Читать книгу Leg over Leg - Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq - Страница 9

الفصل الخامس

ڡي فضل النسآء

Chapter Five

The Superiority of Women

4.5.1

وكما ان نسآ تلك البلاد اختصصن بهذه المزية كذلك اختصت رجالها بالطافهم الغريب بعد معرفتهم له * فاما قبل المعرفة فانه اذا حيَّى احدا منهم فما يكون جوابه الا الشزر والشصر * ولهذا لما سمع احد طلّاب العربية منهم بوجود الفارياق وكان قد قُرئ عليه حسبه ونشبه اتى ليزوره * وطلب منه ان يذهب معه الى منزله فيقيم عنده مكرما معززا * وكان مقامه بعيدا عن كمبريج * فاجابه الفارياق الى ذلك لان اهل المدينة على كثرة المدارس عندهم والمعالم هم اشدّ الناس نفورا من الغريب * ولا سيما اذا كان مخالفا لهم فى الزىّ * فكانوا يسخرون من قبعته الحمرآ حتى كان كثيرا ما يقنبع فى غرفته ولا يخرج منها الا ليلا *

Just as the women of this country are distinguished by this characteristic, so its men are distinguished by that of kindness to the stranger, once they have been introduced to him. Before he’s been introduced, however, if he greets one of them, the response will be a sidelong glance or a brisk nod of the head. Thus it was that one of their students of Arabic, having learned of the presence of the Fāriyāq and having been informed as to his noble pedigree and plentiful property, came to visit him and invited him to go with him to his house, which was some distance from Cambridge, and to stay there as an honored guest. The Fāriyāq accepted the invitation because the inhabitants of the city, despite the large number of schools and places of learning there, were exceptionally unwelcoming to the stranger, especially if he differed from them in dress; they made so much fun of his red cap, for example, that he often hid in his room and would leave it only at night.

4.5.2

وقال فى ذلك *

رمتنى النوى فى كمبريج ملازما	لبيتى نهارا اَن ترانى اوباش
فتعبثَ بى حتى اذا الليل جنّنى	خرجت على اَمْن كانى خفّاش

ولان الكلاب ايضا كانت تشم فروته وتلازمه * فقال فيها

ولى فروة تاتى الكلاب تشمّها	ولم تندفع عنها اذا ما دفعتها
تهرّ على تمزيق جلدى وجلدها	كانى من ابائها قد صنعتها

ولان اهل الدار التى نزل فيها كانوا يشاركونه فى طعامه ولا يشركونه فى لحمهم وشحمهم * فقال فيهم

ولى عيلة فى كمبريج خفيّة	تواكلنى من حيث ليس عيان
فعهدى باسم الآكلات فلانة	وعهدى باسم الآكلين فلان

ولانه لم يقدر على ان يحرّد الى احدى تلك القبب * فقال فيها

وما نفع الوثير من الحشايا	وليس عليه وَثْر اذ تهش
وما نفع الشِعار بلا شعار	وحسن الحفش ان لم يُلفَ حفش
وما نفع الحياة بغير حىّ	فنعشك دونه ما عشت نعش

On this topic, he wrote

Cast by the tempest on Cambridge’s shore,

Lest I be seen and mocked by the rabble, I kept to my house.

Then, when night had driven me mad,

I’d go out in safety, like a flittermouse.

Similarly, since the dogs too would sniff at his fur coat and follow him around, he wrote of them

I’ve got a fur coat that the dogs all come to sniff at

But when I repel them not one retires.

They snarl as they rip into my skin and the coat's—

You’d think I’d had it made from the skins of their sires.

And because the people of the house where he was staying would take a share of his food and not allow him access to their persons, he wrote about them

In Cambridge I’ve got dependents undisclosed

Who partake of my food when there’s no one there to watch—

All I know of my lady guest is that her name is So-and-so

And all I know of the man is that his name is Such and such.

Likewise, because he couldn’t find a way to be alone with one of those “domes,” he wrote of them

What’s the use of a comfy mattress

If there’s no sex to be had on it for all its softness?

What use a nightdress without a cunny

Or a nice bit of quim if you can’t find a cubby?

What use is life with no snatch in your bed?

No matter how long you live, you’re better off dead.

