Authors: Bertrice Small
The house was spacious. The ground floor consisted of day rooms, servant’s quarters, a library, and the kitchens. The second floor of the dwelling consisted of several sleeping chambers and a large bath that was completely tiled and had gold fixtures. Throughout, it was beautifully and quite familiarly furnished, with carpets on the polished wood floors
and tapestries on the walls. In fact, all of Zaynab’s furnishings had been transported here from the Court of the Green Columns. The caliph had made certain that his beloved Zaynab would always be comfortable. She did not know it yet, but Abd-al Rahman had deposited in her name fifty thousand gold dinars with Hasdai ibn Shaprut’s third cousin, who was a goldsmith.
Hasdai ibn Shaprut came every day to monitor Zaynab’s health, but other than that, he seemed to have no interest in her. For the moment, Zaynab did not care. Her main focus was the return of her daughter. Finally, when she had been separated from the child for almost a month, the physician arrived one afternoon with Moraima and a plain-faced girl he introduced as Abra.
“Her husband was killed in an accident, and her child was born dead She has suffered, but Rebekah has assured me that she is healthy, obedient, and of sound mind.”
“Why did her child die?” Zaynab demanded, her main concern for her own baby.
“It was strangled with its own cord,” he said bluntly. “It was an otherwise healthy boy. Abra has been nursing the princess for a week now. As you can see, she is healthy and thriving.”
Zaynab took her daughter from the nursemaid. Cradling the baby in her arms, she smiled down into its little face and crooned in her native tongue. “There’s a fine bairn, she is, my wee sweetheart. Yer da has sent us away, but I hae ye back now. We’ll manage, Oma, and yer mam, and ye, my wee Moraima.” Tears sprang quickly to her eyes as her daughter reached up and grasped the finger with which she had been stroking the little pink cheek. “Ohh, she remembers me!” the happy mother cried.
“What language did you speak to her?” he asked. “I have studied many languages, but I did not recognize any of your words, Zaynab,” Hasdai ibn Shaprut asked.
“It is the Celtic tongue of my homeland,” she explained. “Oma and I use it when we don’t want anyone to know what
we are talking about. It served us quite well in the harem at Madinat al-Zahra. I want Moraima to learn it from birth. When she is old enough, I shall find her a slave girl her own age from Alba to be her confidante.”
“You are a clever woman, Zaynab,” he remarked.
“So the caliph said,” she responded, and then she handed the baby to her nursemaid. “You are welcome in this house, Abra. I thank you for the nourishment with which you will provide the princess. Oma will show you to my daughter’s quarters.”
Abra nodded her acknowledgment. She was a big girl with dark braids, black eyes, and a pillowy bosom. She would be paid for her services because she was a free woman. She followed Oma from her new mistress’s apartments, holding Moraima quite competently in her arms.
“Moraima’s return has made you bloom,” Hasdai ibn Shaprut noted. “I am pleased to see you so well, Zaynab. I know you will be happy now.”
“When do you mean to lie with me?” she asked him suddenly.
He swallowed hard. “You are not well enough,” he told her, a flush coming to his cheeks.
“I have never felt better, my lord,” she murmured. “I am well rested, and content but for one thing. Are you shocked? Do the women in your family hide their lust for their men?”
He was fascinated by her; the pale golden hair loose about her shoulders, the direct gaze of her aquamarine eyes, the creaminess of her fair skin. Her caftan was white, embroidered with seed pearls. He could see the steady beat of the tiny pulse in her throat. He could feel the heat of her body as she leaned toward him, and the scent of her gardenia fragrance was intoxicating. He could not, for the life of him, however, answer her question.
“Do you not desire me, my lord?” Zaynab asked him. Then a strange look came over her face. “Are you a man who prefers boy lovers perhaps?” she queried. “I did hear of such men in the harem.”
“N-No,” he managed to gasp. “I am not a lover of boys.” He arose quickly. “I must leave you now,” he said, and was gone before she might pursue further this line of questioning.
Zaynab was completely puzzled, and her puzzlement but grew during the next few days. Abra, her initial shyness over, was a delightful, burbling font of information regarding Hasdai ibn Shaprut, the Jews, and Jewish history. The plump girl with her currant eyes nursed her little charge while chattering merrily.
