Kader Abdolah - The King

The girl pointed with her finger and said, ‘I’ve been here and I’ve walked on this bridge.’

The shah smiled. He didn’t want to say it, but he said it anyway: ‘You probably went to Paris with those men.’

‘No. I was alone, and that night I stood against this pole for a very long time.’

She’s not a spy, thought the shah. This girl just has a vivid imagination.

‘My girl, you intrigue us. You have so many lovely things in your head.’

‘And suddenly,’ she continued, ‘I heard voices as I stood there with my back against this telegraph pole.’

‘What kinds of voices?’ asked the shah, amused.

‘I pressed my ear against the pole and I could feel movement. Words and phrases being sent from the telegraph office,’ said the girl.

The shah ran his hand gently down her back and over her buttocks. The girl turned round quickly, pulled the shah’s hand towards her and said, ‘Shut your eyes.’

Obediently he closed his eyes. The girl began tapping into the palm of his hand with her finger.

‘Can you tell me what I tapped?’

Bewildered, the shah opened his eyes and looked at his palm.

‘Shut your eyes and I’ll do it again. Then you guess,’ said the girl once more.

‘We don’t know,’ said the shah.

‘“You are a lovely man” is what I tapped,’ said the girl with a smile. ‘In Morse code.’

The shah didn’t know how to respond. He kissed the girl on the mouth and silently gazed at her.

‘Why are you looking at me like that? What are you thinking?’ she said. She laid her head on his sturdy chest and began to sob quietly.

‘Why are you crying, my girl?’

‘You’re strong on the outside and soft on the inside. I have never seen such a charming man. When I’m with you I feel like a real princess. I can surrender to you completely, something I’ve never done with anyone else in my life.’

The shah was silent.

‘Say something. Why are you so quiet?’

‘We’re thinking about tomorrow,’ said the shah.

‘Me too. Tomorrow you’ll send me away.’

‘No, we don’t think so. Someone who has come so far can never go back.’

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘Nothing. Forget it,’ he said.

The shah put his arm round her and was silent once again.

‘You frighten me with your silences.’

‘There’s something about you that’s like trains, like light, like birds that sit high up on the telegraph wires. We like you.’

It was one of the rare times that the shah had told a woman he liked her. His own words moved him. He opened the drawer of his bedside table and took out a pomegranate-coloured velvet pouch. When the girl heard the jingling of the gold coins she sat straight up in bed and said, ‘What are you doing?’

The shah opened the pouch and placed the gold coins in the girl’s neckline. Taken by surprise she drew her hands up to her breasts and looked at the shah questioningly. He stroked her breasts, which now made a noise like gold coins.

He got out of bed and said, ‘Are you coming?’

‘Where?’

‘We’re sending you away.’

The girl was astonished. ‘Why are you sending me away? I thought I was allowed to stay.’

‘We’ve changed our mind.’

‘I want to sleep with you tonight.’

The shah hesitated. He looked at her.

‘Have I done something wrong?’ asked the girl.

While considering her question the shah opened his closet, reached into a small box and took out an old necklace of magnificent green stones from India. He fastened the necklace around the girl’s neck and said, ‘No, you haven’t done anything wrong.’

The shah left the room and rang his little bell.

‘Send her home!’ he said to the chamberlain, and he walked down the stairs and into the moonlit gardens.

Years later, just before his death, the shah remembered the girl. He heard the golden coins tinkling in her blouse and saw before him the brilliant necklace. These were the last things he remembered before taking leave of this life.

The vizier got in touch with the governmental representatives of Russia, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Italy, Holland, Belgium, France and England to enable the shah to travel to Europe. To his delight he received highly positive reactions from every country.

The Europeans had all read about the Persians in their history books. They knew the saying ‘the law of the Medes and the Persians’, and whenever they thought about Persia they thought of gold, flying carpets, mysterious kings, beautiful princesses, the Thousand and One Nights and caviar. But no one had ever seen a Persian king in the flesh before.

None of the books made any mention of a visit to a European country by a Persian king. Shah Naser was the first one to make such a journey, which accounted for the great enthusiasm among the European royal houses and presidential palaces. It was so heart-warming that the vizier could no longer keep the good news to himself. He had to tell the shah about the impressive reactions he had received.

‘The kings and presidents of the various countries of Europe convey their special greetings to Your Majesty and anxiously await the opportunity to welcome the shah of Persia.’

The shah was surprised, yet he played down the enthusiastic invitations and said with a smile, ‘The kings of the West probably think that the king of kings wants to come and admire their country. What they may not know is that we are merely the king of an endless parade of beggars.’

‘What you say is not true, Your Majesty. Your land is one of the most beautiful in the world. We also have affluent people, we have imposing cities, we have Isfahan, which is unique in its beauty. Your Majesty, we have the city of Shiraz, once the capital of the greatest empire on earth, we have mosques that are architectural wonders, we have insightful literature and hundreds of classical works, and our women are the most mysterious anywhere. We have carpets we can fly on. We have saffron, we have the most delicious tea in the world, we have our brilliant tales of the Thousand and One Nights and the beautiful royal peacocks. Our fame is legendary. You are the king of the descendants of the Medes and the Persians.’

The encouraging words of the vizier did the shah a great deal of good.

Gradually the journey took shape. First they would travel to Moscow via the Azerbaijan — Russian border, then cut straight across Europe to France, and from there go on by boat to England. After this lengthy state visit they would return home by way of a shorter route.

In an effort to dispel his doubts once and for all the shah consulted the Quran. He closed his eyes and turned to a random page. When he opened his eyes he saw with astonishment that God had given him just the right advice: the title of the surah that he had opened to was ‘The Romans’. It was a surah about the Persians who had once conquered the Byzantine Empire: ‘Have they not travelled on the earth and seen how the others before them had met their end?’ The shah kissed the Quran and joyfully pressed it to his bosom with both arms.

Reassured, the shah began to concentrate on his journey. He invited Pirnia, scion of a prominent business family, to come and talk with him. Pirnia had spent a few years in Vienna, and as a merchant he had travelled back and forth between Austria and Switzerland.

The day was pleasant and warm, and the shah sat on a couch in the shadow of the trees. The servant brought in a tray with a plate of lettuce and a small bowl of syrup on it. The shah loved fresh lettuce. He dipped the leaves in the syrup and stuffed them in his mouth. When he had eaten his lettuce the servant let him know that his guest had arrived.