering from the effects of their beating, were treated by Firmuz, a Persian doctor, whom Akh Saʿdan then introduced to Firuz Shah. After some months, when they had recovered, they were returned to prison and on Bihruz’s instructions Firmuz brought them a file, a sharp iron chisel and a note, placed in a small box concealed in a bowl of laban. The note instructed them to file through their fetters and then to bore through the prison wall, on the other side of which Bihruz would be waiting for them. The plan worked smoothly and Bihruz led the escaped prisoners to Firuz Shah (4.49–65). When King Jahan heard the news he ordered Yawank to lead the search and offered a reward for their recapture. As it happened, Akh Saʿdan had promised to marry his maid-servant when his sons had grown up. At first she thought that the presence of the Persians in his house was distracting him from marriage, but when she came to the conclusion that he had not been serious she went to the king in a fit of anger and told him that Akh Saʿdan had been sheltering Firuz Shah for more than four years. Yawank was sent to arrest him, but he had been alarmed by the discovery that the girl had removed all her possessions and on his advice the Persians had been taken in disguise to Firmuz (4.66–69). In the process of the search that followed Bihruz was given no opportunity to use his talents until he rejoined the Persian army after having been smuggled out together with his companions in the train of the virtuous Chinese vizier, Mihryar. His next task was to rescue yet another Persian prisoner who had been

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sent to Didar’s mother in the castle of Susan Shahr. When he got there he found the gates shut and he could discover no way in. He then caught sight of Jaldak, Didar’s ʿayyār, and approached him, dressed as an old man with a bushy white beard. Jaldak was surprised to see that, in spite of the fact that he was leaning on a stick, he walked as fast as a young man, but he was not sufficiently wary to prevent himself from being drugged with a date. Bihruz then threatened to cut his throat unless he both told him what he needed to know about the castle and handed over the letter he was carrying from Jahan. When he had done this, Bihruz disembowelled him, claiming that he was keeping his promise not to cut his throat (4.145–164). He took over Jaldak’s role as a messenger, entered the castle and presented Jahan’s letter to the queen. When she learnt from it of the death of her son Didar she had Bihzad brought before her and started to bite him in her rage, before ordering him to be hanged there and then. Bihruz intervened to tell her that, according to Yawank, he should not be killed before Didar’s body had been returned so that his blood could be spilt over it. She agreed to this and Bihzad was returned to his dungeon (4.164–165). That night Bihruz climbed into her room through a high window, killed her and cut off her head. On his way to look for Bihzad he overheard the vizier telling his wife how terrified he was of the Persians, and at that he tossed in the queen’s head, leading the vizier to imagine that this must be the work of an ʿifrīt. He was afraid of being suspected of murder and so he threw the head away, pretending ignorance next day when the headless body was discovered (4.165–167). The elder of her two surviving sons was installed in her place, but Bihruz followed him, climbed into his room after having removed the nails from its window, and cut off his head. This too was thrown into the vizier’s room and the same pattern was followed, with the disposal of the head, the discovery of the corpse and the installation of the younger son, Khurkan. Bihruz, in his pretended capacity as a Chinese ʿayyār, was assigned to guard him. He thought of killing him that night, but changed his mind and left him tied up on seeing that he was a handsome boy. He then jumped into the vizier’s room and took him by the throat, threatening to kill him unless he had Bihzad released. Bihzad was brought out of the dungeon and Bihruz filed through his fetters. In the meantime, Khurkan had been released by the vizier’s young wife, who was tired of her elderly husband. He brought up his men but Bihzad, with Bihruz guarding his back, routed them and killed him. The episode ended with the vizier being installed as king, while Bihzad set off back towards the Persian army (4.168–176). Shams, the beautiful niece of the dead sorcerer al-Muqantar, who shared his powers, arrived unexpectedly to help the Chinese. Her namesake, Shams, the daughter of King Jahan, disapproved of magic, but the newcomer, after pointing

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out that she herself could destroy her and her father in no more than a minute, agreed to wait until the end of what was a forty-day truce between Firuz Shah and Jahan before burning the Persian army. Meanwhile, she produced first a storm wind, which carried away their tents and terrified their horses, and then a dense black cloud which hung over their camp. They were convinced that only Bihruz could save them (4.178–184). Bihruz himself was on his way back with Bihzad when he saw the cloud and disguised himself as a Chinaman, with the intention of scouting for news. On his way to the city he was attracted by a scent, which led him to a cave where he discovered Shams sitting over a cauldron. She was preoccupied with her magic and did not notice him, and as a result he succeeded in knocking her down and overturning the cauldron. He then took the steel needle that he had used on alMuqantar and drove it through her nose, after which he tied her up and put out the fire under the cauldron. While he was doing all this, he became so infatuated by her beauty that when she recovered consciousness he asked her to marry him. She laughed at him, saying that she would prefer to die rather than to marry a servant. Bihruz told her of the respect in which he was held by Firuz Shah, but when she still refused he moved her to another cave, where he brought her food and water. He insisted that it would be no disgrace for her to marry him as the greatest kings humbled themselves before him and feared him, but when she still refused to listen he returned to Firuz Shah (4.185–196). Meanwhile, the Chinese, concerned by her absence, sent out Yawank to look for her. He found her still tied up where Bihruz had left her and, taking advantage of her condition and, in particular, the loss of her magical powers, he too asked her to marry him. She rejected him even more indignantly, telling him that he was neither as handsome nor as strong as Bihruz and that he was betraying his master Jahan. He then carried her off to another cave whose entrance he concealed (4.197–209). Bihruz was heartbroken by her disappearance and Firuz Shah, on being told of the affair, promised his help. This was followed by a fruitless search, but later an ʿayyār arrived from Pekin to say that he had seen Yawank carrying food and drink out of the city. Bihruz guessed what must have happened, and he and Firuz Shah left to track him down. When they saw him enter the cave, Bihruz fell on him ‘like a thunderbolt’ and knocked him unconscious before tying him up (4.210–218). On Firuz Shah’s instructions he released Shams and removed the needle from her nose, after which Firuz Shah pleaded his cause. Bihruz was, he told her, ‘in the first rank of the Persians and had he wanted he could have ruled over the greatest of lands . . . I shall not forget the services that he has done me, as he often saved my life.’ Shams allowed herself to be persuaded and agreed to marry

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Bihruz, after which they all set off for the Persian army. To Bihruz’s regret, on their way back Yawank managed to escape, but set against this was the fact that Shams later abjured sorcery on being converted to the worship of ‘Almighty God’, after which Firuz Shah arranged a regal wedding for them (4.219–226). In the subsequent battles between the Persians, the Chinese and their Indian reinforcements Jahan was driven from Pekin, but Bihruz has no major part to play. He did, however, kill Mankukhan after having stabbed his horse, and he cut through the enemy ranks to free another captured champion, Ardawan, whose guards fled when they heard that he was coming. In return for the services that he had rendered Firuz Shah, Akh Saʿdan was left in charge of Pekin for a day and, to the consternation of the Persians, he freed Yawank, whom they had recaptured, saying that it was unjust for an enemy to act as a judge. Bihruz released Yawank from his fetters, but foretold that his next attack on the Persians would lead to his death (4.256–262). Yawank’s chance came when Jahan’s daughter, the Princess Shams, who had been left behind in the city, fell in love with Bahram, the son of ʿAin al-Hayat and Firuz Shah. The two were married and on their wedding night Yawank, disguised as a woman, drugged them and came out from under their bed, with the intention of stabbing them with his dagger. He then thought, mistakenly, that he heard Bihruz coming and fled in terror from the palace (4.270–283). Bihruz has three further roles to play in the text, one passive and two active. In the first of these he was captured by another sorceress, Ruzza, who had decided to help the Indian king, Shankal, and who changed her own son into his shape. She introduced the changeling into the Persian camp, while warning him not to approach the pavilion of Shams the sorceress. The real Bihruz, on finding himself a prisoner, threatened Ruzza with his wife’s vengeance, but was kept under guard to await execution. Ruzza used the same tactics to remove more Persian leaders, including, eventually, Firuz Shah himself, but King Jahan did not approve of this or of the fact that the Indians wanted to marry his daughter to one of their leaders. He wrote to the Persian vizier, Titlus, warning him of what was happening and Titlus approached Bihruz’s wife, Shams, who had noticed nothing. She reminded him that she had abandoned the use of sorcery, but he pointed out that God would not wish the unbelievers to triumph. Bihruz was about to be executed when the earth shook and Ruzza found herself paralysed as Shams appeared. The Persian leaders, including Bihruz, were released; Jahan was welcomed by Firuz Shah and Ruzza, her son and Yawank were all put to death (4.308–327). After this success the Persian army marched homewards only to find that in their absence their capital had been seized by a Black king, who had kept ʿAin al-Hayat as a captive. She had made up her mind to kill herself, but in order

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to win time she had told the king that she would marry again only when her husband was dead. The arrival of Firuz Shah marked the start of prolonged fighting, during the course of which Bihruz asked permission to enter the city with Badr Fatat, Tariq and al-Ashwab in order to rescue her and her fellow captives. The rescuers dressed as Kashmiris and Bihruz went ahead with a basket of bread, while the others followed carrying loads of food on their heads. Bihruz had enclosed a note saying that there was banj among the loaves, which should be used to drug the guards. The ladies were then to dress in the guards’ clothes and leave the palace, when they would be met and escorted back to Firuz Shah. The note arrived just as the wife of the vizier Titlus was saying that Bihruz was bound to get in touch with them, and the scheme worked without difficulties (4.341–376). Bihruz’s final adventure involved him in the rescue of yet another prisoner. Firuz Shah’s son Bahram had been kidnapped and taken to the Abyssinian king al-Dari, whose daughter Hudub fell in love and secretly married him. Bihruz was sent to the city to find news of him, and he and Tariq entered disguised as Abyssinians. Hudub had found herself pregnant and was afraid of her father’s anger. Bihruz and Tariq drugged her guards and discovered Bahram being led to her room by her duenna. When they followed, they heard Bahram saying that Bihruz was bound to come to their rescue, at which he revealed himself. He then instructed both Hudub and Bahram to dress as soldiers, after which they left unnoticed by the city gate, reaching the Persian army on the third day and so ending Bihruz’s recorded career on a note of triumph (4.394–424). The story of Firuz Shah must be assumed to be a late and comparatively unimportant addition to the corpus of Arabic hero stories. It is introduced here to underline the continuing presence of the Man of Wiles, who in the person of Bihruz is reduced to a primus inter pares with almost equally formidable rivals, but praised by his master as a man ‘who could have ruled over the greatest of lands’. On his father’s side he is abnormal and he is untinged by saintliness. Like ʿUmar he has some claim to be ‘a sacker of cities’, while, unlike ʿUmar, his mastery of disguise is conventional and does not allow him to adopt another’s shape, as Odysseus was transformed by Athene. Rather than a fully developed character in his own right, his main function is to assist the narrative by allowing tension to be raised by the capture and release of heroes. Sorcery is important but is something which the worship of God causes the sorceress Shams to abjure.

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Section 3: Saif b. Dhi Yazan

Musabiq

With its emphasis on magic and mythical geography the Sirat Saif b. Dhi Yazan1 is infertile ground for a Man of Wiles. Its eponymous hero, Saif, develops from being a child hated by his mother and dismissed as a bastard into a universal king, whose goal is to spread Islam not only among mankind but among the jinn. For this mission he needs allies whose supernatural powers dwarf those of men, however talented. It is not surprising, then, that the Man of Wiles appears only in the last quarter of the text and may perhaps be thought of as an afterthought on the part of its compilers or narrators. He is introduced when Saif, who was by now well on his way to world domination, was opposed in upper Egypt by Hayyaj, a giant twelve cubits tall, whom he had summoned to embrace Islam. Hayyaj had with him a man ‘capable of undertaking great affairs’, ‘the ravening lion, the wily thief’, Musabiq the ʿayyār. Hayyaj wanted to fight but Musabiq promised him that there was no need for that as he would steal Saif away from his army that night, and were he to fail he would deserve to be burnt alive. In reply Hayyaj told him that, if he succeeded, he would be made ‘sultan of the ʿayyārs’, and the administrator of the kingdom. The two of them were speaking in ‘the language of the ʿayyārs’, which Saif’s messenger, who was listening, did not understand (4.16–36). Hayyaj sent a reply asking for a delay and that evening Musabiq, dressed in ‘royal robes’, approached Saif to tell him that Hayyaj was willing to accept conversion but that his troops would not obey him. The two of them discussed the problem until Saif’s men dispersed, and he invited Musabiq to spend the night in a tent next to his. At midnight Musabiq approached Saif’s bed, gagged and

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bound him and carried him off, but on his way back to Hayyaj both he and Saif were seized by a jinni in the service of the fire-worshipping King Ramsis (36–37). Ramsis proposed to have Saif killed and told Musabiq to fetch his master to watch the execution. Saif, however, was rescued by one of the most powerful of his servants, ʿUfasha, the son of his jinn ‘sister’, who had a third hand of steel, and who was immune to Ramsis’ sorcery. Ramsis himself was killed and Saif was taken back to his army, together with Musabiq. Saif was unsure what to do with Musabiq, as he felt a great fondness for him, while the mole on his right cheek was a distinguishing mark of the Tubbaʿ kings of Yemen. Musabiq himself knew nothing of his parentage; he had been brought up by Hayyaj, ‘and I started to play with the ʿayyārs and the thieves, learning from them until I surpassed them’. It was then confirmed by sand divination that he came, in fact, from the line of Yemeni kings. He accepted Islam, as did Hayyaj after a prolonged duel with Saif, and Hayyaj then explained that some twenty years earlier he had raided Yemen and that it was from there that he had brought back Musabiq as a child (38–49). Saif’s next opponent was King Arʿad of the city of Dur where Musabiq, now in Saif’s service, was sent, ostensibly as a messenger, to inspect the gates. In the fighting that followed there was a tacit agreement that neither side should use sorcery – ‘this gives no cause for boasting’ – and that Arʿad should not employ his 3,000 elephants. Two of Saif’s sorcerers were discussing what to do about this when Musabiq came in. He astonished them by telling them exactly who had said what, explaining that one of his skills was to read people’s eyes (52–61). After dressing as a black he mixed with the attendants in charge of the elephants, speaking in their language and helping them to clean out the water trough from which the elephants used to drink once every three days. He then poisoned the water and succeeded in killing not only all the elephants but their attendants as well. Saif, accused of treachery by Arʿad, threatened to kill whoever was responsible, but his son Damr said that the killing of the elephants was the action of a hero and Musabiq was pardoned (61–65). Arʿad was later killed and the city fell, but Saif’s long-standing enemies, Sqardis and Sqardiun, had vanished. One night as he lay asleep a hand ‘like the lever of a mangonel’ fell on his chest and he woke to find himself confronted by a black slave. This turned out to be Musabiq, and when Saif asked him why he had disguised himself he said that he had been looking for news of the fugitives. He had wandered through the city without attracting attention until he had caught sight of a black slave who was glancing around suspiciously. This turned out to be the ʿayyār Sisun, and Musabiq had followed him to a lane where he had suddenly disappeared. When Musabiq entered he could find no doors, but, after having prodded the ground with a bamboo, he discovered a secret entrance.

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Underground there was a complicated system of passages, which led him to a group of forty black slaves who were dancing, singing and drinking. Sisun drained water from one pool after another and the passage that led through them brought him to Sqardis and Sqardiun, who asked him to fetch them a fat pig on the following day. Musabiq had been following unnoticed and had heard this, after which he had killed Sisun when he had fallen asleep, and he had then gone on to kill the drunken slaves. He later guided Saif with a group of ʿayyārs and sorcerers to the lane, which he recognised by sniffing at the soil, and, after he had led them through the passages, Sqardis and Sqardiun were arrested (71–92). When they later escaped, they went for refuge to the fire-worshipping King Julnar, whose sorceress daughter, al-Afʿa, made his castle invisible. Musabiq disguised as the dead Sisun was sent ahead to reconnoitre, but al-Afʿa’s jinn told her who he was, describing him as a cunning Muslim thief, and were ordered to bring him to her. He threatened her with Saif, at which she told him that she would kill both of them together, and she disguised herself as him in order to lead Saif into danger. Musabiq had no part to play in the events that led to her death and to that of Julnar. He was eventually freed by ʿUfasha and he removed al-Afʿa’s spells, so allowing the city to be stormed by Saif’s troops, and in it he then proclaimed Islam (96–108). Sqardis and Sqardiun had taken refuge with another warrior king, Barhut, supported by the sorcerer Damsis, whose ‘actions were like those of Iblis’. Barhut sent out an ʿayyār named Tadrahut to spy on Saif’s army, and on his way he rested by a stream and fell asleep. Before doing so he had spilled gazelle’s blood around him, this being a thieves’ trick to get wild animals coming for water to stop and lick the blood, so giving a sleeper time to waken, while humans would think that here was a corpse. Musabiq, passing by, was deceived and thought of winning a heavenly reward by burying ‘the corpse’ before it could be eaten by beasts. First, however, he looked in Tadrahut’s bag and, as he was hungry, he ate the drugged food he found there, after which he collapsed on the ground. Tadrahut realised that he must be a scout sent out by Saif, but when he threatened to kill him Musabiq told him: ‘you and I are servants. What good will it do you to kill someone like me?’ Tadrahut was unimpressed and took him to a cave where he stripped and beat him before opening his bag, only to be drugged by what he found in it. Musabiq, who was tied up, used his teeth to pull out a knife with which he cut himself free (109–112). He then disguised himself as Tadrahut, whom he had killed, and went to Barhut with an alarming report of the size of Saif’s army, for which Barhut’s own force was no more than a single mouthful. Barhut was dismayed as ‘it was not Tadrahut’s habit to be afraid of war’, but Damsis laughed and told him that Tadrahut was dead and that this was Musabiq. Musabiq was imprisoned, only to

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be released by Barhut’s daughter, Jamila, who recited the Muslim confession of faith and said: ‘I know that you will be my husband.’ She had had a vision of the Last Judgment during which she had been rescued by the angels of mercy from condemnation to hell. When she had woken, al-Khidr had come to her and told her to rescue and to marry Musabiq. Damsis had seen by divination what was happening and the pair were seized and imprisoned, only to be released later by ʿUfasha, who asked Musabiq: ‘Did Saif send you to spy out the land for him or to get married?’ (112–117). The next adventure centres round the dwarf King Yaqut, whose beard was longer than his body. Musabiq was sent to reconnoitre his city and found a black slave coming out of it, who told him that he had been sent by Yaqut to fetch wine. Musabiq asked to be taken with him ‘as I am a poor stranger’, but on discovering that the slave worshipped Yaqut as a god, he knocked him down and demanded his conversion. When the man threatened him with Yaqut’s vengeance he said: ‘I don’t want all this time-wasting,’ and killed him. He then took the wine to Yaqut, who told him: ‘you killed the slave and put on his clothes’, and when he tried to leave, he found himself rooted to the ground. Yaqut said that he would take him as a servant ‘on condition that you abandon treachery’, but Musabiq added banj to the wine and, when this had taken effect, he cut off Yaqut’s head. He wanted to get clear of the palace, but found the door locked and no other visible way out. The severed head then started to move and to mutter spells, with so much blood pouring from the body that Musabiq found himself swimming in it and being carried up to the ceiling. The blood then drained away and Musabiq fell down fainting, to find himself, on recovering consciousness, standing where he had been before, with Yaqut’s head restored to his body. He excused himself by saying that he had wanted to test his master’s powers, at which Yaqut laughed and forgave him (119–123). Later he drugged Yaqut a second time, but was afraid to do more until the sorcerer Damriyat, one of Saif’s supporters, arrived and told him to cut his throat and then to cut off his beard. This succeeded in killing him, and Damriyat proceeded to assume his shape, while sending Musabiq back to fetch Saif. Musabiq told Saif what had happened, and added that he wanted to marry Yaqut’s daughter, who had not been mentioned earlier. The substitute Yaqut told his men that he had accepted Islam, at which they all followed his example and he then organised a seven-day marriage feast for Musabiq. When Musabiq went to bed with what he thought was his bride, ‘she’ almost broke his back and taunted him with weakness, before revealing ‘herself’ as ʿUfasha and bringing back the real bride whom he had left on a mountain top (124–129). Musabiq’s next marriage was the result of another extended adventure, which started when he was sent with a letter from Saif to the idolatrous king Muradif,

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the lord of a thousand cities. Muradif tore up the letter in anger and ordered Musabiq to be killed. Musabiq, however, had vanished, and when Muradif asked whether he had flown up into the air or run off, his attendants said that did not know what had happened. In fact, on seeing how furious the king was, Musabiq had edged away before making off to a hill, on whose summit he found an idol. Its guards told him to bow down to it and he was afraid that, were he to refuse, he would be taken back to the king and killed. Because of this he bowed to the ground, excusing himself by claiming that it was to God and not the idol that he was prostrating himself (161–162). At this point he was confronted by a sorcerer with a large body and a face the size of a bowl. This man, who turned out to be Raibut, addressed him by name but was convinced by a simple denial that he was not Musabiq and took him into his service. Musabiq drugged his food, killed him and, on finding among his effects ‘the shape-changing mirror’, assumed his identity. Raibut and his brother Raibus had seen through sand divination that they would be killed by Musabiq and Raibut had gone out to forestall him (162–163). Musabiq now let the dead man’s mule take him where it wanted to go, which turned out to be a palace built on four pillars. He discovered an underground passage and as he went slowly through this, testing the ground for pitfalls, he heard a voice calling: ‘Lord of Musabiq, send Musabiq.’ He went on and discovered a beautiful girl in chains who, from his appearance, took him for Raibut. When he explained who he was, she told him that she was Princess Ghazal, the daughter of al-ʿAs, who had been kidnapped by a jinni sent by Raibut and then imprisoned and beaten when she refused to submit to him. In a dream she had seen a figure walking on the water without wetting his feet who had converted her and promised that she would be rescued by Musabiq and then married to him. The mirror had been made for her father by a Greek sage and it had then been stolen by Raibut (163–164). She told Musabiq where to find Raibus and when he did Raibus said: ‘damn you, Musabiq, you have killed my brother and have come to kill me’. ‘You have forgotten me’, Musabiq replied; ‘I am your brother Raibut, and it was I who killed Musabiq.’ Raibus asked to see the shape-changing mirror, but thanks to the power of God, what he saw in it confirmed that this was in fact Raibut. When later he said: ‘I don’t want food’, Musabiq realised that this must be an example of ‘inverted speech’, used by the brothers and brought one of the three dishes that he found there, which Raibus accepted. Musabiq later killed him after having drugged his wine, and he followed this by killing the seventy-two sorcerers in his service. Ghazal pointed out that although he had destroyed the snake he had left its head, a reference to the mother of Raibut and Raibus, whom he then killed by biting her throat with the wolf-like fangs that he had in his shape of Raibut. He

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returned with Ghazal to Saif, having assumed the role of a messenger from King Muradif (164–168). Later he was sent to demand the conversion of King al-ʿAs, who turned out already to have accepted Islam, and then to King Farqad, who pretended to have done so but who struck at Saif and wounded him on the head. Saif’s son, Damr, told Musabiq to look after him and he took him to a mountain cave. After three days of fighting Farqad’s men retired and Musabiq guided Damr to the cave, but this was found to be empty and Damr drew his sword and rushed at Musabiq, who ran off in tears. That night he went to another cave from which he heard sounds of music and there he discovered Saif drinking with beautiful girls. It turned out that the mountain was the home of a jinn queen whose mother had given birth to her at the time when Musabiq was born, and she was his foster cousin. She had tended Saif’s wound and given him a ring with magical powers, and when Musabiq asked whether there was no treasure for him – ‘and I have a better right to treasures than others’ – she gave him an amulet that conferred invisibility. Its wearer could re-appear by covering it with wax (183–191). Musabiq was sent with a letter for Farqad’s vizier, al-Taud, but was not allowed into the city and had to tie it to a rope. Al-Taud sent back a message of defiance and the ʿayyārs whom Saif sent to reconnoitre the city returned to say that it was too strong to be attacked and that Musabiq had vanished. In fact, he had made himself invisible and had swum into the city along its river. He entered the court as the vizier was talking of a scheme to kill Saif and, still invisible, he struck off the man’s head, after which he delivered threatening letters to all the officers of state. One of them said that whoever had done that must be an unimportant horse-thief, and at that Musabiq cut him down. The rest accepted Islam and the city surrendered (192–194). Saif and Musabiq returned to King al-ʿAs, who had entered Saif’s service. Musabiq asked him for the hand of his daughter, saying that, although he was a poor ʿayyār and not a king, he was not a man to be despised. Al-ʿAs told him tearfully that he had no daughter, at which point Musabiq disclosed the fact that he had rescued Ghazal and had left her with one of Saif’s wives. Al-ʿAs paid him 10,000 dinars for the good news and another 10,000 for the rescue, telling him: ‘you will be my associate in my kingdom’. When he was reunited with his daughter, she told him that Musabiq was not like other men, but one who faced terrors with fortitude (196–197). Not long after his marriage to Ghazal, Musabiq’s late entrance into this text is matched by a comparatively early exit. He is shown as one of those, including Saif himself, who experimented with a chest in which time moved at a different pace. On entering it he found himself in a strange land through which he travelled for four months before being taken to a king who greeted him by name,

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made him sultan of the ʿayyārs and gave him a beautiful wife. This process was repeated until he had served a total of seven kings and married seven wives, but when he came out of the chest it turned out that he had been away for no more than half an hour (238–242). His final appearance was when he was sent to another sorcerer king, Ruman. Ruman recited the contents of the letter that he had brought from Saif without having read it, and then pointed his finger at him, after which he found himself back with Saif (249). This low-key dismissal of Musabiq underlines the fact that in this field of popular literature the more that the narrative interest is centred on magic and the supernatural, the less scope there is for human cunning. The seven summits of Mt. Qaf at the world’s end are beyond the reach of a Man of Wiles and, specifically in the case of Musabiq, he was not a lifelong servant and friend of Saif, but an appendage whose career the audience apparently did not require to have traced to its end. Like ʿAli al-Zaibaq, however, he was acknowledged as a relative by the jinn; he claimed to have a better right to treasures, as did ʿUmar in the Sirat Hamza; like ʿUmar he could make himself invisible and his shape-changing mirror allowed him to take whatever form he wanted. 1. All page references in this section are to vol. 4 of the text.

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4 Chapter 4: Dhat al-Himma

Dhat al-Himma

Al-Battal

With the enormously extended Sirat Dhat al-Himma we return to what was originally tribal history, dealing with the rivalry between the Banu Kilab and the Banu Sulaim. The fictional career of its eponymous heroine, Fatima Dhat al-Himma, is made to extend from the caliphate of the Umaiyad ʿAbd al-Malik to that of the ʿAbbasid al-Wathiq, a period of almost 160 years, covering seventy sections in seven volumes of printed text. The Man of Wiles is not introduced until the characters of Fatima and her formidable son, ʿAbd al-Wahhab, have been established. Then, reflecting his importance, he is given a longer and more elaborate introduction than his confrères in the other cycles.1 His full name was ʿUbaid Allah b. Husain b. Thaʿlab and, in spite of the fact that he was a coward who rushed for safety to his mother every time a mouse squeaked, his name was entered by his father on the army register, which brought him an annual payment of 500 dinars. As a boy he had been clumsy, dirty and so idle that he would slobber when he talked and scarcely move his jaws when eating. He was reluctant to get to his feet and if he found himself resting in full sunlight, he would be too lazy to move into the shade (section 7.71). His father realised that he would never make a fighter and so sent him to be taught by ʿUqba, the major villain of the cycle, who later became his principal opponent. It was then that he got his nickname, ‘al-Battal’, ‘the very idle’, but in spite of that he mastered in a day what other children would learn in a month. Among ʿUqba’s students was a Yemeni, Qulaih, who had a rare book, the Yanbuʿ al-Hikma, which covered every branch of learning, including foreign

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languages. One day al-Battal heard ʿUqba telling his sister that he would like to get hold of the book, and he took the opportunity to disguise himself as a woman and present himself at Qulaih’s door. Claiming to be ʿUqba’s sister he said that ʿUqba was suffering from a colic and asked for medicine to treat it. While Qulaih was preparing this, he substituted sheets of paper that he had brought with him for the contents of the Yanbuʿ al-Hikma and left, imitating the walk of a woman. As it happened, Qulaih’s attention was distracted and he put the book away without noticing the substitution. This led to a quarrel between him and ʿUqba, as a result of which ʿUqba was beaten and Qulaih’s property confiscated, while al-Battal mastered the contents of the book (7.72–74). Later the Byzantine emperor, Leon, led out a force which confronted the Muslims at Marj ʿUyun. Husain, al-Battal’s father, told him that, as he had already drawn four years’ pay, he would have to join the army. Al-Battal burst into tears and asked: ‘Who told you to enter my name on the list?’, adding that he had thrice been thrown off a donkey and that since a force of Blacks had moved to his home town, Malatya, he had not dared to go outside his own front door. ʿUqba told him that, were people to hear this, they would laugh at his father, adding that he would be stationed with the faqihs and the Quran reciters so that, if the Byzantines were defeated, he could boast of having been present at the battle, while if they won he would be among the first to flee. To this he objected that the Byzantines might lay an ambush to intercept routed Muslims and in that case he would be trapped. This made ʿUqba laugh, but when he suggested that the army pay that al-Battal had already received should be repaid, his father pointed out that this would ruin him. Instead, he mounted his son on his own horse, promising that he would not have to fight and that in case of danger he would be taken to safety (7.77). His father then prayed to God to change his son’s nature and ‘it is said that the doors of heaven happened to be open, and God answered his prayer’. To start with, at his first sight of the Byzantines al-Battal ran off to hide in the cook’s tent, trembling ‘like a palm leaf on a stormy day’ and sheltering in a vat of curdled milk. When he sneezed, the cook, who had fallen asleep, thinking that this was a cat, put his hand into the vat and fainted on seeing eyes staring at him through a crack, thinking that this must be a jinni. He had to be conciliated by al-Battal’s father, who told ʿUqba that it was his fault that the boy had come: ‘I said he would be of no use, but you thought that he might be’ (7.77–80). Next morning the sound of the trumpets reduced al-Battal to tears and his father took him to a hill far away from the battle lines. There he was joined by another coward, ‘afraid of death and afraid of flight’, who recognised a kindred spirit. Al-Battal kept on ‘looking at himself, shaking himself and asking: “am I all right or not?” ’ An arrow then embedded itself in the ground between the two

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men and was found to have killed a large snake in an underground hole. At that point al-Battal’s fear left him as he realised that ‘there is no escape from death’, and he charged into battle, astonishing his father and winning the congratulations of his comrades (8.2–4). His first act as a Man of Wiles was to enter the enemy camp, where he learnt of a Byzantine plan to send over to the Muslims 1,000 of their Arab auxiliaries, who were to pretend to have changed sides. These were then to launch a sudden attack at dawn, but on al-Battal’s advice they were first welcomed and then poisoned. ʿAbd al-Wahhab told the Arabs that he had now taken al-Battal as a brother, and later a disturbance was noted in the enemy camp. Al-Battal had gone there disguised as a Christian Arab with a forged letter apparently sent to Fatima by the Arab auxiliaries, saying that they intended to attack the Byzantines. This had led to fighting within the camp and, although the battle continued for another three days, the Byzantines were defeated. In the division of spoils that followed al-Battal was given ten shares, with which he bought a house in Malatya and took ten young Armenians as his servants, while the caliph sent him a robe of honour. It was after this, when things were going well in Malatya, that ʿUqba became jealous and was converted to Christianity together with six of his seven sons (8.4–25). News came to ʿAbd al-Wahhab of an elaborate lamp that had been made for the Byzantine emperor to hang in ‘the church’, and al-Battal told himself that, if he could steal it, he would win a great reputation. He checked in the Yanbuʿ alHikma and, with a black staff and a silver crucifix, he wandered from monastery to monastery until he reached Constantinople. There he was invited home by one of the emperor’s chamberlains, Maris, whom he told that he was a monk from Najran. Maris, however, addressed him by name and said that he himself had been converted through a dream in which Jesus had instructed him to embrace Islam and had told him of al-Battal’s arrival. Both Maris and his brother Daris, who had seen the same dream, had gone off to look for ‘the bedouin’ (8.26–29). Al-Battal was taken by them to Santa Sophia where he recited from the Gospel in a voice ‘that could halt the birds in their flight’. The Emperor Manuel invited him to stay and he accepted on condition that he could lodge with his old acquaintance, Maris. Having impressed everyone with his saintliness he asked his host to tell Manuel that he had died after exclaiming in apparent delight at a view of heaven, and asking to be buried in the church beside the tomb of a saint. In Maris’ opinion this was a scheme that no one could have thought of except Iblis (8.30–32). The plan was carried out after al-Battal had smeared his face with an unguent that made it glisten like a sword blade. Trade came to a standstill in Constantinople on the day of the funeral and because of the crowds the doors of

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the church had to be locked. Later, when al-Battal emerged from his coffin and climbed up to a beam ‘like a rat’, ʿUqba entered in a procession with torches so bright that ‘if a man had dropped a needle, he could have seen it’. ʿUqba was overheard saying that he wanted to kill Fatima, ʿAbd al-Wahhab and al-Battal; he ate pork, drank wine and burnt his clothes ‘because I used to wear them while giving judgements to the monotheists’. He was baptised in a font by the altar, and, while the attention of the congregation was distracted, al-Battal made off with the lamp (8.33–35). When its loss was discovered, ʿUqba was the immediate suspect. He had left Constantinople by ship on his way to the Hijaz and was pursued and brought back, but although he was threatened and beaten, when no trace of the lamp was found, it was agreed that he must be innocent. When he returned to Malatya, alBattal told him: ‘I went to the house where you were but I didn’t immerse myself as you did in the font of blessing.’ This led to disputes among the Kilabis and the Banu Sulaim, but the arrival of Harun al-Rashid, who had now succeeded to the caliphate and who had been instructed by his predecessor to respect ʿUqba, strengthened his position. Al-Rashid threatened that if al-Battal repeated his remarks about him ‘or said a single word’, his head would be cut off (8.37–43). Al-Battal told al-Rashid that he had taken the lamp, but, when he was ordered to fetch it, ʿUqba warned: ‘he will come back and say that it has been stolen’. Al-Rashid promised that, in that case, he would have him killed, and in fact the lamp had disappeared. Although ʿAbd al-Wahhab went out hand-in-hand with al-Battal to search, it could not be found, and al-Battal, who was now said to ‘know every land’, vanished (8.44–45). The lamp had been taken by a slave-girl whom ʿUqba had trained and who was in love with his son, Musʿab. He had sold her to ʿAbd al-Wahhab, who entrusted her with the keys to his treasury. After she had carried out ʿUqba’s orders, she had pretended to become mad and had been returned to him. Later, when al-Battal had tried unsuccessfully to enter ʿUqba’s house, she opened a window and said: ‘where have you come from at night, thief?’ He told her who he was and she said that she had been waiting for him, as ʿUqba had failed to keep his promise to marry her to his son. She then helped him to recover the lamp, which he took to Baghdad and there ʿUqba, while pretending to greet him, said: ‘you monkey, if you went through all the east and the west you would get no news of it’, to which al-Battal replied that it had already fallen into the hands of a better thief and a wilier man. Al-Rashid asked who had stolen it and al-Battal said: ‘a thief who works like me’. ʿUqba accused him of having taken it in order to break it up and sell it to jewellers, adding that had he himself not been in Iraq, al-Battal would have named him as the thief (8.46–50). Eventually, al-Rashid reconciled them, but ʿUqba was not content to let the

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matter rest, and a master thief, whom he had persuaded al-Rashid to release from prison, stole the lamp for him and was then poisoned. The lamp was returned to Constantinople and al-Battal was sent to recover it. Extra security measures had been taken in the city, but al-Battal managed to slip in with a group coming from the frontier, after which he went to stay with a monk described as an old friend of his. Maris’ sister, Armanusa, smuggled him into the palace dressed as a woman and there he changed into his thief’s clothes and took the lamp, the emperor’s crown and three hugely valuable necklaces. On his way out he killed a guard and he was about to kill Armanusa, whom he had not recognised, before he felt the softness of her hand. He was then smuggled out of the city dressed as a muleteer (8.50–57). He turned his attention to treasures in a castle held by the beautiful Maria. He was intercepted by a Byzantine shaikh, who fainted with terror on being told who he was and who later told him that all the Byzantines, Franks and Armenians feared him and that mothers used his name to quieten their children. Al-Battal changed clothes with the shaikh and entered the castle pretending to be the emperor’s messenger. He told Maria that seventy complaints had been laid against ‘al-Battal’ for killing, stealing, plundering churches and so on, and as a result the emperor had sent out orders for his arrest. Later he drugged both Maria and her girls, killed the gate guards, took the treasures and made off. After having been joined by Luʾluʾ, the cleverest of his ten servants, he returned to Malatya (8.58–63). In Malatya he climbed into ʿUqba’s house and at the foot of a stair he and his men came across a richly furnished Christian chapel. They touched nothing, saying that they could now denounce ʿUqba to al-Rashid. Al-Battal himself used post horses to take him to Baghdad, where he put al-Rashid in a good mood by telling him stories and anecdotes before going on to accuse ʿUqba. Al-Rashid promised to investigate, adding that, if the story were true, he would execute ʿUqba while, if it were false, he would do the same to al-Battal. Both were left under arrest, but when the caliph reached Malatya the chapel had been turned into a mosque, as ʿUqba had discovered wax from al-Battal’s candle on the matting of its floor. Word was sent back to Baghdad that al-Battal was to be imprisoned, and although ʿAbd al-Wahhab wanted to free him because of his affection for him, Fatima objected that this would destroy the respect in which the caliph should be held (8.65–68). After a Muslim victory over the Byzantines al-Battal was released and given a robe of honour. He received a message from one of his agents in Constantinople that the daughter of ‘the supreme patriarch’ was leaving the city to be married. The Muslims intercepted her and her escort, but thanks to her prowess as a fighter she defeated a number of champions and, when outmatched by ʿAbd

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al-Wahhab, she bared her breasts, causing him to draw back, saying: ‘I am afraid lest God see me fighting for the sake of worldly lust.’ The girl, Mairuna, was later captured by Fatima, but in a fight against Byzantine reinforcements ʿAbd al-Wahhab’s horse fell and he too was taken. He was about to be killed when a ‘patriarch’, who turned out to be al-Battal, gave the Byzantine commander the emperor’s ring, and was left in charge of the prisoner, whom he freed (8.75–9.5). When Mairuna was taken to Malatya, ʿUqba caused trouble by saying that she should be given to the caliph, while ʿAbd al-Wahhab wanted her for himself. Al-Battal advised him to sleep with her immediately so that he could say that she might be pregnant. This angered the caliph and al-Battal suggested that they go to Baghdad and kidnap him, a scheme of which ʿAbd al-Wahhab disapproved. On ʿUqba’s advice, they were both seized by a rival emir and sent off in chests to Constantinople, where they were taken through the Golden Gate mounted on camels and wearing fools’ caps. Al-Battal was laughing, to the annoyance of ʿAbd al-Wahhab, to whom he explained: ‘Fool, what better time is there for laughing than when we are mounted and the others are walking?’ The citizens spat at them and people from all over Christian territories were invited to watch their execution. ʿUqba, however, fell into the hands of Fatima and it was proposed that he should be released in an exchange of prisoners, although the Byzantines wanted to cut off al-Battal’s hand and ʿAbd al-Wahhab’s thumb. In fact, Mairuna, who had been returned to Constantinople, had told the ladies of the court about the Muslims, and when they went to look at them they were followed by Luʾluʾ, dressed as a woman, who hid away and then released them. They were taken to Maris’ house before being smuggled out of the harbour gate and put on a boat, only to be captured by pirates (9.7–24). On the island where they were taken al-Battal claimed to be a monk from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, to which he proposed to take offerings collected by the islanders. The local patriarch, Luke, a one-eyed old man looking like an ʿifrīt identified him and added: ‘this man never enters a city without stealing away its lord’. He proposed that al-Battal and ʿAbd al-Wahhab be asked to tear up a copy of the Quran. Al-Battal protested that it was the word of God in Christian eyes in the same way as was the Evangel, but the king dismissed this and had them both beaten. They were about to be burnt alive when a ship arrived from Constantinople with a message to say that as long as ʿUqba was in Muslim hands the prisoners should not be killed. The king told his son, Paulus, to guard them, warning him that the fair-haired, blue-eyed man was said to be able to move more stealthily than an ant on a sand hill. The king then set off with a fleet to reinforce the emperor (9.25–28). Al-Battal had been in the habit of reciting the Quran to ʿAbd al-Wahhab by night while his servant Safi took over by day. A Christian princess, Zananir, fell

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in love with Safi’s voice and he promised to marry her if she accepted conversion. She brought in a file and opened the harbour gate, after having provided the prisoners with arms and money. Al-Battal went back to kidnap Luke, and when Paulus overtook them Zananir armed herself and called out: ‘Christian dogs!’ Al-Battal was in difficulties, and ʿAbd al-Wahhab annoyed him by telling him that if he were as brave as he was talkative no one would be able to match him (9.30–34). Al-Battal sailed off in the ship’s boat, having disguised himself in Byzantine clothes with a beard that he had cut from a corpse, before rowing back to Paulus to tell him that Baghdad had fallen and that the emperor wanted to marry him to his daughter. He then drugged Paulus and his crew before taking him to ʿAbd al-Wahhab, where Zananir was complaining: ‘al-Battal has done with us what he should not have done’. When Paulus recovered his senses he was given the choice of being killed or calling off his men, and when he had agreed to call them off, ʿAbd al-Wahhab sailed to Suwaidiya and rejoined the Kilabis (9.34–35). Having left his prisoners, now including ʿUqba, al-Battal climbed a mountain where he found a Muslim disguised as a monk, who told him of another Muslim who had been tortured for years in a nearby village. The man was rescued by ʿAbd al-Wahhab and al-Battal, after which he died a saintly death. Al-Battal then turned his attention to a local monastery which, according to him, contained as much wealth as Constantinople but on whose stones even picks had no effect. He looked around for its water supply and discovered a stream, into which he went with his servants. It was barred with an iron grill and it was Safi who was chosen because of his slimness to go through it, his legs being pushed from behind by al-Battal. Safi successfully deceived and drugged the monks before opening the gates (9.38–44). The Byzantines, meanwhile, had captured Malatya and launched a successful invasion of Iraq. Al-Battal pointed out: ‘our position with the caliph is spoilt’, adding, ‘how can we reach Malatya with the Byzantine army in front of us?’ He suggested that they should attack Constantinople, and when ʿAbd al-Wahhab objected that it was too strong, he proposed that they should dress as Byzantines and drive in other Muslims as pretended prisoners. A procession came out to meet them, led by the Emperor Manuel’s deputy, and all of them were invited into a pavilion that al-Battal had had pitched. After they had then been killed most of the city fell, but Maris shot out a message from ‘the great church’, later called ‘the castle’, to say that the Muslims could not take the place in 100 years. The message also warned of the arrival of a fleet carrying reinforcements, and al-Battal set off by sea to intercept them with a number of his servants, together with two Muslim champions. They were all captured by the Christians, who sailed on to Constantinople, where ʿAbd al-Wahhab was lured on board and

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forced to surrender. ‘All this happened because of you’, he told al-Battal, and Maris regretted his advice as the Muslims ‘did not know how to fight at sea’. Eventually, al-Battal managed to drug his captors and the Muslims retreated with the spoils of Constantinople (9.48–10.6). Meanwhile, the Byzantines had suffered at the hands of Hayyaj al-Kurdi, who had been a friend of al-Battal in his early days. The two had quarrelled and al-Battal had captured and beaten Hayyaj, only to be captured himself ‘by an amazing trick’ and set to churn laban and grind barley for three months. Hayyaj had later collected a force of Kurds and acted as a highway robber. On hearing of the attack on Constantinople, the Emperor Manuel decided to return immediately, while al-Battal contributed to the confusion of his retreat by disguising himself as a black slave, killing guards and freeing Muslim prisoners in the Byzantine camp (10.8–48). It was al-Battal’s feud with ʿUqba that lay at the heart of an extended quarrel that had broken out between ʿAbd al-Wahhab, Fatima and the caliph. The caliph was warned that the Kilabis would not return to his service unless ʿUqba was executed, and ʿAbd al-Wahhab quarrelled with ʿAmr, the chief of the Banu Sulaim, taunting him with having been led ‘like a camel’ as a prisoner into Constantinople. All this, al-Rashid was told, was because al-Battal was jealous of ʿUqba (10.50–57). The position was complicated by the advance of a huge army from Khurasan led by Jurhum, the Magian. The vizier, Jaʿfar, suggested that al-Battal should be asked for advice, but in the event it was ʿAbd al-Wahhab who suggested that his men should be called in from Malatya. ʿUqba had vanished and when al-Battal promised to fetch him from wherever he was, the caliph told him to leave the matter for the moment: ‘I am tired of hearing about this all the time.’ Al-Battal was employed to write a threatening letter to Jurhum in the caliph’s name, and later he contributed to Jurhum’s defeat by both advising the use of naphtha and supervising its distribution (10.59–66). In company with al-Rashid, the Kilabi leaders had visited Mecca where they met a pallid ascetic whom they recognised as ʿUqba. He had established an alibi, with witnesses to testify that he had been there for four years, distributing alms and expounding the Quran. Al-Rashid ordered a reconciliation between him and the Kilabis; ʿUqba embraced al-Battal, but whispered in his ear: ‘you ill-omened monkey, I’ll show you plenty of my wiles’ (11.8–11). During al-Rashid’s stay in the Hijaz the emir of Mecca forwarded a complaint about the lawless behaviour of the formidable al-Qannasa, who had once held him prisoner for a year, forcing him to grind corn for her. ʿAbd al-Wahhab went out to confront her and was facing her when he was diverted by a cry from al-Battal, whose horse had been hurt. She wounded and then captured him, after

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which she struck al-Battal on the head with the flat of her sword before carrying him off. He treated ʿAbd al-Wahhab’s wound, closing it up with curative herbs, after which he flattered al-Qannasa and promised to pay 5,000 dinars if she defeated ʿAbd al-Wahhab in a duel and another 5,000 if she could defeat Fatima. Al-Battal was allowed to fetch Fatima, and when al-Qannasa found herself outmatched she realised that this had been a trick on the part of ‘the blue-eyed poet’, and promised to crucify him. In fact, he succeeded in having the castle gates opened, and after its fall ʿAbd al-Wahhab married al-Qannasa, who would afterwards refer to al-Battal as ‘the devil who took my castle’ (11.12–26). ʿUqba sent a letter to the caliph purporting to have come from al-Battal and asking for help to be sent from Malatya as ʿAbd al-Wahhab and Fatima had been captured by al-Qannasa, who was laying siege to Mecca. After the withdrawal of the Malatya troops, the Byzantines took the city with comparative ease, and when al-Battal told ʿAmr, the chief of the Banu Sulaim, that the letter had been a forgery sent by ʿUqba, ʿAmr told him to be silent (11.30–34). Hayyaj the Kurd was now at the centre of yet another rift between the caliph and the Kilabis. He had struck at ʿUqba in the presence of the caliph and had himself been attacked and left for dead. ʿAbd al-Wahhab had later guaranteed him protection, and Zubaida, al-Rashid’s wife, advised her husband to write to ʿAbd al-Wahhab demanding Hayyaj’s arrest, as ‘the ignorant blue-eyed fool’ would otherwise encourage him to revolt. In fact, ʿAbd al-Wahhab was invited to Baghdad, but al-Battal said that he would not go since this was a trick. ʿAbd al-Wahhab was arrested and imprisoned, together with Hayyaj. Al-Battal was smuggled into the palace by his ally, the vizier Jaʿfar, and he and his servants seized the gaoler with the keys. After ʿAbd al-Wahhab had been freed, al-Battal rescued Hayyaj from a cell from which he had himself once dug his way out after having been imprisoned there by al-Mahdi. They then went to ʿUqba’s house and seized him (11.27–53). Manuel and al-Rashid now entered into an uneasy alliance against ʿAbd al-Wahhab, who had gone for refuge to the castle of Yanis, a Christian convert to Islam, taking ʿUqba with him. Al-Battal, who could speak seventy-one languages, entered al-Rashid’s camp disguised as a Turk and kidnapped one of his viziers, while the vizier Jaʿfar angered his master by saying that no man in his army was a match for ʿAbd al-Wahhab. Jaʿfar was promptly arrested, but later rescued by al-Battal (11.59–63). A new Christian champion, Saif al-Nasraniya, captured a number of ʿAbd al-Wahhab’s men, and al-Battal went to the Byzantine camp disguised as a lame, one-eyed old man. He told Saif that the black champion, Abuʾl-Hazahiz, had struck out his eye and he was later left to guard the prisoners. After he had released them he attempted to seize Saif, but fainted when Saif kicked him and

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then produced a scroll with pictures of seventy of his disguises, telling him that he had recognised him as soon as he came. Al-Rashid was relieved to hear of his capture, saying that he had not been able to sleep at night for fear of him (11.63–71). Saif later found that he was ʿAbd al-Wahhab’s son, his mother being Mairuna. He accepted conversion to Islam, but as a trick he pretended to want to kill one of his prisoners. Al-Battal suggested that they should draw lots and the loser, Abuʾl-Hazahiz, objected that this had not been a good idea. Saif later freed them all, explaining what had happened, and al-Battal suggested that they should capture both the Emperor Manuel and the caliph. He posted men around al-Rashid’s pavilion and kidnapped him as he went to the small tent where he slept, while Manuel was also seized. Manuel offered to ransom himself, but when al-Rashid made the same offer, ʿAbd al-Wahhab refused to take anything from him (11.75–12.17). Al-Battal had induced ʿUqba to reveal himself as a Christian in front of alRashid, but ʿUqba, claiming to have been tortured, quoted from the Quran and made a long and effective speech, telling al-Rashid to kill him with his own sword. Al-Rashid turned against al-Battal and regretted having been about to kill ‘this poor weak old man’. ʿUqba pretended to collapse and al-Battal said that he would leave him to God (12.16–21). ʿAbd al-Wahhab then set about tracking down his wife, ʿUlwa, and his son, Ibrahim, who had been captured at the fall of Malatya. He heard from Manuel that they had been taken to a country ‘at the end of the world’, apparently to the north of Greece, whose people did not obey him, as al-Battal confirmed. Al-Battal volunteered to act as guide, saying: ‘I have been in that country and I know Greece.’ In his absence ʿUqba used another forged letter to bring about the fall of the Barmecides, among whom the vizier Jaʿfar had been a constant supporter of ʿAbd al-Wahhab. Al-Battal had no difficulty in detecting the forgery, but by then it was too late (12.22–50). The first mountain pass that the Kilabis reached on their expedition was blocked by a fortress, and al-Battal went ahead disguised as a monk, reciting the Gospel and claiming to have passed unseen through the Muslim army. He lowered ropes for ʿAbd al-Wahhab, Fatima and nine other champions, after which the guards were killed. Later ʿAbd al-Wahhab was told by a monk that he had seen in a book that he was destined to take ‘all these fortresses’. The monk, Shumdaris, promised to guide him to a treasure, but the Muslims were then trapped underground by mechanical swordsmen. Fatima proposed a desperate sortie, but al-Battal suggested that the figures might be controlled by some mechanism hidden in the ground. On digging, the Muslims discovered pipes filled with quicksilver and the figures were disabled (12.54–63).

