Story of another fakir – Alif Laila
People were not overcome by the surprise they were born after hearing the wonderful past of the first fakir that Zubeida asked the other fakir to tell who you are and where you have come from. He said that according to your orders, I will tell you who I am, where I have come from and how my eyes opened. I was the son of a great king. Since childhood, I had a keen interest in learning. Therefore, my father called eminent teachers from far and wide for my education. In a short span of time I not only learned to read and write but also memorized the Quran Sharif. Apart from this, the teachings of the prophet i.e. hadith and religion and philosophy were also received. Apart from this, various art-skills were also learned and history, Also became well versed in puzzle and entertainment talks. I also took good practice in poetry and mathematics as was expected of me being a prince. Along with all this, I also acquired proficiency in calligraphy and I got such a practice of the seven writing systems of Arabic script that a calligrapher like me was not found far and wide.
Even after acquiring so many qualities and skills, I could not erase the account of my misfortune and came to this predicament which you are seeing. It so happened that when the fame of my learning and skill of art reached far and wide, the emperor of India expressed a desire to see me. He sent many valuables to a messenger to visit me and sent a message that I should go and meet him. My father was very pleased with this because one was having relations with a great emperor, then as a prince, I should have increased the knowledge of the country and the relations with the kings and emperors.
Therefore, as per my father’s order, I left for India with a little travel material and a few selected servants, because there was neither a need nor a need to bring a large army. After walking for a few days, we were surrounded by about fifty cavalry bandits, and first of all they caught ten horses on which were loaded the valuables to be presented by my father to the emperor of India. My servants fought the bandits for some time but were defeated. Thinking that the bandits would be stunned, I told them that I am the messenger of the emperor of India. He said disgustingly, what do we care about the King of Hindustan; We neither live in the country ruled by him nor are his servants. Then those bandits attacked us. We also fought for some time but what would we face them? Many of my companions were killed and I was injured and my horse too. Immediately I escaped on my horse to save my life and was out of reach of the bandits. After running for some distance, my horse also fell and died due to fatigue and wounds. I thanked God that the goods and furnishings kept going but my life was saved.
But I was utterly lonely and moneyless. There was also a fear that if the bandits saw it, they would not be killed without death. So somehow by tearing the bandage of clothes tied his wounds and went to one side. Reached a mountain cave in the evening and spent the night in the same cave. Woke up in the morning, ate wild fruits and satiated hunger and left. It wandered like this for several days. Then he reached a big city which looked very beautiful. A river also flowed there, due to which the region was green and full of wealth. I went to that city bare and with torn feet, grown hair and beard and dirty torn clothes, to find out what country it is and how far my country is from here.
Thinking of this, I went to a man, who was a government clerk and kept the records of the people coming and going in the city. He asked my account and I told everything that happened to me. He listened patiently to me, but what he said then filled my heart with fear instead of peace. He said that you have told me your whole condition, so it is fine but do not tell anything to anyone else here because the king here is your father’s enemy and if he comes to know about you, then bad will happen to you.
I thanked the old clerk very much for showing mercy to me and warning me of danger. I promised him, now I will not tell my true story to any man here. The clerk was pleased to hear this. I was suffering from hunger, so he brought food from his house and fed me and asked me to lie down in a corner to remove the tiredness. I did exactly this. When the strength and vigor came in my body, I went to him again. He asked that do you have any skill so that you can make your living. When I talked about the proficiency of literature, poetry, art, grammar, calligraphy etc. he said, all this is useless here, there is no question of learning here, you will not get a single penny from this knowledge here.
He said that you are strong in body, you should wear a panty and go to the forest and cut wood and sell it in the city. You will get so much income from it that you can run your expenses without taking shelter of anyone. Spend some days in this way by suffering and working hard. Hope that after this God will bless you and you will get happiness and prosperity again. I will help you enough to give you an ax and a rope.
Would have done anything out of desperation. Although this task was not in any way suitable for me, yet I agreed to do it because there was no other way. The next day the clerk brought me a pantyhose, an ax and a rope and introduced me to a few woodcutters and said to take this man with you to chop wood. I used to go to the forest with the woodcutter and cut the wood into bundles and started selling them in the city. I used to get one gold coin worth a bundle. Although the forest was away from that city, the residents of the city were very lazy and were not used to labor, so the wood was very expensive in the city. Within a few days I had enough gold coins, some of which I gave to my benevolent clerk.
