Now on the other side, since Lady Zubaidaa had done all this in the absence of the Caliph, she thought what she would say to her cousin when he comes back and asks for her. So she called an old woman who knew her secret and asked her - "How shall I act seeing that Koot al-Kuloob died untimely?" The old woman said - "The Caliph must be coming any time from now, so you send for a carpenter and ask him to make a wooden figure for you in the form of a corpse. We will dig a grave for it in the midst of the palace and bury it there. Then you set lighted candle, flowers etc. over it and order everybody to wear black in the palace. Then ask your maids and servants to spread straw on the floor just before the Caliph comes in; and when he asks its reason, tell him that "Koot al-Kuloob is dead, may Allaah abundantly compensate you for her loss. She has been buried in my own palace." Hearing this he will weep. He will watch her tomb by night. He might dig out her grave also in his love, but you don't worry about it, he will not recognize it, as the figure would be clad in costly grave clothes. If he wants to take of the winding sheet to look upon her, tell him that it is unlawful to see a naked woman like this."

Hearing this Zubaidaa commended her advice, gave her a dress of honor and a large sum of money and asked her to supervise her plan. When she had finished her plan, the Caliph came and went to Koot al-Kuloob's palace, but he found all maids etc. clad in black, a fear came over him and he went to Zubaidaa's palace. He found her also clad in black. He asked the reason of this, and Zubaidaa told him about the death of Koot al-Kuloob. The Caliph fell in a swoon. When he came to himself, he asked for her tomb. Zubaidaa said - "To honor her, I have buried her in my own palace." He went there and saw the tomb decorated with proper things, candles, carpets etc. He thanked Zubaidaa to be nice with her. But his mind was still not at rest, so he ordered to take out her body from the grave. He looked at the body and wanted to remove her wrappings when the old woman said - "Restore her body to its place." He did that, read Quraan over her tomb and continued to come back to it for a whole month.

On the 42nd Night

Now it so happened one day, that after dismissing his Ameer, the Caliph came to his bedroom and rested there. A slave girl started fanning him, and another one started rubbing his feet. The maid sitting at his head said to the other one - "This is a good business, O Khaizaaran." The other one answered - "Well, O Kaazib al-Baan, what is that?" Said the first one - "Our Lord doesn't know what has happened behind him. That he sits by the tomb where only a log of wood carved by a carpenter is buried." The second one asked - "Then what happened to Koot al-Kaloob?" The first one said - "Lady Zubaidaa gave her Bhaang through one of her slaves, and when she had slept, she put her in a chest and ordered Savaab and Kaafoor and Bukhaayat to throw her amongst the tombs." The other one said - "It means she is not dead?"

The first one said - "No, By Allaah, I have heard Lady Zubaidaa say that she is in the house of a young merchant named Ghaanim bin-Ayyoob of Damascus; and she has been there for all these four months, while our Lord is weeping at a tomb where there is no corpse." The Caliph Haaroon al-Rasheed heard every word and kept it in his mind. Next day he called his Vazeer Zaafar and asked him to go to Ghaanim's house and bring him to him.

At that time Ghaanim had brought the food and was about to eat it, that Koot's face went pale to see Vazeer and his people around them. She said to Ghaanim - "Run for your life." "Where to? They have surrounded us." "Fear not." And she stripped off his fine clothes, dressed him in ragged old garments. Then she took a pot of meat, put some bits of bread in it and a saucer of meat, placed the whole thing in a basket and setting it on his head said - "Go out in this guise, and fear not at all for me." Ghaanim went out in that guise, as Koot said to him, and he escaped. 

Meanwhile Zaafar entered the house and saw Koot al-Kuloob clad in rich clothes sat with a chest filled with gold jewelry and precious stones. When she saw the Vazeer, she got up, kissed the ground before him and said - "Whatever Allaah wrote." Zaafar said - "By Allaah, O My Lady, He gave me the order to seize Ghaanim, the son of Ayyoob." Koot said - "He has left for Damascus with his goods, and I know nothing more about him, but I desire that you take this chest and deliver it to me in the Haram of the Caliph." "So be it." And Zaafar took the chest and Koot to Caliph's Haram and his people wrecked Ghaanim's house.

