Letter: MIAC 23973.62

Recto

1. In the name of God, the Merciful and Compassionate.
2. The letter of the Master of the Horses and vizier of the king—may God prolong
3. his life and cause his support, happiness, safety and wellbeing to endure—has arrived and also another letter
4. for the elder Abū al-Ṭāhir ibn Tarīk, in both of which you mention
5. the dispatch of the slave (waṣīf) and his sale. As for the purchase of the goods that
6. you mentioned (in your letter), allocate the expenditure to the elder Abū al-Ṭāhir. I do not intend
7. to return the slave (waṣīf). When your slave boy informed me that you needed
8. the goods, I delivered him (the slave) to the broker and he auctioned him and acquired (the offer of)
9. five dīnārs. I then went to your slave boy and consulted him concerning his sale
10. and sold him for five dīnārs, on the grounds that there is nobody in the land
11. and none of the people have anything. We have dealt with the orders
12. for scented goods. We did not find in the land anything of these that
13. the merchants reckoned to be at market prices. Moreover we did not find the (sufficient) outlay for the goods.
14. So, I sent your slave boy together with my messenger to the market and he bought
15. for a dīnār four balls of sugar, at a price of forty dirhams each,
16. and butter and camphor for twenty-five dirhams, and gum of the mastic tree, laudanum, cardamon,
17. alum, rose liquid, costus, and cinnamon, and myrtle, some small items,
18. spikenard, a dīnār of aromatic oil, salt, juniper, for the price of the slave (waṣīf), which
19. is five dīnārs. If the goods become more expensive, we will not sell them to those taking refuge
20. in the houses with the women due to the inflation. No goods
21. remain in the market. The price of all the spices in the market that I have mentioned
22. has doubled. A record of the goods and their purchase
23. is enclosed in this letter of mine. It has been inserted with a note of all expenditure. What I wish to inform
24. the Ikshīl of is that my slave boy Kablām has arrived at the court of the king, but he (the king) has shown little gratitude
25. for what I have undertaken for him. I am owed by the king two horses. He has sent me two good-for-nothing, aged
26. slave women and six dīnārs. I did not know that Ibn al-ʿAsqalānī
27. is the king from whom my slave boy suffered such abuse. I

Recto, right margin

1. am the servant of the king and his deputy, and the one who fulfills
2. his needs, but, by God, I experience from people only pleasure in my suffering.
3. The meaning is apparently that the writer and his servants will not attempt to sell the expensive goods to those who do not come to the market but stay at home.
4. They have heard that (in the past) the king has done great good to my slave boy and shown
5. to all the people respect
6. and friendliness, but (now) my relationship with you has been spoiled
7. since the king treats my slave boy
8. in such a bad way. Your slave boy has seen the two
9. slaves (raqīq). If it were not for the fact that he has stayed and the people would hear
10. that I had returned them, I would have sent them to you.
11. But that is my fate. Does not the Master
12. of the Horses think that what brings me
13. and you together close in the presence of the bishop

Verso

1. is that I provide him with provisions and I remain in the service of the king and the protection of your companions?
2. But write to the king and inform him what happened to my slave boy
3. at the hands of Ibn al-ʿAsqalānī. I have not concealed from the king, or from you,
4. or from brothers the disgrace inflicted by Ibn al-ʿAsqalānī on my slave boy, and I shall request
5. reparations from him, believe me. I have been wronged, although I am the servant of the king. But I shall treat the Nubians
6. in the best possible way, God willing. By God, I suffer only the gloating
7. of people, who have gloated (over my suffering). I was intending to send a messenger
8. to the king with the merchandise that I have bought for him for ten dīnārs and the horse
9. that I have prepared for him, and equipment that he requested from me, but my slave boy arrived
10. humiliated and wronged by Ibn al-ʿAsqalānī. I sent the messenger,
11. after I had informed the bishop about my suffering due to his (Ibn ʿAsqalānī’s) shocking behaviour.
12. I said to him that a messenger would reach you. I have sent the horse to you
13. together with Maḥmūd, the slave boy of the commander. When he reaches you, write to me
14. a reply to this letter and read my letter to the bishop. For
15. there have been good relations between us. My slave boy has come for the sake
16. of good relations. The king should not allow Ibn al-ʿAsqalānī to sour his relationship with me or the commander.
17. For is Ibn al-ʿAsqalānī the king and we his slaves and his grovellers?
18. He is the one guilty of initiating this. Send the servants of mine who have my goods, namely ʾAbū ʿAbd Allāh
19. and Mārīḵura, send (them) by the road. Write to me concerning your requirements. I have sent to you
20. dirhams, two pieces in cash, two boxes, a leather bag and bitumen. I have not found
21. anything in the land to buy for you. Send me your news.
22. Praise be to God alone. His blessings be upon our lord Muhammad, His prophet, and his family, and His peace.
23. Our sufficiency is God. What a fine keeper is He!

Verso, address, right column

1. To the Ikshīl, Master of the Horses and vizier of the king,
2. U(r)uwī ibn Khiyākh, the deputy in the citadel of Ibrīm.

Verso, address, left column

1. His friend and one who thanks him,
2. Lāmiʿ ibn Ḥasan al-Kanzī.