MOHAMMED AL-AMIN AND THE SLAVE-GIRL
Ja'afar bin Musα al-Hαdi[FN#133] once had a slave-girl, a lutist, called Al-Badr al-Kabνr, than whom there was not in her time a fairer of face nor shapelier of shape nor a more elegant of manners nor a more accomplished in the art of singing and striking the strings; she was indeed perfect in beauty and extreme in every charm. Now Mohammed al-Amνn,[FN#134] son of Zubaydah, heard of her and was urgent with Ja'afar to sell her to him; but he replied, "Thou knowest it beseemeth not one of my rank to sell slave-girls nor set prices on concubines; but were she not a rearling I would send her to thee, as a gift, not grudge her to thee." And Mohammed al-Amin, some days after this went to Ja'afar's house, to make merry; and the host set before him that which it behoveth to set before true friends and bade the damsel Al-Badr al-Kabir sing to him and gladden him. So she tuned the lute and sang with a ravishing melody; whilst Mohammed al-Amin fell to drinking and jollity and bade the cupbearers ply Ja'afar with much wine, till they made him drunken, when he took the damsel and carried her to his own house, but laid not a finger on her. And when the morrow dawned he bade invite Ja'afar; and when he came, he set wine before him and made the girl sing to him, from behind the curtain. Ja'afar knew her voice and was angered at this, but, of the nobleness of his nature and the magnanimity of his mind he showed no change. Now when the carousal was at an end, Al-Amin commanded one of his servants to fill the boat, wherein Ja'afar had come, with dirhams and dinars and all manner of jewels and jacinths and rich raiment and goods galore. So he laid therein a thousand myriads of money and a thousand fine pearls, each worth twenty thousand dirhams; nor did he give over loading the barge with all manner of things precious and rare, till the boatmen cried out for help, saying, "The boat can't hold any more;" whereupon he bade them carry all this to Ja'afar's palace. Such are the exploits of the magnanimous, Allah have mercy on them! And a tale is related of
THE SONS OF YAHYA BIN KHALID AND SA'ID BIN SALIM AL-BAHILI
Quoth Sa'νd bin Sαlim al'Bαhilν,[FN#135] I was once in very narrow case, during the days of Harun al-Rashid, and debts accumulated upon me, burdening my back, and these I had no means of discharging. I was at my wits' end what to do, for my doors were blocking up with creditors and I was without cease importuned for payment by claimants, who dunned me in crowds till at last I was sore perplexed and troubled. So I betook myself to Abdallah bin Mαlik al-Khuza'ν[FN#136] and besought him to extend the hand of aid with his judgement and direct me of his good counsel to the door of relief; and he said, None can save thee from this thy strait and sorrowful state save the Barmecides.' Quoth I, Who can brook their pride and put up patiently with their arrogant pretensions?' and quoth he, Thou wilt put up with all this for the bettering of thy case.'"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Three Hundred and Ninety-third Night
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abdallah ibn Malik al-Khuza'i said to Sa'id bin Salim, "Thou wilt put up with all this for the bettering of thy case." "So I left him suddenly (continued Sa'id) and went straight to Al-Fazl and Ja'afar, sons of Yahyα bin Khαlid, to whom I related my circumstances; whereto they replied, Allah give thee His aid, and render thee by His bounties independent of His creatures and vouchsafe thee abundant weal and bestow on thee what shall suffice thee, without the need of any but Himself; for whatso He willeth that He can, and He is gracious with His servants and knoweth their wants.' So I went out from the twain and returned to Abdallah, with straitened breast and mind perplexed and heavy of heart, and repeated to him what they had said. Quoth he, Thou wouldst do well to abide with us this day, that we may see what Allah Almighty will decree.' So I sat with him awhile, when lo! up came my servant, who said to me, O my lord, there are at our door many laden mules and with them a man, who says he is the agent of Al-Fazl and Ja'afar bin Yahya.' Quoth Abdallah, I trust that relief is come to thee: rise up and go see what is the matter.' So I left him and, hastening to my house, found at the door a man who gave me a note wherein was written the following: After thou hadst been with us and we heard thy case, we betook ourselves to the Caliph and informed him that ill condition had reduced thee to the humiliation of begging; where upon he ordered us to supply thee with a thousand thousand dirhams from the Treasury. We represented to him: The debtor will spend this money in paying off creditors and wiping off debt; whence then shall he provide for his subsistence? So he ordered thee other three hundred thousand, and each of us hath also sent thee, of his proper wealth, a thousand thousand dirhams: so that thou hast now three thousand thousand and three hundred thousand dirhams wherewithal to order and amend thine estate.'" See, then, the munificence of these magnificos: Almighty Allah have mercy on them! And a tale is told of
THE WOMAN'S TRICK AGAINST HER HUSBAND
A man brought his wife a fish one Friday and, bidding her to cook it against the end of the congregational prayers, went out to his craft and business. Meanwhile in came her friend who bade her to a wedding at his house; so she agreed and, laying the fish in a jar of water, went off with him and was absent a whole week till the Friday following;[FN#137] whilst her husband sought her from house to house and enquired after her; but none could give him any tidings of her. Now on the next Friday she came home and he fell foul of her; but she brought out to him the fish alive from the jar and assembled the folk against him and told them her tale.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Three Hundred and Ninety-fourth Night
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the woman brought out the fish alive from the water-jar and assembled the folk against her husband, and told them her tale. He also told his; but they credited him not and said, "It cannot be that the fish should have remained alive all this while." So they proved him mad and imprisoned him and mocked at him, where upon he shed tears in floods and recited these two couplets,