El Abbas

“ Then said the king, “Hast thou a need we may accomplish unto thee? For indeed we are exceeding beholden to thee for that which thou didst in the matter of Hudheifeh and his folk.” And he let cast over him a mantle of Egyptian satin, worth an hundred dinars. Moreover, he bade his treasurer give him a thousand dinars and said to him, “O youth, take this in part of that which thou deservest of us; and if thou prolong thy sojourn with us, we will give thee slaves and servants.” El Abbas kissed the earth and said, “O king, may God grant thee abiding prosperity, I deserve not all this.” ”

“ The king gave ear to her counsel and despatching the eunuch for the mamelukes, assigned them a lodging and said to them, “Have patience, till the king give you tidings of your lord El Abbas.” When they heard his words, their eyes ran over with plenteous tears, of their much longing for the sight of their lord. ”

“ Meanwhile, El Abbas betook himself to his father’s camp, which was pitched in the Green Meadow, by the side of the Tigris, and none might make his way between the tents, for the much interlacement of the tent-ropes. When the prince reached the first of the tents, the guards and servants came out to meet him from all sides and escorted him till he drew near the sitting-place of his father, who knew of his coming. So he issued forth of his pavilion and coming to meet his son, kissed him and made much of him. ”

“ When the news reached El Aziz, he rejoiced with an exceeding joy in the coming of his son and straightway took horse, he and all his army, what while the trumpets sounded and the musicians played, that the earth quaked and Baghdad also trembled, and it was a notable day. When Mariyeh beheld all this, she repented with the uttermost of repentance of that which she had wroughten against El Abbas his due and the fires still raged in her vitals. Meanwhile, the troops [58] sallied forth of Baghdad and went out to meet those of El Abbas, who had halted in a meadow called the Green Island. ”

“ Therewithal the King knew that Mariyeh inclined unto El Abbas; so he returned forthright to King El Aziz and said to him, “May God amend the King! Verily, the occasion is accomplished and there is no opposition unto that which thou commandest.” Quoth El Aziz, “By God’s leave are occasions accomplished. How deemest thou, O King, of fetching El Abbas and drawing up the contract of marriage between Mariyeh and him?” And Ins ben Cais answered, saying, “Thine be it to decide.” ”

“ Presently, El Abbas, son of King El Aziz, lord of the land of Yemen and Zebidoun [10] and Mecca (which God increase in honour and brightness and beauty!) , heard of her; and he was of the great ones of Mecca and the Hejaz [11] and was a youth without hair on his cheeks. So he presented himself one day in his father’s sitting-chamber, [12] whereupon the folk made way for him and the king seated him on a chair of red gold, set with pearls and jewels. The prince sat, with his head bowed to the ground, and spoke not to any ”

“ Presently the news reached the king that the young man El Abbas, who had gone forth from him, was come back with herds and rarities and slaves and a mighty host and had taken up his sojourn without the city, whilst his servant Aamir was presently come to Baghdad, so he might make ready dwelling- places for his lord, wherein he should take up his abode. ”

“ Wherefore, O stranger, dare thou not approach me with desire, Lest ruin quick and pitiless thy hardihood requite.
When she had made an end of her verses, she folded the letter and delivered it to the nurse, who took it and carried it to El Abbas. He broke it open and read it and apprehended its purport; then took inkhorn and paper and wrote the following verses:
Indeed, thou’st told the tale of kings and men of might, Each one a lion fierce, impetuous in the fight,
Whose wits (like mine, alack!) thou stalest and whose hearts With shafts from out thine eyes bewitching thou didst smite. ”

“ Yet, if his devil prove too strong for thee, afflict not thyself in thy youth.” [26] Quoth El Abbas, “It is of Allah that help is to be sought,” [27] and taking his arms, fortified his resolution and went down [into the field] , as he were a castle of the castles or a piece of a mountain.
[When] Hudheifeh [saw him] , he cried out to him, saying, “Haste thee not, O youth! Who art thou of the folk?” And he answered, “I am Saad [ibn] el Wakidi, commander of the host of King Ins, and but that thou vauntedst thyself in challenging me, I had not come forth to thee ”

