HADDAD-BEN-AHAB THE TRAVELLER.
BY JOHN GALT.
Haddad-Ben-Ahab was a very wise man, and he had several friends, men ofdiscernment, and partakers of the wisdom of ages; but they were not allso wise as Haddad-Ben-Ahab. His sentences were short, but his knowledgewas long, and what he predicted generally came to pass, for he did notpretend to the gift of prophecy. The utmost he ever said in that waywas, that he expected the sun to rise to-morrow, and that old age wasthe shadow of youth.
Besides being of a grave temperament, Haddad-Ben-Ahab was inclined toobesity; he was kindly and good-natured to the whole human race; he evencarried his benevolence to the inferior creation, and often patted hisdogs on the head and gave them bones; but cats he could not abide. Hadhe been a rat he could not have regarded them with more antipathy; andyet Haddad-Ben-Ahab was an excellent man, who smoked his chibouque withoccasional cups of coffee and sherbet, interspersed with profoundaphorisms on the condition of man, and conjectures on the delights ofparadise.
With his friends he passed many sunbright hours; and if much talk wasnot heard among them on these occasions, be it remembered that silenceis often wisdom. The scene of their social resort was a little kiosk infront of one of the coffee-houses on the bank of the Tigris. No place inall Bagdad is so pleasantly situated. There the mighty river rolls inall the affluence of his waters, pure as the unclouded sky, and speckledwith innumerable boats, while the rippling waves, tickled, as it were,by the summer breezes, gambol and sparkle around.
The kiosk was raised two steps from the ground; the interior was paintedwith all the most splendid colors. The roof was covered with tiles thatglittered like the skin of the Arabian serpent, and was surmounted witha green dragon, which was painted of that imperial hue, becauseHaddad-Ben-Ahab was descended from the sacred progeny of Fatima, of whomgreen is the everlasting badge, as it is of nature. Time cannot changeit, nor can it be impaired by the decrees of tyranny or of justice.
One beautiful day Haddad-Ben-Ahab and his friends had met in this kioskof dreams, and were socially enjoying the fragrant smoke of their pipes,and listening to the refreshing undulations of the river, as the boatssoftly glided along,--for the waters lay in glassy stillness,--the windswere asleep,--even the sunbeams seemed to rest in a slumber on allthings. The smoke stood on the chimney-tops as if a tall visionary treegrew out of each; and the many-colored cloths in the yard of Orooblis,the Armenian dyer, hung unmolested by a breath. Orooblis himself was theonly thing, in that soft and bright noon, which appeared on the land tobe animated with any purpose.
Orooblis was preparing a boat to descend the Tigris, and his servantswere loading it with bales of apparel and baskets of provisions, whilehe himself was in a great bustle, going often between his dwelling-houseand the boat, talking loud and giving orders, and ever and anon wipinghis forehead, for he was a man that delighted in having an ado.
Haddad-Ben-Ahab, seeing Orooblis so active, looked at him for some time;and it so happened that all the friends at the same moment took theiramber-headed pipes from their lips, and said,--
"Where can Orooblis, the Armenian dyer, be going?"
Such a simultaneous interjection naturally surprised them all, andHaddad-Ben-Ahab added,--
"I should like to go with him, and see strange things, for I have neverbeen out of the city of Bagdad, save once to pluck pomegranates in thegarden of Beys-Addy-Boolk." And he then rose and went to the boat whichOrooblis was loading, and spoke to him; and when it was ready theyseated themselves on board and sailed down the Tigris, having muchpleasant discourse concerning distant lands and hills whose tops piercedthe clouds, and were supposed to be the pillars that upheld the crystaldome of the heavens.
Haddad-Ben-Ahab rejoiced greatly as they sailed along, and at last theycame to a little town, where Orooblis, having business in dyestuffs totransact, went on shore, leaving his friend. But in what corner of theearth this little town stood Haddad-Ben-Ahab knew not; for, like othertravellers, he was not provided with much geographical knowledge.
But soon after the departure of Orooblis he thought he would also landand inquire. Accordingly, taking his pipe in his hand, he stepped out ofthe boat and went about the town, looking at many things, till he cameto a wharf where a large ship was taking merchandise on board; and hersailors were men of a different complexion from that of the watermen whoplied on the Tigris at Bagdad.
Haddad-Ben-Ahab looked at them, and as he was standing near to wherethey were at work, he thought that this ship afforded a betteropportunity than he had enjoyed with Orooblis to see foreign countries.He accordingly went up to the captain and held out a handful of money,and indicated that he was desirous to sail away with the ship.
When the captain saw the gold he was mightily civil, and spoke toHaddad-Ben-Ahab with a loud voice, perhaps thinking to make him hear wasthe way to make him understand. But Haddad-Ben-Ahab only held up theforefinger of his right hand and shook it to and fro. In the end,however, he was taken on board the ship, and no sooner was he there thanhe sat down on a sofa, and drawing his legs up under him kindled hispipe and began to smoke, much at his ease, making observations with hiseyes as he did so.
The first observation Haddad-Ben-Ahab made was, that the sofa on whichhe had taken his place was not at all like the sofas of Bagdad, andtherefore when he returned he would show that he had not travelledwithout profit by having one made exactly similar for his best chamber,with hens and ducks under it, pleasantly feeding and joyously cacklingand quacking. And he also observed a remarkable sagacity in the ducks,for when they saw he was a stranger, they turned up the sides of theirheads and eyed him in a most curious and inquisitive manner,--verydifferent, indeed, from the ducks of Bagdad.
