THE TALE OF DAVOUD AND HIS MAGIC RUG
By Tommyhawk1@AOL.COM
WWW.TOMMYHAWKSFANTASYWORLD.COM
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In the Caliphate of Kasmiristan there lived a young man by the name of Davoud. Though Davoud was an honest man and diligent in his prayers and kind to his fellow man, he was poor and struggled to make his living as best he could.
But fate or perhaps the Djinni had their own eyes upon Davoud and the way that it came about was this...on one day, the Caliph set out to hunt and his sons were going out to ride with him. Davoud, who had been carrying jugs of oil to earn a few coppers, had to pause to let the Caliph's train go by and he watched the young princes astride their fine steeds ride by. Last in the line was the twentieth son of the Caliph, young Sheik Talib, the most beautiful and fair of the Caliph's sons, and as he rode past, Davoud saw Talib's beauty and was struck by its fineness and enraptured by desire for the young sheik. And for his part, as well, when Talib saw the sturdy young oil-coated Davoud, he smiled most kindly and unblinkingly upon Davoud, and even after he had ridden past, did turn back upon his saddle, the longer to peer thus upon Davoud, and you can imagine that with that look, Davoud's heart was lost at once!
And for the first time, Davoud looked down upon his body, well-muscled and fine from his many labors, but dressed in common cloth and that well-soiled and stained, and he felt himself unworthy and ashamed. "How could such a one as the Sheik Talib gaze upon me?" he mourned. "And how can I dare to look back upon him?"
It happened that this young love-struck man was overheard by a ruffian by name of Samer, who had knowledge of some things but not the courage to do what with them, and he had been looking for one such as Davoud who could be bent to his will by kind words, so he approached the love-besotted youth and said with sweet coaxing, "And you with your strong arms and your wide shoulders think that the Sheik Talib saw only your clothing? You would make a worthy match for him, the twentieth of twenty sons, if you could but offer his father some hope that his son would go to live with a man of means."
"And that is the source of my woes." Davoud agreed, "for I have nothing more than these few rags I wear and a small room above a shop in which to live, and the coins I earn are enough to earn me only the few scraps of bread I can buy to eat. I could not build for the Sheik Talib a home worthy for him in which to live, and how can I dream that he would share my humble crusts of bread that are my daily meals?"
"You are lucky." Samer said to Davoud, "for I know of a place where gold is as common as the sands of the desert, and if you will but journey with me there and fetch out for me a single useless item there that has for me great sentimental value, then you may gather up as much gold as you wish from there afterward and I shall consider honored to have guided you there."
For Davoud, these words were as enticing as the Sheik Talib's smile had been, and he went with Samer eagerly. Riding the two of them together upon a rather old and feeble horse that belonged to Samer, they traveled for many days and nights over the desert, until they came at last to the edge of the mountains on the east of the desert, and in those mountains, Samer pointed out a small opening in the ground. "Inside you will find a tunnel and along the tunnel you will find trees, and upon these trees grow all the gold that you could ever wish to have." he said. "But I ask that you only wait until you have brought out for me the prayer rug at the furthest end of the tunnel, then I shall leave you here to gather all the gold you wish to load upon the horse which I shall leave for you.
The narrow crevice was a squeeze for Davoud, and he went inside and lit the torch he carried with him, and when he did, he gasped in surprise.
For inside the cavern, indeed, there was a garden formed of silver trees that bore golden leaves and among them were many iron statues of men caught in surprise and awe as they looked up at the trees and were reaching to pluck their leaves. Davoud wished to pluck leaves himself as did these statues of iron, but he remembered the promise to Samer and he walked through the trees this first time and did not touch a one of them. And as he did, he heard a small voice say to him, "O Wise Davoud, you have passed the test of greed by leaving my trees alone."
"I have passed your test?" Davoud said honestly, "But I did not know I was taking a test."
"Did you not see the men who have tried to steal the golden leaves from me?" the voice went on. "The gold is enchanted and will turn any who try to take them into iron. Six times has the man who came with you tried to send his helpers inside here, and all of them failed to resist and touched the trees. Only you have not."
Davoud marveled at this, as who would not? "I come instead for the prayer rug at the end of the hall, for it was what Samer truly wanted."
"The prayer rug is not mine and I will not prevent you from taking it, but I warn you that you must not give it to Samer." the voice warned Davoud. "For if you do, he will use it to become a most powerful thief with none able to stop him. For the prayer rug will take you into flight if you but kneel upon it and chant the prayer woven into its fringe, and it can carry you anywhere in the space of a few minutes through the air and so he will descend into the very courtyards of the rich to plunder them and flee up through the air afterwards."
