Tarayya Part One Complete Hausa Novel

He pushed her head, and she fell, then struggled painfully to stand. They went back to where the other slaves were.
When Bulama saw her, his heart sank terribly. He lowered his head and shed fresh tears of sorrow when he noticed the blood at her mouth, even though she was trying to wipe it away. Even the way she walked was unsteady, staggering with difficulty, yet she endured it all because she was obeying them so they would not kill Bulama.
They were left under the burning sun until evening without even water. That day they were not given anything, because there were many people in the market and the traders feared there might be informants of the Sultan around.
By late evening, they became certain that this was the time the Sultan usually relaxed with his only son in his private pleasure garden within the palace, and it was at such a time that permission was given to bring in slaves, because the palace never grew tired of buying slaves due to its size and power.
Their arrival at the palace coincided with the appearance of Prince MAHEER IBN ABDULSHAMS together with his friend KHALEEFA ABDALLAH, the son of the Sultan’s vizier. The two boys, each about twelve years old, had just come out from the Sultan’s resting quarters with four guards behind them, and they were on their way to meet their foreign tutor who had come to teach them.
The prince cast one glance at the section where the slaves were being herded toward the training quarters, then looked away.
But Khaleefa stopped and stared at them, then said,
“When I grow up, I will buy slaves for my mother, slaves who will take care of her until they die.”
The prince stopped abruptly and turned back. Hearing what Khaleefa said made him remember the promise he had made to his mother that very morning, that he would give her a gift which nothing but death would separate her from. So he simply said that the slaves should be stopped for him.
They were halted at once. Without even looking properly in their direction, he said he wanted the last male and the last female and that he would buy them at the highest price.
With trembling bodies, Bulama and Asma’u, who were at the back, were dragged forward and brought before him, though still from a distance because of the stench of dirt on them.
He still did not really look at them. Such was the authority and kingship flowing in his blood from his father. He said,
“Take them to a private place. Clean them up, give them food and clothing. It is a gift I will give to my father and my mother for the first time.”
After saying that, he walked on. Khaleefa followed him, thinking he too would one day buy slaves for his own parents, but he decided he would wait until another set of slaves was brought.
As for those who had brought the slaves, they were paid huge sums in the currency of the land, given full sacks of money, and they took it and left. As soon as they got back to the market, they bought a great deal of provisions — enough to sustain them as they traveled to another land to capture more people and return again to sell them.
When Bulama and Asma’u were separated from the others, they were thoroughly cleaned, given rich and good food to eat, and at once they began to recover a little and regain some form. Then they were brought out and taken toward the section where the Sultan and his family each had their own quarters.
Bulama looked at her, his eyes full of pity for the ruin that had come upon their lives and the fate of whatever children they might bear, because now she had conceived again. Such was their destiny: from being children of wealth and privilege in Baabah’s land, they had become people in a foreign place speaking another language, and now they would become slaves, bearing children who would in turn become the property of their masters.
She too was looking at him with reddened eyes, because she knew that from there onward, their life as husband and wife had come to an end and had been shattered. They no longer had the power even to be together, let alone speak privately. Even if they saw each other, all they could manage was a stolen glance. They no longer even had the right to speak.
Slowly, he was dragged away and taken into the Sultan’s great hall. With extreme obedience, the prince’s servant prostrated himself and said,
“May Allah increase the Sultan in long life, health, and strength of rule. Here is a special gift from the prince.”
The Sultan looked at the slave, then released a handsome, dignified smile. After that he looked at the messenger, then at the master of the household, and said,
“Master of the household, tomorrow from the break of dawn, let the one who brought the prince’s message be allowed into the food store of the Palace of Meenelik, so that he may take whatever he wants and carry it home until sunset. And now let him remove his robe and spread it out so that it may be filled with garments of the most precious and expensive kind without limit, so many that he can barely carry them. For this is the prince’s first gift to me, and therefore it is the dearest gift in my heart — a gift that only death can separate me from. Go and inform the prince that his gift has gladdened his father’s heart, and give him the good news of the journey to the land where he wishes to go study under his foreign teacher.”
Hearing this, the messenger threw himself down, his whole body shaking with joy, praising and thanking the Sultan again and again before he left carrying the things the king had ordered for him, panting heavily because of their number and weight.
The Sultan looked at Bulama, then at the viziers, and in his obvious delight said,
“This gift from the prince will not be made to serve as an ordinary slave. From today, he will be the servant who attends to my rest and comfort.”
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[7/29, 9:29 PM] Hauwa'u inna: TARAYYA
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1
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
For you, my Ummu-Khulthum.
There were slaves and maidservants without number in every corner of the great palace. Each one was bent over the task assigned to him or her, while some of them stood armed and alert, guarding the passageways and every door within the palace.
All of them, men and women alike, wore the same kind of clothing: a dark blue garment that could well be called a uniform.