“We call him
Nasi
in the Jewish quarter, lady,” she said.
“What does it mean?” Zaynab asked.
“Prince, lady. Hasdai ben Isaac ibn Shaprut, Prince of the Jews. His family is very distinguished, even before Nasi’s success at the caliph’s court. He is the despair of every mother with an eligible daughter, not to mention his own parents. He will not marry.”
“I wonder why,” Zaynab said, and then, “Is it forbidden for a Jew to have a concubine, Abra?”
“Once, in ancient times, the men of our race took more than one wife and kept concubines. Now, however, it is frowned upon, but that does not mean it is not done, lady. Besides, the Nasi is not a married man. Do you wish to be his concubine?”
“I was given to him for that purpose by the caliph,” Zaynab answered her, amused. Abra would have some fine gossip to impart when she went home to the quarter for a visit. She wondered if it would enhance or detract from Hasdai ibn Shaprut’s reputation.
“We might as well be back in old Mother Eubh’s convent,” Oma grumbled when, after another month had passed, there was no further visit from Hasdai ibn Shaprut. “Here you are, the most perfectly trained Love Slave, and yet you live like a nun. I thought the caliph meant for you to be happy, my lady. What kind of a man is the physician? Is he a man at all?”
“Hasdai ibn Shaprut is not meant for my sole amusement, Oma,” Zaynab said calmly. “He has many important duties within the court. He will come when he can spare the time.”
“The caliph rules al-Andalus himself, yet he always had time to devote to his harem, my lady,” Oma pointed out. “This man has not once taken a moment to enjoy your favors. It’s a disgrace!”
Zaynab did not disagree with her serving woman, but she would say nothing further on the matter. For better or for worse, Hasdai ibn Shaprut was her master. If he did not shower her with his attentions, at least they were comfortable, and safe from Zahra’s murderous intent. Abd-al Rahman had thought carefully before giving her to this man. Zaynab knew that the caliph had truly loved her. He would want her happiness even if they could not be together. She was content to wait.
Finally the physician came once again. Zaynab welcomed him in a cool, correct manner. She invited him to play a game of chess, and then when the refreshments were served, she told him that she had sent Abra into the quarter to fetch a separate set of dishes that would be used only for his visits. The food offered him was not only delicious, but consisted of all his favorites. He did not bother to tell her that it should be prepared in vessels separate from those of the rest of the household. When he ate at the palace, he was not treated with as much courtesy. Besides, he thought some of the dietary rules foolish and unnecessary.
“Why have you come to see me?” she finally asked him.
“The Byzantine delegation arrived from Constantinople,” he said. “I have been very busy preparing for the translation of an important book they brought to the caliph.”
“What kind of a book?” She leaned toward him a bit.
“It is called
De Materia Medica
. Unfortunately, it is in Greek. Although I speak Romance, Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin, I do not either speak or read Greek. The emperor Leon sent a translator along with the book. He will translate it from the Greek into Latin, and I will translate it from the Latin into Arabic.” He seemed very excited, and did not even notice when she put her little hand upon his arm.
“Why?” she demanded, looking up into his handsome face.
“
Why?
Zaynab, this is the premier book of medicine!” he said enthusiastically. “There is a volume of it in Baghdad, but the government there will not allow us to copy it. That means that every time one of our young men wants to become a physician, he must go to Baghdad to study. It is ridiculous that we should have to go so far, and many are discouraged from doing
it When I have translated
De Materia Medica
, we will found our own university for medicine right here in Cordoba! The caliph has wanted one for years.”
“How wonderful!” she told him. “It will be very hard work, my lord, I can see. You will need to learn how to enjoy your leisure time better. My lord, the caliph always said he worked better, and his mind was sharper, for the time he spent at his ease with me.” She looked up into the physician’s face. He really was very handsome, and his mouth was most sensuous. It seemed to fit his long face, with its high cheekbones. Reaching up, she ran a teasing finger along his mouth.
His wonderful dark eyes widened with surprise.
“I will teach you how to enjoy your repose, my lord,” she said, enveloping him with a melting glance. She moved closer to him, a half smile upon her lips. Then she caressed his face gently with her hand. “Why are you smooth-shaven?” she asked him, her fingers trailing along the line of his jaw. “Most men are bearded here, I have noted.”