That’s how my one year passed. One day while chopping wood, he went ahead from his normal place. I liked the forest ahead. I cut a tree. When I had cut its stem and stem, I wanted to cut its root too and take it away. While driving the ax, I saw an iron rod. And when he removed the soil, he saw that the hard iron is attached to the door.
When I lifted it up forcefully, I saw the stairs going down. I got down with the rope and axe. Downstairs there was a big house in which the light was falling as if it was built above the earth. I went ahead and saw that there is a baradari in front whose legs are made of Sange-Musa and the pillars are made of pure gold from bottom to top. A very beautiful woman was sitting in Baradari. When I saw him, I was stunned. I approached him and greeted him.
The woman asked me, ‘Who are you, man or jinn?’ I raised my head and said, ‘O beauty, I am a human, not a jinn.’ The woman said in a mournful voice, ‘You are a human, so why have you come here to die; I have been living here for twenty-five years and during this period I have not seen any other human being except you.’ Along with the unique form of that woman, the sweetness of her voice had such an effect on me that for some time nothing came out of my mouth.
After recovering for some time, I said to the woman, ‘Sundari, I do not know anything about you, but by just seeing you, I have got immense happiness and I have forgotten all my pain and suffering. I very much want to get you out of here because it is obvious that you are not happy here.’ And I narrated my whole life story to that woman. After listening to my whole situation, the woman said with a cold sigh, ‘Prince, you are right This house is of magic and there is abundant wealth and all facilities are available, yet I do not like to stay here at all. You must have heard the name of Abu Timur, the king of the islands of Ebony. I am his daughter. My father got me married with his nephew. When I started going to my husband’s house after marriage, I was blown away by an evil genie on the way. I was unconscious for about three o’clock in fear. When I regained consciousness, I found myself in this house. Now I have to sit with only that jinn. All this wealth and pleasures that are seen here do not give me any satisfaction. Every tenth day the genie comes here and spends the night with me. He has already been married to a woman of his own caste and because of the fear of his wife, he cannot stay with me any longer. If I want to call him someday within ten days, he has arranged that too. If I keep this magic here
The woman further said, ‘It has been four days since that genie left here. He will come here again after six days. If you like the amenities and my company, then you can stay here comfortably for five days, I will respect you in every way and bring you happiness.’
I was very happy to hear his words. What objection could I have in living with such a beauty? I accepted this with great pleasure. She took me to a bathroom. I went inside and took a good bath and came out. She brought zari clothes for me to wear. When I put on that royal dress, she became even more kind to me when she saw me. Then in a decorated hallway, he made me sit on the verandah of a golden dream. Then she brought a variety of delicious dishes and we both sat down to have a meal together. Throughout the day we kept talking here and there. After dinner he made me sleep with him. In the morning, she made more delicious dishes and brought bottles of old wine for my special treat. I got intoxicated by drinking a lot of alcohol.
I told her, ‘Dear, you have been locked in this house that should be called a grave for twenty-five years. This is not right. You get out of here with me and eat the fresh air outside. Give up the luxuries of this show because it is nothing more than magic. you come with me.’
The beauty said, ‘Don’t even bring such things to your tongue. I have forgotten what you call the light of the sun. I am used to living here, let me stay here. Except one day when that genie comes here, you can stay here comfortably for the remaining nine days.’
I was intoxicated. I said, ‘Why are you so afraid of that genie? I can even give my life for you. I will equalize this magic machine by sabotaging it with my magic handwriting. Let your genie come. Let me also see how much power there is in him. I have decided that I will put an end to all the jinns in the world and first kill this jinn who has imprisoned you.’
The woman knew very well what the result of my stupidity would be. He explained to me a lot, stopped me in every way, took oath that if we touch the instrument, then both of us will be killed because I know the power of that jinn, you do not know.
I was intoxicated so I ignored his warning and stumbled and broke the magic device. Suddenly the whole house started trembling and there was a terrible sound. All the lights were extinguished and there was darkness in which lightning flashed intermittently. Seeing this condition, my intoxication turned deer. I thought I had actually made a terrible mistake. Now I asked that beauty what to do. She said that I was not afraid of losing my life, I was just as sad. Your life is definitely in danger and I am deeply disturbed by this. You yourself took this calamity for your life. Now save your life by running away from here immediately.
Hearing this, I ran so wildly that I forgot my ax and rope there and while falling, came to the ladder from which I had descended to that house. In the meantime, that genie also came there very angry and roared and started asking the woman why you have called me. She trembled like a leaf in fear and said, I have not called you. I drank a little wine from this bottle. I was so intoxicated that my hands and feet could not be controlled. In a state of intoxication, I put my feet on this device, due to which it broke. Hearing this, the jinn became even more enraged and said, You are a liar, a liar and a misanthrope. Who has brought this ax and rope here? The woman said, I have just seen them. You have come running and running, that is why these things attached to you must have come. You must not have noticed in your haste that you also have an ax and rope.
