One Hundred and One Salhinid Tales

[magical girl salhin]

XC

THE KING AND HIS CITY

Once upon a time, in a faraway ring, when the City of Rings was yet young and much was good, there lived a man in a garden of eryngium. A faithful and loyal man, he tended to the flowers and was obedient to the King's laws, and as the years went by he was diligent in ensuring that he broke none of them. Yet, as years turned to decades, he found himself assailed by misfortune. His daughter fell ill. His wife died in childbirth. Crops failed some seasons, and his people went hungry. Finally, there came upon his people a plague, and he wept as his people died. Steadying his nerves, the man stared off into the King's Keep, and began to walk.

On and on the man walked, through ring after ring he went, bearing an earnest wish. The peoples were moved by his pleas, for the world was yet young then, and such sorrow sullied the city and startled those who would hear of them. A thousand thousand rings went by, until finally the man knelt before the King.

There, the man said - "Why, oh King, why are much of your rings so splendid and joyous, but mine was plagued by sorrow and grief?"

The King replied - "Would you prefer to have not existed at all?"

At that, the man said - "No! I would prefer to live in a ring that was perfect and just!"

The King replied - "And I did make such a ring! I made a ring where all was perfect and just. I made a ring of my home. I made a ring where there were no diseases, and one where there was no pain. I made one where all was beauty, and another where magic was wanton and loved."

The man replied - "Could you not have made all rings just and perfect?"

The King explained - "I am the bearer of the crown and the master of the mists, and both the four corners of being and the passage of time are immaterial to me. Do you behold that I have two left hands? To have two rings that are the same is no different than to have one ring of the same to me."

The man responded - "Could you not have made a perfect ring and sullied it with only but the most minor of imperfections?"

The King's words were sorrowful - "I did, my child. I made a ring where there were no diseases, and another with only the gentlest of ill, and another where the ill was the greater, until there was another where there was great pain. I made a ring where magic was wanton and loved, and another where it was prone to whimsy, and yet another where it was wont to fail. And on and on until a thousand thousand rings have I made, and you yourself have beheld much of it."

The man wept - "Then why was mine so filled with pain and sorrow?"

The King's words held a divine apology - "Yours was at the very edge of my garden, where the imperfections came close to overcoming the perfections. And so, I ask again, would you prefer not to have existed at all?"

The man was wroth - "An apple that is rotten only on one half is still a rotten apple, my liege!"

The King thought on those words, and Despaired.

[magical girl salhin]

XCI

THE FUNERAL RITES OF MARIB I

It is said that when Marib I succumbed to mortality and left his mortal coil, his vizier and trusted retinue conveyed his funeral procession to the Sepulchre of Themselves. There, a somber Preparator of the Martyrs first barred its way.

Quoth the Preparator, "Who wishes to enter?"

Quoth the Vizier, "Marib I, the White Spear, Sovereign of Bayt al-Alsayf, Commander of the Faithful, Sultan of Baz'eel, Sultan of Qa'im, Protector of the Great Ash Desert!"

Quoth the Preparator, "We do not know this man."

Quoth the Vizier, "Marib I, champion of the Mother, named Caliph by B'aara herself, he who drove the idolaters from Bayt al-Sayf and who ended the apostasy of Mu'tasim, he who was gifted the White Spear and raised a hundred minarets in Baz'eel, and deepened the ken and knowing of who dwell in Qa'im!"

Quoth the Preparator, "We do not know this man."

Quoth the Vizier, "Marib I, husband to a mourning wife, father to grieving children, and he himself a son of the Wheel."

Quoth the Preparator, "This man we know, and we invite him into the shelter of the Martyrs, where we shall hold vigil until the last dusk."

And so did his funeral procession continue, until he was interred in the Mausoleum of the Summer Palace.

[magical girl salhin]

XCII

THE BOOK OF AGES

It is said that there resides in the cornerstone of creation a book of ages, one which records the deeds and words of all beings who had ever lived and would ever live upon the Disc, even if they have yet to do the deed or say the word.

Once, in the Grand Academy of Baz'eel, a student asked a Murshid if such a book could really exist, and whether knowing that it exist or what is writ in it, a person might deliberately decide not to act as written, and therefore despoil the the veracity if such a book. Or otherwise, if not, then whether the person can be truly said to be free to act or say as he wills it.

Quoth the student, "And if a man already knows everything that they would ever do or ever say, what then is the point of doing or saying it at all?"

