Faqir

“ Meanwhile the princess Imani and the old fakir were much troubled because, although they waved the magic fan again and again, no Subbar Khan appeared, and they feared that he had tired of them, or that some evil fate had overtaken him. At last the princess was in such a miserable state of doubt and uncertainty that she determined to go herself to the kingdom of Dûr and see what was the matter. Disguising herself in man’s clothes as a young fakir, she set out upon her journey alone and on foot, as a fakir should travel. ”

“ The word “Fakir” (pronounced Fa-keer, with the a broad) is an Arabic term signifying “poor,” or a “poor man,” because they profess to have taken the vow of poverty, and, in theory, hold themselves above the necessity of home, property, or money, realizing their living as a religious right from the people wherever they come.
Some wander from place to place, some go on pilgrimages, and others locate themselves under a great banyan tree, or in the depths of a forest in some ruinous shrine or tomb, or on the bank of a river, and there receive the homage and offerings of their votaries. ”

“ At last a Fakir came along, and he said to the King, "Man, why are you lying here?"
He replied, "Fakir, a thousand men have come and passed by; you pass on too."
But the Fakir said, "Who are you, man?"
The King replied, "I am a King, Fakir. Of goods and gold I have no lack, but I have lived long and have no children. So I have come here, and have laid me down at the cross-roads. My sins and offences have been very many, so I have come and am lying here that men may pass over me, and perchance my sins may be forgiven me, and God may be merciful, and I may have a son." ”

“ While he stood there the old Fakir opened his eyes, and saw him.
“Son, you have looked after me while I was asleep; who are you and where are you going?”
“I am going to seek my fortune, for I am a poor man.”
“Go no further, but return the same way that you have come,” said the old Fakir.
“Before I go, will you tell me, O holy Fakir, why a certain Rajah’s house is always falling down, though he is constantly rebuilding it.” [99]
“The Rajah has a daughter who is grown up but unmarried; when she is married the trouble will cease.” ”

“ Then the King's son, lifting the Fakir, gave him a jerk and threw him into the caldron, and he was burnt, and became roast meat. He then saw a key of the Fakir's lying there; he took this key and opened the door of the Fakir's house. Now many men were locked up in this house; two horses were standing there in a hut of the Fakir's; two greyhounds were tied up there; two simurgs were imprisoned, and two tigers also stood there. So the King's son let all the creatures go, and took them out of the house, and they all returned thanks to God. Next he let out all the men who were in prison. ”

“ On her way she met the same old Fakir, who accosted her, and asked her whither she was going.
He was much grieved when she told him her story, and said: “Brave men have lost their lives, and you, a woman, without half their strength, are going. I pray you be advised and return.”
“No, no,” she returned; “if men have lost their courage, I, a woman, shall not lose mine. I am very brave, and I mean to go.”
So the Fakir bade her God-speed very sadly, and gave her the same parting gift as he had given her brothers, directing her what to do with it. ”

“ The Beluchi repeated the question in the guttural tongue that apparently the fakir best understood. In the fitful light cast by the burning roofs, it was evident that the fakir had been touched in the one weak spot of his armor.
There can scarcely be more than one reason why a man should torture himself and starve himself and maim and desecrate and horribly defile himself. At first sight, the reason sounds improbable, but consideration will confirm it. It is vanity, of an iron-bound kind, that makes the wandering fakir.
“Ask him again!” said Brown. ”

“ He even shows the street men how to gesticulate, and how to make faces—a startling face sometimes goes a long distance in getting trade for a street man. He invents traits of character, curiosities of dress—not too pronounced; he is the best imitation of a lame man of them all.
A good puzzle which takes plenty of action to solve is the fakir's pet, for the fakir is an actor, as has been seen, and puzzles of that kind sell well. ”

