Layla and Majnun by Nizami Read Free Book Online Page A

the friend saw everything: Layla’s impassioned pleading, her surprise at the verses sung by the passer-by, and her tears.
    Later that day, the friend went to Layla’s mother and told her what she had seen. Layla’s mother began to cry, too, unable to bear the thought of her daughter’ssuffering. But what could she do? However hard she tried, she could not think of a way out. ‘I must not let Layla do what her heart desires most’, she said to herself, ‘because Majnun is truly mad and not to be approached. If Layla so much as sees the boy, she, too, will become insane. Yet if I counsel patience, her separation from him may destroy her. And whatever destroys Layla destroys me also.’
    And so Layla’s pain became her mother’s burden, although of course Layla was completely unaware of this. Layla remained silent, and so did her mother.

Chapter 15
    L ater that same day, as Layla returned with tear-swollen eyes from the garden, she happened to pass by Ibn Salam, a young man from the tribe known as the Banu Asad. Ibn Salam was a man of considerable renown and untold wealth. Respected by all who knew him, he was a strong and generous man upon whom fortune had always smiled — so much so, in fact, that his nickname among his close friends was ‘Bakht’ (Good Luck). Would such luck continue in his quest for Layla?
    Yes, as soon as Ibn Salam caught sight of her as she passed, he knew that he must make her his own. To him she was the full moon in all her splendour — a fitting ornament indeed to adorn the lonely sky of his soul. And so he decided to ask Layla’s parents for herhand. And why not? Did he not have riches in abundance? Was he not of honourable birth? The more he thought about it, the more determined he became to win his beautiful moon, to possess the one shining light that would turn his night to day and make life bearable. The only thing he did not consider was Layla herself, and whether she would surrender herself to him willingly. Apart from this — admittedly the most important thing of all — he had thought of everything. Layla’s response was a bridge he would cross when he came to it.
    And so, in accordance with Arab custom, Ibn Salam sent one of his most trusted companions as a go-between to ask for Layla’s hand. He instructed his mediator to petition Layla’s father with much humility, but at the same time to make it quite clear that Ibn Salam was willing to shower them with gold if they complied with his wishes.
    And comply they did — in a fashion. They realised that they would be foolish to refuse such an offer, yet it all seemed so sudden, so final. There is no reason, they told each other in private, to give our blessing today when tomorrow will do. And so they neither accepted nor rejected his offer, preferring instead to make him wait a while.
    ‘Of course your wish will be granted,’ they said, ‘if you are patient. At present, our daughter is weak and sickly — she is like a tender flower caught by a late frost, and thus needs time to grow strong again. See how thin and pale she is! Let her gain strength and then, God willing, we shall agree to the union withhappy hearts. What does it matter if you wait a few more days?’
    That was their final word on the subject, and Ibn Salam had no option but to be content and wait.

Chapter 16
    T he ravine in which Majnun had decided to live lay in an area ruled by a Bedouin prince, Nowfal. His courage and steadfastness on the battlefield had earned him the epithet ‘Destroyer of Armies’, but although he had the heart of a lion in front of his foes, to his friends he was compassion itself.
    One day, Nowfal was out hunting with some of his retainers. They had ventured further than usual into the desert, lured there by the prospect of bagging some particularly handsome antelopes they had been chasing from oasis to oasis. As the swift-footed creatures tried to escape into their mountain hide-outs, Nowfal and his men threw caution to the