The love adventures of Al-Mansur

Front matter

ARCHIBALD CLAVEipenyr«

ROWLANDS' ARTICLES

For the Hair, Complexion, and Teeth, are the PUREST & BEST.

Chapter I. — The Desolation of the Seraglio, - - 6 " II. — The Inspection of the Vir

III.—" I Will Not Be Presented

as a Slave ! " - - - 29

IV.— The Maiden Who Looked

the Caliph in the Face, - 36

" V. — The Princess of Georgia, - 47

" VI. — Huccazah and the Efreets, - 58

VII.— The Sultana and the

Usurper, - - 72

" VIII. — The Innocent Conspirator, 89

« IX.— The Beautiful Zandora, the

Unwilling Bride, - - 105

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Chapter X. — The Dog- and the Mountebank, - - - - 123

" XI. — The Daughter of the Cadi, 144

" XII.— The Tea Merchant of Astra-

" XIII. — Bazook the Barbarian, 178

XIV.— The Head of the Tartar, -191

XV.— The Birth of Haroun Al-

Raschid, - 206

Preface

In presenting this little volume I have endeavored to retain in its English form sufficient of Arabic phraseology and dialogue to keep its Eastern atmosphere, but have attempted to exclude from it that superabundance of Oriental metaphor and mythology which would destroy its directness and perhaps its charm for modern readers. It may be remarked also that the origin of Haroun Al-Raschid differs in this story from many other chronicles of that illustrious potentate.

The Editor.

THE LOVE ADVENTURES OF AL-MANSUR.

In the name of Allah, who loves all true believers.

CHAPTER I.

THE DESOLATION OF THE SERAGLIO.

Baghdad was waking from its dreams and rising from its slumbers to another day.

Tempted by the soft rays of the sun that was slowly coming into view from Farther-India and tinging the yellow and turbid waters of the Tigris, its inhabitants, summoned by their holy imams, were making their ablutions and flocking to its hundred mosques whose minarets were being gilded by the sun, to make their morning prayers and salutations to the one true God of which Mohammed is the Prophet.

But wondrous to relate as even the tales of the professional story-tellers and the songs of the lying-poets, there was but one prayer went up in Baghdad that morning from old men, from young men, from women, from children, from the great Emirs and Princes, to the lowly water-carriers who bore each day their goat skins filled with the water of the Tigris, and that petition was :

"Allah, il Allah, may it please thy omnipotence to make our youthful Sovereign know the love of woman /"

This prayer had been sent up from every mosque and praying place in the great capital of the East for two years. For the unhappy disposition of the youthful Caliph had saddened the songs of the singing girls, the tongues of the story tellers, and had even made plaintive the gibes of the donkey boys, and they — may Sheytan curse their mothers — every one knows are as merry at the misfortunes of others as the imps of Eblis !

What had first been made a public prayer by the proclamation of the Ulama had now become the public prayer by the hearts of the people ; they sympathized with their young monarch in his affliction.

Though in the very height of youthful manhood, with the strength and heart of a warrior, the mind of a Suleyman, and the beauty of one favored by the good spirits of the air, Abu Jaffar Abdallah, known as the great Al-Mansur, throughout the world from the regions of far Kathay to where the Moorish banners floated on the Caliphates of Cordova and Seville, would not look upon the beauties of woman with the eyes of love.

Already four years upon the throne, this Caliph though possessed of ardent temperament and wise with wisdom, could find no attraction in the charms of that sex which has been sent upon earth for the solace and delight of man, and is in the Seventh Heaven set apart for the joy of true believers after death has taken them to the Paradise of Mohammed.

The youthful monarch had been petitioned by the Assembly of the Ulama, and entreated by his Grand Vizier and great officers of State to marry, even if he could not love ; but Al-Mansur ivith a profundity seldom known in youth had replied that until he loved he would wed no woman, because his nuptials to an uncared for bride would bring no heir worthy to take upon him the mantle of the great Abul-Abbas, the founder of the Abbaside, whose dynasty was worthy to exist until the end of man.

