It is told of Hatim et Taï[FN#120], that when he died, they
buried him on the top of a mountain and set over his grave two
boughs hewn out of two rocks and stone figures of women with
dishevelled hair. At the foot of the hill was a stream of running
water, and when wayfarers camped there, they heard loud crying in
the night, from dark till daybreak; but when they arose in the
morning, they found nothing but the girls carved in stone. Now
when Dhoulkeraa, King of Himyer, going forth of his tribe, came
to the valley, he halted to pass the night there and drawing near
the mountain, heard the crying and said, 'What lamenting is that
on yonder hill?' They answered him, saying, 'This is the tomb of
Hatim et Taï, over which are two troughs of stone and stone
figures of girls with dishevelled hair; and all who camp in this
place by night hear this crying and lamenting.' So he said
jestingly, 'O Hatim et Taï, we are thy guests this night, and we
are lank with hunger.' Then sleep overcame him, but presently he
awoke in affright and cried out, saying, 'Help, O Arabs! Look at
my beast!' So they came to him and finding his she-camel
struggling in the death-agony, slaughtered it and roasted its
flesh and ate. Then they asked him what had happened and he said,
'When I closed my eyes, I saw in my sleep Hatim et Taï, who came
to me with a sword in his hand and said to me, "Thou comest to us
and we have nothing by us." Then he smote my she-camel with his
sword, and she would have died, though ye had not come to her and
cut her throat.' Next morning the prince mounted the beast of one
of his companions and taking the latter up behind him, set out
and fared on till midday, when they saw a man coming towards
them, mounted on a camel and leading another, and said to him,
'Who art thou?' 'I am Adi, son of Hatim et Taï,' answered he.
'Where is Dhoulkeraa, prince of Himyer?' 'This is he,' replied
they, and he said to the prince, 'Take this camel in place of
thine own, which my father slaughtered for thee.' 'Who told thee
of this?' asked Dhoulkeraa, and Adi answered, 'My father appeared
to me in a dream last night and said to me, "Harkye, Adi;
Dhoulkeraa, King of Himyer, sought hospitality of me and I,
having nought to give him, slaughtered him his she-camel, that he
might eat: so do thou carry him a she-camel to ride, for I have
nothing."' And Dhoulkeraa took her, marvelling at the generosity
of Hatim et Taï, alive and dead.