Part 11 (1/2)
Accordingly, we did honour to the breakfast, and left but little for those who ht come after us After we had washed our hands, we placed the wine before us, and having each broken the coratulated ourselves upon being two of the happiest of huuitar which was nearaside all apprehension for the present, and all care for the future, I tuned it toode of Hafiz, which I had learnt in my youth, when I used to charm my hearers in the bath:--
What bliss is like to whisp?ring love, Or dalliance in the bowers of spring? Why then delay
Each hour that joy and ain; Fool is the man who seeks to know His pleasure will it end in pain!
The links which our existence bind Hang not by one weak thread alone; Of man?s distress why tease the mind? Sufficient ?tis, we know our own
The double charms of love and wine Alike from one sweet source arise: Are we to blame, shall we repine, When unconstrain?d the passions rise?
If innocent in heart and mind, I sin unconscious of offence What use, O casuist, shall I find In absolution?s reco approve; Poets the sparkling bowl enjoy: And, till he?s judged by powers above, Hafiz will drink, and sing, and toy
Zeenab was quite in ecstasy: she had never heard anything so delightful in her life, and forgetting that both of us were but wretched individuals--she a slave, I the s--we did and felt as if all that surrounded us was our own, and that the wine and our love would last for ever
Having sang several s, and emptied several cups of wine, I found that my poetry was exhausted as well as our bottle
It was still quite early, and we hadproood opportunity; we are not likely to be interrupted for a long while, and, as our ht are very uncertain, an hour cannot be better filled up than by the recital of your adventures? She assented to an as follows
CHAPTER XXVI
The history of Zeenab, the Curdish slave
I ahter of a chief, well known in the Curdistan by the naa Who my mother was I do not precisely know I have heard that I as at Kerrund;[44] but as suchthe Curds, I have never dared to question anybody concerning them, and cannot, therefore, ascertain whether the reports about my birth be true or not It is very certain that I never looked up to anyone asour women, and that my earliest friend was a foal, that lived as an inmate with us It was born in the very tent which my father?s wives occupied; and its dam, of the purest Arabian blood, was treated more like one of the family than a quadruped: in fact, it received much more attention than any of the wives; it enjoyed the warmest place in the tent, was beautifully clothed, and in all our journeys was the first object of our cares When the hout the encampment The foal lived to be my father?s war-horse, and is to this day the pride of the Curdistan But would to Heaven that we had felt less affection for these aniht still have been a free woone originated in the possession of a mare, of which you shall hear h the Curds do not allow that they are subject to any power, yet our ancestors (and so did razed their flocks and pitched their tents in that part of the Curdistan overndad Whenever that chief had any war on his hands, he frequently called upon our tribes to afford hihout Asia, were always foree, and his horseh request on such occasions He was a ure on horseback; and when his countenance was shaded by the back part of his cap thrown over his brow, his look inspired terror He had killed several men, and was consequently honoured with the distinction of bearing a tuft of hair on his spear But it hen clad in aret the grandeur of his appearance, when, with his horse curvetting under him, I saw him in thecuirasses, peacock?s feathers strea in the sun, preparing themselves to join the Pasha From the result of this expedition we date part of our dad, and even threatened that city, when the Pasha thought it high time to call the Curds to his assistance He took the field with a considerable nuainst the eneht attack my father happened to fall in with and slay the son of the Arab Sheikh hi despoiled hionist had mounted He too well knew the value of such a prize not immediately to take the utood fortune froe of the Turkish chieftain, ould do everything in his power to get it from him, he sent the beast to his encampment, with orders that it should be carefully concealed, and lodged in the tent which his harem occupied His precautions were useless, because the feat which he had perfor it, were soon known to every one; but as the Pasha had a great estee no reason to suppose that the mare was more than an ordinary one, heafter the war had ceased, the Wahabi having been driven back into the desert, and the Curds having retired to theirby a visit from one of the Pasha?s chief officers, viz the _Mirakhor_, or master of the horse, who came escorted by a handsome train of ten men, well mounted and armed Everybody was immediately on the alert to do them honour Their horses were taken to the nearest pasture, and picketed with plenty of grass before them: the horsemen were led into the men?s tent with much ceremony, where they were treated with coffee and pipes; and a large cauldron of rice was set on the fire to make a pilau Two lambs were immediately killed, and cooked into a savoury dish by the women, who also baked piles of bread on the occasion In short, we did all in our power to put into practice those obligations of hospitality which are binding upon the wandering tribes
?As soon as my father was apprised of the approach of his visitors, even when they were first espied at a distance, it iht be their object, and he ordered his eldest son to mount thedell until he should hear further from him Our tents were pitched in a line, on the brink of a mountain torrent; and it was therefore easy to steal away unperceived in the deep bed through which it flowed; and the high hbourhood, with the intricacies of which ell acquainted, afforded good shelter to us in case of disturbance
?I recollect the whole circumstance just as if it were yesterday; for omen could peep into the place where the men were assembled, and our curiosity led us to listen to what they said The mirakhor and two other Turks were seated; the others stood at the entrance of the tent, resting on their arms My father placed himself at some distance, on the carpet, with his hands before hi very hu his eyes very sharply around hiht happiness with you,? exclaimed my father
??Happilysince we have seen each other?; and when they had repeated these and siain, they relapsed into silence; their pipes, which they s them in lieu of conversation
??Our master, the pasha,? said the mirakhor, ?sends you health and peace; he loves you, and says that you are one of his best and oldest friends _Mashallah!_ praise be to God! You are a good ood; their friends are our friends, and their ene, the foremost of the attendants, applauded this speech by a sort of lol; and thenhis hands on his knees, answered: ?I am the Pasha?s slave; I am your slave; you do me much honour _Il hem dillah,_ thanks to heaven, we eat our bread in peace under the Pasha?s shade, and put our caps on one side without fear God give him plenty?
?After a short pause: ?The business of our coa,? said the mirakhor, ?is this:--The Wahabi (curses be on their beards!) have sent a deputation to our chief, requiring from him the mare upon which the son of their sheikh was h they say that his blood is on our heads, and that nothing but the pasha?s life, or that of his son, can ever redeem it; yet that subject they will for the present waive, in order to regain possession of her
They say, she has the eneration to generation her descent is to be traced to the ht froain her, they offer to throw money on the board until the pasha shall say stop
Now all the world knows that you are the brave he, who overcame and slew the sheikh?s son, and that yours is the spoil of thewith the nobles and the chief dad, has determined to take the offer of the Wahabi into consideration; and since it is becoovernment, has sent me to request you to deliver her up into my hands This is my errand, and I have said it?
??_Wallah! billah!_ By the pasha?s salt which I have eat, by your soul, by the mother who bore you, by the stars and the heavens, I swear that all the Wahabi say is false Where is the mare they pretend to have lost, and where the ot a mare, ?tis true, but so lean, so wretched, that I sold her to an Arab the day after the battle You may have the bridle and saddle, if you please; but as for the beast, I have her not?