4.5.3

فسارا فى سكة الحديد وبلغا المنزل ليلا وما كاد الفارياق يدخل حجرته التى اعدت له حتى رقشها بهذين البيتين

	لله درب الحديد كم كفل ربا به والثدىّ قد رجفت لو لم يكن غير تلك فائدة لنا به دون اَتْوه لكفت
الاتو الاستقامة فى السير والسرعة

ثم لما قام فى الغد راى المنزل بعيدا عن الدار * فاستعاذ بالله واسترجع واضبّ على ما نفسه * لان هذه الشكوى ليس لها عند هولآ القوم اذن واعية * حتى انه لما شكا يوما طول غيبته عن زوجته قال له صاحبه بعد ايام قد فرط منك بالامس كلام فقلت انى مشتاق الى امراتى * وكان الاولى ان تقول الى اولادى *

They took the railway together and arrived at the house at night, and no sooner had the Fāriyāq entered the room that had been prepared for him than he decorated it with the following:

What an excellent thing is the railway! How many a bottom

On its seats spreads wide, while breasts there quiver galore!

If that alone were all it did for us—never mind its forward dashing—atw [“forward dashing”] is “directness of motion, and speed.”

One couldn’t think to ask for more.

Then when he got up the following morning, it came to him how far still his new abode was from home but he said, “I seek refuge with God!” and “We are God’s and to God we return!” and put a brave face on it, because such complaints do not find a sympathetic ear among those people—so much so that a few days after his complaining of how long he’d been separated from his wife, his friend told him, “The other day you spoke extravagantly. You said, ‘I long for my wife!’ but it would have been more proper to say ‘for my children.’” “What,” the Fāriyāq asked him, “is wrong with a man speaking of his wife as he might of his children? Without the wife, there wouldn’t be any children! Nay more: without women there would be nothing in this world, neither religion nor anything else.” “Hush, hush!” said his friend. “You go too far.”

4.5.4

فقال له الفارياق ما المانع من ان يذكر الرجل امراته كما يذكر ولده * ولولا المراة لم يكن الولد بل لولا المراة لم يكن شى فى الدنيا لا دين ولا غيره * قال مه مه قد افحشت * قال ارغن لما اقول * لولا بنت فرعون لم ينج موسى من الغرق * ولولا موسى لم تكن التوراة * ولولا المراة لم يمكن ليوشع ان يدخل ارض الموعد ويستولى عليها * ولولا المراة ما حظى ابرهيم عند ملك مصر ونال منه الصلات والهدايا فتمهّد لليهود النزول الى مصر من بعده * ولولا المراة لم ينجُ داود من يد شاول حين اضمر قتله وان كان ذلك قد تمّ بحيلة وضع صنم فى فراشه * ولولا داود لم يكن الزبور * نعم ولولا المراة اعنى زوجة نابال ما تقوى داود على اعدآئه * ولولا حيلة بت شبع على داود لم يملك سليمن ابنه ولم يبن هيكل الله باورشليم * ولولا المراة لم يولد سيدنا عيسى ولم يذع خبر انبعاثه * ولولا المراة لم يستتبّ مذهب الانكليز كما هو اليوم * هذا وان المصوّرين عندكم يصوّرون الملئكة بصورة النسآء * والشعرآء عندكم ما زالوا يتغزلون فى المراة ولولاها لم ينبغ شاعر *

“Listen to what I say!” said the Fāriyāq. “Were it not for Pharaoh’s daughter, Moses would not have been saved from drowning and were it not for Moses, there would be no Old Testament. Were it not for a woman, Joshua would not have been able to enter the Promised Land and take possession of it.⁷¹ Were it not for a woman, Abraham would not have found favor with the King of Egypt and obtained from him gifts and presents, thus preparing the way for the descent of the Jews into Egypt after him.⁷² Were it not for a woman, David would not have been saved from the hand of Saul when he decided in his breast to kill him, which was achieved by his placing an image in his bed,⁷³ and were it not for David, there would be no psalms. Nay more, were it not for a woman, meaning the wife of Nabal,⁷⁴ David would not have prevailed over his enemies. Were it not for Bathsheba’s stratagem against David, ⁷⁵ Solomon would not have made his son king and the temple of God would not have been built in Jerusalem. Were it not for a woman, Jesus would not have been born and the news of his resurrection would not have been broadcast. Were it not for a woman, the Anglican sect would not be doing as well as it is today.⁷⁶ Furthermore, your painters depict angels in the form of women and your poets never cease writing poems to women, without which no poet would ever shine.”