"That indeed is a wonder." Davoud said. "And I can see why Samer would want it."
"Samer expects you to grasp the leaves and turn into iron." the voice said. "If you do not, then he will kill you as you try to leave this place."
Davoud considered this, and he said, "I shall see what else this place has to offer before I decide what to do about Samer." he said. He walked on, and beyond the garden of golden-leafed trees, he saw brass trees with silver-leaves, and beyond that, he saw a third garden of trees, and these trees were of iron and had leaves of brass.
Now Davoud knew a little of magic and he asked, "I have always understood that magic cannot endure the touch of iron. How then, are these brass leaves enchanted?"
"They are not." the voice said. "They are ordinary brass, for who would steal leaves of brass?"
Davoud saw his way then, and he smiled and said, "I would not take anything from you without your permission, but may I borrow a few of these leaves of brass for a short moment? I shall return them as soon as I am done with them."
"As you have asked me kindly, I grant you the right to take three of the leaves." the voice said. "But how you plan to use them to win your life from Samer if you hand him the rug, I do not understand."
Davoud plucked only three of the leaves of brass, and he went on to the end of the tunnel, and there in a prayer alcove marked with the qiblah of Mecca for the faithful, there lay the rug he had been searching for. Davoud said his prayer upon the rug, and then rolled it up and carried it back along the way with him, the rug and the three brass leaves, and he did not touch any of the other trees as he had promised the voice.
When Samer saw the rug, he said eagerly, "Hand it up to me and then you may turn and pluck your arms full of the golden leaves."
"I have already begun." Davoud said and he showed the brass leaves. The brass shone in the light very finely, and though the light was not the same as gold, to Samer's greedy eyes, he thought it gold.
"How could you take the leaves and not turn into iron as the ones who have gone before?" He marveled.
"I know nothing of the statues." Davoud said. "I merely reached up and said a short prayer to Allah before plucking each one, and they came away just as these three have."
And with that, Samer gave a groan of greediness, and he jumped down into the crevice, and he rushed up to the first golden tree, said a prayer and grasped a leaf...and was turned into iron.
And Davoud then returned the three brass leaves to the trees and placed them back where they were before as he had promised.
"Good, noble Davoud." the voice said. "In reward for your trustworthiness, I give to you this ring." And a ring appeared in the air before Davoud and he took it.
"This ring bears with it all the knowledge of the world." the voice said. "You have only to ask it and it will tell you the answer to any question you have. Go, and use it and the rug to make your fortune in the world."
And Davoud took the rug and the ring, and he laid out the rug on the sand outside the crevice, and he said the prayer and the rug rose with him, and Davoud said, "Fly with me to Kasmiristan!" and the rug carried him away as easily as if it were a feather in the wind.
And as he approached Kasmiristan, he could see right down into the royal courtyard and the princes at play and sport within. And there, a little away from the others, there Sheik Talib, who was just sitting under a tree and seemed forlorn.
Wondering at this, Davoud brought his flying rug down into the bushes nearby where Sheik Talib could not perceive him and he said, as though he were the voice in the tunnel, to Sheik Talib. "Why do you sit all alone and sad?" Davoud asked.
Sheik Talib turned but could not see Davoud hidden in the bushes. His skin was the color of desert sand, the face as beautiful as Davoud remembered. "Ah, it must be a spirit speaking to me." he said. "I know not if you are a good spirit or a bad spirit, but I must tell someone or I shall perish!"
"Nay, do not perish." Davoud said quickly, "But tell me of your sorrow."
"I cannot forget the young man I saw when my family and I rode out to hunt one time last month." Sheik Talib said. "I saw him and my heart was lost, and yet though I have traveled about the city many times, I cannot find him and neither can any of my father's ministers. He was an oil merchant, I think, for he was carrying jugs of oil when I saw him, but none of the oil merchants in town can tell me anything of such a one."
Davoud's heart quickened when he heard this. "I can tell you why you have not found the young man you seek." he said.
"Why, tell me, good spirit." Sheik Talib said. "Tell me so I may go to him."
"You could not find him for he has been many days outside the city." Davoud said. "But he has returned just this very day and if you will go to the streets of oil merchants to the shop of Ben Ab'd Maloch, you will find him waiting for you there. His name is Davoud."
"I thank you, and I go at once." Sheik Talib raced out of the garden and to his horse, and Davoud raced back to his rug. He could fly faster than Talib could ride, and so he made it back to his room and placed the rug upon his floor and that was all he had time for before Sheik Talib arrived and called his name.