After some thought, quoth the Murshid, "There may well be a performative quality to life itself which obliges you to do or say that which you know you would already do or say. After all, consider a wedding. We all know the words that the bridegroom would say, and once the wedding banquet has been planned all that remains is to feast and be merry. All who are present, by tradition and custom, already know what will be done and what will be said. And yet, it is not enough to merely know. The deeds must still be done and the words must still be said."

Quoth the student, "Do you believe that such a book exists, then?"

Quoth the Murshid, "If it does, then its author must be perhaps the most miserable person in all of creation."

[magical girl salhin]

XCIII

DEATH COMES FOR THE MERCHANT

There lived a puissant merchant in Baz'eel who sat one day in his gilded chambers when he saw enter by the gate of his hall a man of forbidding aspect and a horrible presence. The merchant was frightened by the intrusion and the look terrified him, and so he sprang to his feet and exclaimed, "Who are you, o man? Who gave you leave to come and go in my abode as you please, and who invited you to enter my house?"

Quoth the stranger, "For you, o man, Kalim and Gamil have forbeared with the coming of the Hot Flames, as hardships turn to end. Verily neither the lord of the house need send for me, nor can any doorkeeper exclude me, nor need I leave to enter. I am he from whom no tyrant is at rest, nor can any man escape my grasp, for I am the destroyer of delights and the sunderer of societies, for I am Death."

Quoth the merchant, paling, "I conjure you, grant me a day's respite, that I may be to the Forum of the Limpid Pools, and beg for resolution and absolution from the Mother before I come with you, and restore to their rightful owners the dinars which are in my treasures, so I need not be burdened with the woe of their reckoning."

Quoth Death, "No man chooses his appointed time, and so all men must decide when their good and evil be done. If there be absolution from the Mother you needed to seek, perhaps you ought to have sought them earlier."

Quoth the merchant, begging, "A hundred thousand dinars, a thousand thousand dinars, I grant you, or I grant in charity to those in need, please, for I am wealthy, and I am great, and I can do much good with but a mere hour!"

Quoth Death, "No man chooses his appointed time, and so all men must decide when their good and evil be done. If those dinars you had to give, perhaps you ought to have given them earlier."

Quoth the merchant, wailing, "A minute, a minute, I beg you, a minute that I may say farewell to my children and farewell to my wife, for they I love dearly and had not spent enough time with, for so much of my hours had I spent in making dinars!"

Quoth Death, "No man chooses his appointed time, and so all men must decide when their good and evil be done. If your children and your wife you had loved so dearly, perhaps you ought to have spent time with them earlier."

Quoth the merchant, "Puissant am I, influential, with guilds of assassins and many debts owed to me and emirs who would bow to me and vaults of treasures so vast as to raise cities! Let me take them with me, so that I may beg for favors in my thereafter!"

Quoth Death, "You shall take with you nothing. You shall leave behind everything."

Then Death seized the merchant's soul, and the merchant fell from his divan and onto the earth dead, and there arose a great weeping and keening from him as he was taken.

[magical girl salhin]

XCIV

THE WICKED EMIR AND THE MENDICANT

A wicked emir of profane heresies in supplication of the demon Pra'raj was once minded to ride out in state with the officers of his realm and his beys and his legions and the grandees of his retinue and to display to the folk the marvels of his magnificence. So he ordered his keeper of the wardrobe to bring him the richest of raiment, and bade them bring his white steed and with rubies and all manner of jewels, mounted horse and set forth, making his destrier prance and curvet amongst his troops and glorying in his pride.

Quoth the emir, "Who amongst men is like unto me? With a word I can slay and with another I can ruin. All the dinars of this city are mine to command and neither merchant nor priest nor foe would dare heed me not. All will kneel, and behold my glory, and despair!"

Great was his pride and arrogance, so puffed with self-sufficiency, so taken he was with the thought of his own splendour and magnificence, that he could not care to glance at any man. Until, that is, a man of forbidding aspect laid hold of his horse's bridle, and halted him and his procession, and said, "I have a need of you, o man."

Quoth the emir, outraged, "Guards! To me! Stop this man! What do you want with me?"

But not one of his men moved, not one of the crowd spoke, and not a beat passed in time. Instead, quoth the man, "I am Death, and Kamil and Galim have ceased their contest of me for you, and so as we near the end of the times of hardship I must tell you now that your appointed time is here."

