Now when I heard this, I marvelled at his evil nature and his depravity and mischief-making and his ignoble birth and provenance and, turning upon him, I said, “There is none on the face of the earth better or more righteous than the Barmecides, nor any baser nor more wrongous than thou; for they bought thee off from death and delivered thee from destruction, giving thee what should save thee; yet thou thankest them not nor praisest them, neither acquittest thee after the manner of the noble; nay, thou meetest their benevolence with this speech.” Then I went to Al-Rashid and acquainted him with all that had passed——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Three Hundred and Sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Salih continued:—So I acquainted the Commander of the Faithful with all that passed and Al-Rashid marvelled at the generosity and benevolence of Yahya and the vileness and ingratitude of Mansur and bade restore the jewel to Yahya, saying, “Whatso we have given it befitteth us not to take again.” After that Salih returned to Yahya, and acquainted him with the tale of Mansur and his ill-conduct; whereupon replied he, “O Salih, when a man is in want, sick at heart and sad of thought, he is not to be blamed for aught that falleth from him; for it cometh not from the heart;” and on this wise he took to seeking excuse for Mansur. But Salih wept and exclaimed, “Never shall the revolving heavens bring forth into being the like of thee, O Yahya! Alas, and well-away, that one of such noble nature and generosity should be laid in the dust!” And he repeated these two couplets:—
Haste to do kindness thou dost intend; ✿ Thou canst not always on boons expend:
How many from bounty themselves withheld, ✿ Till means of bounty had come to end!
And men tell another tale of the
[246]. Mansur al-Nimrí, a poet of the time and a protégé of Yahya’s son, Al-Fazl.
[247]. This was at least four times Mansur’s debt.