On one such occasion Halima asked Miriam if she could join the hunters in the bush, but Miriam thought the journey too dangerous for a girl. She told her to join Adi, instead, who was planning to go to the livestock island for poultry and eggs.
Adi seated Halima in the boat and set off rowing down the canal in the hunters’ wake. Somewhere at the canal’s midpoint he veered off into a tributary and with steady oar strokes began to approach the island where they kept the domesticated and farm animals.
It was a spectacular morning. The sun had not yet reached the valley, but its rays were already gilding the mountain slopes and snow-covered peaks. Hundreds of birds chirped and sang. Others splashed themselves in the water, took flight, and dived for fish. Tall reeds grew up against the shore, as did irises and water lilies. A silver heron stood in water up to its belly and poked its long beak at the bottom. When it saw the boat peacefully gliding over the water’s surface, it straightened up proudly. Bristling its crest, it magisterially lifted its legs out of the water and headed toward the shore.
Halima gazed after it in sheer delight.
“It’s not afraid,” she said, “just angry that we’ve interrupted its breakfast.”
“Yes, all of the animals we keep in the gardens are as good as tame,” Adi agreed. “No one does them any harm.”
They came alongside the heron, but the bird ignored them as it calmly groomed itself with its beak.
Here and there a fish glinted as it snapped at a fly. Dragonflies stirred and darted over the water’s surface. Despite all this animation, the entire scene had something solemn about it.
“How beautiful all this is!” Halima exclaimed.
“Yes, it’s pretty,” Adi said dully. “But freedom is far more beautiful.”
Halima was puzzled.
“Freedom, you said? Aren’t we living in freedom here?”
“You don’t understand because you’re a woman. I’m telling you, a jackal starving in the desert is happier than a well-fed lion in a cage.”
Halima shook her head, not understanding.
“Are we in a cage?” she asked.
Adi smiled.
“I was just talking,” he said. “Let’s forget about it now. We’re there.”
The boat brushed up against the shore and they stepped out onto dry land. A barely discernible footpath led through the thick undergrowth of willows and poplars. They reached a rocky ridge where a variety of strange grasses and rare flowers grew. Then they headed across a broad meadow that ended in a coppice of trees from which crowing, squealing and wild snarling sounds seemed to emanate.
Halima timidly took hold of Adi’s hand. At the edge of the coppice she could see large cages with fluttering birds and pacing animals. When they drew close, some of the birds started flying at the bars in panic, and two large wild leopards charged at them with a furious snort.
This left Halima shaking. Adi set down the big basket he had brought along and began feeding the beasts. Gradually the animals calmed down, each one consuming its food.
“Normally Moad and Mustafa take care of this,” Adi said. “But they’ve gone hunting today, so the work has fallen to me.”
Hidden behind some shrubs was a long, low-slung coop for poultry. Adi crawled into it and began collecting eggs and putting them into a small basket.
“Now go away from here,” he said, smiling awkwardly. “I’ve got some work to do that you shouldn’t see.”
Halima hurried away toward the cages. In the meantime Adi strangled several chickens, ducks and geese. The shrieking of the birds struck Halima to the marrow. In terrible fright she clasped her hands to her ears.
Adi came back from the henhouse. He threw a rag over the dead fowl and then showed Halima some of the animals.
“If those two leopards were free like Ahriman, they’d tear me to pieces, wouldn’t they?” Halima wondered aloud.
“Maybe. Or they might run away. Leopards are afraid of people.”
“Then why do you keep them in cages?”
“Sayyiduna needs them for their offspring. They’re mates, and Sayyiduna wants us to raise him some hunting animals. He has lots of friends who are princes, and those are the people he’ll give them to.”
“Is it true that young leopards are like kittens?”
“Yes, it is. Only they’re cuter and a lot funnier.”
“I’d like to have one.”
“If you’re good, I’ll bring you one to keep while he’s still young.”
“Do you really think Sayyiduna would allow it?”
Adi smiled.
“You have powerful friends.”
Halima blushed. She knew that he meant Miriam.
“Why does Apama hate you?” she asked.
“Oh, she hates the whole world. She fears Sayyiduna, though. But she especially hates me because once I… how can I say this.”
“Tell me, Adi, tell me!”
“It’s stupid. Only please, don’t blab to anyone about this. You see, when Apama first came to the gardens she would constantly drop hints about how she and Sayyiduna had been close years before, and how he had given her his heart in Kabul. She wanted to make it clear to us that, now that Sayyiduna had become powerful, he had summoned her to the castle for those same reasons. She behaved arrogantly, dressed up in silks, decked herself out in jewelry, painted her face, walked around with this mysterious smile, and constantly sneered at everybody else. Even me, who had known Sayyiduna since his days in Egypt, when I guarded him from his enemies with my own body. Completely by accident I caught her one day in the midst of some very human business. She was even more ludicrous and repulsive than usual. I burst out laughing, and from that moment not a day has passed that she hasn’t cursed me to no end. She suspects that I revealed her shame to the others, so it would suit her fine if we all dropped dead. And if she weren’t so afraid of Sayyiduna, she’d have poisoned us all by now.”
“Is she really so mean?”
“She’s mean because she’s a slave to her arrogance, even though she suffers so much. She doesn’t want to be old, but she knows she is.”
They walked still farther into the woods, where they came upon a cage of monkeys. Halima shouted with joy as she watched them chase each other across the bars, swing on ropes, perform gymnastics, and pinch each other.
“We used to have a bear too,” Adi said. “But he ate too much, so Sayyiduna ordered us to kill him. We also have some cattle, a she-camel, four horses and several donkeys on the island. And we have the only dogs and cats. But nobody can come to our island except us. That’s Apama’s doing, through Sayyiduna.”
“Does Sayyiduna ever visit the gardens?”
“I can’t tell you that, dear child.”
“I want to know what he’s like.”
“He’s hard to describe. He has a beard and he’s a very powerful man.”
“Is he handsome?”
Adi laughed.
“I never thought about it, little cat’s paw. He’s not ugly, for sure. I’d be more inclined to call him awe-inspiring.”
“Is he tall?”
“I wouldn’t say so. He’s at least a head shorter than me.”
“Then he must be very strong.”
“I don’t think so. You could probably flatten him with one arm.”
“Then how can he be so awe-inspiring? Does he have a big army?”
“Not particularly. But even in Egypt, where he was all alone and a foreigner, he inspired so much fear that the caliph ordered him arrested one night and put on a boat that took him out of the country. His enemies could have murdered him, but they didn’t dare.”