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Al-Battal arranged for the capture of another fortress by climbing through an underground passage and knocking lightly on its door, pretending to be Shumdaris. When the door was opened ʿAbd al-Wahhab and his men burst in and took the garrison as prisoners (12.68–69). Shumdaris suggested to a Christian king that he should offer a truce in the hope of luring al-Battal to come to negotiate, ‘for he is their adviser and director’, and were he to fall into Christian hands he could be exchanged for castles, wealth and prisoners. Al-Battal suspected that the offer was intended as a trick and he told ʿAbd al-Wahhab that, if he went, Shumdaris’ son, Dahr Shum, who had brought the message, should be held until he returned. Dahr Shum refused to agree and a battle followed. Later al-Battal with a number of others went round behind the Christian force and, on finding Muslim prisoners who were being taken to a castle, they went in with them pretending to be their escort. The castle then fell (12.70–75). ʿAbd al-Wahhab now quarrelled with his mother Fatima, telling her to sit and spin with the women and not to fight. Al-Battal was concerned to see that ʿAbd al-Wahhab was getting the worse of a duel with an unknown rider. He went to Fatima’s tent and was told that she was ill, at which he told himself that disobedience to parents led to disaster. The unknown rider, having defeated ʿAbd al-Wahhab, turned out to be Fatima herself (13.5–7). Shumdaris turned the tables on al-Battal by dyeing himself black and pretending to be a freed Muslim captive. He killed two of al-Battal’s servants and kidnapped al-Battal, before taking him to King Niqula and advising him to close the defile that led past his castle. Al-Battal used his teeth to remove a sword hanging on the wall of his cell and with it he cut his bonds. After he had killed ten drunken guards, he tied up Shumdaris and carried him off on his shoulders (13.10–20). Shumdaris was left in a cave and al-Battal met an old man who was lamenting the loss of his cloak. Al-Battal offered him his own on condition that he became a Muslim, which he promptly did, and he was then sent to warn ʿAbd al-Wahhab that an ambush had been laid for him in the pass. Al-Battal went back to Shumdaris’ cave, where he put on a black beard and used a stick of kohl to change the colour of his eyes from blue to black. He entered Niqula’s castle with Christian fugitives, but Shumdaris had led Abuʾl-Hazahiz and some of his men through an underground passage, promising that they would be able to take the castle. In fact, they were trapped by an artificial sand-storm which killed all of them except Abuʾl-Hazahiz, and Shumdaris went on to the castle, where he recognised and denounced al-Battal (13.21–22). Al-Battal and his servants were exposed, naked and smeared with pitch, on the castle wall. ʿAbd al-Wahhab negotiated with Niqula to have them freed

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in exchange for Christian captives, but it proved hard to reach an acceptable bargain. Al-Battal saw treachery in the face of Niqula’s son, Shammash, and told him that he wanted to abandon Islam in order to marry a beautiful Christian girl he had seen. Shammash, taken in by this, sent him to the castle wall to invite ʿAbd al-Wahhab and ten others to enter. They realised that this was a trick on his part, but Shammash had wrongly thought that he could capture so small a number. In fact, they took the castle and he was killed (13.33–41). The advance of the Muslims was halted by a large river whose bridge had been broken down by the one-eyed king, ʿAin al-Masih, but al-Battal arranged for them to cross in coracles made from lion skins. Al-Battal then went to a monastery where Queen Nura, ‘who loved women and hated men’, had been talking about the Arabs. She had just called: ‘come, al-Battal’, when he entered through a window. She challenged him to a wrestling match, wrapping her hair round her waist, and not only did she defeat him but she also captured a number of other Muslim leaders, including ʿAbd al-Wahhab. She told them that she would send them to Constantinople, but al-Battal, who had fallen in love with her, asked to be allowed to stay in her service (13.43–45). Shumdaris had told ʿAin al-Masih that, ‘for fear of his guile’, pictures of alBattal had been placed in Byzantine churches and in the courts of kings, but the king only laughed. Shumdaris then arrived to find Nura with her cheeks flushed and he embraced her to the annoyance of ʿAbd al-Wahhab, who told al-Battal that it was his fault for bringing them there. Nura allowed Shumdaris to beat al-Battal and al-Battal exclaimed: ‘I don’t think that we have ever had a longer day’ (13.45–54). Nura went out to fight and was captured by Fatima, but was later released to negotiate an exchange of prisoners. Eventually, only al-Battal, who had refused to go earlier, was left, and when he said that he wanted to stay with her, she had him expelled, laughing at him and spitting in his face. Fatima criticised him for the harm that he had done the Muslims and he explained: ‘I had not reckoned on what was going to happen.’ Fatima later told the emirs: ‘this girl has taken your hearts; stop talking about her’ (13.60–66). Nura launched a surprise attack from ʿAin al-Masih’s castle, using naphtha to set fire to the Muslim tents. Both ʿAbd al-Wahhab and Abuʾl-Hazahiz were wounded, ʿAbd al-Wahhab by Abu ʿUrqub, a black Muslim who was in love with Nura, while Fatima, who had been attacked with naphtha, was captured. Al-Battal made his way to her cell and then let in ʿAbd al-Wahhab and his men through an underground passage. The castle fell and Nura was recaptured (13.60–74). A letter arrived from ʿUlwa to say that she and her son were going to be executed and al-Battal and his servants promptly set off in disguise. He arrived

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in the nick of time to say that ʿAbd al-Quddus, the king of the sixth castle, had changed his mind about the execution and needed the prisoners to exchange for some 2,000 of his own men. Ashmitus, the king of the seventh castle, agreed to this and sent them off with an escort under the command of al-Battal. They were met by another Christian force and, although Ibrahim wanted to attack, al-Battal decided to try to trick them. He was talking to their leader when Shumdaris arrived, walking with an ebony staff. He recognised al-Battal and ordered him to be seized, but when al-Battal objected that it would not be chivalrous for them all to attack at once, they fought one by one. ʿUlwa and Ibrahim killed their opponents but al-Battal, whose ‘courage was not very great in battle’, only got the better of his by pretending to see someone else with him. More Christians then arrived and he suggested that he and his companions should surrender, telling ʿUlwa that he would be a guest of hers in the castle. She laughed but said that it was no time for jesting, to which he replied that as long as ʿUqba was alive they could not get back home, and that Shumdaris was many times worse than ʿUqba (14.5–34). The prisoners and their captors halted at some distance from the castle to which they were making, as its gates would not be opened until dawn, and alBattal had to quote from the Gospel before he, ʿUlwa and Ibrahim were fed. He managed to get free and made off up the mountain side, but he then fell into a deep well and told himself ‘this is your grave’. Later Shumdaris climbed down to fetch water and when neither were able to get out, Shumdaris offered al-Battal some food in return for being allowed to drink. Later they agreed that if they were rescued by either Muslims or Christians, neither of them should be harmed. In the event it was a Christian force who extracted them from the well, after which Shumdaris told them to seize al-Battal (14.34–43). That evening his guards poured wine over him, which slackened his bonds and, after freeing himself, he bound and gagged Shumdaris before removing him to the Muslim army. ʿAbd al-Wahhab had earlier been captured by ʿAbd al-Salib, and al-Battal set out to rescue him, dressing as a Christian and smearing his clothes with blood. He told ʿAbd al-Salib that he was one of an escort that had been sent to fetch Shumdaris, but had been intercepted by the Muslims. Meanwhile, Shumdaris had been freed by a Muslim turncoat, and al-Battal made his escape from the castle without having succeeded in rescuing the prisoners (14.45–50). ʿAbd al-Wahhab was later freed by his son Saif, who had brought up reinforcements. ʿAbd al-Salib was killed in battle and al-Battal shot out an arrow telling the Muslims to attack as he would open the castle gates. After its fall Shumdaris entered the Muslim camp and succeeded in kidnapping Saif, but on his way back he was met by al-Battal who had kidnapped a Christian king. Saif

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managed to free himself and Shumdaris surrendered, having, as al-Battal said, seven lives like a cat (14.57–62). Al-Battal then proposed to arrange for the capture of the castle of King Daqyusa, and ʿAbd al-Wahhab remarked that, had it not been for him, the Muslims would not have taken a single fortress. On this occasion, however, he was seized when he tried to enter with a group of Christians and it was ʿAbd al-Wahhab and Saif who came to his rescue, only to be trapped themselves. They used swords and daggers to bore through the wall of their prison; the castle gates were opened for the Muslims and the garrison fled. All the prisoners were rescued except for ʿUlwa and Ibrahim, who had been spirited away by Shumdaris (14.63–74). Al-Battal had been watching by the gate and had told an old woman not to be afraid, saying that there was no need for her to flee. He then saw ‘her’ straighten up and walk faster, at which he set off in pursuit, realising that this must be Shumdaris. Shumdaris led him to the Cave of the Jinn, where he had taken ʿUlwa and Ibrahim, and on being threatened by al-Battal he claimed to have been converted after having seen the Prophet in a dream. Al-Battal was caught off guard and wounded with a dagger, and, although the others were soon found, both he and Shumdaris had vanished into the Devils’ Well (14.75–15.4). From the well a passage led to a hill fort whose garrison had been alerted by Shumdaris, and al-Battal, being afraid to go on, turned back, but was captured together with Saif who had followed him. Saif managed to get free and, as ʿAbd al-Wahhab attacked, the fort was taken. Al-Battal again left in pursuit of Shumdaris and reached an island where the monks of a monastery were all converted to Islam and where he stayed for ten days to teach them about the Quran. They told him where Shumdaris was and Shumdaris again said that he ‘inclined to the religion of Islam’, a claim dismissed by al-Battal, who said that even if an angel told him that this was true, he would not believe it. On their way back they met a Christian force and al-Battal, having unsuccessfully tried to bluff his way past, was seized on the instructions of Shumdaris (15.6–15). For ten days he was tied up and beaten until he was like ‘a featherless fledgling’, but eventually he managed to drug his captors’ wine with banj that he kept behind his ear. Abuʾl-Hazahiz, Yanis and two of al-Battal’s servants arrived in disguise and Abuʾl-Hazahiz asked that Shumdaris, who had been tied up, be released as he had claimed to be a convert. Al-Battal retorted that he was ‘like a chameleon, changing colour seventy times a day’, and when Fatima said: ‘God may have guided him’, he told her that Shumdaris was ‘a box of tricks and there was nothing for it but to crucify him’ (15.16–22). In the meantime, ʿAbd al-Wahhab had been asking about al-Battal – ‘a small, fair-haired man’ – and had been trapped underground to be starved to death.

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Al-Battal came to the rescue and Shumdaris was about to be crucified when a Christian army was seen approaching, which Shumdaris’ wife Shuma had persuaded the Emperor Manuel to send out. According to al-Battal there were at least 800,000 of them, ‘and we cannot cope with that’, but ʿAbd al-Wahhab told him not to dishearten the Muslims (15.23–33). During the course of the fighting, in which a Frankish force came to Manuel’s help, Fatima was captured. Al-Battal went in disguise to Manuel’s tent, but he was recognised by Shuma and seized as he followed when Fatima was taken away. He was to be sent to the Black Castle, but was almost immediately rescued by a party of Kilabis (15.45–46). When a general truce had at last been arranged, Nura caused a serious rift among her captors. All those who had wrestled with her, including ʿAbd al-Wahhab, were anxious to have her for themselves. Al-Battal insisted that ‘whether she entered the earth or went up to the skies’, she must be his, regardless of what ʿAbd al-Wahhab might want. It had been agreed that she should be sold and during the bidding al-Battal jumped up to offer 300,000 dinars, at which ʿAbd al-Wahhab asked him how he could do that as he was the poorest of them all and threatened him when Nura smiled at him. ʿAmr, the chief of the Banu Sulaim, joined ʿUqba in suggesting that she should be sent to the caliph, but ʿAbd alWahhab objected that the caliph had had nothing to do with the expedition. He went on to tell al-Battal that he should look for ‘the daughter of a shepherd or a poor clerk like yourself’, and then struck him with a whip, leading ʿUqba to pour fuel on the flames by pointing out: ‘all his days he has risked his life for love of you’. Things went from bad to worse when ʿAbd al-Wahhab aimed a sword blow at al-Battal, and ʿUqba, ‘who had no friends’, encouraged the supporters of both men to fight (15.55–59). The situation was complicated by the arrival of 500 men sent by al-Rashid to fetch Nura. Their leader was killed by Saif, and Maimun, who had earlier been given to ʿAbd al-Wahhab as a black slave but who was now in command of a force of Blacks, made up his mind to support al-Battal. Al-Battal decided that they needed a secure base and, together with Maimun, he captured Amid by intercepting its emir, dressing in his clothes and having the city gates opened for him. He had given instructions that there was to be no bloodshed and the citizens were relieved that it was ‘the shield of the Prophet’s grave’ and not an enemy who had come (15.61–65). ʿAbd al-Wahhab denied that he had thrown off his allegiance to the caliph but refused to give up Nura, whom he had sent to stay with ʿUlwa. ʿUqba sent her a letter asking her to write to al-Battal telling him that Nura had escaped and would be waiting for him in the Fox’s cave. He then told Manuel to send men to capture him there, which they did by threatening to burn him and his companions

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unless they surrendered. Al-Battal, who had been suffering from the effects of love, was taken to Constantinople, but ʿUqba did not want him to be executed until he arrived himself (15.67–71). ʿAbd al-Wahhab was relieved to hear of his capture and Fatima was pleased, as ʿUqba had sent her an abusive letter purporting to come from him. ʿAbd al-Wahhab tried to reconcile Maimun – ‘al-Battal is not nearer to you than I am’ – but Maimun, who had heard of al-Battal’s capture, replied that, if he were alive he would rescue him and that, in any event, he would never re-enter ʿAbd al-Wahhab’s service but would keep Amid for himself (15.72–75). Maimun sent al-Battal’s servants to Constantinople, and an attempt was made to rescue Nura, who had told ʿAbd al-Wahhab that she would kill herself if he spent the night in the same house as her. On finding him asleep she tied him up and gagged him with his own turban, but although she briefly escaped and met ʿUqba, she was intercepted and captured by Fatima (16.3–8). In Constantinople, al-Battal’s servants were told by Maris that he was still alive but that ‘death would be a respite for him’ and that he was now as thin as a tooth-pick. Luʾluʾ, using a silk ladder and grappling hooks, climbed into Shumdaris’ house, where he captured both him and his wife, before freeing alBattal, who immediately asked after Nura. Maris managed to smuggle them out dressed as sailors and outside the city they fell in with and captured ʿUqba. When they were faced with a force of Christian Arabs, al-Battal’s servants offered him a choice of beards or of colours with which to disguise himself. He blackened his eyes with sulphur and took on the role of an eighty-year-old monk, leaving Harb, the leader of the Christians, to realise too late who he really was (16.10–15). The next danger he faced was the army of the caliph, which had been besieging Amid for twenty-five days without success. As a ruse a party of Arabs were sent to Maimun to tell him that al-Battal was dead and that his head had been sent to ʿAbd al-Wahhab. Al-Battal entered the city incognito and heard their leader claim to have known him from boyhood, ‘and I used to visit him in Malatya’. Al-Battal then revealed himself and Maimun and his men danced for joy (16.16–18). A message was passed to al-Fadl, the caliph’s vizier, to say that the garrison, having heard of al-Battal’s death, was prepared to surrender. Al-Fadl went to negotiate with Maimun and was shown ʿUqba, who told him that he had been in Jerusalem and had been seized on his way back by al-Battal. Al-Battal revealed himself and sent a threatening message to al-Rashid, warning him that he would be kidnapped unless he left. Al-Rashid replied by thanking God for his safety and saying that, were al-Fadl and ʿUqba released, he would grant him Amid and would move against ʿAbd al-Wahhab. Al-Battal insisted that he would execute ʿUqba but that he would allow al-Fadl to be ransomed, changing this later by

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agreeing to present al-Rashid with both Amid and al-Fadl on condition that he was helped to get Nura. Al-Rashid’s counsellors advised him to accept the offer, pointing out that they could never force their way into Amid, and he went himself to swear to the agreement. ʿUqba was kept in prison (16.20–24). ʿAbd al-Wahhab brought up reinforcements from the Hijaz and said that he wished that al-Battal had been killed by his captors. Fatima, who was still angry because of the forged letter, said that al-Battal depended on them rather than they on him, and she promised to drive off the caliph’s army. There was prolonged fighting between ʿAbd al-Wahhab’s men, the caliph and a newly arrived Byzantine army, in which al-Battal was not involved, although he was attacked by Kurds led by Karkar, the man from whom Amid had been taken. Karkar suggested that they should settle the matter by a duel and al-Battal, who had been forced to accept the challenge out of a sense of shame, managed to capture him by using a lasso. He then collected a force of 260,000 men, who said: ‘if you told us to fight against our own families and our relatives, we would do so’ (16.25–42). With this force he managed to capture al-Rashid’s treasure chests, and alRashid, who had come to an agreement with the Emperor Manuel, wrote to him to say that he could have 100,000 dinars as a gift and keep Amid, but that he should send him ʿUqba, Shumdaris and Shuma. Otherwise he would face a joint attack by Muslims and Byzantines, and mangonels would demolish Amid stone by stone (16.42–43). For the first time al-Rashid now met Nura, who talked to him of Aristotle, Galen and Hippocrates, ‘stealing away his wits’. He suggested that ʿAbd al -Wahhab should send his son Daigham to treat with al-Battal, ‘for he is not mad; he will not lay hands on Daigham or disobey me’. In fact, Daigham was seized and imprisoned with ʿUqba, Shumdaris, Shuma and Karkar, and al-Battal refused to hand over the city or the prisoners unless Nura was given to him. He proposed to kill Fatima ‘because she promised to help me get Nura’. On hearing this ʿAbd al-Wahhab told Fatima that he would kill al-Battal ‘as he is an enemy of mine’ (16.45–48). What followed was a joint expedition against al-Battal, who was now acting more as a war lord than as a Man of Wiles. He told the Emperor Manuel: ‘I have no answer except the sword’, at which Manuel exclaimed: ‘I don’t think that this devil is sane.’ Maimun was captured and blamed ʿAbd al-Wahhab for the whole affair, telling him: ‘had it not been for the Blacks, dogs would have eaten your flesh’. Al-Battal planned to kidnap Manuel, ʿAbd al-Wahhab or the caliph, and he also suggested going to Malatya to ‘rescue’ Nura. First, he disguised himself and tried to free Maimun, but when this proved impossible he cut hairs from the beards of his guards and left (16.48–57). Al-Rashid, who could not sleep because of his love for Nura, asked ʿAbd

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al-Wahhab to protect him from al-Battal, and then saw ‘a pillar of light’ and a man praying on a hill top. This supposed ascetic managed to lure him together with ʿAbd al-Wahhab, Fatima and other leaders to what he said was the burial of his brother. On looking at the corpse ʿAbd al-Wahhab remarked: ‘if al-Battal had a brother, this would be he’, and green-clad angels, ten cubits tall, moved towards the grave. Three hundred riders then arrived and the ‘corpse’ rose to its feet, turning out to be al-Battal himself, who had lured his opponents into a trap, while the ‘angels’ were tall Kurds mounted on stilts. Fatima reproached him: ‘damn you, you monkey, do you dare attack the emirs who fight in the holy war?’ to which he replied: ‘you evil old woman, are you talking to me like this?’ (16.58–67). Later al-Battal promised to free ʿAbd al-Wahhab, Saif and Fatima if they agreed to hand over Nura and he demanded that al-Rashid take the same oath. ʿAbd al-Wahhab refused and al-Battal left with his servants to fetch Nura from Malatya, after which both al-Rashid and ʿAbd al-Wahhab swore to kill him. Al-Battal, however, did not want to weaken the Muslims by the loss of their leaders and so, in disguise, he went to their army and passed word about where they were, but thanks to ʿUqba al-Rashid was captured by the Byzantines. Then, instead of going to Malatya, al-Battal rescued Maimun from the Kilabi camp and returned to Amid (16.69–17.9). Al-Rashid was still being held prisoner by the Byzantines when al-Battal ambushed them and freed him. ʿUqba, who had pretended to have been captured by them, was too cautious to give himself away before al-Rashid and made a loyal speech. Al-Rashid told al-Battal to forgive him, in return for which he would give him Nura, and he also wanted to see a reconciliation between him and ʿAbd al-Wahhab. Discussions followed about an exchange of prisoners, during which al-Battal complained that ʿAbd al-Wahhab had killed him ‘without a sword or a knife’, and he and Shumdaris each killed ten of their prisoners (17.12–17). Al-Battal then went to the Christian army disguised as a Slav, and Luʾluʾ, disguised as a Frank and speaking ‘in Frankish’, staged a quarrel with him, Slavs and Franks being ancient enemies. This led to a general disturbance in the camp, in which al-Battal managed to kidnap Shuma, her son Dahr Shum and the Patriarch. When they were later freed Shuma described al-Battal as being like death: ‘when he comes to a house he does not leave until he has done what he wanted’. In fact, he quickly recaptured her and her son and released al-Rashid, who eventually gave him permission to kill ʿUqba. ʿUqba, however, had escaped (17.12–32). Thanks to ʿUqba, the Byzantines made another attack on Amid and although al-Battal led out his men they were driven back. A message came from Maris

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to warn of an impending attack on Malatya and to ask al-Battal not to forget his old friendship with ʿAbd al-Wahhab. Nisibin had fallen and al-Battal sent off al-Rashid with a force of Kurds and Blacks, while he made for Malatya, saying that he wanted to reach an agreement with ʿAbd al-Wahhab. When he arrived the Byzantines had been routed and ʿAbd al-Wahhab had gone (17.37–51). ʿUlwa came to say that ʿAbd al-Wahhab had sent Nura to Hisn Kaukab, where he intended to sleep with her whether or not she was willing. Al-Battal turned pale and wept, but this turned out to be a trick that she was playing on him. In fact, she had told Nura that ʿAbd al-Wahhab had vanished and that his son Daigham intended to give her to al-Battal. Nura laughed and said that she would kill anyone who approached her, adding that she had poison in her ring. ʿUlwa suggested that she should stay with her until she could be handed over to al-Rashid (17.55–56). Letters arrived in Malatya from al-Rashid asking for help against another Byzantine army. At first al-Battal said that he was too worried to leave, but eventually both he and Daigham set off and found that al-Rashid had been captured by Manuel’s brother, Andrias. Al-Battal went in disguise to Andrias’ camp, saying that he had been trying without success to kidnap Muslims. To establish his credentials he kicked al-Rashid, accusing him of having killed his brother, and then asked permission to challenge the Muslims. He rode out against Daigham, shouting to his horse ‘in Frankish’, and although he was outmatched he told Daigham who he was and was allowed to ‘capture’ him. He wanted to collect a number of champions, only one of whom, Simlaq, a black leader, refused to co-operate and had to be drugged. With the help of these he succeeded in taking both Andrias and the Patriarch, as well as in freeing al-Rashid and the other Muslim prisoners. In return for his services he repeated that all he wanted was Nura. He then returned to the Byzantines, still maintaining his disguise, and interfered successfully with their battle plans, disappearing when they had decided to arrest him, only to return to say that he had found out where Andrias was. A picked force, under his command, was sent out to rescue Andrias and was duly ambushed, while other Muslims attacked the Byzantine camp with naphtha (17.57–18.2). Shumdaris, Shuma and Dahr Shum had escaped from Amid. The captive Byzantines agreed to ransom themselves, but al-Battal was concerned that he could get no news of ʿAbd al-Wahhab and said that he would not enter Malatya again but would live with Nura in a corner of Amid. Al-Rashid laughed and said: ‘you are choosing asceticism, but what are you going to do with Nura, who has no wish for that?’ (18.3–6). Al-Battal then began on a long pursuit of ʿUqba, having been told by one of his spies that he was in Damascus. From Damascus, however, ʿUqba had left for Alexandria before sailing to ‘the farthest part of Frankish territory’, and al-Battal

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sailed after him with his servants, taking with them provisions for four months. ʿAbd al-Wahhab had been sent to the city of King Kundafrun, ‘half on land and half in the sea at the foot of a mountain on which no plant or tree can grow’. Al-Battal disguised himself with long whiskers, broad eyebrows and a squint, using a heated probe to produce imitation pock-marks on his face ‘as though he had had small-pox twenty years ago’. He went to see ʿUqba, who was installed in ‘an ivory dome’ in a church, and after listening to him preaching he told himself: ‘if forgiveness is in his hands, then may God not forgive me’. He had made up his mind to attack him were the order given to execute the Muslim prisoners, among whom were ʿAbd al-Wahhab, Fatima and Abuʾl-Hazahiz. In fact, he managed to have the execution postponed for a day, while in the meantime an enemy fleet arrived under the command of King Ptolemy (18. 8–19). ʿUqba, who had not recognised al-Battal, employed him to feed the prisoners, to whom ʿAbd al-Wahhab was saying that the only thing he regretted was his estrangement from al-Battal, who was ‘dearer than a brother’ to him. There was an emotional scene when al-Battal revealed himself and he then told Kundafrun that the prisoners would drive off the attackers in return for the promise of freedom. They singled out Ptolemy’s ship, having been told by al-Battal that ʿUqba was on board and that its capture would end the battle. After fighting their way onto its deck they seized Ptolemy and found ʿUqba hiding in a water-butt. In accordance with the terms of their agreement they surrendered both ʿUqba and the ship to Kundafrun, who had them returned to prison, but who then came to tell them that he had been converted to Islam by a dream (18.19–38). ʿAbd al-Wahhab told Kundafrun to kill ʿUqba, but neither he nor Ptolemy could be found and, again on ʿAbd al-Wahhab’s advice, Kundafrun and the Muslims decided to make their way by land to Muslim territory. On their way back al-Battal organised a successful night attack on a Christian army that had intercepted them, but said, on being congratulated; ‘praise and blame are not worth a single grain to me unless you give me Nura’. To the amazement of Kundafrun he changed his disguise in order to approach King Sextus, who had been urged by ʿUqba to oppose the Muslims. Sextus was 120 years old, but when al-Battal crept up to his bed, thinking him to be asleep, he seized him ‘like a sparrow in the talons of a hawk’. ʿUqba laughed at him but warned Sextus that he could climb like a spider and move like a gust of wind (18.42–50). The Muslims won the ensuing battle and Fatima, dressed as a Frank, set out to rescue al-Battal, of whom ʿUqba had said that without him ʿAbd al-Wahhab would have no success. Al-Battal. freed by Luʾluʾ, made his way back to ʿAbd al-Wahhab and in the series of encounters that followed he had no part to play until he disguised himself with a long beard, a huge paunch and large whiskers and joined a group escorting Muslim prisoners. Although he succeeded in

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freeing them, he was recaptured together with his servants while he was following Shumdaris. ʿUqba asked Manuel for permission to kill him and was about to do so when Fatima was seen approaching. She was captured and both she and al-Battal were sent to a seemingly impregnable castle that had been taken over by Manuel. Maris showed them an underground passage through which ʿAbd alWahhab brought in 2,000 men, freeing the captives and taking Manuel himself. The episode ended with an arrangement being made for Manuel’s ransom (18.59–19.24). When ʿAbd al-Wahhab returned to Malatya he recited a poem in which he talked of the length of his longing ‘for one who eclipses the full moon’. Al-Battal complained to Fatima: ‘don’t you see how your son mentions the one I love?’ When they met Nura she recited the confession of faith and ʿAbd al-Wahhab told al-Battal: ‘she has become a Muslim and I free her, so the choice is hers’. Al-Battal protested that she was lying, but ʿAbd al-Wahhab said that they had to judge by externals as only God knew what was hidden in the heart, and he added that if she chose al-Battal he would give her a dowry (19.25–27). This led to a renewed and more violent quarrel in which ʿAbd al-Wahhab wounded al-Battal on the head and was about to strike again when Fatima took away his sword. She told him that, even if he had freed Nura, he had the right to marry her to anyone he liked, with or without her consent, but he said that, although he might have done that before the quarrel, he would not do it now. Fatima became angry and said: ‘I am not al-Battal that you can brandish a sword in my face.’ They agreed to fight a duel, but when al-Battal told her to kill him she realised that he must be out of his mind to expect a mother to kill her son. In fact, each killed the other’s horse, but Fatima lifted ʿAbd al-Wahhab off the ground and was about to dash him to the ground when he told her not to yield to the devil’s prompting (19.27–34). At the end of this it was discovered that Nura had vanished, having taken a horse and a sword before riding away. Fatima set out with al-Battal to follow her, accompanied by his servants. He was wearing a black beard streaked with white hairs, while he provided her with a white one. After forty days they reached the city of King Faraqit, who had been in love with Nura for twenty years and whom she had now decided to marry. Faraqit confided in al-Battal because of his presumed sanctity, telling him: ‘if you knew what I have suffered because of this girl, you would weep’. Al-Battal, in tears, replied: ‘that is true’. Before the wedding al-Battal approached Nura’s bed, telling her that he was the Messiah’s messenger, at which she tied him up and threatened to kill him if the claim proved to be false. Fatima then arrived and the two of them carried her off (19.35–46). When they were overtaken by Faraqit’s men, it was Fatima and al-Battal’s

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servants who faced them, while al-Battal was left alone with Nura, who was still tied up. He boasted: ‘brainless girl, I am Abu Muhammad al-Battal and I must have you’, but when he was between her hips she kicked him five cubits backwards, broke her bonds, tied him up and spat in his face. While Fatima and Faraqit’s men were still fighting, a Byzantine force arrived and captured Fatima after hamstringing her horse. Nura beat al-Battal with her whip and he was made to walk, which he complained he was not accustomed to doing. He was dragged before Faraqit on his face and Shumdaris proposed to castrate him, while Nura said that he should be killed, but when he was about to be executed a Byzantine army arrived, led by Andrias (19.47–69). Some of al-Battal’s fellow prisoners had files and knives that they had not dared to use, but they released al-Battal, who sent them to join their compatriots in the Byzantine army. After his own escape he came across Nura carrying off ʿUqba, who had angered her by proposing to marry her to the white-bearded Emperor Manuel. On hearing of his loss Manuel had suspected that the kidnapper must have been al-Battal himself disguised as Nura, since ‘he could be a woman when he wanted or else a boy’ (19.69–20.4). Fatima was about to be executed when al-Battal suggested offering Nura and Shuma in exchange for her, and ʿAbd al-Wahhab ungratefully exclaimed that her plight was the result of his stupidity and folly as well as his ill-omened love. Later he disappeared. In fact, he had gone to threaten Nura with his dagger, but Shuma, whose teeth were like the fangs of a dog, had bitten through her bonds. She overpowered al-Battal’s servants, who had been left to guard her, and then captured him before rejoining Faraqit. Al-Battal was distressed to hear them kiss and exclaimed: ‘this is no time for kissing with a Muslim army at the gates’ (20.8–13). Nura was recaptured by Fatima, who had burst her bonds and escaped. Manuel agreed to the execution of al-Battal, who was dragged out on his face, but was then returned to his dungeon when he told Faraqit’s followers that Faraqit would be killed and his city handed over to Manuel. He called out to Fatima, asking her to release Nura if she was keeping her for him, and when later he was told, wrongly, that Fatima had been killed he would have committed suicide had he not been tied up. His servants, however, were said to have criticised his lack of concern for her, until they realised that, like the famous lovers among the early Arabs, he was not ‘in the real world’ (20.18–28). In fact, Fatima had captured Faraqit and she then exchanged him for alBattal, but told him not to approach Nura until they reached Malatya. He went on ahead with her, because he did not want anyone else to see her, but he was intercepted and wounded, while Nura was freed. Fatima was told that he was dead and criticised ʿAbd al-Wahhab, saying: ‘this was your plan . . . It was not right

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to send them on ahead as we are in enemy country.’ She met and killed Faraqit, capturing Nura for the last time. Al-Battal recovered on hearing the news and he was officially married to her. ʿUqba had given her poison to use on him, but Fatima not only detected this but spent half the night wrestling with her, before tying her up and leaving her defenceless for al-Battal to deflower. He then stayed with her and took no part in the series of events that immediately followed the attack by Zalim on Mecca (20.28–39). When Zalim had been recognised as ʿAbd al-Wahhab’s son by al-Qannasa, he, his father and al-Rashid moved against a seemingly impregnable castle where the girl whom Zalim loved was being held by her father. Meanwhile, Nura had been converted to Islam and al-Battal had taken her to Mecca to make the pilgrimage, leaving her there while he joined ʿAbd al-Wahhab. ʿAbd al-Wahhab introduced him to Zalim, saying ‘this is your uncle’, and he promised to hand over the castle that night. He took five camels laden with provisions and, accompanied by ʿAbd al-Wahhab, Abuʾl-Hazahiz and Daigham, dressed as servants, he approached the castle gate, pretending to be bringing up supplies. After a fight the garrison surrendered (21.4–8). On the way back al-Battal never left Nura’s howdah and made his excuses for not talking to al-Rashid. For his part al-Rashid, on his return to Baghdad, was encouraged to think of Zalim as an enemy and sent his pretorian guard, the ghilmān al-dār, to seize him. At first ʿAbd al-Wahhab was not prepared to fight and was reproached by al-Battal for holding back, although he was quoted as saying that had the Kilabis any sense they would not intervene. He then told ʿAbd al-Wahhab that there was bad news of Saif, who had been left in charge of ʿUqba but had been poisoned, although not fatally, and he advised a move to Malatya. Before that could be done the Kilabi leaders were invited to al-Rashid’s court where they were seized. Al-Battal had not gone with them and he left Baghdad to join the other Kilabis, who were like ‘sheep without a shepherd’. He advised against any attack on the city, explaining that ʿAbd al-Wahhab would be killed, and when al-Rashid threatened to do that, he exclaimed: ‘this is what I thought would happen’. He advised al-Qannasa to take her army to Basra and promised to go back himself to al-Rashid’s palace (21.9–25). He sent word that a spy of his in the palace had said that Zalim had been killed, but in fact Masrur, al-Rashid’s executioner, had not carried out his orders, although he had told al-Rashid that the prisoners were dead. Al-Battal went in disguised as a woman with a party of slave-girls from Homs, but although he managed to free Zalim, when he then tried to kidnap ʿUqba he fell into a deep pit that ʿUqba had dug around his room. The palace was searched and Zalim was recaptured. He and al-Battal were put into chests and sent off to Cairo and from there to Alexandria, where the chests were loaded on a ship that was later

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captured by a mixed crew of Berbers and Mulaththamin. When the news reached Baghdad al-Rashid’s wife, Zubaida, told him: ‘you are sad about al-Battal because he steals girls for you from Byzantium’ (21.31–51). After eleven months the ship carrying al-Battal and Zalim ended its cruise and al-Battal was taken by the Berbers while the Mulaththamin took Zalim, who soon became a trusted helper of their king, ʿAbd al-Waddad. Al-Battal had learnt the Berber language from a slave-girl who had once been to given him, and when he told his captors that he was a doctor, he was given a state welcome as the Berber king, Azwar, suffered from a monthly fit of madness. This king was attacked by ʿAbd al-Waddad, but when al-Battal promised to disperse the attackers for him, he brushed the offer aside, saying ‘we don’t need you’ (21.53–64). Zalim fought a prolonged duel with Azwar, during the course of which alBattal recognised him and told him to kill his opponent: ‘he is mad and I have been imprisoned ever since I got here’. In fact, Zalim captured both Azwar and his son before killing them, while his men retreated into their city, whose walls, as ʿAbd al-Waddad pointed out, were of rock. Al-Battal said: ‘you have done your duty and it is for me to do mine’. He told the Mulaththamin to feign a retreat and when the Berbers came out to look for their dead he, Zalim and fifty others were to go back with them and then, when ʿAbd al-Waddad attacked, they would open the gates. The city was captured and peace terms arranged (21.69–22.4). Al-Battal, remembering Nura, wanted to go home, adding: ‘ʿAbd al-Wahhab is dearer to me than anyone on the face of the earth’, at which Zalim said: ‘you have woken me from my sleep.’ As they were preparing to leave a Frankish fleet arrived together with a land force led by Abuʾl-Ashbal. Al-Battal kidnapped the Frankish king, having drugged him while acting as his cupbearer. The attackers were then routed, but Hisham, the Umaiyad caliph of Andalus, on hearing the news, sent out his admiral, Khashkhasha, who invited ʿAbd al-Waddad, Zalim and al-Battal to his ship and then arrested them and took them to his master. Al-Battal was impressed by the magnificence of his city and ingratiated himself with Hisham by telling him that he had been arrested by the ʿAbbasid, al-Rashid, and that Hisham, as an Umaiyad, had a better right to the caliphate. For his part, Hisham remembered that his own father had told him that al-Battal’s father, Husain, had been a master of wiles and he asked al-Battal to stay, ‘if only for a year’ (22.8–14). News came that a Frankish king was preparing to attack Hisham. Zalim drove back the Frankish army and when Hisham’s general told al-Battal ‘I have not seen any of your art’, al-Battal disguised himself as a monk and exposed the fraud of a statue that shed tears. He was responsible for the execution of one of ʿUqba’s sons, who had been taken prisoner and went back to the Muslim camp, treading ‘like a cat’, where he was almost killed by Zalim, who had never seen

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him in disguise. He told Zalim to dress 400 men as peasants carrying provisions, who were to make no resistance when ambushed by the Franks. They were taken into the city and al-Battal, having got the keys to the gate, shot out a message to Zalim, and the place fell. The Frankish king, who was outside with his men, offered money, which al-Battal accepted (22.14–25). Both al-Battal and Zalim asked for and received leave to go, and when they had reached Egypt, al-Battal was sent as a messenger to the ruler, having been told by Zalim: ‘uncle, I don’t need to tell you what to say’. In fact, he pointed out that Zalim’s force had no designs on Egypt and were on their way to Syria, but Abuʾl-Fawaris, the commander of the Egyptian troops that met them, said that the Berbers and the Mulaththamin must be sent back and that Zalim and al-Battal should stay with him until instructions came from al-Rashid. Zalim routed his men and Abuʾl-Fawaris had to make his excuses to al-Battal, who promised to help him against his brother, the lord of Ascalon. After having extracted money from both brothers, he and Zalim left for Damascus (22.25–30). ʿAbd al-Wahhab and Fatima found themselves facing attacks from both the caliph and the Byzantines, and when Fatima suggested that they might be able to kidnap the enemy kings, ʿAbd al-Wahhab said that this could not be done without al-Battal. Manuel wanted to allow the newcomers to take Iraq, but al-Battal told him that they had come to re-establish the Umaiyad caliphate and he demanded tribute from Byzantium. He was then joined by a number of ‘highwaymen, robbers and plunder seekers’ (22.31–54). Neither Zalim nor al-Battal wanted to reveal their identities, and when alQannasa, Zalim’s mother, went to his camp, al-Battal warned him not to tell her who he was as ʿAbd al-Wahhab must have spies among them, adding ‘you will spoil everything that we have done’. Zalim, however, did give himself away and al-Qannasa promised to stay with him and fight. Al-Battal asked about Nura, and was told that she had given birth to a son and had refused a number of suitors. Manuel had heard that al-Rashid had ‘killed’ al-Battal and had said: ‘were he here, I would not have a proper night’s sleep’ (22.58–60). Amid was captured by the Byzantines through a trick and ʿUqba spat at Nura and had her beaten, while the Christian Arab, Harb, killed her son. Saif temporarily rejoined the Christians because of his jealousy of Zalim, and when Zalim captured him, al-Battal, not knowing who he was, said: ‘make him fair promises so that perhaps he may embrace Islam’. Shumdaris had said: ‘now that al-Battal is dead, we are safe wherever we go’, while Harb gave his opinion that ʿAbd alWahhab’s power had depended on him. ʿUqba, who had gone in disguise to the Muslim camp with Shumdaris, was about to be given 100 dinars by Zalim, ‘for he is a poor man’, but was identified by al-Battal and seized, together with his companion (22.62–23.12).

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Zalim, still in disguise, faced ʿAbd al-Wahhab, while al-Battal was challenged by Fatima and realised that he would have to confront her. She promptly captured him and praised God for their reunion, while he exclaimed: ‘wherever you are, there is joy’. He promised to retake Amid, which was being held by Michael and his men, and he got ʿAbd al-Wahhab to withdraw his troops before entering himself with a number of Kilabi champions dressed as Byzantines. He succeeded in rescuing Nura, who had joined in the fighting, together with other Muslim prisoners, and the city was captured while Michael was fighting outside the walls. Al-Battal then announced that he was going to Constantinople to revenge himself on Harb. Before leaving he warned ʿAbd al-Wahhab that alRashid was very ill, and when he advised him to negotiate with Manuel, ʿAbd al-Wahhab agreed, admitting that ‘the people are tired of fighting’. He then left in disguise for a monastery that was a centre of pilgrimage for Christian girls (23.16–31). Abu Yakhlif, a comic figure who had come with al-Battal from the Maghrib, fell in love with the beautiful Shamsa and al-Battal killed her servant, cut off his beard and disguised himself as him. He used a drug that he always carried with him and which, if thrown into the Nahr ʿIsa, would have drugged all Baghdad, before taking both Abu Yukhlif and Shamsa to a deserted monastery, where he was met by his servants who had captured ʿUqba (23.32–36). He left the captives and entered Constantinople in disguise in order to track down Harb. He broke into Harb’s house, where he killed his mother and his four children, before stealing money and jewels, kidnapping Shuma and returning to Maris’ house. Meanwhile, ʿUqba had persuaded Abu Yukhlif to release him by getting Shamsa to take off her clothes, and on arriving at Constantinople he organised a search for al-Battal. Al-Battal had disguised himself and his men as servants of Maris, but when they were trying to leave by the Golden Gate ʿUqba had them arrested. During the course of his questioning al-Battal told Manuel that Islam did not approve of lying and that ‘this is the greatest crime that there is’ (23.37–42). Al-Battal was about to be executed when news came that a huge Muslim army had invaded the country. The execution was postponed and ʿUqba suggested that the prisoners should be transferred to Qalʿat Luʾluʾa. Three more of al-Battal’s servants who were in Constantinople disguised as muleteers passed word to Fatima, who laid an ambush and succeeded in capturing both ʿUqba and Andrias as well as in freeing al-Battal. She and al-Battal then proceeded to capture Qalʿat Luʾluʾa, but ʿUqba managed to escape when Andrias gnawed through his bonds. Al-Battal then lured the advancing Byzantine army to ground on which he had scattered naphtha and when this was lit, it led to the destruction of the army and the capture of Manuel. This was followed by the capture of

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another castle against which al-Battal used naphtha placed in hollow nuts which were shot over the walls, a device that he claimed to have taken from a history of Alexander the Great. The Byzantine prisoners were entrusted to the emir ʿAmr of the Banu Sulaim on the advice of ʿUqba and, although al-Battal knew what he was planning, he was ‘unable to say a single word’. Manuel was later freed, only to be recaptured and ransomed (23.44–24.8). The next series of episodes was prefaced by the appearance of Princess Zananir, the daughter of King Salbuta, who had visited a monastery that ʿAbd al-Wahhab had earlier found to be impregnable as it could be approached only in single file along a mountain track. Al-Battal arrived disguised as a monk with a black ebony staff, but he was recognised by Zananir who took him by surprise and seized him together with his servant Luʾluʾ. It turned out that she had seen pictures of him made by the philosopher Euclid, with whom he had once studied the arts of disguise and the use of drugs. After having captured him and Luʾluʾ she mounted them backwards on donkeys with egg shells and sea shells strung round their necks and clowns’ caps on their heads. Al-Battal laughed at the thought that they were ‘fatted calves being driven to slaughter’, at which Luʾluʾ asked whether he wanted a robe of honour for that piece of good news. Al-Battal said that he was more worried about the Muslim army than about their own predicament (24.21–28). ʿAbd al-Wahhab was distressed by the loss of al-Battal, while Fatima wept night and day and was more concerned for him than she had been for ʿAbd alWahhab himself. Manuel eventually heard from the monastery of his capture and was angry that the news had not been passed to him earlier, but the Patriarch told him that he would have done that had not Zananir removed al-Battal. Meanwhile, Zananir, having returned to her own land, made al-Battal wear a woman’s red dress with a small veil, and he was followed by a crowd of children and struck by the bystanders. Euclid threatened to crucify him and to throw his body to the dogs and, in an attempt to make him abjure Islam, he was fed only once every three days while being regularly tortured (24.46–56). He and Luʾluʾ were later taken to watch Zananir fight a series of duels against her suitors. Al-Battal exclaimed that only Fatima could display such prowess, while Luʾluʾ complained that his love for Zananir was twice as great as that of alBattal for Nura. Al-Battal was afraid that he might be prompted to abandon Islam and suggested that he should pretend to do this in order to ingratiate himself, something that Luʾluʾ indignantly rejected. The two of them were then exposed on a windmill tied with silk cords rather than being fixed with nails. When they were brought down, it took three days to revive them, but al-Battal then produced a file and cut through his fetters, after which he took refuge with King Shaʿashʿuna, one of Zananir’s disappointed suitors. A version of the episode

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was then repeated as, having been sent off by sea, he was recaptured, only to free himself again with his file (24.58–72). This time he and his servants made for Zananir’s palace, disguised as Byzantine minstrels. He danced for her courtiers while his servants played on drums, and he then drugged them all, apart from Nahar, the queen’s attendant. She had fallen in love with Luʾluʾ and showed them the way to a cave, where they sheltered. ʿUqba insisted that they should be pursued ‘while their footsteps are fresh before the wind blows and hides them’, and yet again they were captured, only to be freed by Shaʿashʿuna. Al-Battal told Luʾluʾ that, if he managed to kidnap Zananir, he could keep her, while if he himself took her, he would give her to Shaʿashʿuna. For his part, Luʾluʾ looked for help from ʿUqba, who told Zananir that he was more cunning than al-Battal, while she repeated that she had pictures of all his disguises. He warned her that she had captured him only when he was off guard, adding: ‘if he wanted to make himself a bird to snatch you from the air and take you to the desert, he could do it’, but ‘as long as Luʾluʾ is with you, he has no power over you’. Luʾluʾ then alarmed him by telling him that alBattal had prepared fifteen new disguises, but promised to capture him, saying: ‘if he doesn’t come, I’ll go to him’ (25.2–17). He did, in fact, come, disguised as an elderly monk, whom he had killed, and when Zananir and Luʾluʾ had fallen into a drunken sleep they woke up to find themselves in chains. Al-Battal had brought with him 100 of Shaʿashʿuna’s men, who were encouraged by Luʾluʾ to free Zananir and she, in turn, freed Luʾluʾ. The two of them went off in a boat manned by four men, while al-Battal sailed with Shaʿashʿuna, whom he converted and to whom he promised Zananir. He expressed concern about ʿAbd al-Wahhab and the Muslims, and sent his servant Sabk, disguised as a prince, with a message telling him to come back with Saif, Zalim and Maimun. A splendid mosque with a minaret was built by Shaʿashʿuna overlooking the sea and al-Battal prayed for the victory of Islam (25.19–46). At his instigation, Shaʿashʿuna sent a fleet against Zananir and Zananir, who had been holding Luʾluʾ in prison, released him so that he could trap his former master. Al-Battal for his part had disguised himself by letting down his hair and had made his way to Luʾluʾ, who he heard was acting as Zananir’s chamberlain. Al-Battal assured him that she would be kept for him, even if ʿAbd al-Wahhab wanted her, and later, when Shaʿashʿuna was being hard pressed and Zananir had sent for reinforcements, ʿAbd al-Wahhab arrived and joined forces with Shaʿashʿuna. Al-Battal opened the way into the harbour, after sitting with the guards and singing to them before drugging and killing them. Zananir thought that this must have been Luʾluʾ’s work and she ordered him to be drowned, an order which her men did not carry out. On learning of this she said that, for his sake, she would never drink wine again (25.56–26.25).

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In the fighting that followed Zananir captured ʿAbd al-Wahhab, but was herself taken by Fatima, only to be released that night by Luʾluʾ. Al-Battal, who realised that this must have been Luʾluʾ’s work, sent him a message to say that, as he had freed her, he should also release the Muslim prisoners whom she was holding, which he did. Al-Battal tried without success to get into her castle, before going back to rejoin ʿAbd al-Wahhab in Qalʿat al-Jauzaʾ, where the Muslims were confronted by a huge enemy force led by kings who had come to support Zananir. He went in disguise, with his fair hair looking as though it had been stained with henna and brushed so often that it seemed like carded cotton. He ‘encouraged the kings to their deaths’, by urging them out to fight, and he also managed to get the various contingents of the army to attack one another (26.32–50). He retired with one of the kings, Sabur, to his castle whose stone walls were so smooth that not even an ant could climb them, telling himself that, if this fell to the Muslims, they could capture all the other strong points in the region. He heard that there was an annual miracle when the Messiah visited it, although he had never actually been seen. He used his grappling hook to climb to the battlements, and then scaled a pillar and used his climbing equipment to reach the dome overlooking Sabur’s bed. He lit a rag smeared with balsam in order to give light and he preached to Sabur, pretending to be the Messiah. After he had done that for a second night, Sabur was converted to Islam and saw in a vision that he should join the Muslim army, where al-Battal told ʿAbd al-Wahhab to treat him with respect (26.55–61). After the arrival of another Christian force led by King Ghadab al-Masih, alBattal went out to investigate and saw a figure prowling around. This turned out to be Luʾluʾ, who told him that he had seen ʿUqba coming away from Ghadab and was sure that they intended to trap Zananir. Al-Battal changed his disguise, reddening his cheeks and giving himself a long fair beard, and he managed to drug ʿUqba with food that he said had been sent him by the king. While Luʾluʾ took ʿUqba to Zananir, al-Battal took refuge from Ghadab in a monastery filled with treasures. ʿUqba, however, had escaped from his dungeon by an unspecified ‘wonderful trick’, and arrived at the same monastery where he denounced al-Battal but was not believed (27.5–17). Al-Battal went out to re-apply the ointment that he had used in his disguise and, on seeing a light in a high window, he listened to the conversation of a pair of lovers who were in the room behind it. The man was warning the girl of the arrival of al-Battal ‘who would steal the daughters of kings and fly up into the air with them and who came whenever his name was mentioned’. The girl decided to put this to the test and called out: ‘I summon you by the truth of your religion to appear and talk to us if you are human.’ She was terrified to hear him answer

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‘here I am’, but the pair opened the window and let down a rope, later being converted to Islam. The Muslim army surrounded the monastery, and after a day’s fighting al-Battal got the girl to lower her jewels in a basket. Her duenna discovered what was happening and was about to give the alarm when al-Battal killed her, saying that there was no good purpose to be served by leaving her alive. All three then escaped to the Muslim camp (27.21–26). ʿUqba advised the castle garrison to mine the only way in which attackers could approach. They then feigned retreat, and, although al-Battal was suspicious, the Muslims pursued and fell into the trap. ʿAbd al-Wahhab was captured, together with 5,000 others, and al-Battal was left to exclaim: ‘this is what I thought’. The girl whom he had converted told him of an underground way to the inside of the perimeter, but the Muslims only succeeded when Fatima killed the king, after which his men fled, leaving al-Battal to collect the spoils (27.27–36). Sabur, who had earlier been converted to Islam, was captured while fighting against King Ghadab and was visited by al-Battal in disguise, who asked him questions to test the sincerity of his conversion before killing his guards and freeing him. For four days he mixed with Ghadab’s men, and Ghadab was warned by ʿUqba that he could appear to a man disguised as his own son, reminding him of how he had been seen by Sabur as the Messiah and repeating that he would come whenever his name was mentioned. In fact, finding it impossible to reach Ghadab, he kidnapped his favourite concubine, who had a voice like a blackbird and who had been housed in a tent of red satin (27.41–66). Zananir was captured when her horse slipped, and when al-Battal went to Ghadab’s camp he saw a figure being carried off. This turned out to be Zananir, who had been rescued by Luʾluʾ and when al-Battal insisted that she be given to him, Luʾluʾ drew his dagger, but al-Battal later changed his mind and said: ‘tonight I give her to you’. Ghadab succeeded in capturing a number of emirs, including ʿAbd al-Wahhab, and al-Battal could find no way to release them, telling Fatima that Ghadab was better guarded than anyone else whom he had ever met. Fatima then killed him and his men fled (27.71–28.17). Al-Battal heard that Zananir had summoned yet another king, Kujar, the language of whose people he was the only man in the army to understand. Kujar sent a messenger to ʿAbd al-Wahhab to say that he had seen the Prophet in a dream, telling him not to attack the Muslims but to worship God. Al-Battal frowned, thinking that this must be a trick, and he refused to go with ʿAbd alWahhab to Kujar’s camp. Those who did go were captured and it was reported that al-Battal had been killed, but, in fact, he had stayed watching and when the prisoners later escaped he had gone to bring up reinforcements. He was again reported to have been killed in the battle that followed, as he had arranged to be found on the battlefield apparently lifeless with his clothes stained with blood.

