The Adventures of Amir Hamza Read online

  Emperor Shahpal greatly rejoiced and told Abdur Rahman, “See if that boy has been born yet.” Vizier Abdur Rahman cast the dice and said, “Today is the sixth day since his birth and this day his father has sent his cradle to the roof of his house.” The emperor ordered four perizads to bring the cradle to him.

  When the perizads brought Hamza’s cradle before him, all those present were amazed and spellbound as they gazed upon Hamza’s beauty. The emperor lifted Hamza from his cradle, kissed his forehead, and had his eyes lined with the collyrium of Suleiman.20 Then he had Hamza nursed by devs, peris, jinns, ghols, lions, and panthers for seven days.

  Khvaja Abdur Rahman then said, “My knowledge of ramal tells me that Aasman Peri shall be betrothed to this boy, and the ties of man and wife shall be established between the son of Aadam and the daughter of Jan.” The emperor rejoiced at the news, and sent for a cradle from his palace encrusted with various costly jewels. He placed Hamza in it and hung the cradle with several lustrous carbuncles,21 woven into red and green silk, and lined it with all sorts of rare and expensive jewels. Then he ordered the perizads who had brought him to conduct him back safely, upon which the perizads took Hamza’s cradle back to Khvaja Abdul Muttalib’s roof.

  OF BUZURJMEHR’S RETURN TO CTESIPHON, AND THE NEWS OF BAHRAM GURD’S INSURRECTION IN CHINA

  The swift-paced traveler of the quill hastens through its journey along the stretches of the ream, and thus diligently passes the landmarks of this new history with its digressions, revealing that a week later Buzurjmehr sent word to Khvaja Abdul Muttalib to inquire if Hamza’s cradle had returned from Mount Qaf, and whether or not he had been reunited with his lost Yusuf.22 Khvaja Abdul Muttalib sent a man to the roof to verify, who was startled upon setting eyes on the cradle. Khvaja Abdul Muttalib was informed that Hamza had brought back a cradle the likes of which even the eyes of Heaven had not seen.

  A joyous Khvaja Abdul Muttalib immediately sent for Buzurjmehr, who arrived directly upon receiving the news to procure bliss for his eyes by gazing upon Hamza.

  Then Buzurjmehr said to Abdul Muttalib, “I shall beg your leave now! Pray do not be neglectful in raising Hamza, Muqbil, and Amar. Proclaim Hamza the protégé of the Emperor of the Seven Climes, and have this fact announced in all regions to all men.”

  Khvaja Abdul Muttalib acquiesced to these requests and wrote out a note of gratitude to Naushervan.

  Buzurjmehr then returned to Ctesiphon with Khvaja Abdul Muttalib’s letter. Immensely pleased to read the letter, the emperor invested Buzurjmehr with a robe of honor.

  One day, many months later, Naushervan was seated on his throne when the report of the gazetteer from China came to be read out. It brought intelligence that Bahram Gurd, the son of the grand emperor, had been enthroned as the emperor of China and had become the master of crown and power. Besides the whole empire of China, several cities had also fallen to his sword. He was loath to submit his due part of the four years’ tribute and averse to remitting land taxes to the emperor’s auspicious coffers. As his force and might had made him arrogant, he brazenly averred that the Emperor of the Seven Climes would do well to forget about his unpaid debts, but pay him some tribute instead, or else he would devastate and plunder Ctesiphon.

  Naushervan became greatly alarmed upon hearing this news, and said to Buzurjmehr, “What do you advise we do regarding this menace?” Buzurjmehr replied, “As Bahram Gurd has yet to consolidate his power and resources, I would suggest that you detail some fierce and seasoned warrior to apprehend and bring Bahram Gurd before Your Highness alive or dead.” Naushervan said, “I authorize you to appoint whomever you find worthy of leading this campaign and crushing this recreant!”

  Buzurjmehr chose Gustham bin Ashk Zarrin Kafsh Sasani for the task. He was sent at the head of twelve thousand troops for the correction and chastisement of Bahram Gurd.

  OF AMAR STEALING THE RUBY, AND THE THREE BOYS BEING SENT TO THE ACADEMY

  Children on their reed horses gallop about the pages inscribing with ink drops the delightful episodes of Hamza and Amar’s time at the academy. It was Aadiya Bano’s custom to nurse Hamza on one breast alone and have Muqbil and Amar share the other one. But with every passing day Hamza grew thinner and Amar fatter.