“ On the third day, however, he could bear the uncertainty no longer, and tearing off her jewels saw, not the face of his own little wife, but another woman. Then he was very angry and turned her out of doors, saying: "Begone! since you are but the wretched tool of others, I spare your life." But of the Fakir's wife he said to his guards: "Fetch that woman here instantly, for unless she can tell me where my wife is, I will have her hanged." It chanced, however, that the Fakir's wife had heard of the Muchie Rajah having turned her daughter out of doors ”

“ Then he went on quietly counting his beads while the dragons searched everywhere; [230] but at last, wearied out and finding nothing, they went away, feeling very angry at the loss of their fairy.
As soon as they had gone, the Fakir caused the Prince to resume his original form, and, handing him the pomegranate, said: “Go back to your Palace; and when you have got there, break the pomegranate, and out of it will step the most beautiful woman you have ever seen; take her to be your wife, and may luck go with you.” ”

“ Whenever they passed an embedded fakir, they obtained an incantation from his lips, but still Baal-Zeboub failed. Thereupon, the native Grand Master suggested that the evocation should be performed by the holiest of all fakirs, who was produced from a cupboard more fetid than the temple itself, and proved to be in the following condition:— (a) face eaten by rats; (b) one bleeding eye hanging down by his mouth; (c) legs covered with gangrene, ulcers, and rottenness; (d) expression peaceful and happy. ”

“ Some time passed, and one day the Fakir appeared, and said, "King! bring me that son of yours!"
What did the King do but bring two slave-girls' sons and present them to the Fakir. While the Fakir was sitting there the King's sons were sitting down below in their cellar eating their food. Just then a hungry ant had carried away a grain of rice from their food, and was going along with it to her children. Another stronger ant came up and attacked her in order to get this grain of rice. The first ant said, "O ant, why do you drag this away from me? ”

“ He sells a dozen gross of little iron dogs today, and tomorrow takes out a supply of rubber faces and balloon squeaks; seldom more than one kind of notion, almost never more than two, at a time. The boss fakir—the feeler of public opinion—sends out twenty five men today and one hundred and fifty tomorrow for no apparent reason. If it is a Dewey parade, or the day before Christmas, he sends out five hundred or a thousand, because there is reason in that. He supplies his men with toys—sometimes every one gets the same kind—and tells them what catch phrases shall be uttered that day. ”

“ In a measure they were right, for the Mahomedan Fakir when he witnessed his ascent, was at his wits’ end to know how to prevail against such a rival. Collecting, however, a few of his own followers around him, he drew out his “Qoran” from its case. Then opening it with great caution and solemnity, he took off the shoe from his right foot, and threw it into the air with all his might. To the bewilderment of all, the shoe did not return, but seemed to go also into the skies whither the Hindu Fakir had gone. The Hindus then raised a cry: “What is a shoe compared to a man! ”

“ As it happened, the Fakeer's second wife hated her little step-daughter, always gave her the hardest work to do, and the least food to eat, and tried by every means in her power to get her out of the way, in order that the child might not rival her own daughter. When she heard of the errand on which the messengers had come, she sent for them when the Fakeer was out, and said to them, 'Give me the bag of gold mohurs and you shall take my little daughter to marry the Muchie-Rajah' (for, she thought to herself, 'The great fish will certainly eat the girl, and she will thus trouble us no more') . ”

“ How should a poor wretch clad in loathsome rags dare to appear before Him who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity; how should he venture into the presence of the terrible King! Fagir felt as if he would rather call on the rocks and the mountains to hide him; and, in his agony, he cried out so loudly, “God be merciful to me, a sinner!” that he awoke from his dream. And, behold, he was reclining on cushions, with his hookah beside him, the punkah swinging to and fro, and Kasiti, with her Bible still on her knees, sitting at his feet. ”

“ And said the Fakir, "O my daughter, in very truth these matters are exceeding rare and admirable: right fit are they for fair ones like thyself to win and take back with thee, but thou hast little inkling of the dangers manifold and dire that encompass them. Better far were it for thee to cast away this vain thought and go back by the road thou camest." Replied the Princess, "O holy father and far-famed anchorite, I come from a distant land whereto I will nevermore return, except after winning my wish ”