On the 43rd Night

The Caliph ordered Koot to be lodged in a dark chamber and appointed an old woman in her service believing that she had slept with Ghaanim. He immediately wrote a letter to his viceroy of Damascus, Ameer Muhammad bin-Sulaimaan al-Zainee that as soon as you get this letter, seize upon Ghaanim bin-Ayyoob and send him to me." As soon as the Viceroy received the letter, he send his people to Ghaanim's house where his mother and sister had made a tomb and were weeping beside it. His people seized them both without telling the reason and took them to the Viceroy. He questioned them several times, but they always replied the same - "We have no news of him for more than a year." So he sent them back to their place.
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When Ghaanim saw his house ruined by Caliph's people, he wept, and then wandered around till the end of the day. Then he came to a village and entered a mosque. He was very tired so he sat down at one place and  slept till dawn. In the morning he felt very hungry. When people came there to worship, they found him weak and hunger-stricken. They gave him an old robe and asked him - "Where are you coming from?" He wept but gave no answer. Somebody brought him two barley breads and a saucer of honey to eat. He ate a little from it. They sat there with him till sunrise then they went to their work. In this way he stayed there for one month. He became weaker and sicklier, so they took him to a hospital in Bagadaad.

As they were taking him, two women beggars, his mother and sister, came there and he gave them the bread he had and they slept by his side, but he did not know them. Next day the people brought a camel and placed him on the camel. Then the women said - "It seems that he is our Ghaanim." So the camel-man got him off the camel and left him there. He lay there till dawn, and when people came there again, they saw him lying there. The Chief of the merchants said - "Do not take him to the hospital because they will kill him." And he ordered his men to take him to his own house. There he spread a new bed for him and asked his wife to tend him carefully. So she gave him a warm bath, and gave him a cup of wine.
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The Caliph kept Koot in that dark chamber for 80 days. One day he was passing by her chamber, that he heard her reciting a poetry in which she was saying - "O my dear Ghaanim, How good and chaste were you? You did good even to those who did bad to you." The Caliph understood that she was innocent, so he sent his eunuch Masroor to bring her to him. She went to him, the Caliph asked - "I heard you blaming me for doing bad and praising he who did good to me. Who is that? Who is that who guarded my honor? Who protected my Haram and whose Haram I have wrecked?" She said - "It is Ghaanim. He never approached me with any bad intention."

The Caliph asked her - "Now what do you want?" "I want only my beloved Ghaanim." He said he would do as she desired. At this she asked - "If I bring him to you, will you bestow me on him?" "Sure." "Then allow me to go to find him." "Go." She took 1,000 Deenaars and met various people of different faiths and gave alms in Ghaanim's name. Next day she went to Bazaar and saw the Chief of the merchants. She gave him 1,000 Deenaars to give to that stranger whom he was taking care of. He said - "O Lady, Will you come to my house and look upon that stranger youth I have in my house." The Chief of merchants did not know that he had housed Ghaanim in his house. She said, "Sure."

She went to his house, greeted the Chief's wife and asked about the sick person. She took her to him and Lo, he was Ghaanim, but she was not sure that he was Ghaanim because he had become very thin. She offered him a cup of wine, sat with him for some time; and left the place again to look for her lover.

Meanwhile Ghaanim's mother and sister Fitanaa also reached Bagadaad and met the Chief of the merchants who took them to Koot to help them from their misery. She immediately asked him to bring them to her. So he brought them to her. They told her their story and told that they were looking for their son and brother Ghaanim. She said to them - "Now you do not worry, your bad days are over." She asked Chief's wife to take them to her house, to give them a good bath, new clothes to wear and take care of them honorably.

On the 44th Night

Next day Koot went to the Chief's wife and talked to Ghaanim's mother and sister and desired to see the sick man. In the meantime, Ghaanim had heard Koot al-Kuloob's name, so he cried from there, "Koot al-Kuloob." And Koot also cried "Ghaanim." "Come near me." Then all related their stories to each other. Koot told Ghaanim that the Caliph had pardoned her.

Then she gave enough money from the chest, she brought from Ghaanim's house, to the Chief to buy new suits for each of them. She served them with good food for a few days, and then took them to the Caliph. The Caliph called Ghaanim in. She gave Ghaanim a lots of Deenaars instructing that he should not be miser to spend money in Caliph's house. Zaafar came and took him to the Caliph. When he reached the Caliph, he read some couplets extempore in praise of the Caliph. 

The Caliph got very pleased to hear his poetry and asked him to tell his story to him. He did that. Then the Caliph invested him with a dress of honor. He gave him a separate palace, monthly allowance, servants etc. The Caliph married Ghaanim to Koot and he himself married Ghaanim's sister Fitanaa. Both marriages were consummated on the same day. Next day the Caliph ordered to record this story and to deposit it in his library.

End of Story No 75