Quoth the emir in reply, suddenly pale and woeful, "Have patience with me a little, whilst I return to my home and take leave of my people, and set my affairs in order, and see my children and my wife."

Quoth Death, "By no means so. You shall never return nor look at them again. Your fated term of life is past." And so saying, Death did take the emir into Urazzir's mercy.

Presently, Death came upon a mendicant, a bedraggled devotee of the Wheel, who had nothing and wielded nothing and aided where he could and gave away all he had. Before Death had even reached him, the mendicant had looked upon him and offered his aid, and so was told, "I am Death, and Kamil and Galim have ceased their contest of me for you. If you have any business, make an end of it."

Quoth the mendicant, "There is nothing so urgent as to withhold me from the Mother Most High and my Gods, but would you permit me a moment to make ablution and prayers, for I am bedraggled and fear that my unwashed state would disrespect them?"

Quoth Death, "Verily, the Mother had commanded that I not take you save at the end of your affair, so you should do as you will."

And the mendicant made ablution and prayed, and greeted Death as an old friend, such that when the time came he joined with the Pilgrim from the mists to make a garden of the Desert once more.

[magical girl salhin]

XCV

THE SINKING OF THE DOME

A certain duke had heaped up ducats beyond core and gathered stores of precious things, from the glimmer-pearls of Al-Nafayya to treasures from distant Banafsi. That he may display his might and marvel, he had his citizenry raise many glittering buildings and vast domes, grand theatres and capacious libraries, even as many his own peoples dwelled in humbles within which they could but eek a living off eels and blubber.

That he may take his pleasure and leisure to enjoy all his abounding wealth he had raised a great palace within which his council sat, and he had set thereto strong doors and appointed for its service and its guards, servants and soldiers and doorkeepers and mercenaries to watch and ward. These he paid marvelously and he demanded that they come to his city and with heavy cannons and the weight of armies vouchsafe his timid safety.

On a certain day, he bade his servants dress him and his cooks prepare lavishly a banquet, and he assembled his household and retainers and boon-companions to partake of his bounty. Then he sat upon his plush divan and said, "Oh, here I have gathered all the wealth and power of the world, and so take my leisure and dine at ease, in long life and prosperity ever!"

It is said that on that day when the Wheel turns and the time of hardship moves inexorably to Allahab Alsaakhin, it would come to be that a man clad in tattered raiment would knock upon the gates of the duke's palace. And the duke's servants were in disbelief as they rushed to the man, for the guards had not warded him off at all, "Woe to you! What manner of savage are you to blight the duke's hall so without invite or welcome?"

Quoth the man, "I am Death. I need neither invite nor welcome." With those words, he entered, and neither blade nor sorcery, nor locked doors nor guards nor mercenaries, could halt it.

Quoth the duke, "Away, away, you! Take another in substitute!"

Quoth Death, "Verily, then, I shall take your city as substitute." And with those words erupted the city's bladders, and so weighed was it by hubris and its glittering buildings, its vast domes and its grand theatres, its capacious libraries and its heavy cannons, that the city sank and sank and sank into the Great Sea, until all its peoples must scramble and flee and the duke himself was seized with despair; for he knew that this day was inevitable with the turning of the Wheel, he knew that his wealth ought to have bettered his people and secured his city and not himself, but he had permitted it to rot, when it was an end he could have otherwise forestalled had he spent his wealth and treasures upon the woes of his people.

[magical girl salhin]

XCVI

THE FALSE WITNESSES

In times of yore in an age before furtive silence, a pious woman was amongst the garden of Baz'eel, and she was pious and devout and she used to go out to pray at the Meidān. Presently there were two men who were the garden's keepers, and they envied her and loved her, for she beheld the Caliph's ears, and they sought her favors but she refused.

Quoth they then to her, "Unless you yield to us our demands, we will bear witness against you for blasphemy and ill-counsel."

Quoth she, "The truth will preserve me whereby your lies designed to persecute me will condemn you."

Thereafter they make public their reproach and bring charges to the Janissaries and rallied the peoples against the pious woman in righteous indignation. And they made for her a pyre of immolation and demanded her execution. It came to be then that a young boy of the tribe of Salhin passed by, no later in age than a score's year, and he said to them, "Hasten not to judge her until I have spoken to you each."

Quoth the boy to the first of the men, "In what part of the garden did you behold her blasphemy?" And he answered, "On the eastern side, under a pear-tree."

Quoth the boy to the second of the men, "In what part of the garden did you behold her blasphemy?" And he answered, "On the western side, near a banana-tree."