At this the jinn’s anger increased even more. He slammed the woman on the ground and started beating her mercilessly and also started abusing her. The woman started crying and crying. His cries of sorrow could not be heard from me. But I couldn’t do anything. I took off the clothes given by the woman and put on the same torn clothes of the woodcutter which I had come wearing the previous day. Then I climbed the ladder and came up. I was constantly cursing at myself that because of my stupidity and stubbornness, he was getting such atrocities on the poor woman. After coming out, I again placed an iron door on the face of the ladder and hid it by pouring soil on it.
Then I somehow tied the wood collected from the previous day and came to the city and sold the bundle of wood. Still, I was constantly thinking that I do not know what must be happening to that beautiful woman. When I came to my residence after selling wood, the clerk was very happy to see me. He said that if you did not come yesterday, I was very worried, I thought that it is not so that the emperor here has come to know about your stay here and he has asked you to get betrayed, God’s lakh-lakh Thank you that you went back safely.
I thanked him from my heart for his words but did not tell what happened to me yesterday. I went to my room and then I was engrossed in the same mourning that I had hurt my benevolent woman by my misbehavior and if I had not broken that instrument, then that princess would not have been hurt and I would have lived with great happiness for five days. . I was thinking that the clerk came to me and said that an old man has come with an ax and rope and says that you may have forgotten them in the forest. But he will return these things only when you walk out and tell him their identity.
Hearing this, my face turned pale and I trembled from head to toe in fear. The clerk asked me, what is this happening to you? I could not even answer him yet that the earth in the room was torn apart and the old genie, not seeing my way out, came there with an ax and a rope. He said to me, ‘You know who I am? I am not such a jinn, I am the brother-in-law of Iblis (Satan) himself. You know that the Devil is the ruler of all the jinns and demons. Say, this ax and this rope are yours or not?
I was so frightened seeing him that my speech power was exhausted and I started falling unconscious. The genie did not wait for me to come to my senses. He took me by the waist and flew away and in two moments I carried me to such a high mountain which would take months to climb. Then he stomped on the top of the mountain. This broke the earth. The genie took me down into the pit and, in the blink of an eye, took me to the house where I had spent the previous day with the princess.
It was not enough for my sorrow to see that the princess was still lying on the ground in agony and crying in an impotent state. The genie said, “Look, this clan is fascinated by you.” The woman glanced at me and said that I do not know it at all, I have never seen it before. The genie said, you are a liar who says you have never seen it, because of this man you will die. The woman said that you want to kill him on some pretext or the other, that is why you are telling lies to me.
The genie said that if you are really unfamiliar with it, then pick up the sword and cut off its head. The princess said, where can the sword rise from me, apart from this, how can I take the life of an innocent person. The genie said that even in such a condition you refuse to kill him, this proves your sin. Then the genie asked me whether you know this woman or not. I thought in my heart that the princess is showing so much courage even though she is a woman, what would be more indecent than this if I open the secret of it as a man. That’s why I also said that I have never seen this woman before. The genie said, if you tell the truth, then lift the sword and cut off its head.
I started thinking in my mind that it would be very inappropriate to kill the woman who was in this misery because of me with my own hand. The woman told me with a signal that you do not think, I do not want to save my life, you kill me with your hand, and thus save your life, I will get satisfaction in this. But I couldn’t do that. I retreated two steps and threw the sword from my hand and said to the genie, you have considered me a cowardly man to kill a stranger just because of your words. Then you have caused the same plight to this beauty, what should I raise my hand on this? You have the right to do whatever you want, but this type of work will not be done by me.
The genie said, you both are constantly increasing my anger. You probably don’t know how much power I have.’ Saying this, the tyrant cut off both the hands of the woman. She was already dying, she died immediately after getting hurt. I fainted seeing this. When I got some senses, I told the genie that now you kill me too and calm your anger.
The jinn said, it is our rule that when we find someone guilty of adultery, we kill him. I suspect you of adultery. That’s why I will not kill you, but I will not let you remain human. Now tell me whether you want to become a dog, donkey, pig or whatever animal and bird you want, I will make you the same. When I saw his anger a little less, he said, ‘Lord of the jinns, I pray that you forgive me the way a good man did to his evildoer and let me remain a man.’ The genie said, What is the story of this good man? I started telling.