“ He charged upon Aamir, who fled from him, then upon El Abbas, who said, “O Aamir, cleave fast to my horse and guard my back.” Aamir did as he bade him, whereupon El Abbas cried out at the folk and falling upon them, overthrew their braves and slew of them nigh two thousand cavaliers, whilst not one of them knew what was to do nor with whom he fought. Then said one of them to other, “Verily, the king is slain; so with whom do we wage war? ”

“ So the poor man came forward and kissing the earth before the king, said to him, “O king of the age, I am he who painted yonder portrait.” Quoth El Aziz, “And knowest thou who she is?” “Yes,” answered the other; “this is the portrait of Mariyeh, daughter of the king of Baghdad.” The king ordered him a dress of honour and a slave-girl [and he went his way] . Then said El Abbas, “O father mine, give me leave to go to her, so I may look upon her; else shall I depart the world, without fail.” ”

“ Arrived before Abbas, he did not dare lift his eyes, lest he should see the fatal aigrette, and the false diamond rise up in judgment against him. Half dead with fright, he thought he already beheld the fierce rikas advancing with their horrid hatchets.
"Bebut, and you, Ismael-kazi," said Abbas to them, "listen. Since, of the two, it is the jeweller who best administers justice, let the jeweller be a judge, and the judge be a jeweller. Ismael, take Bebut's place in the workshop of his master: may you acquit yourself as well in his office, as he is sure to do in yours." ”

“ Young Abbas fares forth to the Sphinx, to the secular Sphinx, that responds
To none save the fate-ordered questioner. Look at that stony set face,
Which the passing of many an empire, the waning of many a race
Hath seen in its stare o'er the sand-wastes! It Pentaour beheld in its pride;
And now the boy Abbas, in eager-eyed question, creeps close to the side
Of the age-battered Oracle! Hist! All the desert is still as the sky.
Do the voices of forty fled centuries sound on the breeze that breathes by? ”

“ Abbas had given the lead, for his prescience had divined the uselessness of resistance, and he foresaw greater glory as the upholder of Islam, the triumphing cause, than as the vain opposer of what he firmly believed to be an all-conquering power. Abu Sofian took somewhat longer to convince, and never really gave up his dream of resistance until he met Abbas on the fateful night and was shown the vastness of the Medinan army, their good organisation and their boundless enthusiasm. ”

“ Wherefore I am minded to travel to her, for that my heart cleaveth unto her, and I beseech thee suffer me to go to her." "O my son," answered his father, "thou knowest that I have none other than thyself of children and thou art the solace of mine eyes and the fruit of mine entrails; nay, I cannot brook to be parted from thee an instant and I purpose to set thee on the throne of the kingship and marry thee to one of the daughters of the kings, who shall be fairer than she." El Abbas gave ear to his father's word and dared not gainsay him ”

“ Men and frightened women and children peeped at Abbas as he ordered his boat to shore at Masgoon, or as he sat under a palm clump awaiting the people whom he had sent for, and who were not to be found. All Cairo had its eyes on him at another time when, amidst bursts of wild music and the banging of guns, he took charge for a minute or two of the sacred camel which had brought back the Mahhmil from Mecca. Abbas, as he led the camel hither and thither, and then out of the square formed by the troops, was regarded, as by this act too probably indicated, as a future ruler of the country. ”

“ Who dares with them to cope draws death upon himself; Yea, of the deadly lance incontinent he’s slain.
Come, then, companions mine, rejoice with me and say, “All hail to thee, O friend, and welcome fair and fain!”
For whoso doth rejoice in meeting him shall have Largesse and gifts galore at his dismounting gain.
When the troops entered Baghdad, each of them alighted in his pavilion, whilst El Abbas encamped apart in a place near the Tigris and commanded to slaughter for the troops, each day, that which should suffice them of oxen and sheep and bake them bread and spread the tables. ”

