A Sampling of the Ḥikāya
A Sampling of the Ḥikāya
This chapter provides a selection of translated passaged from the Ḥikāya, giving the reader a taste of the range and tone of this unusual work. It begins with the author's introduction, and the initial description of the protagonist Abūl-Qāsim, who shows up at a party in Isfahan as a holy man, but soon changes his demeanor and obscenely insults his fellow guests, offering them shockingly immoral advice. He then compares Baghdad and Isfahan, describing the superiority of Baghdadi horses, cloth, food, and waiters. Then he quotes a lengthy, witty, and defiant letter of a brilliant and foul-mouthed slave girl, ZādMihr. He describes his nostalgia for the city of Baghdad, asks his host for food and elaborate gifts, and plays a game of chess with a fellow guest. He again elaborately insults a fellow diner, and after passing out from drunkenness, wakes the next morning to resume his behavior as a holy man.
Keywords: translation, insults, slave girls, chess, food, cloth, horses, Baghdad, Isfahan
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