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Fatima exclaimed that this was not the first trick that he had played, but ʿAbd al-Wahhab was quoted as saying that he would never again ride a horse. The ‘dead man’ then sat up and told ʿAbd al-Wahhab to arrange for a mock funeral to deceive the spy who, he was sure, must be in the camp. ʿUqba, who had told Kujar that al-Battal could ‘climb up to the sky without a ladder and appear to a woman in the guise of her husband’, was delighted, saying that he had not slept for five years (28.21–37). ʿUqba then entertained an attractive youth, offering him wine and wanting to sleep with him, but the ‘youth’ turned out to be al-Battal, who drugged him, leaving ʿAbd al-Wahhab amazed by the ‘subtlety of his wiles’. In spite of this success, al-Battal advised ʿAbd al-Wahhab to withdraw as the Muslims were too heavily outnumbered, and he promised to guide them to Shaʿashʿuna’s castle through a pass whose head could be held by their rearguard (28.37–46). He had no further occasion to display his skills until he helped take the castle of the formidable Maria after intercepting some of her men, who showed him an underground passage. He later killed the guards and opened the gates. Maria was captured by Fatima, but said that the Muslim prisoners whom she had been holding had been sent to Constantinople. She was then converted to Islam (29.26–31). Al-Battal went to Constantinople, where Zananir had preceded him, and she told him that she had a scheme for releasing Luʾluʾ. She took him to the palace where she introduced him to the Emperor Manuel as ‘a poor monk’. He then pretended to leave, but used his knowledge of the palace to have Luʾluʾ freed, before going with him and Zananir to her castle. They later went on to Malatya where the pair were married (29.39–46). At this point Harun al-Rashid died and was succeeded by his son, al-Amin, who appointed al-Fadl as his vizier. Al-Battal was reluctant to go to Baghdad with ʿAbd al-Wahhab and Fatima in order to take the oath of allegiance. ʿUqba, having ingratiated himself with the new regime, warned Zubaida that ʿAbd alWahhab and al-Battal might have instigated Maʾmun, another of al-Rashid’s sons, to seek the caliphate and, on his suggestion, a number of Kilabi leaders were summoned to the palace and arrested. Al-Battal, who had not gone with them, now advised the Kilabis to return to Malatya, while he entered Baghdad with his servants (29.47–54). Al-Hasan b. Tahir had been al-Rashid’s governor of Iraq and was well disposed towards Maʾmun. In a private conversation he complained to al-Battal of al-Fadl and ʿUqba, and said that he proposed to escape with Maʾmun and make his way to Khurasan. He added that it would be premature to free ʿAbd al-Wahhab, but that when Maʾmun had left, al-Amin would not harm his prisoners. When that did happen, the palace was searched and al-Battal had to disguise

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himself in the winter clothes of a woman. In spite of that he was detected by ʿUqba, who said: ‘a woman starts to walk with her left foot before her right and this person walks right before left’. He was beaten and al-Amin, after saying: ‘you devil, you came to free ʿAbd al-Wahhab’, ordered him to be killed. Masrur, the executioner, interceded with Zubaida, who warned al-Amin that ‘haste comes from the devil’, and as a result al-Battal was imprisoned with ʿAbd al-Wahhab, who laughed to see him in the dungeon with a rope around his neck (29.54–30.3). ʿAbd al-Wahhab’s son, Zalim, led an army against al-Amin, and when he was kidnapped by an elderly ‘horse-thief and man-stealer’, he found that the Kilabi prisoners had been freed. Al-Battal had complained that this was the first time that he had ever been imprisoned without having ‘iron’ with him, but Luʾluʾ gnawed through his bonds. When Zalim was brought to the dungeon they broke out and seized al-Amin, whom al-Battal wanted to kill. On the intercession of Zubaida he was freed and acknowledged as ‘Commander of the Faithful’ by ʿAbd al-Wahhab. Al-Battal was sent to bring back Abuʾl-Hazahiz’s Blacks who had left Baghdad, and he told them sarcastically: ‘come back to us and don’t be angry with us, for what we have to offer you is imprisonment’ (30.16–20). Michael, the new Byzantine emperor, encouraged by ʿUqba, had moved against Malatya, and al-Battal had followed him, hoping to make contact with Maris and Daris. Shumdaris had joined ʿUqba, and when ʿUqba told him that he was nervous of al-Battal, Shumdaris had said: ‘if he were a fly on my cheek, I would not be afraid of him’. A supposedly surprise attack on the Muslim camp failed and, as Michael retreated, ʿAbd al-Wahhab pursued him, hoping to advance on Constantinople. The position was complicated by the fact that Zalim, with what amounted to half of his father’s army, was aiding al-Maʾmun, who demanded that al-Amin give him Khurasan (30.25–39). The situation led to another quarrel between ʿAbd al-Wahhab and al-Battal, who told him that, were he to join al-Amin, ‘this would be the end of my association with you’. ʿAbd al-Wahhab pointed out that ‘the best men are those who keep their word’, and he went on to say that al-Battal was afraid because of what had happened to him in prison. When al-Battal then advised him to return to Malatya and not to interfere, he dismissed him as contemptible. Al-Battal said that the caliphate had gone to ‘a woman, a boy and ʿUqba’, and that he would join Maʾmun. ʿAbd al-Wahhab kicked him, and although Fatima intervened, she pointed out that al-Battal was asking him to break his word (30.41–42). Maʾmun and Hasan were kidnapped by one of ʿUqba’s agents, but al-Battal and his servants arrived at the deserted shrine to which they had been taken. The prisoners were freed, but they and their rescuers were then trapped on the roof of the shrine by a force brought up by ʿUqba, who was delighted to see alBattal surrounded. First Zalim and then ʿAbd al-Wahhab arrived and, although

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al-Maʾmun was taken to safety, the feud between al-Battal and ʿAbd al-Wahhab deepened, as al-Battal threatened to ‘leave Fatima grinding corn and barley’. He rode out with Zalim to fight, but it was ʿAbd al-Wahhab’s men who got the better of the battle, prompting al-Battal to resort to kidnapping ʿAbd al-Wahhab from his tent. Zalim then struck at his father with a sword, but Maʾmun and al-Battal intervened and al-Battal pointed out that Zalim had not captured him in battle and that ‘what he did was because of his religion and loyalty’. Fatima led out her men, but al-Battal had chosen a defensive position for Maʾmun from which her attack was driven back (30.43–57). On his way to ʿAbd al-Wahhab’s camp, where he hoped to kidnap either Fatima or ʿUqba, al-Battal came across ʿUqba’s agent, Abuʾl-Zaibaq, and said that he would surrender as he was no match for him in a fight. Abuʾl-Zaibaq suspected that he wanted to trick him and then attack him with his dagger, ‘with which you have killed so many kings and leaders’, but al-Battal distracted his attention by calling to Luʾluʾ, before knocking him down (31.4–5). While the two sides were still facing each other, word came that al-Amin had been killed by his favourite slave. Maʾmun was installed as caliph and the Kilabi prisoners, including ʿAbd al-Wahhab, were freed and sent back to Malatya. Al-Fadl was confirmed as vizier, in spite of the fact that ‘he had a good opinion of everybody, especially of ʿUqba, whom he considered to be a miracle worker’. Al-Battal suggested that ʿUqba should be intercepted and killed, but ʿAbd alWahhab said that they must stay where they were, and ʿUqba was left to engineer a break between the Kilabis and Maʾmun (31.14–21). What ʿUqba proposed was that ʿAbd al-Wahhab, Fatima, Zalim and alBattal should be invited to hunt in Syria with Maʾmun and then arrested. Al-Battal pretended to be suffering from colic and so stayed behind while the others were seized. He was told by his servants that the rest of the Kilabis had left Malatiya for Amid and had then returned to find themselves shut out of their city. Maʾmun’s party, including their prisoners, fell into the hands of a Byzantine force, summoned by ʿUqba and led by Michael. ʿUqba acted the part of a captive, saying to himself: ‘I don’t think that I and those with me will get to Constantinople in safety as long as al-Battal is safe.’ In fact, it was al-Battal who brought up the Kilabis to attack Michael, but the king of the Slavs arrived and ‘the world was filled with enemies’. Al-Battal led a charge, but was then the first to flee, and when the prisoners were taken to Constantinople, the Banu Sulaim plundered the houses of the Kilabis in Malatya (31.24–37). Al-Battal with his servants entered Constantinople and managed to release Fatima by drugging the water of her guards. The other prisoners were to be sent to a country that al-Battal had never been able to enter as he did not know the language, but meanwhile ʿUqba sat by the Golden Gate, convinced that al-Battal

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must still be in the city and would leave to follow the prisoners. In fact, he succeeded in getting out together with Fatima, disguised as a Byzantine whom he had killed and whose horse and arms he had taken (31.39–43). It was Fatima who then collected a force to face not only Michael but the formidable king, Khushanush, who was equally hostile to both Michael and the Muslims. This king had mounted guard over his camp himself, but al-Battal waited until he had gone to sleep and tied him up with a silken cord. Khushanush burst this and seized al-Battal, as well as striking down Luʾluʾ and jumping ten cubits to capture Sabk, telling al-Battal: ‘I saw you watching me all night.’ He was about to execute his captives when he was told who al-Battal was and decided to imprison him with ʿAbd al-Wahhab, who had been sent to him by Michael. ʿAbd al-Wahhab was just saying that al-Battal was bound to come when he arrived, weighed down with fetters, to be joined in prison by ʿUqba and Shumdaris (31.47–51). Khushanush, whose ambition was to conquer the world in ten years, advanced against Baghdad, while in his absence Fatima led a force against Constantinople. Meanwhile, the wife of the commandant of the castle in which Khushanush’s prisoners, including Michael, were confined had fallen in love with him. Al-Battal helped her with advice and after she had given all the Muslims strengthening food they were freed and took over the castle. Khushanush marched back and al-Battal, who had gone in disguise with his servants to kidnap him, discovered that he was popular with ‘the rest of the races of the Rum’, to whom he had distributed all his spoils (32.7–17). In the battles that followed Khushanush killed ʿAbd al-Wahhab’s son Ibrahim and, when al-Battal was about to attack ʿUqba, who was urging on Khushanush’s army, he captured Fatima. Since he entrusted her to al-Battal, thinking him to be one of his own men, she was immediately freed, and al-Battal went out with ʿAbd al-Wahhab to find Ibrahim’s body. Al-Battal then entered Khushanush’s camp, only to find the guards too vigilant, but after more successes, which included the recapture of Fatima, Khushanush was eventually captured and executed (32.21–36). ʿUqba had encouraged five kings who had joined Khushanush to take over Constantinople and not to allow Michael to return. Michael, together with ʿAbd al-Wahhab, laid siege to the city for two months but were unable to force their way in. Al-Battal had vanished, and as he was in the habit of spending most of his time with the Blacks, ʿAbd al-Wahhab asked them where he was, only to be told that they did not know. In fact, he had gone to an island where he and his party had dressed in coarse wool and acted as fishermen. He told the islanders that they could get 100 per cent profit on their fish in Constantinople, and forty fishing boats set off. ʿUqba, who was watching the harbour, could see nothing

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suspicious, and, after landing, al-Battal made his way to the palace, where he freed Fatima and Zalim. They left by sea and fought off their pursuers (32.38–43). ʿUqba had been alarmed by the disturbance in the palace and had left to take refuge in an island of monks, poisoning the crew who had taken him there so that no one should know where he had gone. Michael arranged for a truce between al-Battal and Shumdaris together with his wife Shuma. At first al-Battal had been reluctant to accept this, but when he was offered 10,000 Byzantine dinars, his resolution weakened and he agreed (32.47–49). When the Arabs left to return with Ibrahim’s coffin to Malatya, al-Battal stayed behind to search for ʿUqba. He noticed the number of boats that made the crossing to the monks’ island, and when he went there himself he caught sight of ʿUqba. At first he could find no way into his cell, but while he was in his boat a monk came down and called out ‘al-Battal, come ashore’. He could not put to sea against the wind and he decided to bribe the monk, only to find that he had been converted to Islam in a dream and had been told about the evil of ʿUqba and the arrival of al-Battal (32.50–58). With the help of the monk al-Battal managed to seize ʿUqba and sail off with him, making for al-Suwaidiya. The ship was caught in a storm and al-Battal remarked that on the Day of Resurrection the sea would be made dry land, following this with an account of the miracles of Muhammad and adding that he would gladly be drowned a thousand times provided that ʿUqba died too. The ship was wrecked and, although al-Battal’s servants were saved, there was no trace either of him or of ʿUqba. Luʾluʾ was returned to Yanis’ castle, where there was a seven-day period of mourning for al-Battal, and when ʿAbd al-Wahhab heard the news, his grief was greater than it had been for his own son Ibrahim. By contrast, the Banu Sulaim were glad, as they were convinced that ʿAbd alWahhab’s good fortune had gone (33.4–10). In the adventures that follow al-Battal had no part to play until the Kilabis found themselves in conflict with the formidable Queen Karna, who could lift a camel. Her city was stronger than Amid, and ʿAbd al-Wahhab was left to remark: ‘if we had al-Battal with us, the matter could be settled’. It was during the course of this encounter that ʿUqba reappeared, and things were going badly for the Kilabis when Luʾluʾ, who had been captured, together with other Kilabis including Fatima, produced a file hidden in his hair that had belonged to alBattal, as a result of which they were freed (33.34–51). Al-Battal himself now arrived, acting as the religious adviser of Saturin, one of the two kings whom Karna had summoned to help her. ʿUqba, looking at him, said: ‘had I not seen that he had died, I would have said that this was al-Battal’, while ʿAbd al-Wahhab had been alerted to his arrival by a dream (33.54–34.4). Al-Battal, after thinking that he had ‘left this world for the next’, had been

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swept up on an island looking ‘like an egg’, and had then been taken on board a ship crewed by Jews, to whom he spoke in Hebrew. They told him that they were making for ‘the furthest lands of India’, but they too were shipwrecked, and it was then that al-Battal arrived at Saturin’s island, claiming to be a wandering monk. When he rejoined ʿAbd al-Wahhab, he found him inclined to believe ʿUqba’s claim to have repented, while Fatima and other Muslim leaders were being held prisoner by Karna. Fatima fainted for joy when al-Battal came to release her, and the other prisoners were freed, fed and armed. At first al-Battal failed to reach the city gate, but after a time the city fell when Fatima called to ʿAbd al-Wahhab to fight his way to the walls (34.5–21). ʿUqba had been captured and ʿAbd al-Wahhab told al-Battal: ‘listen to my story and to his’, at which al-Battal exclaimed: ‘as long as there is a story, he has fled’. When ʿAbd al-Wahhab explained that, as ʿUqba had been too weak to stand, he had released him from his fetters, al-Battal struck his hands together and exclaimed: ‘you are nothing but a donkey’, adding: ‘if I weren’t afraid that you would perish, I would have no more to do with you after this, as you don’t listen to what I say’. On ʿUqba’s advice Michael, who had been attacking Karna’s city, now held by the Muslims, withdrew and, although al-Battal suspected a trick and called on the Muslims to hold back, they advanced on what they thought was a deserted camp and were captured or killed after falling into a series of concealed traps. ʿAbd al-Wahhab and Fatima were among the prisoners (34.22–26). Shumdaris, who still believed that al-Battal was dead, tried to find a way into the city, but al-Battal, who had followed him ‘as a cat stalks a mouse’, captured him. He suggested to Zalim, who was now in command, that they should offer to exchange the city for the prisoners and said that the Byzantines should be asked whether al-Battal was dead or a prisoner, so that they might relax their guard. He later joined the prison guards watching ʿAbd al-Wahhab and Fatima, and looked at ʿAbd al-Wahhab ‘with eyes like arrows’, warning him to disregard him and not to speak to him in Arabic. When the attention of the guards was diverted by the arrival of Michael and ʿUqba, he managed to free the two of them and took them to Maʾmun, who had arrived with a large force (34.30–35). In order to convince Maʾmun of ʿUqba’s treachery al-Battal produced disguises for them both and went to the Byzantine camp. When ʿUqba had given himself away, Maʾmun promised al-Battal his weight in gold if he captured him. Al-Battal then organised a night attack on the Byzantines, who were routed, with Michael and Karna being captured. Maʾmun wanted to keep Karna for himself, to the disgust of Abuʾl-Hazahiz, who was in love with her. ʿAbd al-Wahhab thought of intervening, but al-Battal advised him not to waste words, although he was afraid of what Abuʾl-Hazahiz would do. In fact, Abuʾl-Hazahiz was

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induced by ʿUqba to change sides, and he kidnapped Karna and seized al-Battal and his servants, as ‘otherwise he would follow us and steal Karna’. He and all his Blacks abandoned Islam, and ‘no greater sorrow had ever reached ʿAbd alWahhab’s heart’. Al-Battal was taken to Constantinople, where ʿUqba beat him (34.36–35.13). When al-Battal had managed to escape from his dungeon, freeing both himself and his companions, he struck down ʿUqba and was given the keys to the harbour gate by Maris. ʿAbd al-Wahhab entered and Maʾmun sat briefly on the imperial throne. The Kilabis wanted to see ʿUqba crucified, but in spite of the evidence against him he managed to win over Maʾmun, who decided to break with the Kilabis and ‘that devil’, Abuʾl-Hazahiz. Abuʾl-Hazahiz was warned by al-Battal to be careful as Maʾmun might be treacherous, but when he killed Maʾmun’s messenger al-Battal criticised ‘the roughness of his nature’ (35.13–23). The situation developed into a contest between Maʾmun and the Kilabis, and when Maʾmun seemed on the point of victory, al-Battal appeared among the Kilabis panting and carrying the Emperor Michael, whom he had kidnapped, together with Shumdaris. He then went to Maʾmun’s camp disguising himself as one of his confidants who looked like him apart from having a scanty beard, which meant that al-Battal had to thin his own. He first kidnapped ʿUqba, who had failed to recognise him, and then told ʿAbd al-Wahhab that he would try to seize Maʾmun and attempt to convince him of ʿUqba’s hypocrisy. Maʾmun was guarded by 1,000 Dailamis and al-Battal disguised himself with black shoulderlength hair. One of Maʾmun’s advisers had warned him that he was bound to be attacked that night, as a result of which an emir slept in his bed, and when al-Battal approached, creeping on his stomach like a spotted snake or an ant on a sand hill, the trap was sprung and he was forced to surrender. Maʾmun addressed him as ‘dog of the Arabs’, at which he objected that a Muslim and a fighter in the holy war could not be called a dog, adding: ‘if this is because of my appearance, you dare not criticise my Creator, and as for miserliness, it is not in my nature’. Maʾmun intended to crucify both ʿUqba and al-Battal as well as ʿAmr of the Banu Sulaim, but the Blacks fought their way to al-Battal’s cross and rescued him, while the Byzantines not only freed Michael, ʿUqba and Shumdaris but plundered both Maʾmun’s baggage and that of ʿAbd al-Wahhab (35.31–43). After ʿUqba had been restored to Maʾmun’s good graces, he succeeded in recruiting the Black king, Hudlamus, among whose followers were the cannibal Banu ʿUqfur, who had teeth like a dog. Al-Battal told ʿAbd al-Wahhab that he wanted to go ahead with a small party of Blacks, including Abuʾl-Hazahiz, and when ʿAbd al-Wahhab warned him that ʿUqba would be expecting him, he said: ‘if you’re afraid for your men, I’ll go alone’. He disguised himself as a Basran and

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went to Nisibin, where he met the vizier Ahmad b. Dahl and said of Hudlamus’ Blacks: ‘a man can only fight against his enemy if he has intelligence, but these people are like donkeys, throwing themselves on death’ (35.44–55). Ahmad had an Armenian servant who told ʿUqba of the discussions that al-Battal had had with his master, as a result of which the latter was arrested by Maʾmun. Al-Battal, with long black hair and a combed beard, went to try to free him, was intercepted and escaped, but failed to enter Maʾmun’s camp because of the close watch that was being kept. Disguised as a Kurd he fell victim to greed when what turned out to be one of ʿUqba’s servants offered him 1,000 dinars, saying ‘the Kurds are all thieves’. He went at night to a suggested rendezvous and was seized, only to be freed later when Hudlamus was converted to Islam (35.57–36.12). Both Hudlamus and ʿAbd al-Wahhab were captured and the Kilabis took refuge in Amid. Al-Battal, again disguised as a Kurd, mingled with the Kurds guarding Hudlamus, yawning at them to make them feel sleepy. When Hudlamus had been freed, al-Battal discussed kidnapping Maʾmun, who, he said, was responsible for the troubles. He had already freed the converted Blacks whom Maʾmun had been holding, but when Maʾmun had been seized, his servant raised the alarm. The Kilabis came out of Amid to face his would-be rescuers, only to find when they returned with him as a prisoner that the city gates had been shut in their face, as ʿUqba had incited a force of Blacks to seize the town. Al-Battal was quoted as saying: ‘we didn’t reckon on this’ (36.12–35). Although the city was soon retaken, ʿAbd al-Wahhab had been removed by ʿUqba’s sons and was eventually handed over to an Abyssinian king, Damdaman. By coincidence, ʿUqba had gone to Damdaman’s court for shelter, and in the episodes that followed, involving his attempt to have ʿAbd al-Wahhab killed and ʿAbd al-Wahhab’s marriage to Damdaman’s warrior daughter, Maimuna, al-Battal had no part to play. He had, in fact, been looking for ʿAbd al-Wahhab and, although he had reached the furthest parts of Khurasan, he had found no news either of him or of ʿUqba. When he visited Constantinople he found that Michael had collected large armies and realised that Malatya was in no state to resist an attack. He and his servants accompanied the Byzantines as they approached it (36.36–37.12). It was when the Kilabis, on the advice of Hudlamus, decided to go for safety to Abyssinia that al-Battal met ʿAbd al-Wahhab, who refused to go back without Maimuna, in spite of the fact that al-Battal had warned him of the seriousness of the threat from Michael. Al-Battal was sent with a message to Maimuna, although he pointed out that he was risking his life as she had killed an earlier messenger. He complained to her in her own language about what he described as an unparalleled crime and she was impressed by his eloquence. She told him

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that the Kilabis could withdraw safely, but he said that they would not leave without bloodshed, something that she welcomed (36.15–33). She was later captured by Fatima when her foot slipped, and she promised to hand over her castle and give up ʿUqba to the Kilabis, but ʿUqba succeeded in making his escape. Al-Battal followed in pursuit, swearing not to return without him, and eventually he was discovered in Abadan, where he had been for a year on his sick bed. Al-Battal, dressed as a doctor, was promised 100 dinars if he could cure him, but instead of this he took him off by ship, claiming him to be his sick father, and bringing him back to Maimuna’s castle (36.35–39). Both Malatya and Amid had fallen and the Kilabi women had been captured, together with Zubaida. ʿUqba was freed by a Christian agent, and although he was met by al-Battal who had kidnapped one of the invading kings, to ʿAbd alWahhab’s distress he escaped. Al-Battal went to Michael’s camp and met Maris, who advised him to raise the bedouin before returning. He acted as guide for the Muslims, but in the fighting that followed he and his servants were seized, only to be released soon afterwards when the Byzantines were routed by a newly arrived force of Fatima’s men (36.43–37.16). One of Michael’s allies, the island king, Qaraquna, had been left to occupy Amid, where the Kilabi women were being held, among whom was Nura, who had given birth to a son. Qaraquna had fallen in love with Maimuna, who had been captured when her horse was killed, and, abandoning Amid, he marched off to the coast to sail home, taking with him Maimuna, Nura and Zananir, as well as Zubaida. Al-Battal was unable to follow immediately as he had been summoned by the caliph Maʾmun. Maʾmum had seen the Prophet in a dream telling him of the city of Kharshana, whose king had had a statue made of an Arab that he insulted morning and evening. Al-Battal, who had never got into the city, said that, thanks to its fortifications, it could only be entered by guile (37.16–32). To prepare for this, he got Maʾmun to pretend to have him executed, killing in his place a criminal who looked very like him. When the news spread there were celebrations in Christian lands and churches were decorated, while the Kilabis were distressed. Al-Battal then had Maʾmun supply him with carpenters to construct a splendid wooden dome surmounted with a golden cross and covered with a coating that made it gleam. It was studded with all the jewels in the caliph’s treasuries, while its doors had coloured coverings of brocade. Al-Battal’s servants were sent to various Christian regions where they were to pretend to be suffering from blindness, lameness, paralysis or some other affliction, and news was spread that the Messiah had appeared in Dair al-Salbut near Kharshana. Al-Battal was disguised with a white beard and with him were twelve followers, the number of the Apostles, their faces smeared with a mixture that made them gleam. The Patriarch said that, had al-Battal still been alive, this

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would have been one of his tricks, but on seeing the ‘sick’ being cured, the kings who had been summoned to the spectacle fell down in amazement (37.33–52). Al-Battal then forwarded a message to ʿAbd al-Wahhab, telling him to send 5,000 men to a given rendezvous and these were to allow themselves to be captured, while Zalim was to follow with the rest of the army. The size of Michael’s force gave al-Battal cause for concern and, in his role as Messiah, he sent him off to oppose Maʾmun. He later revealed himself and claimed that the capture of Kharshana was a necessary preliminary for the rescue of the prisoners removed by Qaraquna, whose lands could be reached only from there or from Constantinople. Word of its fall was sent to Maʾmun (37.55–39.5). ʿAbd al-Wahhab set out with a newly built fleet and al-Battal sailed on ahead with his servants. Meanwhile, Qaraquna had fallen in love with Maimuna and he had tried to persuade Nura to marry his handsome son, Shams al-Nasraniya, ‘who will be dearer to you than al-Battal with his ugly face and his mean figure’. When al-Battal arrived at his castle, he told ʿAbd al-Wahhab that it could be taken only from within and he called out in her own language to Maimuna, who was watching from an upper window, asking her to let down something to which he could attach a silk ladder. When she had done this, using her girdle and her dress, the ladder was drawn up and the Kilabis entered, after which Qaraquna was killed and the castle captured (39.7–27). ʿUqba, having suspected that this might happen, had put out to sea in a small ship in order to take refuge on an island with a huge population of Magians. Al-Battal was unable to overtake him, but ʿAbd al-Wahhab swore that he would not go back without him. Al-Battal told him that he had twice come to this, the Sea of the Islands, on errands for al-Rashid. It contained 200 islands, the largest of which contained two formidable kings, Majusa and al-Maut al-Ahmar, and he had once stayed on it for ten days in fear of his life. These kings now attacked the Muslim ships, but al-Battal helped defeat them by the use of naphtha and they put back to shore. ʿAbd al-Wahhab was confident that most of the enemy had been destroyed, but al-Battal was suspicious and wanted to go ahead and scout. The Blacks and the Kilabis refused to wait, and when they landed the islanders came out, and King Majusa, noting their weakness and their small size, said that he was prepared to spare them if they agreed to worship ‘the Fire’ (39.28–41). The Muslims were hard pressed and al-Battal twice told ʿAbd al-Wahhab that he had warned him: ‘I have given you the right advice often enough, but you only follow the road to destruction.’ He was justified when ʿAbd al-Wahhab, like a sparrow met by a falcon, was captured by Majusa, but Majusa, in his turn, was killed by Fatima. The castle, however, did not fall, and al-Battal advised Fatima to sail away and then return when he and his servants had entered it in disguise. The attack failed and for three months the Muslims stayed outside until Fatima

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did leave. Al-Battal then went in and was told by Luʾluʾ where ʿAbd al-Wahhab and Zubaida were being held. Luʾluʾ opened the dungeon door, fetched weapons and freed the prisoners, but ʿUqba had gone to the Island of Naphtha in order to fetch help. The islanders, however, were defeated and the Muslims, who had seized ʿUqba, sailed back towards Constantinople (39.45–40.5). Meanwhile Maʾmun had been captured by the Emperor Michael, and ʿAbd al-Wahhab pointed out that it had been for the sake of al-Battal that the Muslims had attacked the Byzantines. Al-Battal promised both to free Maʾmun and to crucify ʿUqba. While the Kilabis were successfully attacking Michael’s men, he disappeared and made his way into Constantinople where Daris told him that Maʾmun’s guards were under orders not to let anyone see the prisoners. He managed to drug their wine and he then removed Maʾmun, his vizier and a number of other captives to Maris’ house, dressing them in the clothes of the guards whom he had killed. They then left through the Golden Gate and joined ʿAbd al-Wahhab (40.6–12). Al-Khattaf, a formidable bedouin warrior, arrived to help Michael and enlisted the services of a cousin of his, Barq b. Riyah, whose feet, when he ran, struck his shoulders. Barq freed ʿUqba and ran off with him after wounding Zalim, who called al-Battal a coward when he warned him to take care. ‘You are like your father’, al-Battal told him, ‘all the time you act against my advice.’ ʿUqba promised his rescuer that he would pay him whatever he liked for the heads of ʿAbd al-Wahhab, Fatima and al-Battal, but al-Battal, disguised as an old man leaning on a stick, tried to outbid him, telling him of the reward he would receive if he took ʿUqba back to the Kilabis. ʿUqba offered twice his weight in gold but al-Battal, knowing the greed of the bedouin, increased this to three times and as a result Barq brought ʿUqba back (40.13–22). He was then recruited by ʿAbd al-Wahhab and volunteered to kill his cousin al-Khattaf. Al-Battal approved of this, but ʿAbd al-Wahhab wanted al-Khattaf converted rather than killed, and, in fact, realising what must have happened, he seized Barq and threatened to kill him. Barq was then rescued by al-Battal, and carried off on his shoulders. Al-Khattaf later said that he had seen an angel whose head was in the clouds and as a result he wanted to convert to Islam. Al-Battal suspected that this might be a trick, but al-Khattaf proved his sincerity by kidnapping Michael. ʿAbd al-Wahhab went to consult Maʾmun only to find his bed full of blood. Al-Battal pointed out that, had he been killed, his body would still be there and both ʿUqba and Shumdaris were found to have vanished (40.26–33). The man responsible was Abu Yukhlif, the semi-comic figure who had followed Zalim from the Maghrib. He had never been seen to pray and would spend whatever money he could get on the beautiful Shamsa. ʿUqba had given

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him a drug that he kept under his armpit and he had used this on the guards. When both he and the prisoners went missing, al-Battal said: ‘this is what I had thought’. Abu Yukhlif, on ʿUqba’s advice, had taken Maʾmun to a monastery, where al-Battal and Fatima followed them, after having forced a captured monk to tell them where to go. Maʾmun, however, had been struck in the stomach by ʿUqba with his dagger, and although Fatima bound up his wound and took him to al-Battal, whose eyes were gleaming ‘like those of a snake’, he died after confirming al-Muʿtasim as his successor. In the aftermath of this Michael offered payment to al-Muʿtasim as well as promising 10,000 dinars to al-Battal (40.33–42). As usual, al-Battal was concerned to track down ʿUqba and a chance meeting with a monk led him to Jerusalem, where ʿUqba was discovered in a church announcing to the congregation that the Messiah had told him in a dream to go back to the lands of Islam. Al-Battal in his disguise as a monk was recognised by Abu Yukhlif, who was acting as a Christian sacristan. He and his servants were seized and then beaten, but he tricked Abu Yukhlif by pretending that the Kilabis were determined that Shamsa should be given to him. Al-Battal was freed and ʿUqba captured, after which Abu Yukhlif was described to ʿAbd al-Wahhab as ‘mad, but not to be blamed’ (41.5–11). The next twist in the story came when ʿAbd al-Wahhab wrote to tell al-Muʿtasim about ʿUqba, provoking him to exclaim: ‘this black dog has become caliph, doing what he wants’. A huge army was raised, ostensibly for an attack on Constantinople, and this advanced on Malatya where ʿUqba was explaining to the Banu Sulaim that he had been kidnapped by al-Battal in ‘the mountains of Jerusalem’. Abu Yukhlif, who now knew that he had been tricked, said that alBattal had promised to give him Shamsa in return for false testimony. Al-Battal was suspicious of the caliph’s motives, and told Maimuna that: ‘he would not have come himself if this would not have marked the end of the power of the Kilabis’. He, ʿAbd al-Wahhab and his sons, together with Fatima, were arrested and chained and, although they were briefly freed by Maimuna, they were recaptured and consigned to the ‘Dungeon of Destruction’ in Baghdad (41.12–29). Luʾluʾ, with the help of Jauhar, managed to rescue them and on al-Battal’s advice ropes were hung down from the tower to make it seem that they had left the palace, but this did not deceive ʿUqba, who searched it and discovered the fugitives, together with Barq and Luʾluʾ. Barq was executed and Jauhar imprisoned; the prisoners were fed only once every three days but by divine aid this made them more vigorous (41.30–32). During the years that they spent in prison the role of the Man of Wiles was taken over by al-Battal’s as yet unrecognised son, Madhbahun, who served as vizier to Maimuna’s son by ʿAbd al-Wahhab, Bahrun, both of whom were

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thought to have been killed when their mothers had been taken off by Qaraquna. Madhbahun was said by the Byzantines and later by Michael himself to resemble al-Battal, ‘whose portrait is in the churches’. He was a remarkable climber who scaled walls upside down ‘like a scorpion’, and it was thanks to him that the seemingly impregnable castle of Yanis fell. Yanis himself was imprisoned with the Kilabis and al-Battal, on being told of the loss of the castle, exclaimed: ‘you have eaten my liver by your words’. Madhbahun went on to help in the capture of Malatya, dressing in black and climbing one of its towers, before threatening the mother of ʿAmr the chief of the Banu Sulaim and forcing her to give him the gate keys. When Muʿtasim came up to confront Bahrun, Madhbahun kidnapped him from his tent, but on being met by ʿUqba he handed over Muʿtasim before rescuing Bahrun, who had been captured after his horse had been shot (41.33–57). Later, it was Muʿtasim’s horse that stumbled, leading to his capture, after which Bahrun advanced to Takrit. At that point the Baghdadis proposed to storm the palace in order to release the Kilabis, something that Zubaida said she had already intended to do. When the prisoners were brought out, al-Battal said that he wanted to burn the city, but ʿAbd al-Wahhab told him that their arrest had not been the fault of the Muslims ‘who have loved us for a long time’, and Fatima took al-Battal and Maimuna with her in order to intercept the Byzantines who were escorting Muʿtasim to Constantinople. Al-Battal warned Fatima that they were outnumbered by four to one and suggested that they should make a surprise attack at night, and it was after this that Muʿtasim was released (42.4–14). Al-Battal told Muʿtasim how they had been freed and Muʿtasim replied by saying: ‘all that you have done is not worth a single grain of corn unless you reconcile me with Fatima’. After that had been done, al-Battal dressed a number of Kilabi champions as Byzantines and entered Malatya with them, pretending to be in flight from the Muslims, as a result of which the town was recaptured. Al-Battal joined Bahrun’s army, leaving Fatima to say: ‘he never went off leaving us in the middle of a battle without having seen some opportunity’. He heard ʿUqba describing him to Madhbahun as ‘the Pharaoh of the earth’, but adding that Madhbahun was a better climber. In the encounters that followed both Fatima and Madhbahun were captured and Bahrun suggested that they should be exchanged for one another. In fact, Fatima converted a slave-girl who was guarding her and, as they were preparing to leave, a tent peg was removed and a man came in on his hands and knees. ‘It may be al-Battal’, suggested Fatima, correctly, and he led them to safety out of the camp (42.16–41). He then suggested a naphtha attack on Bahrun’s army and told Muʿtasim to wait before killing Madhbahun, who was then helped to escape by an Armenian guard. ʿUqba had vanished and al-Battal told Muʿtasim that he would be ‘in the land of Constantinople’. Al-Battal left with four servants, but was met and seized

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by Madhbahun accompanied by four men of his own. Madhbahun went on to try to kidnap Fatima but was himself seized by her, and when Muʿtasim threatened to kill him he said that, in that case, al-Battal would die. In fact, both of them escaped, with al-Battal killing his gaoler and adopting his disguise, with a patch over his right eye since the man was one-eyed (42.43–57). As he had not been recognised by ʿUqba, Madhbahun or Shumdaris, he tried to get ʿUqba to give himself away. In fact, ʿUqba disclaimed any relationship to the Banu Sulaim because they were Muslims and he was then seized by a number of freed Kilabi prisoners. He and Shumdaris were beaten, but al-Battal spared Madhbahun, who later asked how he could have escaped: ‘granted that the prisoners seized the gaoler, how did his beard get on to al-Battal’s face?’ ʿUqba told him: ‘had he wanted to put on the man’s head, he would have done it’. Al-Battal then had the gates of Constantinople shut and the city handed over to Muʿtasim, while Bahrun marched away (42.58–43.7). ʿAbd al-Wahhab disappeared and was captured while trying to kidnap Princess Marjana, leaving his men in difficulties. Al-Battal discovered where he was being held and when Marjana was converted by Fatima he was released. ʿUqba had told Madhbahun to fetch the head of ‘the monkey’ al-Battal, but soon afterwards he was recognised by Nura as her son thanks to a scar on his breast and a mole on his body. As a baby he had been taken away to be killed, but had smiled at a lady who had kept him as her own. When he asked al-Battal to become a Christian ‘so that you can stay with me’, al-Battal said that he could not do this because of ‘his fear of hell fire’, but Madhbahun was then converted to Islam (43.13–30). Both al-Battal and Madhbahun, together with other Kilabi champions, were shut in a church when a pretended convert to Islam warned Bahrun of Madhbahun’s conversion. Bahrun stated his terms and al-Battal asked him to swear to release his prisoners. Bahrun was then captured by Marjana, whose beauty he admired, and she was put in command of the Muslim army, which al-Battal said that otherwise he would have led himself. In the fighting that followed Bahrun was recognised as Maimuna’s lost son, and this led to the rout of the Byzantines (43.34–44). Al-Battal and his servants were later captured by a rider who said that the Messiah had delivered them into his hand. ‘There are six of you and this dog is alone’, al-Battal had called to them, but the rider dismounted, captured them and drove them before him ‘like beasts of burden’. He turned out to be Shamlukh, whose brother had captured Muʿtasim, but Madhbahun climbed up the outer wall of his fortress, something that, according to ʿAbd al-Wahhab, al-Battal could never have done (43.50–57). Madhbahun told his father that Bahrun was in love with Marjana and would

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not follow ʿAbd al-Wahhab were Muʿtasim to marry her, to which al-Battal replied: ‘it is like the affair of your mother Nura’. Muʿtasim said that he was willing to hand Marjana over if Bahrun accepted Islam, but this he refused to do. Word then came that Michael had died and had been succeeded by Armanus. Maimuna and Bahrun changed sides and ʿUqba told Maimuna that if she managed to trap both al-Battal and Madhbahun she would be safe. Al-Battal was sent to Bahrun as a messenger but was then seized and sent off under escort, only to be freed by the intervention of Hayyaj (44.4–18). The Christian Arabs serving with Armanus proposed to attack Muʿtasim, pretending to have been sent as reinforcements. Al-Battal was taken in by this, but Madhbahun realised what the scheme was and ‘it was as though al-Battal had been asleep and then awoke’. Armanus had never heard of ‘people stealing people’ and had to be warned that al-Battal could remove the middle layer of a man’s clothing and could appear to him as his father, brother or mother (44.33–35). Madhbahun had followed ʿUqba and had been seized when hoping to attack him in his sleep, after which al-Battal went off to look for him. ʿUqba was waiting in the monastery where he was holding Madhbahun and al-Battal was overpowered, after which a forged letter was sent to ʿAbd al-Wahhab telling him to come there with ten Kilabi champions. When they arrived they were drugged and captured, but Shumdaris was nervous lest al-Battal escape and he suggested that all the prisoners should be sent off to King Ghaidrus of Kharjana, who had pictures of al-Battal in his chapel. This was a country whose language was familiar to al-Battal as he had once kidnapped a girl from there, and he laughed to hear them tell each other that he could fly, dive, steal princesses and bewitch minds. On their journey the Kilabis were released to fight off lions, having sworn to surrender again if they survived, a promise that angered alBattal (44.42–45.18). Ghaidrus was impressed by Fatima and wanted to marry her. When she refused, Shumdaris suggested that al-Battal might be told to give her a drug that would drain her strength. She accused al-Battal of having ‘little religion’, but he told her that he was planning to steal the keys of the castle and of the city gates. Ghaidrus’ daughter, Iftuna, was afraid of him and proposed to have him killed after her father’s wedding. In fact, he managed to file through his fetters and released the others, while Fatima killed Ghaidrus. Madhbahun and al-Battal fetched a ship and Shumdaris and Iftuna were put on board. One of Iftuna’s suitors was tricked into handing over money to al-Battal that had been intended to be used for wedding presents, but the Muslims ran into difficulties with Yuhanna, another suitor, whose men freed Iftuna and Shumdaris as well as capturing Madhbahun. Al-Battal in disguise freed Madhbahun and went off with Iftuna, who was converted to Islam (45.33–46.37).

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In fighting between Armanus and Muʿtasim outside Mosul, during which Maimuna killed her own son, Bahrun, al-Battal brought up a number of Black champions, including Abuʾl-Hazahiz. He slipped into the city to look for ʿUqba, but as ʿUqba had been expecting him, both he and Luʾluʾ were trapped and imprisoned. Later Madhbahun came across a slave-girl belonging to the Christian who was holding them. They were freed, but Muʿtasim refused to believe the evidence linking ʿUqba to their imprisonment. He ordered ʿUqba and al-Battal to be reconciled, at which ʿUqba whispered to him: ‘what do you think of what I have done?’ Later when ʿAbd al-Wahhab volunteered to pursue the formidable ex-highwayman, Hermes, and was embarrassed to be praised by ʿUqba, al-Battal told Madhbahun and his servants that he could no longer stay with the Kilabis. He succeeded in kidnapping not only ʿUqba and Shumdaris, but ʿUqba’s friend Matrun as well. He took them to Syrian Tripoli intending to move to Egypt and never to return to Iraq because he was angry with ʿAbd alWahhab, and he sent word to Nura asking her to join him as ‘death is near and I don’t know what will become of me’ (47.44–49.51). When he was in Tripoli the miserly Maniʿ son of Dabit came to his lodgings, pretending to have a present for him. In fact, Maniʿ wanted to defect to the Byzantines and intended to ingratiate himself with them by bringing al-Battal as a prisoner. He seized al-Battal and his servants and took them by ship to Constantinople, where they were imprisoned with ʿAbd al-Wahhab, who had earlier been captured by Hermes. They were freed by Fatima, who also took Armanus, but Maimuna had left and ʿUqba and Shumdaris had gone into hiding. Al-Battal and Madhbahun stayed to look for them, while ʿAbd al-Wahhab and his men left for Malatya (51.5–40). Al-Battal, disguised as a monk, bent-backed with a beard hanging down over his chest, met an envoy from the king of the Mulafita who had been sent to ask for the hand of the daughter of King Karfanas. Karfanas worshipped a supposed talking bird, and al-Battal and Madhbahun discovered that it was the princess who supplied its voice. She fell in love with the handsome Madhbahun and on ‘the bird’s’ instructions al-Battal was installed as chief monk. ʿUqba and Shumdaris were seized and the princess was preparing to leave with al-Battal, on the pretext of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre, when her mother, on learning the truth, had her imprisoned together with Madhbahun and al-Battal (52.19–45). The two of them were freed by the learned Tayyibun, in whose charge they had been left, and, against his advice, al-Battal kidnapped ʿUqba and Shumdaris. Karfanas sent a force to pursue them, and both al-Battal and Madhbahun had success in penetrating their camp at night, killing a number of them and kidnapping their leader. They burnt a mangonel that had been set up against them, but

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Karfanas had firewood piled up beneath the mountain peak on which they had taken refuge and al-Battal admitted that he had never been in more grave danger. An arrangement was made whereby he and his men were allowed to leave in exchange for the return of ʿUqba and Shumdaris. ʿUqba followed them and discovered where they were hiding, after which they were forced to surrender, only to be freed later by Luʾluʾ (52.47–53.38). ʿUqba was sent by Karfanas as an envoy to Armanus and was kidnapped again by al-Battal. As Karfanas then laid siege to Constantinople, al-Battal could not smuggle him out of the city until it had been evacuated by Armanus. ʿUqba was rescued by Maimuna while al-Battal had to go to Malatya where ʿAbd al-Wahhab was suffering from the effects of poison. After prolonged fighting between Muʿtasim and Karfanas the Muslims took the remote city of Makuriya, where they had no intention of staying, but al-Battal tricked Armanus into paying them to leave by telling him that they proposed to transfer the seat of the caliphate there (53.42–55.36). Al-Battal was also involved in the capture of a city where another Zananir, the king’s daughter, fell in love with the handsome Saif, whom she had seen playing polo outside the Muslim camp. She invited him and al-Battal to come through the postern gate to visit her and she sang to them until they forgot ‘the armies of the Muslims’. One of Zananir’s maids told the king about them and 400 armed men burst in. Saif began to fight but when Zananir asked why al-Battal did not help, in spite of the fact that ‘all the Muslims are heroes’, he said that he had ‘no share in fighting’, and told her to give him the postern keys. Fatima came in with fifty of her men and, on seeing his danger, the king asked to be allowed to convert his family to Islam. ʿAbd al-Wahhab told al-Battal to explain Islam to them and, when he said that he was suffering from the effects of drink, ʿAbd al-Wahhab exclaimed: ‘you are nothing but a devil. When you are invited to a party with drink and song you are the first to rush to it.’ In fact, al-Battal had been suspicious of the king and had freed his Muslim prisoners. The city then fell (55.45–56.9). Muʿtasim had been engaged in an attack on ʿAmmuriya, which was captured when al-Battal smuggled in Muslims disguised as villagers bringing stores. ʿUqba tried to send a warning to the garrison, but his messenger was intercepted by al-Battal. ʿUqba then arranged for the kidnapping of the virtuous Saʿida, the daughter of the legless Hajjaf, who was sent off to a distant island. Muʿtasim said that he would imprison both ʿUqba and al-Battal until she was found, and when al-Battal freed himself by overpowering his gaoler this was taken as evidence of his involvement in the affair. He left in search of Saʿida, but when he got to the island of Rubis he was seized thanks to a warning given to the king by ʿUqba, who had said that he was bound to come there (56.28–57.3).

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Al-Battal was eventually freed after Hajjaf’s legs had miraculously been restored and the islanders of Rubis converted to Islam. Hajjaf went on with al-Battal, but they were drugged by a monk, who had offered them lentils and hot bread and had 500 pictures of the disguises of al-Battal and his servants. Al-Battal said that he had been suspicious but that hunger had got the better of him. He was freed when Luʾluʾ gnawed through Hajjaf’s bonds (57.45–58.3). Saʿida was being held by King Qanun, whose daughter, while wrestling with her maids, told them to call themselves by the names of Muslim champions. One named herself al-Battal, and al-Battal was then seen standing outside the window, at which the princess welcomed him and kissed his head. After some fighting the Muslims sailed back to Rubis, which was being attacked by Armanus, and Qanun was later killed by Bohemond, the son of Armanus, who also captured al-Battal himself. Bohemond went on to kill Saif and make a pyramid of Muslim skulls, but al-Battal managed to free himself and temporarily to seize ʿUqba and Shumdaris (58.16–31). At the end of the campaign al-Battal went to Baghdad where he killed ʿUqba’s sons, but failed to find ʿUqba himself. ʿUqba complained to Muʿtasim, who at first found it hard to believe that al-Battal would murder Muslims, but later a search was made for him and, in an episode paralleled in the Arabian Nights, he pushed a rider who had intercepted him into the river and took refuge with what turned out to be his wife. Two of his servants were caught and killed, after which he escaped disguised as a slave-girl and went with Luʾluʾ to Mosul, where he joined Madhbahun. Muʿtasim had sent orders for his arrest, and when he reached Tanis he was trapped in a concealed well by ʿUqba’s sister. He was sent back by ship, but was then freed by the enormous Lamlaman, a black man who wanted to join ʿAbd al-Wahhab and who thought that this would do him a service. Al-Battal went back to Alexandria (58.42–61). The king of Kandafrah had imprisoned ʿAbd al-Wahhab, and his men captured a ship on which al-Battal and Madhbahun were making their way from Alexandria to the west. All three planned to escape, but ʿAbd al-Wahhab wanted to take with him the warrior princess, Nur al-Nar, to which al-Battal objected: ‘this is not the time for love’. They freed themselves when al-Battal killed their guards, only to be recaptured in the palace of Nur al-Nar and released by Fatima. They were taken twice more, being freed on the first occasion by al-Battal and on the second by Fatima. On their way home they took refuge from the islanders in a monastery, where al-Battal claimed to have been the Patriarch of the island before it was taken by Magians. He and Madhbahun killed the forty monks and in the series of captures and escapes that followed Shumdaris was taken by alBattal to Yanis’ castle (61.19–62.18). Falughus, who had taken Armanus’ place on the imperial throne, being

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thought of as his son, advanced against a Muslim force that had been led out by al-Battal. Al-Battal had gone ahead to scout, but his men were defeated and he was captured by Falughus in disguise. Falughus went on to capture Yanis’ castle, but al-Battal, who had been freed thanks to an expedition led by Maimun, entered in disguise and freed and armed Yanis and the other Muslim captives, after which the castle was retaken. Madhbahun was later captured but soon freed by his father (62.27–63.18). A Baghdadi thief named Lahiq found ʿUqba, whom al-Battal had put in a chest, and was promised a huge sum of money to free him and then to steal a jewelled cross and a lamp that al-Battal had taken from Dair al-Anwar. Madhbahun did not want to follow him to Baghdad but al-Battal told him: ‘I cannot overlook someone who took this wealth from me’ (63.20). Muʿtasim found himself threatened by a Khurasanian rebel named Bahalak. ʿUqba wrote to Bahalak promising his support and when al-Battal intercepted the message, he told Muʿtasim he had been forced to write it by al-Battal himself. He then escaped, and Muʿtasim wrote letters to say that al- Battal was to be given all the help that he needed. Later, when Bahalak had been killed, al-Battal was given his blue-eyed servant, Sharwa, who turned out to be Nura’s lost son. The Black leader Ghailam, to Fatima’s distress, had been serving with the Byzantines, from whom she tried to detach him. He was invited to meet her but al-Battal, who was suffering from a fever, suspected treachery and, in the event, Ghailam wounded both Fatima and Madhbahun, before tying up al-Battal (63.33–64.20). The Muslim prisoners were rescued on their way to Constantinople and, thanks to al-Battal, they trapped ʿUqba in a monastery. He escaped by jumping down from a great height, a feat that was taken to be miraculous, and the Muslims in their turn were trapped in an oubliette, from which they had to be rescued by Sharwa. Al-Battal gave drugged wine to Ghailam and Falughus, but they were treated with buffalo milk by an old woman and on their recovery they recaptured their prisoners (64.38–65.3). Together with Fatima, al-Battal returned to Baghdad, where ʿUqba had engineered another rift between Muʿtasim and ʿAbd al-Wahhab. The pair of them kidnapped both ʿUqba and his sister, but Muʿtasim organised a search and al-Battal had to escape from the house of his friend Tauq disguised as a woman on her way to the baths. In another disguise he told the gaoler that Muʿtasim had instructed him to beat the prisoners twice a day, after which he took the keys and freed them. Fatima wanted to return to the Hijaz, but, as Madhbahun was missing, al-Battal decided to stay to look for him (65.28–47). In ʿUqba’s house al-Battal heard two of his daughters talking about their father’s plan to kill Tauq and Madhbahun. He followed them as they took ʿUqba wine, and killed his companions, but Fatima was stabbed and seriously wounded

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before ʿUqba and his sister were captured, only to be freed immediately by a force of Christian Arabs. Because of Fatima’s wound the Muslims made no resistance and surrendered. They were being held in an inaccessible castle, when al-Battal’s son Husain, disguised as a one-eyed monk, rescued them and al-Battal with a force of supposed monks took over the castle. There, however, they were trapped thanks to ʿUqba’s sister, but Madhbahun disguised himself as the king’s chamberlain and freed them, while his father, disguised as a priest, arranged for the fall of the castle. ʿUqba’s sister was killed, but, against alBattal’s advice, Fatima spared one of his daughters, ʿAqila. ʿUqba himself had escaped (66.8–67.15). A fresh Christian force led by Shamkhulus arrived at the castle, where ʿAqila opened the harbour gate for them. Al-Battal, together with his sons Madhbahun and Husain, was captured and al-Battal suggested that they should either be ransomed or exchanged for Muslim prisoners. They were sent off by sea but wrecked and helped to safety by Madhbahun, who later rescued more crews trapped in a whirlpool. Al-Battal was washed up on the shore and posed as a monk, impressing the local Christians with his learning, but thanks to the pugnacity of Zalim, who had been amongst the Muslim prisoners, they were all recaptured and had to be rescued by Fatima disguised as a monk, using what she had learnt of the Gospel from al-Battal. Al-Battal then stole a ship in order to mislead the pursuers and set off by land. He and his party were captured but freed by a princess who had fallen in love with Zalim, and after having been seized again they were rescued, this time by Husain and Madhbahun (67.18–21). Word now came that Muʿtasim had died and ʿAbd al-Wahhab was asked to decide whether he should be succeeded by al-Wathiq or al-Mutawakkil, but this turned out to be a trick and Muʿtasim appeared to order the arrest and execution of both ʿAbd al-Wahhab and al-Battal. They were to be drowned in the Tigris, but instead they were put on a ship bound for India that was wrecked by a sea monster. Al-Battal was washed up on an island where he had to carry a deformed youth with no hands or feet, only managing to free himself when the youth became drunk. He became a successful teacher before being appointed as vizier and eventually succeeding to the throne on the death of the king. ʿAbd al-Wahhab had also become an island king and the two joined forces and sailed to Iraq (68.52–69.28). They arrived when both Muʿtasim and the Kilabis were in difficulties thanks to an attack by Michael the son of Bohemond. Al-Battal went in disguise to the Byzantine camp disguised as Salsina, a vegetarian monk, after which the Muslim prisoners, including Muʿtasim, were freed and the Byzantines routed (69.73–91). Shumdaris arranged for the capture of al-Wathiq, and al-Battal went with

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Fatima to Constantinople in the hope of rescuing him. He got Michael’s favourite concubine to steal his ring, which he used to enter the castle where al-Wathiq was being held and Fatima then killed the garrison and removed him. She was later captured and taken to a castle to which only a monk named Simeon knew the way. Simeon saw the Messiah in a dream and was told to help al-Battal, who eventually succeeded in rescuing her (69.100–121). ʿUqba was discovered in a chapel whose entrance was guarded by mechanical figures, which were disabled by al-Battal. He escaped only to be recaptured by al-Battal, who had taken over the ship on which he was travelling. After having been recaptured and freed again he went to Hisham, the Umaiyad caliph of Spain, and arranged for the arrest and crucifixion of al-Battal’s son Husain, who had been sent ahead by his father. ʿUqba himself, however, was arrested as an ʿAbbasid spy and sent to Alexandria, from where he escaped first to Nubia, where al-Battal pretended to die so that ʿUqba might pray over his ‘corpse’, and then to Yemen, where al-Battal pretended to be a Jew, but was later seized by ‘the Devil of the Hijaz’, and rescued by a Kilabi force. ʿUqba was arrested again while acting as a pious bean-seller in Basra, but after three more escapes he was finally captured in Baghdad by al-Battal, when Madhbahun climbed into the church in which he had taken refuge. Al-Battal was then seized by monks in a monastery near Yanis’ castle, but after he had been freed by Maris and Daris, ʿUqba was executed. With his death al-Battal’s principal task came to an end (69.172–70.77). In an epilogue to his career, when a Venetian army defeated the Kilabis, their leaders were blocked in a cave, while al-Battal, with Yanis and Zalim, withdrew. The leaders survived miraculously and Constantinople fell. Al-Battal had to drug a captive princess with whom Zalim had fallen in love and who had rejected his advances, but on the death of al-Wathiq the Byzantines recaptured the country, and al-Battal wept for the defeat of the Muslims night and day until his death (70.101–147). The plethora of unfamiliar characters and the repetition of incidents of capture, release and recapture diminish the effectiveness of this lengthy work. It serves, however, to underline the importance of the character of al-Battal, and the respect in which he is shown to be held in it can be taken as reflecting the interest of its audiences. Al-Battal is an Islamic hero, but it is only at the start of his career when ‘the doors of heaven were open’ that he receives supernatural help, and when he kills women and children and tells obvious lies the ends appear to justify the means. The level on which he functions is that of ordinary life, as is seen in the details of his disguises which are produced by false beards, changes of clothes and in one case pock marks rather than by a shape-changing mirror.

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It is emphasised that he is no champion but he serves repetitively as a ‘sacker of cities’, and the details of his career show how he combines the role of servant with that with that of the opponent of evil, in the form of ʿUqba, and the bringer of good fortune to the defenders of Islam. 1. As the hero of the Turkish work translated by Hermann Ehthé as Die Fahrten dess Sajjid Batthal, Leipzig, n.d., he can be argued to be the most famous of the Islamic Men of Wiles.

