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of Shahrzad
Part 14
By Eric J. Jerpe
May 12, 2004
iranian.com
The listeners gave Anaheita a few moments to calm
down before Romeen bade her to continue. The belly dancer resumed
the telling of her story.
"One day, I was asleep, dreaming of my home in Istanbul, of being
reunited with my friends, happy to be free, when I awoke to find
myself once again in my dingy cubbyhole. I rubbed my eyes and,
feeling the need to move around a bit, entered into the common
area. There I saw my familiar cellmates gathered around a new inmate.
She was stunningly beautiful, and I say that as a bellydancer who
was once belonged to a bevy of beauty. Her name was Shahrzad,
and she spoke in the most melodious of voices, telling everyone
not to worry, that our suffering was all part of a Cosmic Scheme.
"I joined the others, listening to Shahrzad as she began telling
a story: 'There was once a poor fisherman who cast his net
into the sea but four times a day....' She went on to
tell of the bottle the fisherman retrieved and of the genie who
had spent two thousand years imprisoned within it. We could all
relate to that theme, and remained a captive audience as she recounted
the tale in such glowing detail that it mattered not if one had
heard it before. We were all so happy when the fisherman gave the
genie a second chance.
"Day followed day, and one story flowed into another. For some brief
moments, we could escape from our wretched state through the magic
weaving of her storytelling. One of the most interesting stories
she told, forty sessions long, was a futuristic fantasy none of
us had ever heard before: The Man Who Claimed to be God. I, as
well as the others, was amazed over the way she told the entire
story, word for word, in the most articulate manner without ever
resorting to written notes. Her memory was quite phenomenal.
"She not only related stories, she also allowed each of us to tell
the group her own individual story. I am not sure how much fabrication
entered into any one of these personal stories, but the Mystic
Woman had an uncanny ability to detect falsehoods, drawing out
the truth in a gentle way, exposing inaccuracies without humiliating
the speaker. When the time came for me to tell my story, the Story
of the Bellydancer, I told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth.
"We all were curious to hear Shahrzad's own personal story,
and as the months passed she revealed to us bits and pieces of
her background. We learned that she came from Chek-Chek, the Mountain
of the Sacred Spring, and had been arrested for Apostasy and Disturbing
of Public Opinion. She affirmed her adherence to the teachings
of the Prophet of Iran, and taught us fundamental precepts of Zoroastrianism.
I cannot speak for the others, but I myself derived inspiration
from what I learned of the Ancient Faith.
"We all grew to love her. And we all became concerned for her welfare.
We presumed that the male guards were all eager to prey on her,
and warned her on numerous occasions about this feature of life
in a women's prison staffed by men. Yet, her personal magnetism
was so intense that she managed to impress even the guards, bringing
out whatever goodness they had, causing them to respect her and
feel ashamed of themselves for having lustful inclinations towards
this Daughter of Angels.
"One person, however, even the Mystic Woman could not redeem. The
warden became aware of Shahrzad's capacity for charming
people, and started to think of the woman from the Sacred Spring
as a challenge to her authority. The warden had Shahrzad brought
to her office, and there tried to probe her weaknesses. In no uncertain
terms, the witchy woman let the angelic woman know that the duration
of her sentence depended upon the whims of the warden. I learned
from prison guards that, on the first drilling, Shahrzad showed
no sign whatsoever of being intimidated. She remained calm in the
face of threats, behaving as though she was under the protection
of some higher authority and unperturbed by the warden's
threats to manipulate her sentence.
"This was an affront to the warden's pride, which she kept
strong by engendering in others the fear of her wrath. She became
determined to break the spirit of her prisoner. With increasing
frequency, Shahrzad was brought under guard to the warden's
office. The warden kept increasing the various pressures, yet Shahrzad
always remained calm and mild-mannered, sometimes even smiling
at her tormentor. I've been told that, on one occasion, the
warden thundered at the Mystic Woman, 'If you ever smile
in my presence again, I will cut out your lips from your mouth.'
"The one-year anniversary of the beginning of my incarceration was
approaching, with the outcome of my sentence review uncertain.
I spent more and more time with Shahrzad, quite often alone
with her, the two of us huddled together in the cold prison room.
I told her how the alternation of hope and dread was tearing apart
my psyche. She responded with comforting concepts from Magian cosmology.
"'
There are two modes of existence: the entity of Idea and the entity
of Material. The Eternal Being created the Ideal World as Perfect
Possibility. It then created the Physical World, enlisting our
struggling species as co-partners in Divine Creativity. In fits
and starts, humanity moves to transform this Physical World into
the Ideal World via the Path of Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good
Deeds. The Spirit of Good propels humanity towards the state of
ideal perfection, while the Spirit of Evil deviates humanity away
from actualization of Perfect Possibility.'"
Anaheita paused for a few moments, then noted, "It's
hard for me to imagine that it was only yesterday when I last saw
Shahrzad." She shed a few tears before resuming her story.
"The time had come for me to appear before the warden to learn my
fate, with possibilities ranging from freedom to torture and death.
I resolved to be brave, and entered the warden's office ready
to accept what I could not change. To my shocked surprise, the
first thing the warden said to me was, 'I have reviewed your
case and have decided to set you free, provided you sign legal
documents admitting to your guilt.'
"My heart beating fast, I agreed to the terms. One of the male guards
presented me with both a legal document and a copy of the belly
dancing VCR I had appeared in. I read the document, a confession
of involvement in the specified pornographic material, and with
little or no hesitation, I signed. The guard presented me with
a second legal document along with a VCR tape of the MTV video
I had appeared in. Again, I signed an admission of guilt.
"Then, I was presented with a third legal document; unexpectedly,
this third admission of guilt was accompanied with a magazine.
Looking at the cover, I observed a photograph from the MTV video,
revealing me and other girls of my troupe scantily clad in provocative
poses. I remember thinking, Whoever did the smuggling is trying
maximize profits by marketing to those without VCR's. Almost
inadvertently, I opened the magazine and looked through the still
pictures. I could see that the opening pages were taken from either
the belly-dancing or MTV videos; but, as I viewed on I began to
see indications of photo doctoring. Some of the girls in the still
pictures were definitely not from the corresponding video scenes.
My initial reaction was a mild distaste for the cheapening of what
I had tried to do professionally, but as I turned the pages I saw
pictures far more distressing. The photographs were of me totally
naked, dancing with other naked girls, some of them from my troupe
and some totally unknown to me.
"I knew immediately that these photographs were doctored composites,
presumably made with the intention of faking incriminating evidence.
I kept turning the pages, and the pictures became more and more
lewd. Graphic sex was portrayed, and I was seen as one of the participants.
Had I not just been told that my release was imminent, I would
then and there have totally dispaired of ever being set free.
"The greatest shock hit me as I viewed a truly pornographic photograph
with my face and body clearly shown side-by-side with the portrayal
of a completely naked Shahrzad, the Mystic Woman herself."
Gasps from the listeners prompted Anaheita to pause
for a few moments. Once the implications of a definite frame-up
had registered in
their minds, Anaheita continued. >>> To
be continued >>> Previois
parts
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