Samarkand Read Online Free PDF

their health and life, and the latter to preserve their fortune.
    The prince’s expression cheered up and he said that he was honoured. However, not being in a mood to engage in intellectual
     conversation and apparently mistaking the visitor’s intentions, he chose to reiterate his favourite formula, ‘Let his mouth
     be filled with gold!’
    Omar was taken aback and suppressed a retch. Abu Taher noticed this and was worried.
    Fearing lest a refusal offend the sovereign, he gave his friend an insistent and serious look and pushed him forward by the
     shoulder but to no avail. Khayyam had already made his decision.
    ‘Would my Lord be so kind as to excuse me. I am in a period of fasting and can put nothing in my mouth.’
    ‘But the month of fasting finished three weeks ago, if I am not mistaken!’
    ‘During Ramadan I was travelling from Nishapur to Samarkand. I had to break my fast with the vow that I would complete it
     later.’
    The
qadi
took fright and all those assembled fidgeted, but the sovereign’s face was blank. He chose to question Abu Taher.
    ‘Can you tell me, you who have knowledge of all the minutiae of the faith, can you tell me if putting gold coins in his mouth
     and taking them out quickly thereafter constitutes breaking the fast for
Khawaja
Omar?’
    The
qadi
adopted his most neutral tone;
    ‘Strictly speaking, anything that goes into the mouth can constitute breaking the fast. It has happened that a coin was swallowed
     by accident.’
    Nasr accepted the argument, but he was not satisfied. He questioned Omar:
    ‘Have you told me the real reason for your refusal?’
    Khayyam hesitated for a moment and then said:
    ‘That is not the only reason.’
    ‘Speak,’ said the Khan. ‘You have nothing to fear from me.’
    Then Omar pronounced these verses:
It was not poverty that drove me to you
    I am not poor for my desires are simple.
    The only thing I seek from you is honour
    The honour of a free and steadfast man
.
    ‘May God darken your days, Khayyam!’ murmured Abu Taher, as if to himself.
    He did not know what to think, but his fear was tangible. There still rang in his ears the echo of an all too recent anger
     and he was not sure if he would again be able to tame the beast. The Khan remained silent and still, as if frozen in unfathomable
     deliberation. Those close to the Khan were awaiting his first word as if it were a verdict and some courtiers chose to leave
     before the storm.
    Omar profited from the general disarray to seek out Jahan’s eyes.She was leaning with her back against a pillar with her face buried in her hands. Could it be for him that she was trembling?
    Finally the Khan arose. He marched resolutely toward Omar, gave him a vigorous hug, took him by the hand and led him off.
    ‘The master of Transoxania,’ the chroniclers report, ‘developed such an esteem for Omar Khayyam that he invited him to sit
     next to him on the throne.’
    ‘So now you are the Khan’s friend,’ Abu Taher called out to Khayyam when they had left the palace.
    His joviality was as great as the anguish which had gripped his throat, but Khayyam replied coolly:
    ‘Could you have forgotten the proverb which says, “The sea knows no neighbours, the prince knows no friends”?’
    ‘Do not scorn the open door. It seems to me that your career is marked out at court!’
    ‘Court life is not for me; my only ambition is that one day I will have an observatory with a rose garden and that I will
     be able to throw myself into contemplating the sky, a goblet in my hand and a beautiful woman at my side.’
    ‘As beautiful as that poetess?’ chuckled Abu Taher.
    Omar could think of nothing but her, but he did not reply. He was afraid that the smallest word uttered carelessly might betray
     him. Feeling a little light-hearted, the
qadi
changed both his tone and the subject:
    ‘I have a favour to ask of you!’
    ‘It is you who has showered me with your favours.’
    Abu Taher quickly conceded that