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5 Chapter 5 Section 1: Sirat Baibars

Section 1: Sirat Baibars

ʿUthman

The printed text of the Sirat Baibars presents an extended example of Arabic myth-history, purporting to cover the career of Baibars, al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din al-Salihi, the fourth sultan of the Bahri Mamluks. The first volume of the text covers his early days and his arrival in Egypt as a mamluk, together with some distorted details of the Crusade of St Louis and Baibars’ accession to the sultanate. From there it moves into open country, covering geographical fantasies and a mixture of wonder motifs and heroic tales. The most vivid, and humorous, sections are set in Cairo and an interesting point is the representation of the Ismaʿilis as independent and pure-minded defenders of Islam. It can be argued that because of the combination of these settings the text is unique in presenting two distinct Men of Wiles, ʿUthman, once the terror of the streets of Cairo, and Shiha, the sultan of the Ismaʿili castles. When Baibars, as a mamluk, had established himself in Cairo, the stirrups, saddle and bridle of his horse were tampered with by his master’s grooms, leaving him clinging to its neck. The vizier Shahin advised him to get a servant of his own, as a number of Cairene grooms had a blood feud with him. In this context the name of ʿUthman son of Jabala was mentioned, he being a man who had terrorised Cairo, killed seven walis of the city and, ‘like one of Solomon’s ʿifrīts’, had driven Shahin himself back to his court. Baibars went out in search of a groom, saying that what he wanted was a strong man who could fight. He did not approve of any of those he was shown, and at that point there was a commotion and the shaikh to whom he was talking told him to take cover as a tall young man with a ruddy complexion and a large head came in. To Baibars’ surprise the

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shaikh kissed his hand and addressed him as ‘grandfather’. This turned out to be ʿUthman, and he and Baibars made an agreement, which neither intended to keep as each thought of killing the other, in Baibars’ case ‘to rid the people of his evil’. Baibars gave the shaikh ten dinars, but ʿUthman took the money from him without a word (1.218–224). He accompanied Baibars to the house of his master, where he knocked down the head groom, ʿUqairib, while the others, on finding out who he was, kissed his hand, each addressing him as ‘my grandfather and the grandfather of my grandfather’. He then told ʿUqairib that he was ‘laughing at’ Baibars. He made off with the harness of Baibars’ horse and when Baibars intercepted him he said that it was the grooms’ washing that he was carrying. He added that it was the custom for a newcomer to wash the clothes of his colleagues, at which Baibars told him to leave them with the maids. ʿUthman then told the truth and pointed out that Baibars was lucky that he was going without having harmed him. Baibars tied him up and beat him and when he later asked ʿUqairib why he had not helped, ʿUqairib answered: ‘Baibars is a killer’. ʿUthman persuaded ʿUqairib to release him, promising to let him tie him up again later, but in fact he stole the key from the door-keeper and went home (1.225–227). ʿUqairib told Baibars that ʿUthman would kill anyone who told him where he lived, but he named the district where his house was. No one there was willing to help and so Baibars went to a baker and said: ‘why did you spoil the bread of my master, ʿUthman?’ The frightened man was tricked into taking Baibars to ʿUthman’s house, and when he realised what he had done, he decided to leave Cairo. ʿUthman’s mother welcomed Baibars, having been told in a dream by Lady Nafisa that her son would serve him: ‘I saw you on her right hand and my son on her left’. She showed him a room in her house which was full of the turbans and clothes that he had stolen and Baibars was taken by a donkey driver to ‘a place of destruction’, this being a series of caves in one of which ʿUthman was found with his followers. Baibars knocked him down and tied him up, but outside Nafisa’s shrine he released him. ʿUthman promptly slipped inside the shrine and prayed to Nafisa, saying that he had spent his life in her service and threatening that unless she ‘rose from her place to help him’, he would steal the turbans of all her worshippers. Baibars added his own prayer – ‘you know that he is given to acts of disobedience’ – and the locked door of the shrine opened for him. Both ʿUthman and Baibars then fell into a sleep in which they saw Nafisa, who told them that, although ʿUthman was her servant, she was content that he should serve Baibars and that she would guard them both (1.228–237). Baibars preached to ʿUthman, warning him of God’s anger. ʿUthman told his men that, as he had repented, they could keep for themselves the turbans that they stole, and he did not want them to join him in repentance lest they starve,

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at which point Baibars offered to employ them all. ʿUthman wanted to perform the noon prayer with them and got eighty-one jugs, wound round with ropes and filled with water from a cistern, one of which was carried by each of them. The bystanders, who knew ʿUthman, thought that this was a parody of a Sufi procession and that the jugs must have been filled with wine. ʿUthman went up to one of them, who promptly offered him his turban, and when ʿUthman told him to drink from his jug, threatening to strike him if he refused, the man confirmed that what it contained was water. Baibars told his men that they should not have taken it from the cistern, as that was drinking water, and that there was no need to carry jugs as they could use a trough by the well (1.241–244). ʿUthman acted as imam for the afternoon prayer with his men drawn up in lines and ʿUqairib standing behind. He recited from the Quran and then told them to straighten their lines, at which Baibars told him that ‘speech makes prayer invalid’. ʿUthman became angry and said: ‘this is how we pray’, adding that they were Shafiʿites, whereas Baibars was a Hanafite. He bent over with his head between his legs and recited a prayer in which he called down blessings on the Prophet to the number of donkeys, camels, horses, mules, cows, sheep and birds, forcing Baibars to admit that prayers to the Prophet were acceptable however they were phrased (1.245–247). Over a period of four months Baibars had been entertaining a group of ‘friends’ who had made no effort to repay him for his hospitality. ʿUthman intercepted them in a lane, saying that he had been appointed as Baibars’ agent and refusing to allow them to delay the payment of what he told them that they owed. He let them make up any cash shortage by giving him their clothes. They later told Baibars various stories: their turbans or clothes were being cleaned; red clothes had been snatched away by a kite; others had been eaten by mice or were being patched. ʿUthman explained that each of them had had some craft, ‘but when they saw you they abandoned it and exchanged it for your company’ (1.250–253). When Shahin was told that ʿUthman had been taken into Baibars’ service, he objected that this was a killer, a wine drinker, a man who used his wiles to cheat people and who had no religion. When ʿUthman was brought to him by Baibars, he almost pulled Shahin’s arm off and then said to Baibars: ‘why are you gesturing to me?’ Eventually, there was a full reconciliation. Baibars was taught tricks of combat by Shahin until, after two months, ʿUthman said: ‘come on before the vizier throws you out’. On their way back they were met by al-Khidr. ʿUthman shouted at him but fell unconscious when al-Khidr pointed his finger at him (1.256–259). Shahin’s mamluks, jealous of Baibars, set an ambush for him and, when they had been outfought, they told him that they were there because they had heard

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of the presence of highwaymen. ʿUthman was told to escort them home and, after forcing them to strip, he left, taking with him their clothes and their horses. Shahin guessed what would happen and, although it was a cold night, he told the gate-keeper not to let them in (1.260–262). Baibars and ʿUthman went to the shop of the Jew, ʿAzar, who owed four months’ wages to a Muslim. As they were standing outside, a beggar passed who greeted ʿUthman as ‘my son’, and whom ʿUthman in his turn addressed as ‘my grandfather and the grandfather of my grandfather’. ʿUthman explained that this was ‘a fan man’, not because he sold fans but because he stole riding beasts from outside mosques. He was left to look after Baibars’ horse. Baibars later killed ʿAzar when he tried to seduce him, and ʿUthman killed one of his men who had been about to attack, explaining that he wanted to live with Baibars or else to die with him. Baibars criticised him for having killed a Muslim, but he defended himself by quoting from the Quran and it later turned out that the man was ʿAzar’s cousin. ʿUthman was told to fetch a notary from the court at Bulaq to take down evidence relating to the deaths. The qadi of Bulaq was one of his former victims and, although ʿUthman told him that he had repented, he offered him his turban and said: ‘go off and repent again’. ʿUthman had all the furnishings of the court, including the water jug, brought to Baibars, after which the evidence was recorded (1.268–275). When the case was brought before the sultan, al-Salih, Baibars admitted to having killed the Jew and produced his justification. He had told ʿUthman to behave himself and to deny that he had killed the second man. ʿUthman came in to court singing: ‘I answer your summons as often as a donkey brays.’ He addressed al-Salih by a nickname and told the whole story, including the fact that Baibars had told him to deny it. The case was dismissed when it was shown that both the dead men were corrupt and that neither was a Muslim (1.277–281). Baibars was then appointed to check on the production of sugar and honey in the town of Banha, some twenty miles north of Cairo. There the superintendent, Sirhan, had arrested his predecessor, Sharaf al-Din, and charged him with multiple murder, but it turned out that this man had acted as Sirhan’s foster father, having rescued him as a small, naked boy. Baibars, on hearing the story, told Sharaf al-Din that he need have no fear. He then ordered ʿUthman to get a boat, big enough for four, in which he could sail to Banha, but ʿUthman threatened the captain and crew of the sultan’s dhahabīya, telling them that he wanted it for himself. When they said that they would need permission from the sultan or from the vizier Shahin, ʿUthman went to Shahin and told him about this, adding that as far as he was concerned the sultan and his vizier were of no more importance that a puff of wind. Shahin wrote a note to the captain of the dhahabīya ordering him to obey ʿUthman ‘even if you stay with him for a whole year’. He also provided

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100 mamluks, cooks and servants, and, prompted by ʿUthman, he confirmed that this was a gift. Baibars was astonished, but ʿUthman told him that he had a choice, either to stop asking questions or to be thrown into the river (1.281–291). On their way north they met a ship coming from Banha with a load of honey and sugar that Sirhan was sending to some of his friends. Baibars shouted to it, but the captain paid no attention until ʿUthman bared his head and called out: ‘I am ʿUthman’, at which he furled his sail. The cargo, in exchange for which Sirhan had wanted wine, was transferred to the dhahabīya and the crew were allowed to go (1.291–293). At Banha Baibars, with the help of ʿUthman and Sharaf al-Din, put an end to Sirhan’s dishonest practices and eventually arrested him. Baibars then wanted to send some purified sugar as a present to ‘my father, the vizier’. At Bulaq ʿUthman left the boat on which it was loaded, telling the captain to guard its cargo with his life. He got a terrified shop-keeper to supply him with 2,000 sheets of paper, as well as thread, which he used for wrapping up the sugar in twists, and he then took 1,000 cages from a bird-cage seller who, on seeing his face, said: ‘I’ll send you the bill later.’ More than forty porters lifted each cage and these were loaded on 500 camels and 500 donkeys. The procession moved off accompanied by singers and dancers, and, seeing this, the bemused Shahin expected to receive a huge quantity of sugar, only to find a miniscule quantity in each twist of paper. ʿUthman went back to tell Baibars that he had delivered the gift secretly lest anyone else object that he had not been given a present. When asked later why he had not used just two or three camels, he replied: ‘our Lord allows people to make a living from one another’ (1.293–303). Meanwhile Sirhan had appealed for help and was supported by the evil qadi, at this point known as Salah al-Din, who later, as Juwan, becomes the principal villain of the cycle. Four hashish-takers were bribed to give evidence as to the innocence of Sirhan and the depravity of Baibars and Sharaf al-Din. A messenger was sent to Banha to fetch Baibars, and ʿUthman killed his groom, explaining to Baibars that the man was a haidamī. ‘He wasn’t a Muslim then?’ Baibars asked. ‘Yes he was a Muslim, but he was one of the clan of Haidam’, ʿUthman told him. ‘What is Haidam?’ asked Baibars; ‘is it a fifth school of law?’ Baibars then arrested ʿUthman, who complained that he was acting treacherously and breaking his word. It later turned out that the dead groom had killed a woman who had resisted his advances, although no one knew of this at the time. ʿUthman addressed the qadi Salah al-Din as ‘son of a whore’, but al-Salih told Shahin to free him, saying: ‘he is a foolish man like me’ (1.305–314). The Kurds used to hold a spring festival at Giza during which the sultan shot at selected birds with clay pellets, the birds later being released unharmed. The significance of this is not explained in the text, but it may be assumed that

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success would be a good omen for the dynasty. The emirs had their tents pitched near by and Baibars told ʿUthman to pitch one ‘away from people, big enough for the two of us’. In fact, ʿUthman diverted 100 camels that were taking provisions to Shahin and the emir Aibak, and got them to fetch an enormous pavilion with 360 pillars that Baibars had taken from the Franks on his way to Egypt. He terrorised al-Salih’s servants into handing over the furnishings of his tent and, although Baibars ordered his own pavilion to be taken down again, ʿUthman threatened to kill anyone who laid a hand on it. He invited Baibars’ friends as well as his enemies, and when Baibars objected, he said that he could easily go back and tell them: ‘the soldier says: “go away” ’. Baibars had wanted to present his pavilion to al-Salih, but when he did al-Salih gave it back to him (1.315–322). ʿUthman had stolen five of the clay pellets that al-Salih was to use and he kept telling Baibars to shoot at birds at which al-Salih was aiming. Al-Salih was angry and ordered their execution, but at that point a slave-dealer arrived and told him that Baibars was the mamluk whom he had bought for him in Syria. Al-Salih then gave him an official appointment at his court and told him to move to the citadel. ʿUthman complained that the apartment given to them was dark and that they must ‘open a window in it, for light is better than darkness’. He struck at the wall and discovered a treasure with an inscription on it saying that it was reserved for Baibars. Baibars told him that treasure trove belonged to the sultan and asked him to keep the find secret, but next day ʿUthman told Baibars’ enemies, the qadi and Aibak. Baibars denied any knowledge of the treasure, saying that it was ʿUthman who had gone into the room. He was ordered to fetch ʿUthman, who told him to tell al-Salih to drop the matter or else face his vengeance, but Baibars coached him in what to say. In spite of that, he told al-Salih about the treasure chests, adding that Baibars had said: ‘the sultan will take them from us’. In fact, al-Salih gave them to Baibars. A faqih was employed to teach ʿUthman how to read. He got Baibars to write down a Quranic verse for him and Baibars told him: ‘I’m afraid that you have some ulterior motive.’ ʿUthman denied this and Baibars, being a guileless man, believed him (1.326–330). Jealous mamluks in the citadel had been stealing from the dishes that were being taken up to Baibars, and by way of revenge ʿUthman went to their room at night and stole their turbans. He met the auctioneer who had been in the habit of handling his booty and who had been out of work since he repented. The man told him that he had been over-hasty as there was no need to repent until the coming of Gog and Magog before the Last Trump. ʿUthman then gave him the turbans, which he sold to Shahin, telling him the story of what had happened, and ʿUthman used the money to buy food for Baibars. This process continued, with ʿUthman stealing from the mamluks and Shahin buying the stolen goods, until

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eventually they attacked ʿUthman as he was taking their furs and putting them on one after another until he looked like ‘an inflated water-skin’. When the matter was brought before al-Salih ʿUthman admitted the theft, which Baibars had told him to deny, and produced the Quranic verse written down for him by Baibars, which said that injury can be met with injury. Al-Salih noted that whoever disbelieves in anything found in the Quran disbelieves in God and ʿUthman ended by saying: ‘we didn’t see anything and we don’t know anything’. Al-Salih then told Baibars to move next door to his own quarters (1.331–340). Al-Salih came to visit Baibars in the evening and after a time ʿUthman told him: ‘go back to your own room and let us get some sleep’. Al-Salih went off, but was sent back by his wife Fatima who wanted to see Baibars. When he came he found Baibars reproaching ʿUthman for his rudeness, while ʿUthman ‘was paying no attention to him and answering no question’. ʿUthman threatened al-Salih and, when told that Fatima had asked for him, he exclaimed: ‘this is a disaster’. As he had feared, a rumour spread that al-Salih had taken Baibars as a lover (1.343–344). Some time later Baibars told ʿUthman to hold his horse while he went into a mosque to pray and when ʿUthman said that he too wanted to pray, he said: ‘you are a Shafiʿi and I am a Hanafi’. ʿUthman replied that he would be a Hanafi and Baibars could be a Shafiʿi ‘for today’, or else they could leave the horse and both go in, as if it went missing he could steal another. At that point a splendidly dressed scholar came out of the mosque, addressed ʿUthman as ‘my grandfather and the grandfather of my grandfather’, and was ordered to hold the horse. Baibars disapproved, but ʿUthman told him that this had been one of his men, ‘a scholar by day and a thief by night’. He then began to ask those who were leaving the mosque how many prostrations they had performed, charging them for each one and saying that those who had no money could sell their clothes. Baibars stopped him and handed back the clothes, saying that this kind of thing would keep worshippers from praying (1.357–358). An auctioneer now arrived to sell a house and although Baibars called to him four times and he had got no answer, when ʿUthman bared his head and shouted, his voice sounded like thunder in the man’s ears. The house was owned by four ladies, who asked whether it was the turban snatcher or the mamluk who wanted it, and when they heard the name of Baibars they agreed to sell. ʿUthman fetched a qadi, treating him as he had treated the qadi of Bulaq. Baibars fetched the original architect, who wanted ʿUthman to be sent away while he talked to Baibars, but ʿUthman agreed not to say anything about what he might learn. The architect then led Baibars to hidden chambers filled with treasures to be used for the jihad, and ʿUthman, who had been filling his pockets, was told that he could take what he wanted provided that he kept the discovery secret. He prayed that God might

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allow him to do this, but in spite of that he boasted to the qadi Salah al-Din about what had happened. Baibars told him to deny it and to say: ‘the qadi is a liar and we did not see anything’. In fact, he told al-Salih the full story and the treasures were given to Baibars (1.359–370). Al-Salih then told Baibars to invite him and his court to a feast and ʿUthman, whose every action, according to al-Salih, was acceptable, made sure that that the food presented to the qadi and his friends was inedible. The splendid plates from which the first group had eaten were sent to their homes, but the rest vanished (1.371–375). ʿUthman advised al-Salih to have Baibars construct a market and a city quarter of his own, for which he picked traders to run more than ninety shops, each being subsidised by Baibars. The qadi Salah al-Din, now shown to be a Christian, Juwan son of Asfut, complained to the wali who promised to burn the quarter down, enlisting the help of the villainous Muqallad, an old enemy of ʿUthman. This man proposed to send a gang to make a night attack, but ʿUthman was warned of this by a tailor who had overheard the conversation. He ordered the gate to be shut with the wicket being left open so that those coming in could be gagged and bound one at a time. They were all captured, but their leader, Harbash, was converted by Lady Zainab in a dream, and he and his men joined Baibars’ service (1.376–388). The next threat to the quarter came from the wali, who distressed the inhabitants with frivolous accusations, beating one of them for selling yellow butter from a white buffalo. When they complained that Baibars had failed to protect them, ʿUthman ordered his men to lock the gates after the wali had come in and to raise the death cry, pretending that he had died. They laughed while doing this and so he beat them to make them do better, while Baibars wept, clapped his hands together and fainted. At the ‘funeral’ the preacher, whose turban ʿUthman had once stolen, exclaimed ‘may God not forgive you’, at which the ‘corpse’ seized him by the throat and said: ‘God has restored me to life in order to punish you.’ On his orders the wali was stripped and beaten, after which he fell into a vat of indigo dye, was beaten again and mounted backwards on a horse with his whiskers tied to its tail. ʿUthman told Baibars that he had been brought back to life by God, that nothing had then happened and that no one had seen him beating the wali. Baibars advised him to deny having seen anything (1.389–396). Baibars and ʿUthman were then summoned to court and told that the wali was dead, having been killed, according to Salah al-Din, by ʿUthman. ʿUthman produced a decree that had forbidden any other officials from entering Baibars’ quarter and he told of the arson attack and of the beatings inflicted by the wali. He added that, if the wali was not dead, he would finish him off, and, drawing a knife, he struck him. The dying man called on the Messiah, and Salah al-Din

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confirmed that he must have been a Christian. Baibars was then appointed to his post. ʿUthman insisted on being given the title of ‘minor wali’, and arranged a procession to proclaim both appointments, paying cash to those who addressed him by his title and beating those who merely greeted him by name. It was one of his miracles that those to whom he gave money never afterwards became poor, while all those whom he beat turned out to have been suffering from some disease or defect which was promptly cured. This was attributed to Zainab who, rather than Nafisa, is now said to be ʿUthman’s patroness (1.397–403). Baibars was met by the unpaid servants of the dead wali, who had made their money from the underworld controlled by the villainous Muqallad. ʿUthman said: ‘let them enter the stables under the banner of ʿUthman’, and went with Baibars to Muqallad who, according to Harbash, knew everything that happened in ‘the world’. He told Baibars that if he arrested any criminals or prostitutes, he could take them to his home but must then release them. Muqallad visited Baibars and refused to leave his weapons behind when ordered to do so by ʿUthman. Later the child thieves were sent to school to learn the Quran, ‘thanks to its blessing and the blessing of lady Zainab and master ʿUthman’ (1.403–409). Baibars became embroiled with the merchants of Khan al-Sabil with whose management he had interfered. The shaikh of the khan, ʿAbd al-Latif, had objected, and against ʿUthman’s advice Baibars had guaranteed to make good any losses that occurred there. When the khan was then robbed, Baibars asked for a delay to track down the robber. Al-Salih said that he wanted to have a word with ʿUthman, who complained that Baibars had not listened to him and went on to tell Baibars that he must visit the shrine of Zainab, who was ‘the protectress of Cairo’. When he did, he was told by the saint in a dream to pay attention to what ʿUthman told him, and this made him realise that ʿUthman was a miracle worker (1.418–425). ʿUthman told him to fetch two visiting Ismaʿilis, each named Saqr, who had earlier helped him investigate the robbery, and they took up their position by the door of the khan. When a Maghribi went in with coral prayer beads and a blanket over his shoulder, ʿUthman told Baibars that this was the thief, but Baibars objected that there was no evidence against him and the man vanished. Baibars went back to Zainab’s shrine where she again told him in a dream to obey ʿUthman. ʿUthman was talking to Baibars’ horse, saying: ‘if you do what I tell you, I’ll give you more fodder’, and the two of them went back to the khan, where this time ʿUthman told him to arrest a saddler. Baibars asked why, and the man disappeared, leaving ʿUthman to say that if he disobeyed him again he would recover none of the money. On the third occasion, Baibars did arrest a passing faqih pointed out to him by ʿUthman, and the man was later forced to confess that he was a Christian who had come at the qadi’s summons.

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All the stolen goods were recovered, not even a needle or a thread being lost (1.425–432). On his way to dine with ʿAbd al-Latif, Baibars came across Muqallad carrying prayer beads, and claiming to have repented. Baibars told ʿUthman that he had become a saint, but ʿUthman retorted that were saintliness to be distributed by the acre Muqallad would have no piece of it, great or small. Meanwhile, ʿAbd al-Latif’s house had been attacked on Muqallad’s orders by bedouin disguised as Baibars and his followers. When Baibars got there and asked ʿUthman about this, ʿUthman said: ‘didn’t you hear? You struck ʿAbd al-Latif and took his fur mantle.’ The mother of a girl murdered by the robbers was instructed in a dream by Zainab to tell Baibars and ʿUthman that the leader of the robbers was Timraz the bedouin, who had acted on Muqallad’s orders. ʿUthman knew that Timraz’s camp was guarded by a dog whose barking would alert a formidable buffalo, but both were killed by the two Saqrs, after which Timraz and his men were seized. ʿUthman then went to Muqallad’s tower and used a thieves’ whistle call to have the door opened, after which Muqallad was arrested (1.437–445). The qadi then had the muhtasib (market superintendent) supplied with an irregular set of scales, which he used so as to accuse the shop-keepers in Baibars’ quarter of giving short measure. ʿUthman reddened his eyes with a salted onion, telling Baibars that he was afflicted by ‘the seven diseases’, and was left behind when Baibars went to al-Salih’s court. When the muhtasib entered the quarter the gates were shut behind him; he and his men were stripped and beaten and he was mounted backwards on his horse with his whiskers tied to its tail. ʿUthman told Baibars: ‘nobody came; we didn’t see anybody and if you don’t believe me, ask the people of the quarter’. He later told al-Salih what had happened and alSalih exclaimed that whoever had made the scales did not believe in God and His apostle. The muhtasib was pretending to be dead but, remembering what had happened to the wali, when he saw ʿUthman approaching him knife in hand, he jumped up, leaving al-Salih to exclaim: ‘praise be to God who gives life to bones!’ (1.451–459). Baibars was appointed muhtasib, and ʿUthman insisted on being ‘the minor muhtasib’. Aibak planned to have him attacked and killed in his own quarter but ʿUthman warned him, while saying that the ultimate responsibility rested with the qadi and not with Aibak. He split up eighty of his own men and eighty of Harbash’s followers dressed in various disguises, as refuse collectors, peasants, Jews, faqirs, etc., and placed them by the various shops, as a result of which the attacking mamluks were seized and beaten. They were then hung up with their weapons fixed to their noses (1.460–470). Two men, Hasan and Muhammad, arrived from Syria, ostensibly having been sent by Fatima al-Aqwasiya who had adopted Baibars when he was in

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Damascus. ʿUthman told Baibars that they were impostors and advised him not to pray with them. They opened a shop where they drugged visitors to the shrines of the family of the Prophet, and when a complaint was lodged before al-Salih, the qadi said that this was a task for Baibars. ʿUthman told him to question Hasan and Muhammad and when Baibars told him not to speak evil of them, he said: ‘go round the city yourself then’. Both he and the two Saqrs were kidnapped and ʿUthman went to tell al-Salih: ‘the soldier has gone up like smoke’. Al-Salih told him to meet him ‘in the shop that you and I know’, but ʿUthman got there first and was drugged. His captors tried to poison al-Salih, but he prayed to God and the glass containing the poison fell and broke. The prisoners were then freed (1.475–482). The qadi forged a letter in the trembling hand of al-Salih ordering the bedouin shaikh Khidr to kill the kāshif of Giza and plunder his house. His replacement was also to be killed, after which Khidr would be given the estates attached to the office. When al-Salih was told of the kāshif’s death he appointed Baibars to his post, and the story of ʿUthman’s procession and the miracles associated with it was repeated (1.486–491). ʿUqairib married the daughter of the local qadi, who had been rescued from Muqallad’s brother, and ʿUthman threatened to leave Baibars’ service unless he too was provided with a wife. He wanted a girl who could read and write and who had a green mole on her chin. His mother found that the description fitted the daughter of a former qadi of Giza, but when this man found that the prospective bridegroom was ʿUthman he promptly said: ‘I have no daughters.’ In spite of this the engagement was formalised, and both al-Salih and his wife Fatima attended the wedding. Baibars whispered to ʿUthman, ‘who told you to invite the sultan?’, and ʿUthman replied, ‘if you’re tired of him, I’ll tell him to get up and go’, and he also offered to drive away Fatima (1.496–502). Aibak was angered that there should be such celebrations for the wedding of a turban-thief. He complained to the qadi, who instructed two of his Rumi agents to kill ʿUthman and kidnap his wife. ʿUthman was with al-Salih or else the plan would have failed, but the Rumis, dressed as Muslims, mingled unnoticed with the crowd of servants and succeeded in drugging the bride and carrying her off in a sack. Both ʿUthman and Baibars were in tears, but next day ʿUthman reported that ‘something even worse’ had happened, as Baibars’ horses had been stolen. The two of them then met a man who had been told by Zainab in a dream that it was a bedouin named Khidr who had taken them. They went to Khidr’s camp and eventually struck him down and killed him, in spite of the fact that he had produced the forged letter, ostensibly sent by al-Salih, ordering him to kill the kāshif. ʿUthman then organised a procession with the heads of the thief and his men being carried on poles to the citadel. He went to al-Salih, and on being

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greeted he replied: ‘no greeting to you’, and produced the letter. Al-Salih denied having written it and cursed the man who had (1.503–512). Baibars was now put in charge of the Gharbiya district, with ʿUthman as his deputy. A merchant came to ask him to help him recover a debt and the debtor explained that he had been trying to pay it off in instalments but, as he had not been able to find the creditor, he had spent the money on himself. ʿUthman ordered the creditor to be imprisoned so that the debtor would know where to bring the money. Next day, on hearing the drums signalling Baibars’ arrival, he exclaimed: ‘we are deposed’ (1.517–519). Another bedouin chief, Najm, then duplicated the role played by Khidr in Giza in response to another forged letter. His men bored through the wall of Baibars’ stables and removed the horses. ʿUthman said that, although he was watching, he had not dared to say anything, and ‘when they had taken the lot they left without even saying goodbye’. He asked Baibars whether he should go and steal replacements, and then added that, as Baibars had no horses, he would no longer serve him. The two were eventually reconciled; Najm was later killed and al-Salih again denied having written the letter (1.522–532). Baibars had noted that both men and women had had to strip off clothes in order to cross the river by a certain ford and he decided to replace this with a bridge, although ʿUthman told him that ‘the masters of the land would not approve’. Dykes were used to block the flow of water so that the foundations could be laid, and stones were quarried from the mountains. ʿUthman repeated his warning, but Baibars told him; ‘the master of the land is al-Salih’. At the start of the second day’s work it was found that everything done the day before had been destroyed. Next day Baibars ordered ʿUthman ‘and all the grooms’ to stay on guard, but at dawn a man carrying a club over his shoulder came and pointed at the work, which collapsed. On being told of this, Baibars said that they should have stopped him at the first stroke, but ʿUthman explained that ‘he neither struck nor spoke’. When Baibars kept watch, he found himself transported to an unknown valley, where he took refuge in a tree beneath which chairs had been set out. Here a group of saints gathered, led by Ahmad al-Badawi, and the hand of al-Salih removed Baibars from his tree to stand in front of him. Ahmad was told that ‘the masters of the land’ were believing jinn who lived by the ford, and he arranged for them to move under the lintel of a shrine that was to be built for him. Baibars was then instructed to lead the saints in prayer and behind him he heard a voice which he recognised as that of ʿUthman. On his return ʿUthman told him what he had been doing and added that ‘this world is no more than one step for a feeble man’ (1.534–542). Baibars was then promoted to a higher rank, but, on hearing the noise of pipes and drums, he asked what was happening and was told that the sultan had sent as

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the new governor, a Turk who could not speak Arabic. He assumed that the man had come to depose him, and kissed his hand, but although he used both Persian and Turkish, he got no reply. The man then turned out to be ʿUthman (1.544–545). Baibars had another meeting with Ahmad al-Badawi who adopted him as a son. ‘You’re in love with him, baldy’, exclaimed ʿUthman, only to be struck down by a gesture from the saint. When he recovered he became the quṭb (pivotal saint) of his age and Ahmad’s shrine was completed with the help of his fellow saints (1.545–546). A number of minor episodes follow. In the first of these Baibars told ʿUthman to get him a drink from a water jug beside the road. ʿUthman told him that the owner was a miser who would not agree to this, and when Baibars insisted and ʿUthman filled a jug, it was found to be empty when it was handed to Baibars and had to be filled with gold before he could drink from it. ʿUthman and the two Saqrs then captured a ‘ghūl’ with an insatiable appetite, who turned out to be a young man under a curse. In spite of a warning from ʿUthman, Baibars was kidnapped by a thief who could steal kohl from the eyes and who used a drugged mantle to make him unconscious, but who was later killed by a snake (1.547–554). Yet another forged letter, this time with a forged seal, was used to tell Baibars to put himself under arrest and to go with the messenger, Qaraju, to the sultan’s court. ʿUthman warned him that Qaraju was one of the qadi’s associates and said that he would be killed, but instead he was sent to Cairo to check whether the message was genuine. He brought back a letter saying that Baibars could kill Qaraju, but on the way his horse dropped dead. ʿUthman had it washed, shrouded and buried and came to Baibars in tears. He was told to treat Qaraju well, but instead had him beaten to death (1.558–561). Baibars was sent with Aibak to meet an attack by Hulaʾun on Aleppo. His horse was found pawing the ground, a good omen which led to the discovery of guns, gunpowder, rustless swords and other military stores. When they reached Syria, Aibak treacherously withdrew his men and sent a messenger to Hulaʾun. This man was intercepted by ʿUthman and when it emerged that the letter suggested that the bearer should be killed, he joined Baibars’ service. Aibak hoped to plunder Baibars’ camp, but was driven back by ʿUthman and ʿUqairib, after which ʿUthman ordered the pipes and flutes to play while his men sang and danced (1.567–2.9). Juwan/the qadi Sharaf al-Din bribed one of his agents, Zuhair, to kidnap and then kill Baibars. ʿUthman appears to have had a premonition of danger and asked to be allowed to stay with him on the night of the attempt, but Baibars sent him away, and he left, calling on Zainab for help. Baibars was rescued by an unknown rider, whom ʿUthman falsely claimed to be ʿUqairib, adding

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accurately that Juwan was the qadi Sharaf al-Din. Baibars refused to believe him (2.21–24). Zuhair’s brother, Kufair, came to reconnoitre Baibars’ pavilion and again ʿUthman failed to persuade him to sit and talk with him – ‘I want to sleep’ – but this time ʿUthman intercepted and killed the would-be attacker. Baibars, seeing the apparent Muslim lying dead, thought that he must have been one of the qadi’s servants who had lost his way among the tents and suggested that he had better be buried in the desert before dawn. Instead, ʿUthman dragged the corpse by the leg, leaving a trail of blood to the qadi’s tent, where he told it: ‘this is your relative’s tent; stay with him and don’t come back’. When the qadi discovered it, he had it taken to Baibars’ tent, only for it to be dragged to and fro until ʿUthman exclaimed: ‘this is the third time and I shan’t let you get away with it’. He beat the corpse, for ‘leaving its own people’, and was taken before al-Salih, where Baibars gestured to him to say nothing. Instead, he told the whole story, after which the dead man was discovered to have been a Christian (2.25–26). Baibars was again kidnapped by robbers and rescued by the unknown rider, who charged a fee for his services. ʿUthman knew about this and described the rider as ‘a very greedy man’. When asked how he had found out about the episode, he said: ‘a little bird told me’. He again insisted that the man was ʿUqairib, and was cursed by Baibars (2.30–32). Michael, the emperor of Byzantium, was kidnapped on the orders of al-Salih, but as he was being taken back through Syria he vanished and ʿUthman, in tears, volunteered to fetch someone else. The kidnapper turned out to be Sulaiman alJamus, an Ismaʿili war leader, who said that he was afraid that Baibars would be attacked by enemies, presumably Aibak or Juwan, and so had taken Michael for safe-keeping. The same episode was repeated with six more Ismaʿili chieftains (2.46–55). Miriam, the daughter of the king of Genoa, wanted to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and Baibars was asked to arrange for her to be escorted by the Ismaʿili leader, Maʿruf, ‘the sultan of the castles’. He went with ʿUthman to the castle of Sahyul and told ʿUthman to wait outside with his horse. ʿUthman, however, insisted on going in and, when Maʿruf stayed silent, he addressed him ‘in the language of the grooms’, introducing himself as ‘the man who used to steal turbans in Cairo’. Maʿruf told them to leave and ʿUthman threw down the box that he was carrying containing the money that Maʿruf was to be paid and was now scattered in the middle of the court. After they left the castle ʿUthman twice complained to Baibars that he was hungry, and when he was told that he could eat stones or lumps of earth, he threw a clod at Baibars and had to be rescued from him by another unknown horseman, who this time turned out to be Maʿruf.

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Maʿruf apologised and remarked that ʿUthman could say what he liked as he was ‘a great saint’ (2.61–72). Miriam was converted to Islam and married Maʿruf. Baibars was instructed to bring both of them to al-Salih, and ʿUthman told him to bring them as a present a child’s dress, which Miriam was to keep with her, sleeping or waking. She was later kidnapped and taken back to Genoa. Baibars was sent to Alexandria to investigate a series of thefts and when, after being kidnapped, he recognised the qadi as superintending the robbers, he regretted not having believed ʿUthman who had told him that this was Juwan. ʿUthman tried without success to prevent Baibars being taken on board ship and eventually returned to al-Salih, threatening to strike him if he did not come immediately. They both waded into the sea, with ʿUthman insisting on going alone rather than taking al-Salih’s hand, and after they had written two messages on the bark of the palm that had bowed down before the Prophet, they were taken on a galleon to Genoa, where Baibars was freed (2.88–132). After his return al-Salih fell ill and on his death-bed he asked for ‘his brother’ ʿUthman’s blessing. ʿUthman said: ‘I ask God the Generous, the Lord of the Great Throne, to allow your soul to leave now’, at which al-Salih, whose body was ‘lighter than an ostrich feather’, died peacefully. ʿUthman was sent to fetch his successor, Turanshah, whom he found sitting under a tree drinking wine. When he invited ʿUthman to join him, ʿUthman said that his repentance covered everything except būza, and when Turanshah told him that būza and wine were the same thing, he drank. Later Shahin smelt the wine on his breath and beat him but forgot to tell Baibars, who beat him again (2.145–152). Aibak, who had been sent to fetch Baibars, was insulted by ʿUthman and complained: ‘you are teaching me buffoonery, you dog’. Eventually, Shahin came, and when he explained that he had forgotten to tell Baibars that he had already beaten ʿUthman, ʿUthman had him seized and was about to beat him when Baibars arrived and reconciled the pair (2.153–154). The scene in which ʿUthman tries to get Baibars to stay awake one night is repeated with a new kidnapper, Kanf, and again the unknown rescuer was identified by ʿUthman as ʿUqairib. He was drugged by Kanf’s brother, Nahid, and in his absence a number of emirs tried to plunder his tent. ʿUthman armed the servants and the mamluks and, on seeing their danger, the emirs explained that they had come to enquire after ‘our master’. They then proposed to induce the bedouin to attack, and ʿUthman, warned of this by a spy, offered the servants of the emirs double wages to join him, saying that if any of their masters said ‘one little word’ to them, they would be beaten. Both Kanf and Nahid were later executed (2.181–187). When Aibak came to power it was suggested that Baibars should have a

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house built for him near the citadel, and ʿUthman volunteered to act as architect and overseer. He constructed a court room and a throne like those of Aibak, and installed four large cannons, one aimed at Aibak’s throne, the second at the stair head, the third at the sitting room and the fourth at the latrine. A document was drawn up consigning ownership of the house to scholars, descendants of the caliph ʿAli, saints, such as Ahmad al-Badawi, and the poor. Aibak, alarmed by the cannons, ordered the house to be demolished, but those who were due to benefit from it threatened to retaliate by pulling the citadel down on his head. Baibars was angry with ʿUthman, but ʿUthman said that if he raised any objections he would demolish the house himself and Baibars was afraid that he meant what he said. ʿUthman then diverted to it those officials and religious scholars who should have attended Aibak’s court, and they told him that if he wanted to depose Aibak they would be willing to do that. Baibars, helped by ʿUthman, went on to settle a number of difficult cases (2.191–202). Baibars moved to Syria where, against the advice of the Ismaʿilis, he insisted on taking his horses and cattle to a valley surrounded by Frankish castles. He divided his force in two and, while he was scouting with half of them, his camp was attacked and plundered. ʿUthman kept complaining of the loss of his chest and of ʿUqairib’s donkey in order to distract Baibars from his own losses, and when the survivors complained of hunger, Baibars could do no more than to tell them to go to ʿUthman. For three days ʿUthman fed them miraculously by breaking up three biscuits that he had once stolen from al-Salih, and when there was nothing left he went to Aleppo in order to sell a belt taken from the house that Baibars had bought in Cairo. The auctioneer thought that he looked like a thief, but the belt was bought for 1,000 dinars by a man who had been told by Lady Nafisa in a dream to do this and to hand it back to ʿUthman and then to repeat the process once more. The man left for the Hijaz, and it was his son who bought the belt one last time, asking for ʿUthman’s blessing as he did so (2.209–212). Baibars, who had by then met his future wife, Taj Bakht, sent ʿUthman to invite the Ismaʿilis to his wedding, instructing him to say nothing of the losses that he had suffered. In fact, ʿUthman told the whole story to Sulaiman alJamus, and later with his help the Franks were defeated and the booty recovered. ʿUqairib’s donkey turned out to have only one eye and no tail, while ʿUthman’s chest contained nothing but rubbish (2.216–219). Baibars’ father-in-law died while Taj Bakht was pregnant and Baibars told ʿUthman to see that the news did not reach her. ʿUthman had a tomb built, ordered forty faqihs to circumambulate it and had cries of lamentation raised. When he heard that Baibars was coming back, he told ʿUqairib to clear everything away, but Taj Bakht told her husband that she was grateful to ʿUthman for what he had done (2.219–220).

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ʿUthman told Sulaiman al-Jamus that there should be a new coinage minted, heavier than that of Aibak. He took 30,000 of these dinars to Shahin in Egypt, who passed 10,000 of them to the bankers, telling them that they had been in circulation for more than a year, and he entrusted another 10,000 to Fatima, the widow of al-Salih, now married to Aibak, for distribution among the wives of the emirs. ʿUthman took a box full of gold to Aibak, who told him to go away and refused to accept it. ʿUthman broke open the box and the emirs picked up the contents, after which no one would use Aibak’s coinage (2.222–227). Baibars was installed as ruler of Syria and the Ismaʿilis sent Aibak a threatening letter in his name, addressing him as ‘the goatherd of Mosul’. ʿUthman refused to carry it and it was taken instead by Sulaiman al-Jamus, who demanded and received from Aibak 5,000 dinars for its delivery (2.228–229). When Baibars was about to return to Egypt, he sent on Taj Bakht with an escort of 1,000 mamluks, together with Idmur and ʿUthman. They were intercepted by Franks from al-ʿArish, and after the mamluks had been killed ʿUthman took to his heels, calling on Nafisa for help. Taj Bakht was rescued by an unknown rider, who demanded 10,000 dinars, and when Baibars asked ʿUthman about his flight, he replied: ‘to run away is half the art of shrewdness’ (2.247–251). Baibars was then installed as sultan. At the start of his reign he was confronted with a man who had been accused of murdering the sister of a pair of merchants. He was about to be executed when he was released by ʿUthman and turned out to be the son of the man who had paid for the belt that Baibars had sold in Aleppo. It emerged that he had been falsely accused by the woman’s brothers (2.255–279). This does not mark the end of ʿUthman’s appearances in the text, but as his importance is subordinated to that of Shiha, further references to his relatively minor actions are included in the account of Shiha, being introduced with an asterisk. It is clear that ʿUthman can be listed only by extension as a Man of Wiles. Like Kulaib and Abu Zaid he relies on force and fear rather than on drugs and disguise. He is, however, the servant of the major hero, in this case Baibars, who, like ʿUmar in the Sirat Hamza, advises his master and quarrels with him when his advice is ignored. More importantly, he embodies a paradox found throughout these texts in that, for all his fragmentary knowledge of Islam and his un-Islamic lifestyle, he is accepted as a major saint and a miracle-worker.

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Section 2: Shiha

The second Man of Wiles in the Sirat Baibars takes over as the principal opponent of the villain Salah al-Din/Juwan, and makes his first appearance when attention is still centred on ʿUthman and Juwan is being warned by his assistant, Burtuqush, that according to the prophetic book, the Kitab al-Yunan, an Arab called Shiha would be responsible for his death. Shiha had an anonymous role in the kidnapping of the Emperor Michael, when it was forecast that the victory of Islam would come about at his hands. Then, when Baibars was being held prisoner in Genoa, the Ismaʿilis went with al-Salih and ʿUthman to try to rescue him. Their leaders climbed one by one into the city but were captured by Shiha in various disguises, such as that of a maid, a boy, a monk and a priest. When al-Salih arrived, having miraculously split the city wall, Shiha told him that he wanted ‘these men to obey me’, but the Ismaʿilis were indignant, partly because he was only a small man. Shiha proposed to give each of them three strokes with his whip and if they did not cry out he would have no claim on them. They all failed the test and al-Salih said that he should be accepted as the lieutenant of the captured Ismaʿili leader, Maʿruf (2.46–133). Shiha was asked for his story and he told of how, before the coming of the Prophet, there had been a wise man named Yunan who had ruled over the jinn. The jinn used to fly up to heaven to listen to the angels and they had learnt of the mission of the Prophet and of ‘the noble men known as the sons of Ismaʿil’. These would be opposed by Juwan, one of Yunan’s own race, and in order to protect him, Yunan had all the traps that could serve to harm the Muslims inscribed in Greek on sheets of gold. Yunan’s son was later converted to Islam and he had recorded on silver sheets the ways in which these traps could be circumvented (2.133–134).

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The book, known as the Kitab al-Yunan, passed into the hands of Juwan’s uncle, and Juwan climbed into his room where he read the gold pages but not the silver. He had seen that he was destined to be killed by an Arab from Gaza named Shaʿban, and he had gone round the schools there until he had come across Shiha, whose real name was Shaʿban and whose lineage could be traced back to Noah. He kidnapped him, but had been persuaded by Burtuqush not to kill him immediately and to use him as a donkey-boy. Shiha was amazed by Juwan’s knowledge of the future, and on being shown the book by Burtuqush he read it four times. The ‘servant of the book’, presumably a jinni, presented him with a whip, a dagger, ‘a box of tricks’ and a robe to be used for disguises. He opened another door in the room where the book was kept and found himself faced by a poison sea, across which he was carried in a bronze ship to Genoa (2.135–138). The king of Genoa had summoned Juwan to bring his dead son, Junaid, back to life. Juwan had supposed that Shiha was dead and, on finding him in Genoa and noting his resemblance to Junaid, he gave him two pills, one to make him unconscious for twenty-four hours and the other to be placed under his tongue which would revive him when it melted. He was then put into the grave of Junaid, whose remains were thrown into the sea, and when the grave was opened Juwan half recognised him and asked Burtuqush, ‘isn’t this Shaʿban?’ Burtuqush pointed out that if he said anything, after having claimed the boy to be Junaid, he would be executed. Juwan then left for Egypt. The city was sacked after Shiha had killed the guards, put the guns out of action and opened the gates. Baibars, who had been released from prison, whispered to Shiha that he would become a sultan, adding, ‘but don’t take power without my permission’ (2.138–144). Baibars, when kidnapped by Nahid, the brother of Kanf, threatened him with the Ismaʿilis and with Shiha, ‘whom mothers use to quieten their children’, and Nahid said that he would not kill him until he had seized ‘these monkeys, the children of Ismaʿil, and the little man’. He managed to drug and capture a number of Ismaʿilis, but on the morning of their execution their gaoler told them to ‘go about their business’. He turned out to be Shiha, who then killed Nahid and Kanf when they refused conversion to Islam, and, after having flayed their corpses, he hung the skins stuffed with straw over the castle gate (2.185–187). During the attack on al-ʿArish, Baibars swam round to approach the city from the sea, claiming to be a flying saint. He captured a number of emirs and Ismaʿilis in order to bring them into the castle, but Juwan recognised him and told the Frankish king to drug his food. A voice warned Baibars not to eat and this turned out to be that of Shiha, who had read of the danger in the Kitab al-Yunan. Shiha had slipped in when the gate-keeper had gone out leaving the gate unlocked and had then drugged and killed him. Dressed in his clothes and carrying his keys he captured both Burtuqush and Juwan and released the

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Muslim prisoners, but when the castle fell he was discovered tied to a pillar dripping blood and with his whip lying on the ground. In fact, he had been seized by Juwan’s servant, and Juwan, Burtuqush and Franjil, the king of al-ʿArish, had escaped (2.252–256). When Baibars moved against Ascalon Shiha entered the place disguised as a doctor. The king’s daughter was suffering from cancer and had been told in a dream that the new doctor would cure her and that she would become a Muslim and marry him. Shiha said that he was ʿAbd al-Ahad from Gaza, but she told him his real name, recited the confession of faith and told him that she was to be his wife. The marriage was consummated and he operated on her skull to remove the cause of the cancer, applying remedies which cured her. Later she warned Shiha that reinforcements were on their way to help her father and he left to warn Baibars to intercept them. He had sent his bride off to Gaza but she was captured by a Christian leader, who was terrified to hear that she was Shiha’s bride and said that he would keep her in his castle until he came for her (2.257–263). Shiha then moved to Jaffa pretending to be a refugee from Ascalon, and there he excited the lust of a homosexual inn-keeper. He drugged and killed the man, before taking his identity. This was followed by a second wedding, as the man’s daughter had been told by al-Salih in a dream that she would marry Shiha. She identified him and told him that she had become a Muslim, at which he told her to prove her sincerity by killing her mother, which she did. He next killed the gaoler and released four Muslims to witness the wedding (2.264–265). Baibars moved against Jaffa where one of Juwan’s followers, Kufair, managed to capture a number of Muslim emirs. With forty others, disguised as Muslims, Kufair went out at night to raid Baibars’ camp and was confronted by a Maghribi sitting by himself and looking out at ‘the mountain’. This man told him that he had come in search of a treasure and Kufair said that he and his men would share it with him. They entered a cave, but there the Maghribi scattered drugged incense and then killed them all, turning out to be Shiha. Juwan shuddered when he saw the gaoler responsible for the Muslims who had already been captured, saying that he was Shiha. Burtuqush dismissed this as nonsense and the king of Jaffa pointed out that the man had been in his service for over twenty years (2.267–269). An Ismaʿili, Fakhr al-Din Hasan, returned from an unproductive search for Maʿruf to be told that Shiha had been appointed ‘sultan of the castles’ by Baibars. He was welcomed by Baibars, but when he asked for the sultanate to be transferred to him, Baibars challenged him to capture Jaffa. He climbed into the city, but was recognised and captured by Juwan. On being beaten by the gaoler, he called to ‘the sultan of the castles’ for help, and the gaoler revealed himself

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as Shiha. Juwan was captured, but later released; the guards were killed and the city fell (2.269–271). A message was sent to Baibars from Shiha to tell him that Juwan had gone to Tiberias and had incited King Tabari to attack ‘the lands of Islam’. Baibars was approached by Ibrahim al-Haurani, the ‘unknown rider’ who had rescued him on seven occasions and who now wanted to be appointed ‘sultan of the castles’. This horrified Ibrahim’s father, who told him that Shiha was not only Baibars’ ‘brother’, but a saint as well. He admitted that Shiha was not a fighter or a skilled rider, adding, ‘were you to walk beside him you would find that his head only came up to your chest’, but in whatever place his name was mentioned he would be there and ‘he can look like your mother, sister, son or daughter’. Baibars pointed out that he was ‘a master of wiles’, but agreed that, were Ibrahim to capture Tiberias, he would deserve the sultanate (2.290–292). Ibrahim in disguise climbed into the city and, being hungry, he went to the shop of a pastry-cook. The first three dinars that he produced turned out to be of brass rather than gold, but the cook supplied him with a pastry, three mouthfuls of which led him to collapse. When he regained his senses the cook told him that he knew that he had wanted to kill him and that he had seen from his eyes that ‘you are a treacherous thief’. Ibrahim decided to test the claim that Shiha would come when called, and it was then that the cook turned out to be Shiha. He offered to resign the sultanate to Ibrahim if he could endure three blows from his whip without crying out, saying that God would be the guarantor of his promise. Ibrahim failed the test and then offered to become Shiha’s partner in the shop: ‘you can do the selling and I’ll take the money’ (2.292–294). Al-Buntuqush told Juwan that he had seen Ibrahim and Shiha acting as pastry-cooks, and Juwan gave orders that their heads be brought to him. In fact, the wrong men were killed and Shiha sent Ibrahim to tell Baibars that the city gates would be opened at midnight. He then drugged a slave-girl and disguised himself as her, using a pill which gave him female breasts and long black hair. Burtuqush kissed ‘her’ hand and, although Juwan shuddered, Tabari said that he had known her since her childhood. The three of them were then drugged and put in a sack, after which the guards were killed, the gates were opened and the town fell (2.296–298). Shiha proposed to make a tour of the castles to make sure that his name had been inscribed on their walls as a token of allegiance. Ibrahim warned him of Maʿruf’s sister, the Lioness, who held Sahyul and who ruled ‘the castles of the Muslims and of the Christians’. She ate two sheep a day and no man could face her in battle. Shiha went first to Ibrahim’s castle in Hauran, where he was given an ivory throne on which his name was engraved, but his men refused to inscribe it on their daggers until he had ‘finished with’ the Lioness, who was insisting

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that, present or absent, her brother Maʿruf was still sultan. Shiha drugged her cook and made her ill with the food he cooked for her. She said that, were she cured, she would obey Shiha, but when he had treated her with mint-flavoured water and she had recovered, she refused to keep her word. Shiha told her, ‘the fact that you have changed your mind makes me fearful for you’, and the process was repeated until she swore by ‘the greatest name of God’, an oath that he knew she would not break. He wrote to tell Ibrahim that he was acting as Maʿruf’s deputy and the Lioness told him that Shiha was a saint. He asked Shiha what he had done with her, and Shiha replied: ‘whoever obeys God is obeyed by everything’ (2.300–306). Shiha had now to deal with al-ʿAsi, an enemy of the Lioness. Disguised as a servant he went to him with a letter from her in which she asked him to come with her messenger in order to be present when she fought Shiha, after which she would appoint him as her brother’s deputy in his absence. Shiha told al-ʿAsi that his name was Time’s Disaster and added: ‘go as you want and when you reach the head of the wady, call me and you will find me in front of you’. They spent the night in a cave, but by morning two of al-ʿAsi’s enemies, both idolaters, had brought up 20,000 men to cut him off. Shiha drugged him, blocked up the cave and made his way into the enemy camp where he drugged and kidnapped the two enemy leaders, one after the other, before killing them after they had refused to accept Islam and flaying their bodies. He returned to the cave and told al-ʿAsi to go out and fight next day, but instead the leaderless army came to ask for quarter. Later, when Shiha told him what he had done, al-ʿAsi said: ‘I am your servant’ (2.307–312). Shiha moved to Antioch where Juwan had been inciting the king to avenge his son, whom the Muslims had killed. When Baibars arrived with his army, Juwan managed to introduce into their ranks one of his own men disguised as an Ismaʿili who had been killed. After a series of successes he managed to kidnap Baibars, but he was intercepted and wounded before he could bring him to Juwan. Shiha then arrived and told Baibars, who had stood up to greet him, what had really happened. He asked for a picked force of twenty men and promised to open the city gates by dawn. The Muslim attack was successful, but when Baibars sent to have Juwan and the king fetched together with Shiha from the city’s monastery, only Shiha was found, bleeding and beaten (2.317–325). He told Baibars how he had entered the monastery and killed the old whitebearded Patriarch whose form he had then assumed. Juwan had suspected him, but the king said that the Patriarch had brought up his father and his grandfather, and Burtuqush, who had recognised Shiha, did not give him away. He challenged Juwan to produce ‘flying saints’, and when none came he called his own men, but as he was on the point of final success he succumbed to drugged smoke and fell unconscious (2.326–327).

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Having recovered, he left to pursue Juwan and sent another message from Sis, where Juwan had gone for refuge to its king, Fransis. The message was carried by an Ismaʿili named al-ʿAsab, who had been searching for Maʿruf and had been indignant to find that Shiha had replaced him. On his way back he met a Maghribi in a cave and offered to help when the man told him that he was searching for a treasure. He had then been drugged and the man had later revealed himself as Shiha. He had refused to submit unless he was defeated in a contest of trickery and this started when he went to a wine shop in Antioch, where Shiha had killed the owner and taken his place. Al-ʿAsab was drugged again and then exclaimed: ‘I thought that the whole world was Shiha.’ Shiha continued to get the better of him disguised, first, as a camel driver, then as a dervish and then as a fish-monger. He was trapped in a deserted monastery when a marble slab gave way under his feet, and the seventh and final round of the contest ended when he was drugged by Shiha disguised as a weeping boy. It was after this that he took the message to Baibars, who told him that there would never be anyone to match Shiha (2.327–330). Ibrahim al-Haurani was sent to Fransis with a letter from Baibars and refused to leave his court until he had been paid. A fight started and Shiha had to remove Ibrahim, pay him what he had demanded from Fransis and tend his wounds. Ibrahim told him that he would go back to Baibars, but, in fact, he returned to Fransis to ask for his fee. ‘Why are you so greedy?’ Shiha asked, and the episode keeps on being repeated until eventually Ibrahim got what he wanted. Later Shiha disguised himself as a servant, whom he had killed, disposed of the guards and opened the gates, after which the city fell. Baibars told Shiha to beat Juwan but then to let him go, which he did, although he flayed one of Juwan’s men who had refused conversion to Islam (2.330–340). Hasan al-Nasr, another Ismaʿili who had been searching for Maʿruf, returned and was told that the new sultan of the castles was a man ‘who could not ride a donkey’. On learning that this ‘sultan’ had been appointed by Baibars, he said: ‘I don’t know him’, and added ‘the sultan is deposed.’ He told al-ʿAsab, his nephew, to fetch Shiha and on his way al-ʿAsab met a ‘faqir’ with a jug and a drum. He took the man to Hasan who asked him whether he was Shiha, to which the faqir said ‘yes’, adding: ‘I recognise that you are worthy of the sultanate.’ Later, on being asked whether Shiha had sworn by ‘the greatest name’ to abdicate, he said ‘no’, and was told that Shiha had been laughing at him. He had him imprisoned and beaten, after which Shiha used three pills to produce a twentyfour-hour simulated death, and put three more under his tongue to melt and so provide the antidote. Hasan beat the ‘corpse’, but when there were no signs of life it was taken to a grave in an orchard. The revived Shiha later made off among the trees, before returning to the castle and kidnapping Hasan (2.341–345).

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Hasan was told that were he to obey Shiha he would be forgiven, but he refused ‘ever to serve a little man’. Shiha then came across a working party, led by a Christian monk, transporting marble to be used in the construction of a new monastery in the city of Qaiqul. He killed the monk and took his place, telling the workmen that Hasan would claim that he was Shiha, which he did. He later flew into Qaiqul using a robe that had been made for him by Yunan and blowing on a brass trumpet that produced sparks. He warned the king that Hasan would slander ‘the Patriarch ʿIsa’ and ‘if you believe him, I will come down to you and burn your city’. Hasan was beaten again, forced to wear a heavy suit of iron and made to work on the building site (2.346–349). Shiha himself told the king that the Messiah had instructed him to go to Jerusalem, and then, after using another pill which gave him long nails and ‘horrible hair’, he took a letter from Hasan to his father, Ajbar. In this Hasan said that the bearer would be Shiha, who was to be seized and tortured, but when Ajbar told his men to fetch him, he had vanished. The Ismaʿilis had heard of Shiha’s ‘death’ and said that they would have to consult Ibrahim. In the middle of Baibars’ court a note dropped onto his thigh and this turned out to be a message from Shiha saying that he was teaching Hasan manners and threatening anyone who tried to help him. Baibars led his men to Qaiqul, where the first to climb into the city were Sulaiman al-Jamus and his son, both of whom were drugged by a boy who had thrown a stone at them. When they recovered they told their captor that they would call on Shiha, and when they did he revealed himself and told them that they would have to work on the new building. He went on capturing Muslims until only Baibars and Ibrahim were left, and Baibars said to Ibrahim: ‘I am the first to obey him and you are not greater than me’ (2.349–353). Shiha then threatened the two of them and after they had worked all day, in the evening Baibars asked him to release Hasan. Shiha insisted that Hasan would have to obey him, but Hasan again refused and Baibars exclaimed: ‘he knows nothing!’ Eventually, Ibrahim won him over by telling him that ‘the little man will make you better than you were before’. Shiha did this with a special ointment and he then seized the Christian king, who agreed to pay tribute to Baibars (2.355–356). After Shiha had arranged for the fall of another castle, that of Manfred, he was faced with yet another Ismaʿili, Hasan al-Bashashati, who had returned from searching for Maʿruf. He had seen Shiha’s name and his throne and had laughed to hear that this was the new sultan, saying that he himself would take the post and buy mamluks whom he would make rulers of Egypt and Syria. Baibars was in Syria at the time and Hasan arrived and tried to kill him while he slept, only to be foiled when he was woken by the hand of al-Salih (2.368–371).

