this very moment I will strike off thy chains and deliver
thee from him. But do thou arise and tear my
face and pluck out my beard and rend my raiment; then,
after thrusting a gag[FN#357] into my mouth wend thy
ways and save thy life and leave me to bear all blame."[FN#358]
Quoth Attaf, “Allah requite thee for me with
every weal!” Accordingly the gaoler did as he
had undertaken and his prisoner went forth unhurt
and at once followed the road to Baghdad. So
far concerning him; but now hear thou what befell
the Governor of Syria, Abd al-Malik bin Marwan.
He took patience till midnight, when he arose and
fared accompanied by the headsman to the gaol that
he might witness the strangling of Attaf; but lo and
behold! he found the prison door wide open and the
keeper in sore sorrow with his raiment all rent to
rags and his beard plucked out and his face scratched
and the blood trickling from his four sides and his
case was the miserablest of cases. So they removed
the gag from his mouth and the Governor asked him,
“Who did with thee on this wise?” and the
man answered, “O my lord, yesternight, about
the middle thereof, a gang of vagabonds and ne’er-do-wells
as they were ’Ifrits of our lord Sulayman (upon
whom be The Peace!), not one of whom I recognized,
came upon me and ere I was ware of them they broke
down the prison door and killed me;[FN#359] and when
I would have cried aloud and shouted for aid they
placed yonder gag in my mouth, then they wounded me
and shredded my dress and left me in the state thou
seest. Moreover they took Attaf after breaking
his chains and said to him, ’Go and lay thy complaint
before the Sultan.’” Now those who accompanied
the Governor said, “This be a gaoler and the
son of a gaoler, nor during all his days hath anyone
charged him with letting a prisoner out of hand.”
Quoth Abd al-Malik to the wounded man, “Hie
thee to thy house and stay there;” whereat he
straightway arose and went his ways. After this
the Governor took horse, he and his escort; and all
rode off to search for Attaf during a term of four
days and some of them dug and dug deep down while
the others returned after a bootless errand, and reported
that they had failed to find him. Such was the
case with the Governor of Syria; and now give ear to
the adventure of Attaf. He left not wayfaring
until but a single stage remained between him and
Baghdad when robbers came upon him and stripped him
of all his clothes, so that he was compelled to enter
the capital in foulest condition, naked even as his
mother bare him. And after some charitable wight
had thrown an old robe about him and bound his head
with a clout (and his unshorn hair fell over his eyes)[FN#360]
he fell to asking for the mansion of the Wazir Ja’afar
and the folk guided him thereto. But when he
would have entered the attendants suffered him not;
so he stood at the gate till an old man joined him.
Attaf enquired of him saying, “Hast thou with
thee, O Shaykh, an ink-case and pens and paper?”