“I … I b-but follow the example of the c-caliph,” he stammered.
“Do you follow the example of the caliph in all matters, Hasdai ibn Shaprut?” she lightly teased him, moving closer to him amid the pillows about the chessboard. Her eyes were twinkling.
He scrambled to his feet. “I must leave you now, lady. I am happy to find you so well,” he said. He was considered the most sophisticated man at Abd-al Rahman’s court, and yet this slip of a girl with her tempting body and seductive ways made him feel like a little boy. His heart was hammering. He could not rid his nostrils of her scent.
Zaynab jumped to her feet. “If you leave me before the morning, Hasdai ibn Shaprut,” she said grimly, “I shall send to the caliph! I should rather take my chances with Zahra in the harem than live without love! Abra tells me there is no reason you cannot have me for your concubine, and you yourself have sworn to me that you are not a lover of men. Why will you not use me as you should? Do I displease you so?”
“
Displease me?
You would not displease the gods,” he groaned. “You are the most beautiful and enticing creature that I have ever beheld, Zaynab, but our lord, the caliph, erred in his judgment when he gave you to me. I am not the correct master for you.” He looked very unhappy.
“Why not?” she demanded of him.
“Do not ask it of me, I beg you,” he pleaded with her. Oh, God! Why was this happening? She tempted him as no woman ever had tempted him, but …
Just then Zaynab had an incredible revelation. When it burst upon her, she knew that it could be the only reason he had not made love to her, and sought excuses to escape her company whenever the situation began to become exciting. “
You have never had a woman, have you? That is it! You have never had a woman!
”
A deep flush crept up his neck and suffused his face. “You really are too clever,” he said low. “No, Zaynab, I have never known the pleasure of a woman’s body. It is not that I did not want to, I simply never had any time. As my father’s eldest son—and for ten years I was his only son—it was up to me to excel. I was sent to Baghdad when I was just fourteen to become a physician. When I returned, I practiced my craft in the quarter, but I also wanted to find the universal remedy for common poisons.
“It was originally called Mithradatum, after a king of Pontus who first discovered it. Two hundred years later a physician at the court of a Rumi emperor improved upon it by adding additional ingredients, including the chopped meat of venomous snakes. That gave the formula its new name, theriaca, meaning
wild beast
. Unfortunately, the formula was lost, until, using my linguistic skills, I deciphered some old scrolls and rediscovered it. The caliph was so delighted, he made me Director of Customs for al-Andalus as well as governor of the quarter, and ombudsman for all the Jews of al-Andalus.”
“And in all that time you never had a moment for a pretty girl?” she said, disbelieving.
He laughed. “I was only just discovering girls when I was sent off to Baghdad. There, I lived in the house of an elderly relative, whose greatest fear was that something should happen to the scion of the house of Shaprut while in his charge. I was escorted to the university by guards and brought back after my classes the same way. My studies were difficult and all-consuming. There was no time for leisure. Besides, the old cousin knew only old men.
“When I returned home, my family wanted to make a match for me, but I put them off until I was certain I could support a wife without my father’s aid. And then I began my research, and translation, and I could not quite find the time for a wife, or any woman. When the caliph heaped me with honors,” he sighed, “I seemed to have even less time for myself. I felt that the entire weight of the Jews of al-Andalus was upon my shoulders, Zaynab. I have a duty to them.”
“Do you like women?” she demanded of him.
“Yes,” he said.
“Then you cannot remain a virgin the rest of your life, my lord. It is, I believe, unhealthy for a man not to release his love juices regularly. Surely you will poison yourself, and no amount of theriaca will restore you. If you choose not to take the responsibility of a wife, and father children, that is one thing. But to deny yourself the sweet communion of joining your body to a woman’s is a terrible thing.”
“Tomorrow I meet with the translator from Byzantium,” he said weakly. “I need my sleep, Zaynab.”
In response she pulled her caftan off, saying, “You will sleep better after I have pleasured you, my lord. If you refuse me, I shall expose your secret to the caliph. He will be very disappointed to think he gave his most precious possession to a man who does not appreciate her.” Zaynab reached up, and pulling the pins from her hair, let it fall loose about her. “Touch it,” she commanded him.