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*At this point the earlier Man of Wiles, ʿUthman, is reintroduced to play an important role. He arrived and told Baibars that al-Salih ‘does not abandon you in life or in death’, and when asked how he knew about what had happened, he said that ʿUqairib had told him. He then told Baibars that, in his flight, Hasan had stolen his black stallion, but that he would replace it with one that was even better. Baibars wrote to Hasan to say that if he could get the better of Shiha, the sultanate would be transferred to him. The letter was taken to Hasan by ʿUthman, who introduced himself as ‘the father of the ʿayyārs of Cairo’ and demanded his journey money. He was seized and Hasan was about to strike him with his dagger when his sister, ʿAyesha, arrived and told him that she had known ʿUthman for a long time and that he was a saint. When Hasan refused to free him, she struck him with the flat of her sword and told ʿUthman to leave, after which he went back to Baibars (2.371–375). ʿAyesha herself went to Tripoli where she joined a beautiful Muslim convert in running a wine shop and killing its customers, while Hasan had also gone to the town in order to fight the Muslims. Ibrahim and his cousin Saʿd arrived and were drugged and captured in the wine shop. At this news Shiha went there in disguise and on being given a drugged glass by ʿAyesha, he told her to drink it herself or else he would go to the king. When ʿAyesha asked how he knew what was in the glass, he addressed her by name and said: ‘that is my profession’. She asked if he was the sultan of the castles, and then kissed his hand (2.376–380). When Hasan entered the shop he too was drugged, and after his recovery Shiha asked for his allegiance. He again refused and Shiha offered to resign if he could endure three strokes of his whip. At the first of these he cried out, telling Shiha that the whip must be poisoned, to which Shiha replied: ‘no; the poison is in the fingers’. It was then that Hasan agreed to submit to him and the city gates were opened for Baibars (2.381–382). Baibars had an ill-omened dream, but could not remember what it had been. He told Ibrahim and Saʿd to find someone who could not only remind him of the dream, but also interpret it. Ibrahim was directed by an elderly and divorced wife to her ex-husband on whom she was trying to get her own back. The man met Shiha in a mosque and told him his story, at which Shiha said that he must alarm Ibrahim and Saʿd, make Baibars rise from his throne and then tell him: ‘it is only my muleteer who can interpret this’. The man came out of the mosque muttering over his prayer beads, and Ibrahim, convinced that jinn must have approached him, told Saʿd that he was afraid of them. The man told Baibars that he would not interpret the dream until he was treated with respect, at which Baibars got up and changed places with him. The ‘muleteer’ was summoned but had vanished, and it was then that Shiha came in with a splendid escort and told Baibars

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that this had been he. It turned out that he had known about the dream and its interpretation from the Kitab al-Yunan (2.387–395). The dream foretold a dangerous expedition to Rome, which was then undertaken by Ibrahim, and at the end of it he fell apparently fatally wounded on the field of battle. Baibars and Saʿd went in disguise and entered a cook shop where they heard Ibrahim’s voice coming from a large chest. The cook told them to eat up and go, after which they were drugged. On recovering, Baibars called on Shiha’s name, and Shiha, again playing the role of cook, went on to warn him that Juwan had laid a powder mine with which he was planning to destroy the Muslim army. Ibrahim’s sister, Fatima, was summoned and told not to open the chest for seven months, seven weeks, seven hours and seven minutes. Shiha told her that it contained his ‘old soul’, explaining that he had two and, when one was tired, ‘I take it off and put on the other.’ The mine was then exploded, killing a number of Christians, and thirty-six of their kings were drugged and captured by Shiha (2.395–451). Ibrahim was prematurely released by Fatima from his chest and, as his wounds soon broke open again, he had to be treated by two doctors, who turned out to be Juwan and Burtuqush. Juwan was about to poison him when he was struck down by Shiha, disguised as a servant. Baibars was slow to believe that Ibrahim was still alive, and when Shiha arrived to confirm it, he came forward to greet him, but thought that both Shiha and the others from whom he had heard the news must be mad. Shiha told him that he had been with Ibrahim throughout his Roman expedition and he explained the history of the chest which had been made by a Christian sand-diviner and had magical powers, being protected by talismans. After the battle it was Shiha who had removed Ibrahim from the battlefield and had acted as a pastry-cook while guarding the chest. On hearing the news the Cairenes told themselves that while Shiha was alive none of Baibars’ people would ever die (2.453–470). Ibrahim was angry at the supposed loss of the plunder that he had taken from Rome and decided to depose Baibars, while appointing Saʿd to the sultanate of the castles. As Saʿd was in the latrine a note fell down on him ‘from the old sultan of the castles to the new’, telling him to drug Ibrahim or else he would be flayed. He was about to obey but Ibrahim, who saw ‘treachery between his eyes’, knocked him down and beat him. Ibrahim then rode off saying: ‘I am leaving these lands in which the little man sets foot.’ The king of Tripoli welcomed him, but Shiha entered with muleteers carrying barrels of wine for the king. Juwan shuddered as he recognised him, after which Shiha admitted his identity and was fettered and entrusted to Ibrahim. Juwan and Ibrahim agreed that he should be killed and when a rope was put around his neck Ibrahim pulled at one end and Juwan at the other, at which he ‘died’, with his body being hung over the

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city gate. Next morning Ibrahim regretted this, asking Juwan: ‘what did I do yesterday?’ (2.471–476). Baibars threatened to kill all the Ismaʿilis starting with Ibrahim’s father, Hasan. Hasan asked for mercy, but Baibars told him that the only intercession he would accept would be from Shiha. At that a Persian dervish came in reciting a poem and turned out to be Shiha. When he was asked who the dead man was, he said ‘Shiha’, and when Baibars said: ‘how many Shihas are there?’ he replied ‘one’. He had, in fact, been released by Ibrahim’s future bride, Nafila, and had substituted for himself a drugged Christian who looked like him. Ibrahim was later captured by Hasan and Shiha produced Juwan and Burtuqush, who were then allowed to leave. Baibars told Ibrahim that he was keeping the plunder of Rome until a missing Muslim leader, Abu Bakr, was rescued, while Ibrahim told Shiha that one of his fingers was missing and ‘I shall not obey you until you restore it.’ Shiha admitted that this was beyond his powers, but al-Khidr arrived and replaced the finger (2.478–481). Another of Shiha’s rivals, ʿIzz al-Din Muhlik, had succeeded in having Baibars’ son, al-Saʿid, kidnapped. He was pursued by Ibrahim, drugged by Shiha and taken before Baibars, who asked where his son was. ‘Do you think that he’s in my cloak or my turban?’ ʿIzz al-Din asked, adding, ‘my opponent is Shiha and I have not seen your son’. He was asked to swear to this by ‘the greatest name’, and was beaten when he refused. One of his servants stole the key to his dungeon after which he escaped and had fifteen of Baibars’ emirs kidnapped and put in chests. When he tried to smuggle them out in a Syrian caravan, he was entertained and then drugged by Shiha, who was acting as the caravan leader. He refused to serve a small man and when he had been taken back to Baibars he said: ‘how can I obey a man whom I don’t know? He is not an Ismaʿili; I have not seen him ride a horse; he has never been on a raid and he has never stormed a castle.’ It was agreed that the matter should be settled by a contest of wiles (2.491–495). A merchant arrived in Alexandria speaking a language that no one understood. Baibars, Ibrahim, Saʿd and ʿIzz al-Din Muhlik went there and Shiha, disguised as a broker, identified the language and extracted information from the man. It turned out that Abu Bakr was being held by a king named al-Astalud and that the man himself had been sent to assassinate Baibars. It was then agreed that if ʿIzz al-Din could rescue Abu Bakr, he would be given the sultanate of the castles. With a group of Muslims, including ʿIzz al-Din, disguised as monks, Shiha approached al-Astalud walking bent-backed with a staff, and he officiated at Mass in so beautiful a voice that the king was moved to delight. Shiha produced a letter purporting to come from the Pope ordering that Abu Bakr be handed over to the bearer, but Juwan said that the letter was false and that the messenger was

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Shiha. Al-Astalud imprisoned them all and after ʿIzz al-Din had taunted Shiha, the prison wall split and another saint, ʿAbd Allah al-Mughawari, freed the prisoners and gave Shiha a robe that would allow him to fly, as well as a trumpet that shot fire. With these he entered the castle, claiming to have been sent by the Messiah and ordering Abu Bakr to be handed over together with a ship loaded with the island’s wealth in order that it might be ‘purified’ (2.495–503). After his return to Egypt Abu Bakr set out to capture a Christian port, but was trapped in a concealed pit and had to be rescued by Muslims led by Shiha. The king had taken refuge in the citadel, but was drugged by Shiha disguised as his vizier. After he had appealed to Shiha he was allowed to stay as Abu Bakr’s deputy in the city, while Shiha again showed his skill as a doctor by treating wounded Muslims (2.504–508). Baibars was then kidnapped in Alexandria and taken to Genoa, where the Muslims followed him. At first the Genoese had a number of successes thanks to the prowess of the young Sabiq, who used to go out on foot and jump up behind his opponents on their horses and who even succeeded in wounding Ibrahim by ducking underneath his horse. Shiha managed to reach the dungeon where Baibars was being held by following an underground passage. He killed the gaoler and was about to take his keys when Sabiq raised the alarm and Baibars was seized and identified. Sabiq then penetrated the Muslim lines and drugged both Ibrahim and Saʿd before taking them back to Genoa. He told his mother of how he had trapped Shiha, and she turned out to be Marina, Shiha’s second wife, who had been kidnapped after she had married him in Jaffa eighteen years previously. When Sabiq learnt who his father was he asked his mother: ‘why didn’t you tell me that I was a Muslim?’ He promptly changed sides and released the Muslim prisoners, after which the Genoese were defeated and asked for quarter. Juwan and Burtuqush had made their escape, but were seen by Shiha from the walls of Genoa, brought back but then allowed to leave again (2.510–523). On his way to Bursa Baibars saw a man pulling trees up by their roots and this turned out to be another Ismaʿili, Sawwan, who wanted to depose Shiha. He had noticed that the head of a local monastery was a small man and had decided to kill him if he turned out to be Shiha, but when he went there, pretending to sell firewood, the man had gone. He then met a bedouin girl with a crying child, who drugged him with a glass of milk and turned out to be Shiha, while the child was made of wood, and cried when it was rubbed. Sawwan asked: ‘is this what happens in the lands of Islam, that someone gets killed for not obeying little men?’ Shiha agreed to stake his sultanate on a contest to capture the city of Aflaq (2.523–533). Sawwan joined in the defence of the city against the Muslims, but was drugged and imprisoned by Shiha before being taken to Cairo, where he was

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rescued by the self-styled ‘sultan of the world’, Jalal b. Raʾs al-Shaikh. Shiha had vanished and a note had been left to say that he had been deposed. Baibars moved to Damascus, where Jalal failed in an attempt to murder him, and then took refuge in a monastery whose patriarch told him that the only Muslim they feared was Shiha. He turned out to be Shiha himself, who had been captured but then rescued by his son, Sabiq. He proposed to test Jalal with three blows of his whip, but Jalal objected that it might be poisoned and suggested that instead they should attack King Salib al-Rum (2.534–544). Salib visited a monastery whose patriarch had told him that neither he nor any other monk approved of Juwan, the equivalent of the Muslim Shiha. He warned the king that Juwan would accuse him of being Shiha himself, which he later did. Meanwhile, Jalal had infiltrated into the ranks of Salib’s army, but had been drugged and captured, after which, at the sight of Shiha, he told Salib: ‘this is the little Shiha who lays waste the lands of the Christians’. He was not believed and was beaten, after which Shiha managed to drug Salib and the castle was taken by released Muslim prisoners (2.546–548). Although Jalal had agreed to serve Shiha, two of his nephews, Hanash and Saif al-Din, who had returned from overseas, refused to believe his claim that ‘Shiha deserves a thousand sultanates’, and they attacked their uncle, leaving him badly wounded. An old man was fetched who claimed to be able to treat the wounds, and after he had argued with Ibrahim about payment, he turned out to be Shiha. Jalal recovered instantly and seized Hanash, while Saif al-Din escaped. Hanash was freed by his brother and the pair stole a chest of gold, only to meet a man who claimed to be a receiver of stolen goods, but who, after having drugged them, turned out to be Shiha. They challenged him to a contest to kill or capture al-ʿAsfart, king of Qaiqyul (2.550–553). The brothers entered the city in disguise and were recognised by Juwan, who told them that one of them would be sultan of Egypt and Syria, while the other would be sultan of the castles. He knew of their dealings with Shiha and told them that Shiha had been his donkey boy. Shiha meanwhile had killed the owner of a wine shop and taken his place. He intended to poison a young customer, thinking him to be the king’s son, but after telling him to drink first, he discovered him to be Sabiq, and father and son had to agree on a secret sign by which they could recognise each other. Sabiq later drugged Hanash and Saif al-Din, while Shiha kidnapped the king and the city fell. Juwan, Burtuqush and the king escaped, as did Hanash and Saif al-Din (2.554–559). Shiha was sure that the two brothers would go to Damascus and he gave orders that no one there was to sell anything to anyone unless the buyer could produce official authorisation, and he threatened to flay anyone who sheltered the fugitives. The brothers passed by a bedouin water-seller who at first refused to

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serve them, saying that they might be spies sent by Shiha, but who eventually let them eat and drink. As this was Shiha, what they ate was drugged and they recovered consciousness to find themselves shrouded and in a grave. Sabiq appeared ‘with teeth of fire’ as though he was a devil from hell and asked them what they had done in the world. Shiha then beat them until they fainted, and on their recovery they went to Baibars to ask for forgiveness and protection (2.559–563). Sawwan, who was still unreconciled, took over a Frankish castle and killed one of Juwan’s agents who had managed to trap Shiha and was carrying him off in a sack. Sawwan exposed Shiha on a cross, but his cousin Salim told him that he would save him. This was because on his way through Christian territory he had come across a mother whose baby stopped crying only when she threatened it with Shiha, ‘the king of thieves’. He drugged Sawwan’s wine and when Sawwan recovered he was told not to be stupid, after which he submitted (2.564–567). Khalil, the son of Qalaʾun, wanted to join Ibrahim’s service and appealed to Shiha, confirming that he would obey him. Shiha approached Ibrahim and Khalil was accepted (2.571). *Baibars saw his mother in a dream asking him to visit her before her death, and he left with Ibrahim, Saʿd and ʿUthman. ʿUthman had little further part to play, acting merely as a horse-holder and telling the others that, unless he went too, neither of them could go in to see the queen (3.6–11). Shiha was later faced by another challenger, ʿImad al-Din ʿAlqam, the son of Maʿruf’s sister, who wanted to depose not only him but the man who had appointed him. He was seen by Baibars in a Syrian forest tearing up a large tree and Ibrahim, on recognising him, said that Shiha would have to turn to selling vegetables or teaching in a school. He added that as long as ʿImad al-Din opposed Baibars and Shiha, he was his enemy. Baibars and his men advanced against his castle, but the saddles of their horses were destroyed by gunfire. Ibrahim was sent to get more and found some with a bedouin, with whom he began to bargain, telling the man to ask Baibars for 1,000 dinars. Of these he could have one dinar, while 999 were to go to him as commission. Instead of this, the bedouin, who was Shiha, asked Baibars for 1,000 lashes, at which Ibrahim said that the contract was cancelled (3.17–19). Ibrahim warned ʿImad that Shiha would flay him, and told him that Shiha had put the head back on a headless man, who had then become ‘like a jinni or a devil’. ʿImad collected fifty small men in his castle and proposed to kill them all in case one was Shiha, but an officer of his said that he was well acquainted with Shiha and would stay and identify him, while the fifty should be freed. He also volunteered to fetch Ibrahim, and in his real character as Shiha he asked Ibrahim

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to pretend to be his prisoner. Ibrahim objected that Shiha could not help if ʿImad wanted to kill him – ‘you are only a master of tricks and then tricks would not help’ – but Shiha drugged him and took him to ʿImad’s castle. On recovering his senses Ibrahim denounced him, but ʿImad took no notice and was then drugged and taken to Baibars (3.21–23). ʿImad claimed that he had been taken unawares and challenged Shiha to do it again. This led to a series of episodes in which ʿImad was drugged twice by the gate-keeper of his castle, then by a girl with a jug that gave off a poisonous smell when broken, then by a watchman, next by a gardener who was bleeding from a wound that he said had been inflicted on him by Shiha, then by Shiha disguised as his mother and finally by a girl who wept drugged tears (3.24–26). *ʿImad still refused to obey Shiha and after Hulaʾun had tried to have Baibars murdered, Baibars set off to try to capture him, taking with him ʿImad, Ibrahim, Saʿd and ʿUthman. In Damascus they came across a man so tall that Ibrahim would only come up to his belt, this being Nasir al-Nimr, whose episode is incomplete but who escaped from Baibars, Ibrahim and Saʿd, only to be drugged and tied up by Shiha whom he had asked for water (3.31–33). Baibars decided that ʿImad would have to defeat Shiha in some contest before he could deserve the sultanate of the castles. Shiha suggested that he should go to rescue Abu Bakr, while if he could free Maʿruf as well, that would ensure him unrivalled fame. ʿImad pointed out that, were Maʿruf freed, ‘you and I would be deposed’. Shiha made it a condition that swords and spears were not to be used, pointing out that in the case of war Baibars would not need either of them. He allowed ʿImad a three-day start and told him to call on his name if he found himself in difficulties (3.34–35). ʿImad killed an elderly Frankish woman who tried to seduce him, and in revenge it was suggested that he should be made to stand in a pool of wine with arrows being shot at him so that he might either drown or be killed. He called to Shiha for help and a warning note fell on the king’s lap causing him to say that, had he known ʿImad was one of Shiha’s servants he would have treated him with honour. ʿImad was then ferried across the Euphrates by Shiha in the guise of an old boatman; Shiha as a monk fed him when he was hungry and as a patriarch entertained him in a monastery. He eventually reached his goal, the city of Catalan, where Shiha as a shop-keeper kept stealing his purse. His clothes were stolen in the baths and later he was condemned to death for having killed a monk, and this time when he called on Shiha, he was rescued by ‘an old woman’, who later vanished (3.36–40). Shiha rescued the king’s wine merchant from execution, claiming that he was his cousin, but he then killed the man and took over his shop. ʿImad visited it and

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was encouraged to enter the palace with a group of prisoners who were delivering wine. He found Abu Bakr, who refused to be freed if it meant that Shiha would be deposed, and eventually he discovered Maʿruf, whose hearing and sight had been weakened by imprisonment. Eventually, on Maʿruf’s insistence, he shouted, ‘where are you, little man?’, but not until he called on Shiha by name did the prison doors open. ʿImad routed a patrol of guards, but in the meantime Maʿruf had disappeared, only to be found later in the wine shop. He wanted a doctor to treat his eyes, and this turned out to be Shiha disguised with one bleary eye and a patch over the other. As his fee he asked for one-third of the sultanate of the castles, and for the same fee, in a different disguise, he cured Maʿruf’s deafness. Finally, to treat his weakness a new ‘doctor’ fetched a copper boiler, carried by four men, prompting Ibrahim to say: ‘do you want to cook him?’ He was then wrapped in wool and treated with ointment until after seven days he had completely recovered. He asked ʿImad: ‘where is this Shiha you talk about?’ and ʿImad said that they would pound him ‘like a meat ball in a mortar’. That prompted Shiha to drug them and then, still in his role of shop-keeper, to threaten them with the king. The ‘king’ arrived and ʿImad again called on Shiha – ‘I kiss your footprints’ – who then revealed himself as the king (3.40–51). Shiha was joined by his son Sabiq, who helped him decoy the real king and his subordinates, whom he placed in barrels to be loaded on Abu Bakr’s refurnished ship. Their places were taken by Maʿruf, ʿImad and Abu Bakr, and, as one of the kings was one-eyed, one of Abu Bakr’s eyes was made to vanish, while ʿImad was given a series of disfiguring protuberances. When the customs official wanted to inspect the barrels, Shiha shouted at him: ‘are you mad? The kings are standing here and this is their wine,’ only for the official to turn out to be Sabiq. When they put out to sea, Abu Bakr had his eye restored, but ʿImad was told that he could only have his proper shape returned to him if he agreed to obey Shiha, which he did (3.53–56). While Abu Bakr was told to take the captive kings to Baibars, Maʿruf had heard of an expedition against the lands of Islam led by ʿArnus, who was his own son by Princess Miriam of Genoa. He had left the ship and had gone to investigate when he was drugged by a monk and rescued in the nick of time by Shiha, with whom he had threatened his captor. Shiha then told him to call on him whenever he was hungry or thirsty. Shiha had no part to play in the first encounters of ʿArnus and Maʿruf, but he rescued Maʿruf from a cage in which he had been placed by his son, only to have him return to it voluntarily (3.58–65). * On his way to confront ʿArnus Baibars told ʿUthman to fetch his horse. He was entertained by ʿArnus, and ʿUthman said: ‘when you get an invitation you eat alone’. He then offered some of the food to a dog, which died, and it turned out

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that Juwan had been allowed into the kitchens. In a fight against ʿArnus ʿUthman was again told to fetch Baibars’ horse. Shiha threatened to kill ʿArnus if his father did not capture him and ʿArnus was later converted by ʿAli in a dream. Maʿruf said that only those who obeyed Shiha could enter his castle of Sahyul. Idmur, who was jealous of ʿArnus, objected to the ‘Christian clothes’ that he was wearing, but although Baibars gave him a splendid robe, he fell ill and was cured only when Shiha told him to put his own clothes back on (3.67–83). Both ʿArnus and Maʿruf were kidnapped and taken to the son of the Jewish king of Samarqand, whom ʿArnus had earlier killed. Maʿruf was sure that only Shiha could save them and Shiha promptly arrived, reciting the Torah and speaking in the language of the Maghribi Jews. He killed the kidnapper and released the two captives, who later joined the Christian king who had been fighting against the Jews, but Juwan drugged them both and arranged for their execution. When Maʿruf threatened the king with Shiha he postponed the execution, and Shiha, who had taken the place of the gaoler, again freed them. ʿArnus married the king’s daughter and she was told by Shiha that, if her father annoyed her, she could call on him (3.95–99). ʿArnus and Maʿruf were again imprisoned, this time by the sorceress queen of Madinat al-Rukham. Shiha went to her court posing as a patriarch and cut off her head, but the episode of Yaqut in the Sirat Saif b. Dhi Yazan was repeated. The room filled with blood, the queen returned to life and Shiha who had been carried to the roof on a flood of blood was left clinging there, while beneath him was a sheet of steel studded with knives. He was rescued by Sabiq who stabbed the queen rather than cutting off her head (3.101–102). * Baibars’ son, Saʿid, was kidnapped by an agent sent by Hulaʾun, whose daughter fell in love with him and became a Muslim for his sake. Baibars, coming to the rescue, discovered the pair drinking wine and had to be told by Shiha to wait until they got back to Egypt before blaming Saʿid. They went by ways ‘known to Shiha’ to Aleppo and from there to Egypt. Hulaʾun had agreed to pay tribute to Baibars but the money that he sent was intercepted by Mansur al-ʿUqab, another of Shiha’s rivals, who had returned from overseas. Baibars came out against him, but after some fighting Mansur managed to ride off on his ‘paper-white’ horse, without, as ʿUthman complained, having asked permission (3.104 –112). Ibrahim and Saʿd were sent to recover the horse, but had to take refuge from pouring rain in a cave. A voice was heard asking whether they obeyed Shiha, and when they said that they did, out came a creature with protruding tusks, long horns and a mouth split vertically. It told them not to be afraid but added that humans were needed for the convalescent diet of the Red King of the jinn.

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This was Shiha, who had already drugged Mansur, and, still in his jinn form, he told Ibrahim and Saʿd to take him and his horse back to Baibars and to give his greetings to Shiha (3.112–114). Shiha later asked for Mansur to be pardoned and the two of them agreed to a contest to see who could free the pasha of Aleppo who was being held prisoner in the city of Sis (3.115–116). Mansur climbed into the city and followed a monk who was carrying a tray of pastries. He claimed to be a devil who had come down from the sky, but he was then drugged and handed over to the authorities as a Muslim thief. Ibrahim and Saʿd followed him into the city and found a Maghribi burning incense and calling on ‘the dwellers in the earth’ to produce treasure for him. This led Ibrahim to exclaim: ‘look at this Maghribi who wants to eat all the money in the world by himself!’ He offered to help and both he and Saʿd were drugged by someone who turned out to be Shiha and were later imprisoned with Mansur. Mansur managed to break his bonds and, after climbing out of a window, he escaped from the city through a sewer. Baibars laughed at him and told him to go and change his clothes, but when he did he found a note from Shiha threatening to flay him unless he returned to prison. He had to call on Shiha in order to find his way back (3.116–118). Shiha later drugged the king, Fransis, but when the Muslims broke in and the city surrendered, Shiha had disappeared. Baibars thought that Mansur must have taken him, pointing out: ‘Shiha has no enemy apart from you’, and adding, ‘if you swore a thousand oaths I would not believe you’, but Ibrahim pointed out that Ismaʿilis do not perjure themselves by ‘the greatest name’ and suggested that Mansur should be sent off to look for him. Mansur soon found that Shiha was being held by Juwan, but he was himself drugged and put in Shiha’s prison, from which both of them were rescued by Sabiq (3.118–123). ʿArnus had married another Christian princess and had been imprisoned by her father. Maʿruf had wanted to go to his rescue but Shiha insisted on going himself, which he did in the disguise of a Greek patriarch. He told the king to produce wine and have the prisoner killed while he drank, but the ‘singing girl’ who brought in the wine was Sabiq. The king was drugged and ʿArnus and his wife were removed (3.124–125). Another formidable contender for Shiha’s sultanate, Dam b. Sharr al-Husun, who looked like a jinni, had seized Baibars as he lay sleeping and removed him to his castle. Ibrahim and Saʿd followed his tracks but were themselves imprisoned with Baibars by Dam, who criticised them for obeying ‘a little man’ and added: ‘if I cut off the heads of these people, Shiha will be like a bird without feathers’. When he was warned that both Baibars and the two Ismaʿilis had supporters, he said that he would ask for help from ʿAsi b. Bakr, the chief of

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the Banuʾl-ʿAdraʾ, to whom he promised the sultanate of the castles, while he proposed to take over Egypt (3.126–127). Shiha, disguised as a young bedouin, drugged his messenger with roasted gazelle meat and took the message himself, but ʿAsi arrested him, saying that he would not break his word to Shiha. Shiha revealed himself and brought back a letter telling Dam to take his prisoners to the castle of Marqab. On their way there Shiha drugged Dam and later flayed him after he had said: ‘if I were lord of the whole world and you were in it, I would not want it’ (3.127–130). Dam had been one of the lovers of the sorceress Shamqarin and she had both Shiha and ʿArnus snatched up by ‘a hand’, while Juwan was fetched by one of her jinn. She kept ʿArnus suspended in a chest, being impressed by his handsomeness, while Shiha was left fastened by his hands to the roof. She wanted to have the Muslim leaders fetched to her, but the young Nurad, who turned out to be Shiha’s son by one of his early marriages, killed her, after which the spells were broken and the prisoners freed (3.130–138). A Christian couple, Marin and Marina, pretended to have been converted to Islam and Marina introduced poison into a melon which Baibars’ son, Saʿid, was about to eat. He heard Baibars coming and left the melon, only to be suspected of having tried to murder his father. Shiha treated Baibars with seven different types of milk and so cured him, while Ibrahim was ordered to execute Saʿid and pretended to have done so. He was later seized by Baibars and ordered to produce his son. Shiha arrived and, in spite of his anger, Baibars rose to greet him and was ordered to release Ibrahim after Shiha had pointed out ‘I have told you a thousand times that Ibrahim is my man’ (3.153–158). In pursuit of a Catalan fleet Baibars found that the entrance to its harbour was guarded by a chain. Shiha landed, drugged the guard and released the chain (3.172). ʿArnus had been imprisoned by Juwan and Shiha planned to convict Juwan of ignorance in front of the Christians. He had a message sent to the Pope to announce the arrival of a saint who would ‘establish the law of the Messiah’ and to summon ‘all the kings of Rum’. Juwan was told to conduct Mass, but as he did so a voice from the roof told him to be silent. This was Shiha, with fire and sparks coming from his mouth, wearing the robe given him by ʿAbd Allah alMughawari, and when he jumped down his sparks set Juwan’s grey hair alight. He ordered the Pope to have ʿArnus released, telling him that he had reverted to Christianity. ʿArnus then seized the Pope’s sons (3.175–179). * A Syrian merchant complained that he had been robbed by Shams al-Din of Sidon, the greatest disgrace according to Baibars that had ever happened to him. He called for his horse and, although he was told by ʿUthman to wait, he rode

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straight for Sidon, where he had to be rescued by Basir al-Nimr, who treated his wounds and those of his horse. Ibrahim described al-Nimr as a man who ate cats and dogs as well as worshipping stars, and he proceeded to fight against both the Muslims and their enemies, leaving Ibrahim to say that their only hope lay in Shiha. Shiha eventually drugged al-Nimr, having smeared his fingers with banj, but he was freed by his nephews, Taud and Farqad, and given shelter by ʿAbd al-Salib of Shaqiq. In the fighting that followed he captured a number of Muslim leaders, whom Juwan wanted to have executed. The executioner was discovered to be Shiha, who was himself imprisoned (3.181–189). The young Nuwairid, who turned out to be another of Shiha’s sons, arrived to help ʿAbd al-Salib, fighting on foot with a steel-tipped whip. He went to the castle to have his hand bandaged and there his mother told him that she had concealed the fact that his father was Shiha lest the Christians kill him. The Muslim prisoners were freed and led out of the castle by Shiha, after which it fell to Baibars. Al-Nimr had been captured and entrusted to Ibrahim and Saʿd, his claims to the sultanate being dismissed by Saʿd – ‘Baibars is king of the walls, Shiha of the deserts and Abu Bakr of the seas’ – but he bribed Ibrahim to let him escape. In order to trap him Shiha opened a sweetmeat shop in Cairo, and when he managed to drug al-Nimr, he had to protect himself from the bystanders by calling out: ‘I am Shiha and this man is a rebel.’ Al-Nimr was again rescued by his nephews Taud and Farqad (3.190–195). Shiha, posing as an alchemist, pretended to be willing to teach his trade to Taud and Farqad, but al-Nimr came in unexpectedly and he had to jump out of the window and take refuge in the house of a woman, whom he sent with a note to Baibars. Al-Nimr drew a line across the street, threatening anyone who crossed it, and then left, watched by Shiha from a window. He went to the house of a shaikh, followed by Ibrahim and Saʿd, and asked for a story-teller who, when he arrived, turned out to be Shiha. He drugged all three and took them to Baibars, saying that al-Nimr should be flayed. Al-Nimr reminded Baibars of how he had rescued him at Sidon and recited the confession of faith, while still refusing to obey Shiha. He asked for Ibrahim’s position and both Ibrahim and Saʿd then left (3.196–199). Al-Nimr discovered an underground passage leading from Baibars’ court to Shiha’s hall. He followed Shiha along this passage, seized him and started back with him to his own castle. Sulaiman al-Jamus and his men wanted to come to the rescue, but were told not to move by Shiha, who said that al-Nimr would kill him. Taud and Farqad arrived to help al-Nimr, who told them to watch Shiha rather than fight, but while a general battle was going on outside the castle, Shiha appeared on the wall and the castle fell. Taud and Farqad were executed, but

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al-Nimr escaped by bribing Ibrahim. Shiha repeated to Baibars that Ibrahim was his man, adding: ‘he captured al-Nimr and then freed him, so suppose that he had not captured him and not freed him’ (3.199–206). Al-Nimr had Shiha’s name engraved on his swords, as a result of which he was welcomed by Maʿruf, from whose castle he released young Christian princes. Maʿruf complained to Shiha, disguised as a dervish, about his own son, ʿArnus. Al-Nimr had joined the service of King Angibert and Shiha stole a chest of jewels from his palace and buried it in al-Nimr’s house. He then appeared to Angibert as a saint, suspended half-way between the roof and the ground, and told him that the patriarch of the local monastery would reveal where the chest was hidden. Then, in the shape of the old and smelly patriarch, he wrote something on a piece of paper which floated to al-Nimr’s house (3.207–211). After the jewels had been found, al-Nimr was put to work to repair the monastery and to build a wall around the city. He was angry both with Juwan for failing to help him and with Shiha, whom he had recognised. Shiha went to Rome, where he disguised himself as a handsome fifteen-year-old boy and stayed in the house of a juggler named ʿAbd al-Salib. He then killed ʿAbd al-Salib and took his place as an entertainer, impressing the Pope’s son, Dufush, who took him home and offered him wine. He refused to drink, explaining that this was a penance laid on him for having copulated with a sow. Dufush had married Maria, the daughter of Michael, emperor of Constantinople, but the marriage had never been consummated. Shiha admired Maria’s beauty and prayed for her conversion, while warning her that Shiha would accuse him of being Shiha, at which Dufush said that, were he to do so, he would be killed. That evening Shiha drugged Dufush with banj, and carried off Maria, whom he had also drugged, in a sack. The gate-keeper told him that he could not leave until morning, but then turned out to be Sabiq (3.211–216). Shiha told Sabiq to take Maria to Baibars and gave him a letter for Baibars in which he asked him to keep her in his harem until he arrived. Sabiq, however, converted her and promised to marry her, referring to his father as an old man. He substituted a letter telling Baibars that Maria was to be Sabiq’s wife and that he should be given an abbreviated wedding feast so that he could return to Rome. This was done, and on learning of it Shiha exclaimed that patience was a virtue (3.217–219). On Shiha’s prompting ʿArnus and Maʿruf had defeated a Christian force and captured its leaders, whom Baibars later told ʿArnus to release, guaranteeing the safe return of his wife Shumus, who was being held by the Christians. ʿArnus threatened to ‘teach Baibars his place’, quarrelling with his father, Maʿruf. Maʿruf met Shiha, disguised as a dervish, and told him the story. Shiha went back with him to ʿArnus and started by saying that Baibars was concerned

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about the tribute that he got from Rum, whereas ‘if he had any sense he would see that one hair of your body is worth as much as all the kings of Rum’. When Maʿruf objected to this, he continued: ‘how many lands have I conquered for him and how many of my men have fought with him, but I got no praise and no benefits!’ This, however, turned out to be a ruse, as when he left he threatened to flay ʿArnus if he did not go back to Baibars. ʿArnus then pursued him, but he escaped (3.218–226). * The narrative then centres around the development of this quarrel, which includes a passing reference to ʿUthman. Eventually, Baibars and ʿArnus fought a duel, in the course of which ʿArnus unwittingly used a poisoned javelin, supplied by Juwan. Shiha was summoned to cure Baibars, whom he had wounded, but the antidote had to be forced from Juwan himself (3.235–238). The Christians laid siege to Aleppo and in a dramatic episode Maʿruf was killed, his sword still clutched in his dead hand. Shiha said that it should go to whoever could remove it. When Ibrahim tried, the sword came out ‘like a lightning flash’, but unexpectedly Shiha claimed it for himself, saying that it should be passed from one sultan of the castles to the next. An unnamed rider then arrived to tell him to return it to Ibrahim, which he did (3.239–246). ʿArnus was about to be executed by the father of another Christian princess whom he had married when Juwan seized the executioner, who turned out to be Shiha. Burtuqush warned the king that, were he to kill the prisoners, Baibars would destroy him and so Juwan drugged the guards and freed al-Nimr to do the killing, only for him in his turn to be drugged with smoke, this being the work of Sabiq. ʿArnus took him under his own protection, while Juwan and Burtuqush were imprisoned. Shiha wanted to reconcile Baibars and ʿArnus, but ʿArnus refused to return to the lands of Islam (3.252–255). Ismaʿil, known as Father of Lions, the brother of the dead Maʿruf, brought up an army of men and lions to attack Aleppo, and Baibars told him that if he wanted the sultanate of the castles, he would have to contest it with Shiha. His lions kept dying and he said that, were this Shiha’s doing, it was not chivalrous behaviour; it was he who was the contender for the sultanate ‘and what wrong have my children, the lions, done?’ Shiha arrived disguised as a vegetarian shaikh, drugged Ismaʿil’s men and killed the remaining lions. Ismaʿil then said that he was not rebelling against Baibars or Shiha but only wanted his brother’s sword. This was returned to him by Ibrahim, but after he had seen his brother in a dream, he handed it back (3.263–266). * Baibars intended to go to Alexandria where people were being killed by ‘a hidden sword’, taking with him ʿUthman, Ibrahim and Saʿd. ʿAmmar

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al-Qadmusi had returned from overseas, where he reported having heard a mother hush her child by saying that ‘little Shiha of the Muslims will flay you’, and he volunteered to go with Baibars. They took lodgings and ʿUthman was given ten dinars with which to buy food. He bought some from a passing peasant who was then killed by the sword, after which ʿUthman told the others: ‘the man brought us our supper and died. Come and eat.’ The scene of the attacks then shifted from Alexandria to Cairo. When Baibars went back there, ʿUthman advised him to go to the shrine of Nafisa, who told him in a dream to set a substitute on his throne. The substitute was killed and it was believed that this was Baibars himself (3.281–285). * On the news of his supposed death Juwan mustered a Christian force at Barcelona. Baibars was taken to Bulaq by the saint, ʿAbd Allah al-Mughawari, where he was joined by ʿUthman. He had succeeded in acquiring a magic ring, but was tricked into handing it to a monk named Sirun, who had used magic to make himself look like Shiha. The real Shiha disguised himself as Burtuqush, whom he had drugged, and after recovering the ring he killed Sirun, whose head was raised on a spear to be shown to the Christians. Shiha sent word to the Muslims that the gates were unguarded, and the city fell, after which the magic artefacts were destroyed, with Baibars pointing out to Shiha that the victory of Islam was guaranteed (3.287–295). On Juwan’s advice the king of Portugal challenged the Muslims to find a lion that could defeat a formidable dog of his, at stake being the tribute money that he paid. Ismaʿil produced a lion, and after it had killed the dog a full-scale battle ensued between Baibars’ army and the Christians. Ismaʿil was wounded but he told Shiha first to attend to the wounds of the lion, which he did, after first anaesthetising it by putting banj up its nose (3.297–313). The lion was later killed by Najm al-Din, another of Shiha’s rivals, who had returned from overseas to learn of the death of Maʿruf. He asked where Shiha was to be found and was told: ‘wherever you mention his name, there he is’. He climbed into Shiha’s house and cut off what he thought to be his head, only to be trapped in a steel net. Shiha had represented himself to Baibars as a dervish – ‘our business is to wander’ – and after having invited him to a splendid feast, he complained: ‘every shepherd should ask about his flock . . . but you have not asked about me’. He explained that his head had been cut off, but ‘I had an old head and set it in the place of the other one’, and he went on to produce a head exactly similar to his own (3.320–324). Najm al-Din had been imprisoned but had escaped. He was warned against Shiha by his cousin, Mansur al-ʿUqab, who told him not to be deceived by the fact that Shiha was small, and eventually it was agreed that there should be a

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contest of trickery between the two of them. At the start of this Shiha was unsuccessful and was recognised when disguised successively as a merchant, as Najm al-Din’s father, as another merchant, as a woman and then as Najm al-Din’s wife. Shiha admitted Najm al-Din’s skill but suggested that as a deciding test they should be asked to fetch the ring stone of the black hakīm (3.325–328). Najm al-Din was allowed a three-day start, and Baibars was annoyed when he heard from Shiha that, such were the dangers, he was unlikely ever to return. Shiha pointed out: ‘he wants to take the sultanate from me and I worked hard for it’, but Baibars said that his death would disgrace them as it was they who had sent him off. Shiha then left and continued to answer Najm’s calls for help disguised first as a patriarch and then as a monk. He showed him the way ‘under the mountain’ ‘to the edge of the first island’, and guided him through various castles, using a magnet to draw bolts. He made a boat on which Najm could cross the sea, and when he eventually vanished after telling Najm that the gem stone was in front of him, Najm called out ‘Shiha, Shiha!’ When he found himself trapped in an iron cage with the roof closing down on him, he called again and was rescued (3.328–331). After Najm had taken the gem, Shiha again proposed to leave after helping him to sail across the sea and telling him to call on him if he fell into more difficulties. In fact, Najm was drugged in a hermit’s cell, where Shiha shot his captor, and it was Shiha who produced a boat for him to cross a river and who swam out to help him when the boatman deserted him in mid-stream. On Shiha’s instructions he took the gem to Baibars, who was prepared to transfer the sultanate of the castles to him, but when Shiha arrived Najm swore allegiance to him. The gem itself was sent to Mecca, but a jinni in the shape of a black slave seized it and flew off. Shiha knew from the Kitab al-Yunan who was responsible for this and where it had been taken (3.332–333). After a quarrel with Baibars, Ibrahim appointed Kamil b. al-Khattab as sultan of Syria, and it was left to Shiha to reproach Ibrahim and arrange a reconciliation. Kamil was married to the daughter of the pasha of Damascus (3.339). Baibars, while wandering through Cairo disguised as a dervish, was given food by a man seated in a cage whom he took to be a saint. The man told him to eat it where no one could see him, but Shiha proved that the food was poisoned. Shiha then tortured the man, who admitted that he was a Christian in the service of King Jamjarin, after which he was burnt to death. Jamjarin was kidnapped, but released when he complained that he had been taken by treachery rather than in battle. Baibars fitted out a fleet against him, but this was obstructed by a chain stretched across the entrance to his harbour. Shiha went ashore and drugged Nasr al-Din, the Muslim guarding the chain, who was hoping to marry Jamjarin’s daughter. The city then fell, and Jamjarin agreed to pay tribute, as well as to

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cover the costs of Baibars’ expedition. His daughter was converted to Islam and married Nasr al-Din, who offered Shiha his allegiance (3.339–344). Ibrahim took the part of a Christian named Yaʿqub, who had been accused of robbing passers-by. Yaʿqub had made common cause with the lord of a near-by castle, ʿAbd al-Salib, but Shiha knew of an underground way into the castle, where he freed Ismaʿili prisoners and captured Yaʿqub. Yaʿqub then saw alKhidr in a dream and was converted (3.349–350). Hulaʾun had passed to a Persian merchant a piece of figured silk so splendid that it caused a dispute among Baibars’ sons when it was presented to him. Shiha, who had been acting as a servant in the merchants’ khan, told him that this had been the purpose behind the gift (3.350–351). The king of Genoa had obtained a magic casket and Shiha, who had entered the city disguised as the king’s daughter, managed to steal from it something that would detect treasures. Juwan realised that the theft must have been his work and so had him intercepted on his return to Alexandria and brought back to Genoa. A message was sent to Baibars with a released prisoner, and although the man was killed, he appeared to Baibars in a dream and passed on his news. Baibars took his men, together with Shiha’s sons, captured the king and forced him to ransom himself, but the treasure detector fell from his pocket and was lost (3.355–356). Juwan succeeded in drugging Ibrahim, but Shiha, disguised as an officer of the Frankish King Sarjawil, used an incense burner to drug him and his men, after which the castle to which he had been taken was captured (3.358). Alexandria fell to a Frankish assault during which men hidden in chests were smuggled in. Baibars’ relief force was halted by gun fire, but Shiha rolled aside a rock on the seaward side of the city to reveal a secret passage through which a successful counter-attack was launched (3.365–366). The lord of Armaniya kidnapped Runaqis, the bride of ʿArnus. He was unexpectedly killed by what appeared to be King Kundafrun, but was actually Shiha, who had been taken there by ʿAbd Allah al-Mughawari. He had killed Kundafrun and used a shape-changing mirror to take his form (3.369). Saʿd al-Din al-Rusafi had returned from overseas with the intention of deposing Shiha. He sent his nephew, Sakhr, to Cairo, where Ibrahim told him: ‘Shiha’s sea would drown a thousand like you.’ He added that Shiha protected the Ismaʿilis and was present whenever his name was called. When Sakhr wanted this tested and Ibrahim called, Shiha turned out to be present disguised as a Maghribi doctor (3.372–374). Sakhr plundered the house of ʿAla al-Din and carried off his daughter, Hasana. Shiha and his sons entered Saʿd al-Din’s castle, where she had been taken, and rescued her, after which, disguised as Saʿd’s wife, Shiha drugged him with vapour from a cooking pot. He later suggested that whoever could fetch

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the talking bird from the Emperor Michael’s palace in Constantinople and ‘the crushing sword’ from his armoury should be given both Hasana and the sultanate of the castles. This time Saʿd and the Ismaʿilis, whom he was allowed to take with him, were given a thirty-day start, as well as a guarantee from Shiha that he would not abandon them if he found them in difficulties (3.375–377). The bird was kept in the seventh of a series of halls, each of which had ten traps, and Baibars told Shiha that it would be madness to risk the life of a single champion for 1,000 birds and 1,000 swords. Shiha used a candle to drug all the Ismaʿilis apart from Saʿd, who carried an antidote, but found himself lost in the darkness. Juwan recognised him, but was told by Burtuqush: ‘you say everyone whom you see is Shiha’. Juwan then challenged Shiha to fly, as this was something that he had claimed to be able to do, and when he had succeeded through the help of ʿAbd Allah al-Mughawari, Juwan was accused of being Shiha himself and was arrested and beaten. Saʿd meanwhile had fallen into an oubliette, but was released and given the bird when he called on Shiha’s name. Shiha had got into the cage by ‘feeling the earth’, and then climbing along the walls ‘by means of his skill’ (3.381–384). Saʿd was removed by ʿAbd Allah al-Mughawari and told to wait at Aleppo, but the Ismaʿilis were pursued by Michael’s men at the instigation of Juwan. Shiha, posing as Michael’s vizier, decoyed Michael, Juwan and Burtuqush into a cave and threatened to kill Michael unless he called off his troops, which he did. The bird was stolen by one of Juwan’s agents, but Shiha, masquerading as Burtuqush, recovered it and returned it to Saʿd, who then offered his allegiance. It was stolen and recovered once more but when Saʿd was near Cairo it escaped and had to be lured back by Shiha, who had constructed a dummy in a cage. Saʿd told him ‘you have no match in this world’ (3.385–387). A young Christian had been beating and robbing Baibars’ emirs, and on being captured by Shiha he explained that this was because his father had turned Muslim and abandoned him. Later he saw ʿAli b. Abi Talib in a dream and was converted. Under his new name of Muhammad he was asked to fetch the cap of a sorcerer, which he handed to Shiha for safe-keeping. Shiha vanished and Muhammad was attacked by Christians before being rescued by troops from Hauran led by Ibrahim’s sister, Fatima. Shiha then returned the cap to him and told him to take it to Baibars (3.388–390). The tribute from Rum that Baibars needed in order to pay his men did not reach Cairo and a message came ostensibly from Shiha to say: ‘I am your associate in the sultanate.’ When Shiha himself arrived Baibars had him executed. Ibrahim refused to believe that he was dead and remarked: ‘I killed him and cut off his head in Hauran but he brought out another one and stuck it on.’ A Christian king whom Juwan had been encouraging to attack the Muslims had

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refused to move while Shiha was still there to protect them, but Juwan claimed to have been present at his execution and produced his heart and his private parts which he had removed and salted. For his part, Ibrahim told the Ismaʿilis that Shiha’s death was a trick and when Baibars wanted to appoint him as sultan of the castles, he said: ‘you only strangled one of his forty bodies’ (3.391–395). Shiha later arrived while Ibrahim was fighting the Christians and he exclaimed: ‘I told you he wasn’t dead’, adding, ‘they say that cats have seven lives, but Shiha has six hundred.’ Shiha told him that his ‘executioner’ had been Sabiq, and he then used the shape-changing mirror to turn himself into a fifteenyear-old boy. He juggled in front of the king and ‘the night was all laughter and games’, but when he tried to strike the king with his dagger he was seized and imprisoned (3.398–399). * The king challenged Baibars, who told ʿUthman to fetch his horse. He was wounded and captured when the horse bolted, after which he was imprisoned with Shiha, whose sons rescued them both (3.399–400). Shiha next appeared as the patriarch of a monastery near Aleppo, where he treated ʿArnus who had been wounded there. In another episode, in which Qara Arslan had been captured outside Madinat al-Rukham by a Christian champion with a talismanic sword, Shiha was the commander of the escort put in charge of Muslim prisoners. He later broke the sword and threw it into the sea, while the champion turned out to be Qara Arslan’s own son (3.406–419). In a lengthy magical adventure Baibars was taken to England where the sorcerer king wanted the loan of Ibrahim and Saʿd to help him in a forthcoming war. Baibars told him that the two were in Shiha’s service, not his, and the king then showed him Shiha whom he had imprisoned, but when Baibars tried to fight his way towards him, he slipped and found himself back in his own court in Cairo. Ibrahim and Saʿd sailed to England, where Shiha was being held in a steel net, and after a fight they too were instantly returned to Cairo. Eventually, ʿAbd Allah al-Mughawari came to help the Muslims and killed the king with a green palm branch, after which Shiha was released (3.420–425). ʿAbd Allah al-Mughawari, again using a green palm branch, killed the king of Madinat al-ʿUruq who was holding a number of Muslims captive, amongst whom were Baibars and Shiha. When they had been freed, Shiha guided them home. Juwan, who had been captured in the city, was about to be executed, although Shiha had objected that this would harm the Muslims. When pressed about this he said that he had read it in the Kitab al-Yunan, a book which he admitted had not been written by a prophet but by an ancient philosopher. He was accused of being an ignoramus, but Juwan was snatched away by a mārid

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and taken to King Qabtawil in Upper Egypt, who wanted him to sanction his marriage to his own daughter, Taj Nas (3.441–443). * Qabtawil transformed himself and nine of his followers into the shapes of Baibars and nine of his men, including ʿUthman. They went around Cairo drinking wine in the houses of the emirs and insulting their wives until Shiha advised Baibars to evacuate the citadel and to remove his women and children. Baibars told ʿUthman to see to it that nothing remained behind and after ʿUthman had removed the last rug they both left. Baibars was taken by a jinni to beyond Mt. Qaf at the world’s end, where a shaikh told him that he must be patient (3.446–447). Ibrahim, who had been looking after Baibars’ family, consulted the Ismaʿilis about Shiha, pointing out that he used to boast that he would flay anyone who disobeyed him, ‘so why hasn’t he flayed Qabtawil?’ Saʿd said that, had he been able to do that, he would not have waited so long, and Ibrahim wondered whether ‘the secret that allowed him to be present whenever his name was called’ would still work. Saʿd tested this out and Shiha turned out to be the door-keeper of the castle. He then tried to enter Cairo, but was captured by magic and his shape was exchanged for that of Juwan. He was about to be executed as Juwan, but was then himself snatched away by a jinni sent by Taj Nas, who had seen by sand divination that she was to kill her father, become a Muslim and marry him. The jinni was told to fetch the qadi of Cairo, who was sitting with friends on a bench in the mosque, when it removed both the bench and them to solemnise the wedding (3.453–455). As had been predicted, Qabtawil was killed, but his brother Qabta looked for revenge and dropped a note on Shiha threatening to leave no Muslim alive on the face of the earth. He captured five champions, but when Shiha told Taj Nas that he was afraid lest they be killed she substituted five Copts. Baibars wept when he saw their heads, but Shiha told him that the emirs were uninjured and explained what had happened. It was not until the third day when one of the five was captured again that Qabta realised that he had been tricked. He took the shape of Shiha and drugged Taj Nas when she brought him food and drink. He then had her hung up by her hair and told a jinni to torment her, leaving the real Shiha to go ‘like a madman’ to Baibars. Qabta consulted the sand and discovered that Shiha had entered the city, after which he used his magic to have him put in chains. The Muslims were then rescued by ʿAbd Allah al-Mughawari, while Qabta was killed by Ibrahim (3.457–461). Fatima, the daughter of King Mahmud, had been travelling with her father and Baibars when she was kidnapped by Juwan. She was later discovered in a monastery where she was apparently being held by a Frankish consul. The consul was, in fact, Shiha’s wife, Taj Nas, who had imprisoned Juwan and

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complained about her husband: ‘he leaves me at home and I never see him at all’. He was fetched by a jinni and Baibars asked him: ‘aren’t you ashamed?’ (3.473). * Baibars was presented a stallion fathered by ‘a sea horse’. ʿUthman told him: ‘this isn’t a horse but a trick’, and it vanished. Baibars was magically removed and Shiha told his son Saʿid that he had been taken to India and that he would follow on foot. Taj Nas promised to help him on condition that he would take no other wife, and he told her that he could not refrain from the jihad or from serving Baibars. Baibars had been seized by King Mujrim and had threatened him with Shiha who, he said, was familiar with ways unknown even to the jinn (3.475–477). Shiha killed a she-wolf and dressed in its skin only to be confronted by a male wolf who turned out to be Sabiq. They took passage on an Indian galleon, and Shiha had to poison three sea monsters to prevent them from being thrown overboard. They landed in a valley of monkeys and after Shiha had taken a thorn from the paw of one of them, the others carried them to a valley of wolves, where they put on their wolf skins. When they had passed through a valley of leopards, another of lions and a third of elephants, they came to a valley of snakes, where they recited ‘verses and names’, before reaching Mujrim’s city (3.479–480). Shiha entered pretending to be a sand diviner, but was recognised and imprisoned by Mujrim. He and Baibars were freed by Sabiq but, after having travelled all night, in the morning they found themselves back in prison. Mujrim’s daughter fell in love with ʿArnus, whom her father had also captured by magic, and Shiha gave her poison to put in his drink. He told her to drink it herself, but she managed to kill him by throwing it in his face. She then pretended to want to marry her uncle, Nakamdan, and tricked him into giving her his sword, the only weapon that could kill him (3.480–486). During Baibars’ absence Ibrahim had sold the sultanate of the castles to a young newcomer named Yasir for forty chests of treasure. Shiha, on hearing of this, threatened to sell both him and Saʿd as slaves to the Christians. When confronted by Shiha, Ibrahim said: ‘I’m tired of your company.’ He left with Saʿd, and Baibars told Shiha to do what he had promised, but added: ‘I cannot do without my men.’ Posing as a sea captain Shiha drugged Ibrahim and Saʿd with a newly caught fish, which turned them black with swollen eyes and affected their speech, after which he sold them to a Cypriot blacksmith for 200 dinars. Ibrahim’s son, learning of his father’s disappearance, complained to Baibars, pointing out: ‘they were your men and they spent their youth in your service’. Shiha came when his name was called and promised that he would forgive them. Together with Baibars he brought them back from Cyprus and cancelled the effects of the drug (3.481–494).