  One night Aadiya Bano started in her sleep and woke up to find Amar sucking the milk from both her breasts with great abandon, having pushed both Hamza and Muqbil from the bed. In the morning she recounted the episode to everyone and said, “This boy will grow up to become an infamous and notorious thief, that such are his deeds at birth!”

  After some time when Amar began to crawl on his hands and knees, he made it a custom to go crawling into the vestibules at night after everyone had gone to bed. Slipping away with women’s rings and bracelets, he stowed them away in Aadiya Bano’s betel box or under her pillow, and quietly went to sleep. In the morning, when people searched for the lost objects, they were recovered from Aadiya Bano’s betel box or found under her pillow. Aadiya would be most puzzled and embarrassed, but could offer neither any explanation nor voice a suspicion.

  One day, Amar stole a carbuncle from Hamza’s cradle and put it into his mouth. Khvaja Abdul Muttalib was informed that there was one ruby less in the cradle. By chance Khvaja Abdul Muttalib caught a glance of Amar’s face, and noticed that one of his cheeks was swollen. When he pressed Amar’s cheeks, the carbuncle fell out of his mouth. Khvaja Abdul Muttalib exclaimed, “Heaven’s mercy! If such are his deeds in infancy, what will he grow up to be? There will be no outrage that he will not commit!”

  When Hamza, Muqbil, and Amar were five years of age, Khvaja Abdul Muttalib sent them to study with a mulla. Hamza and Muqbil read as the mulla instructed them, but Amar expressed great wonderment and perplexity, and his mischievous nature found play. However much the mulla admonished him, Amar paid him no heed. Sometimes Amar would say to Hamza, “You are free to waste your time with the mulla and continue with your lessons. But I shall have nothing further to do with it.”

  One evening the mulla called on Khvaja Abdul Muttalib, and after bitterly complaining about Amar, spake thus: “He neither studies nor lets Hamza or anybody else learn anything! If you wish me to continue teaching Hamza, you should give Amar into someone else’s care.” Khvaja Abdul Muttalib resolved to send Amar elsewhere, but Hamza would not hear of it. Khvaja Abdul Muttalib found himself helpless, and desisted from separating the boys.

  It was the custom that the parents of these young scholars sent food for them to the academy. One day, the food had arrived from the homes. Except for Amar, who was wide awake, everyone had fallen asleep, including the mulla. Amar bolted down everything he could eat, and hid away the rest under the mulla’s gear. When everyone woke up and looked for food, it was nowhere to be found. The mulla said, “Who else could be behind this except Amar?” Amar replied, “O Master, first conduct a thorough investigation into the matter. The guilty party is the one from whose possession the food is recovered.” The mulla said, “Why don’t you search for the thief yourself?”

  Amar first frisked all the boys most thoroughly. Then he looked this way and that, and began searching under the mulla’s mattresses and pillows. Then everyone saw the food hidden inside, whereupon Amar immediately raised a great hue and cry.

  Abashed and embarrassed, the mulla gave Amar a few tight slaps, and when that failed to silence him, dealt him the whip. But Hamza intervened and did not let the mulla have his way with Amar.

  The next day, when the mulla and the boys went to sleep in the afternoon, Amar took the mulla’s turban to the sweetmeat vendor. He pawned it for five rupees’ worth of sweets and stored them in the academy, then curled up in a corner to sleep. When the mulla woke up and saw such a huge amount of sweets, he rejoiced in his heart, but also feared lest it should turn out to be one of Amar’s pranks. He inquired of every single boy the occasion for those sweets, and who had brought them, but all of them expressed ignorance as none of them knew the truth.

  When the mulla
woke up Amar and asked him, Amar replied, “Father brought these sweets as an offering he had pledged. He left instructions with me to have you say the fateha23 on the sweets when you wake up, and to distribute them.” In the end the mulla said the benediction, and gleaning the choice morsels from the top of the bowl partook of them himself. Amar distributed the rest among the boys and also ate some himself.

