Miftahuzzarbil Part 1 Complete Hausa Novel

At Dawn: The Walk to the Palace
 
When they left their lodgings, it was still before dawn — the town remained dark. All the shops were closed and the city seemed frozen, as if no people lived in it; only the barking of a few guard dogs could be heard. Old Rafkanagu, Hajarul Mukurus and Ruziyal walked together at that hour, on their way to King Muzuluch’s palace to hear the conclusion of the story about the servant Mozur and Princess Suhaila. None of them had slept the night before — the city’s alarm had roused them and they returned to tell the tale. Even now they could not bear to wait for morning; they walked and chatted. Hajarul Mukurus looked at Ruziyal and asked, “Tell me honestly — from the tales of King Dujalu until now, is there any story better than the tale of servant Mozur and Princess Suhaila?”
 
Ruziyal smiled and said, “You mustn’t forget the story of Masunci Lamlas and the rich unbeliever Bin Aljar. They’re finer tales than Mozur’s in some ways, but Mozur’s story steals the heart — especially how King Muzuluch began telling it at the very moment Queen Ashikatul Ashiriya met King Saubatul Azman beside the mouth of the Baitul Husuk cave. Everyone wants to know how it will end. Will there be battle outside, or will they enter the cave to fetch the treasure? A person wants to hear the cave’s description and what will happen when Princess Suhaila finishes telling Kuyanga Suzaila her story.”
 
Old Rafkanagu cleared his throat. “Even if you didn’t include me in your talk, allow me to add one thing. The tale of Mozur surpasses others in sweetness, wonder and lesson. From it you learn it is a grave error to despise your fellow human — the one you look down on today might become something great tomorrow. Just as the sage Hazaru told Suhaila that Mozur would one day be king, the story also shows that harshness toward another is a mistake: Suhaila once hated Mozur, yet in the end she became pregnant by him and bore a child with his likeness.”
 
Hajarul Mukurus nodded. “Your words are stone — I agree.”
 
They continued talking until they reached the palace gate. They found the palace still closed and the guards standing at attention. Rafkanagu stepped up to the guards and, catching his breath from the walk, asked them to open the gate so they could enter and sit among the crowd waiting to hear the king’s story. One guard looked them over and replied, “Patience, elders. The palace is not yet open. If you can wait, sit here and wait; if you cannot, return to your lodgings and come back when it opens.”
 
Rafkanagu sighed. “We came out already — we won’t go back. Sit we shall and wait.”
 
So they sat. Time passed and the gate was opened. They entered and took a place at the side. King Muzuluch did not emerge until three hours later. When he appeared, everyone stood until he sat on the raised platform; then the court began paying homage and greetings until Ruziyal and the others were reached. When King Muzuluch looked at their faces, he laughed aloud. “You guests — why did you not sleep last night?” he asked.
 
Ruziyal and the others were shocked and could not answer. The king laughed again and said, “I know why you couldn’t sleep: only the urge to hear the end of the tale of servant Mozur and Princess Suhaila. Sit near me — now I will continue. If time allows, you will hear the whole ending.”
 
King Muzuluch then cleared his throat and began the tale.
 
The Queen’s Confrontation and the Cave’s Secret
 
After a cold and measured exchange between Princess Ashikatul Ashiriya and King Saubatul Azman, the queen laughed and said, “Listen, old husband: know that none of your plans against me will succeed. You cannot take me from my daughter, nor from my brother; you also say you will separate me from my wealth. Even if you try, I will confront your men — I have no enemy like you on earth. The wealth you coveted will be before your eyes today, yet you shall only look with your eyes and never touch or own it.”
 
When Ashikatul Ashiriya finished speaking, King Saubatul Azman smiled and replied, “Ashikatul Ashiriya, know this: the flag you wave and call ‘yours’ — that child is not of your blood. Where your blood is, it will never escape you; it has come to me. And the brother you claim is truly your kin has chosen to leave your house and live in another land with riches rather than a throne because of the jealousy you carry. You should have opposed me over wealth, not over your daughter or brother.”
 
Ashikatul Ashiriya laughed too and asked, “Saubatul Azman, know that a true blood brother you cannot refuse — even if he leaves you, still you ought to love him. And as for the child you claim is not mine: what proof do you have?” Saubatul Azman laughed and recounted the time of the child’s birth and the wet nurse; he swore by his devotion that his claim was true. Hearing this, tears filled Ashikatul Ashiriya’s eyes and she said, “You have ruined me by presenting as my child one I suckled from another’s breast. By the greatness of the city of Kisra, I shall make you feel punishment for this crime.”
 