This lofty resolution of the young Caliph, though applauded when uttered — as the words of all Caliphs are — had set his councillors wondering what would become of the crown of Baghdad were the hand of God to be laid upon their monarch. They remembered the last cruel and bloody contest for the succession to the throne. Some of the wise men shook their heads and plucked impatiently their white beards that had come to them with wisdom, and one or two more profound than the rest and more deeply initiated in the mysteries that surround the seven worlds, hinted that an evil spell had been put upon the Commander of the Faithful, obtained by some magician who wished to ruin the country, from some evil genii who resided in the mountains of Kaf, which bound the circumambient ocean and form the circular barrier around the abiding place of man.

When these hints came to the venerable

Houssan-El-Remo a sly and malicious twinkle flashed in his deep eyes, the brightness of which age could not dim ; as he still presided over the Council of the Ulama. For the illustrious Houssan had been the acknowledged master of statecraft philosophy and politics of the last generation. As Grand Vizier he had been the power that guided the policy of the preceding reign, but now not being admitted to equal prominence in the councils of his young master, he had, through the agency of Zoreb, the magician, put this very spell upon the youthful Caliph of Baghdad.

This maliciousness, caused by that lust for power that dominates nearly all old office seekers and politicians, had been increased by the peculiar circumstances that had brought his young sovereign to the throne.

Upon the death of Abul-Abbas, the illustrious founder of the Abbaside dynasty, some four years preceding the day now dawning on Baghdad, the .succession to his throne had been in dispute ; he liaving left two sons, Selim Mustapha and Abu- Jaafar Abdallah, rival claimants to the sovereignty of the Eastern world, and the mantle of the Prophet.

The first of these, Selim Mustapha, brought up by the ladies of the seraglio within the precincts of the zenana, had grown into the vices of that world of women by whom he was surrounded. His mind, weak and vacillating, like the sex that educated him yet bowed down with slavish adulation before him, was also crafty and cruel. Though foolishly conceited, he was extremely pliable to

IO TII3 LOVE ADVENTURES OF AL-I.1ANSUR.

advice and influence, thus he was naturally the one whom the Grand Vizier of his father had selected to reign over Baghdad, because he could dominate him. For the other prince, Abu-Jaafar Abdallah, had been educated in all military exercises and in the sports of the chase, and had received wisdom from the instructions of the noted Huccazah, a profound philosopher full of potent wisdom and extraordinary experience in the arts and literature of the East.

Between one whom he could dominate and cajole by means of flattery and one whose upright spirit and manlike determination was easily apparent even in his early youth, Houssan El-Rcmo did not hesitate to choose. Upon the death of the father, though the Vizier appeared not in the matter, he, by his arts, caused Selim to be proclaimed Caliph at Damascus. The troops, bribed to his purpose, responded with loud acclamations, and acknowledged Selim Commander of the Faithful and Vicar of the Prophet.

This was the more easily accomplished as Abu- Jaafar Abdallah was at that time engaged at the farther confines of the empire in putting down an uprising in the province of Korassan. Upon this news being brought to the young prince he took counsel with himself, for he had been taught by Huccazah to give his confidence only to his own mind. After a night spent in prayer to Allah, the next morning he called his officers together and proclaimed himself the reigning Caliph under the name of Al-Mansur.

" Were my brother worthy to reign, would he

THE LOVE ADVENTURES OF AL-MANSUR. II

live to the glory of the Prophet and the despair of the enemies of Islam, I would willingly bow the knee to him and become the humblest of his slaves," said Abu-Jaafar to those gathered about him. "But knowing in my mind that Selim's education has given him all the vices of woman without any of her virtues, in the name of Allah and the Prophet I take into my own hands the destiny of the nation. Those who are with me follow me ! "

With excited cries his officers to a man saluted him as Caliph. Then supported by his little army and filled with the ardor of youth, and perhaps its rashness, Abu-Jaafar, obtaining some successes against the light troops sent out to meet him by his brother, who was secretly under the counsels of the wise and crafty Houssan, by rapid marches made straight for Bassorah, confident in his mind that if he could obtain possession of that important seaport he could make this his base of supplies for his advance on Damascus.