So it came to be that the boy spoke ardently for her, but the men are cruel and callous, and the Janissaries were bribed by the men to corrupt and ill counsel, and refused to step aside or forbear her execution.

And meanwhile the pious woman implored of the Wheel its judgment and lo, for the Martyrs stood aside and the Wroth brought down leven-fire upon the men and consumed them, and on this wise made manifest the innocence of the woman.

[magical girl salhin]

XCVII

CHARITY IN THE TRIBE OF SALHIN

There are many tales as to how the tribe of Salhin came to place such a great emphasis on charity. One of these tales claimed that in the earlier days when the tribe was yet young and the tenets of the Wheel were not well-understood, there was much discussion about that of the Mother's and the Wyld's and Martyr's and other Spokes yet, of aiding the weak and quenching the thirsty, of giving shelter to the impoverished and sacrificing in need.

One of al-Na's students was said to have said thus: "Imagine if you should find a child of your tribe drowning in an oasis, and yet you have but recently defrayed for fresh raiments that had cost you a gleaming dinar or two. Would you refrain from saving her simply because you are afraid of despoiling your clothes? Certainly, it would be monstrous and vile and wicked of you to have permitted another to die for a dinar or two."

Continued al-Na's student, "And yet, if we agree that the child's life is worth more than a dinar or two, then we must imagine that there are children aplenty in the Desert and our cities that would benefit greatly from a dinar or two. If we choose to spend the dinar in any other way but charity, then we are hardly making a different choice than if we had seen the drowning child and decided that preventing the sullying of our raiment was more important than saving her life."

Considering the many gleaming golden minarets of Baz'eel and the wondrous wealth of the Caliphate, the student's theory was not at all a very popular one. For some, the psychological barrier of lending aid to an unseen and faceless victim of the vicissitudes of fortune is simply too great, while others contended that there is a distinction between what is right to be done and what a person cannot reasonably be denounced for doing. Simply, while it is true that there may be some obligation to save the child if one is by one's lonesome, if there is a whole Caliphate worth of people who could have saved the child instead, then some would argue that others should have went ahead and done it instead of waiting for them first. And so, no one acted, and children continued to perish from the first dawn to the last dusk.

Quoth al-Na's student, "We enslave our children's children when we make compromise with sin, and we will answer to our Mother and to the Gods when we are held accountable with the turning of the Wheel."

Quoth another of al-Na's students, "We are not making compromises with sin, we are just trying to live a life where we are less than maximally saintly sometimes."

Quoth al-Na's student, "What do you think a compromise with sin is?"

[magical girl salhin]

XCVIII

TRUISMS OF THE WHEEL

It is said that the Wheel and the Cosmos are one and the same, and that there is an endless state of return. What has departed shall come again, and that which seems to last an age is in truth delicate and fleeting.

The Wheel describes deep grooves into the stars, and this is what is known as time. All the branches of the tree of knowledge are held in these depressions, from history to mathematics, from architecture to astronomy, from sorcery to thaumaturgy. In here also resides all the living and the dead and those unborn who are yet to arrive into the word. These depressions, writ as they are into the unbound cosmos, come loose from the pressed fabric of creation and wrap tightly around the Wheel, which is why, "We follow in the Path of the Wheel."

Just as there are Nine Spokes in the Wheel, so too are there Four Ages within it. Each has come before and assuredly each shall come again.

In the first age and the first quarter, the age of birth that is Eumar Almilad, all new things are created. Where before was a void, which brooks no life to exist within its boundary, then the garden blooms into being as the Wheel begins its journey across the firmament. In its path follow the material of the budding world, from the sun to the moon to the sky to waters to ash and to life, and for a time we mingle with the Gods in their garden.

In the second age and the second quarter, the time of learning that is Waqt Almadrasa, the Gods and the Peoples are in communion. The Gods teach us to stand alone and bestow upon us the Knowledge, and we reach for the greatest glories and make marvels upon this world. Here is when we etch the first cuneiforms of creation and raised the first minarets to touch the firmaments themselves, and when we danced and made merriment in a garden that was just and perfect, when wonderment upon wonderment reached us all. This is the age of the greatest glories, and all exists in peace.