  Now, Amar had laced the inviting peras24 the mulla ate with croton oil, and presently the teacher began experiencing cramps and tenesmus. His stomach began to churn and his bowels to grumble. Stricken with a severe case of diarrhea, he rushed to the toilet every few moments. Soon he was unable even to bear himself to the toilet, and his hands began to shiver and tremble. He groaned, “O Amar! What was in those sweets that has brought me to this?”

  Amar replied, “You are so fluent in the primer of insinuation that it has become a refrain in your speech. All of us here had the sweets, and we did not suffer the least belch or burp. How are we to blame if you have come to this end from eating them? There is always the possibility, as the saying goes, that some consume the eggplant and some are by the eggplant consumed.”

  Hamza discovered Amar’s hand in this and sent for buttermilk for the mulla, and having it administered to him, said, “It must be the sugar’s warmth that caused your body to become heated.” The mulla barely escaped with his life.

  Some hours then remaining until the close of the day, the mulla sent the boys home. After everyone had left, the mulla also prepared to leave, but he could not find his turban. Giving it up for lost, the mulla wrapped his cummerbund around his head and set out for home. When he approached the sweetmeat shop, the vendor came running out with the mulla’s turban and said, “You did not have to insult me by pawning your turban if you wanted to buy sweets from my shop! Consider it your own shop and settle the account whenever you are paid.”

  The mulla made up a reply, and was obliged to pay him five rupees from his own pocket to ransom his turban. He said in his heart, Those were the same sweets that Amar made me say the fateha on! Very well! Let the night pass! Come morning, it will be Amar and myself, and his back and the whip in my hand!

  Now hear of the next morning when Amar arrived before anybody else had entered the academy. He spread out and tidied up the mulla’s mattress. Then he opened up the primer and began reading it with great engrossment. When the mulla arrived and saw Amar in the academy, he said in his heart, My terror has plainly overwhelmed him. That is the reason why he arrived before everybody else today. Rather than chastise him, today I must seize the opportunity to show him some indulgence!

  After setting them the lesson for the day, the mulla said to the boys, “I am going to the baths and shall be back presently. Read and learn your lesson while I am away!” The mulla then set out for the baths, having already prepared his hair dye and sent it ahead of him with Amar. On the way Amar found time to mix a tola25 of very fine ground ratsbane into the dye. In the baths, after he had applied the dye, the mulla rinsed it with warm water, and his beard and whiskers were washed away, too, along with the dye.

  Come night, he presented himself before Khvaja Abdul Muttalib clad in a burqa26 and said to him in a voice choked with tears, “This is what I have been brought to in my old age, at the hands of Amar. Now I cannot show my face for the shame, and while I am in this state, I must remain hidden from my friends and acquaintances!” The mulla also narrated the episode of the turban and sweetmeats.

  Khvaja Abdul Muttalib sent him away after comforting and consoling him, and then he punished Amar and banished him from the house. He then said to Hamza, “I shall be angry with you if I ever hear you mention Amar’s name again.” But Hamza could not think of parting with Amar and he went without food and drink for two days. When Khvaja Abdul Muttalib learned of this, he found he had no choice but to send for Amar, forgive his conduct, and reunite him with Hamza. Khvaja also wrote a note to the mulla, interceding on Amar’s behalf. The mulla forgave Amar, and he was allowed into the academy as before.

  One day food was sent to the mulla from a pupil’s house. The mulla said to Amar, “Take it to my house, but see that you do not play any tricks on the way, as there is a chicken inside that will fly away if you open the pot.” Amar replied, “I am not bitten by a mad dog so that I’d do such a thing! I shall hand it to your wife and bring back a receipt.” Speaking thus, Amar set out carrying the tray over his head.

  Approaching the mulla’s house, Amar found a safe spot and put down the tray. Upon opening the pot he found it full of sweet rice. Hungry to begin with, he now sat down with the bowl and ate to his heart’s content. Then throwing the remainder before the dogs, he tore off the tray cover and the wrapping cloth, and went forth and knocked on the mulla’s door, calling for his wife. When she came to the door, Amar handed her the tray, and said, “The mulla has forbidden you from opening it. He has asked you not to cook anything, and to ask your friends in the neighborhood not to cook anything either, as food will be sent to them from your house today!” That poor woman knew nothing of Amar’s treacherous and deceitful ways. She did not cook anything, and kept her two close friends in the neighborhood also from cooking that day.