But Abu-Jaafar had advanced too rapidly. Though he captured Bassorah, he soon found himself shut up within its walls and a large army under Selim besieging him, while the war-gallies won over by his brother's money blockaded Bassorah from the mouth of the Tigris in the Persian Gulf.

Unable to obtain provisions, either by land or by sea, starvation soon came upon his army, and to save them, stipulating that their lives and those of his principal officers should be spared, Abu-Jaafar Abdallah surrendered himself to receive a brother's mercy.

But what mercy was this ?

Selim Mustapha, careless of the ties of blood, and actuated by the craft and cruelty of his harem education, condemned the unfortunate youth who had aspired to the throne of his father to the awful execution " of the throne."

This punishment especially selected for all aspirants to royalty who fail in gaining it is a tantalizing exhibition of the pomp of empire that shall never come to them, a constant gazing upon power that shall never be theirs, a continual looking upon the joys, opulence and potency of a sovereign while suffering the punishment of the malefactor; for this penalty has been invented with wondrous and exquisite cruelty.

It is this ! Beneath the very golden throne on which the Caliph sits dispensing life and death and joy and despair, surrounded by all the pageantry of his court, is constructed a little cell with barred windows, through which the captive can look upon that which he wished to be, yet never can be. Each morning the chief executioner opens the grated doors and puts in provisions for the day, on which the prisoner fives while he sighs, as he sees the glory that can never be his. For six months this is continued. On the first day of the next half year, despite his prayers and entreaties, the captive is walled up by masonry entirely from the sun and air, and though his groans as he dies may reach the royal ears to give the occupant of the throne pleasure, that masonry is never removed.

Condemned to this horrible punishment, bound hand and foot and secured night and day by a hundred of the royal body guard, the unfortunate Abu-Jaafar Abdallah was being slowly brought from Bassorah toward Damascus, where, under the golden throne of his brother, he was to suffer his cruel fate.

In contrast to Abu's misery and torment, surrounded by his emirs and viziers, and attended by the most beautiful women of his seraglio, Selim Mustapha, in the triumph of his conquest, came journeying by easy stages along the banks of the Tigris.

On the twelfth day, and distant eighteen days more from Damascus, the route leaves the banks of the river to make straight across the fertile plains of Persia to the capital.

Here the royal tent was just being spread for the evening. The carpets were being unfolded. The ladies of his harem were preparing their harps and lutes to sing unto the young Caliph, and his dancing girls were donning their transparent garments for the Sarabande. His bakers and his cooks were preparing for him a banquet of royal magnificence. Sherbets cooled by snows brought from the distant Caucasus were being made ready for him.

In youthful conceit, power and triumph Selim Mustapha sprang from his horse and carelessly threw himself under a banyan tree until his pavilion was ready for him. Prevented by the etiquette of the court, his officers and councillors did not approach him. The setting sun as the Caliph reclined beneath the banyan tree dazzled his eyes and the young sovereign taking from out his belt a handkerchief of red Ispahan silk of softest texture threw it over his face to shade it from the sun and so shut out the light of the world forever.

Allah who is merciful and just, pitying the sorrows and despair of Abu-Jaafar Abdallah, determined to give him both the throne and life, so that he should become a caliph worthy to spread the banner of Islam against the enemies of the faith, and to rule over those who believe there is but one God, and Mohammed is his Prophet.

From little things great things arise. A swift flying falcon-kite pursuing a nightingale lighted upon the branches of the banyan tree. This bird looked down upon the sovereign resting beneath him, and seeing over Selim Mustapha's face the red silk handkerchief of Ispahan, mistook it for carrion and his prey. With a swift whirl of wings the kite flew down and plunged both sharp beak and cruel talons into the red handkerchief to bear it to his eyrie in the tree, but dragged only from their sockets both Selim Mustapha's eyes and, flying upward, left him blind, sightless and helplessly groping over the ground uttering cries of despair. Though he ruled over the land, he had no eyes to see its beauty.

