The evil hakim, who plumbed the mysteries of the heart with the changing pulse, cured her.

The beautiful but low-born girl the king had sighted in the merchant caravan and fallen in love with had been procured. The girl was conducted to the royal tent by the maids even as the scribe began writing out the contract for concubinage in the menials’ tent at the camp’s far end. By the time it was morning the king had called off the hunt and ordered his entourage’s return to the palace.

The queen had heard of the incident. One of the king’s aides who was conspiring with her to have the heir apparent given into his guardianship had sent her word at the palace that the king had not been himself since he first set eyes on the girl.

The king canceled the brief audience the queen had planned at the palace to celebrate his safe return, and spent the night with the girl.

The queen arranged for the girl to be presented before her in the morning, but learned that she had taken ill the previous night. The court physician was unable to diagnose her malady, and as her condition worsened, the king refused to leave her side, setting up quarters in her chamber.

The impulsiveness which had guided the king’s actions in the case of the girl could no longer be applauded as it began to interfere with the functions of the throne. The nobles consulted together and sent for a hakim renowned for his diagnosis of hidden illnesses.

The old hakim examined the girl, received a detailed diagnosis report from the court physician, and asked for a few minutes alone with her.

Explaining to the girl that the treatment of diseases was particular to the geographical region of one’s birth, he asked her about her life and the places where she had lived. Having found out that she had lived all her life in Samarqand, the hakim sent for the superintendent of taxes.

As the hakim took the girl’s pulse, he asked the tax inspector to recite from behind the curtain the names of all the towns and regions in Samarqand. The hakim next sent for the head of the royal spies. Again with his fingers on the girl’s pulse, the hakim asked the spy to recite the names of all the neighbourhoods and streets in a particular town.

Late that night a royal spy living as a farrier in a small town received urgent summons from the royal palace. He took leave of his family, certain the he would never see them again, and started on his journey with great trepidation, thinking that some conspiracy against the throne had been foiled and traced back to his region, and he was now to lose his head for his inability to sound the alert.

Imagine his relief when instead of the head of royal guards or the executioner he was met by a wizened hakim who only detained him for a half hour. Standing behind a curtain he was asked to recite from memory the names of the different streets of a town and the artisans, craftsmen and professions represented in a particular Samarqand bazaar. The hakim then dismissed him after asking for the name and confirming the details of a goldsmith who lived on a particular street.

Having diagnosed from her pallor that she suffered from loss of love, the hakim had got down to identifying the particulars of her beloved. Each time the girl’s pulse changed upon the mention of a particular name, the hakim noted it down, obtaining thus the name of the town, place and neighbourhood where lived the one she loved. And through the mention of the professions and the bazaar where they had their shops and manufactories he had learned that she was in love with a goldsmith who had a shop in a particular bazaar.

It was the turn of the goldsmith to be surprised when he received summons from the royal palace that his beloved had sent for him. What was even more surprising was that gifts from the king himself accompanied his beloved’s missive. He had passed his days in great sorrow and anxiety since hearing that the king had bought his beloved. He set out without a moment’s delay.

Upon arrival at the palace he was met by two nobles and an old hakim who arranged a meeting with his beloved. The girl learned that upon discovering of her love for the goldsmith the king had released her from concubinage. The young couple were married and given quarters in the royal palace. The goldsmith got a royal commission and the king settled a stipend on the two of them. The young couple’s joy knew no bounds. In just a few months the girl made a full recovery.

By an unfortunate chance the girl’s recovery coincided with the onset of a mysterious illness in the young goldsmith which affected his organs. His skin darkened and his body exuded a foetid odour. His loving wife attended to him in his illness but his condition did not improve. As it worsened she too began to avoid his company.

Life at the palace continued at its usual pace meanwhile. The queen’s attention had been occupied elsewhere as she had successfully conspired to have her confidant appointed the heir-apparent’s tutor. The court physician and the old hakim were often seen together, discussing medical matters, and talking in whispers.

Next week the goldsmith’s condition became critical and the old hakim paid him a visit.

Just at that hour the king was presented with a beautiful stallion by one of the nobles who had acquired it during a successful military campaign. To test the horse in the field the king announced a hunting expedition and the whole palace began ringing with the noisy preparations for the hunt.

The goldsmith died and was quietly buried in a grave outside the city walls a few hours before the hunting expedition left the palace.

Forty-one days later, when the king returned from the hunt the queen ordered a celebration in his honour. The king attended the celebration but later retired to his chamber where the girl he had seen and fallen in love with during another hunting expedition awaited him. She had a coquettish look in her eyes.

Author’s note: This is the fifteenth and the last piece in the Magic Lantern series of stories published here. These stories and others will be later published in the form of a novel.

Musharraf Ali Farooqi is an author, novelist and translator. He can be reached at www.mafarooqi.com

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