Davoud scarcely showed himself before Sheik Talib was in his arms and kissing him! Davoud was still dirty from his long trek across the desert, but Sheik Talib didn't seem to care about that at all, for his mouth was upon Davoud's and his hand was at Davoud's loins, rubbing over the dirty white garb while Davoud held fine silk clothing.
Davoud broke off the kiss at last and said, "Come with me, upstairs." and he took his prince up the stairs and there were many from the street who followed, to see the sheik and the commoner and wondering why they were going so.
And so Davoud and Talib had no privacy even in their room, for the people came up from the very street, and Talib moaned to him, "I cannot bear this the longer. Is there no way you can get for us to be alone, so that we may share our newfound love?"
"Yes, and it is through prayer." Davoud said. "Kneel with me on my prayer rug and we will pray for our privacy."
And Talib was dubious but willing and he knelt with Davoud and as Talib prayed, Davoud used the prayer to cover his own saying of the words on the rug and the rug lifted them up and carried them out the window, to the marvel of the men left back in his little room!
Talib, too, was amazed, and he looked at Davoud. "What manner of thing is this?" he asked. "Have I fallen in love with djinn?"
"Never." Davoud said, "I am a man as are you, and I have this wonderful rug, and I would not have used it except that to use it lets the two of us be alone."
For the rug, with no destination given, had taken them up high above the city and was circling Kasmiristan slowly, too high to be anything more than a small form that could easily be one of the desert birds.
"I have thought of none but you lo these many days." Sheik Talib said. "Now that we are together, let me experience that of which until now, I have only dreamed."
"As have I." Davoud said, and he kissed the sheik tenderly. His own clothing was easy enough to remove, and Sheik Talib's pants were similarly simple. They stowed their clothes upon the tip of a minaret until they were done, and then turned to enjoy each other.
And now Davoud had Sheik Talib's body, and he kissed his way down the sand-colored form, tasting the tender, royal flesh and licking it up on his tongue. And Sheik Talib himself enjoyed the duskier flavor of Davoud's body, and was hungrier than Davoud, for while Davoud was still running his tongue over the thin line of hair that separated the left from the right side of Talib's stomach, he felt his manhood seized by Talib's mouth and a shock of sheer joy raced up his body, and he hastened to repay this kindness by engulfing Talib's own.
Talib moaned as soft as a spring zephyr when Davoud swallowed him, and then he began to move upon Davoud's prong, sliding his princely lips up and down the darker, more common cock in his mouth. And Davoud relished the feeling of Talib's mouth and he strove to match the ardor with his own ministrations, and Talib's sighs told him that he was doing well.
For two young men in their prime such as these, they may well have found their heart's fruition in this way, but Talib stopped after a time, and gasped, "My gentle Davoud, my soul's partner and my life's companion I do pray, let now the moment you take me, and quickly, because I have waited so long since first seeing you, I cannot bear to wait a second longer, impale me, penetrate me, annoint me with your life's seed, for I yearn for you to do so, pray, now, pray!"
Davoud could not have refused a request such as this from his sheik given what penalties there could have been, he could only do as he was asked, and he lifted those beautiful legs high and he lifted the buttocks they attached to so that his rod was aligned with the small, tender opening between, and he said, "And with this, I take you as my own true love, the one I shall spend my remaining years with, I would keep you as any man keeps his wife whom he cherishes, and I shall please you as any wife who worships her man may do, with this, you are mine and I am yours, now and forever."
And Davoud plunged his cock into Talib's ass, which opened eagerly to admit him. With nary a sound of pain or regret, the sheik's body was possessed by Davoud and he buried himself well inside it, and he lay himself down upon Talib's body and he kissed that lovely face over and over again as his hips moved his manhood inside his prince's body.
High above the city, the two lovers flew, moving in slow, lazy circles above the towers of Kasmiristan, their golden bodies lying upon a scarlet colored rug above the buildings and towers of marble and golden desert stones, Davoud atop Talib, his buttocks dimpling as they plunged his man-tower into Talib's dark, delightful depths, and Talib held onto Davoud's back, his hands feeling the power of the man he had fallen in love with, feeling the strength on top of him, a strength that could have rent him in two, and yet was moving with gentle consideration and giving his body such delight that he prayed in broken groans of lust that this moment could endure for all time.
And Davoud, too, wished that this could be the entirety of their lives, but he was ever, as his life required, more practical than his lovely prince, and he said in deep, husky, passion-tinted tones to his sheik, "Now, my love, my dearest heart, I shall complete my making of love with you, and I shall mark you deep within your body with my mark, and that mark shall endure come what may, and know that the mark shall always be there and you will always belong to me."
