Posted by Zed on September 26, 2003 at 13:31:52:
By Clizia Cockspur, copyright 2002.
Four bare-arsed girls were kneeling on the ground in the outer courtyard of the harem. Aysha Haným, under the watchful eyes of three black eunuchs, addressed them,
You are all divorced! The girls shrieked. Aysha’s voice, in keeping with her status as Second Principal Wife, betrayed no emotion, The Padi-Shah hath spoken thrice.
Cast off! Like so many stitches. All of them! The drunken sot, fulfilling his obligation under the shariyah, had merely declared, in the company of a male witness (his slimy old Vizier), “I divorce thee, I divorce thee, I divorce thee.”
That none of the girls was present when he spoke (as proscribed in the haddith) was irrelevant. Three of the four collapsed in tears, fingers clawing at the stone floor, distraught cries echoing off the high walls of the courtyard. What would become of them? Why had they been brought out there? Need they ask the purpose of that rough wooden block standing in the corner?
The fourth girl - a haughty, Nubian beauty (who had been presented by the barbarian King of the Meroites) was above such gross behaviour. She had royal blood and displays of emotion were a shame for her. While the three pale girls writhed, bemoaning their dreadful fate, she remained calm and composed. There was even – the Second Principal Wife noted with admiration - a hint of satisfaction in the curling down of her thick, juicy lips – and especially the way her dark, smoky eyes slanted. This girl had been wasted on the boorish Padi-Shah, was worthy of much better treatment. If Aysha Haným had her way, she would live to serve another Lord. Such was the power of the harem Principal, she discretely beckoned Zafer (the chief eunuchs) and whispered in his ear.
Meanwhile, the shrieks of the other girls were silenced, one by one…
"Off with the old!"
By Clizia Cockspur, copyright 2002.