Free Omar Khayyam - a life by Harold Lamb Page B

millstone hanging upon his neck. "What have I to do with the Court?" he cried. "I seek no reward."
    This Nizam could not quite believe—he was too well schooled in the way of that same Court. Yet he saw his opportunity to impress this headstrong youth.
    "I, the Minister, am the servant of Malikshah, and I will befriend thee—since thou seekest no reward. Wilt thou have Nizam for protector of thy body and patron of thy studies, O son of Ibrahim the Tentmaker?"
    Gratitude to the grave man with the clear eyes flooded upon Omar. The door of the House of Wisdom had been closed to him, and he had tasted beggar's fare for these last days, when he had longed for a roof to shelter Yasmi.
    "Ay, indeed!" he cried, his eyes shining.
    "Then say, of what hast thou need?"
    "An observatory. An astrolabe of Baghdad make three cubits in diameter. The star tables of Ptolemy——"
    "What more? Say on."
    "If your Highness will! A celestial globe of polished bronze, with horizontal ring. And a star lantern. If it were possible, a water clock accurate to the two-minute space."
    Tutush raised his brows at this marshalling of instruments both rare and costly. But Nizam signed to him to write down the list.
    "And where," he smiled, "shall this observatory be? On some lofty roof?"
    "By the wisdom of your Highness," besought Omar all in a breath, "Nisapur hath been guarded from war, and the ancient watch towers stand deserted along the roads. Beyond the wall, overlooking the cemetery and the river, there is such a tower—I have used it of nights, often. Could it be granted me, with a good lock for the door, and—and some fair Bokhara carpets, with pillows and a Chinese screen, and a water jar of silver?"
    "Wallahi," exclaimed Nizam, surprised. "Astronomy, it seems, hath many needs I had not guessed. Still——" the compliment had pleased him, and he caught the sincerity in Omar's entreaty—"all this shall be given thee, upon one condition."
    Omar cast himself forward and pressed the Minister's thin hand to his forehead.
    "Upon condition," added Nizam, "that never to any living being wilt thou say that the prophecy at Malasgird was a jest."
    "I shall not speak of it, Highness."
    "If you do," put in Tutush blandly, "say that it was an inspiration of the moment,"
    "Ay," cried Omar happily, "as you will."
    "Although," remarked Nizam good-humoredly, "thou hast remembered a screen of Cathayan make and a silver water jar, thou hast taken no thought of food or service. Here is a small purse of silver for the one and Tutush shall find thee a pair of servants."
    It was true that Omar had not heeded such things. He took the embroidered purse in his hand curiously. Never before had he possessed money by the fistful. A subtle intoxication warmed him.
    "When shall I have the tower?" he asked anxiously.
    Nizam glanced at Tutush who pursed his lips. "By the afternoon prayer, tomorrow," said that individual obligingly.
    And Omar sensed the magic that authority can work.
    "The praise to Allah the Compassionate!" he cried, bending his forehead to the carpet. When Nizam said that he had leave to go, he sprang up, forgetting the silver and then hurrying back for it at a whisper from Tutush, who reminded him to salaam again at the door.
    As soon as they were alone, Tutush bent toward Nizam. "O Sun of Benevolence, said I not that this youth is the proper instrument, already shaped to thy hand? Where in all Nisapur would we have found such another? Is he not made for the part—with his strange wisdom, his stranger habit of speaking the truth, his naive ignorance of all but his star gazing—and that incredible prophecy to bear witness to him? My soul, he even swore to Master Ali that the King's astrologer must determine the truth ."
    Nizam did not smile. "I wish I knew his secret.... Yet he hides nothing."
    "Nothing!" echoed the chief of Nizam's spies with satisfaction. "Every other word from his lips is Proof, and every other word is Truth. My soul!" he flicked the