Duel by magic. by Betty Chatterjee (best book club books of all time txt) 📕

dependent on Yufayyur’s grudging generosity, until he Anazar could come back and overpower him once and for all.

Luck was with him! Yufayyur drank his tea appreciatively and before falling into a deep, deep sleep murmured:

“Hm, Tamment you’ve finally learnt how to make a decent cup of tea!”

Then Anazar, after saying a fond farewell to Tamment and Tadefi, grabbed a knapsack with his few belongings and made his escape before Yufayyur could regain his senses.


Wandering in the desert from oasis to oasis he scraped a modest living bartering his charms against the evil eye and remedies for various trivial and less than trivial human ailments for board and lodging.

It was a pleasant and peaceful interlude, but after 7 times 7 days it was time to go home.


Arriving early one morning he tiptoed into his hovel and hugging his mother he said:
“Mum, from today on we’re going to be rich!”
“What did you say?”
“Mum, from today on we’re going to be rich! Just follow my instructions and our fortune will be made. Tomorrow morning as soon as you wake up, go out in the courtyard and you’ll find a superb black stallion complete with a silver studded bridle waiting just for you. Take the horse to market and sell it, but whatever else you do: don’t sell the bridle. Bring the bridle home because you’ll need it the day after tomorrow, because…”
"Because?"
"Because at nightfall the horse will be transformed into a man, return home, and the following day will turn himself back into a stallion again. Guess who the man is Mum."
Tadafi being a no nonsense down to earth type of woman snorted:
“ You, I suppose! Codswallop!”
"Go on Mum give it a try, please, please I beg you!"

How can any mother say no to her one and only son? So she gave it a try and it worked. Within a few minutes she had found a buyer for the horse who meekly accepted her refusal to sell the bridle.

Success breeds success so her morning trip to the market became part of her daily routine.

The only snag was that her flabbergasted clients began wondering how it was that their horses just disappeared into thin air the very day of their being purchased.

When Yufayyur got wind of these strange goings-on he put two and two together and made four; that pest Anazar was back in town.

So the following morning Yufayyur set off to market to buy one of the splendid black stallions that had become the talk of the town.

There in the middle of the market place surrounded by hordes of vendors selling everything from goats and chickens to dates and pomegranates stood Tadefi waiting confidently for someone to come along and buy the magnificent steed.

The wizard sidled up to her and said slyly.
"Morning Tadefi! Come up in the world have we?"
Then slowly and carefully he examined the stallion from all sides and angles before saying:
"I’ll take the horse and the bridle."
"Impossible, the bridle’s not for sale."
"How am I supposed to lead it home without a bridle?"
"No bridle!"
"Double the money if you give me the bridle."
"No bridle!"
"Triple the money."
"No!"
"Quadruple then!"


If there is anything more entertaining than a public spat, it must be this kind of lively and noisy haggling! It went on and on and on.


In no time at all they were surrounded by a crowd of jeering spectators who were astounded by the old woman’s stupidity. In the end greed, pride and perhaps exhaustion made her forget her son’s wise words and she capitulated; the wizard bought both the horse and the bridle.

Triumphantly the wizard led the horse home, where he spent the entire evening plotting how best to maltreat this overconfident apprentice who had so successfully irritated him.


The following morning Yufayyur led the horse to market and proclaimed:
“Fellow citizens! Life is hard without a beast of burden! My heart bleeds for you, so out of the goodness of my heart, you are welcome to borrow my horse – completely free of charge of course. Make the brute work for you, and don’t put up with any nonsense!”

Within a few minutes there was a long line of enthusiastic takers.
“Ah ha,” he chuckled to himself: “They’ll work him to death!”
He spoke too soon. One after another they exploited the horse, but by sunset it was still as jaunty as it had been at sunrise.

The following day there happened to be a horse race just outside the city.

Tamment was not only a brilliant cook she was also a skilled equestrian, so she asked her father’s permission to borrow the horse, so she too could compete in the race.

