"Volume XI" - читать интересную книгу автора (Burtons Version)

Could I in my clay-bed on Salmб lie * There to me were better than Heaven or Hell!’

“Had he not been” (continued the Caliph) “the enemy of Allah, he had wished for her in this world, so he might after repent and return to righteous dealing.  By Allah, he shall not come in to me!  who is at the door other than he?” Quoth Adi, “Jamнl bin ma’mar al-Uzri [FN#98] is at the door;” and quoth Omar, “’Tis he who saith in one of his elegies,

‘Would Heaven conjoint we lived, and if I die * Death only grant me a grave within her grave:
For I’d no longer deign to live my life * If told upon her head is laid the pave.’” [FN#99]

Quoth Omar, “Away with him from me!  Who is at the door?” and quoth Adi, “Kuthayyir ’Assah” [FN#100]; whereupon Omar cried, “’Tis he who saith in one of his odes,

‘Some talk of faith and creed and nothing else * And wait for pains of Hell in prayer-seat; [FN#101]
But did they hear what I from Azzah heard, * They’d make prostration, fearfull at her feet.’

“Leave the mention of him.  Who is at the door?” Quoth Adi, “Al-Ahwas al-’Ansбrн.” [FN#102]  Cried Omar, “Allah Almighty put him away and estrange him from His mercy!  Is it not he who said, berhyming on a Medinite’s slave-girl, so she might outlive her lord,

‘Allah be judge betwixt me and her lord! * Who ever flies with her and I pursue.’

“He shall not come in to me.  who is at the door, other than he?”  Adi replied, “Hammбm bin Ghбlib al-Farazdak;” [FN#103] and Omar said, “’Tis he who saith, glorying in whoring,

‘Two girls let me down eighty fathoms deep, * As low sweeps a falcon wi’ pinions spread;
And cried; as my toes touched the ground, ‘Dost live * To return, or the fall hath it done thee dead?

“He shall not come in to me.  who is at the door, other than he?”  Adi replied, “Al-Akhtal al-Taghlibн” [FN#104] and Omar said, “He is the Miscreant who saith in his singing,

‘Ramazan I ne’er fasted in life-time; nay * I ate flesh in public at undurn day; [FN#105]
Nor chide I the fair, save in way of love, * Nor seek Meccah’s plain [FN#106] in salvation-way:
Nor stand I praying like rest who cry *  ‘Hie salvationwards’ [FN#107] at the dawn’s first ray.
But I drink her cooled [FN#108] by fresh Northern breeze * And my head at dawn to her prone I lay.’ [FN#109]

“By Allah, he treadeth no carpet of mine!  who is at the door, other than he?”  Said Adi, “Jarнr ibn al-Khatafah”; and Omar cried, “’Tis he who saith,

‘But for ill-spying glances had our eyes espied * Eyne of the antelope and ringlets of the Reems. [FN#110]
A huntress of the eyes [FN#111] by night-tide came and I * Cried, ‘Turn in peace, no time for visit this, meseems!’

“An it must be and no help, admit Jarir.”  So Adi went forth and admitted Jarir, who entered, saying.

“Yea, he who sent Mohammed unto man, * A just successor for Imбm [FN#112] assigned.
His ruth and justice all mankind embrace, * To daunt the bad and stablish well-designed.
Verily now I look to present good, * For man hath ever-transient weal in mind.”

Quoth Omar, “O Jarir, keep the fear of Allah before thine eyes and say naught save the sooth.”  And Jarir recited these couplets,

“How many widows loose the hair in far Yamбmah-land [FN#113] * How many an orphan there abides feeble of voice and eye,
Since faredst thou who wast to them instead of father lost * When they like nested fledglings were sans power to creep or fly!
And now we hope, since brake the clouds their word and troth with us, * Hope from the Caliph’s grace to gain a rain [FN#114] that ne’er shall dry.”

When the Caliph heard this, he said, “By Allah, O Jarir, Omar possesseth but an hundred dirhams. [FN#115]  Ho, boy! do thou give them to him.”  Moreover he gifted him with the ornaments of his sword; and Jarir went forth to the other poets, who asked him, “What is behind thee?” [FN#116] and he answered, “A man who giveth to the poor and denieth the poets, and with him I am well-pleased.”

AL-HAJJAJ AND THE THREE YOUNG MEN [FN#117]