Then, beholding the helplessness of their sovereign, a sudden change came in the minds of his officers, and they said : " Here is a poor sightless creature ! " and Allah placing Avisdom in their hearts, they cried : " Shall we have to rule over us this blind thing whose weakness we laugh at and despise?" So with sudden acclamation they proclaimed Abu-Jaafar Abdallah, Caliph of the East and Selim Mustapha, sightless and despairing, was dethroned.

Then there was a curious scene such as never has been seen before. The youthful Abu-Jaafar still with the dust of the cruel journey upon him, with the marks of his cruel bonds yet livid upon his limbs, but with the gleam of hope and success upon his noble face, and with the bearing of the ruler of the world standing, with all that multitude kissing the ground and saluting him as Caliph and successor to Mohammed.

Before him, groveling on the earth and begging for mercy, was the blind man who but ten minutes before had been lord of life and death within all Persia, Arabia, Egypt, even unto far Kathay and the Isles of Camphor. And in the banyan tree, shrieking with delight and eating up the two eyes that had given light to Selim Mustapha, was the cruel kite sent by God to change the destiny of this earth.

" I am lost ; I know my fate is death, but for the love of Allah I pray thee spare me the torture, for we were once brothers," implored the trembling wretch.

" Neither the torture nor death," cried the

generous young sovereign. " God has punished

you, for you have sinned. I have forgotten in thy

misery to what you had condemned me. I

remember only that you are my brother and are

blind."

With these words Abu lifted Selim from the

c

1 6 THE LOVE ADVENTURES OF AIXMANSUR.

ground and commanded his physicians to give him their greatest skill and most careful attention. Then when his brother had recovered from his wounds Abu-Jaafar Abdallah dismissed him with a pension of a hundred thousand deenars, or pieces of gold, to live after the manner of his rank in Egypt, to which country Selim Mustapha very shortly departed.

Though he forgave his brother, Abu-Jaafar, who was now proclaimed over all the East Caliph, did not trust Houssan-El-Remo. He spared him punishment on account of his great services to the State during his father's reign, but gave him neither office nor advancement. Another Grand Vizier, Merzed, took the keys and seals of office from the snarling Houssan, who though ex-officio chief of the Ulama had no further voice in the councils of the Caliph.

Then on the very spot upon which the kitefalcon had saved him from cruel death and made him Lord of the Earth, in gratitude to God, Abu- Jaafar Abdallah, who reigned under the name of Al-Mansur, caused to be erected the great city of Baghdad and made it his capital and gave it dominion over the other cities of the East. And such is the magic power of the master of the world, and such is the great richness of the treasuries of his kingdom, that in three years Baghdad became from a grazing place of camels the most beautiful city of the country, whose hundred mosques flashed from their golden domes the sun's rays to the four quarters of the heavens.

The banks of the river Tigris, which flows the love adventures op al-mansur. vj

through the city, were lined with the palaces of his emirs and princes, and the gardens of their seraglios.

That morning, its streets crowded with caravans of merchants and traders from Ispahan, Damascus, Egypt and even Spain, Baghdad looked very grand and powerful, though the hearts of its people were sad, for the seraglio of its master was empty of mates to their lord and was only peopled by slaves who should be attendant to the favorites of this Caliph, who had no favorites to minister unto him. The exquisite gardens running down in gentle slope to the banks of the Tigris, those set apart for the exclusive use of the wives of the Commander of the Faithful, though guarded from the observation of travelers and boatmen in the river by high walls of solid stone and patrolled by black eunuchs armed with drawn scimitars who kept watch as sternly as if they were filled with the most beautiful women on earth, were empty of the charmers of mankind. No soft voices floated through their groves of rose bushes and alma and orange trees, no fair hands plucked their precious flowers, though among them was the carnalate, whose sacred blossoms make the perfume of heaven. The nightingales in their branches sang only to themselves, the seraglio of the Caliph was bare of female loveliness as a tanned goatskin is of fleas.

