47-3 - Niyaamaa Bin Al-Rabiyaa and Naaomee (3 of 3) :
Niyaamaa Meets Naaomee

According to the arrangements set before, the woman came to Niyaamaa and took him to the palace - she in the front and Niyaamaa behind her in the guise of a woman. When the Caliph's servant tried to stop them, the woman said - "She is the handmaid of Naaomee, the Caliph's favorite." The servant allowed them to enter. They did not stop until they reached the inner apartments where Naaomee was. Then she asked Niyaamaa to gather courage and enter the Naaomee's chamber. She strictly instructed him not to speak with anybody, nor to stop anywhere. She went with him up to the door, the guard standing there asked her - "What kind of girl is this?" "Our mistress wants to buy her." "But nobody can enter without the Caliph's order, so you go back to him to bring his orders, I cannot let you pass here."

She said - "O Servant, Use your brain, you know Naaomee, she has now restored her health, and the Caliph is so happy about her. Now she wants to buy this slave-girl, so don't stop her to go in, lest she knows about it, gets angry and suffers a relapse. Because this may cause your head to be cut off." Then she said to Niyaamaa - "Enter O Slave-girl, Don't pay attention to him and do not tell the queen also that her guard tried to stop you to enter."

Niyaamaa bowed his head and entered the chamber. He should have turned towards his left but he mistook the direction and he turned to his right. He counted five doors and entered the sixth one. He found himself in a room richly decorated with brocade and costly carpets. There was a couch kept on one side of the room, he went in and seated himself there. As he was sitting, the Caliph's sister followed by her hand-maid came in and took him as a slave-girl, she asked him - "Who are you and why have you come here?" He did not speak a word. She spoke again - "If you are one of my brother's concubines and if he is angry with you, I will get you his grace. Still he didn't answer anything. So she asked her slave-girl to stand at the door and not to allow enter anybody there.

Then she went to Niyaamaa and was amazed to look at his beauty and asked him - "Tell me, who are you and what is your name, and how have you come here, for I have never seen you in our palace. Still he did not answer. At this she got angry. She put her hands on his bosom but found no breasts. At this he said - "I am your slave, please protect me." She said - "No harm will come to you, but tell me who are you and who has brought you in my chamber?" He said - "My name is Niyaamaa Bin Al-Rabiyaa of Koofaa and I have put my life on stake for my slave-girl Naaomee, whom Al-Hajaj has brought here." The Caliph's sister said - "Fear not, No harm will come to you." Then she sent her slave-girl to Naaomee's chamber to tell her that her husband had come to see her.

Meanwhile, the old woman went to Naaomee's chamber and asked her if her husband came there and she said "No. Maybe he has entered some other chamber and is lost." Naaomee started weeping. The then the Princess' handmaid came there and said to her - "My lady is calling you to her banquet." Naaomee got up and walked behind her, the old woman also followed her and said to her - "Maybe that your husband is with the Princess and the secret is open." Naaomee went to the Princess, who said to her - "Here is your husband sitting with me, it seems that he has mistaken the place. But neither you nor he has to fear for anything."

Naaomee went to Niyaamaa to meet him and both fainted. When they came into senses, the Princess said to them - "Sit down and we tell you how to get out of this place to yours." The Princess said - "By Allaah, No harm may fall upon you from us, trust me." Then she asked her handmaids to bring food for them. They soon brought the food and all of them ate to their satisfaction. Niyaamaa asked - "Where it would end?" The Princess asked Niyaamaa - "Do you love Naaomee?" "I have come here because of her only." Then she asked Naaomee - "Do you love Niyaamaa?" "It was his love only which made me sick for all these days."

Then Naaomee asked for a lute (a musical instrument) and played it so lively that it enchanted the hearers. She played it so long that the Caliph also came there hearing it. Everybody got up and kissed the ground. As he saw Naaomee playing the lute, he exclaimed - "Praised be Allaah, Who has cured you?" Then he looked at Niyaamaa who was still in disguise of the slave-girl. So he asked his sister - "Who is this?" She replied - "You have a handmaid, one of your concubines and a good friend of Naaomee who does not eat or drink without her." He said "By Allah, She is as handsome as Naaomee. Tomorrow I will give her another chamber, furniture and clothes etc in honor of Naaomee. Then the Princess offered him food and he ate it in their company. After that they cheered and laughed till mid-night.

Then the Princess said - "Listen now to a story which I read in a book. There lived a handsome Prince in the city of Koofaa, named Niyaamaa, son of Al-Rabiyaa. He had a slave-girl named Naaomee whom he loved very much. They had been brought up in one bed. When they grew up, the Time separated them. She was kidnapped and sold to one of the kings for 10,000 Deenaar. Now the girl loved her lord as much as her lord loved her. So he left his house and set out to search for her. When he found her, he could reach her, and her name was Naaomee, like this slave-girl. But their meeting period was short that the King, who brought her from her kidnapper, came in and hastily ordered them to be slain without doing justice to them. Now what do you say, O King, of this King's wrong conduct?"

The Caliph said - "This was indeed a strange thing. The King should have pardoned them although he had the power to punish them. Besides he should extend three favors to them - They loved each other, they were in his house, and the third one, it is worthy for a King to judge a case after thinking properly. While this King did an un-kingly deed." His sister said to him - "O Brother, Whoever decides this he should abide it by his decision. By deciding this you have decided against yourself."

She then asked Niyaamaa and Naaomee to stand up. Then she said to her brother - "This Naaomee is the same who was stolen by Al-Hajaj. He falsely pretended in his letter that he bought her for 10,000 gold pieces. And this other one who is standing beside her is her lord Niyaamaa. I request you please pardon them and release them to be richly rewarded by Allaah in the next world. They have eaten your food, and I beg you to pardon them."

At this the Caliph said - "You are speaking truth. I did give you the judgment as you asked me, and I am not going to turn from it. O Naaomee, Is he your lord?" "Yes, Sir." He said - "No harm will fall on you, I give you each other. But O Niyaamaa, Who told you where she was and showed you the way to come here?" Niyaamaa said - "Because of your pious heart I will not hide anything from you." And he told everything to him.

The King asked his men to fetch the Persian physician. They brought him to him and he was made a chief officer. He was bestowed robes of honor. Niyaamaa and Naaomee were given loads of presents and lived there for seven days in delight Then they left for Koofaa.

End of Story No 47