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The Angel with One
Hundred Wings: A Tale from the Arabian
Nights by
Daniel Horch Historical Lit. Hard Cover December 2002 www.stmartins.com 258 pages $23.95 USD ISBN: 0-312-2841-7 “Ten women carried out a solid silver throne that belonged to the Sultan. Large doors swung open: unveiled, Shemselnehar entered like a Persian queen in blue and gold silk, diamonds and pearls. She strode slowly, majestically, followed by ten women dressed as royal ladies in waiting. Impressed by her beauty, I was even more scared by her pretension. “This woman,” I thought, “is mad enough to get us all killed.” Years ago, I read another story, where the Caliph of Baghdad, Harun Al-Rashid, made a deal with a powerful man to preserve the beauty and glory of Baghdad forever, by trapping the dream of it in a large glass bottle. Horch opens the bottle for us, and brings to life the glory of this once great place, reminding us why it was considered a jewel among cities, the capital of the civilized world. In this jewel of a city, a pharmacist, Abulhassan, has risen from poverty to become a friend to the Sultan himself. He is wealthy, his perfumes and medicines are sought by many, but he has turned from people to work on alchemy. Even he and his wife, Fatima, do not speak very often. His closet friends are the Sultan, who he plays chess with, and the Prince of Persia, also named Abulhassan. A young man who sought wisdom and gained friendship, the Prince meets the Sultan’s beautiful mistress, the incomparable Shemselnehar by accident when the lady comes to Abulhassan’s shop for some perfume. She lets her veil drop by “accident” and the Prince is overcome by her beauty. He accepts an invitation to visit her at her palace. Abulhassan goes with him, a sense of dread in his stomach, for he knows these two play a dangerous game. It gets worse when they, clearly besotted with each other, exchange a kiss, and the pharmacist knows that it is only a matter of time before the Sultan finds out and passes a terrible judgment on them all. As the different political factions try to gain from this rumored affair between the Prince and the mistress, Abulhassan tries to decide which of his friends he will betray. Since every visitor, every hour may bring Abulhassan closer to execution, there is a sense of breathlessness in the story...you hold your breath every time the Sultan speaks to Abulhassan, every time we sight a spy or the lovers meet. Even the eventual escape of the lovers, who unwillingly leave Abulhassan behind to face the Sultan, is tense and exciting. One of the things that makes this story so lyrical is the intertwining of different sets of thoughts. Abulhassan tells this story to us, and as he does he considers four different things. He doesn’t repeat his considerations, so it never becomes boring, but, as a fine piece of music revisits themes, using the swells of music to put forward and reflect the story, so do these thoughts. For example, Abulhassan often thinks upon Jafar, a man who grew up with the Sultan and was considered by all to be his closet and most loyal companion...until paper thin rumors of Jafar’s desire to usurp the throne forced him to kneel under Mesrour’s sword. It reflects Abulhassan’s worries, as he continues to remember Jafar, and think, if he'll behead his best friend and companion, what will he do to me? He also considers the Koran, mulling over stories and thoughts from it, creating images that are incredibly moving, even as they add illumination about the culture of the time. We also find out about alchemy, and the strange and careful preparations that go into turning base metals to gold. These considerations tell us about himself, and is symbolic of his self made solitude, and is his distraction from considering the rifts that he has made between himself and his family. Another thing that makes this story so magical is that the characters, as the subtitle suggests, borrow more from the cast of the Arabian Nights than from history. Harun Al-Rashid is the same man who wandered the streets in disguise with his friend Jafar, looking for adventures. Even the Prince Abulhassan and Shemselnehar are names those intimate with the stories will recognize...yet, you won’t find Djinns and flying carpets. The story itself is very real, the historical facts feel solid. It is the people that are magic, their thoughts, their pursuits, the magic of people who want to believe in something better, whether it be in alchemy, or love. Horch recreates Baghdad with beautiful, amazing prose, filled with images that breathe. For some reason I really liked “...no longer did I host dinners where servants hurled rose petals into the air, red slivers that then drifted down from the night, falling upon my nose and mouth, my eager eyes and wise white beard.” Every word is carefully set into the story, creating an alluring and exciting tale, filled with stunning visual imagery. 5 out of 5 wings Cindy Lynn Speer, GWN Reviewer March 13, 2003 |