Looking upon this desolation of the harem, Zamo, chief of the royal eunuchs, remarked moodily to Merzed, the Grand Vizier, after they had made their morning salutations : "What is the

C 2 i8 The love adventures op al-mansur.

use of being a eunuch when I have no favorites of our Lord to guard from the eyes of man?"

" Truly," said Merzed, " as our master never weds, your duties, Zamo, are so light that you grow even fatter and more smiling than ever."

At which Zamo gave a grunt of rage, for Zamo was an Ethiopian of waddling fatness and squeakyvoice, yet he had a face that had grown stern in the correction of women. " It is strange," remarked the eunuch, " that our Lord of Life does not grow moody himself without any one to love."

" By Allah," replied the vizier, " Al-Mansur has much to love."

" Your words delight my ears," answered Zamo. " Where is she ? Where is this paragon, that she may be conducted to the seraglio to be properly guarded from the eyes of all save our Master?"

" Then you'll have a great duty before you, Zamo," laughed Merzed, "for our Caliph loves his army, his country and the law of God. Put them into thy seraglio, Chief of Eunuchs, and guard them if you can."

Though the words of the Grand Vizier were light his countenance was solemn. He knew the importance to the country of an heir to the Caliphate. But even while speaking a page showed in to him through the great entrance of the palace and past the officers in attendance a swift runner covered with the dust of journey.

This courier prostrating himself before the Vizier, in answer to his questions, announced : " I come in advance of Hammad the cousin of the Caliph, he who has been away for one year searching the world over for the most superb women to bring them before our master to see if beauty will not produce love. Announce to the Lord of Life that Hammad after a journey over all the earth, even as far as Spain, and receiving from various Emirs of the provinces the maids of Circassia, Georgia, Egypt and Arabia, and from his cousin who upholds the banner of Islam in the Western world, the Caliph of Cordova, the beauties of Andalusia and Granada to tempt the appetite of the Vicar of the Prophet, is already at the gates of the city, having traveled by quick camels from Bassorah, and craves permission to exhibit before the Commander of the Faithful the loveliness he has brought to give him joy."

At this announcement Zamo uttered a hideous chuckle and smacking his fat hands together cried : " Now for business ! " while the Vizier with eager steps hastened to make known the intelligence to the young Caliph.

This news, though it has already been rumored about the town, proclaimed from the mosques and chattered about in the khans and trading booths, produced very little effect upon the young sovereign to whose ears it was intended to bring delight.

" By the beard of the Prophet," said Al- Mansur carelessly, "more women to tease me? True I know my cousin Hammad has done this for love of me and duty to the country. Yet I cannot see these beings that are necessary, I suppose, to the dwelling of man upcn the earth, but who tend to distract mankind from nobler emotions."

" But Lord of Life," answered the Vizier earnestly, " you know its importance. Can you not, before the noonday meal, inspect these moon-eyed beauties that have been brought from the four corners of the earth to tickle thy senses as well as welcome thy cousin Hammad ? "

" Before the mid-day meal," said the sovereign, " I review the cavalry of the guard and the squadrons of Arabia. At the mid-day meal I will be pleased to give salutation to my cousin Hammad ; but remember not a woman within sight of me, upon thy head, Merzed."

" My Lord of Lords," muttered the Vizier, prostrating himself, " why this stern resolution?"

"Why? Because they might tend to distract me from painting my battle picture upon which I am now engaged, or composing my poem on the joys of celibacy, to which I intend to devote the latter hours of the day In addition I have a deputation to receive on weighty matters from the Caliph of Seville, who implores my aid in planting the sacred standard over Sardinia and Sicily."

"But, Master of Life," stammered the Vizier, and dared say no more, though he opened the casement of the audience closet of the Caliph, to permit the murmur coming up from the streets which seem to speak for him ; there being exclamations from the people and cries of joy as if Baghdad was no longer sad, now it had hopes its sovereign would love and wed.

