Layla and Majnun by Nizami Page A

stick. ‘For pity’s sake,’ he cried, ‘leave the poor wretch be! What has he done to deserve such inhumane treatment? He may be crazy, he may be a criminal, but whatever he is, he is still a human being and you have no right to punish him in this manner.’
    The woman replied, ‘Do you really want to know the truth? Then listen well. This man is not crazy; nor is he a criminal. I am a poor widow and he is a dervish, a “fool of God”, and both of us have suffered great hardship. We are both of us ready to do anything that will make money enough to put a crust of bread on our table.
    ‘And so I parade him around in chains; that way,everyone thinks that he is mad. People take pity on us — on him for being mad, and on me for having to bear so heavy a burden — and they give us money out of the goodness of their hearts. Whatever we earn, we split between us.’
    Majnun sank to his knees in the dust and began to plead with her: ‘For the love of God, take the chains from this poor man’s hands and feet and put them on me, for I should be tied up, not he! You see, I am truly mad!
    ‘Yes, I am one of those unfortunate wretches whose minds have been destroyed by love. Tie me up and take me with you! Parade me in chains instead of him and everything that you earn shall be yours to keep; money does not interest me in the least.’
    The woman did not need to think twice about Majnun’s offer. Ripping the chains from the hands and feet of the dervish, she tied Majnun up in his place. Taking their leave of the dervish, the woman yanked on Majnun’s chains and dragged him away, a happy smile on her lips. Majnun, for his part, was overjoyed, and every blow of the woman’s stick upon his bare back was like a lover’s caress.
    The woman and her new prisoner moved from oasis to oasis, stopping at each tent they passed. Majnun would sit in the dust and recite his love poems, each dedicated to Layla, pummelling his face with his fist or dancing around like a drunken bear while the woman beat him with her stick.
    At one particular oasis, at the edge of the stream, Majnun saw a tent which seemed familiar to him.Edging towards it, he saw to his astonishment that it was Layla’s tent.
    Suddenly his eyes burst like spring clouds, sending showers of tears down his cheeks. He sank to the ground, pounded his head against the hard earth and cried out, ‘Why did you leave me? Why did you leave me alone and share nothing with me but your grief?
    ‘Look what has become of me! I am doing penance because I made you and your people suffer at the hands of Nowfal. To atone for my sin, I have given up my freedom and now here I stand, chained and bound, waiting to be punished. I know that I have done wrong, and that the burden of my sin is so great that I will never be forgiven.
    ‘I am your captive; you must be my judge. Condemn me, if you will; punish me with the severest punishment you can think of.
    ‘I am to blame for the suffering that you and your people have endured; it is my fault entirely. Do you think I do not know this? Can you not see that this is why I am chained and bound and beaten black and blue? I have confessed to my crime and now I am here in chains to suffer punishment at your hands. So imprison me, torture me, kill me if you must — but do not reject me!
    ‘While I lived, I lived for your greetings, but they did not reach me. While I lived, I lived for the touch of your hand upon my face, but you were always out of reach. But now — now that my life is over — there is hope!
    ‘Maybe now, as you kill me with your arrow, youwill look at me! Maybe now you will touch me, if only to bare my neck before you sever my head from my body with your sword! I am not afraid of death: what do I have to fear, if you are my executioner? Why should I tremble if it is your sword that is to cut off my head?
    ‘My heart is a candle: trim the wick and it will only burn brighter! While I live, all roads to you are blocked, so why