Read The Ports and Portals of the Zelaznids Online

Authors: Dr. Paul-Thomas Ferguson

The Ports and Portals of the Zelaznids (3 page)

BOOK: The Ports and Portals of the Zelaznids
9.45Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

     If we assume
that
Huda is the author of
The Ports and Portals of the Zelaznids
, then
, based on internal references and what we know about the poet,
Parts I and II of the text must have been completed between 1821 (Napoleon’s death) and 1827 (Huda’s death).  Part III, however, cannot be dated accurately, for
this final section – consisting of snippets of oral accounts
and legends

was
likely
pieced together
after the poet’s death, by a
complier
or compliers
as yet
unknown
; hence the jarring and sometimes confused na
ture of this
material
.

     As for the strange and potentially dangerous second volume of
Ports and Portals
:
authentication of
the
authorship
of
that text will have to wait until a copy
surfaces, assuming it ever existed

    
Time will tell.

 
     

Paul-Thomas Ferguson

Illinois (June 2009)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE

PORTS AND PORTALS OF

THE ZELAZNIDS

 

 

 

 

I
ntroduction

The Valley of Hope

 

I

n a narrow valley
in the mountains
,
high
above the Persian cittie
of Astrábád, where the deep brown hills meet the river Attuk, the people
known as
the Zelaznids
did
settle.  The valley of Quiqanyu,
[4]
for such it
was called
by the newcomers, was not a great and fertile land, though it served their needs insofar as God did will it.  Neither was it a place for the conduct of vigourous trade, for laden vessels could not venture so far up the Attuk, nor were there roads worthie
of
speech.  In truth, no
one
traveled to Quiqanyu
and
this is why the
Zelaznids so desired it
; f
or that wise and ancient people, who had wandered
the length and breadth of the land
for more than one thousand years, had no wish to be found.

     Since their emergence in the ancient and mysterious East, the Zelaznids had good cause to run.   And run they did, pursued always by those who would destroy them, for Gaia
seemed to hold nothing
but wrath for the Zelaznids
,
those bearers of knowledge as deep as the sea, as ancient as the heavens
,
desirous of naught but to be left to their own truth.
 
Oh, Fate!
  How this wending world might have fared
if
the wisest,
even
in their unbelief
,
had
but
harkened to the call of the Wanderers
.
  Yet this was not to be, for a man might glorie in his own beliefs even as he scorns those of his
neighbour
.  I
t is a rare sect, indeed, that
will, in peace, long endure
the faith of another.

    
For this reason the Zelaznids ran from the frozen heights of the Himalay
[5]
to the great green grasses of the northern steppes; from the heart of Hindu-Kush to Kashmir; and through perilous Persia, bearing with them the honour of their fathers, the centuries strewn behind them, scattered to the winds until
such time as
Quiqanyu became their hope, their home, and their sepulcre.

     Few now remain who hold the truth in their hearts. 
But
the voice of time enjoins
me
to speak.  For those who have fallen, for the valourous Zelaznids,
I
must tell what
I
know.  

- - Ikhu
[6]

~
23
~

 

Part I

The Origins of the Zelaznids

 

Chapter 1

The Children of the Sun

 

T

o the west of the eternal Nile
,
the distant and dust-veiled dunes shift and slough their varied forms against the horizon, careless of those who choose to scale the
ir
soft and treacherous slopes.  Gaze upon those unfaithful hills when the sun sinks to greet the sands and you might well see the silhouettes of
myriad
herdsmen making their camps for the evening.  It
is a necessarie
and welcome rest between the toil of the desert and the reward of the marketplace.

    
There are few
who could, without complaint, live for a day as do these heartie folk; fewer still could imagine the joy a man
might
feel
while living
in this fashion
, though
his
life be simple.  The
m
odern man looks upon
the
herdsm
e
n with
great
pittie, believing these tribal nomads to be a
ltogether
backward, as ignorant of chromium
[7]
as of Christmas
.
[8]
  Yet the herdsmen labour on, near Giza and el-Amarna and storied Thebes,
[9]
stronger than the terrible heat and deeper than the great storms of sand that engulf them time and time again.