"Yes, my beloved Davoud, yes." Talib groaned. "To you and with you, always, I swear it!"
And Davoud hunched the harder at his magnificent, beautiful prince and he groaned the sounds of impending explosion and found to his gratitude that Talib matched him sound for sound, and when his body reached its height and could not bear more and when he broke at last, his cock ejaculating into Talib's youthful, handsome body with vigor and volume, Davoud was thrashing in his ecstasy and Talib was writhing under him, and Talib's prong sprayed Davoud's body with his sperm, streaking his dark brown body with white scimitars of jizz-colored slashes, and Davoud finished and fell onto his elbows above Talib (he could not crush his beloved even at this time!) and Talib moaned and sighed and spent his desire with the last of his seed, and was quiet beneath him.
Then Davoud said, "Now, my beloved, I must carry you back down to the streets, and let you return to your father's house. But do not worry at this parting, for I only tarry until I can build you a home worthy for a caliph's son to live in, and when I have it, I shall come for you again."
Talib moaned in dismay. "But could I not come with you and help you build this home for us?" he begged. "I know little of building, but I could learn, and I would, to be with you the longer."
Davoud smiled. "Do not worry, for I know how to build my fortune quickly, and then I can pay call upon you and the Caliph will give you to me gladly rather than his horror at seeing you with a commoner such as myself, he will see one of his equals coming to claim you, and that and only that, is why I ask you to wait."
Talib agreed, and Davoud put him back down onto his horse from the rug and Talib returned to his palace. But Talib was foolish and could not keep his lover a secret from his brothers, he told them of the dusky, common man with the magical powers who was now his lover, and he bragged that he would soon he living in a palace as fine as this one as the lover of this one who was now a commoner.
But the pride of his prince-brothers was stung by this, how could their littlest brother fall in love with a commoner, however powerful? And they told their father of Talib's desire and the Caliph was enraged in his turn, and the Caliph's men came for Talib in the middle of the night and they carried him away to a small house on the very edge of the Caliph's lands, and there they kept him under careful guard to protect him from the commoner lover he had formed a relationship with.
Davoud knew nothing of this, he was using the ring that knew everything to build his fortune, as he had known he could. He knew what to buy and what to sell so that everything he touched turned to riches, and within a year's time, he was one of the wealthiest men in the city.
And he adorned himself with rich robes and fine jewels, and he went to the Caliph to claim his love.
"So you are the one!" the Caliph roared when Davoud presented himself. "My foolish youngest son is not here and you are not worthy of him no matter how rich you now are! And now that I know who you are, I shall have you killed and that will be the end of it. Guards!"
But Davoud had brought his magic rug with him, intending to give it to the Caliph upon the Caliph's agreement to their union, so he said, "My Caliph, you may kill me, but I ask only that I be allowed to pray to Allah one last time before my death."
The Caliph granted this, and so Davoud laid out the magic rug and knelt upon it and said the prayer that caused it to fly him away! Upon the magic rug, Davoud rose above their heads and flew off to safety.
The Caliph was furious and he ordered all of Davoud's new possessions seized or smashed and he thought that this would be the end of Davoud, magic rug or no. But Davoud knew better, he asked the ring where Talib was, and he flew there, and at night, while the guards around Talib slept, he slipped quietly inside and set his lover free.
Together they flew to the opposite end of Kasmiristan, and at a quiet bay on the shore, they set up their housekeeping together. Talib had been miserable without Davoud and was glad to share the crusts of bread with him without complaint and satisfied only with being with his love. The ring told these two first how to survive and then how to thrive, and soon they had plenty for themselves and others. And the ring told them who to fetch from the cities who would make good citizens for their new town and they thus filled their town with men who loved honestly and truly and were willing to work, and these men made the little bay into a prosperous port that was visited by all the merchants and they called their town "Golden Love."
And there came a time when the Caliph, his own finances in ruins from his many quarrels and those of his sons, came to Golden Love to beg help, and he was very surprised to see his own youngest son and the man he had tried to kill sitting on their thrones to greet him.
But Davoud and Talib greeted the Caliph with warmth and kisses on the cheek, and the Caliph repented of his pride, and begged Davoud's pardon which was freely given. And then the Caliph welcomed Davoud into his family and the two, Davoud and Talib, using the wisdom of the magic ring to guide them, went on to live long, honest, prosperous and useful lives.
And as for the magic rug, they used it to gain privacy when they needed it from their hectic lives, and the magic rug was used by their children and grandchildren for many generations after, for men loving men, high in the air above their city, building their lives with peace and joy.
THE END
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