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Shiha was responsible for the capture of ʿAbd al-Nar’s castle (3.504). A sorceress had captured a number of Muslims, and Shiha was fetched by Taj Nas, who said: ‘it is not your habit to abandon Islam’. She gave him a leather sword and a piece of paper to deliver to the sorceress as a message. When she took it and began to read it, he struck her with the sword and killed her (3.510). * Baibars, on his way to Tyre, told ʿUthman to fetch his horse. After the surrender of the king of Tyre, the Muslims moved against a castle on the coast. Shiha swam around the seaward side, but was carried away by the current and had to be rescued by ʿAbd Allah al-Mughawari. The lord of the castle was being entertained by a juggler, whom Shiha killed and whose place he took. Burtuqush noticed the substitution but did not dare say anything. Shiha drugged the Christians and released the Muslim prisoners, but was himself shut in the dungeon by al-Haul b. Shakir, who demanded the sultanate of the castles. Shiha agreed to this, saying that he was tired of it, and he passed out a letter written in green ink, which drugged al-Haul when he sniffed it. The castle fell and Shiha went free (4.3–9). Hasan al-Manifi, another rival to Shiha, then appeared, styling himself ‘the sultan of the world’, and tracing back his descent to ‘the father of mankind, Adam’. He demanded the surrender of Shiha, and Shiha told Baibars to send him off in chains. Hasan proposed to have him executed, but one of his men, who turned out to be Sabiq, pointed out that, when Ibrahim killed Shiha, Shiha had produced a second head, and added: ‘everyone knows that he has a thousand bodies’. He also warned Hasan of his children, each one of whom was ‘more thievish than a rat’ and advised that they should all be executed together. Hasan and his men were drugged and he was taken to a Christian monastery, where he told the monks that his captor was Shiha: ‘kill him before you kill me’. Shiha drugged them with a censer and although he was briefly captured by Juwan, he soon turned the tables and took Juwan, Burtuqush and Hasan to Cairo where they were imprisoned (4.10–14). On being freed Juwan trapped Baibars, and in an elaborate deception Shiha climbed on the dome of a church in Damascus, proclaiming that the Messiah would arrive in ninety days time. Taj Nas helped him to cross a poison sea to the castle of Bilqis, whose gates opened when he recited his lineage, and with the help of 400 jinn he removed the dome of Bilqis and took it to Damascus, posing as the Messiah. He issued a number of instructions, including one to Ibrahim telling him to pay the zakāt tax on his treasures, which Ibrahim refused to do, saying that this was due only on the profits of trade. Juwan said: ‘you are little Shiha and this is the work of your wife Taj Nas’, after which he was thrown

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down and beaten. The Christians and Muslims were dismissed and the dome was returned to the castle of Bilqis. On the intercession of the Ismaʿilis Hasan was released and Shiha restored both his sight and his strength which had been affected by his captivity (4.14–23). Fadl al-Din al-Adraʿi, who had been making a living in Rum by robbing merchants, declared Shiha deposed and tried to murder Baibars. He was imprisoned but escaped, and the Ismaʿilis said that if Shiha could not protect them from him they would renounce their allegiance. Shiha himself then appeared and asked: ‘did you make me sultan and is that why you have the power to depose me?’ Fadl al-Din, announcing himself, like Hasan al-Manifi, as ‘sultan of the whole world’, proclaimed that ‘kingship comes through the sword’, whereas trickery is the mark of ‘professionals like snake-charmers, wrestlers, thieves and robbers’. Hasan al-Nasr warned him of Shiha, recalling how he had once beaten him to death and buried him, but ‘he left his grave and took me from my bed’. Fadl al-Din was captured by Ibrahim and Shiha was reluctant to have him killed, ‘as his men are all related to mine’. Shahin the vizier temporarily resolved the problem by getting Shiha and Fadl al-Din to share authority, adding that any treachery would nullify the agreement (4.24–31). Taj Nas had Shiha brought to her and when he had told her about Fadl al-Din she told him, ‘I intend to show people that there has never been anyone greater than you’. She sent 600 letters carried by jinn to the kings of the Rum, Franks, Persians and Muslims demanding that they send splendid presents to Shiha. She seated him in a pavilion plated with gold and the presents were brought in, including a sun-shade sent by Ahmad al-Badawi. Fadl al-Din asked his own followers for gifts, but when it was clear that these could not compare with those of Shiha, the two agreed to share what they had got. Shiha’s sun-shade, however, would only cover him and Baibars, and when Fadl al-Din found that its shadow would not extend to him he struck at Shiha, killing his horse. He then struck again, before being knocked down by a jinni and flayed, with his skin being stuffed and hung over his castle wall (4.31–35). Shiha had only a minor and intermittent part to play in the multiple intrigues that surrounded Iftuna, the granddaughter of Shahin, and her many suitors. One of his rivals, Rasad, who had returned from overseas to kill him, seized her and promised that for her sake he would swear allegiance to Shiha, who welcomed him, but when he returned to the cave where he had left her she had disappeared. Shiha, on investigating the clues, including a bag of roasted rats, deduced that she must have been taken by an Abyssinian, and Rasad said that he would follow her trail. Later Rasad resigned his claims to his rival, ʿIsa al-Jamahiri, and the two were married after a thirty-day wedding feast (4.36–49). ʿAbbas Abuʾl-Dhawaʾib, returning from overseas, said that he would obey

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neither king nor sultan. News reached Shiha that he had drugged and captured Sulaiman al-Jamus, and he went to ʿAbbas’ castle in disguise only to be seized: ‘you are Shiha called “the sultan of the castles” ’. Ismaʿil brought ʿAbbas a letter from ʿArnus demanding Shiha’s release, but Ismaʿil was himself then imprisoned. Baibars came up but lost his horse to ʿAbbas, and it was the arrival of Shiha’s sons that saved the situation. After having been beaten, ʿAbbas agreed to swear allegiance to Shiha provided that he himself remained in Baibars’ service (4.49–53). ʿArnus fell into a series of difficulties from which he continued to be rescued by Shiha. When he had been captured while asleep and imprisoned in an underground dungeon, Shiha was recognised by Juwan while acting as the king’s cup bearer, but the king refused to believe it, saying that the man had been in his service for ten years. Having been released, ʿArnus made his way to another town where Shiha was the owner of a wine shop, and later he cooked a meal for him in a khan and stole wine, saying: ‘I know you cannot eat without wine.’ He then poisoned or drugged the king’s men who were keeping watch outside the door. The king’s son had fallen ill and Burtuqush warned that, if a doctor were fetched, he would be Shiha. In fact, it was the sick son himself who roused Juwan’s suspicion – ‘I think that you are little Shiha’ – but as his father did not accept this, Juwan and Burtuqush were imprisoned and ʿArnus escaped (4.69–73). Shiha then went to Constantinople where he succeeded in stirring up a war between the Emperor Michael and a Frankish king, Angibert. Michael was a widower and Shiha, in the guise of ‘the Pasha of the Patriarchs’, suggested that he should ask for the hand of Angibert’s daughter. He was sent with Michael’s message to Angibert, but there he found Juwan who advised Angibert that the letter should be torn up and the messenger and his escort killed. Shiha overheard this and changed his disguise to that of one of Angibert’s servants and he sent off Sabiq, who was also there, to take the news to Michael (4.74–75). As Michael had been paying tribute to Baibars, he asked for aid from the Muslims, and Ibrahim volunteered to help him. Angibert, however, succeeded in drugging and imprisoning him and his men, after which Shiha sent to ask Baibars for reinforcements. In the fighting that followed Baibars was wounded and ʿArnus’ horse bolted after having been wounded. Shiha, disguised as the patriarch of the town where it went, tended its wounds and explained to ʿArnus, who had recognised him, that he had been looking for Ibrahim, whom he and Sabiq were about to release (4.76–81). Later, Angibert caught sight of a shaikh at times walking and at others crawling on a mountain top. This he took to be the Patriarch Sharashir, subsequently identified by Juwan as Shiha. ‘Sharashir’ negotiated peace between Michael,

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Angibert and Baibars, while Angibert’s daughter was betrothed to Michael. Juwan again denounced him but was paraded around the city with a pig’s bladder in place of a turban (4.84–86). Baibars’ emirs objected to the fact that, although Shiha had not taken part in the defeat of an attack on Alexandria, he had received a share in the spoils. Shiha again managed to drug Juwan and Burtuqush and to free Muslim prisoners (4.94–107). Sharaf al-Din, the son of al-ʿAbbas, returned from overseas and proposed to depose Shiha, in spite of the fact that his father told him that Shiha was a good believer, a fighter in the jihad and a very chivalrous man, whose enemies he had sworn to oppose. Sulaiman al-Jamus was invited to his castle, but Sharaf al-Din imprisoned his father and then drugged and imprisoned Sulaiman and his other guests. He rode out to look for Shiha but was told by one of his men, named Zaid, that if he waited in his castle Shiha was bound to come. Zaid was, in fact, Shiha, and after drugging Sharaf al-Din, he told his father to take him to Cairo (4.115–116). In Cairo Sharaf al-Din broke his fetters, knocked down the gaoler with the prison key and locked him in before leaving the city. Shiha followed him to his castle disguised as a servant, but was recognised and captured. He was freed by his sons and returned with them and Sharaf al-Din to Cairo, using paths unknown even to the jinn. Sharaf al-Din then submitted to him (4.117–118). ʿArnus, having again been captured, was freed by Sharr al-Husun, who told him that his intention was to kill Shiha. Sharr al-Husun went to Cairo where he began to rob and beat the emirs until he was captured and brought before Baibars, who sentenced him to death. Shiha arrived at that point and Sharr produced a note from ʿArnus, at which his life was spared and, although he was imprisoned, to Baibars’ annoyance he broke out and left a defiant message. Shiha promised to bring him back and, disguised as a sick man too weak to move out of the sun, he drugged him and took him to Baibars. Once again he escaped and this time he took refuge with Masʿud of Bursa, who promised to protect him on condition that he did not act against Shiha (4.122–129). In Cairo ʿAzar the Jew complained to Shiha that his house had been attacked by a group of Muslims. He lured him in and then drugged him, after which he invited Baibars and succeeded in drugging him too with ‘violet water refined with essence of amber’. The prisoners were eventually freed by Sharr’s bride. Shiha was again captured, this time in Beirut, but his sons again restored the situation and the king of Beirut agreed to pay tribute (4.131–135). ʿArnus was carried off by a mārid in the service of Queen Dawahi. She wanted to kill Muslims but Juwan, who had just arrived, said: ‘I am afraid of Shiha, and there he stands.’ Taj Nas flew in to the rescue, sending her son to kill

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Dawahi, to the delight of the jinn who were in her service, and her prisoners were released (4.137–138). Shiha was angered by the escape of Juwan, but was captured by four men who had been posted behind his door. Juwan asked him why he had not gone home with Taj Nas and he answered: ‘to seize you and to beat you is better for me than to go back to the lands of Islam’. When the news of his capture spread there was some unrest among the Ismaʿilis, although this was described by one of them as madness: ‘Shiha is a calamity.’ Baibars described the disturbance as ‘the work of bastards’ and sent Ibrahim to deal with it. Both Shiha and his sons, who had also been captured, were released (4.141–144). Samʿan al-Qurn had returned from overseas ‘to find the world altered’. He had heard of Baibars and Shiha, ‘the one a mamluk and the other a bedouin’, and proposed to kill them both. Baibars was joined in Cairo by Shiha, who told him that he had been spying out the lands of Rum and had found that they were at peace. When he heard of Samʿan’s threat he went to his castle, captured him and took him to Egypt, only giving him drugged water to drink on the journey. He was then killed and his body returned to his castle (4.148–159). Shiha’s skill as a doctor was displayed when a girl provided by Hulaʾun managed to poison ʿArnus and Idmur. She was killed by Nasir al-Nimr, while Shiha treated her victims with an emetic and succeeded in curing them. Hulaʾun’s son, Abra, was fighting against Baibars’ men helped by Ahmad son of Aibak, whose uncle Baibars had executed. ʿArnus, to whom Ahmad had appealed, suggested that he should pretend to come out against him and then capture Abra. In fact, he used a drugged candle on ʿArnus, Ibrahim and Saʿd, only to be drugged himself by Shiha disguised as Abra. They were all eventually reconciled (4.161–163). In a battle between Muslims and Christians Juwan instructed the Christians to fight throughout the night and to attack from the rear and the flanks. Shiha, who had been there at the time, went back to warn Baibars, and he told his sons to make sure that Juwan did not escape (4.184). Hamza, the cousin of Maʿruf, had returned from overseas and had been looking for ʿArnus, who had been drugged and captured. He saved ʿArnus from execution and the two of them, joined by Ismaʿil, were guided by Shiha by a way that ‘[only] he knew’, back to the city of Rukham (4.201–202). Thanks to Juwan’s schemes Alexandria was again captured by the Christians and again Shiha led Baibars and his men through an underground passage to retake it. Ibrahim had been wounded and was taken back to Hauran by his son, after which Shiha was sent to cure him and to take him his share of the booty (4.202–204). Baibars was removed by a mārid in order to help a Christian princess, but was

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then drugged and imprisoned. Shiha was told of his disappearance – ‘we don’t know where he has gone’ – but discovered where this was thanks to the Kitab al-Yunan. He went disguised as Juwan with Sabiq as Burtuqush and amazed the Christians by his recitation and exposition of the Gospel. He then used a brazier to drug the guards, after which he released Baibars (4.204–207). ʿArnus and Ismaʿil were about to be executed by a Christian king when Juwan exclaimed: ‘my heart tells me that Shiha is here’. In fact, Shiha was the executioner and was then seized. The Muslims were later freed with the help of Hasan son of Nasir al-Din, and Shiha dropped a note on the king’s neck saying that, had it not been for his past kindness to ʿArnus, he would have been killed. Hasan went to Cairo where he was imprisoned after having demanded the sultanate of the castles. He escaped but was recaptured by Shiha disguised as a leper, after which he submitted (4.214–215). ʿAsif son of Bakr, who had helped Baibars at Damascus before he had first gone to Egypt, now began to beat and rob emirs in Cairo, causing Baibars to say: ‘this Shiha brings trouble on me and my men. Whenever someone comes for him and doesn’t find him, it is my men whom he attacks.’ Neither Ibrahim, Saʿd nor Baibars succeeded in capturing ʿAsif, but Shiha took them to a dungeon beneath the stairs where he had imprisoned him. Baibars, on recognising him, released him, kissed his hand and put him in Shiha’s place, telling Shiha: ‘I have not made him sultan but I had made an agreement with him.’ Shiha went off and ʿAsif annoyed Baibars by calling him ‘my apprentice’, and when he returned to his castle he told his men: ‘I am sultan of the whole world.’ He subsequently drugged and captured ʿArnus and Ismaʿil, only for Shiha to free them. He was then taken back to Cairo where he agreed to obey Shiha on hearing not only that a Rumi mother had used his name to hush her child, but that thanks to the blessing of his name a fire had been put out on a burning ship in a storm and that the sea had been calmed (4.215–220). Darb, the son of Ismaʿil, was imprisoned by Juwan, who recognised the gaoler as Shiha. Juwan was then drugged by Sabiq (4.225). Darraj al-Asamm, on hearing of Baibars and Shiha, exclaimed: ‘I am not willing that these people should be sultans while I am in this world.’ He fought Baibars but was imprisoned, only to escape. Shiha promised to bring him back and went ahead to wait ‘like a hunter’, disguised as a Christian woman with a baby who gave him drugged milk. Darraj later threatened him with ʿAsi, who said that he would not help anyone, ‘even my brother or my son’, against Shiha (4.226–228). A letter then came from Aleppo to say that Sabiq was ill and Shiha, forgetting about Darraj, went there immediately. In fact, Sabiq had fallen in love with ʿAsi’s sister, Zahra. Shiha sent a letter to ʿAsi asking for her hand, but,

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although ʿAsi was willing to accept the proposal, Zahra tore up the letter and put both Sabiq and her brother in chains. She sent for Darraj, who used her castle as a base from which to plunder merchants. Shiha managed to drug him and, although he had to flee from Zahra, he eventually managed to drug her too. She married Sabiq, but was killed by Darraj on her wedding night. Darraj told what he thought was his mother that he was not afraid of Baibars but of Shiha, and this turned out to be Shiha himself, who later flayed him and hung his skin over his castle gate (4.228–231). Jamr, who had been one of Maʿruf’s rivals, returned after thirty-three years in Christian territory, and said: ‘I never obeyed Maʿruf, so how should I obey Shiha?’ Baibars said: ‘if you want the sultanate of the castles, it belongs to Shiha, so deal with him yourself’. Jamr, who was more than ninety years old, told him: ‘I didn’t ask for the sultanate in my youth, so how should I ask for it now?’ He questioned Baibars and his emirs about their teachers and when Shiha said that he did not have any, he said: ‘the excuse is worse than the fault’. When Shiha asked if he was joking, Jamr produced Juwan, who said ‘didn’t you follow behind my donkey?’, adding that he had taught Shiha all the tricks that he knew. Shiha asked to be taken as Jamr’s apprentice and helped him with food and water for his horse when he attacked the Christian king, ʿAbd al-Salib (4.236–239). When Baibars was removed by sorcery, Shiha went to the shrine of Zainab and was told by her in a dream that he would be found in Madinat al-Abwaq. He sailed to within a three-day journey of the city and then left the ship, helped by ʿAbd Allah al-Mughawari, who gave him a mantle that would allow him to fly. When he approached the walls, horns that gave warning of the approach of strangers sounded and he had to land on the roof of a monastery outside the city, where he impressed the monks with his recitation of the Gospel and the Psalms. He then killed the patriarch and, disguised as him, he persuaded the king to agree to pay tribute to Baibars, only for him to be killed by Juwan with a poisoned arrow (4.242–248). Queen Nufus, ‘like the rising sun’, arrived in Alexandria in a gold-plated galleon. Ibrahim was suspicious and Shiha – the only man, according to Saʿd, who could see into the future – disguised himself as a beautiful slave-girl and was given to her as a present by Baibars. ‘She’ told the queen that, although she had ostensibly converted to Islam, she was in reality a Christian. Nufus told ‘her’ that she no longer had any value among either Christians or Muslims and beat ‘her’, before Sabiq came to the rescue (4.248–250). Later Nufus was publicly converted and picked Sabiq as a husband. After her wedding night she sent Shiha a box apparently containing Sabiq’s corpse cut into quarters. Ibrahim told him that this was not, in fact, Sabiq, and he went to Alexandria, from where he was removed by magic to join Sabiq in the dungeon

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of the sorcerer al-Azraq. Al-Azraq had other Muslim champions fetched, including Baibars, and called for a volunteer to kill him. Juwan had given orders that anyone who stepped forward was to be seized, and the volunteer turned out to be Shiha’s son, Nur. Eventually, al-Azraq was killed by Jamr Sharib al-Dam, who promised to free Baibars in return for the sultanate of the castles. Baibars told Shiha that he would die rather than abandon him, but Shiha told him to agree. Jamr offered him capital with which to start a business as a trader, adding that if he entered any of the castles, associated with Baibars or the Ismaʿilis or asked for the return of the sultanate, his blood would be forfeit (4.251–258). Shiha went back to Taj Nas, who told him that Jamr would hold power for seven years, and he spent the time playing chess with her and visiting his sons. At the end of that time he went to Masʿud Bek at Bursa from where he returned to Cairo and told Jamr about his trading, explaining that he had bought hens, sheep, soap, wheat, beans and barley. He had then bought a slave-girl and had wanted to marry her, but she had refused, saying that he was an old man. Jamr agreed to take ‘her’ into his harem, and when Shiha asked where he was to spend the night, he said: ‘do I know where you are to spend the night? Go to hell’ (4.261–262). The ‘girl’ got Jamr to demonstrate the magic ring that had been the source of his power and ‘she’ then ordered its attendant jinni to knock him down and to take ‘her’ to Shiha, turning out to be Sabiq. Shiha and the Ismaʿilis entered the court in full armour and deposed Jamr. Shiha said that his death would be a loss but when he refused to submit he was flayed (4.263–265). In a campaign against Nubia Shiha climbed into an enemy city disguised as a Nubian, but the jinn in the service of the queen told her who he was and he was seized. He was later freed by a princess who had heard him reciting the Quran and had been converted. He was in time to treat Baibars who had been captured and dressed in ‘a robe of feathers’, which had pierced him ‘like needles’. Shiha produced a poultice of fat and herbs to deal with wounds and an emetic to counter the effect of drugs, while he also treated Baibars’ eyes and ears. In the disguise of a Christian monk whom he had killed he managed to drug and kill the enemy king, at which his city surrendered (4.285–299). In fighting around Aleppo the heads of a number of captured emirs were thrown down in front of Baibars and a solitary rider attacked both Muslims and Christians. Shiha managed to seize the man and to release the supposedly dead emirs, saying: ‘I gave them better heads.’ The attacker proved to be Nimr al-ʿAmiri, who had based himself in a monastery whose monks he had killed except for the patriarch, whom he had taken as a servant, telling him to do the opposite of what he said. Shiha had overheard this, killed the patriarch and drugged Nimr (4.305–306). Nimr later escaped by bursting his bonds. He was told by Juwan that Shiha,

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‘the bedouin’, had spent two years as his donkey boy, and promised to kill him. He managed to capture both Ibrahim and Baibars, and when they were about to be executed, Juwan had the executioner seized as being Shiha. All were soon freed and the Christian queen who had been attacking the Muslims was killed by Shiha when she refused conversion (4.306–308). When the Christian army had been routed, Nimr, on his way back to his castle, was drugged by Shiha, who had challenged him to remove what he had written on a leaf, but Shiha was himself captured by Nimr’s brother, Kufair, who had returned from overseas. Kufair later freed Shiha, who had promised to forgive Nimr, and he treated the wound that Nimr had inflicted on Ibrahim (4.308–310). It was after this that Tuma, the brother of Shiha’s wife, Safiya, arrived in Alexandria, saying that he wanted to visit his sister. He was lodged in a guest house until Shiha returned, and was befriended by ʿArnus. During this period the daughter of Qalaʾun disappeared and in the disturbances that followed ʿArnus was captured by one of the girl’s suitors, Nasir. Shiha entered Nasir’s castle, drugged the cook, freed ʿArnus and took Nasir in chains to Baibars. He appealed to ʿArnus, but Shiha said that he could not be released until the girl had been found. Later, in spite of the fact that Shiha accused him of rebellion against Baibars, ʿArnus set him free. Safiya told Shiha that it was her brother who had caused the original quarrel and Shiha followed him to Barcelona, where he managed to drug the king’s courtiers with a candle. Nasir arrived and cut off Tuma’s head, after which Shiha settled matters by handing over Barcelona to the Byzantines and accepting a ransom for Juwan and Burtuqush. Ibrahim took the money and when Shiha objected – ‘this belongs to me and to the sultan’ – he pointed out: ‘I am your servant and your partner from the days of Tiberias’ (4.310–321). Baibars had been kidnapped by Juwan and when Shiha came to the castle in which he was being held he was afraid to enter lest he be trapped. Eventually, he went to a monastery where a flight of steps concealed in a hollow pillar led him to an enchanted figure that called out the names of all those who approached. Shiha was in danger of being seized by Juwan when ʿAbd Allah al-Mughawari came to the rescue and disabled the figure. Shiha then killed the patriarch and took his shape. Burtuqush recognised him but told Juwan: ‘this is a patriarch and the son of a patriarch’. Juwan challenged him to cure a leper who had lost an eye, but this turned out to be Sabiq. Juwan was beaten and the Muslim prisoners released (4.328–331). Ibrahim had fallen in love with Miriam, the daughter of ʿArnus, who had been brought up as a Christian. He rescued her when she was being carried off by one of Juwan’s agents, but then kept her hidden. Shiha, posing as a blind beggar,

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saw him buying food and followed him to the house where he had left her, before taking her to Baibars, telling her to say that it had been Juwan who carried her off in order to avoid dissension (4.337–348). She was kidnapped again and Baibars with a number of his followers went to Constantinople in search of her, only to be drugged with smoke after having followed a man whom they took to be Shiha. Shiha then freed them and went at night to tell the Emperor Michael to provide a ship to help them follow her. After she had been brought back to Cairo she was removed again by what appeared to be Ibrahim. Baibars pointed out that Ibrahim was at his court at the time and asked: ‘how many bodies does Ibrahim have?’ Shiha on his arrival pointed out, accurately, that this must have been the work of a sorcerer. Although the sorcerer was later killed, his brother removed Miriam as she was being taken back to Cairo, calling out ‘I am Ibrahim.’ Baibars said that until he had seen this with his own eyes he had thought that Ibrahim was innocent, but Shiha objected: ‘he could not attack us’ (4.349–363). Later Ibrahim took over the kingdom of the fire-worshipping ʿAbd al-Nar and Shiha and Baibars came to his court. Shiha invented a story of how he had quarrelled with his brother who had eventually asked for a reconciliation. Ibrahim told him that he should agree to this, and Shiha pointed out that the story applied to his quarrel with Baibars (4.368–370). Juwan incited the Christian champion ʿAbd al-Salib to fight the Muslims. His mother told him that ‘your father killed Shiha’s father’, after which Shiha had captured him and given him to the dead man’s mother, who had killed him ‘with her own hands’. ʿAbd al-Salib’s mother asked her son to bring her Shiha, who had given her an incurable wound. When ʿAbd al-Salib was captured by Ibrahim, Shiha remarked on a family resemblance and Sabiq, who had overheard his mother praying for his conversion, told him: ‘he is your son and my brother’. His name was then changed to ʿAli al-Tuwairid (4.377–379). Shiha had a small part to play in the wooing of Ibrahim’s sister, Fatima, by ʿAli. Ibrahim had agreed that he had no objection to the match but had said that he must first capture her, something that Shiha said would not be difficult. Ibrahim told Shiha to arrange for a wrestling match between the two, adding: ‘if he takes her, this is the dowry in our lands’. ʿAli won the bout and the wedding took place (4.380–381). Kundafrun, ‘lord of the English islands’, attacked Aleppo and ‘as his bones were like those of a crocodile’, he could not be wounded by Ibrahim’s sword. Shiha volunteered to fight on condition that he could have Ibrahim’s share of the spoils. He rode out on a saddle of sycamore wood with stirrups and a bridle of fibre rope, armed with a cooking spit. His opponent thought that he was mad and told him to go back, while Ibrahim told Baibars that he had reverted to type:

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‘after all he is a bedouin’. In fact, he killed Kundafrun by thrusting through a gap under his arm-pit that was exposed when he raised his arm to strike (4.382–385). When Shiha, as a joke, refused to give Ibrahim his share of the spoils, Ibrahim protested ‘you have sold my companionship’, to which Shiha replied that, in that case he would sell Ibrahim as a slave. Ibrahim pursued him to a monastery, where he cut off what he thought was his head, telling Saʿd: ‘I shall be king of the castles.’ After having disposed of the head, the two of them went to Hauran, where Ibrahim’s father, Hasan, protested that Shiha had done his son a thousand favours. Later Ibrahim bathed in a pool in the castle orchard and came out blind, ‘unable to see his own hand’. Saʿd was sent to find an oculist and discovered one in Damascus, who objected: ‘I cannot go to a rich man and leave the poor.’ Ibrahim was taken to his house and cured for a fee of 7,000 dinars, of which Ibrahim offered to pay only one. The oculist then claimed to be an alchemist and when Ibrahim wanted to be taught the art, the oculist, who was Shiha, used a concoction of herbs to disguise him as a slave. Later, in a repetition of an earlier incident, he sold both him and Saʿd to a blacksmith in Cyprus, from where they were eventually rescued by Baibars, who had been told by Shiha where they were (4.385–389). The vizier Shahin fled from Cairo after having been falsely accused of treachery thanks to forged letters sent by ʿAla al-Din. Shiha, disguised as a groom, ingratiated himself with the stableman of ʿAla al-Din who had complained of being underpaid and had pointed out that, if he were killed by his master, no one would ask about him. Thanks to his evidence the forgery was exposed, and Shahin was brought back to Cairo (4.393–398). One day when Baibars went to his court, he found all the china and the crystal smashed and a note from ‘the sultan, son of the sultan, whose two hundred ancestors were sultans’. This was Zanbiq al-Yashabi, and on hearing of his return Ibrahim remarked that Shiha might as well go and sell chick-peas, as he had six servants with extraordinary powers, each the equal of forty Shihas. Zanbiq was said to eat dogs and cats and to worship the moon and the stars. On Shiha’s advice Baibars presented him with royal robes and gold, as well as with an Abyssinian slave, who told him that he had not wanted to serve Shiha because he was not a horseman of note (4.403–406). Of Zanbiq’s supporters one man in every tent was then found killed, and this went on until only Zanbiq and Shiha, the supposed Abyssinian, were left. One of Zanbiq’s six servants accused the Abyssinian, but Zanbiq refused to believe him, and when they came to the castle everyone, both men and women, were drugged and half of each man’s beard was shaved except for Zanbiq, whose whole beard was removed. Zanbiq and his wife were then given each other’s shapes. Shiha, who had been playing the role of the Abyssinian, took Zanbiq to the castle of

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Sulaiman al-Jamus, but one of his servants tracked him down and freed him. Shiha was captured and was taken off by Zanbiq with a rope around his neck, being forced to run as fast as a horse could gallop, ‘and it was God who gave him strength to do this’. A Frankish ‘girl’, who claimed that Shiha had killed her husband because of a delay in the payment of a debt, then drugged Zanbiq with an apple of which she had eaten half. ‘She’ turned out to be Sabiq, but Zanbiq, having been freed by his servants, pursued Shiha and was met by an old man to whom he said: ‘pray to God for me that Shiha may fall into my hands’. He then began to suspect that this might be Shiha himself and collected wood with which to burn him, but he was drugged by the fumes of the fire. On their way back to Cairo, Shiha deliberately let himself be seized by Zanbiq’s servants and they were then captured by his sons who were selling bread, cheese, oil and onions by the road. The servants acknowledged that their master was no match for Shiha and submitted to him. Zanbiq asked for Baibars’ protection in the same way that al-Nimr had been protected by ʿArnus (4.406–413). Later Zanbiq fell in love with a Christian princess and was converted to Christianity. What appeared to be his corpse was discovered and Ibrahim was thought to have been responsible for his murder. Baibars was kidnapped and a note purporting to have been sent by Ibrahim threatened that he would be crucified on the walls of the castle of Hauran. Shiha told Baibars’ son, Saʿid, that he did not believe that Ibrahim could have been responsible for this and promised to investigate (4.413–421). The details of the plot were unravelled and Baibars’ men went out to attack Zanbiq, who was captured by Ibrahim. Shiha seized Juwan and killed Zanbiq’s princess after she had refused conversion to Islam. He then drugged her father after which the castle fell, while Zanbiq himself was flayed, saying: ‘if I were offered the whole world and you were in it, I would not want it’ (4.424–427). * ʿUthman was told to bring up Baibars’ horse (4.429). Shiha captured another castle, shooting out an arrow to say that he had killed the guards, and in the aftermath of this he came immediately on being summoned by Ibrahim (4.474). Hasan Abuʾl-Dhawaʾib, in quest of his cousin’s hand, had been told to present himself to Baibars and Shiha, who would give him a castle, and Shiha arrived at court to a roll of drums. Hasan later discovered his uncle, Hammad, threatening to kill his daughter unless she became a Christian. He had knocked her down but she was rescued by Hasan, only for all of them to be drugged by Shiha. Hasan told him that, but for this, he would have killed Hammad (4.457–459). There was a further series of thefts in Alexandria, and when Baibars went

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there to investigate, the thief moved to Cairo. This had happened seven times when Ibrahim followed a man with a basket of vegetables who was acting suspiciously at night in Alexandria. Ibrahim asked him whether ‘people sell vegetables by night or by day?’ to which the man replied: ‘God sends us our livelihood both by night and by day.’ He turned out to Shiha, who said that he knew who the culprits were and would show them to Baibars on condition that he kept himself hidden. Baibars dug a hole in the sand from which he watched the arrival of the robbers in a boat of ebony inlaid with bronze. He followed them to a house, where their leader said: ‘the king of the Muslims . . . is standing at the door and, if he were not afraid, he would come in and fight me’. Baibars was about to attack when Shiha drugged and then killed the forty robbers and tied up their leader, ʿAzaqil, who later taunted him: ‘you are one of those who use drugs on enemies whom they can’t fight’. He then burst his bonds and escaped, challenging Baibars to meet him at Aleppo. Shiha said that he could do no more: ‘I have introduced you to your enemy’ (4.460–462). In a sequence to this episode, Baibars cut off ʿAzaqil’s hand and Shiha, disguised as the patriarch of a monastery, cauterised the wound and treated it with an unguent. In return ʿAzaqil promised not to kill him but said that he would hand him over to Juwan, ‘for you are Shiha of the Muslims’. In fact, he was killed before he could do this (4.464–465). ʿArnus fell in love with Salma, the daughter of Hasan, the lord of the Beqaʿ. Before their marriage Shiha went to the bride, who rose as a mark of respect. He pointed out that her bridegroom was the son of the sultan of the castles, while her own father was sultan of the Beqaʿ. As any son of hers would belong to the line of the sultanate, he was afraid that this might lead to a feud with his own sons and he asked her to swear not to allow this to happen. When she promised to do her best, he presented her with fifty jewels each worth 1,000 dinars (4.481–483). On her wedding night Salma disappeared and a note was left by Dam b. Sharr al-Husun to say that he had taken her to his castle. Shiha went there in disguise and tried to drug Dam with ‘musk for a bride’, but Dam was carrying an antidote to banj and seized him. He was later freed by Sabiq and Dam was flayed (4.484–486). Baibars’ son, Ahmad, had set out against King Astalud and had married his daughter, ‘with God as a witness’. When this was discovered the two were put in a brass chest which was to be thrown into a fire. Shiha arrived, disguised as a merchant whom he had killed, and produced a substitute chest in which he had placed the sons of the king’s vizier (4.498–499). While Ahmad returned to Cairo, Shiha went to scout in Christian territory where he came across a party of priests mounted backwards on bulls, these being the victims of Ruma, the daughter of Rum al-Azraq, who would publicly

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disgrace those whom she defeated in a contest of Gospel knowledge. Shiha got the better of her and, rather than put her to shame, he suggested that she should visit the Holy Sepulchre. Her pilgrimage led to her marriage with the Muslim Kamil b. al-Khattab (4.500–507). Astalud had captured a number of Muslims and said that, were Shiha to know where they were, he would rescue them. Similarly, when Baibars was kidnapped by the sorcerer Jirjis b. al-Khabith, he said that Shiha would come to his rescue. Jirjis then took his shape, disguising a number of his followers as Baibars’ men. Shiha was deceived and imprisoned, but the Muslims were eventually rescued through the actions of a mamluk who had been alerted by al-Salih in a dream (4.506–510). When Baibars was kidnapped by Dardrik and Juwan and smuggled to Madinat al-Mulafita, Saʿd, sailing in search of him, was wrecked and found his way to the city of Kuwaikh, where he discovered Shiha seated beside the king. Shiha had known from the Kitab al-Yunan where Baibars would be found and, hearing that the king’s daughter was ill, he came to his court pretending to be a doctor from India. He cured, converted and married the girl, and when a Muslim army approached he told the king to have no fear as he would kidnap their leaders. He took ʿArnus, exchanging signs with him, and followed this by bringing in other champions, after which thanks to the use of drugged food, he killed the king and freed the prisoners. The city then fell to a combined attack from inside and out (5.19–28). Shiha overheard Dardrik discussing surrender with his vizier and said to himself that it was better to ensure the prosperity of lands rather than to destroy them. He kidnapped Dardrik and pleaded for him with Baibars, who accepted his intercession and spared him (5.30–31). Rum al-Azraq attacked Muslim lands and Baibars had an ominous dream about ʿArnus. Shiha decoyed him to a monastery where he drugged him to keep him out of the battle. Guards were posted to protect him, but Rum entered by a way known to Juwan and cut him to pieces while he was unable to resist. Nasir al-Nimr blamed Shiha: ‘it was only the little man who killed him’ (5.33–41). * In the battle that followed ʿUthman called up the grooms, ‘the sons of the shaikh’, to fight, and twelve kings were shot by Shiha (5.42). * Baibars fell into difficulties when Hulaʾun, helped by the sorcerer Armaliya, attacked Aleppo, but eventually Armaliya was killed by Baibars with a magic arrow. During this time Ibrahim remarked that Shiha had not been seen. Having been alerted by Baibars’ son, Saʿid, he had gone to his wife, Taj Nas, using two hairs of hers that he kept with him. She flew back on her throne; her jinn attacked with fire and stones and, as ʿUthman and his grooms were fighting, it was Shiha

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who brought up Baibars’ horse. Shiha opened the city gates and Hulaʾun was executed (5.46–49). Shiha then went in pursuit of Juwan to a church near Madinat al-Aflaq. He climbed in, taking with him an antidote to banj, and testing every stair for traps, before discovering 600 chests filled with money and jewels. He had been seen by Juwan, who prepared drugged candles, so trapping the Ismaʿilis whom Shiha had sent in. Shiha himself was struck down and captured, after which Juwan took him off by ‘a way that he knew’ (5.60–62). The other Muslim prisoners were rescued by Saif b. Fadl, who claimed to have inherited a half share in the sultanate of the castles from his father. Shiha, meanwhile, had been freed by Juwan’s daughter Ruma, and on his return to Baibars he was told about Saif. Another returning Ismaʿili, Shujaʿ al-Din, disguised as a bedouin, waited on his roof and then drugged and removed him before imprisoning him in the castle of Marikina. A number of Ismaʿilis advised Shujaʿ to submit, describing Shiha as ‘a flayer of men’, but they were themselves then drugged and imprisoned. Saʿid reproached the emirs for not having gone to the rescue of ‘my uncle’ Shiha, but he and the other prisoners were later freed by another converted princess (5.62–69). After having followed Shujaʿ’s trail, Shiha was again captured, this time by a man pretending to be a blind bedouin and leaning on a stick, but he was immediately rescued by Badr al-Ghafir. He went to Shujaʿ’s castle disguised as an old man and pretended to drop dead, after which Shujaʿ was drugged when he took a purse from ‘the body’ and opened it. He agreed to submit to Shiha, but in the meantime Baibars had vanished from Ascalon. Shiha and Shujaʿ left in search of him (5.70–71). Baibars had been shipwrecked and had fallen into the hands of the Frank, Kafrun, whom he threatened with Shiha. Kafrun eventually surrendered and was converted to Islam, after which Baibars was released (5.72–75). During an attack on Alexandria the Muslims were in difficulties when they were rescued by ʿImad al-Din ʿAlqam, who refused any share of the spoils, saying that he was paid by Shiha and Baibars. Baibars had earlier been kidnapped and sent to the City of Snow. Shiha set out from Alexandria on a ship laden with cotton, dates, Damietta rice and lentils, saying that he must rescue Baibars or die. Because they had to sail across ‘the magnetic sea’, wooden bolts were substituted for the metal nails of the ship, and on its arrival Shiha claimed to be a doctor. The king who was holding Baibars left ‘the doctor’ to guard him, as he was then passing himself off as Juwan (5.96–100). The king wanted his prisoners to be killed, but ‘Juwan’ told him to wait until Shiha and his sons had been captured. Later he demonstrated the flying suit

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given him by al-Khidr and while the Christians were watching him, the Muslim prisoners broke out of the city. Baibars killed the king and on his instructions Shiha prepared ships with wooden nails for the return journey. After his arrival at Antioch Shiha went out by night and kidnapped the Christian king who had earlier been responsible for drugging Baibars (5.101–104). An evilly disposed young man called ʿImran succeeded in kidnapping Baibars, who had gone to his house in Damascus disguised as a Persian dervish, as well as Ibrahim and Saʿd. Ibrahim was saying that Shiha’s miraculous powers must have run out and that he would cast off his allegiance to him unless he came. At that a blacksmith who was present revealed himself as Shiha, and ʿImran was crucified (5.108–110). Saif b. Asad, whose father had been in the service of Hasan al-Bushnani, asked Hasan for the property left by his father on his death. Eventually, Hasan moved to Baisan, leaving Saif his castle from where he declared that Shiha was now deposed. He woke next morning to find himself in a cave with Hasan and ‘a little man’. He criticised Hasan for having been unable to face him in battle and for then having to resort to kidnapping. Hasan explained that he had had nothing to do with this and that it was the work of ‘the sultan of the castles’, on whose name he had called. Saif apologised and asked Shiha to reconcile him with Hasan, which he did (5.113–116). Later Saif became jealous of Hasan and set out to capture his brother-in-law, Saʿd, succeeding in trapping both him and Ibrahim. He followed this by using a letter from Shiha to deceive Sulaiman al-Jamus and he later imprisoned a number of Ismaʿilis whom he had invited to a wedding feast. He met Shiha disguised as a man who sold mantles to Frankish kings inscribed with their names, and when he asked for one of these with his own name on it, he was drugged. He escaped, only to be drugged again by Shiha disguised as a gardener with a basket of grapes, and when he had been rescued by his servants, who seized Shiha, they were all drugged with a roast lamb given them by Shiha’s sons disguised as shepherds. Saif was about to be flayed by Shiha, dressed in snake skin, when both Ibrahim and Baibars intervened (5.116–119). In the next combined attack on Baibars and his court, his son Ahmad was seized and sent off to Rome, while Baibars was kidnapped. The conspirators were drugged by Shiha disguised as the patriarch of a monastery. Two of them were flayed and Juwan was handed over to Sulaiman al-Jamus to be taken back to Cairo, while Baibars and Shiha set off for Rome (5.122–125). Later Shiha told Baibars to return to Egypt, while he, disguised as Juwan, carried on the search for Ahmad. After having killed a king who wanted ‘Juwan’s’ sanction to allow him to marry his own daughter, he used his flying suit to hover over the castle of the sorceress who was holding Ahmad. He told

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her that he could rejuvenate her and restore her dead son to life, but he then poisoned her, to the delight of the jinn who were in her service. Ahmad was returned to Cairo by ʿAbd Allah al-Mughawari (5.128–130). Khalid al-Hadid, having returned from ‘the lands of the Christians’, set out to look for Shiha: ‘how can a man like this command the obedience of men?’ He was distracted by the discovery in a cave of the kidnapped wife of Qara Arslan whose son, Markaz, had killed a Christian who had tried to seduce her. Markaz had then been carried off, only to fall in love with a Christian princess, Zain Jala. Zain’s father imprisoned them both and when she was released by Khalid, disguised as a monk, Markaz had already been freed by Shiha, who opened the city gate for them. The lovers went to another island where Markaz claimed to the king that he was ‘the sultan of the castles’, at which the king asked him whether his name was Shiha. The king then wanted to rape Zain, but was knocked down by Shiha. Khalid was imprisoned but freed by a servant who said that he was afraid of Shiha who had ‘spies and watchers in every land’, but who then turned out to be Shiha himself. Khalid exclaimed: ‘may God curse all who disobey you!’ (5.130–138). The sorceress Shamkarina had thought of killing Muslim prisoners when a patriarch, ‘fat as an elephant’, came down from a church roof reciting the Gospel to the accompaniment of readings from ‘The Book of Lives’, in which every one’s life span was noted. She was lured to the church roof by the patriarch, who was, of course, Shiha, and then killed. Khalid wanted to know how Shiha had managed to trick her and was told: ‘whoever serves God is served in everything by God’. Khalid then told him: ‘I am the slave of your slave’ (5.142–144). Nimr the brother of Fahd, ‘a sultan and the son of a sultan’, was seized by Baibars but freed by his brother, who gave him Ahmad, whom he had kidnapped. Having asked for a night’s lodging in a monastery he was drugged by Shiha, disguised as its patriarch. Fahd ‘well knew that Shiha could not fight’, but he was captured by Shiha’s son, ʿAli, and he later submitted after Shiha had told him that he had fewer brains than a sheep (5.145–148). Baibars was kidnapped by an agent of Hulaʾun’s son, Abra, at the instigation of Juwan. Juwan, approached him at night and told him that he had been converted, ‘but I am afraid lest Shiha induce you to kill me’. He freed Baibars, but when forty of Baibars’ men disappeared Shiha accused him and he said: ‘this is what I feared’. His position was strengthened when he helped rescue Muslim prisoners from a cave and Shiha, who had cut off the heads of their captors, addressed him as ‘qadi Salah al-Din’. A returning Ismaʿili had come to kill Juwan on being told that he was a friend of Shiha, but on seeing him and Burtuqush in Christian dress he realised that his ‘conversion’ was a trick and offered him his services. Ibrahim and Saʿd, followed by Baibars, were drugged

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with smoke from a fire, and Shiha was kidnapped. All the Muslims were then freed by Burtuqush, who had been told by al-Khidr to help them (5.150–154). Baibars was again drugged by Burtuqush, this time with dates that he said had been given him by al-Khidr, after which both Shiha and his sons were captured in a deserted cook-house, but all the Muslims were then freed by Ibrahim who had been alerted by al-Khidr. Baibars and Shiha agreed to kill Juwan if he fell into their hands again (5.155–158). Baibars dreamt of a flood and told this to Shiha, but it was one of the ʿulamāʾ who explained that this meant that a city would be besieged. The Christians then attacked Damascus and, after fierce fighting, Shiha came to tell Baibars that Juwan was planning a night attack on his camp. The attack failed and later, when sixty emirs had been kidnapped, Shiha managed to free them. Juwan was captured, but when Baibars was about to return to Cairo he was discovered to have escaped and, as no locks had been broken, the prison guards suggested that he must have been taken by ‘an angel from heaven or a jinni from the earth’ (5.159–164). He had, in fact, been freed by a jinni sent by the king of Sind and later he and this king, together with Burtuqush, succeeded in capturing the Muslim leaders, including Baibars and Shiha. They were about to be killed when Shiha told Baibars: ‘your soul is pure; pray to Almighty God for help, as he will accept your prayer’. They were then rescued by a naked saint, who was himself on the point of death (5.167–169). A sorcerer king of the Islands of Gold led an attack on Madinat al-Rukham and Baibars’ relieving army was surrounded by fire, many of its champions having been captured by magic. At that point ‘a great dome’ moved through the sky, surrounded by golden birds and dazzling lights. Shiha as a gorgeously dressed shaikh proclaimed that the Messiah had appointed him king of the world and had given him an apple of paradise. The dome was that of Shaddad son of ʿAd and had been provided by Shiha’s wife, Taj Nas. The apple poisoned the sorcerer and with his death the spells were broken (5.170–176). Juwan had escaped and when Baibars complained that this always happened, Shiha told him that this was the last time. Juwan summoned 400 Christian kings to Rome as a preliminary to an invasion of Muslim lands, but Shiha poisoned a pool in which they were to wash. Dufush, who had killed his father, Ruman, was seized by Baibars and Shiha, who had dressed in the robes of the dead kings, and was crucified at the city gate (5.177–180). Juwan had gone to Constantinople, where Michael presented his submission to Baibars. Shiha told Baibars that there were seven churches there, each filled with death traps and Baibars said: ‘that is your business, and it is only from you that I look to be given Juwan’. Juwan was discovered drinking wine in a dome,

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into which Shiha and his men cut their way thanks to Ibrahim’s sword, DhuʾlHayat. Juwan vanished and Shiha told the pursuers that black marble was safe to tread on, while white was dangerous. In the second church, where Juwan was again seen drinking wine, he was guarded by a snake and automata made of lead and dressed as mamluks. Next he was found by a fountain, surrounded by roses, and the water of the fountain turned out to be poisonous quicksilver, discouraging Ibrahim, whom Shiha had to stop from going back. In another church there were four towers with cannons and sword-wielding automata. Ibrahim and Saʿd fainted when the cannons were fired, but Shiha recited verses from the Quran and sprinkled them with water until they had recovered. The swords turned out to be of leather, while the figures wielding them were made of tin (5.181–185). After Juwan had vanished again he was found playing chess with ‘the bride of the treasure’, and the Muslims were attacked by a lion and had to cross a quicksilver sea. When Juwan was discovered apparently asleep on a bed, Shiha, Ibrahim and Saʿd approached but found themselves in a narrow dungeon which began to fill with water. A voice told Shiha to pull a ring that was by his feet, and at that the water drained away. The Muslims were next confronted by a seated king who said that he would hand over Juwan if they promised not to kill Michael or to sack Constantinople. Juwan was brought in chains, but managed to drop one of his hairs on a fire at which a chain appeared up which he climbed. Shiha, however, knew from the Kitab al-Yunan where he was going and he was finally seized and executed (5.186–189). During the execution a voice called out: ‘little man, how long are you going to go on living in this world?’ and he had to avoid a blow aimed at him by Nasir al-Nimr, which only succeeded in severing Juwan’s head. This was removed by Burtuqush, who had been present disguised as a woman and who then took it off with him, while the body was burnt. Shiha threatened to flay Nasir, but Baibars told him that he could not do that out of respect for ʿArnus. He asked Shiha what he wanted, and Ibrahim accused him of greed when he asked for the wealth of the seven churches and for the hand of Juwan’s daughter, Ruma (5.189–191). In the ensuing quarrel Ibrahim said that he would send for Saif al-Din b. Fadl, and transfer his allegiance from Shiha to him. Sulaiman al-Jamus said that he would accept only Shiha, and he was supported by four other senior Ismaʿilis, while the others said: ‘you are old and have become senile’. Saif put Ibrahim in charge of his treasury and Ibrahim told himself: ‘Shiha will flay him and I shall take the money.’ Shiha told Baibars not to move as he could deal with the situation himself. As a start, he went to a castle where the rebels were talking about him. He drugged them with smoke and shaved their beards, leaving only those of Ibrahim and Saʿd. On coming to their senses, the victims accused Ibrahim, who told them that his own beard had been left only in order to cause trouble. A note

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was then found from Shiha saying: ‘were you not Muslims, I would have killed you’ (5.191–194). The fire-worshipping Bahriq wanted to marry Juwan’s daughter, Ruma. Shiha tricked him into telling him where Ruma was and then killed him, after which, having taken his shape, he managed to kill the local king and remove Ruma in a sack. He then approached King Marin with a complicated story in which he explained that Ruma would accuse him of being Shiha, while the Ismaʿilis who would arrive later, pretending to ally themselves with him, were really planning to kill him. Marin drugged them and told Shiha to kill them, but Saʿd, on being revived, said: ‘at the beginning and the end of the day we are your men, and if we disobey you today, we shall obey you tomorrow’ (5.194–198). Taghin, the king of the next castle, while hunting, overheard Shiha telling Ruma that she was bound to marry him. He took her up on his horse and drove Shiha before him. She agreed to marry Taghin after he had killed Shiha, and Shiha was apparently beheaded publicly, to the secret sorrow of Saʿd and Ibrahim. In fact, he had escaped and produced a substitute to be executed, after which he killed the king disguised as the cup bearer, whom he had also killed (5.198–199). He told the same story to ʿAbd al-Salib, the fourth king, and this time the situation was complicated by the arrival of Sabiq, who took Shiha’s shape, while Shiha himself went to king Bahut, cured him of a disease and then incited him to kill ʿAbd al-Salib. Ruma warned Bahut of Shiha but he so frightened her with a fit of madness that she appealed to Shiha for help. He killed Bahut and left with Ruma, but while they were sitting under a tree, the Ismaʿilis arrived and he had to flee, leaving her behind. Both Ibrahim and Saʿd, who had taken her to a monastery, became infatuated with her, but Shiha, who had appeared in the monastery, stole her away (5.200–201). He left her in a cave and went to a village where he gratuitously killed an old woman in order to take her donkey, only to be trapped in the cave by Saif. Saif wanted to marry Ruma, and Ibrahim and Burtuqush went to fetch attendants for the bride. These turned out to be Shiha and his sons, and, after the others had been drugged, Shiha took Ruma to yet another castle where he told the same story to the king. Ruma agreed to marry the king on condition that he killed Shiha, but when he wanted to sleep with her it was to Shiha that she turned pleadingly and he promptly drugged the king. The Ismaʿilis had been imprisoned, but Sabiq released them on his father’s instructions – ‘they are, after all, my men’ – and Saʿd suggested that they should rejoin Shiha ‘and never leave him again’ (5.202–204). Shiha moved to the castle of the sorceress, Tamriq, having disguised himself as a patriarch and claiming that Ruma was a nun who had fallen in love with a Muslim thief. Tamriq was not deceived by this and arrested both Shiha and

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his sons, before welcoming Burtuqush and Ruma’s brother, Asfut, as well as Ibrahim and his supporters. Another of Shiha’s sons then arrived, this being Zarqash al-Tayyar, who had been told by his mother Miriam that his father was ‘sultan of the fedawis’. He had visited Baibars, and, on learning where Shiha was, he had brought up 10,000 Abyssinians. The sorceress wanted to marry him and he smothered her in her bed, after which the disaffected Ismaʿilis presented their excuses to Shiha, whom Zarqash had freed. That night he was kidnapped by Saif, but Saif was intercepted by Ibrahim who said that, as they had renewed their allegiance to Shiha ‘this came under the heading of treachery’. After some fighting Saif was flayed (5.204–207). Ruma, Asfut and Burtuqush were brought to Cairo, but as Shiha was trying to convert Ruma, he was seized by one of Juwan’s agents and taken with the other three to Rome. Two Christian kings refused to accept them, but a third, Tajirin, proposed to execute Shiha in the way that he had executed Juwan. Ruma was converted by a voice that she heard in a dream and she drugged the king and the other dignitaries who had come to watch the execution, all of whom had been fascinated by her beauty. Shiha took her back to Cairo, where they were married (5.207–209). Nasir al-Nimr had been given permission by Ismaʿil, in whose service he was, to return to his castle but was told not to disobey Shiha. ‘What have I to do with Shiha?’ he asked. His supporters agreed to make him their sultan on condition that he took revenge from Shiha for those of their number whom he had killed, and he volunteered to ‘finish with’ Baibars as well. Ibrahim was sent to him with a letter from Shiha, but said that this was ‘a madman, who would tear it up’. The message was delivered by seven of Ibrahim’s men, whom Nasir hung over his castle walls (5.210–213). * Baibars brought up an army and ʿUthman was told to fetch his horse. In the fighting that followed Nasir received a wound which was treated by an old doctor, Shiha, whom he then arrested together with his four sons. Shiha told him that ‘behind me is the king of Islam’, and Nasir promised to kill the two of them together. In fact, he succeeded in capturing a number of champions, but he was knocked down by Zarqash al-Tayyar, who had seen Shiha’s danger through sand divination and had summoned a jinni to give him a wooden club with which he broke through the castle walls. Nasir was then killed by Shiha who had been told by Baibars not to flay him (5.214–216). * ʿUthman fetched Baibars his horse (5.229). Zartaq of Qalʿat Simʿan had captured a number of Muslims, and Shiha and his sons, disguised as monks, entered Antioch in search of them but were recognised

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and arrested by Asfut. Zarqash brought up his Abyssinians and released them all. Shiha and his sons were seized again shortly afterwards when they were posing as executioners and it was Zarqash again who freed them (5.234–237). Shiha arrived when his name was mentioned in order to confront a force raised by Nasir al-Kafir and his brother Mulhib. Nasir and Mulhib killed the monks in a monastery, telling his men to arrest any patriarch who arrived, as this would be Shiha, but Nasir was then killed by Ibrahim, and Mulhib was executed (5.239–241). Shiha followed in pursuit of Asfut, until, while disguised as a patriarch, he came across ten monks who told him that he had been invited to Jazirat al-Hut. He made them drunk and killed them before losing his way and taking shelter in a cave where he shuddered to meet an old man who introduced himself as ‘the chief of the sorcerers’. Shiha found himself in chains but was rescued by Taj Nas on her flying throne. She had with her ʿAli al-Tuwairid, who had complained that it had been a long time since he had seen his father. She fought for some time with the sorcerer and was helped by ʿAbd Allah al-Mughawari, who quoted from the Quran and threw dust at him, quoting ‘dust to dust’. Then, to the delight of the jinn, the sorcerer was killed by ʿAli (5.245–248). Taj Nas warned Shiha of the dangers that would face him in his pursuit of Asfut, and again he had to be rescued from a sorcerer king, who was then killed by Taud al-Bahr. Both Taud and ʿAli had been sent after their father by Taj Nas with a bow and four arrows. The same thing happened in a total of seven castles, but Taj Nas was struck down by a meteor and died reciting the confession of faith. The treasure that had been found was given to Shiha, who passed it to Baibars (5.248–249). Asfut went to Antioch and Shiha and his five sons were captured when they climbed over the walls, but the city was soon taken by the Muslims. When they all returned to Cairo Taud asked to be allowed to succeed his father in the sultanate, at which Shiha said: ‘you are a sorcerer and that is more important than to be a sultan’. Asfut had recruited Haʾim, a Christian champion, but he turned out to be the son of Mansur al-ʿUqab and was converted, being told by his father that ‘it was an honour for a man to obey Shiha’ (5.253–263). Baibars allowed reconstruction work to begin in Antioch, and for a mosque to be built there as well as a quarter for Muslims. In fact, a secret passage connected the church and the mosque and, thanks to this, Shiha and his sons were captured again by Asfut. When they had been freed, Shiha told his sons that whichever of them captured Asfut would succeed him. One of them, Taud, was killed with a magic sword and Shiha said: ‘he was addicted to magic and that was why he was killed. There is nothing better than reliance on God, as magic creates dissension and its practice is, in fact, unlawful’ (5.264–289).