  It so happened that when the mulla finished at the academy, he decided to stop by a friend’s house to talk and inquire after his welfare. Obtaining his friend’s leave much later, the mulla returned home and said to his wife, “I put you through a lot of trouble today by keeping you waiting for me. Bring whatever you have cooked today!” His wife replied, “How was I supposed to cook anything today, as you forbade me from cooking yourself. Then you returned home so late, and the two women in the neighborhood I had invited because of you, were also kept waiting along with their sons and husbands! However, the food that you sent is here. First send some to our neighbors, and then we can have some ourselves too.”

  The mulla’s heart sank upon hearing this, and he said to himself, God have mercy! There is more to Amar’s prank than meets the eye! And sure enough, upon opening the pot, the mulla found it empty. That night the mulla’s whole family slept on empty stomachs, and when their neighbors heard what had happened, they did likewise.

  After scraping together some breakfast in the morning, the mulla went to the academy and asked Amar, “Whatever became of the food that I had sent home with you yesterday?” Amar replied, “I know nothing about any food, but the chicken you sent flew off on the way, after tearing the tray cover and its cloth.” The mulla then asked, “Why did you forbid my wife from cooking anything, and when did I ask you to invite the neighbors?” Amar replied, “In doing that I was indeed in the wrong!”

  At this, the mulla bound Amar’s hands and feet and punished him severely. But Hamza again interceded, promising that Amar would never again do such a thing or trouble him in any way. But now Amar swore enmity against the poor mulla, and waited for a chance to even scores with him.

  Abu Jahal and Abu Sufyan studied in the same academy. One afternoon, when the boys were asleep, Amar slipped Abu Jahal’s ring from his finger, and sneaking inside the mulla’s house, hid it inside the mulla’s daughter’s betel box. Then he called on the mulla’s daughter, and asked her to give him her earring in the mulla’s name. Returning to the academy, he slipped the earring onto Abu Jahal’s finger, and lay quietly in a corner without stirring.

  When the boys woke up and returned to their studies, the mulla gave a start upon noticing his daughter’s earring on Abu Jahal’s finger. But he did not challenge him outright, but asked him instead, “How did you come upon the earring on your finger?” Greatly startled himself upon noticing it on his finger, Abu Jahal became frightened and replied, “I cannot say who slipped the ring onto my finger!” Thereupon Amar interjected, saying, “Ask me, respected master, for I have become privy to this secret.” The mulla said, “I bid you speak!”

  Upon that Amar said, “In the afternoon when yourself and the boys go to sleep, Abu Jahal visits your house. It was his ill luck that just when he was stealing ou
t today, I woke up and quietly followed him. Upon arriving at your house he shook the door chain and your daughter came running out. They first exchanged kisses, arranged future trysts, and then indulged in loving prattle. When they parted, Abu Jahal gave her his ring and himself took her earring. I returned after witnessing the whole episode and pretended to be asleep.”

  When he heard these words, blood rushed to the mulla’s eyes. He snatched the earring from Abu Jahal and, spreading him on the floor on his face and securing his limbs, gave him such an unmerciful thrashing that Abu Jahal forgot he had ever partaken of any comfort since the day he was born. Fuming, the mulla then went home, and told his daughter to bring out her betel box. When the mulla looked inside, he found Abu Jahal’s ring. Immediately upon discovering the ring, the mulla lay violent hands upon his daughter and, seizing her by her hair, slapped her until the girl cried out in pain and fainted. Her mother came rushing to her rescue, shouting abuses at the mulla at the top of her voice: “What has come over you? What devil has taken possession of you that you are bent upon murdering her?” She then landed a powerful blow to the mulla’s back and the mulla let go of his daughter and turned upon his wife. Soon the mulla was pulling at her plaits and she was hanging from his beard.

  The racket reached even the neighbors, who came running and demanded of the mulla, “Who has instructed you in molesting a woman? Show us the book that commands that a man beat his wife!” In the end the neighbors intervened between the mulla and his wife, after heaping many rebukes on his head.

  The next day being a Friday, the boys had a holiday and they were busy in recreation and play. Amar had an idea, and he went to the haberdasher’s shop and said to him, “Your wife is on her death bed, and I have come to inform you at the pleading of your family!” Immediately upon hearing this, the haberdasher rushed home, crying and lamenting and pulling at his beard.