“ Queer creatures with wabbling heads, toys with clockwork interiors, and Santa Clauses in all shapes and sizes are among the most attractive things. There are fads at that time, but they do not come to any such proportions as those of summer, which is proverbially the silly season. So the fakir has to come as near as he can to the trade which goes on in the stores. He would rather have the summer trade; dealing with sad eyed women, counting pennies, has its effect on him as it would have on any one else. ”

“ The usurers of Syria are as adroit and callous as those of all other countries, and possess no doubt all those repulsive qualities which are the consequence of an habitual control over every generous emotion. But, instead of viewing them with feelings of vengeance or abhorrence, Fakredeen studied them unceasingly with a fine and profound investigation, and found in their society a deep psychological interest. His own rapacious soul delighted to struggle with their rapine, and it charmed him to baffle with his artifice their fraudulent dexterity. ”

“ The Fākir seated on the ghāt is one in the highest stage of exaltation, in which clothing is almost dispensed with, and his only garment is a chatr, an umbrella made of basket work: his long hair and his beard, matted with cow-dung and ashes, hang in stiff straight locks to his waist, his body is smeared with ashes; he always remains on the same spot, and when suffering from illness, a bit of tattered blanket is thrown over him. Passers by throw cowries and grains of boiled rice at his feet, he remains speechless, disregards all visible objects, asks for nothing, but subsists on alms. ”

“ After feeding their horses and refreshing themselves with a little food the travellers were about to take their leave of the old Fakir, and trust themselves again to their wanderings, when the Fakir said “No! you must not go without protection.” So saying, he gave another whistle, and more “Lungoors” came, and detaching about twenty of them he told them to go before the travellers and to put them on the high road leading to the King’s country, and then slightly raising his voice he said, “And mind you do not go beyond your boundary.” ”

“ In the character of a Fakir he might beg with impunity, revile and anathematise with a vociferation that inspired terror, or he might remain obstinately silent, according to the pretended humour or real emergency of the moment. ”

“ When, years after, the wicked queens find out that the children are still alive and dwelling in a miraculous palace, the gift of the friendly fakir, they send to persuade the maiden (it is always the woman) to ask for a nightingale that dwelt in a certain jungle, could sing a thousand notes, and could talk like a man. The fakir warns the elder brother not to {100} answer when the bird cries out to him, else he will be turned into stone. ”

“ Presently the holy man turned to the merchant and seeing him changed of colour and conduct asked him, "What is with thee to do, and what ill hast thou to rue that thy case and complexion are so changed to view?" "O Fakir," answered the other, "verily a matter of marvel hath betided me and I know not how to act therein." Quoth the ghostly man, "And what may that be?" whereupon the Merchant related to him all his affair first and last, and how he had heard a Voice saying to him, "In very deed thy daughter shall conceive after unlawful fashion by the King's son of Al-Irak." ”

“ EXPLANATORY NOTES. “Fakir.”—Much has been previously said under this 72heading, but it is well to give here a few of the sayings of the noted Fakir known by the name generally of “Baba Farīd,” whose shrine is still to be seen in the town of “Pak Pattan” in the Montgomery district, not far from Mūltān. He was one of the “Chisti class” and a Shiah, belonging to a tribe of Arab descent. The Shiahs differ from the Sunnis in the belief that Ali ought to have succeeded the Prophet, instead of Abubakr, Omar, and Osman. ”

“ Suddenly Fagir perceived this, and started up from his knees.
“Can I sin even in the act of prayer?” Fagir exclaimed in dismay.
Then for an instant appeared on the border of the robe the words uttered by the Almighty Himself, amidst thunder and lightning, on Sinai,—Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain (Ex. xx. 7) .
“I will think no more on this robe,” said Fagir, with bitterness; “if my thoughts be tainted with imperfection, my acts at least are blameless. It is enough if a man live righteously ”