     Oh! How the cittie folk despise them; for men of this age cannot condone a people who have no use for the loc
omotive; cannot understand why the same
herdsman
who responds
with disinterest
upon
hear
ing
of the fall of Bonaparte
can
yet speak with the eloquence of a sage on the subject of a
rain storm
more than ten years gone.

     L
ook
,
as I have
, and
you
will
find these wanderers throughout Egypt, the empire, and the world beyond.  I have seen them on the road to Damascus, in the plains of Baghdad, and amongst the pilgrims bound for Mecca.  They are the beating heart of the Earth, for they are, as they shall always be, a living part of all that we have ever known.

 

W

hen I think o
f
the people who became the Zelaznids, I do so with the
Egyptian
herdsmen in my mind; for the primæval Zelaznids, if the ancients are to be believed, were themselves a nomadic people
who
ma
de
their homes at the edge of a vast and angrie desert: the great Gobi in the land of the Qin.
[10]
  In this mystical place, where each grain of sand rivals the circumference of the kursh
,
[11]
were borne those who would one day
call themselves
the Zelaznids.

     Life, such as it was, came upon them in
alternate
waves of toil and rest, weariness and contentment.  The Gobi had no great bountie to yield to the people, for she is a wicked mistress, th
at
infamous land wherein
brave
Lange
[12]
discovered scorching winds and bitter snows. 
The ancient tribesmen, who called themselves the Ginyu, lived
in solitude
along the southern reaches of the Gobi,
o
ut of the reach of the empire of the Shanyu.
[13]
  Here, left alone but for
occasional
raids, the people struggled with their hands and
their
hearts to make good works, meeting the terrible powers of nature with their uncommon strength.

    
But
,
even for the Ginyu
,
time could not pass eternall
ie
in such a fashion.  Came a spring when the rain did not fall, a summer when the wells dried up
,
a time when
both man and beast sucked upon the rocks for
their
nourishment.
[14]
  At each turn, the spectre of
D
eath stretched out
his
barren hand, stealing from all and sundrie the lives for which they had so long fought.

    
At long last
the
tribal
elders, seeing that the
people
had become wearie down to their bones, summoned all of the
Ginyu
to the meeting place – an assemblie to discuss what might be done to appease the gods
who had taken it into their celestial heads to h
eap ill
favour
upon
these
faithful tribesmen.  Sevent
ie-
seven men st
oo
d before the elders, but none dared speak in their ignorant shame, for none believed that Man could alter the will of the gods.

     Yet, into this silent circle stepped a lone herdsman.  If he possessed a given name, there
were
none who knew it.  The children of the Ginyu called him Majumin,
[15]
for he was a solitarie fellow who toiled in distant pastures.  This
same
Majumin
stood
boldlie
before
the elders at the meeting place -
this herdsman who in his life had spoken rarelie to the people of the Ginyu. 
Now he spoke w
ith
simple strength
, so that all might hear
and understand
.

     “Is it fitting that we should die whil
st
we have legs to take us from this place?”

     “What else
can be done
?” a voice called out.

     “Let us rather
leave
this place
and
find another,” replied the herdsman.

     “And where would you have us go?” cried another voice, “For we know nothing of the world beyond.”

     “You believe that we know nothing?” replied Majumin. “Yet, each day of our lives we have waited in hope for the coming of the rains.  And where do we look for this great miracle?”

     “
The rains come from
the south and
the
west.”

     “
This
is so.  The ancients say that the rains are a gift, sent to the Ginyu from the gods who dwell atop the great mountains.  Can you doubt that the gods have
now
grown angrie with us?  Is thi
s not why we are made to suffer?

     “But why should the gods despise us so?” came the voice of an elder.

     Majumin shrugged, “I am but a herdsman; I am ignorant of such things.  But, while I am in nowise worthie, I shall yet venture to the great mountains and plead with the gods to free us from this
hardship
.”

     The elders all chided him to remain where he was, warning him that the home of the gods was no place for a Ginyu. 
But
the herdsman was unpracticed at heeding the admonitions of the elders.  With the coming
of
dawn, Majumin, bearing
naught but
those belongings that his back could support, set himself
on
the road toward the great mountains.
[16]
 
But
this brave herdsman
did not venture forth in solitude
.  Serving as his escort
,
there followed thirt
ie
-three men with their wives and children, souls who woul
d no longer stand rooted while D
eath sought them out.