When the ship had taken on board her cargo she spread her sails, andHaddad-Ben-Ahab felt himself in a new situation; for presently she beganto lie over, and to plunge and revel among the waves like a gladcreature. But Haddad-Ben-Ahab became very sick, and the captain showedhim the way down into the inside of the vessel, where he went into adark bed, and was charitably tended by one of the sailors for many days.
After a season there was much shouting on the deck of the ship, andHaddad-Ben-Ahab crawled out of his bed, and went to the sofa, and sawthat the ship was near the end of her voyage.
When she had come to a bank where those on board could step out,Haddad-Ben-Ahab did so: and after he had seen all the strange thingswhich were in the town where he thus landed, he went into a baker'sshop,--for they eat bread in that town as they do in Bagdad,--and boughta loaf, which having eaten, he quenched his thirst at a fountain hardby, in his ordinary manner of drinking, at which he wonderedexceedingly.
When he had solaced himself with all the wonders of that foreign city,he went to a fakier, who was holding two horses ready saddled; beautifulthey were, and, as the fakier signified by signs, their hoofs were sofleet that they left the wind behind them. Haddad-Ben-Ahab then showedthe fakier his gold, and mounted one of the horses, pointing with theshaft of his pipe to the fakier to mount the other; and then they bothrode away into the country, and they found that the wind blew in theirfaces.
At last they came to a caravansary, where the fakier bought a cooked henand two onions, of which they both partook, and stretching themselvesbefore the fire which they had lighted in their chamber, they fellasleep and slept until the dawn of day, when they resumed their journeyinto remoter parts and nearer to the wall of the world, whichHaddad-Ben-Ahab conjectured they must soon reach. They had not, however,journeyed many days in the usual manner when they came to the banks of alarge river, and the fakier would go no farther with his swift horses.Haddad-Ben-Ahab was in consequence constrained to pay and part from him,and to embark in a ferry-boat to convey him over the stream, where hefound a strange vehicle with four horses standing ready to carry him ontowards the wall of the world, "which surely," said he to himself,"ought not to be now far off."
Haddad-Ben-Ahab showed his gold again, and was permitted to take a seatin the vehicle, which soon aft
er drove away; and he remarked, in a mostsagacious manner, that nothing in that country was like the things inhis own; for the houses and trees and all things ran away as the vehiclecame up to them; and when it gave a jostle, they gave a jump; which henoted as one of the most extraordinary things he had seen since he leftBagdad.
At last Haddad-Ben-Ahab came to the foot of a lofty green mountain, withgroves and jocund villages, which studded it, as it were, with gems andshining ornaments, and he said, "This must be the wall of the world, forsurely nothing can exist on the other side of these hills! but I willascend them and look over, for I should like to tell my friends inBagdad what is to be seen on the outside of the earth." Accordingly heascended the green mountain, and he came to a thick forest of stubbytrees: "This is surprising," said Haddad-Ben-Ahab, "but higher I willyet go." And he passed through that forest of trees and came to a steepmoorland part of the hill, where no living thing could be seen, but asolitude without limit, and the living world all glittering at the footof the mountain.
"This is a high place," said Haddad-Ben-Ahab, "but I will yet gohigher," and he began to climb with his hands. After an upward journeyof great toil he came to a frozen region, and the top of the wall of theworld was still far above him. He was, however, none daunted by thedistance, but boldly held on in the ascent, and at last he reached thetop of the wall. But when he got there, instead of a region of fog andchaos, he only beheld another world much like our own, and he wasgreatly amazed, and exclaimed with a loud voice,--"Will my friends inBagdad believe this?--but it is true, and I will so tell them." So hehastened down the mountain, and went with all the speed he could back toBagdad; saying, "Bagdad," and giving gold to every man he met, until hereached the kiosk of dreams, where his friends were smoking and lookingat the gambols of the Tigris.
When the friends of Haddad-Ben-Ahab saw him approach, they respectivelytook their pipes from their mouths and held them in their left hands,while they pressed their bosoms with their right, and received him witha solemn salaam, for he had been long absent, and all they in the meantime had heard concerning him was only what Orooblis, the Armenian dyer,on his return told them: namely, that he was gone to the wall of theworld, which limits the travels of man. No wonder then that theyrejoiced with an exceeding gladness to see him return and take his placein the kiosk among them, as if he had never been a day's journey awayfrom Bagdad.
They then questioned him about his adventures, and he faithfully relatedto them all the wonders which have been set forth in our account of thejourney; upon which they declared he had made himself one of the sagesof the earth.
Afterward they each made a feast, to which they invited all thephilosophers in Bagdad, and Haddad-Ben-Ahab was placed in the seat ofhonor, and being courteously solicited, told them of his travels, andevery one cried aloud, "God is great, and Mahomet is his prophet!"
When they had in this manner banqueted, Haddad-Ben-Ahab fell sick, andthere was a great talk concerning the same. Some said he was very ill;others shook their heads and spoke not; but the world is full of envyand hard-heartedness, and those who were spiteful because of the renownwhich Haddad-Ben-Ahab, as a traveller who had visited the top of thewall of the world with so much courage, had acquired, jeered at hismalady, saying he had been only feasted overmuch. Nevertheless,Haddad-Ben-Ahab died; and never was such a funeral seen in all Bagdad,save that of the caliph Mahoud, commonly called the Magnificent. Suchwas the admiration in which the memory of the traveller was held, thepoets made dirges on the occasion, and mournful songs were heard in thetwilight from the windows of every harem. Nor did the generation of thetime content itself with the ceremonies of lamentation: they caused afountain to be erected, which they named the Fountain of Haddad-Ben-Ahabthe traveller; and when the slaves go to fetch water, they speak of thewonderful things he did, and how he was on the top of the wall of theworld, and saw the outside of the earth; so that his memory livesforever among them, as one of the greatest, the wisest, and the bravestof men.