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of the Faithful, in my house and whereof thou misdoubtest is of her marriage-equipage.
After this, she said to me, one day, “Know that El Mutawekkil is a generous man and I fear lest he bethink him of us, or that some one of the envious remind him of us; wherefore I have it in mind to do somewhat that may ensure us against this.” “And what is that?” asked I. Quoth she, “I mean to ask his leave to go the pilgrimage and renounce[1] singing.” “This is well thought,” answered I; but, as we were talking, in came a messenger from the Khalif to seek her, for that El Mutawekkil loved her singing. So she went with the officer and did her service to the Khalif, who said to her, “Sever not thyself from us.”[2] And she answered, “I hear and obey.”
One day, after this, she went to him, he having sent for her, according to his wont; but, before I knew, she came back, with her clothes torn and her eyes full of tears. At this I was alarmed, misdoubting me that he had commanded to seize upon us, and said, “We are God’s and to Him we return! Is El Mutawekkil wroth with us?” “Where is El Mutawekkil?” answered she. “Verily, El Mutawekkil’s rule is ended and his trace is blotted out!” Quoth I, “Tell me what hath happened.” And she said, “He was seated behind the curtain, drinking, with El Feth ben Khacan[3] and Sedekeh ben Sedekeh, when his son El Muntesir fell upon him, with a company of the Turks,[4] and slew him; and mirth was turned to misery
- ↑ Lit. repent of. The practice of music, vocal and instrumental, is deprecated by the strict Muslim, in accordance with a tradition in which the Prophet is said to have expressed disapproval of these arts.
- ↑ i.e. do not absent thyself from us. The Arabic idiom is almost exactly equivalent to our colloquial phrase, “to cut any one.”
- ↑ See note, Vol. IV. p. 289.
- ↑ i.e. of the Turkish body-guard, first enrolled by El Mutesim, El Mutawekkil’s father and predecessor, a corps of mercenaries to whose disorderly and overbearing behaviour may be attributed a great part of the troubles and dissensions which led to the ultimate fall of the Khalifate.
