NOTE. The Khalif Al Mamum was one day playing with one of his
courtiers, who moved negligently and in a careless manner, the
Khalif perceived it and got wrath, and turned over the board and
men, and said: "He wants to deceive me and practice on my
understanding; and he vowed on earth that this person should never
play with him again." In like manner, it is related of Walid ben
Abdul Malik ben Merwan, that on an occasion when one of his
courtiers, who used to play with him negligently at chess,
omitted to follow the proper rules of the game, the Khalif
struck him a blow with the Ferzin (or Queen) which broke his
head, saying: "Woe unto thee! Art thou playing chess, and art
thou in thy senses."
NOTE. The 37th and last Khalif of Abbaside, was dethroned and put
to death by Hulaku. the son of Genghis Khan in 1258, when the
Tartars were also sorely troubling part of the Christian world,
and frightening the Popes. Unluckily for Oriental Literature we
are told, scarcely any of the comparatively few works of the
"Golden Age of Arabian Literature" saved from destruction, have
been translated or made known to us, but we may conclude that of
the one hundred and sixty rulers, not a few emulating Harun, Mamun,
Walid and Mutasem, were more or less like them, devoted to the
game.
Pages:
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170