Chapter LXXIII
As the feast of Christ's Mass approached Trudy sent Fatima to fetch me.
"It is time that you learned to dance, Fuad," she told me in the presence of her father.
What could I do? Fatima sat on a stool giggling while Trudy explained to me how I must walk here and turn there and clap my hands or strike my palm against hers. After much practice during which she found fault constantly with me she commanded Fatima to sing and Fatima sat on her stool and pretended to play a lute and sang a Frankish song.
"Come on," Trudy said, her eyes gleaming. "A one, two, three, take my arm, one, two, three, turn to the right, one, two, three, turn back and clap."
I had not felt so foolish since my first days at the place of fighting, when every child with a stick could overthrow me, for I turned constantly to the left when I should have turned right or took three steps backward when I should have advanced.
"Concentrate, Fuad, concentrate," es-Sitt commanded me.
I did my best to concentrate and remember the order in which I should do things and almost forgot about Trudy until Fatima stopped singing and burst out laughing and I came to myself to discover that I had done it again and was now standing at one end of the room while Trudy waited for me, her hands raised, at the other end.
"Ya Sitt," I said, my face growing dark with shame, "let me be. Dance with Hilmi or Charles or someone, for I shall never remember all these motions."
"And do you think they learned in a day?" Trudy demanded, beckoning me to come and stand in front of her. "Fatima, do you remember that time Philippe knocked Fredegunde over?"
Fatima laughed even harder and even es-Sid chuckled, as they told me of how, several years before, Philippe had miscounted the measures in some dance and just when everyone else was stopping and the musicians were playing their last notes, he gave a great leap and spun around only to hit against the laundry girl and knock her to the ground.
"And truly," Fatima giggled, "to knock Fredegunde over requires great strength."
The lessons continued for nearly a week and several times Guy stood up and danced with Fatima - who continued to sing - when the dance required more than one couple. Thus, when the feast came, I was able to join in at least some of the dances and though we were all masked, yet I knew that my partner in all the dances was Trudy.
Afterwards, just before everyone removed their masks, Trudy whispered in my ear, "When are you going to ask my father for my hand?"
"By God, Sitt!" I exclaimed in horror, "Do you want him to kill me?"
There was nothing more said then, for the room was full of people constantly passing or coming up to talk to us or offer us food, but two days later Trudy met me in the courtyard as I came back from the stables and took my arm.
"I wasn't joking, Fuad," she said.
"About what, Trudy?" I asked, puzzled.
"About asking my father," she replied. "After all, I will be sixteen soon and if you don't ask he'll either marry me off to some ghastly friend of his or I'll end up being an old maid." She sighed. "I don't think I'd make a very good nun, do you?"
"Ya Sitt," I said, "I must speak to my father about this, for I cannot do anything in such a matter without his consent."
"Sitt?" Trudy snapped.
"Trudy," I corrected myself hurriedly. I grinned at her. "I am only a squire and your father is a great lord. I cannot afford to offer him your weight in gold besants."
Nevertheless it was not to my father that I went first but to the house of Ali ibn Abbas, for though I respected my father, he was only a bedu and not used to the ways of the Franks.
"You are as a father to me," I said to Ali after we had exchanged greetings. "I need your advice. Sitt Ermintrude, the daughter of my lord, shows me great favour and at the Christmas feast she whispered in my ear that I should ask her father for permission to marry her."
"By God!" Ali ibn Abbas looked disgusted. "These Frankish women have no shame. She should be content with whomsoever her father chooses for her." He stopped suddenly and stared at me. "Hah! But the idea is not displeasing to you, eh?"
"She is very beautiful," I defended myself.
"Well, well, well." Ali began to laugh. "So you want me to speak to Sir Guy on your behalf?"
"Perhaps," I said, for I knew that Sid Guy often came to the house of Ali and the two men played chess frequently. "However first of all I want your counsel. As you know, I am only a squire. I have no desire to incur the anger of my lord, for he has been very kind to me."
Ali nodded his head. "I know that he likes you, for he sometimes mentions your name and always with favour and approval. Still, it is another matter when it comes to a woman and a daughter and an only child at that." He ran his hand thoughtfully through his beard. "He comes to play chess tomorrow. I will speak to him and see if I can discover his mind without mentioning your name."
I thanked Ali and departed and then waited impatiently for two days, unable to sleep or eat while I wondered what es-Sid's answer would be. Twice I encountered Trudy and each time I fled from her like a man ashamed of some great wickedness.
Even worse was the fact that on the morrow Sid Guy appointed me to be among those to take a party of pilgrims to Jericho and then up to Galilee, a most unexpected and unpleasant duty in that weather, but not all those who had come for the Feast of Christ's Birth were willing to stay until the better weather returned. On the day after Ali spoke to es-Sid, therefore, instead of hastening to his house to hear his news I was sitting on my horse before dawn and shivering as Karl read off the list of names and gave the pilgrims their instructions.
In one way the trip was better than most, for these were all Germans and all mounted. At that time I knew little German apart from "Guten Tag" and "Komen sie hier" and a few more such phrases. I left all the talking to Karl and Hilmi and I simply rode as escort.
When we came to Jericho, however, I excused myself and rode with haste to the house of Abd al-Wahid and spoke to him about this matter of Sitt Trudy. He heard me out in silence and then cleared his throat.
"This Nasrani woman finds favour in your eyes?"
"She is very beautiful," I agreed.
"And of course, once you are married you can order her to recite the Shahada and become a Muslim."
I gaped at him and then jerked my chin upwards. "By God, ya khalil, no man orders Sitt Trudy in any matter."
"But if she is your wife . . ." Abd al-Wahid said.
I jerked my chin again. "Among the Franks it is not so," I told him. "Even the king himself is ruled by his womenfolk."
Abd al-Wahid chuckled. "And do you think the Franks are alone in this?" He must have seen the puzzled look on my face for he stopped and explained. "My son, Allah has given to women tongues with which they can entice a man and faces and bodies with which to bewitch him. Greater men than you and I have been led by the nose by women. Nevertheless, no woman will refuse a direct order from her husband - or if she does, you can beat her. In a matter such as this, a matter of religion, I think you should insist upon obedience and if she refuses, beat her until she submits."
I left his house very much disturbed in my mind, for I knew in my heart that I would never dare to lift my hand against the daughter of Sid Guy - and if I did, the wrath of es-Sid would be as nothing to the wrath of his daughter. In truth, I did not know who would end up beating whom!
Hilmi perceived that I was troubled in my mind and teased me all the way to Galilee - which was a long way, for from Jericho we rode up to Neapolis where the prophet Jesus, peace be upon Him, spoke to a woman of ill-omen and troubled by the evil eye, for she had been divorced by five husbands; and from there to Nazareth, Galilee and finally to the sea at Acre where our Germans took ship for their homeland. However I dared not tell Hilmi what was in my mind, for if once I spoke of es-Sitt, how could I be sure it would not come to the ears of her father?
After Acre the teasing stopped, for we had great news to take to es-Sid. Just before we reached Acre Alexius, the brother of the emperor in Byzantium, was discovered in the town. We could get no certain story of what he was doing there, whether he fled to us from fear of his brother or whether he had come as a spy, but the Franks put him in prison until the council should decide what to do with him.