In the third age and the third quarter, the time of hardships that is our present age of Waqt Almashaqa. Here, the Wheel has departed upon its journey through the heavens and we are left alone, and the Gods have retreated to the Celestial Wheel as they await our return. This is a time of strife, and many forget the wisdom of the Wheel and turn to false knowledge, but lo, for we are the faithful of the Wheel, we are the children of the Wheel, and we say that we follow in the path of the Wheel and know its wisdom for our own. And so we share of its wisdom, that the garden may come to bloom again.

In the fourth age and the fourth quarter, the Hot Flame that is Allahab Alsaakhin, and the age that is so close we can see its sparks. This is a cursed time of violence and death, when the Fire That bleaches is kindled in the sky, and the Wheel is burned by its heat. Then it turns towards the world, and all life is consumed by this terrible power. We can only pray that we do not see its sparks, but now that we have beheld them, we can only pray that we shall yet endure to see the garden bloom once more.

[magical girl salhin]

XCIX

THE MYTH OF ALLAHAB ALSAAKHIN

It is said that at the end of a thousand thousand winters will come the final renovation of creation when we are repaired to our last revolution. We will know that the Allahab Alsaakhin draws near with the onrush of the ages when we witness its sparks.

The Fire that Bleaches will burn the brighter a-kindled; the year, the month, the day will become harsher; the earth more barren, and crops will cease to yield their seeds. Men will become more cruel and callous, more deceitful and given to profane practices, and gratitude will ebb quicker to harshness. Honorable wealth will proceed those of perverted faith and corrupt intentions, while the pure will be persecuted and the righteous forced to bear arm and shield. The cornerstone of our creation will be bubonic with the pus of the tormented, and the firmaments will rain more noxious creatures than water. False prophets will reach for the stars and find only corruption and a sanguine plague, and will find no salvation but the calamity of a thousand Bright Darisbis. In the consummation of the Waqt Almashaqa will the tree of eskhatos burn and all chains be broken and all walls will fall.

The Pilgrim will arrive at the van of a host, and the Quest will reach its ecstatic climax. We will know them for they will be ever-thriving and bring benefit to all humanity, a member of an endless community and embodying righteousness. The righteous will be in their host, and will partake of the parahaoma which will confer upon them a greatness. Thereafter will the righteous be like amesha, without need for food, without hunger or thirst, without need for weapons or care for bodily injuries, and the substance of being will be so light as the mists that the sun cannot burn it nor will it cast shadow, and the righteous will be immortal. The righteous dead will return as shaped by the mists. All the compasses of the world will point to Phor Unmoving. All the righteous will be of a single nation and a single purpose, to enact the restoration of a world at the final turn of the Wheel.

A battle between the righteous and the wicked will tear asunder the kingdoms of the earth. Bronze and silver will be melted in the hills and the mountains and the walls, and the molten metal will flow across the earth as a burning Edutu. All will wade through that molten river and the pure will discard their passions and the river will seem like but warm milk while the impure and corrupt will be annihilated. All the impurities of the world, its injustices and evils, will be given recompense and made wonderful. The daimon of our creation will be refined and smelted through a final eskhatos, where the Wheel and creation and all of its children will be in perfect unity, joining in divine exaltation.

And at last there will be no hunger or war, or jealousy or rivalry, for good will be plentiful and all delicacies as ash, and the entire occupation of the peoples will be made pure, and they will perceive the esoteric truths and comprehend the Knowledge of creation, for from the Cup there will be a drop and the drop will cover the world as the waters cover the sea.

[magical girl salhin]

C

THE KING AND THE INFANT BABE

Once upon a time, in a faraway ring, there was an infant child who died during her own birth. Her mother was claimed by Death along with her, and her family wailed and lamented and blamed her for her mother's demise. When Death came to claim her, she did not go with Death, and Death did not force the issue. Instead, the spirit of the infant child went to the King's Keep.

Quoth the King, "I have no answer for you. You have done no wrong, and there are no justifications for why the evil of your death exists in this CIty of my making."

And so the King thought of the infant child, and Despaired, and there came the Nothing, and the King died and the City too began to die.

[magical girl salhin]

CI

THE PILGRIM AND THE CUP

Once upon a time in the days of yore long gone, there was an oracle.

And the oracle said:

"There will be a Pilgrim,

There will be a Cup,

And they will find one another,

And from the Cup there shall be a drop,

And from that drop our desert will bloom anew as a garden."

[magical girl salhin]

A public copy of the One Hundred and One Salhinid Tales compiled into a single volume is below:

One Hundred and One Salhinid Tales

[close]

Hereafter there may be the Supplemental Tales, added when and as the authoress deems suitable!