heartily without being choked by the remembrance of her; nor have I looked upon beauty without its appearing hideous in my eyes because of her beauty."
Then said Sulaimân, "O Abu-Zeid! the sadness of what I have heard has wellnigh moved me to folly, and passion has taken possession of me, and judgment has fled from me. Know, O Abu-Zeid! that this girl whom thou sawest is Zhalfâ, of whom it has been said,
Zhalfâ resembles nought save a ruby
Produced from the purse of a merchant.
She cost my brother ten hundred thousand dirhems; and she was in love with him who sold her. By Allâh! if he be dead, it can only be through love of her, and he must have entered his grave solely by grief on her account, and from lacking consolation for her loss, and through fearfully anticipating death. Rise, O Abu-Zeid! Allâh have thee in His keeping. Ho, slave! lade him with a bádrah."[1]
So I took the present and departed.
And when Sulaimân succeeded to the Khalîfate, Zhalfâ also became his. And he ordered tents, and
- ↑ A sum of from one thousand to ten thousand dirhems, according to different writers.
