Leg over Leg. Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq
عشقتنى وعشقتها * كانه اى الزوج يحذّرها من الاسترسال الى هواه مخافة ان تنفضح بين الناس * او ان يقول لها ان فلانا ورع تقىّ يتقى مغازلة النسآ اتقآ الافاعى * كانه يقول لها انك ان تعرّضت له فى الهوى جبهك وندهك وفضحك * فقد تقرر فى عقول الرجال ان كل امر من امور الدنيا والآخرة يشين عرض المراة ويهتك حجابها * مع انه لا شى يدغدغها مثل سماعها عن رجل انه مسرف مشط فى حال من الاحوال بحيث لا يلحقها منه اذى * فهى والحالة هذه تزيد حرصا على فتنته لتصرفه عن تلك الحال اليها فيرجع
اسرافه فى محبتها * قال فقلت نعم ان كيد النسآ كان عظيما *
“‘The stupidest and most ridiculous of men is the one who, if he harbors doubts that his wife may have taken a liking to a certain person, tells her, to arouse dislike for him in her, “So-and-so is without honor, irresponsible, a lecher who doesn’t care what he says or does. If he attends a gathering of litterateurs, the first thing to come out of his mouth will be, ‘I made a pass at (such and such a woman) and beguiled her and charmed her, and she became my mistress and I became her lover’”—as though he (meaning the husband) were warning her against yielding to his advances and scared she might make a scandal of herself in front of everyone; or the one who tells her, “So-and-so is God-fearing and pious. He is as scared of flirting with women as he is of vipers”—as though he were telling her, “If you declare your love to him, he will repulse you, drive you away, and make a scandal of you.” Men have got it fixed in their minds that any matter, whether to do with this world or the next, can mar a woman’s honor and violate her sanctity, but in fact nothing tickles her imagination so much as hearing it said of a man that he is so excessively far gone in some way or other that he can do her no harm. In such a case, she will go out of her way to make a conquest of him so that she can dissuade him from whatever he is up to in favor of herself and redirect his excesses into love for her.’”
The Fāriyāq went on, “And I said,
‘Quite right. Great indeed
is women's guile.’”101
الفصل السابع
ڡي الطباق والتنظير
Chapter Seven
Compare and Contrast
4.7.1
الانسان كما قالت الفارياقية مجبول على السآمة والملل * ومتى ظفر بالغرض * استحوذ عليه الغرض * وما دام الرجل المتزوج حِلْس بيته ويسمع من زوجته هات واشترِ وجدِّد واصلح ودَّ لو انه يكون عزبا ولو راهبا فى صومعة * فاذا تغرب عنها وراى الرجال يمشون مع النسآ سوآ كن حليلات او خليلات اَنِف من الصومعة * وهاج به الشوق الى ان يكون له امراة يماشيها مثل اولئك وان كان مشيهم وقتئذ للتحاكم والتخاصم لدى جناب القاضى * فينبغى للزوج الملازم لِكِنِّه والحالة هذه ان لا يزال متصوّرا انه غريب فى ارض بعيدة عند اناس يخدعونه ويغبنونه ويهيجونه بمرافدهم * او ان زوجته قد سافرت عنه الى اناس يعاقرونها المدام * ويرقدونها على فرش من ريش النعام * ويغازلونها فتغزلهم * ويباعلونها فتبعلهم * فاذا فعل ذلك هانت عليه نغمات هات واشتر * وهذا جدول عن الفارياق بيّن فيه الاحوال التى يقول فيها المتزوج
Humankind, as the Fāriyāqiyyah said, has a predisposition toward discontent and ennui, and no sooner does it gain the object of its desire than a desire for other objects takes over. Likewise, given that the married man is a fixture around the house and hears nothing from his wife but “Fetch!” “Buy!” “Renew!” and “Repair!” he dearly wishes he might be a bachelor again, even if it means being a monk in a cell. Then, if he leaves the latter and sees men walking side by side with women, whether wedded wives or lady loves, he becomes fed up with his cell, and the longing to have a wife with him and to walk with her like those others (even if their promenading is leading them at that very moment to trial and litigation before His Honor the Judge)102 rises within him. In such cases, the husband who never leaves his nest ought constantly to imagine to himself that he is a stranger in a distant land living with people who dupe him, cheat him, and inflame his senses with their bustles, or that his wife has left him to go to people who will compete to fill her glass and lay her down on an ostrich-feather palliasse, or who, should they flirt with her, will find she tells them “Yes!” and, on making love to her, find that she to them will acquiesce. If he does this, the chant of “Fetch!” and “Buy!” will seem less unbearable. Here is a table, composed on the authority of the Fāriyāq, in which he sets out the conditions under which the married man says,
4.7.2
| ياليت ما عندى امراة | وياليت عندى امراة |
| اذا تزبرقتْ وتزبرجت وتزلقت وتبرجت وتعطرت وتبغنجت وقالت له قم بنا الى المثابة والمحافل والمحاشد والملاهى والمراقص * | اذا سار وحده الى المثابة والمحافل والمحاشد والملاهى والمراقص وراى النسآ فيها متزبرقات * متزبرجات الخ * |
| اذا خرج معها وقد نفّجت صدرها واحكمت مرفدها ثم طفقت تتبازى وتوكوك وتميس وتزوزك وتميل عنقها وراسها * | اذا سار وحده وراى من قد نفجت صدرها واحكمت مرفدها ثم غدت تتبازى وتوكوك الخ * |
| اذا مشى معها فرات نقطة مآ فى الطريق فشمّرت عن ساقيها لتبدو حماتاهما * | اذا مشى وحده فراى من شمرت عن ساقيها عند رويتها نقطة مآ فى الطريق الخ * |
| اذا سار معها فى يوم ذى ريح وعمدت الى كشف الثوب عن صدرها وعجزها * |
اذا سار وحده فى يوم ذى ريح وابصر من عمدت الى كشف الثوم عن صدرها *
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