After a great deal of head-scratching and humming and hawing he reluctantly consented on condition that she promised faithfully not to remove its bridle. She promptly agreed, swung herself up in the saddle and off she went.

Riding a horse with magical attributes it was a foregone conclusion that she would win. Afterwards she patted the horse affectionately and led it down to the near by lake. Although she had promised her father faithfully that she would not remove its bridle, she decided to defy him. It was such a hot day and the horse deserved to frolic in the refreshingly cool water. No sooner had she removed the bridle than the horse shook its mane, whinnied its thanks, turned into a tiny fish and plunged into the depths of the lake.

Then a moment later Yufayyur turned up and noticed the bridle that Tamment was still clutching. Roaring a series of vile oaths he turned himself into a water snake and slithered and slid into the water.

Thereupon the fish turning itself into a lark soared high, high up into the sky.

The snake not to be outdone turned itself into an eagle and set off in hot pursuit of the lark, who in turn flew to the palace where it caught sight of the princess who was taking an afternoon stroll in the rose garden.

Before the eagle could catch up with it, the lark pirouetted and swirled above her head before turning itself into a silver ring, that fell and landed just in front of her feet. Although the princess had more jewellery than she actually needed, she bent down, picked it up and popped it in her pocket.

The eagle, which was now perched on a nearby palm tree, decided that enough was enough and that tomorrow was also a day.


The very next morning dressed up as a jewel merchant Yufayyur knocked at the palace door and cried out:
“New rings for old, new rings for old “

The princess was dreamily lounging in her boudoir. On hearing his cries she opened the window, leaned out and decided to let him in; it’s not every day you get such a tempting offer.

One of the palace lackeys led him to her chamber. After bowing obsequiously Yufayyur asked her to show him her collection. Tuffent opened her gem-encrusted jewellery box in which she kept her rings; one for each and every day of the year.

One by one she took them out, but each time the merchant shook his head and said:

‘No, no, not that one.’

When she got to the 365th he shook his head sadly and said:
“Perhaps the honoured princess has a ring hidden away somewhere else; in her pocket for example.”

"Oh yes, that reminds me."

She then fumbled in her pocket and brought out the ring that had fallen so mysteriously from the heavens the previous day.

Catching sight of it Yufayyur’s eyes lit up:
"That’ll do!" He roared.

Immediately the ring turned itself into a ripe pomegranate and the startled princess dropped it on the floor where it shattered into a thousand pieces.

Seeing this the wizard exultantly turned himself into a cock and set to gobbling the shattered pomegranate.

When the cock was just about to eat the last juicy fragment, it upped and turned itself into a silver dagger and after performing a victorious death dance it swooped down and killed the cock.

The duel being finally over the dagger triumphantly transformed itself becoming Anazar, who after bowing respectfully to an astonished but admiring Princess Tuftent, went off to find King Izil:

“Sire! Are you convinced or not convinced that I am the most talented wizard in the world and a worthy suitor for your indescribably beautiful daughter?"

The king being wise was convinced, so he permitted Anazar the son of the poor widow Tadefi to marry his beautiful daughter Tuftent.

Needless to say they lived happily ever after.


Epilogue.

Having won his Princess did Anazar forget his promises to Tamment and Tadefi?

No, not at all because Anazar was both generous and wise. Tamment and Tadefi spent the rest of their days in comfort at the palace.
As Anazar often used to remark:
‘Magic is all well and good, but without Tamment and Tadefi’s help and encouragement I would have been lost.’


Imprint

Text: © Betty Chatterjee 2010. All rights reserved Cover photo by kind permission of Boughoud Si Abdelkrim
Publication Date: 02-28-2010

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
I am indebted to Boughoud Si Abdelkrim, a fellow Esperantist from Morocco, whom I met by chance in the magical world of Cyber Space. Since 2005 we have corresponded regularly. Boughoud told me this Berber legend that he in turn had heard from his mother. I have followed the plot, but I confess that I let my imagination run wild with regard to characterisation and dialogue.