4.5.5

قال اِن اراك الا هائجا على النسآ وكانّ العرب كلهم على هذه الصفة * قال نعم انا راموزهم وقِطاطهم وكل من ينطق بالضاد يكلف بالضأد * فاطرق مليّا ثم قال لعلكم ارشد ممن عدل الى الميم * فقد بلغنى ان فى بلادكم قوما ميميّين يعدلون عن سوآ السبيل الى مضايق ذميمة وهو اقبح ما يكون * واقبح من ذلك ان بعض المولفين من العرب قد الّفوا فى ذلك كتبا وتمحّلوا لايراد ادلّة على تفضيل الحرفة الميمية * قال نعم ومن جملتها كتاب عثرت به فى خزانة كتب كمبريج ورايت مكتوبا عليه عنوانه بالانكليزية كتاب فى حقوق الزواج * فكانّ شاريه لم يفهم مضمونه * ومن اسخف ما ورد من الادلة على ذلك قول بعضهم

انا لست اجزم باللواط ولا الزنا	لكن اقول مقال من قد حررا
ان اللذاذة كلها فى اقذر ال‍	‍جارَين فاختر ان عرفت الاقذرا

وسبب تاليف هذه الكتب من مثل هولآ العتاولة امّا للعنّينية فان النسا يعرضن عمّن يبتلى بذلك * او للبخل لان النفقة على المراة اكثر * او لقصر اليد عن هصرهن او لفساد آخر * اما سليم الطبع فلا يميل عن هذا المذهب اصلا *

“As far as I can see,” said the other, “you are merely lusting after a woman—a trait, it seems, that is common to all Arabs.” “Indeed,” he replied, “I am their epitome and pattern, and every man who utters the ḍād has a weakness for the ḍaʾd.”⁷⁷ The man hung his head for a moment, then said, “You may be wiser than those who deviate toward the mīm,⁷⁸ for I have heard that there are many mīm-ists, who abandon the broad highway in favor of ignoble back alleys, which is the ugliest thing imaginable. Uglier still, though, is the fact that certain Arab authors have composed books on the subject and deceitfully sought to present arguments that the mīm-ist craft is the better.” “That is so,” said the Fāriyāq. “Among them is a book I came across in the Cambridge library on which I found written in English the title A Book on the Laws of Marriage, the one who bought it seemingly having failed to grasp its contents. One of the most scurrilous arguments made in support of such things is the words of a certain poet who said

I make no final decision between buggery and mainstream fornication—

I merely follow the words of those who’ve written,

‘Gratification all lies in the dirtier of the two neighbors,

So choose, if you can, the more beshitten.’

“The reason why the likes of these woman-shy authors wrote such books is either their impotence, for women will have nothing to do with anyone who is so afflicted, or their stinginess, because women are more expensive to maintain, or their lack of the means to attract them, or some other defect. Those of sound makeup, however, never leave the straight path in the first place.”

4.5.6

ثم ان الفارياق لبث عند صاحبه مدة فى خلالها اُدب الى مآدب فاخرة عند بعض الاعيان * ومن عادتهم فى الولائم ان تقعد النسآ على المائدة مكشوفات الاذرع والصدور بحيث يمكن للناظر ان يرى المفاهر واللَّبان والبادلة والبَهْو * واذا تطالل واشرابّ وكان حسن الاهطاع راى اللَعْوة ايضا اى آية الحلم * وهى من جملة العادات التى تحمد من وجه وتذم من وجه آخر * حيث كان هذا الكشف مطّردا للصبايا والعجائز بل العجائز عند الافرنج ولا سيما الانكليز يكتشفن ويتفتّين ويتعيّلن اكثر من الصبايا * ثم قلّت الدعوات وكثر قلق الفارياق لان من نظر الى سحنته مرة لم يرد ان ينظر اليها مرة اخرى * فراى الرجوع الى كمبريج اوفق * فسافر اليها فوجد القبب قد رَبَت نحو ثلثة قراريط * وذلك اما لبعد عهده بها او لكون زيادة قرصة البرد اوجبت ذلك *

The Fāriyāq stayed at his friend’s house for a while, during which he was invited to splendid banquets in the homes of certain notables. It is customary at their banquets for the women to sit at the table with their arms and breasts exposed, so that the observer can see the flesh of their chests, their bosoms, their breasts, and their cleavages, and if he stretches his neck and cranes his head and is good at holding his head steady, he can see the dark ring around their nipples (ah, what a dream!). It’s one of those customs that is to be praised from one perspective and condemned from another, in that this exposure is a general rule for both young and old; indeed, the old women of the Franks, and especially the English, uncover themselves more and put on more youthful airs than do the young girls. Then the invitations became fewer and the Fāriyāq’s disquiet grew stronger, since no one who had looked on his countenance once wanted to look on it a second time, and he decided it was better to return to Cambridge. When he arrived there, he found that that the “domes” had grown by some three inches, this being due either to his having been so long away from them or because the more bitter cold required that.⁷⁹

