Read Online Wild Jasmine by Bertrice Small - Free Book Online Page A

wealth.”
    “It is her breasts.” Salima Begum nodded wisely to Zada Begum. “She has fine breasts for a young girl. I will wager they would weigh heavily in a man’s hands.” She chuckled.
    The other women now came forward with their gifts for the princess. There was the usual assortment of silk scarves and saris; perfumes, gold bracelets, and earrings. Aram-Banu Begum brought her youngest sister a little cage with two lovebirds.
    “They are for you,” she said slowly, struggling to rememberthe words exactly as her mother had taught her. “I raised them myself. My mama says you like birds.”
    “I shall love them dearly, my revered elder sister, especially knowing that you raised them for me yourself,” Yasaman told Aram-Banu Begum, and she hugged her.
    “She has a good heart,” the lady Waqi observed wisely. “Not like others here I might name. You have raised her well, my lady Rugaiya Begum.”
    “I thank you, Lady Waqi,” Rugaiya Begum said with a kindly smile. Poor Waqi. She had been but a passing fancy with Akbar, and only the fact she had borne his child saved her from total obscurity. If Aram-Banu had been normal, she would have married well, and Waqi would have spent a comfortable old age in a rich son-in-law’s house spoiling her grandchildren. Her daughter’s feeble mind denied her all these things. She would grow old in the zenana.
    “I have a most special gift for our Yasaman,” Jodh Bai announced, and all eyes turned to her.
    “What is it, Aunt?” Yasaman asked, surprised. She had believed her shabnam peshwaz Jodh Bai’s gift.
    Jodh Bai signaled to her servant. The eunuch hurried forth to present Yasaman with a sandalwood box with gold filigreed corners and a matching filigreed lock. The lock, however, was only decorative. As he held the box, Yasaman lifted the lid to reveal its contents. The interior was lined in beaten gold, and upon a scarlet satin pillow rested a book.
    “It is a Pillow Book, my dearest,” Jodh Bai told Yasaman. “It is the very same Pillow Book I gave Candra those many years ago. Now it is yours.”
    Yasaman’s eyes filled with tears. She looked away, embarrassed for a brief moment. Then, regaining control over her emotions, she said, “You could have given me nothing that would have pleased me more. To have something that Candra cherished is almost too much to bear, dear aunt. It makes me feel closer to her.” Yasaman lifted the book from its box. It was exquisitely bound in peacock-blue silk, its edges of pure gold studded with tiny pearls and diamonds. Opening the first ivory-vellum page she read aloud the words that were written in gold upon it.
    “ ‘Once the Wheel of Love has been set in motion, there is no absolute rule.’ ” Her heart seemed to beat a little faster as the words echoed in the night. “Ohh, how perfectly romantic! It’s from the Kama Sutra , isn’t it?”
    “Yes,” said Jodh Bai, a little surprised. “You have read the Kama Sutra? ”
    “Only some of it, Aunt. It disturbs poor Father Cullen when I do, and so I only read it occasionally.”
    “If the Kama Sutra upsets the priest, I can only imagine what a Pillow Book is going to do,” Jodh Bai said mischievously.
    “There is nothing wrong with a Pillow Book,” Rugaiya Begum said indignantly. “These priests! Why they deny their manhood is a mystery I shall never solve. They have linghams like other men, and yet all they use them for is to pee. It is a terrible waste, I tell you! If Allah had wanted a race of men who didn’t use their linghams for joy, then he would have so created them! Pay no attention to Father Cullen, my daughter. A Pillow Book but prepares a young girl for the marriage bed by allowing her to see what will go on there. Ignorance has no virtue, and fear should play no part in lovemaking.”
    “Is she not perhaps a little too young for a Pillow Book?” Akbar asked.
    Before Rugaiya Begum might reply, Jodh Bai said, “No, my good lord, she is not. Look