بعيد وأنت تعلم ما نظرة صاحب الحان وأنا أعلم ما بك من القلة وأن ليس في يدك ما يرضيه فيأخذ يذكرها بالعهد القديم والحب الصميم وليالي الصفاء وأيام الوفاء وما جرى فيها من لطائف النوادر ومحاسن الآثار فتلطمه على وجهه لكمة المعلم المؤدب وتقول له: دع الذكر تلك الليالي والايام الخوالي فقد مرت بآثارها ولم يبق غير أخبارها وأنا أقص عليك عبرة من العبرة وحكمة من احكم , قصة الاضراس التي هي أساس عندنا في صناعتنا وقاعدة في فننا:
When the requests came to an end, the assistant was standing at a distance where she could see him. He kept gesturing at her, sometimes with his eyebrows, at others with the tip of his tongue. She was about to get up, and that flummoxed the provincial offical. She gave him a playful slap on the neck and jokingly cursed his father to compensate for her departure. Everyone smiled at her as she slunk her way over to the place where her assistant had pointed. She joined a group to our right and spoke to the young man who had lost his money and forfeited his honor because of his passion for her. “What do you want with me?” she asked. “Why have you called me over and made me give up my seat?” The poor man had no idea what to say in reply. Feeling crushed, he tried to make amends by saying, “I just wanted to let you know how things stand between me and the lawyer regarding your case. We’ve reached a favorable conclusion to the matter. Won’t you sit down for a moment and let me explain things to you and give you some peace of mind?” “Forget about money and peace of mind!” she told him. “Let me take care of my own interests and do what I have to do. The Proprietor’s looking at me from over there, and you know what that means. I know how poor you are now; you don’t have enough to satisfy him.” He now began to remind her of their long acquaintance and their former love affair, the serene nights and earnest days they had spent together, and the beautiful memories and happy times they had shared. At that, she slapped his face like a school teacher. “Those days and nights of old are long past,” she told him. “All that remains are the tales they tell. Instead let me tell you a cautionary tale with a message. It’s the Tale of the Teeth, one that provides the basic framework in which women such as myself operate and the foundation of our craft:
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«زعموا ان شابًا كان يهوى غادة منا وتهواه فعاشا تحت جناح الهوى والحب زمنًا سعيدًا ثم طرأ على الشاب سفر يبعده عنها فجاء في يوم التوديع يسكب الدموع ويصعد الزفرات ولما انتهت من البكاء معه وحانت ساعة الفراق طلبت شيئًا منه تتذكره به مدة غيبته وتستنشق منه ريحه فقال لها: ما عندي شيء ألصق بجسمي وأعز على نفسي من ضرسي وعمد الى ضرسه فانتزعه واقتلعه غير مبال بشدة الألم ثم ناولها اياه وتزود بآخر زاد منها وسافر ومضت بعد ذلك الليالي والايام وآب الغائب من سفره وقد بلغها رقة حاله ونفاد ماله فلما طرق بابها تنكرت له وأنكرته فقال: أنا فلان فقالت: ومن فلان؟ قال: صاحب العشرة القديمة قالت: كل الناس عاشر وفارق فأيهم أنت؟ قال أنا صاحب الضرس قالت ألك عندي ضرس؟ قال: نعم قالت: فادخل فدخل فأخرجت له من صندوقها علبة فتحتها فاذا هي ملآى بالاضراس وقالت له: ان كنت تعرف ضرسك بين هذه الاضراس عرفتك هذه حالنا فاعلمنها وأسعد الله مصبحك وممساك.»
“They tell the tale of a boy who loved a girl as much as she loved him. Under love’s wing they spent a happy time together. Then the boy had to leave on an unexpected journey that carried him far away from her in quest of money. On the farewell day the boy arrived with tears and sobs. When she had stopped sharing his tears and it was time for him to depart, she asked him to leave her a memento to remind her of him during his absence and give her a hint of his scent. ‘I have nothing that is part of my very body and more precious to me than my own tooth.’ With that, he extracted one of his teeth without flinching at the intense pain and handed it to her. Taking his final leave of her, he departed. Days and nights went by, and then the absentee returned from his journey. The girl had heard that he was emaciated and had no money left. Thus, when he knocked on her door, she would not let him in and claimed not to know him. ‘But I’m A!’ he told her. ‘And who is that?’ she replied. ‘I’m your old beloved,’ he told her, to which she responded that everyone is a friend for a while, then leaves. ‘Which one are you?’ she asked. ‘I’m the one with the tooth!’ he told her. ‘Do I have a tooth of yours?’ she asked him. ‘Yes, you do,’ he replied. ‘Then come in,’ she said. He went in, and she produced a small case from her box and opened it. It was full of teeth. ‘If you can recognize your tooth among that lot,’ she told him, ‘then I’ll know who you are.’ So that’s the way we are. Learn the lesson, and may God bring you happiness morning and evening!”
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ثم تتركه وتذهب الى ذلك الشيخ فيقوم لها واقفًا ويبدي لها نواجذه في ابتسامة السرور بحضورها فتجلس معه ولغلام فوق رأسها فتقول له: دعنا الآن فليس صاحبنا بغريب فاذا ذهب قال الشيخ: لقد احضر تلك الازرار التي طلبتها مني وهي ستة واستحسنت أن تكون من المجرات لا من الجنيهات لان عيار هذه أدنى من عيار تلك فتضحك في وجهه وتمد يدها تخرجها من جيبه ثم تقوم باسمة ويقيم الشيخ في ابتهاج وصفاء كأنما قعد منها تحت موعد اللقاء وتذهب لتنصب على سواه شباكها وترمي للصيد أشراكها.
With that, she left him and went over to the Shaykh. He stood up to greet her with a gleaming smile. As she sat down beside him, the hall waiter was standing right behind her. “Forget that for now,” she told him. “This gentleman’s no stranger.” Once the waiter had left, the Shaykh told her he was bringing the buttons she had asked for. There were six of them; and fortunately they were of better weight than monetary pounds because the latter was less valuable than the former. She laughed at him and stretched out her hand to take them out of his pocket. She got up with a smile, and the Shaykh seemed serenely happy as though there was to be a rendezvous. She went away to work her wiles and cast her net over someone else.
مصباح