4.5.7

وهنا ينبغى ذكر فائدة وهى ان كمبريج واكسفورد لما كانتا مشهورتين بمدارس العلم كما ذكرنا آنفا وكان جلّ الطلبة فيها من الاغنيآ وفى كلّ منهما نحو الفى طالب * كانت البنات الحسان من قرى الفلاحين المجاورة ينتبن سوق هاتين المدينتين لترويج ما عندهن من الصبى والجمال * فترى فيهما من الجمال الرائع والحسن الباهر ما لا تراه فى سائر المدن * غير انه لكل ساقطة لاقطة * فلهذا كانت مشايخنا الطلبة ينظرون الى من زاد به عدد اهل البلد نظر الهرّة التى يوخذ منها جرآؤها * فمن ثم ترحّل الفارياق عن هولآ السنانير وهرّاتهم * لا سيما وقد ورد فى الامثال اذا دخلتَ ارض الحُصَيب فهرول واقام فى لندن نحو شهر *

Here an edifying observation must be made, to wit, that given that Cambridge and Oxford are, as previously mentioned, celebrated as schools of learning, and given that most of the students are rich and that each city has something in the region of two thousand of them, the pretty girls from the surrounding peasant villages return time after time to the markets of these two cities to find buyers for their youth and beauty. As a result, you will see in these cities examples of exquisite beauty and dazzling good looks such as you will not find in any other. But “for everything that falls there’s something to pick it up,”⁸⁰ as they say, which is why our shaykhs the students would look at every addition to the town’s population as might a she-cat being robbed of her kittens. Consequently, the Fāriyāq left these tomcats and their females behind—a decision whose correctness was confirmed in his view when he came across the proverb that says, “When you enter the land of al-Ḥuṣayb, run!”⁸¹—and stayed in London for close to a month.

وصف لندن او لندرة عن الفارياق

A Description of London, or Londra,⁸² according to the Fāriyāq

4.5.8

ها هى ذات التيه والدلال * الخاطرة على الفحول من الرجال * تنظر اليهم شزرا * وتجرّ اذيالها وشالها جرا * كما قلت من قصيدة

قامت تجرّ من الدلال ذيولا

جرّا اضاف الى العميد نحولا

وهى لا ترى لها من بينهم كفؤا * وتهلس منهم سخرية وهزؤا * اَلا فاذكرى ان بينم الاقوى الاقدر * الاسرى الايسر * الاسرع الاعسر * الاقرش الاقشر * الاصرع الاعصر * الاسرد الادسر * الارشف الاشفر * الابرز الازبر * الذى اذا ضمّ زفر * واذا شمّ نخر * واذا هيج زأر * او غُمز بدر * واذا راى طبلا زمّر * او ذات تدهكر دهشر *

See the proud and capricious lady in her duds, strutting before the manly studs! With a furious stare she gives them a zap, dragging behind her her skirts and her wrap. As I say in a poem of mine

Coquettishly she set off, dragging her train,

Causing the suffering lover yet more pain.

Among them she finds no match and mocks them with her smiles—they’re not up to scratch. Be mindful, fair lady, that among them is to be found the strongest and the ablest, the manliest and the wealthiest, the speediest and the toughest, the strongest and at stripping the quickest, the best at felling and the pressingest, the proddingest and the pokiest, the lippiest and labia-lovingest, the sticky-outy-est and the largest thingy-est, who, when he hugs, moans, when he smells, snorts and when aroused, groans; who if winked at, responds in a flash and, the moment he sees a drum, plays on his pipe; who on seeing a woman with body lavish is quick to ravish.

4.5.9

اذكرى ان بينهم عربيا ذا غرام * وهيام وأوام * ومغازلة وبغام * ومداعبة وكعام * وتمشير وانكماش * واندساس فى الاعشاش * علامَ نتملّقك وانت معرضة كبرا * ونعدك فتتخذين كلامنا هِترا * الم تعلمى انّا اليك متودّدون * وعلى مثلك متعوّدون * كم من صعب رُضْناه * ومتحكّم ارضيناه * واَبِىّ اَمَلْناه * وقَرِم اشبعناه * وجامح استوقفناه * وشاكٍ اشكيناه * وعاتب اعتبناه * وكم من متعنّتة آبت وهى شاكره * ثم انثنت زائره * اَلا لا يغوينّك الشطاط الى الشطط * والعَيَن الى الشَحَط * والعَيَط الى اللغط * وصهوبة الشعر* الى انكار القدر * وتفليج الثنايا * الى اَلْت المزايا * وتورد الخدين * الى احتقار اللجين * وتفليك الكُعب * الى التيه والعجب * وبضاضة البشره * الى النهم والشره * وفعومة الساعدين * الى عنجرة الشفتين * وجدل الساقين * الى الاستنكاف من مِضّ لناقد عين * وعميد غين * يكفتهما ويتطوق بهما * او يعتمّ بهما على زَنَبهما * وينزه زغبهما عن الحلت والنتف * والحصّ والحفّ * وعن مسّ السقف * اَلا ولا يضلنّك الجاهض من ورآ * الى الازدرآ * ولا النافج من امام * الى منع التحية والسلام *