    
And so
they went, traveling ever south
ward
and westward, with the days stretching into weeks, and the weeks into months.  They traveled in the earlie morning and at dusk, hiding from the
scorching
heat of the sun and huddling close in the
chill of the darkness
.
 
In the midst of autumn, with the nights growing ever colder, the
travelers crested a hill to discover
a
woeful
sight, a vast and barren sea of yellow sand.  This image tore the hearts out of the Ginyu, for Majumin had been so stout and sure
of his path
that none had questioned his leadership, thinking that the Fates
had thus far
guided his feet. 

     Oh!  How cruel the absence of life can be
, for it
reminds
a m
an of his own mortal nature.
  Faced with this new obstacle, the people of the Ginyu, one after the next, fell into doubt, fearing that they
had been misled

And
some
withdrew
from Majumin, thinking him no longer a rig
htlie-guided soul.

     “How much farther must we go?  How much must we suffer before we find
that which
we seek?” they cried
.
“We are wearie of this journie.”

     Majumin had no words to succor them. “I will
yet
continue on to the mountains.”

     “But you have brought us to the Takla Makan.  Do you intend that we should follow
you into that place from which no one may return?”
[17]

      “It is a difficult thing, this dut
ie
,” answered the herdsman, “but attending to me is your own doing.  I have
not
asked this of you.”

     At this, nine men, with their wives and children, left the assemblie, intent on returning the way that they had come, no longer concerned about the hardships of home. 
But
Majumin, true to his word, continued on, skirting the edge of the vast wasteland, showing his companions how
they might
use the meagre plants and
the
small
creatures of the desert for their sustenance in times of need.

  
At long last
, they entered a region where the signs of life were not quite so rare, where patches of green dotted the spaces between the dunes.  To this, the Ginyu responded with lightened hearts, no longer doubting the guidance of the herdsman. 
T
o this great fortune, Majumin responded not at all, but
remained upon the
path
in silence
.

     Then, all of a bright sunnie day in the earlie winter, they reached the first
large
settlement
they had yet seen, a sizable village huddled along the banks of a wide, shallow river.  Here the travelers found aid and were treated with respect by the residents, who called their home Ergyan.
[18]
  The Ginyu were glad for the rest, for the Ergyanni invited them to stay
.
 
And so
they did for a time.

 

C

ome the following spring, Majumin prepared to continue his journie, but most of the Ginyu wished to remain amongst the Ergyanni, whose river, it was said, was the source of the nectar of life.

     “Why venture onward?” they pleaded.  “All that
we require
exists
in this place
.”

   
Yet
the herdsman vowed to continue
on
, tracing that river to its source in the great mountains. 
And so
, once more the Ginyu divide
d
themselves,
with
but
eleven men
now
following Majumin
, along
with seven women and five children.
 
Months of hardship followed as the travelers traced the course of the river, that winding blue snake that ever widened the nearer they drew to the mountains.
[19]
  At last,
their path brought them to Salabad,
[20]
an ancient cittie
perched in the hills between the great mountains and
the
marshlands at the edge of the desert
.

     Here, at last, Majumin encouraged his people to settle, declaring that he would henceforth travel alone to seek the favo
u
r of the gods for
the benefit of the Ginyu

But
there was one among
st
the
m
, a young
stone worker
called
Zelaznu,
who
would not hear of the herd
sman traveling alone.  Having little
familie to speak of,
his sister being well married to a fine man,
Zelaznu
declared that he would follow Majumin wheresoever he might lead.

BOOK: The Ports and Portals of the Zelaznids
9.45Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Private Showing - by Lexi Dubois
The Lonely Wolf by Monica La Porta
Night Is Mine by Buchman, M. L.
Sohlberg and the Gift by Jens Amundsen
The Rings of Saturn by W. G. Sebald
Walking Dead by Greg Rucka
Carry Her Heart by Holly Jacobs
Veil of Night by Linda Howard