داخلا حتى يصلح أمره.
Playboy (to the Deputy Governor) How is the governor? He’s one of my friends, and I’ve often spent many enjoyable hours socializing with him.
ʿUmdah (to the Deputy Governor) I believe you’ve been working today on the Elections Committee.
Deputy Governor That’s right. God willing, everything will turn out the way we want.
ʿUmdah (to the Waiter) Champagne!
Deputy Governor That’s enough! I want to go inside to join my colleagues, judges and public attorneys, who are sitting over there. (pointing)
Playboy Don’t move, Your Excellency. I’ll invite them to join us. A and B are both good friends of mine.
Deputy Governor Don’t bother yourselves. It would be more proper for me to go and join them.
ʿUmdah That being so, we’ll all come with you, and the waiter can bring us a bottle of champagne.
Deputy Governor I’ve no objection to that, if you wish.
They all stood up and joined the other company. The waiter brought a bottle of champagne, and the ʿUmdah asked them to drink some. They declined and he insisted, but they still declined. Then he started swearing he would divorce his wife if they did not drink with him. He fell on his neighbor’s hand and started kissing it. With that they all complied with his wishes. The ʿUmdah now grabbed a glass and stood up unsteadily alongside the Playboy in order to have a drink with them. But hardly had he put the glass in his mouth than he began to choke and could not stop himself. The Playboy, assisted by the waiter, hurriedly pulled him inside to put his sorry state to rights.
١٤،٢٩
قال عيسى بن هشام: ولما صار أصحابنا في داخل المكان قال لي الباشا:
الباشا واذ لم يبق امامنا ما يشغل الناظر والحاضر فتخبرني بالله عن أمر كنت أحوم حول السؤال عليه في كل برهة فقل لي ما هذا البرنس؟
عيسى بن هشام البرنس هو لقب منتحل للامراء سبق لنا الكلام عنه وهذا الذي رأيته هو واحد منهم.
الباشا وكيف يدخل أمير في حان وما سمعنا من قبل أن هؤلاء الأمراء ينزلون إلى مخالطة الناس في مثل هذه الاماكن فهل نزل بهم الدهر فصاروا من القلة بحيث لا يقدرون على عقد مجالس اللعب واللهو في بيوتهم وسبحان الله لم يبق من عجائب الحدثان الا ان تطلع الشمس من المغرب.
ʿĪsā ibn Hishām said: Once our friends had gone inside, the Pāshā spoke to me:
Pāshā At this point, if there’s nothing left for us to see, then tell me about something that’s been on my mind all this time. What is this “prince”?
ʿĪsā ibn Hishām “Prince” is a title conferred on royal children. We’ve talked about it before. The person you’ve seen here is one of them.
Pāshā How can such a royal person enter a tavern? We’ve never heard before of such personages lowering themselves to mingle with common people in places like this. Has fate dealt badly with them? Are they so few that they can’t hold soirées and parties in their own residences? God in heaven, the only thing more remarkable would be for the sun to rise in the West!
١٥،٢٩
عيسى بن هشام ليس ذلك منهم عن قلة ولا عوز ولكن ضاقت نفوسهم من سجن القصور ولم يبق لديهم من الجاه ما يدعو الناس للازدحام على أبوابهم والترامي على مجلسهم فهم يعيشون منفردين وبمعزل عن الناس الا ما احتاط بهم من الآفاقيين من الغربيين طلاب الرزق وبغاة الندى فيقيمون في معاشرتهم حتى تنفد الثروة وينضب المال بما يتفننون لهم فيه من الخداع والدهاء والمكر والرياء فترى فيهم من ينتبه الى هذه الحال ويعتبر بغيره فلا يرضى بالبقاء عليها وتطمح نفسه الى مخالطة الناس ومعاشرة الاهالي والتأدب بآداب المجالس والتروح بأحاديث المجتمعات ولما كان الغالب ان مجالس المصريين لا تكون إلا في هذه الحال فقد نزلوا هم أيضًا اليها فاختلطوا بالناس وتخلقوا بأخلاقهم ولعل من تراه منهم على هذه الحال هو أفضل أخلاقًا وأكمل آدابًا وأرق طباعًا وأرضى أفعالاً ممن لا يزال مقتصرًا على معاشرة أسافل الافرنج بعيدًا عن الاختلاط بغيرهم من أهل بلده ووطنه.
ʿĪsā ibn Hishām It’s not a matter of either numbers or indigence. They’re bored with being imprisoned inside their own palaces. Not only that, but they no longer have the necessary prestige to bring people flocking to their doors in order to attend their councils. They lead lives that keep them apart from ordinary people; apart, that is, from Western travelers in quest of financial gain and generosity. As a result princes consort with foreigners who play a whole variety of tricks on them—falsehoods, cunning, deceit, and hypocrisy—until all the princes’ wealth is exhausted and their funds have dried up. You can find some of them who have become aware of this situation and learned from others’ mistakes. Not content to leave things as they are, such people are keen to mingle with ordinary people; they adopt the behavior common to such assemblies and enjoy the conversation in gatherings of this kind. Since the majority of meetings in Egypt are like that, princes have also descended to that level and adapted themselves to their moral standards. The prince whom you’ve seen here may actually be more ethical, cultured, amiable, and pleasant than other princes who only consort with the European riffraff and recoil from any contact with their own countrymen.
١٦،٢٩
قال
