Jaafer ben Mousa el Hadi[FN#119] once had a slave-girl, a lute
player, called El Bedr el Kebir, than whom there was not in her
time a fairer of face nor a better-shaped nor a more elegant of
manners nor a more accomplished in singing and smiting the
strings; she was indeed perfect in beauty and charm. Mohammed
el Amin,[FN#120] son of Zubeideh, heard of her and was instant
with Jaafer to sell her to him; but he replied, 'Thou knowest
it beseems not one of my rank to sell slave-girls nor traffic
in concubines; but, were it not that she was reared in my
house, I would send her to thee, as a gift, nor grudge her to
thee.'
Some days after this, El Amin went to Jaafer's house, to make
merry; and the latter set before him that which it behoves to
set before friends and bade El Bedr sing to him and gladden
him. So she tuned the lute and sang right ravishingly, whilst El
Amin fell to drinking and making merry and bade the cupbearers
ply Jaafer with wine, till he became drunken, when he took the
damsel and carried her to his own house, but laid not a finger
on her. On the morrow, he sent to invite Jaafer; and when he
came, he set wine before him and bade the girl sing to him, from
behind the curtain. Jaafer knew her voice and was angered at
this, but, of the nobleness of his nature and the greatness of
his mind, he dissembled his vexation and let no change appear in
his demeanour.
When the carousel was at an end, El Amin commanded one of his
servants to fill the boat, in which Jaafer had come, with
dirhems and dinars and all manner jewels and jacinths and rich
clothes and other treasures of price. So he laid therein a
thousand myriads of money and a thousand fine pearls, each
worth twenty thousand dirhems; nor did he give over loading the
barge with all manner of precious things, till the boatmen
cried out for quarter, saying, 'The boat cannot hold any more;'
whereupon he bade them carry all this to Jaafer's palace. Such
are the fashions of the magnanimous, may God have mercy on
them!
THE SONS OF YEHYA BEN KHALID AND SAID BEN
SALIM EL BAHILI.
(Quoth Said ben Salim el Bahili[FN#121]), I was once, in the
days of Haroun er Reshid, in very narrow case and greatly
oppressed with debts, that had accumulated upon me and that I
had no means of discharging. My doors were blocked up with
creditors and I was without cease importuned for payment by
claimants, who dunned me in crowds, till I was at my wits'
end what to do. At last, being sore perplexed and troubled,
I betook myself to Abdallah ben Malik el Khuzai[FN#122] and
besought him to aid me with his judgment and of his good
counsel direct me to the door of relief; and he said, "None can
quit thee of this thy strait but the Barmecides." Quoth I, "Who
can brook their pride and put up with their arrogance?" And he
answered, "Thou must put up with it, for the sake of amending
thy case." So I left him and went straight to El Fezl and
Jaafer, sons of Yehya ben Khalid, to whom I related my case.
"God give thee His aid," answered they, "and enable thee by
His bounties to dispense with the aid of His creatures and
vouchsafe thee abundant good and bestow on thee what shall
suffice thee, without the need of any but Himself; for He can
what He will and is gracious and provident with His servants."
I went out from them and returned to Abdallah, disappointed and
perplexed and heavy at heart, and told him what they had said.
Quoth he, "Thou wouldst do well to abide with us this day, that
we may see what God the Most High will decree." So I sat with
him awhile, and 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 Fezl and Jaafer ben Yehya."
Quoth Abdallah, "I trust that relief is come to thee: go and
see what is to do." So I left him and running to my house,
found at the door a man, who gave me a letter, wherein was
written the following: "Know that, after thou hadst been with
us and acquainted us with thy case, we betook ourselves to the
Khalif and informed him that the case had reduced thee to the
humiliation of begging; whereupon he ordered thee a million
dirhems from the Treasury. We represented to him that thou
wouldst spend this money in paying thy creditors and said,
'Whence shall he provide for his subsistence?' So he ordered
thee other three hundred thousand, and we have sent thee, of
our own money, a million dirhems each, so that thou hast now
three millions and three hundred thousand dirhems, wherewithal
to order thine affair and amend thine estate."
See, then, the munificence of these generous men; may God the
Most High have mercy on them!