“ A slave was ordered to murder the prince. He refused to obey, and presented his own head. "Have I, then, none but ingrates and traitors about me, to eat my bread and salt?" cried Abbas,—"I swear by my sabre and by the Koran, that, to him who will remove Safi Mirza, my generosity and gratitude shall he boundless." Bebut the Ambitious advanced, and said,—"It is written, that what the king wills cannot be wrong. To me thy will is sacred—it shall be obeyed." He went immediately to seek the prince. ”

“ In 1848, this great satrap, then verging on his eightieth year, was attacked by a mental malady, induced, as it was said, by a potion administered in mistaken kindness by one of his own daughters, and the government was taken over by his adopted son, Ibrahim Pasha, the hero of Koniah and Nezib. He lingered till August 1849, but Ibrahim had already pre-deceased him; and Abbas, a son of the latter, succeeded to the viceregal throne. Though born and bred in Egypt, Abbas was a Turk of the worst type--ignorant, cowardly, sensual, fanatic, and opposed to reforms of every sort. ”

“ All my people perished; and the same fate was on the point of being inflicted on me, when making myself known to the robbers, "Stay, rash men," I exclaimed, "respect the blood of kings. I am prince Al Abbas, only son of Ben-Ortoc, king of Moussul, and heir to his throne." "I am glad to learn who thou art," replied the chief of the Bedouins. "We have hated thy father mortally these many years; he has hanged several of our comrades who fell into his hands; thou shalt be treated after the same manner." ”

“ The implicit confidence of Sir Anthony Shirley excited in him emotions of another kind; and hoping one day to give him gratifying proofs of gratitude from the throne of Portugal, he consoled himself for present inability by this remote prospect.
Prince Abbas, without betraying the slightest suspicion, acted like a man of sound judgment: he surrounded the stranger by such officers as he himself relied on the most; he took every precaution against treachery, while at the same time he left open to him the path of honourable action. ”

“ Moreover, he assembled all his retainers and let bring sweetmeats and dessert and all that beseemeth unto kings' tables. Then he adorned his palace and despatched after El Abbas a man of the chief officers of his household, who found him coming forth of the bath, clad in a doublet of fine goats' hair and over it a Baghdadi scarf; his waist was girt with a Rustec [FN#81] kerchief and on his head he wore a light turban of Damietta make. ”

“ Then will I go hence to Yemen, if it be the will of God the Most High.”
So saying, he took leave of the woman and her husband and set out, intending for Akil, his father’s brother’s son. Now there was between Baghdad and Akil’s abiding-place forty days’ journey; so El Abbas settled himself on the back of his courser and his servant Aamir mounted also and they fared forth on their way. Presently, El Abbas turned right and left and recited the following verses:
I am the champion-slayer, the warrior without peer ”

“ Those Voices are hard to interpret, that Sphinx is not easy to move.
It would speak with the music of Memnon, in Abbas's ears, did it say
The Frank shall return whence he came, and the Briton betake him away.
Yet Ismail the shrewd, the unscrupulous, knew what young Abbas must learn,
That a Government strong to subsist, which no blast of intrigue can o'erturn,
Is not shapen of shifting Nile sands, broken reeds, which, like Egypt of old,
But pierce through the hand that shall rest on them. ”

“ As for Saad, he foregathered with the prince, and they fared on in company till they came to the place where El Abbas had taken horse, whereupon the latter dismounted from his charger and Saad said to him, “O youth, wherefore alightest thou in other than thy place? ”

“ Abbas nodded complacently.
"Am I not Abbas Abad, who once made a fortune out of nothing in Khokand and Baku? Nay, my own men will guide us."
"How many? Are they well armed?"
"Is a beetle ever without his shell? Eh? They are as many as the fingers of two hands, less one—Sarts, godless thieves—one or two Tartars, dogs without wit but hardy—a cousin of mine who would, rip up his grandfather for a silver ring. These will suffice until we reach Kashgar."
"And this Bokharan advanced funds?" Monsey nodded toward the curtain behind which their host had disappeared. ”