The Pleasure Trip of Sweethearts Reunited after the Agonies of Love Unrequited in the City of Tiryaq in Iraq

Abraham Daninos

1847

An Explanation of the Plot of this Book¹

Naʿma is the daughter of a caïd of one of the regions in Iraq, and Nuʿman is her paternal first cousin, whom she married while her father was still alive. When her father died, Nuʿman was seized with a desire to go abroad; he became captain of a pirate ship in the service of the Pasha and sailed to India with his friend Captain Damanhur. When his expedition returns, Naʿma’s feelings toward him have changed: she wants to divorce him, take her wealth and property, and marry Caïd Rabih, her maternal cousin (it is her mother’s scheming that has put her in this frame of mind). On their travels, the Pasha orders them (Nuʿman and Damanhur) to go to the Islands of Waq to collect taxes and tithes, and from there to continue on to the Land of Kafur to collect birds and parrots with feathers of every strange hue, trees with leaves of gold and silver and seeds of emerald and ruby, and whales the color of gold and silver. The Pasha also sends with them a magnificent present for Maghrib the Wise, ruler of the Land of Kafur, renowned throughout the Mashriq and the Maghrib. Throughout their absence, Captain Damanhur’s wife Amna’ is sorrowful, and is struck with anguish when she sees all the boats returning without her husband Damanhur; Naʿma’s heart softens, too, toward her cousin Nuʿman, and when they return she reconciles with him and they get back together. Damanhur also returns, and so, to celebrate, they set out on their pleasure trip.

Dramatis Personae

[ . . . ]

Naʿma, Captain Nuʿman’s Wife

Fiyyala, Lalla Naʿma’s Maidservant

Act One

Scene Three

Naʿma and Fiyyala

Naʿma:

What took you so long, Fiyyala? It’s been two hours now since I sent for you!

Fiyyala:

It was Sidi Nuʿman and his ranting that held me up, honest. Don’t blame me, Lalla!

Naʿma:

Tell me, then, what’s that fool been saying to you?

Fiyyala:

He said, His breast is consumed with passion,

His head is enraptured too,

And if you don’t show him compassion

He’ll lose his mind over you.

Naʿma:

Poor idiot, God forgive us both. He’s no good for me and I’m no good for him.

Fiyyala:

Sidi Nuʿman is a kind and charming man, I swear. Just listen to his sweet words and you’ll adore him, you’ll even say there’s no one in the world that compares!

Naʿma::

Oh, but that Nuʿman of yours is a sailor and a rogue—what good’s that? Caïd Rabih is an important official, and he has the ear of our ruler.

Fiyyala:

Prestige and importance are all very well, Lalla, but ask yourself whom your heart truly loves.

Naʿma::

You’re right, Fiyyala, just look what fate has written . . .

Act One

Scene Four

Naʿma alone

Naʿma:

Fiyyala’s right, Nuʿman is a kind and charming man; I’ve been infatuated ever since I laid eyes on him. My mind beguiled and my heart afflicted, I’m constantly distracted by thoughts of him. I cannot forget my love for him, and no naysayer can dissuade me.

To the words of detractors I pay little heed,

And as for my secret, my lips remain sealed.

My beloved’s departure has torn us asunder,

I toss and I turn while he peacefully slumbers.

From friends and companions I feel I’ve grown distant

Whilst loving him dearly’s become my one constant.

Pure in intention, my ardor sincere,

I wander alone in the hope he’ll appear.

My heartache earns only my fellows’ disdain;

They cannot perceive the extent of my pain.

My beloved’s good name never passes my lips;

In extremis, a pronoun is all I’ll admit.

Try asking my secret; you’ll see I decline—

So hold your tongue, meddler, and leave me to pine.

My heart’s confidences I shall not betray

I’m not wont to gossip, so what would I say?

Whoever says I have but myself to blame

Is lying, for we are all pawns in love’s game.

But compulsion entails no dishonor or shame

And the tales of past lovers will tell you the same

So call it both pleasure and pain, if you will,

Butterflies in the stomach or a blow that could kill,

Or a blessing, misfortune or fervent desire

Which in seeking, the soul will despair or expire.

Translated by

Katharine L.

Halls

Notes

[Lalla and Sidi are titles of respect (feminine and masculine respectively), Lalla in particular being typically North African. The title caïd (from Arabic qaḥid, commander) designated a native governor appointed by the French colonial administration. The plot summary and the dialogue between Fiyyala and Naʿma are written in the mix of Algerian dialect and literary Arabic which characterizes much of this work, while Naʿma’s poetic soliloquy is in literary Arabic. Daninos employs four different meters here, and Shmuel Moreh and Philip. C. Sadgrove, in Jewish Contributions to Nineteenth-Century Arabic Theatre: Plays from Algeria and Syria : A Study and Texts (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996) identify a number of the lines as quotations from other works, a common practice in Arabic literature. In the final line, “blessing” (niḥma) is the same as the heroine’s name, the different vowel in Naʿma representing the local pronunciation.—Trans.]

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 6.