Before Saubatul Azman could react, Ashikatul Ashiriya’s troops seized him and his men; they bound them with ropes. She then ordered Princess Suhaila brought before her and declared, “Suhaila, know that I raised you with my heart as if you were my own child; I fed you at my breast. I cared for your life and health from infancy until adulthood, and now you repay me with ingratitude? You deserve punishment for your deeds.”
 
Immediately the queen commanded that Princess Suhaila be bound in chains; the soldiers obeyed swiftly. Then she called the warrior Haiman, seized his arm, placed it on her shoulder and smilingly told him, “Brother, know that you are kin — whatever you do for me, bear patience. I forgive you for what you did to me, and I beg you to follow me so I may descend upon the platform and grant you honor.”
 
Hearing this, tears filled Haiman’s eyes and he regretted his actions; he sought the queen’s forgiveness. She embraced him and wept. Unexpectedly, Ashikatul Ashiriya drew a dagger from her cloak and plunged it into Haiman’s chest. Haiman collapsed, life leaving him — a shock that stunned all who witnessed it. When the hero Miqdad saw his friend Haiman struck down, he screamed and wailed behind the iron grate where he was bound.
 
Ashikatul Ashiriya stood beside the dying Haiman and wept, saying, “Brother, forgive me — I struck you with my own hand. Know that your life is dangerous for mine. I love power more than anything in life. If you live to separate me from it someday, I will be deeply sad, for now I have no other blood brother left.” After she finished, Haiman’s eyes closed and his body fell still. His corpse was dragged to the mouth of the Baitul Husuk cave. King Saubatul Azman, the hero Miqdad and Princess Suhaila were tied and brought to the cave’s edge.
 
Ashikatul Ashiriya then seized Haiman’s hand and tore out one of his fingers, placing it into a notch on the cave gate; she tore out one of her own fingers and placed it in a second notch. As she did this, smoke and a great flash of light that covered Baitul Husuk’s walls vanished. A spinning iron wheel within the gate turned rapidly and great chains uncoiled. The cave’s entrance began to open slowly — and the sight astonished everyone. Stationed before the opening stood countless armies of jinn in war formation, massive and motionless like statues; at a glance you could not look away for fear and awe. Inside the cave there was no soil — instead the floor was strewn with gemstones as if the place had been created that way.
 
Before entering, Ashikatul Ashiriya threw Haiman’s dead body aside, then she entered the Baitul Husuk cave followed by everyone. The cave glowed with a special light where even the fall of a needle could be seen. Although the cave had been sealed for a thousand years and was dustless, it smelled fresh; everywhere glittered with treasure — gold, pearls, emeralds, rubies, corals and more. The wealth was so vast that one would not exhaust it even if they dug for a year. Jewelry of every kind — even things no one had seen before — lay in abundance. Once everybody entered, the gate shut behind them.
 
They gaped in bewilderment and then, in rapture, began to seize treasure like madmen. Ashikatul Ashiriya cried out and ordered everyone to fill their sacks. Work began at once; some filled sacks beyond what they could possibly carry and had to leave some behind. Millions seized and filled their bags as if the market of the world had come to life there.
 
Ashikatul Ashiriya found a place to sit. Her court surrounded her, laughing and rejoicing as she looked on the wealth they had extracted and remembered that all of it was hers. She thought of how, once returned to her house of treasury, they would pour that treasure into her coffers. If she ever needed more, they could always return and draw more. What she forgot, however, was that the cave gate had closed and would not open again unless she placed back the two fingers — her own and her brother Haiman’s — which she had ripped out and set into the gate at the entrance before coming in.
 
While Ashikatul Ashiriya and her people celebrated, Miqdad, King Saubatul Azman and Princess Suhaila watched helplessly because they were bound. The magical book that allowed entry into Baitul Husuk was in Princess Suhaila’s robes, hidden there. Three days passed while the millions packed riches into sacks and finished filling them. Then Ashikatul Ashiriya ordered that King Saubatul Azman, Miqdad and Princess Suhaila be brought, laid on the ground, and re-bound to huge posts within the cave. She looked at them one by one and laughed, saying, “My enemies, know that we will leave you trapped in this cave to starve and thirst until death takes you. With these words I bid you farewell and celebrate your easy death.”