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In an attack on Caesarea Shiha released Muslim prisoners who then helped to capture the city. Asfut later went to Shiha’s house in Cairo and poisoned a towel, which would have led to Shiha’s death had his son Nurad not sucked out the poison from his father’s body and so died himself. In a dream shared by Baibars and Shiha, Sabiq appeared saying that he had been killed and asking for burial before the wild beasts could eat him. It was Asfut who had killed him and, while Shiha wept, Ruma laughed and said: ‘you killed his father and now he can be excused for having killed your son’. Shiha swore not to sleep with her again until Asfut was dead, but when she complained to Baibars, he warned Shiha that if he abandoned her the devil might prompt her to abandon Islam. In fact, she wrote to Asfut asking for poison to use on him and when she got the poison she wrote again asking Asfut to come himself, as Shiha would not eat anything that she gave him. This was a trick on her part as when Asfut did come he was seized and later executed by Zarqash, who was then nominated by Shiha as his successor (5.290–297). After this both Baibars and Shiha saw ʿAbd Allah al-Mughawari in a dream telling them that Abu Bakr al-Batrani was on the point of death and they both went to Latakia to say farewell. Baibars then had another dream in which he saw a crowd clustering around a sick man. He was told by al-Salih that these were saints while the sick man was ‘your friend Shiha’. He went to him and ‘sat by his head talking over past days’, and after having twice recited the confession of faith Shiha died. A wooden beam was placed over the entrance of his tomb so that all those who made a pilgrimage to it had to bow their heads as they had done before Shiha when he was alive (5.297–300). Al-Battal may claim to be the most celebrated of the Men of Wiles, but Shiha enjoys the fullest development. As a guide he knows ways unknown even to the jinn. He can perform as a juggler and an acrobat. His powers of disguise are superhuman and, while he can make no claim to be a champion, with his dagger and his drugs he can defeat armies. At the same time, both he and al-Battal can lay claim to the conventional epithet of Odysseus, ‘the sacker of cities’. He enjoys supernatural help, which enables him to fly and to keep pace with a galloping horse. Like ʿUmar in the Sirat Hamza he comes when his name is called, although this tends to be explained by the fact that he was there at the time. He is ‘the king of thieves’, whose casual cruelty allows him to kill an old woman to take her donkey, but paradoxically he is a saint in his own right, the opponent of the principal villain, Juwan, and the invincible defender of Islam.

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6 Chapter 6: Analysis and Conclusion

Analysis and Conclusion

part 1

In much folk literature a lack of depth coupled with repetition lessens the impact of the incidents that are presented, but, conversely, this can help to uncover more easily the patterns that shape it. In the case of the material that has been presented here these patterns range from matters of literary technique to what has a bearing on the weltanschauung that underlies the works themselves. It must be obvious that the individuals whose careers have been summarised are not clones. The Hilali Abu Zaid is a major hero, a ‘Roland of the marches with his hand upon his sword’, while by contrast ʿAli al-Zaibaq graduates only unconvincingly as ‘the hero of the age’ from a background of the streets and alleys of Cairo and Baghdad. Shiha is described as ‘the king of the deserts’ – ‘he is, after all, a bedouin’ – but unlike the case of Shaibub, his expertise is characteristically shown within confined spaces. For all that, the details of their literary DNA carry sufficient points of resemblance to allow them to be classified as members of the same family. If this is accepted, their most convenient family, as suggested in the Introduction, must be that of the Man of Wiles. This was a term applied to Shaibub, who was also ‘the man who stirs up trouble’, and to Abu Zaid, ‘the wily deceiver’ and ‘the master of schemes and of wiles’. Musabiq was a cunning Muslim thief, while ʿUthman ‘used his wiles to cheat people’. Shiha was described as ‘the king of thieves’, and ʿAbd al-Wahhab was astonished by the subtlety of the wiles of al-Battal. Elsewhere, Hamza was ‘one of the leading ʿayyārs’ and Bihruz was ‘the prince of the ʿayyārs of his age’. Lane, basing himself on the Taj al-ʿArus, covers the adjectival sense of this term, which

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‘signifies brisk in obeying God, and brisk in acts of disobedience’. As has been noted, however, in the popular story cycles it is used as a noun covering the archaic English knave and is applied to a wily factotum employed by his master on covert missions beyond the scope, but still within the sphere, of heroism. In much heroic literature it is the invincibility of the major hero that tends to present his achievements as monochromatic, and so, unsurprisingly, to the modern reader passages such as Homer’s androktasiae (the killings of men) lack creative tension. In the Aeneid Sacrator killed Hydaspes, but any significance that this may have had is now lost. By contrast, the career of the Man of Wiles does not have to be adapted to a predetermined pattern, and through anger or humour he can introduce alterations of perspective if not into the character of the hero himself at least into its presentation. It has been noted that between these two characters boundaries need not be clearly defined. In the matter of strength ʿAli al-Zaibaq was marked out at birth as a hero by being ‘as big as a one-year-old child’, like ʿAntar who was ‘a black, snub-nosed baby as big as an elephant’. Black fighters were noted for their size and strength and the genetic accident that made Abu Zaid black, allowing him to pass as a slave, was shared by the major hero ʿAbd al-Wahhab in the Sirat Dhat al-Himma. By contrast, Shiha was despised by the Ismaʿilis as a little man and al-Battal started life as a coward, alarmed by a mouse’s squeak. Whatever their physical strength, however, all the Men of Wiles are creatures of conflict. On its lowest level this may be little more than a form of pointscoring among street gangs, as where Dalila tried to outwit ʿAli al-Zaibaq in a contest in which there was to be ‘no killing and no blood’. Elsewhere, the Man of Wiles may be involved in tribal rivalry, which, unfettered by historical fact, can extend up to and beyond the boundaries of the caliphate. Virtue in such conflicts is invariably on the side of Islam or, in pre-Islamic passages, of the religion of Abraham, while in the case of Saif b. Dhi Yazan, the universal king can look to extend the bounds of proto-Islam to the mountains at the edge of the world. Throughout all this the Men of Wiles use their skills, if not in accordance with conventional morality, at least in the broader cause of righteousness. Open conflict, that is to say warfare, allows kings and their paladins to use their skills as horsemen, and here they enjoy a clear military advantage. Horses, however, do not have the monopoly of speed and strength and there can be no narrative profit in excluding the Man of Wiles from the battlefield or in limiting his physical scope. In the Sirat Hamza, ʿUmar, because of his premature birth, had slender arms and legs ‘like threads’, that allowed him to outrun horses, while he also practised jumping from heights. In the Sirat ʿAntar, Shaibub, the ‘Father of the Winds’, ran ‘like a bird in flight or an alarmed panther’, moving as easily as a cloud, with his feet striking the lobes of his ears. When he came in

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like a storm wind or a black and white vulture, with wild beasts bolting in front of him, he was moving too fast to be seen, while Bihruz, ‘the son of the ghūl’, in the Qissat Firuz Shah, with his thin legs and keen sight, could move faster than lightning and leap like a gazelle. Abu Zaid, of course, used all the weapons of the horseman and part of ʿAli al-Zaibaq’s initiation was in the use of a club. So effective was his training that he was able to fight off 200 men and against his own unrecognised son he fought a duel for seven days and nights. Elsewhere, the favoured weapons of the Men of Wiles were the bow and the dagger. ʿAntar told Shaibub to guard his back with his arrows, and it was with his bow that he circled round ʿAntar like ‘a fighting wolf’. He rescued ʿAbla, ʿAntar’s cousin, from a slave who was about to cut her throat by shooting the man through the shoulder. On other occasions he used a dagger ‘sharper than a razor’s edge and swifter than the blink of an eye’. When Bihruz stripped off his outer clothes to show his ʿayyār’s dress it was with a dagger that he was armed, and when, like Shaibub, he circled round his master in fight ‘like a jinni’, the dagger and not the bow was his weapon of choice. ʿUmar was not only an unerring archer himself, but he trained his followers in archery, and it was partly thanks to this that, when Hamza had been wounded, a Persian attack on Mecca was driven off. ʿUmar, who described himself as the angel of death, came out against Ghaitsham in gleaming leather, from which dangled little bells, and more bells were hung from his tall hat. He was using a mace, but it was the bells that defeated Ghaitsham by startling his horse. Similarly, it was with the cap and bells of a Fool that he danced around another opponent, Farrash. ʿUthman, a tall young man with a ruddy complexion and a large head, used a knife, but it is his contemporary Shiha who shares with al-Battal the most detailed narrative development. Shiha is repeatedly described as a small man, with one of his opponents being told: ‘if you walked beside him you would find that his head only came up to your chest’. He briefly laid claim to the sword of the dead paladin, Maʿruf. He had been given a dagger from the jinn and it was with a leather sword, handed him by his jinn wife, Taj Nas, that he killed a sorceress. He was thought mad to come out against Kundafrun, ‘the lord of the English islands’, riding on a saddle of sycamore wood with stirrups and a bridle of fibre rope, but he used a cooking spit to stab the otherwise invulnerable king under the armpit. For all that, he was described as neither a fighter nor a skilled rider, raising the question: ‘how can someone like this command the obedience of men?’ Al-Battal had a dagger with which he was said to have ‘killed so many kings and heroes’, but ‘his courage was not very great in battle’ and he admitted that he had ‘no share in fighting’. He did lead a charge, but was then the first to flee; he was ashamed to refuse a challenge and he managed to capture the challenger, but

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only by the use of a lasso, an unfamiliar and unchivalrous weapon. The warrior queen al-Qannasa used the flat of her sword to strike him down, and Nura, whom he eventually married, followed the example of Brunhilde, kicking him over and tying him up. One of Shiha’s rivals remarked: ‘I have not seen him ride a horse; he has never been on a raid and he has never stormed a castle.’ The epithet ‘sacker of cities’, was associated with Odysseus and its absence among the Arabs would weaken the argument for a general relationship between the Men of Wiles. As the invincibility of Islam restricts the narrators’ ability to ratchet up tension in battles, one solution is to allow the enemy to shelter from the heroes behind walls, and it is with these walls that the Men of Wiles have to deal. In the case of Shiha, he was introduced as kidnapping the Byzantine emperor Michael after Baibars had been brought to a standstill outside Constantinople. He helped the Muslims in Genoa; he played a major role in the capture of al-ʿArish and Jaffa; he entered a contest with Ibrahim al-Haurani as to which of them could take Tiberias, and another challenge pitted him against a rival in an attempt to free the pasha of Aleppo, who was being held prisoner in Sis. Castles, cities and fortified monasteries that both he and al-Battal captured have been listed in the summaries of their careers, but it may be noted that when ʿAbd al-Wahhab was confronted with a seemingly impregnable city he remarked: ‘if we had al-Battal with us, the matter could be settled’. Elsewhere, when Christians had retreated into their city, al-Battal told the Muslim attackers: ‘you have done your duty and it is for me to do mine’, after which he arranged for its capture. In almost all these cases he and his colleagues either discovered an underground entrance through which attackers could enter or else, with their conventional weapons of disguise and drugs, they took the keys from the gate guards. One exception is where al-Battal used an incendiary device that he claimed to have found in a history of Alexander the Great. Here he was merely confirming the importance of the role that books and learning played in his career, which began with his theft of the Yanbuʿ al-Hikma, a book that covered every branch of knowledge. Even more informative was Shiha’s Kitab al-Yunan, which was based on overheard conversations among the angels in heaven, which had been relayed to a Greek philosopher by his jinn servants and which not only predicted the mission of the Prophet Muhammad, but also detailed the ways in which his followers could be helped. Less dramatically, ʿAli al-Zaibaq, an unruly and apparently inattentive schoolboy, was found to be able to recite the Quran in its entirety and to have ‘an insight into what was hidden’. Abu Zaid used the ‘books of the Christians and Jews’ to help with his disguise, while both Shiha and al-Battal were helped by their familiarity with the Gospels, so much so that Shiha not only recited from the Torah as well as

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reciting and explaining the Gospels, but he succeeded in winning a contest in Gospel knowledge. In the Sirat ʿAntar it was a horse-thief who knew ‘all languages’; the Qissat Firuz Shah records that ‘the ʿayyārs of kings used to study foreign languages because of their need for them’, and the Chinese ʿayyār Yawank ‘knew all the languages of the world’. Admittedly, ʿUmar, in spite of his life-long association with the Persians, was said not to have known Persian, but Abu Zaid knew seventy-two languages and is shown talking in Persian, ‘Indian’ and Hebrew. ʿUthman appears only to have known ‘the language of the grooms’, but Shiha was never at a loss. He could identify a language that no one else understood; he spoke in the language of the Maghribi Jews, and he could pass as a Byzantine, a Frank, a Nubian and an Abyssinian. Al-Battal’s Yanbuʿ al-Hikma included foreign languages in its contents and he was credited with a knowledge of seventy-one. He could shout to a horse ‘in Frankish’, speak in Hebrew and address the black Maimuna in her own language, but that this was not merely book learning is shown by the fact that he had learnt Berber from a slave-girl and the language of Kharjana from another girl whom he had kidnapped. A confirmation of the fact that experience as well as education helped to develop the qualities of the Man of Wiles can be seen in his role as a guide. Shaibub, who led the ʿAbsians tirelessly across the desert, explained that, unlike ʿAntar, he had been brought up ‘from his early days to cross deserts’, and he boasted that he ‘knew more about these parts than anyone and there is no water hole here that I don’t know and cannot describe’. He guided the ʿAbsians through Yemen and knew the routes to the wine-producing region of Taima; his experience led him to suggest that the ʿAbsians take shelter in the mountains of Radm, which could be approached only through an impregnable defile, and he said of the Desert of Fear: ‘no one knows those parts as well as I do, for their people are mine’. ʿUmar, whose duty it was to reconnoitre for Hamza’s army, was familiar with short-cuts through difficult country and had to act as guide for Hamza’s grandson, Nur, who could not otherwise have made a twenty-five-day journey through a wilderness. Abu Zaid led the Hilalis to Tunis and claimed that he was the only one of them who could get to India, ‘as the way is dangerous’. Musabiq acted as a scout; Shiha guided his opponent, Najm al-Din, and was familiar with ways unknown even to the jinn, while al-Battal was said to know every land. He was acquainted with Greece; he had kidnapped a girl from Kharjana; and he claimed to have twice sailed on the Sea of Islands. Experience, and to a lesser extent learning, have a bearing on another branch of the expertise of the Man of Wiles, the art of disguise. This is something that alBattal studied with the philosopher Euclid and to counter the effects of his skill

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there were portraits of him in Christian churches, including one in the chapel of the king of Kharjana. A monk had prepared 500 pictures of his disguises, but he was never content to rest on his laurels and was reported to Queen Zananir as having prepared fifteen new ones. The least complicated of these was merely a matter of letting down his hair, and twice he was seen with black, shoulderlength hair or with black hair and a combed beard. He could stain his hair with henna and brush it to look like carded cotton, and give himself a black beard, a beard streaked with white, or a long beard that was coupled with large whiskers and a huge paunch. Beards were transferable, and after he had escaped from a dungeon, having killed the gaoler and disguised himself as him, his own unrecognised son asked ingenuously: ‘how did that man’s beard get on al-Battal’s face?’ He altered the colour of his eyes, once with kohl and on another occasion with sulphur, while, after having given himself a squint, he used a heated probe to produce what passed for smallpox scars on his cheeks. At times deception was a matter of language or dialect, as where al-Battal passed as a Basran, a Kurd or a Turk, using the appropriate clothes to complete the picture. The habit of a monk was easy to find and this was his most frequently adopted disguise. Elsewhere, he passed himself off as a survivor from a defeated army by wearing the uniform of a dead soldier. He could vary his age, appearing as an old man leaning on a stick, a lame, one-eyed old man or a handsome boy. Thrice he played the role of a corpse and the Byzantine emperor Manuel noted that ‘he could be a woman when he wanted or else a boy’. He did, in fact, disguise himself as a woman and as a slave-girl, while his chief opponent, ʿUqba, remarked that he could appear to a man disguised as his own son or to a woman in the shape of her husband. ʿAli al-Zaibaq’s first recorded disguise was that of a girl who was supposedly escaping from a forced marriage and who asked Salah, the Cairene police chief, for 100 dinars. Salah was again the victim when ʿAli, posing as a girl, passed him a note asking him to follow ‘her’. As a beautiful woman he fell over a child, which was then found to be dead, and in a more complicated plot, dressed as a Jew he stole some of a dead girl’s possessions that had been offered for sale. As a mamluk he allowed himself to be beaten, and in his attack on Dalila’s khan he acted the part of a water-carrier and then of a freed slave who carried mail for its merchants to Basra. It was as a white-bearded Baghdadi merchant that he bought Zainab from Dalila and as a dervish he claimed to teach alchemy, an art of which he knew nothing at all. Shaibub’s disguises reflected his desert background. In order to track down ʿAntar’s cousin, ʿAbla, he dressed in women’s clothes with a dirty burqa, a necklace of shells, copper anklets, beads, chains and bells, and in this costume he performed a whirling dance, accompanying himself on a lute. When he was

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sent to look for camels he wore old, patched clothes and set out with a stick over his shoulder and, later, disguised as a poor bedouin, he was addressed as ‘cousin’ by a black slave. ‘The dress of his craft’ was a short-sleeved cotton tunic, over which he put Syrian clothes, while on another occasion he was dressed in black with a blue band tied around his head, his face and body being smeared with gazelle’s blood. Before pretending to have been attacked with a stick by ‘a man called Shaibub’, he put his arm in a sling and rubbed his face on the ground until it became inflamed, while as a poet he wore a fringed turban that looked like a dish. ʿUmar used conventional disguises when he passed as a Persian guard, a dervish or a monk. He met a caravan bringing supplies for the Persian army wearing a round cap and bells, clapping his hands, singing and dancing and claiming to be ‘Chosroe’s servant and his Fool’. Disguise, however, entered a new dimension when among the treasures kept for him by the forty shaikhs who had been told of him by al-Khidr were a kohl stick and a shape-changing mirror that would allow him to assume the form of anyone he wanted. The kohl turned him into a blind Egyptian, while thanks to the mirror he became a clone of King Nuʿman, of Hudhad the priest of the Fire, of two hostile viziers, Dush and Bakhtiyar, as well as of the supreme king of the Blacks. This is no longer a question of the art of the ʿayyār but of magic. Musabiq in the Sirat Saif b. Dhi Yazan, for all his comparative unimportance, acquires a mirror with the same powers. Earlier he had disguised himself as a Black, telling an ʿayyār who was about to kill him: ‘you and I are servants’, before cutting his throat and dressing in his clothes. It was when he drugged and killed the sorcerer Raibut that he found the shape-changing mirror and he used this to take over Raibut’s shape and then kill both his brother and his mother. ʿUmar’s Persian counterpart, Bihruz, could rely only on his own skill. When he swam the Nile and entered Cairo, he had disguised himself as an Egyptian peasant, speaking Arabic with an Egyptian accent. He approached the dungeon in which Persian prisoners were being held dressed as a Syrian merchant who wanted to give them food as an act of charity. Later, on approaching the magician al-Muqantar, he pretended to be an apprentice sorcerer from the Maghrib who wanted to become his servant. He entered Malatya as a dervish and then changed his disguise for that of a black slave, and similarly, after going to Caesarea as a Yemeni, he put on Rumi clothes in an attempt to track down the princess ʿAin al-Hayat. He could pass as a Chinese peasant, a Chinese ʿayyār or an Abyssinian, but when he had disguised himself as an old man with a bushy white beard leaning on a stick, he made the mistake of walking too fast. Another white-bearded old man, wearing old clothes and with a wrinkled skin, turned out to be Abu Zaid on his way to test the generosity of al-Madi, and

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it was with a beard ‘like carded cotton’ that he approached the Jewish leader Salqantas, warning him to be wary of ‘Abu Zaid’. As a dervish from Jerusalem he recited sacred names to help the childless wife of a herdsman conceive, and in Cyprus, where he recited from the Gospels and the Psalms, he claimed to have been a servant at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. He tried out his Indian disguise on the Hilali leaders before going to India on a mission, during which he talked ‘in Indian’ to the king, and in order to disguise himself as a doctor he dyed his face white and put on a short jubba, splendid clothes and a large turban. In Tunis he and his companions passed themselves off as poets. Later, in an attempt to capture the city, he dressed as a woman, while in Cairo, escorted by forty women, he smuggled armed men in chests into the royal palace, where he took on the role of a dancing jester. Both the scheme and the jester’s role are duplicated in the Qissat al-Zir by Kulaib. He had first introduced himself as a poet to Hassan al-Tubbaʿ of Yemen, but when later he came from Egypt with armed men in chests to kill him, alJalila, Hassan’s bride, claimed him to be her Fool. In apparently contradictory accounts he was described as ‘an old man walking with a stick’, but dressed in cap and bells he proposed to climb to the palace roof. Al-Jalila explained that, while at times he would fast or eat no more than half a date, on others he would eat a hundred loaves, while he claimed that he would only eat crocodiles. As a result of this deception he was given what appears to have been the only sword with which Hassan could be killed. In the Sirat Baibars ʿUthman had no need of disguise and it is not clear to what extent Shiha, its most prolific master, relied on magical help. At the start of his career the jinn servant of the Kitab al-Yunan gave him not only a whip and a dagger but also a ‘box of tricks’ and a robe to be used for disguise, although this plays no further role in the printed text. An important theme in the work is his attempt to be recognised by the Ismaʿilis as ‘the sultan of the castles’, and when he first meets them in Genoa he is disguised as a maid, a boy, a monk and a priest. Later, one of his opponents found him as a Maghribi treasure-hunter and then as a wine-shop proprietor, a camel driver, a dervish and a fishmonger, leading him to say: ‘I thought that the whole world was Shiha.’ Shiha then drugged him disguised as a weeping boy, leading Baibars to exclaim that there would never be anyone like him. In another sequence Shiha starts as the gate-keeper of a castle and then takes on the roles of a girl with a jug that gives off a poisonous smell when it is broken, a gardener bleeding from a wound, his opponent’s mother and finally a girl weeping drugged tears. On his way to ‘the city of Catalan’ he was a boatman on the Euphrates, a monk, a patriarch in a monastery and a shop-keeper. More exotically, with fire and sparks coming from his mouth, he passed himself off

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as a saint and, when his jinn wife, Taj Nas, had the dome of Bilqis removed for him to Damascus, he played the part of the Messiah. Less dramatically, his most frequent disguise was that of a monk, a priest or a patriarch. As a rescuer of prisoners he appeared five times as a gaoler and four as an executioner. He became a Frankish officer, a Frankish consul and a Frankish girl, as well as a Nubian and an Abyssinian slave. With one bleary eye and a patch over the other he became a doctor, and in order to disguise himself as a slave-girl he took a pill that gave him female breasts and long black hair. He could play the part of an alchemist or a juggler and he once skinned a she-wolf and dressed in its skin. It was not just Shiha who was a master of drugs. ʿAli al-Zaibaq had studied both drugs and their antidotes in his apprenticeship as an ʿayyār and at the start of his career he managed to drug the sultan’s Jewish doctor before taking his place. The henna that, disguised as a perfume seller, he sold to Dalila made her hair fall out, while on a wider scale he drugged bedouin highwaymen in a camp of 400 tents. Later he drugged Dalila herself, but he was ashamed to drug her daughter Zainab, and it was presumably a sense of fairness that kept him from using drugs in his prolonged duel with his unrecognised son. In spite of the fact that the Sirat ʿAntara notes that ‘in those days Arab horse-thieves knew about many herbs and drugs’, Shaibub is never shown to have made use of them. By contrast, ʿUmar often employed banj. When he was captured by Hamza’s future bride, Salwa, he escaped by putting it on the fire and blocking his own nostrils to avoid its effects. In order to rescue prisoners he used tobacco impregnated with banj in order to drug their guards, while he drugged the wine of caravan guards before killing them. He drugged and then killed the priests of the Fire, and when he had himself been condemned to death he got his gaoler to open a tiny box, the size of a walnut, using a hollow screw through which banj was injected into the man’s nose. When Hamza was being held prisoner in a castle, ʿUmar drugged the food of the garrison and he used a candle to drug the gaoler of Hamza’s grandson, Nur. He succeeded in drugging the ‘god’ al-Khwand before taking his place and when, as a trick, he rode out on a donkey and pretended to capture Hamza’s paladins, he used a drugged mantle on the only one of them who would not co-operate. Finally, he threw a lamp wick impregnated with banj to drug the Persian Chosroe and his vizier Bakhtiyar. ʿUmar’s Persian counterpart, Bihruz, used drugs on emirs who were guarding prisoners. He mixed a potion for the sorcerer al-Muqantar by pounding up reptiles and adding the bitterest of fruits before adding banj to the mixture. When Caesar’s son, Anbush, lay asleep in a tent guarded by three of his emirs, Bihruz removed a tent peg and filled the interior with drugged smoke and he succeeded in drugging an enemy ʿayyār with a date, while finally he took a basket full of

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bread to a number of captive ladies, including ʿAin al-Hayat, passing them a note to say that there was banj among the loaves. Unlike other Men of Wiles, Abu Zaid could rely on strength rather than the effects of drugs, but in the stories covered here he is still found using a candle to make gaolers unconscious and then drugging gate-guards with sweetmeats. For his part Musabiq used poison to kill Arʿad’s elephants and their guards. When he had been drugged and captured by a rival posing as a corpse, he won his freedom when his captor opened his bag and was drugged by what he found in it. Elsewhere, in an attempt to kill the dwarf king, Yaqut, Musabiq added banj to wine, only to find that it had no effect. In the Sirat Baibars ʿUthman, with his predilection for violence, does not employ drugs, although he was himself drugged in a shop. Shiha, however, as has been seen, used them almost as often, and in many of the same circumstances, as he used disguise. He drugged the gate-keeper of al-ʿArish, a homosexual inn-keeper in Jaffa, a slave-girl in Tiberias and then its king. Among his victims were rivals and villains, while numbers did not daunt him. He drugged all Ismaʿil’s men before killing his lions, and he did the same to forty robbers and all the inhabitants of a castle, both men and women. He used a candle, a brazier, an incense burner, vapour from a cooking pot and fumes from a fire. Ibrahim and Saʿd were drugged when they ate a freshly caught fish; the formidable Zanbiq was tricked when he ate half an apple of which Shiha had eaten the other half, while a supposed apple of paradise contained poison, as did a pool in which 400 Christian kings washed. More exotically, the green ink used on a letter was drugged, as was the writing on a leaf that one of Shiha’s rivals was challenged to remove. All this was successful and dramatically effective, but that it was unheroic is shown when he was taunted as ‘one of those who, when they cannot fight against an enemy, use drugs on him’. Although al-Battal had studied the use of drugs with Euclid, there are fewer accounts of his use of them. He was said always to have carried with him one which, if thrown into the Nahr ʿIsa, would have drugged all Baghdad. He used drugs on the Princess Maria and her girls as well as on other women in Zananir’s palace. He drugged his own gaolers as well as Byzantines holding Fatima prisoner, together with all the monks in a monastery but elsewhere his most significant achievements were to drug a Frankish king, ʿUqba, the chief villain, and Byzantines posted to guard the caliph al-Maʾmun who was being held prisoner. Thanks to the extensiveness of the sources points like these can be multiplied at will in order to show the relationships between the characters whose careers have been covered, but at this point it should be asked whether there are genuine contacts here between Arabic and other literatures. In an introduction to the translation of The Ocean of Story1 A. R. Wright

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decried ‘the easy, if tedious, task of rummaging published collections for the innumerable parallels and variants to Somadeva’s stories’ (6.xii), while W. R. Halliday noted that, ‘the days when the unsystematic collection of random analogies were useful are past’ (8.xxi). The ease with which such details can be multiplied is, in part at least, underlined by J. A. Macculloch, who pointed in his Childhood of Fiction: ‘the number of incidents in folk-tales is not as great as the vast number of the tales themselves might lead us to suppose’ (466). In such a context no great faith can be put on tracing the actual processes of transmission. The tale of the beheaded thief found in the story of ʿAli al-Zaibaq is quoted by Herodotus as an Egyptian story, but precisely how and when it reached Turkey, the Caucasus and Tibet, while finding its way into the Roman des Sept Sages, is unlikely ever to be established. Recorded evidence is more entertaining than reliable, as where early French authors use imagination to impress their audiences by stressing the literary ancestry of their works. Aimon de Varennes says of his Florimont: Il l’avoit en Gresse veue, Mai n’estoit pas par tot seue. A Felipople la trova, A Chastillon l’en aporta; Ensi com il l’avoit empris L’ait de latin en romans mis. (31)

The author of the Vilhjalms Saga, a medieval Icelandic romance, wrote: ‘the story, which was compiled by Master Homer, was found on the stone wall in Babylon the great’ (3), and a similar process was referred to light-heartedly by Pulci when he refers to the imaginary author Alfamenonne: Che fece gli Statuti delle donne E fu trovato in lingua persiana, Tradutto poi in arabica e’n caldea; Poi fu recato in lingua soriana, E dipoi in lingua greca, e poi in ebrea, Poi nell antica famosa romana; Finalmente vulgar si riducea (19.153)

Such derivations are easy to duplicate, and there are plenty of references to the wandering story-tellers and minstrels who helped both extend and distribute the tales themselves and their ingredients over the centuries. Within individual works the extent of the actual alterations involved was influenced by their

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cultural background. While the shape of the Homeric poems was largely stabilised by the Peisistratean redaction, the editor of the African Ozidi Saga notes that ‘there is no fixed text to the work. All that each teller of the story has is the plot, a grand design’ (Preface ix). All this limits the scope of both linear and lateral investigation and suggests that there can rarely be clear answers to the problems of parthenogenesis or paternity that are involved. As for the Man of Wiles, not all of his avatars share the same physical features. The insistence on Shiha’s small size that made the Ismaʿilis reluctant to obey him, is not enough to link him to the French dwarf, Auberon, or his German counterpart, Alberich, both of whom use their supernatural powers to help the heroes with whom they are involved. Elsewhere, in the cases of Shaibub and ʿUmar their ability as runners can perhaps to be classed as a Volkovian ‘element’. Achilles was ‘swift of foot’, but Odysseus, the Man of Wiles, also won a foot race. Digenes Akritas was never outrun by a horse; the Olaf Sagas produce ‘a remarkably little man . . . but so swift of foot that no one could overtake him’ (193); the Motif Index of the Italian Novella in Prose has a marvellous runner who catches wild game on the run (16), while in La Mort Aymeri de Narbonne there is another ‘qui plus tost cort que brachez ne chevals’ (654). This characteristic has obvious narrative usefulness, and examples of smallness and swiftness are easy to find. What is less common is a detail found in the description of Shaibub and described by the editor of The Klephtic Ballads as a ‘grotesque tradition’ where he notes of Zacharias of the Morea that ‘when he ran his heels used to hit his ears’ (13). In the Irish The Lad of the Ferule ‘Murough thought that the caps of his knees would knock the brains out of the back of his head’, and, perhaps more surprisingly, in the Tales and Traditions of the Eskimos the heels of a runner ‘seemed almost to be touching his neck’ (96). If ‘the runner’ himself represents a universal motif, the intrusion of the Eskimos into its elaboration must surely illustrate what has been described as ‘spontaneous generation’. As far as archery is concerned, the stringing of Odysseus’ bow is seen as an heroic test, but Teucer was clearly the helper of Ajax rather than a major hero in his own right. In Amiran-Darejaniani it was pointed out that ‘it does not become heroes to kill with arrows’ (139), and the prejudice against anything but hand-tohand fighting was underlined humorously by Wolfram von Eschenbach in his account of the death of Ither of Gahaviez in the Niebelunglied, where he wrote: ‘had he met his end in chivalrous combat with a lance thrust through his shield, who would then lament a tragedy? He died of a javelin.’ The translator, A. T. Hatto, noted: ‘it was infra dig. both to use missiles on one’s enemies and to be killed by missiles’ (90). In the Qissat Hamza ʿUmar was exceptional among his fellow Men of Wiles in not knowing Persian, in spite of the fact that most of his career was spent in

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close contact with the Persian empire. Otherwise, for all those to whom the gathering of intelligence was a primary task, a knowledge of languages was obviously of the first importance. On this point there is no shortage of non-Arabic evidence. In the Enfances Renier Piecolet boasts: Bien sai parler et latin et roumans, Sarrazinois, grieiz et popelignans, Pour vint langages n’iere ge ja doutans (2292)

a boast which he repeats: Por vint langages ne me covient douter. (6378)

In Anseis von Karthago spies are skilled linguists: Por chou k’il erent si bien enlatines De tous langages apris et emparles Pour espier Karlon et son barnes. (9170)

In another reference to Charlemagne in the Gesta Karoli Magni ad Carcassonam et Narbonam there is a reference to one of his messengers ‘qui sciebat omnes linguas’ (627). In the Serbo-Croatian Heroic Songs a disguised wanderer knew twenty-four languages (217), but this is not necessarily an attribute of servants. Marko the Prince boasts: I can speak Turkish and Manic Turkish and I can understand Arabian, and I can gargle in Albanian. I will lead your sons over Kosovo to go and spy on the Turkish army. (117)

According to Pulci, even Orlando, a major fighting hero, ‘sapea ben ogni linguaggio’ (21.132). In the Legends of the Jews it is recorded: ‘another custom of the Egyptians was that no one could reign over them unless he was master of all the seventy languages’ (2.69). A king in the Icelandic Valdimars Saga ‘can speak all languages’ (53). In Ectors Saga a prince ‘can understand all the languages in the world’ (83), while in Vilhjams Saga a hero ‘understands all languages’ (49), as does a character in Ortneit und Wolfdietrich. In König Rother the languages

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mastered number seventy-two (54). Li Romans d’Alixandre, with reference to the Indian king, Porus, notes ‘Alixandres l’entent sans autre latinier quer de tous langages s’estoit fait doctrinier’ (311.20). As with other traits of the Man of Wiles linguistic mastery can have a touch of the supernatural, as where Apollonius of Tyana says of the languages of the barbarians: ‘I too understand them all although I have never studied them’ (19), while in The Paradise of the Fathers Pachonius ‘learned immediately how to speak all tongues’ (308). Similarly, Volga, who ‘connait toutes les ruses et les artifices divine’, ‘sait toutes les langues’ (31). Obscurement is one of the characteristics of a man who is not what he seems to be and many details of the arts of disguise are common to Arabic and to other literatures. In French this is often a matter of the use of ‘une herbe’, as in the Enfances Renier where Renier and Gymbert the robber: se vont appareillant, d’une herbe vont leur visages frotant lors sont plus noir que poiz ne qu’errement. (10001)

In Aucassin et Nicolette, Nicolette ‘si prist une herbe, si en oinst son cief et son visage si qu’ele fu tote noire et tainte. Et ele fist faire cote et mantel et cemisse et braies, si s’atorna a guise de jongleur’ (36). In another context ‘si prist une herbe qui avoit nom esclaire, si s’en oinst si fu ausi bele qu’ele avoit oncques este a nul jor’ (38). One of the characters in Jehan et Blonde promises: Je palirai si ton visage D’une erbe que je connois bien Nus ne te connoistroit pour rien. (3494)

Peter the Hermit in La Chanson d’Antioche Parmi l’ost des Paiens s’en est outré passes. Bien sambloit Sarrasin del visage et del nes, Car il estoit d’une herbe noircis et mascures, Et del Sarrasinois estoit enlatines. (42)

In Trubert (30) the hero D’une jaune herbe a teint son vis Et sa gorge et ses meins ausi.

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Tant s’est disfigure Trubert Nus hom ne set dire en apert Que ce fust il. (1075)

Similarly, in Le Roman de Silence there is a reference D’une herbe qu’ens el bos a prise Desconoist sa face et deguise. (2909)

Two celebrated thieves are linked in Elie de Saint Gille in the lines Galopins ot une herbe des puis de Garnimas Que Basin ot tolu quant Garin encanta.

Here the herb is used for a different purpose: Mist se main a sa bourse, l’erbe fors en geta. Tant le frota li leres que li odeurs en saut, Par entre les .ii. grailles l’a lanciet el travail. Les gardes s’endormirent. (1979)

In Pulci’s Morgante Malagigi, the Italian incarnation of Maugis, gives Rinaldo and his companions a root that enables them to disguise themselves. He also uses the familiar Arab trick of providing himself with a false beard: vedea la barba arrufata e canuta. (5.22)

In another context this helped to transform him into Un bel vecchio canuto, (10.76)

and the point was repeated when he appeared iscognosciuto con istran vestigi ed una barba d’erba porterai che cognosciuto de nessun sarai. (11.28)

In La Chevalerie Ogier de Danemarch, Ogier supplies dummies, which he has constructed, with false beards made from hairs of the tail of his great warhorse, Broifort (8383 sq.). In Doon de Maience

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Le roy ot .i. mestre qui le fist tresmuer Et palir et cangier et viel homme sembler, Les cheveus canuir et la barbe mesler Et la chiere fronchir, les espaules combrer Et la barbe canue a son menton gluer. N’ot pas .xxv. ans mes bien cuidast jurer Plus de .c. en eust qui l’en veist aler. (224)

The same ‘mestre’ disguised both Doon and Garin: Les a fet ambedeus viex hommes resembler, Les barbez bien canuez et as mentons gluer. (248)

Merlin in the French prose account of his life ‘vint en la ville comme uns boskilons, une cuingnie a son col, uns grans housiaus cauchies et en une cotele toute despanee, et fu mout hurepes et ot moult longue barbe et sambla homme sauvage’ (1.63). Similarly, in Wisdom from the Nile a character ‘disguised himself as a fool, growing a long beard, dribbling at the mouth and wearing ragged clothes’ (76). A change of clothes may be enough to change appearance and also sex. In Wistasse le Moine Wistasces a, sains dire plus, Les dras au carbonnier vestus, Et sa noire coife afubla Et son visage encarbonna Son col noirci et puis ses mains. (1008)

On other occasions Si se remist en autre habit Une linge cap a vestue A son col porte une machue Vait garder .i. fouc de brebis. (585) Wistasces qui mout sot de gile Entra après lui en la vile; Les dras vestu a une dame A grant merveille sambla fame. (1186)

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Wistasces, ki sot de faviele. Prist .i. archon od la viele. Comme menestreus s’en torna. (2166)

In Hugues Capet, Drogon Et s’iray veoir l’ost de ce conte Fedry, A guise de paumier aray mon corps vesti. (110)

Les Narbonnais presents two Muslim spies sent to France Peneancier ressamblent et pie nu. (5244)

As with Shiha, in Le Folklore Russe (40) ‘le voleur habile . . . enlève une dame, un prêtre en se déguisant en ange’ (222), while in the Folktales of Japan a trickster disguises himself as the ujigami, the tuterlary deity, of a village (187). As in Arabic, mastery of disguise can be a matter of magic or supernatural powers, as where Merlin ‘peust prendre autre forme que la soie ne autre samblance’ (1.64), and appears as ‘un garchon’ and as ‘un enfant de quatre ans’, ‘et lors canga la samblance que il avoit adont et prent la forme d’un viel home et anchiien de l’eage de quatre vins ans’ (1.157). The ‘mestre’ in Doon de Maience Qui si set sa gent trescangier et muer Que li jeune vallet fet veillart resembler Et li veillart enfant tant li peut on donner. (230)

It is noted in the Gods of the Ancient Northmen that Odin ‘knew the arts by which he could shift appearance and body any way he wanted’ (28). In the Icelandic Sigurdar Saga the hero uses a ‘magic tablet’ to alter his appearance (193), while in both the Vilhjalms Saga and the Vilmundar Saga characters exchange appearances. Paul Radin’s Trickster ‘put on a woman’s dress . . . He now stood there transformed into a very pretty woman indeed’ (23). The Finnish Kalevala notes Now the minstrel, Lemminkainen Changes both his form and stature. (171)

It is noted of Wainammoinen

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Quick he changes his complexion, Changes too his form and stature. (236)

Elsewhere Wainammoinen says I will change my form and features, Will resume a second body. (707)

The Russian Volga has ‘le don de prendre à volonté toute espèce de forme, attribué aussi à Loki’ (La Russie Epique, 33), while in the Myths and Hunting Stories of the Mandan and Hidatsa Sioux the transformation motif is combined with that of magical swiftness where a hero ‘was in the habit of changing himself into an arrow shot from a bow and thus making in one day a journey such as a man would ordinarily make in ten days’ (22). Sleep-making, a power attributed to the staff of Hermes, is also one of the abilities of the Man of Wiles. This was the ‘sleep spell of druiding’ noted in Two Irish Arthurian Romances (67), in which ‘when all who were on the walls and ramparts of the castle heard the music (of the Knight of Music), they fell into a stupor of sleep and a long slumber’ (139). In another Irish work, The Martial Career of Conghal Clairinghneach, ‘the hag poured forth her music and the birds answered her right quickly. When the hosts heard that, they placed their shoulders against the ships and they all fell asleep’ (137). In The Mythology of all Races – Celtic/Slavic there is a reference to O’Donnell’s Kern in which Mannanan ‘appears as a kern, or serving man . . . He plays such music as never was heard, bewitching men to slumber’ (60). Similarly, Merlin ‘si gete son enchantement si qu’il fait endormir le chevalier desus le cors Artus’ (1.195). Malagise consults a book of magic Ne ancor aveva il primo foglio volto Che gia ciascun nel sonno era sepolto. (1.44)

The celebrated Basin ‘réussit par son sortilège à faire que tous les hommes qui se trouvaient dans le palais s’endormirent’(Karlamagnus Saga, 8) and in the Enfances Renier there is a reference to a charm: Un quarme a dit par tele poestez Que la nourrice s’endormi de ses grez. (474)

In the Saga of Hadingus Odin and Hadingus ‘both free themselves from captivity by telling stories or singing to the gaolers until the latter fall asleep’ (107).

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In Victors Saga a dwarf, disguised as an ‘old vagabond’ tells stories to put his audience falls to sleep. This is found in Serbo-Croatian Heroic Songs (311), and when it is noted in the Motif Index of the Italian Novella in Prose it is linked to the Master Thief (84). Such magic could either be learnt or directly communicated by some supernatural being. In the case of Wistasse le Moine N’ot homme el roiaume de Franche Kit tant seust ars ne caraudes …. Il avoit a Toulete este Tout .i. ivier et un este Aval sous terre en .i. abisme Ou parloit au malfe meisme. (6)

Volga went ‘to learn all crafts and wisdom’ (Russian Heroic Poetry, 36) and a character in the Katha Sarit Sagara boasts ‘ich kenne die passenden Zaubermittel, um Mauern zu erbrechen, Fesseln zu zerreisen und mich und Andere unsichtbar zu machen’. In the Orlando Innamorato Malagise/Maugis has both a book and a demon: Malagise prese il suo quaderno (libro magico) Cosi a Malagise il dimon dicia E tutto il fatto gli avea rivelato. (1.36 sq.)

In the Orlando Furioso Maugis ‘took himself to the inaccessible cave in the mountains where he normally conjured up spirits; he opened his book and summoned them in droves’ (501). Gymbert in the Enfances Renier enjoys the services of what in Arabic would be a jinni in the form of Tabardin: Gymbers commande par karmins conjurez a Tabardin. (13096)

Tabardin becomes a horse, ‘richement enselé’, and is ridden by Gymbert (19443). The theft or recovery of horses is a familiar pursuit of Men of Wiles. Wistasse le Moine steals the horse of the count of Boulogne. In Elie de Saint Gille Galopin goes to steal a horse, claiming to be a merchant whose goods have been plundered, and in the Karlamagnus Saga Basin goes to the stable of Renfrei to steal his horse (6). Türkische Volkslitteratur Süd Siberiens quotes one of its characters as saying:

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Ein grosser Dieb ist mein Freund; Dieser mein Freund wird dein Pferd stehlen. (2.722)

As was shown in the quotation from From Myth to Fiction, The Saga of Hadingus, Odin and Hadingus used their powers to free themselves, and in the case of the Arab Man of Wiles to free both his friends and himself is one of his major functions. In The Life and Times of Apollonius of Tyana the captive Apollonius remarked that he could free himself instantly, and at that he removed his leg from its shackles (vii.38). Similarly, in the Katha Sarit Sagara the ‘Zaubermittel’ served both to break through walls and fetters. The powers of the Man of Wiles as thief can be extended to cover the role of Odysseus as ‘the sacker of cities’, as where in the Enfances Renier the thief Gymbert tells Renier: Il n’est donjon, chastel ne fremetez S’il est ainsi que grever les voulez Que ne vous rende ainz quatre jors passez. (9628)

Later Gymbert li lerres est d’autre part entrez Isnelement en est a l’uis alez Ainz que paien s’en soit garde donez. (13152)

Gymbert’s counterpart Basins Cunchia mainte vile. (Wistasse le Moine, 285)

Faced with a castle in the Morgante Malagigi certo incanto, come e’suole Fece all’entrar, che l’arte aveva pronta. (21.65)

A significant, if obscure, point is the appearance of the Man of Wiles or his helper when his name is called, for which the Arabic evidence has been given. In English the Oxford English Dictionary dates this to 1672, citing Cataplus, a mock poem for ‘talk of the devil and see his horns’, but by this time the notion was clearly widely known. It was not restricted to Europe, as is shown in a Hausa story in which the leader of a caravan called on Shelu: ‘come and save us’, and ‘no sooner had he said this than the figure of a man appeared in the middle of

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the river’ (124). The supernatural element is stressed in Serbo-Croatian Heroic Songs, where a hero is told by a Vila: ‘from now on I am your sister-in-God. Only be mindful of my name on the mountain and summon me’ (116). It is confirmed in the Legendes Religieuses Bulgares, where it is a saint who says: ‘vous n’aurez qu’à monter sur une colline et à crier: “Père Elie, Père Elie”, et je viendrai aussitôt’ (149). A similar point is found in the Tuan Huan Popular Narratives, where ‘should dangers press upon a person’, if the name of the Great Sage is mentioned ‘they will dissolve forthwith’ (54).2 1. The sources listed here in the order of their appearance are as follows: 1. C. H. Tawney and N. M. Penzer, The Ocean of Story, London, 1924. 2. H. Brockhaus (ed. and trans.), Katha Sarit Sagara, Leipzig/Paris, 1839. 3. J. A. Macculloch, The Childhood of Fiction, London, John Murray, 1905. 4. A. Hilka, Florimont, Göttingen, Niemeyer, 1932, 5. A. Loth, Vilhjalms Saga Sjóds, Copenhagen, Editiones Arnamagnæanæ, 1965. 6. L. Pulci, Morgante, La Letteratura Italiana, Storia e Testi, vol. 17, Milan/Naples, n.d. 7. J. P. Clark, The Ozidi Saga, Ibadan/Oxford, Ibadan University Press/Oxford University Press, 1977. 8. S. Sturlason (trans. S. Laing), Heimskringla: The Olaf Sagas, London, Everyman, 1915. 9. D. P. Rotunda, Motif Index of the Italian Novella, Bloomington, IN, Indiana University Press, 1942. 10. J. Couraye du Parc, La Mort Aymerei de Narbonne, Paris, Société des Anciens Textes Français, 1884. 11. J. W. Baggally, The Klephtic Ballads in relation to Greek History, Oxford, Blackwell, 1936. 12. D. Hyde, The Lad of the Ferule, London, Irish Texts Society, 1899. 13. H. Rink, Tales and Traditions of the Eskimos, London/Copenhagen, Hurst & Co., 1974. 14. R. H. Stevenson (trans.), Amiran-Darejaniani, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1958. 15. A. T. Hatto (trans.), Niebelunglied, London, Penguin, 1981. 16. C. Cremonesi, Enfances Renier, Milan, Istituto Editoriale Cisalpino, 1957. 17. J. Alton, Anseis von Karthago, Tübingen, Bibliothek des Literarischen Vereins in Stuttgart, Tübingen, 1892. 18. F. Scheegans, Gesta Karoli Magni at Carcassonam et Narbonam, 2898, Halle, 1898. 19. M. Parry and A. B. Lord, Serbo-Croatian Heroic Songs, Cambridge, MA/Belgrade, Harvard University Press/Serbian Academy of Sciences, 1954. 20. L. Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, 6 vols, Philadelphia, 1913. 21. A. Loth, Valdimars Saga, Copenhagen, Editiones Arnamagnæanæ, 1965. 22. A. Loth, Ectors Saga, Copenhagen, Editiones Arnamagnæanæ, 1965. 23. J. L. von Lindhausen, Ortneit und Wolfdietrich, Tübingen, 1906. 24. T. Frings and J. Kuhnt, König Rother, Halle, 1954. 25. J. S. Philimore (trans.), Appollonius of Tyana, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1912. 26. H. Michelant, Li Romans d’Alixandre, Stuttgart, Literarischen Verein, 1846. 27. E. A. Wallis Budge, The Paradise of the Fathers, London, Chatto & Windus, 1907. 28. A. Rambaud, La Russie Epique, Paris, 1876. 29. M. Roques, Aucassin et Nicolette, Paris, Les Clasiques Français du Moyen Age, 1925. 30. H. Suchier, Jehan et Blonde, Paris, Société des Anciens Textes Français, 1885. 31. P. Paris, La Chanson d’Antioche, 2 vols, Paris, Leroux, 1832–48.

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32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38.

J. Ulrich, Trubert, Dresden, Gesellschaft für Romanische Literatur, 1904. L. Thorpe, Le Roman de Silence, Cambridge, Heffer, 1972. G. Raynaud, Elie de Saint Gille, Paris, Société des Anciens Textes Français, 1879. J. Barrois, La chevalerie Ogier de Danemarche, 2 vols, Paris, 1832–48. A. Pey, Doon de Maience, Paris, Les Anciens Poètes de la France, 1859. G. Paris and J. Ulrich, Merlin, Paris, Société des Anciens Textes Français, 1886. A. al-Shahi and F. C. T. Moore (trans.), Wisdom from the Nile, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1978. 39. W. Foerster and J. Trost, Wistasse le Moine, Halle, 1891. 40. A. E. L. LaGrange, Hugues Capet, Les Anciens Poètes de la France, Paris, A Franck, 1864. 41. H. Suchier, Les Narbonnais, Société des Anciens Textes Français, Paris, Payot, 1893. 42. I. Sokolov, Le Folklore Russe, Paris, 1945. 43. K. Seki (trans. R. J. Adams), Folk Tales of Japan, London, University of Chicago Press, 1963. 44. G. Dumézil, Gods of the Ancient Northmen, Berkeley, CA, University of California Press, 1973. 45. A. Loth, Sigurdar Saga, Copenhagen, Editiones Arnamagnæanæ, 1965. 46. A. Loth, Vilmundar Saga Vidutan, Copenhagen, Rosenkilde & Bagger, 1965. 47. Paul Radin (with commentaries by K. Kerényi and C. G. Jung), The Trickster, New York, Schoken Books, 1972. 48. J. M. Crawford (trans.), The Kalevala, London, J. M. Dent, 1889. 49. M. W. Beckwith, Myths and Hunting Stories of the Mandan and Hidatsa Sioux, New York, AMS Press, 1978. 50. R. A. S. Macalister, Two Irish Arthurian Romances, Dublin, Irish Texts Society, 1907. 51. P. M. MacSweeney, The Martial Career of Conghal Clairinhneach, London, 1904. 52. J. A. Macculloch and J. Mächal, The Mythology of All Races: Celtic/Slavic, Boston, MA, Marshall Jones Co., 1918. 53. Boiardo, ed. G. Anchesi, Orlando Innamorato, Milan, Garzani, 1986. 54. A. Loth, Karlamagnus Saga, Copenhagen, Société pour l’étude de la langue et de la littérature danoises, 1980. 55. G. Dumézil (trans. D. Coltman), From Myth to Fiction: The Saga of Hadingus, Chicago, IL, University of Chicago Press 1973. 56. A. Loth, Victors Saga, Copenhagen, Editiones Arnamagnæanæ, 1965. 57. N. Chadwick, Russian Heroic Poetry, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1932. 58. Ariosto, ed. M. Turchi, Orlando Furioso, Milan, Garzani, 1978. 59. V. Radloff, Proben der Volkslitteratur der Türkische Stämme (8 vols), St Petersburg, 1868. 60. Philostreatus, Apollonius of Tyana, ed. C. P. Jones, Boston, MA, Harvard University Press, 2005. 61. H. A. S. Johnston, A Selection of Hausa Stories, Oxford, Oxford Library of African Literature, 1966. 62. L. Schischmanoff, Légendes Religieuses Bulgares, Paris, Leroux, 1896. 63. N. Poppe, Mongolische Epen, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 1975. 2. An isolated point concerns the whip used by Shiha in the Sirat Baibars, which inflicts unendurable pain. A parallel is found in Turkische Volkslitteratur Süd Siberiens, in the lines Mit dieser Peitsche will ich dich schlagen, Wenn du von dieser Peitsche ubrig bleeibst Will ich dir meine Schwester geben. In Mongolische Epen it appears as the ‘vanquish-spirits whip’ (199).