The Vizier's face suggested this to Al-Mansur, though his lips did not utter it, for Merzed — made wary in the intrigues of the palace — loved his head and did not dare to risk it by opening his mouth. The young Caliph looked out and after a moment laughed lightly as he said: "The people are anxious that my seraglio shall be filled."

''Not that, Commander of the Faithful," answered the Vizier. " Only that a successor shall be born unto the Caliphate. They know an absence of heirs in the direct line means the menace of war.

" Is there not time ? " answered Al-Mansur. " In his twenty-third year a man does not think of death." Then he muttered : " But even I have very closely approached to the other state ! " Next said impatiently : " Send orders to the Commander of the Horse that I will not review the cavalry this morning. Quick ! a deputation to the city gates to meet my cousin and give him greeting. Take Haramad word I will receive him as soon as he has removed the dust of travel from his person, and that he may bring with him any present for me he likes."

" Does that mean ? " murmured the Vizier,

kissing the carpet.

" Yes, it means the beauties from the four corners of the earth. By Allah, the last they sent me were a sorry lot," laughed the Caliph.

; Q THE LOVE ADVENTURES OF AL-MANSUR.

Chapter II. The Inspection Of The Virgins

Then word of the Caliph's welcome and a present of magnificent horses from the royal stables being brought to Hammad at the gates of the city, he entered Baghdad preceded by a body of the royal guards. Behind him, surrounded by the eunuchs of the seraglio, both black and white, headed by Zamo, were the beauties of the four quarters of the world, in litters, whose closed cano pies carefully veiled them from the eye of man.

This procession was received with universal acclamation and cries of joy by the population of the city that crowded the route to the palace of Hammad.

Though the cheers were great for the dashing cousin of the Caliph as he rode surrounded by some of the great officers of State, still the acclamations were louder and the plaudits greater as the populace saw the silken litters draped from prying eyes and surrounded by the stern eunuchs with their drawn scimitars, for in some one of these silent palanquins they hoped there was a future bride of their sovereign and mother of an heir to the Caliphate of Baghdad.

Fifty litters, two abreast, bore the beauties of the world ; and though no man dared look on them under pain of death, the imagination of the populace gave them all the glories of the houris of r::z lcve adventures of al-mansur. 23

paradise. As they passed, the imams blessed them and prayed to Allah for their welfare, that they might find favor in the eyes of the Master of Life, and that the one selected might be fertile zz the olive tree and the date palm.

The sun was at its height in the heavens when Hammad set forth from his own palace to present himself and his charges to his cousin and sovereign. He had only made sufficient delay at his own house to make his ablutions and to prepare the virgins under his care. These were already under the hands of Zamo and attendants, their charms being enhanced by every art the female slaves of the harem, accustomed to such offices, could give them.

The reception of the young traveler by his sovereign was in the presence of the great officers of the State, the members of the Ulama, the princes and emirs ; the Caliph embracing his cousin warmly and not even permitting him to throw himself before his feet.

Public salutations having been made, AI- Mansur immediately granted private audience to Hammad and the two conversed as friends, net as sovereign and subject ; for the young men had been brought up together and Al-Mansur knew that he had no more faithful and devoted follower than his cousin, who had traveled over the world to bring unto him, if possible, a bride that would rouse the slumbering passion in his soul.

" You have journeyed far," said the Caliph.

"To the utmost ends of the earth," answered his cousin, " Even to the circumambient ocean that surrounds the seven worlds ; for I have looked over its waters from the high rocks called by unbelievers the Pillars of Hercules."

" And all to give me pleasure," murmured Al-Mansur.

" And love," suggested Hammad ; though as he said this a curious look of anxiety came upon the young man's face.

But at this moment Zamo, receiving signal to enter, prostrated himself before the Caliph and announced : " Master of life, the beauties of the world await the coming of their lord. Never has thy slave seen such transcendent peacocks before."

"Even you, Zamo, admire them?" laughed Al- Mansur.

At this the eunuch smacked his thick lips and uttered guttural sounds expressive of admiration beyond the power of words. As he heard this, the look of concern left the face of the young traveler, his eye grew brighter and he joined the Caliph in his laugh.