Be mindful that among them is an Arab who with passion yearns, with thirst and torment burns, one quick to make love and quick to lay, to devour with kisses and engage in play, energetic in bed and nimble, ever ready to hunt the thimble. With what can we flatter you, when haughtily you turn aside your eyes, with what entice you, when you treat our words as lies? Are you not aware that not only do we seek your kindnesses but also that of your kind we’ve known our share? How many a headstrong woman we’ve been able to pacify! How many a willful woman we’ve known how to gratify! How many a disdainful one have we bent to our will! To how many a love-hungry one have we given her fill! How many a bolter have we given reason to pause! To how many a love-sick complainer have we given cause! How many a prude have we, to their satisfaction, screwed! How many an obdurate woman has sung our praises while homeward bound, returning later for a second round! Let not your stately stature seduce you into being stiff, your wide eyes into staying aloof, your swanlike neck into churlish demurral, into denying your fate that auburn curl, your gap-teeth into a refusal of men’s due, into contempt for lucre your cheeks’ rosy hue, your swelling breasts into pride and vanity, your firmness of skin into voracity and avidity, the curves of your hips⁸³ into a pursing of lips! Let not firmness of calf tempt you to haughtiness in the form of an expression of half-hearted disdain for a peek-sneaker or love-sick swain—an expression that closes said calves tight and wraps itself around them to keep them out of sight, or envelops them despite their plumpness and spares their down from any shearing or peeling, any shaving or plucking, or from touching the ceiling! Let not what sticks out behind make you to proper respect be blind, or what lifts your bosom’s sheeting into refusing salutation or greeting!

4.5.10

ان لدينا من المِزْر والفُقّاع * ما يروى كل مَقّاع * ويسكر كل ذات قناع * ومن الشِوآ * ما يزيل الخَوآ * ومن الدينار * ما ينفث فى عقد الازار * فيحلها حلّا * ويبلّها بلّا * فمن البلّ بَلَل * ومن الحَلّ حُلَل * فبحق من اولاك هذه المحاسن * فتنة كل سامع ومعاين * الّا ما احسنت فى عشاقك الظنّ * واقللت لهم من هذا التزليق والفَتْن * فكلهم الى وصالك حنّ * ومن صلفك اَنّ *

We have enough shandy and champagne every thirsty drinker to inebriate, every veiled lady to intoxicate, enough meat from the grill every empty belly to fill, enough coin to blow the knots of every lady’s waist wrapper from off her groin and undo them utterly and moisten them mightily—and with moistening comes munificence, with undoing, dresses.⁸⁴ By Him who conferred on you a charm that all who hear and see you must disarm, think kindly of your suitors and give them fewer angry looks and such disdain, for each yearns your lover to be and each at your harsh words has moaned in pain!

4.5.11

وبعدُ * فان هى الّا مرّة * فان احمدت اللقآ فاجعليها عادة وانت على كل حال حرّة * والا فما اكثر طرق هذه المدينة وما اطولها * وما اوفر القادمين اليها * وما اوسع حوانيتها وساحاتها * وندحاتها وباحاتها * وحدائقها وغياضها * ومماشيها ورياضها * وما ابهج ملاهيها وملاعبها * واجرى عجلاتها ومراكبها * وما ارحب كنائسها * وما احفل مجالسها * وما اعمر مساكنها * وامخر سفائنها * فاجر^١ فيها حيث يعجبك من هنا ومن هنا * كل امرء يسعى ليدرك الهنا *

١ ١٨٥٥: فاجرى.

To proceed: I’m talking about just one time, though if you find the encounter agreeable, you can make it habitual. In any case, you’re free to do as you please, and if you don’t—how many and long are this city’s roads, how many those who make their way there, how many a spacious shop it contains, how many a square, how many an open space and lake, garden and wood, pathway and park! How splendid are its places of entertainment and its pleasure grounds! What a stream of carriages it has and how its traffic abounds! How vast its churches and well-attended its councils! How prosperous its dwellings and stately its vessels! Run about in it wherever you wish: all men strive in pursuit of bliss.