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part 2

Points such as these confirm that the development of the Arabic Man of Wiles is shared with other cultures, but it remains to be seen how conveniently his characteristics can be subsumed under broader headings, such as those of the Trickster, the Fool or the Master Thief, all of which have attracted their own extensive academic investigations. The first of these categories, that of the Master Thief was illustrated in the collection of the brothers Grimm. In it the Master Thief was challenged to steal the count’s horse, ‘the sheet from beneath the bodies of my wife and myself when we are asleep’, the countess’ wedding ring, and finally the parson and the clerk from the church. Failure would cost him his life. He began by dressing as an old peasant woman, staining his face brown and painting on wrinkles. He was invited into the stable by guards, to whom he gave drugged wine, and he then removed the horse, wrapping its hoofs in rags to deaden the sound. In order to get the sheet and the ring he carried a dead body to the window of the count’s bedroom and the count fired at it, knocking it to the ground. When he went down to investigate, the thief, imitating his voice, got the countess to give him the sheet for the burial of what was thought to be the victim of the shot, adding the ring as a gesture of generosity. Finally, the thief, dressed in what looked like a monk’s cowl with a false beard claimed to be St Peter, calling: ‘come, come and creep into the sack; the world is about to be destroyed!’ The parson and his clerk did as he told them and he removed them in his sack, promising to carry them up to heaven. Ever since the Homeric hymn1 represented the one-day-old Hermes as getting out of his cradle ‘pondering sheer trickery in his heart – deeds such as knavish folk pursue in the dark night-time’ (64.sq.) – in order to steal Apollo’s cattle, theft and thieves have enjoyed an ambivalent reputation. In Norse mythology the god Loki was ‘the thief of Brisingamen’. In the Karlamagnus Saga it was an angel who told Charlemagne to join Basin: ‘nous deviendrons alliés et compagnons de voyage et nous irons voler tous deux ensemble’ (4). As Baibars would rise for Shiha, so Charlemagne stood up when Basin entered (10). In the De Nugis Curialium2 it was noted of Wales: ‘it is the custom of this land for all the young men to go forth on this night, which is the first among the nights of the year, to seek spoil or to commit theft or at least to eavesdrop, that each may make by this means proof of his prowess’ (116). In Myths and Songs of the South Pacific3 the divine Whirro is named as the patron of thieves, while The Ocean of Story supplies references to Muladeva, the master thief of Hindu fiction. The Folk-Tales of Kashmir 4 refer to ‘the most clever master-thief in the country’ who was summoned to pass on ‘the secrets of his art’ to a prince (110), while in Orlando Innamorato Brunello is the ‘ladro soprano’ (2.3.39).

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Isolated instances of this type can be duplicated without difficulty, but it is the career of Maugis d’Aigremont5 that produces the best parallel. This is not the place for an extended literary biography, but some details from Maugis’ early career can be summarised from the poem that bears his name. His father was Bueves d’Aigremont and he and his twin brother were stolen in infancy. The slave who was carrying him off was killed by wild beasts and he was rescued by the equivalent of an jinn princess, ‘Oriande la fée’, helped by her nephew Espiet, who could run faster than a horse and who, although more than a hundred years old, looked like a seven-year-old child. More particularly Ert moult bon larron; Plus set que Simons mages ne Basins ne Mabon. (535)

One of his early acts was to disguise himself as a horned devil dressed in skins in order to steal the incomparable stallion, Bayard, who had been kept chained in an underground stable. He was later captured in Palermo, but he freed himself through the use of a charm, killing the gaoler and taking his sword. Using ‘une herbe qui moult ot grant vertu’ (2248), he dyed himself black but eventually had to fight his way through the Sarrasins. After a further series of adventures he complained of poverty, to be told by Espiet Meillor larron de vos n’a jusqu’ en Orient. (4123)

He then appeared before Charlemagne pretending to be a cardinal, and leaving a message: Alez, fil a putain, l’empereor conter Que Maugis li bons lerres l’est venus enchanter. Faiz me sui chardonal por lui abriconer. (4574)

His next disguise was that of a palmer, who claimed to have been held for fourteen years in prison by the Muslims, but he was denounced and imprisoned in Charlemagne’s own pavilion, where Espiet, who knew every language, found him and, after he had been freed by a spell, he shaved the beards of two of Charlemagne’s sleeping paladins and stole his treasures. Later he encountered Noiron the magician who summoned devils to help attack Aigremont, but was eventually killed. Maugis’ twin brother, Vivien, who had been brought up as a Muslim, attacked the Christians and succeeded in capturing his unrecognised father. He fought a duel with Maugis, who was

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outmatched and had to use a spell, after which Vivien was exchanged for his father. Maugis’ mother recognised Vivien, who was then baptised. There are, of course, a number of parallels here with the Arabic, but it is in Les Quatre Fils Aymon6 that the similarities are more striking. As his father had been killed by Fouques de Morillon, who was following the wishes of Charlemagne, Maugis was encouraged by his mother to look for vengeance and was helped by his cousins, the four sons of Aymon, the eldest of whom was the formidable Renault. Maugis acted as guide and, when Renault with Maugis and 100 men was on his way to Paris to take part in a horse race, it was Maugis who told guards who had stopped them: nos somes Berruier S’en alon a Paris, au roi, por gaaignier. (260)

As Charlemagne was hoping to arrest Renaut before he could ride in the race, his horse Bayard had to be disguised. Maugis Prist une chiere herbe qui mult out de bonte, Au pont bel brant d’acier a l’erbe pestele, D’eve vet de vin l’a bien richement destrempe … Venuz est a Bayart qui mult out de bonte, Si li frote mult bien le flanc et le coste: Lors fu le cheval blans come flor en este … Quant li baron le voient, grant joie en ont mene Et dit li uns a l’autre: ‘Amaugis est fae’. (261 sq.)

When he and Renaut were again challenged, Maugis said: ‘Je sui ne de Poitou si ai non Codroe’ (264). He explained that Renaut was his son who had been brought up in Britain and so had forgotten his French. After Renaut had won the race, Charlemagne remarked: Plus he Maugis de cuer, sachiez por verite, Que je ne faiz nul home de la crestiente. (280)

He complained of the damage that Maugis had done to his army and ordered that his treasure be stored under armed guard in ‘le grant tor quarree’, saying that were Maugis to know of it, it would be lost (295). In Maugis’ absence, when his cousins had been betrayed by the Gascon king, Yon, Renaut exclaimed: Hahi! cosin, dist-il, que nos ne vos avon! (352)

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Maugis came to his rescue after having used a sleep charm on Yon’s men, and he succeeded in curing Renaut’s brother, Richart, who had been badly wounded, together with another brother, Aalart. Richart was then captured and Maugis promised to set him free. In an extended passage which recalls the exploits of the Arab Man of Wiles as a rescuer: Il vint a son ostel, tot droitement el borc. Iluec se desarma Amaugis le baron, Il osta la chemise, n’out chauce ne chaucon, Tot nu se despoilla Maugis le vaillanz hon; Apres se tainst d’une herbe, noir fu come charbon, It prent une esclavine et .i. grant chaperon, Et paumes et escrepe et .i. ferre bordon … De l’un pie jusqu’a l’autre va clochant del talon, Et tenoit l’un oil clos et l’autre overt amont … Vassaux, ce dist li roi, tu aies maudicon! Ja ne creirai paumier por Maugis le larron: Maint damage m’a fait et mainte mesprison. Quant il veut s’est paumier et quant il veut garcon, Quant il veut si est moine et quant il veut clergon, Quant il veut chevalier et quant il veut baron, Quant il veut sarmonnier, il n’a meillor el mont. (403)

Maugis tells him: Venuz sui d’outremer, del Temple Salemon, Et m’en revienc par Rome a saint Pere au baron …

On his way home he was robbed, he claimed, by Renaut and his brothers: Amaugis me jeta en .i. espes boisson, Culovres et lisardes i voit a foison, Encor en ai enfle le vis et le menton. Rois estes de la terre et sire de cest mont: A vos m’en vien clamer, que droiture en aion. (404)

He claimed to be called Sanson and to have been born in Brittany. To crown his triumphal deception, he got Charlemagne to kneel at his feet, as Chosroe knelt

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at the feet of ʿUmar, in order to cut up his food and to put it in his mouth. Later, to remove his disguise Isnelement retorne en son ostel el borc, Puis a oste sa chape otot le chaperon, Et l’escrepe del col et des mains le bordon, Puis a beu d’une herbe si fu blanc come flor, Et a beu d’une autre si desenfla trestot. (411)

Naimes had advised Charlemagne to keep Richart in prison, but Charlemagne objected, ‘have you forgotten that Maugis is still alive?’, and warned that he would rescue Richart before midnight. In fact, Maugis himself was captured and chained up in a tent. Donc commence son charme Maugis sanz demorrer; Tot issi com il puet son visage torner, Sont Franceis endormiz, ne s’en porrent garder; Meismes Karllemaigne fist en .i. lit verser. (450)

Not content with freeing himself, Maugis not only kidnapped Charlemagne and stole his crown, he also took away the swords of the paladins as well, leading Renaut to exclaim: Maugis iert no secors contre nos ennemis, Nostre mort, nostre vie, de ce somes tot fis. (487)

Some time after this success Maugis withdrew to a hermitage, but when Renaut and his brothers were again hard pressed by Charlemagne, he emerged, again dressed as a palmer: Paumier, et donc viez tu? dit Karlles au vis fier, Et con as tu a nom? Garde ne me noier. Je cuit tu es Maugis qui me viez engingnier. Sire, j’ai nom Raquet, ja celer nel vos quier. Paien m’ont asoti et m’ont fait esragier. Quant l’oi Karllemaigne, si a le fol mult chier Devant le roi de France s’estut le jor Maugis. Il parla folement, mult i out geus et ris, Ses folies fesoit, mult s’en est entremis: Tantost les enchanta en charmes et en dis. (541)

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This time it is Charlemagne’s son whom Maugis kidnapped, his last act as a Man of Wiles, before he made a pilgrimage of penitence to the Holy Land. Grimm’s Master Thief was saved from execution by the admiration that he won through his skill, and the examples quoted show that, whatever morality and law might decree, at a certain level of expertise, theft was both acceptable and admirable. After the Master Thief there comes the familiar figure of the Trickster, whose relationship to the Man of Wiles is underlined in Le Roman de Troie7 where it is said of ‘Ulixes’ Merveilles esteit beaus parliers, Mais en dis mile chevaliers N’en aveit un plus tricheor. (5205)

Since Paul Radin introduced the Winnebago Trickster Cycle and its North American cognates, a great quantity of related material has been collected, prompting investigation into the origins and significance of the phenomenon. Radin’s stories, with their predominantly animal motifs, are on a different level and of a different type from the Arabic quoted here, but, for all that, the psychological background must be investigated. Karl Kerényi points out in his commentary on the work8 that picaro is ‘the Spanish word for a villain’ and, questioning the function of ‘picaresque mythology’, he identifies Dionysus as being the picaro in Aristophanes’ Frogs (175, 179). He defines the Trickster as ‘the spirit of disorder, the enemy of boundaries’, but distinguishes between ‘the trickster hero as known to the Winnebago’ and the trickster god, suggesting that Hermes ‘disregards boundaries, yet he is not a spirit of disorder’. Jung, commenting on the same work, writes of the Trickster: ‘in his clearest manifestations he is a faithful copy of an absolutely undifferentiated human consciousness, corresponding to a psyche that has hardly left animal level’. His conclusion is that ‘the trickster is a collective shadow figure, an epitome of all the inferior traits of character in individuals’ (200). He also notes the trickster’s ‘compensatory relation to the ‘saint’ (196). It is certainly true that, as has been noted, many of the Arab Men of Wiles disregard the boundaries of conventional morality. They would have been as horrified as Thomas the Rhymer had they been forced always to tell the truth, and it is convenience and not an ethical code that dictates whom they are allowed to kill. The disorder for which they are responsible is not on a cosmic level but is directed at unsettling their enemies. Their ‘traits of character’ are only inferior in isolated instances to those of the heroes with whom they associate, but equally they do not function on the level of gods. In Dumézil’s book on the god Loki9

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it is not Loki who provides a parallel to the Arabs but, rather, Syrdon of whom he writes: ‘les Nartes le traitent comme un domestique: il sert à table, il est valet dans les expéditions, et commissionaire, et guide . . . Il surgit on ne sait d’où et disparait de même . . . Il est capable de métamorphoses (hirondelle, vielle casquette, jeune fille, vielle femme, vieillard)’ (135). As far as the Arabs are concerned it is only on one level that the Men of Wiles represent ‘undifferentiated human consciousness’, while elsewhere this is expressed as a conscious and unwavering determination to thwart their normally villainous and un-Islamic opponents. A number of stories attached to Syrdon are linked by Dumézil with the cycle of Nasr al-Din Khawaja, which was used by Enid Welsford in her work The Fool.10 Clearly, the Arab Man of Wiles is not primarily a Fool, but this was certainly one of the roles that he played. He could dress as a Fool and act as a tombeor, a saltator or a ioculator, and Kulaib’s performance at the court of Hassan of Yemen in the Qissat al-Zir may suggest that he was pretending to prepare for a sword dance. The disguised ʿUmar in the Qissat al-Amir Hamza used his disguise and his agility to claim to be Chosroe’s Fool, and in the Sirat Dhat al-Himma al-Battal both disguised himself as a Fool and acted the part, as did Abu Zaid in the Taghribat Bani Hilal. For Enid Welsford the Fool was connected to the ‘kind of emancipation’ that ‘can be won only by the saint in ecstasy’ (311) and he is ‘a great untrusser of our slaveries’ (320). The untrussing of slaveries may suggest the ‘disregard of boundaries’, but as the Fool or Jester is merely one of the disguises of the Man of Wiles, the reference to sainthood, noted earlier by Jung, carries more significance and comes closer to his essence. His powers are clearly unrelated to conventional morality, or even, in the case of ʿUthman, to a conventional view of Islam. ʿAli al-Zaibaq was trained as a thief; to the jinn Musabiq was ‘a cunning Muslim thief’; and Shaibub raised no objection to the proposed murder of ʿAntar’s Byzantine concubine lest she bear him a child. ʿUmar was prepared to sacrifice the lives of his would-be rescuers in order to show his gaoler how much the Arabs loved him. Like Odysseus with Dolon, he is twice shown as killing men whom he had promised to spare if they told him the truth, saying on the second occasion that he was sorry to break his word, ‘but unfortunately your existence is a burden to me’, while he killed an old wood-cutter after offering to help him cut wood and carry it. Bihruz kept his promise not to cut the throat of an ʿayyār by disembowelling him; Shiha, ‘the flayer of men’, killed an old woman in order to take her donkey, but when he found himself on a burning ship in a stormy sea, his ‘blessing’ put out the fire and calmed the sea. Al-Battal, who had claimed that lying is the greatest crime in Islam, had founded his career on his mastery of disguise backed up by lies. The

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use that he and his colleagues made of terror is shown by the repeated references made to mothers who use their names in order to hush their children. As Athene favoured Odysseus, so ʿAli al-Zaibaq was a favourite of al-Sayyida Zainab. She had appeared to him in a dream encouraging him to undertake a mission and, when in the course of this he prayed to her, she gave him a green palm branch with miraculous properties and brought him back safely to his ship. She whispered in his ear to alert him to danger; in a dream she warned his son Asad to go to his aid; and it was because he was under her protection that a mārid who had been sent to kidnap him was forced to turn back. ʿUmar was helped by the forty shaikhs who had kept gifts for Hamza and more valuable ones for him, while Abu Zaid was helped by angels in an encounter with jinn kings. Shiha was a saint and was helped by saints, including al-Sayyida Zainab, but in this context the most interesting of the Men of Wiles is ʿUthman, the gang-leader. According to the vizier Shahin ʿUthman was a killer, a wine-drinker, a cheat and a man of no religion. He told Baibars, who had warned him of God’s anger, that he did not want his men to have to repent, as that would mean that they would starve. His mother showed Baibars a room in her house which was filled with turbans and clothes that he had stolen. When a qadi, who had been one of his past victims, offered him his turban and ʿUthman told him that he had repented, the man pressed him to take it, saying: ‘go off and then repent again’. The auctioneer who had handled his stolen property told him that there was no need for him to repent until the arrival of Gog and Magog. He threatened the Lady Nafisa that, unless she helped him against Baibars, he would steal the turbans of all those who visited her shrine and later he intercepted worshippers coming out of a mosque, charging them a fee for each prostration they had performed. He had to be taught how to pray but bent over with his head between his legs, while when he organized a procession for the noon prayer, the bystanders thought, not unreasonably, that this was a parody of a Sufi ceremony and the jugs that each man was carrying must be filled with wine. For all that, ʿUthman was a saint in his own right and was recognised as such by the saintly sultan al-Salih, who said of him ‘he is a foolish man like me’, referring to the instinctive rather than acquired insight into the realm of holiness, which recalls the Tibetan smyon-pa. The Ismaʿili leader Maʿruf insisted that ʿUthman could say what he liked because he was ‘a great saint’. When Baibars had been taken to join a group of saints led by Ahmad al-Badawi, he heard behind him the voice of ʿUthman joining in their prayer. Later ʿUthman was struck down by Ahmad al-Badawi whom he had insulted, only to become, on his recovery, the pivotal saint of his age. It was the robbery at Khan al-Sabil and ʿUthman’s identification of the thief that made Baibars aware of his miraculous powers. When Baibars had been

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appointed wali ʿUthman insisted on being given the title of ‘minor wali’ and he organised a procession to mark his promotion, giving money to those who addressed him by his title and beating anyone who merely used his name. It was recorded that those who received money never became poor, while those who had been beaten turned out to have been suffering from some defect or disease which was immediately cured. In Syria, when Baibars’ camp had been attacked and plundered by the Franks and the survivors of his force were starving, they were miraculously fed by ʿUthman, who broke up three biscuits that he had once stolen from al-Salih. Odysseus can at times be claimed as an heroic trickster, while Maugis comes even closer to the Arabic. While there can be no question of a direct link between the Arabic cycles and the Homeric poems, it would not be unreasonable to suggest a possible connection between French and Arabic narrative traditions,11 but this is of less significance than the general appeal of the formulae used to develop the character of the Man of Wiles wherever he appears, and the reason for his appearance. On a superficial level much of this is a matter of narrative convenience. Among his gifts a knowledge of languages is necessary for inter-communication, while speed and subtlety add excitement to dangerous situations. A character who can appear and disappear and, when he comes, is often either in disguise or in a totally different form, represents the uncertainty principle and adds an element of surprise to narrative developments that are otherwise predictable. This is a help to story-tellers for whom tension is difficult to maintain as it is obvious that heroes cannot die prematurely. As a result, when captured, they cannot not be executed and so the executioner must be the Man of Wiles, nor can they be held for long in prison before he comes to their rescue. Throughout the texts heroes and heroines rise so far above common experience that they cannot be thought of as wish-fulfilment extrapolations. Champions such as ʿAbd al-Wahhab, Hamza and Saif b. Dhi Yazan personify the triumph of Islam or proto-Islam, and tribal heroes such as ʿAntar, al-Zir or Abu Zaid the Hilali are credited with almost superhuman powers. Whatever their background, they all approach the level of what to Greek mythologists would have been demigods, and as such to a wondering audience they must represent non-self rather than self. This audience, however, appears to have been prepared to accept a binary view of the organisation of the world,12 and so to it a character combining what was conventionally thought of as bad as well as good must have been easier to accept as self, at least in superficial terms. Here, for example, Jung’s ‘inferior traits of character’, such as the laziness and cowardice that marked the young al-Battal, can be thought of as omnipresent. What is of more importance, however, is the extension of this principle

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through a process in which neither logic nor official religion has a direct part to play and in which uncertainty is translated as contradiction. At its simplest this is no more than a code in which a hungry sorcerer asks to be fed by saying: ‘I do not want food’. It can be developed, however, into what approximates a fundamental principle. Reason may insist that black is not white and good is not bad, but, as is suggested by the Latin tag, sit pro ratione voluntas, reason can at times find itself over-ruled. To the mass of mankind, and in particular to the untutored audiences of the cycles, this results in an intuitively acceptable position, established over the centuries, and emphasising the role of contradiction at the heart of the forces that control human life. It is through this principle that the liar, thief and terrorist can be accepted as a saint, and it is this that adds both vitality and importance to this field of Arabic literature, and an insight into the collective mind of its audience. Not only is this of significance within Arabic tradition, but it supplies an obvious bridge linking this to other literatures throughout the centuries and throughout the world. 1. H. G. Evelyn-White (trans.), The Homeric Hymns: To Hermes, London/Cambridge, MA, Heinemann/Harvard University Press. 2. W. Map (trans. T. Tupper and M. B. Ogle), De Nugis Curialium, London, Chatto & Windus, 1924. 3. W. Wyatt Gill, Myths and Songs of the South Pacific, London, Missionary Society, 1896. 4. J. Hinton Knowles, Folk Tales of Kashmir, London, Kegan Paul Trench, 1888. 5. F. Castets, Maugis d’Aigremont, Montpellier, 1893. 6. The references are taken from the version edited by Jacques Thomas and published by the Librairie Droz, Geneva 1989, under the title Renault de Montauban. 7. L. Constans, Le Roman de Troie, Paris, Société des Anciens Textes Français, 1904–12. 8. P. Radin, The Trickster: A Study in American Indian Mythology, New York, Schoken Books, 1972. 9. G. Dumézil, Loki, Paris, Flammarion, 1986. 10. E. Welsford, The Fool, London, Faber & Faber, 1936. 11. Cf. the old controversy noted by Robert Southey in the introduction to his translation of Amadis of Gaul, where he noted the reaction to ‘the hypothesis of Warton that romance was introduced by the Moors into Spain, and from thence diffused over Europe’. 12. God is said to have created all things as opposites or equals, Sirat Dhat al-Himma, 14.22.

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Aalart, brother of Renault, 240 ʿAbbas Abul-Dhawaʾib, 193, 194, 195 ʿAbd Allah al-Mughawari, saint, 174, 181, 185, 187, 188, 189, 190, 192, 198, 200, 213, 214 ʿAbd Allah al-Rammal, vizier, 65, 68, 69 ʿAbd al-Latif, merchant, 155, 156 ʿAbd al-Malik, caliph, 95 ʿAbd al-Nar, Magian king, 192, 201 ʿAbd al-Quddus, Christian king, 107 ʿAbd al-Salib, 107 ʿAbd al-Salib, Christian king, 187, 198, 211 ʿAbd al-Salib, juggler, 183 ʿAbd al-Salib, lord of Shaqiq, 182 ʿAbd al-Waddad, king of the Mulaththamin, 118 ʿAbd al-Wahhab, son of Fatima Dhat al-Himma, 1, 95–146, 216, 218, 245 Abel, 33 ʿAbla, wife of ʿAntar, 17, 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, 217, 220 Abra, son of Hulaʾun, 196, 208 Abraham, 18, 29 Abuʾl-Ashbal, 118 Abu Bakr al-Batrani, 173, 174, 177, 178, 182, 214 Abu Bishara, sorcerer, 40 Abuʾl-Fawaris, Egyptian general, 119 Abuʾl-Hazahiz, champion, 103–6, 108, 114, 117, 126, 130, 131, 140 Abuʾl-Khair, butcher, 77 Abu Nur, 2 Abuʾl-Qumsan, servant of Abu Zaid, 39 Abu Yakhlif, comic figure, 120, 135, 136 Abuʾl-Zaibaq, 127

Abu Zaid, Man of Wiles, 35–42, 215–17, 219, 221, 224, 243–5 Achilles, 226 Adam, 18, 30 Al-Aʾfa, sorceress, 90 Agamemnon, 29 Ahmad, son of Baibars, 204, 207, 208 Ahmad b. Aibak, 196 Ahmad al-Badawi, saint, 158, 159, 162, 193, 244 Ahmad b. Dahl, vizier of Maʾmun, 132 Ahmad al-Danaf, 2, 4–6, 10, 13 Aibak, emir, 152, 156, 159–63 Aimon de Varennes, 225 ʿAin al-Hayat, princess, 71, 74, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 86 ʿAin al-Masih, Christian king, 106 Ajax, 18, 226 Ajbar, father of Hasan al-Nasr, 170 Akh Saʾdan, 82, 83 ʿAla al-Din, 187, 202 Alberich, 226 Alexander the Great, 121 ʿAli b. Abi Talib, 179, 188 ʿAli al-Tuwairid, son of Shiha, 201, 213 ʿAli al-Zaibaq, Man of Wiles, x, 1–16, 19, 22, 29, 34, 42, 215, 216, 218, 220, 223, 243, 244 Al-ʾAllam, 38 Amin, son of Harun al-Rashid, 125, 126 ʿAmir b. Tufail, 24 ʿAmmar al-Qadmusi, 184 ʿAmr, brother of ʿAbla, 22, 26 ʿAmr, chief of the Banu Sulaim, 102, 103, 121, 131

247

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Anbush, son of Caesar, 80, 223 Andahuq, king of Serendib, 47, 48, 57, 60, 62, 69 Andrias, brother of Manuel, 113, 120 Angibert, Frankish king, 183, 194, 195 ʿAnqa, warrior princess, 68 ʿAntar b. Shaddad, viii, 17–27, 36, 216, 217, 245 Apollonius, of Tyana, 228, 234 ʿAqila, daughter of ʿUqba, 144 Arʾad, king, 89 Ardashir, Shah, 10 Ardawan, champion, 86 Aristophanes, 242 Aristotle, 111 Armaliya, sorcerer, 205 Armanus, Byzantine emperor, 139–42 Armanusa, sister of Maris, 99 ʿArnus, son of Maʾruf, 178–81, 183, 184, 191, 194–6, 200, 203, 205, 210 Arthur, viii Al-ʾAs, king, 92, 93 Al-ʾAsab, Ismaʿili, 169 Al-ʾAsab, nephew of Hasan al-Nasr, 169 Asad al-Ghaba, son of ʿAli al-Zaibaq, 12, 13, 14, 15, 244 Asfaran, 45, 47 Al-Asfart, king of Qaiqul, 175 Asfut, brother of Ruma, 212, 213, 214 Ashmitus, Christian king, 107 Al-Ashwab, ʿayyār, 82, 87 Al-ʾAsi, 168 ʿAsi b. Bakr, chief of the Banuʾl-ʾAdraʾ, 180, 181, 197 ʿAsif b. Bakr, 197 Asmabari, jinn princess, 52, 54, 55, 59, 62, 64 Astalud, king, 173, 174, 204 Al-Aswad, king, 21 Athene, ix, 87, 244 Auberon, 226 ʿAwad, Louis, 29 ʿAyesha, niece of Ahmad al-Danaf, 13, 14 ʿAyesha, sister of Hasan, 171 ʿAyesha, ‘the viper’, 6 ʿAzaqil, robber, 204 ʿAzar, Jew, 150, 195 ʿAzraʾil, angel of death, 32, 50, 51 al-Azraq, sorcerer, 199 Azwar, Berber king, 118 Badiʾ al-Zaman, son of Hamza, 60–6, 68, 69 Badr Fatat, servant of Bidanish, 77, 78, 83, 87 Badr al-Ghafir, 206 Badran, emir, 36 Bahalak, Khurasanian rebel, 143 Bahram, son of Firuz Shah, 86, 87

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Bahran, 63 Bahriq, Magian, 211 Bahrun, son of Maimuna, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140 Bahut, king, 211 Baibars, sultan, x, 147–214, 218, 222, 244 Bakhtak, vizier, 43, 46, 47, 48, 51, 55, 56, 59, 60, 61 Bakhtiyar, brother of Bakhtak, 59, 62, 63–70, 223 Bandar Khan, 4 Al-Bardawil, sorcerer, 41 Barhut, king, 90 Barq b. Riyah, cousin of al-Khattaf, 135, 136 Basin the thief, ix, 232, 233, 237 Basir al-Nimr, star-worshipper, 182, 183, 184 Basus, aunt of Jassas, 28 Al-Battal ʿUbaid Allah, Man of Wiles, 95–146, 215, 232, 233, 237 Bidanish, vizier of al-Walid, 77 Bihruz, Man of Wiles, 71–87, 215, 217, 221, 223, 243 Bihzad, brother of Farkhuzad, 63, 64, 82 Bilqis, 192 Bohemond, son of Armanus, 142 Brunello, 237 Brunhilde, 218 Bueves d’Aigremont, 238 Bulukiya, 43 Burtuqush, associate of Juwan, 165–8, 173–5, 184, 188, 192, 194, 195, 197, 200, 208–12 Buzurjmihr, vizier, 43, 44, 46, 47, 51–8, 60, 61, 63, 64 Caesar, king of Caesarea, 48, 80–2 Cain, 33 Calypso, 11 Cassandra, 29 Charlemagne, viii, 227, 237–41 Chosroe, 9, 10, 12, 43, 44, 46, 47, 51, 53, 55–9, 61, 62, 63, 68–70, 223, 240 Clytemnestra, 29 Dahis, colt, 20 Dahr Shum, son of Shumdaris, 105, 112, 113 Dahur al-Hindi, 57, 58 Daigham, son of ʿAbd al-Wahhab, 111, 113, 117 Dalila, 4–17, 216, 220, 223 Dam b. Sharr al-Husun, Shiha’s rival, 180, 181, 204 Damdaman, Abyssinian king, 132 Damis, horse thief, 19 Damr, son of Saif b. Dhi Yazan, 89, 93 Damriyat, 91 Damsis, sorcerer, 90, 91 Danhasha, 11

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Index of Names Darab, emperor of Persia, 71, 74–8, 81, 82 Darb b. Ismaʿil, 197 Dardrik, kidnapper, 205 Al-Dari, Abyssinian king, 87 Daris, brother of Maris, 97, 145 Darraj al-Asamm, 197 Daqyusa, Christian king, 108 Dawahi, queen, 195, 196 Delila, 29 Dhat al-Dawahi, 15 Dhuʾl-Khimar, 18 Didar, king, 83, 84 Digenes Akritas, 226 Dionysus, 242 Diyab, 36, 39, 40, 42 Dolon, 243 Doon, 230 Drogon, 231 Al-Dubaisi, 39 Dufush, son of Pope Ruman, 183, 209 Dumézil, ix, 242, 243 Durrat al-Sadaf, Egyptian princess, 51, 53 Dush Qadam, vizier, 65 Enki, ix Espiet, 238 Euclid, philosopher, 121, 219, 224 Eve, 30 Ezra, 9, 10 Al-Fadl, vizier, 110, 111, 125 Fadl al-Din al-Adraʾi, robber, 193 Fahd, brother of Nimr, 208 Fakhr al-Din Hasan, Ismaʿili, 166 Falughus, Byzantine emperor, 142, 143 Fanus, maid of Lauʾat al-Qulub, 54, 58 Faraj, 66, 67 Faraqit, Christian king, 115, 116 Farhud, king of Takrur, 56, 57 Farkhuzad, son of Filzur, 71, 73–6, 83 Farmand, king of Egypt, 41 Farmuztaj, son of Chosroe, 52, 61 Farqad, king, 93 Farqad, nephew of Basir, 182 Farrash, 217 Al-Farrash, champion, 67, 68 Farukh Shah, son of Chosroe, 61 Fatima, daughter of Mahmud, 190 Fatima, mother of ʿAli al-Zaibaq, 1–17 Fatima, sister of Ibrahim al-Haurani, 172, 188, 201 Fatima, wife of al-Salih, 157 Fatima al-Aqwasiya, adopts Baibars, 156 Fatima Dhat al-Himma, 95–146

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Filzur, champion, 71, 74 Firar, gaoler, 56, 57 Firmuz, doctor, 83 Firuz Shah, son of Darab, ix, 71–87 Fouques de Morillon, 239 Franjil, king of al-ʾArish, 166 Fransis, king of Sis, 169, 180 Galen, 111 Galland, viii Galopin, 233 Ganelon, viii Garin, 230 Al-Ghabra, mare, 20 Ghadab, 11 Ghadab al-Masih, Christian king, 123, 124 Ghadban, son of ʿAntar, 21 Ghaidrus, king of Kharjana, 139 Ghailam, Black leader, 143 Ghaitsham, 50, 51, 217 Ghamra, 21 Ghawwar b. Dinar, king, 17, 21, 23 Ghazal, princess, 92, 93 Gog, 33, 152, 244 Grimm, the Brothers, 237, 242 Gymbert, 228, 233, 234 Hadingus, 232, 234 Haʾim b. Mansur al-ʾUqab, 213 Halliday, W. R., 225 Hammad, uncle of Hasan Abuʾl-Dhawaʾib, 203 Hamza, 43–70, 215, 217, 223, 245 Hamza, cousin of Maʾruf, 196 Hanash, nephew of Jalal, 175 Al-Hani, 26 Harb, Christian Arab, 119, 120 Harbash, 154, 155, 156 Al-Harith, 24 Harras, ruler of Cyprus, 39, 40 Harun, champion, 58, 59, 62 Harun al-Rashid, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 15, 98, 99, 102–4, 109–13, 117, 118–20, 125, 134 Hasan, father of Ibrahim, 173, 202 Hasan, lord of the Beqaʾ, 204 Hasan, sultan, 37, 38, 40–2 Hasan, villain, 156, 157 Hasan Abuʾl-Dhawaʾib, 203 Hasan al-Bashashati, 170, 171, 173 Hasan al-Bushnani, 207 Hasan al-Manifi, Shiha’s rival, 192, 193 Hasan b. Nasir al-Din, 197 Hasan al-Nasr, Ismaʿili, 169, 170, 193 Hasan Raʾs al-Ghul, 1 Hasan Shuman, 13, 14

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Al-Hasan b. Tahir, governor of Iraq, 125, 126 Hasana, daughter of ʿAla al-Din, 187 Hasana, princess, 58 Hassan al-Tubbaʾ, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Hatto, A. T., 226 Al-Haul b. Shakir, Shiha’s rival, 192 Hayyaj, giant king, 88, 89 Hayyaj al-Kurdi, 102, 103, 139, 141, 142 Hector, viii Heraclius, 36 Hermes, ex-highwayman, 140 Hermes, god, 19, 34, 232, 237, 242 Herodotus, viii, 15, 225 Hilal, Yemeni ʿayyār, 75, 77, 79–81 Hippocrates, 111 Hisham, caliph of Andalus, 118, 145 Homer, 216 Al-Hubal, idol, 18 Hudlamus, Black king, 132 Hudub, Abyssinian princess, 87 Hulaʾun, king, 159, 177, 179, 187, 196, 205, 206, 208 Husain, emissary of Harun al-Rashid, 12 Husain, father of al-Battal, 96 Husain, son of al-Battal, 144, 145 Iblis, 6 Ibrahim, emir of Mecca, 44, 54, 60 Ibrahim, son of ʿAbd al-Wahhab, 104, 107, 128, 129 Ibrahim Abu Hatab, 13 Ibrahim al-Haurani, champion, 167, 169, 170–3, 176, 178, 180, 182, 184, 185, 187, 189, 190–3, 196–8, 200–4, 207, 208, 210, 2, 11 Idmur, 196 Iflantush, nephew of Chosroe, 53, 54 ʿIfrit al-Sawahil, 23 Iftuna, daughter of Ghaidrus, 139 Iftuna, granddaughter of Shahin, 193 ʿImad al-Din ʿAlqam, nephew of Maʾruf, 176, 177, 178, 206 ʿImran, kidnapper, 207 Iran Shah, adopted son of al-Safra, 73, 74 ʿIsa al-Jamahiri, 193 Ismaʿil Abuʾl-Ashbal, 184, 194 Israfil, angel, 51 ʿIzz al-Din Muhlik, Shiha’s rival, 173 Al-Jaʾbari, emir, 37 Jaʾfar, Baarmecide, vizier of Harun al-Rashid, 6, 14, 15, 103, 104 Jahan, king, 82–6 Jahan Afruz, jinn princess, 81 Al-Jaʾida, ‘the lioness’, 9

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Jalal b. Raʾs al-Shaikh, ‘sultan of the world’, 175 Jaldak, ʿayyār, 84 Jalila bint Murra, 28–34, 222 Jamila, daughter of Barhut, 91 Jamjarin, king, 186 Jamr Sharib al-Dam, 198, 199 Jarir, half-brother of ʿAntar, 17 Jassas b. Murra, 28, 33 Jauhar, servant of al-Battal, 136 Al-Jaziya, sister of Hasan, 41 Jirjis b. al-Khabith, sorcerer, 205 Judar, 14, 15 Julnar, king, 90 Junaid, prince, 165 Jung, C. G., 242, 243 Jurhum, Magian, 102 Juwan/Salah al-Din, villain, 151–214 Kafrun, Frank, 206 Kamil b. al-Khattab, 186, 205 Kandak, jinni, 52 Kanf, kidnapper, 161, 165 Karfanas, king, 140, 141 Karkar, lord of Amid, 111 Karna, Christian queen, 130, 131 Kashkhasha, admiral, 118 Kaʾus Shah, king, 65, 67–9 Kerényi, K., 242 Khadra, mother of Abu Zaid, 36 Khafif al-Tayyar, 67 Khaizuran, 1 Khalid, husband of al-Jaʾida, 19 Khalid al-Hadid, 208 Khalil, son of Qalaʾun, 176 Kharmand, Persian king, 39 Khartin, 45, 46 Al-Khattaf, bedouin, 135 Khidr, bedouin, 157, 158 Al-Khidr, 36, 37, 40, 42, 45, 47, 49, 60, 70, 91, 149, 173, 187, 207, 209, 221 Khurkan, prince, 84 Khurshid Shah, 75, 76 Al-Khwand (1), 62, 63, 65, 68, 70, 223 Al-Khwand (2), 66, 67 Al-Khudruf, son of Shaibub, 19, 20 Kirman Shah, 82 Kisrawan, king of Beirut, 49 Kudak, ʿayyār, 79 Kufair, brother of Nimr, 200 Kufair, brother of Zuhair, 160, 166 Kuhin, wife of Badiʾ al-Zaman, 63 Kujar, Christian king, 124, 125 Kulaib, Man of Wiles, 28–34, 41, 42, 222, 243 Kundafrun, English king, 201, 217

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Index of Names Kundafrun, king (1), 114 Kundafrun, king (2), 187 Kushanush, king, 128 Lane, Edward, viii, 35, 215 Lahiq, thief, 143 Lamlaman, champion, 142 Lauʾat al-Qulub, marries Hamza, 54, 58 Laun al-Zalam, 19 Leon, Byzantine emperor, 96 Loki, ix, 232, 237, 242, 243 Lord, A. B., viii Luke, patriarch, 100, 101 Luʾluʾ, servant of al-Battal, 99, 100, 112, 114, 121–5, 127–9, 134, 136, 140, 141, 142 Al-Luqait, 25 Macculloch, J. A., 225 Madhbahun, son of al-Battal, 136–40, 142, 144 Al-Madi, 38 Maghlub, monk, 40 Magog, 33, 152, 244 Al-Mahdi, caliph, 103 Mahmud, king, 190 Makhluf, 45 Maimun, ex-slave, 109–12, 143 Maimuna, daughter of Damdaman, 132, 133, 136, 137, 140, 141, 219 Mairuna, daughter of patriarch, 100 Majusa, Magian king, 134 Malik, father of ʿAbla, 17, 22, 26 Maʾmun, son of Harun al-Rashid, 14, 125, 126, 127, 131, 132, 133, 134–6 Manfred, 170 Maniʾ b. Dabit, 140 Mankukhan, Chinese leader, 81, 86 Mannanan, 232 Mansur, 14, 15 Mansur al-ʾUqab, Shiha’s rival, 179, 180, 185, 213 Manuel, Byzantine emperor, 97, 101–4, 109, 111, 115, 116, 120, 125, 220 Maʾqil, 47, 48, 50, 53, 54 Maria, 99 Maria, Christian queen, 125 Maria, daughter of Budir, 39 Maria, daughter of Michael, 183 Marin, 181 Marin, king, 211 Marina, wife of Marin, 181 Maris, Byzantine chamberlain, 97, 100, 101, 102, 110, 112, 120, 131, 135, 145 Marjana, Christian princess, 138 Markaz, son of Qara Arslan, 208

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Marko, prince, 227 Maʾruf, Ismaʿili leader 160, 161, 164, 166–70, 177–9, 183, 184, 217, 244 Masrur, executioner, 117, 126 Masʾud Bek, 195, 199 Matrun, friend of ʿUqba, 140 Maugis/Malagigi/Malagise, 229, 232, 233, 238–42, 245 Al-Maut al-Ahmar, Magian king, 134 Merlin, 230–2 Michael, Byzantine emperor 126, 128–37, 164, 188, 194, 201, 210, 218 Michael, son of Bohemond, 144, 145 Mihrdukar, daughter of Chosroe, 46, 47, 51–5, 57, 59, 62, 65, 70 Mihryar, Chinese vizier, 83 Miriam, daughter of ʿArnus, 200, 201 Miriam, daughter of Caesar, 49, 58 Miriam, princess of Genoa, 160, 161, 178 Moses, 18 Mughamis, emir, 38 Muhammad, Prophet, 11, 14, 18, 43, 218 Muhammad, Shah, 10 Muhammad, villain, 156, 157 Muhammad b. Mustafa, 10, 11 Mujrim, king, 191 Al-Mukhtalis, horse thief, 25, 27 Muladeva, 237 Mulhib, brother of Nasir al-Kafir, 213 Al-Mundhir, son of al-Nuʾman, 76 Muqallad, villain, 154–7 Al-Muqantar, sorcerer, 77–9, 85, 223 Muqriʾl-Wahsh, 23, 25, 27 Muradif, king, 91, 92 Al-Murhafa, jinn princess, 81 Murra, chieftain, 28, 30, 32 Murrough, 226 Musʾab, son of ʿUqba, 98 Musabiq, Man of Wiles, 88–94, 215, 219, 221, 223, 224, 243 Musaffar Shah, cousin of Darab, 77, 78, 82 Al-Muʾtadi, 49, 50 Al-Muʾtasim, caliph, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 142, 143 Al-Mutawakkil, caliph, 144 Nafila, 173 Nafisa, saint, 148, 155, 162, 163, 185, 244 Nahar, attendant of Zananir, daughter of Salbuta, 122 Nahid, brother of Kanf, 161, 165 Naimes, 241 Najm, bedouin chief, 158 Najm al-Din, Shiha’s rival, 185, 186, 219

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The Man of Wiles in Popular Arabic Literature

Nakamdan, brother of Mujrim, 191 Nasir, lord of Aleppo, 60 Nasir, suitor of Qalaʾun’s daughter, 200 Nasir al-Kafir, 213 Nasir al-Nimr, 177, 196, 205, 210, 212 Nasr al-Din, 186, 187, 219 Nazih, 9 Nicholson, R. A., 28, 33 Nicolette, 228 Nimr al-ʾAmiri, 199, 208 Niqula, Christian king, 105 Noah, 30 Noiron, sorcerer, 238 Nufus, queen, 198 Nuʾman, Arab king, 39, 45, 47, 48, 51 Nur, son of Badiʾ al-Zaman, 65–8 Nur, son of Shiha, 199, 219, 223 Nur al-Din, emir, 13 Nur al-Nar, warrior princess, 142 Nura, Christian queen, 106, 109–13, 115–20, 133, 138, 139, 218 Nurad, son of Shiha, 181, 214 Nuwairid, son of Shiha, 182 Nuzhat al-Zaman, 10, 11 Odin, 231, 234 Odysseus, ix, 34, 87, 214, 218, 226, 234, 243, 245 Ogier, 229 Oriande, 238 Orlando, 227 Pachonius, 228 Parry, Milman, viii Patroclus, ix Paulus, prince, 100, 101 Penelope, ix Peter, saint, 237 Peter the Hermit, 228 Piecolet, 227 Porus, Indian king, 228 Ptolemy, Christian king, 114 Pulci, 225, 227, 29 Qabid b. Mukhlis, king, 57 Qabta, brother of Qabtawil, 10 Qabtawil, king, 190 Qahir Shah, 83 Qahr, supporter of Darab, 78, 80 Al-Qannasa, daughter of Nuʾman, 45 Al-Qannasa, warrior woman, 102, 103, 117, 119, 218 Qanun, Christian king, 142 Qara Arslan, 189, 208 Qaraju, associate of Juwan, 159

LYONS PRINT.indd 252

Qaraquna, Christian king, 133, 134, 137 Qarqadan, Persian ʿayyar, 60 Qasim, son of Rustam, 61, 63–6, 68, 69 Qubat, son of Hamza, 57, 59 Qulaih, student of ʿUqba, 95, 96 Quraisha, daughter of Hamza, 55 Rabiʾa, father of Kulaib, 30 Rabiʾa b. Ziyad, 26, 27 Raʾd, champion, 58 Radin, Paul, 231, 242 Raibus, brother of Raibut, 92 Raibut, sorcerer, 92 Rambaud, ix Ramsis, king, 89 Rasad, Shiha’s rival, 193 Renault, son of Aymon, 239, 240, 241 Renfrei, 233 Renier, 228, 234 Rhampsinitus, 3, 15 Richart, brother of Renier, 240, 241 Rizq, father of Abu Zaid, 3 Roland, viii Rum al-Azraq, 205 Ruma, daughter of Juwan, 206, 210–12 Ruma, daughter of Rum al-Azraq, 204 Ruman, 209 Ruman, sorcerer king, 94 Runaqis, wife of ʿArnus, 187 Rustam, son of Hamza, 58, 60, 61 Ruzza, sorceress, 86 Sabbah, bedouin shaikh, 1 Sabiq, son of Shiha, 174–80, 183, 189, 191, 194, 197–201, 211 Sabk, servant of al-Battal, 128 Sabur, Christian king, 123, 124 Saʾd, client of Basus, 28 Saʾd, cousin of Ibrahim al-Haurani, 171–3, 176, 177, 179, 180, 182, 184, 188, 189–91, 197, 207, 208, 210, 211 Saʾd, son of Hamza, 58 Saʾd, son of Turban, 57, 58, 59 Saʾd al-Din al-Rusafi, Shiha’s rival, 187 Safi, servant of al-Battal, 100, 101 Safiya, wife of Siha, 200 Al-Safra, sorceress, 72–4, 78 Sahsah, brother of Shaibub of Damascus, 41 Saʾid, ex-slave, 38 Saʾid, son of Baibars, 173, 179, 191, 203, 205, 206 Saʾida, daughter of Hayyaj, 141, 142 Saif, son of ʿAbd al-Wahhab, 103, 107, 112, 119, 141, 142

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Index of Names Saif b. Asad, 207 Saif b. Dhi Yazan, ix, 88–94, 216, 245 Saif b. Fadl, 206 Saif al-Daula, lord of Malatiya, 80 Saif al-Din, nephew of Jalal, 175, 176 Saif al-Din b. Fadl, 210 Saif al-Muluk, viii Sakhr, nephew of Saʾd al-Din, 187 Salabun, monster, 13, 14 Salah, police chief, 220 Salah al-Din, qadi (later Juwan), 165 Salah al-Kalbi, 1–4, 15 Salib al-Rum, Christian king, 175 Al-Salih, sultan, 151, 153–8, 160–2, 164, 166, 171, 244, 245 Salim, cousin of Sawwan, 176 Salim, freed slave, 2 Salma, daughter of Hasan, 20 Salqantas, Jewish leader, 38 Salwa, sister of al-Muʾtadi, 49, 50, 53, 223 Samʾan al-Qurn, 196 Sandrus, king, 63 Saqr, Ismaʿili (2), 155–7, 159 Sara, 9 Sarah, wife of Abraham, 29 Sari, 50 Sarjawil, Frankish king, 187 Sarkhaba, warrior queen, 64, 66 Saʾsaʾ, 24 Saturin, Christian king, 129 Sawwan, Ismaʿili, 174, 176 Scott, Michael, vii Sextus, Christian king, 114 Shaʾashʾuna, Christian king, 121, 122, 125 Shabrank, ʿayyār, 75 Shaddad, father of ʿAntar, 17, 26 Shaddad b. ʿAd, 209 Shahin, vizier, 147, 149–51, 161, 193, 202, 244 Shelu, 234 Shaibub, Man of Wiles, 17–27, 42, 216, 217, 219, 220, 223, 226, 243 Shaibub, ruler of Damascus, 41 Shah Dib, son of ʿUmar, 54, 58, 61 Shah Shujaʾ, son of Shah Surur, 75 Shah Surur, king of Yemen, 74–6, 80, 81 Shamkarina, sorceress, 208 Shamlukh, 138 Shammash, son of Niqula, 106 Shams, princess, 84, 86 Shams, sorceress, 84–6 Shams al-Din, lord of Sidon, 181 Shamsa, 120, 135, 136 Shamqarin, sorceress, 181 Shankal, Indian king, 86

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Sharaf al-Din, 150 Sharaf al-Din b. al-ʾAbbas, 195 Sharashir, patriarch, 194 Sharr al-Husun, 195 Sharwa, son of Nura, 143 Shawqi ʿAbd al-Hakim, 29 Shayaghus, painter, 72, 75, 79, 80 Shiha, Man of Wiles, 4, 147–214, 218, 222–4, 226, 243, 244 Shihan, ʿayyār, 48 Shihan, ʿUmar’s lieutenant, 55, 57, 61 Shujaʾ al-Din, Ismaʿili, 206 Shuma, wife of Shumdaris, 109, 111, 112, 113, 129 Shumdaris, monk, 104–8, 111–13, 115, 119, 129–31, 135, 138–42 Shumus, wife of ʿArnus, 183 Simlaq, 113 Simsim, ʿifrīt, 11, 12 Sirhan, 150, 151 Sirun, monk, 185 Sisban, 2, 3, 8–12 Sisun, ʿayyār, 89, 90 Sqardis, sorcerer, 89, 90 Sqardiun, sorcerer, 89, 90 Suʾda, daughter of al-Zanati, 39 Sulaiman al-Jamus, Ismaʿili leader, 160, 162, 163, 170, 182, 194, 195, 203, 207, 210 Syrdon, ix, 243 Tabardin, 233 Tabari, king of Tiberias, 167 Tadrahut, ʿayyār, 90 Taghin, king, 211 Tahmaz, champion, 64, 66 Taj Bakht, wife of Baibars, 162, 163 Taj al-Muluk, daughter of al-Mundhir, 76 Taj Nas, wife of Shiha, 190–3, 195, 196, 199, 205, 209, 213, 217, 223 Tajirin, king, 212 Tamriq, sorceress, 211 Tariq, Egyptian thief, 77, 78, 87 Taud, nephew of Basir, 182 Al-Taud, vizier of Farqad, 93 Taud al-Bahr, son of Shiha, 213 Tauq, friend of al-Battal, 143 Tayyar, sorcerer, 38 Tayyibun, 140 Teucer, 18, 226 Thomas the Rhymer, 242 Tibrizi, 28 Timraz, bedouin, 156 Timurtash, 78 Titlus, Persian, 86, 87

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The Man of Wiles in Popular Arabic Literature

Trubert, 228 Tuma, brother of Safiya, 200 Tumar, Black king, 74, 75 Turan Takht, daughter of al-Walid, 76 Turanshah, sultan, 161 Turban, niece of Chosroe, 53–6, 59 Turki Tawus, champion, 58, 59 ʿUfasha, jinni, 89, 91 ʿUlwa, wife of ʿAbd al-Wahhab, 104, 107, 113 ʿUmar, Man of Wiles, 43–70, 216, 217, 219, 221, 223, 226, 241, 243, 244 ʿUmar b. Shaddad, ʿayyār, 56 ʿUmara, brother of Rabiʾa b. Ziyad, 26 ʿUqairib, groom, 148, 149, 157, 159, 161, 162, 171 ʿUqba, villain, 95–146, 220 ʿUthman, Man of Wiles, 43–70, 147–63, 215, 217, 219, 222, 224, 244, 245 Vivien, brother of Maugis, 238 Vladimir of Kiev, viii Volga, ix, 228, 232, 233 Wainammoinen, 231, 232 Al-Walid, Egyptian king, 76, 77 Al-Wathiq, caliph, 95, 144, 145 Al-Wayaliya, mother of Kulaib, 30 Welsford, Enid, ix, 243 Whirro, 237 Wistasse, 230, 233 Wolfram von Eschenbach, 226 Wright, A. R., 224 Yamama bint Kulaib, 29 Yanis, Islamic convert, 108, 129, 142, 143, 145

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Yaʾqub, 187 Yaqut, 91, 224 Yasir, 191 Yawank, Chinese ʿayyar, 82–6, 219 Yon, Gascon king, 239 Yuhanna, 139 Yunan, sage, 164, 170 Al-Yunini, son of Hamza, 53, 54 Zabila, mother of ʿAntar, 17 Zacharias, 226 Zahlan, 36 Zahra, sister of ʿAsi, 197, 198 Zaid, 195 Zaid al-Khail, 24 Zain Jala, Christian princess, 208 Zainab, daughter of Dalila, 6–9, 14, 220, 223 Zainab, saint, 1–6, 9–11, 14–16, 154, 155, 157, 159, 198, 244 Zalim, son of ʿAbd al-Wahhab, 117–20, 126, 127, 129, 130, 135, 144, 145 Zananir, Christian princess, 100, 101 Zananir, daughter of Salbuta, 121–4, 133 Zananir, princess, 141, 220 Al-Zanati, lord of Tunis, 38, 41 Zanbiq al-Yashibi, 202, 203 Zarqash al-Tayyar, son of Shiha, 212, 213 Zartaq, lord of Qalʾat Simʾan, 212 Al-Zir, Salim, 29, 33, 35, 245 Zubaida, wife of Harun al-Rashid, 9, 10, 12, 103, 118, 125, 126, 133, 134, 137 Zubin, agent of Bakhtak, 51, 53, 54 Zuhair, agent of Juwan, 159, 160 Zuhra, princess, 11 Zuhrban, Byzantine princess, 48, 53 Zuraiq, brother of Dalila, 8, 9

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