222
ʾILÂM-EN-NÂS.
Damascus, but afterwards I said, "It would not do for the messenger to come and not find me, for then verily I should have committed a second error against myself." So I sat down in the shade of a wall hard by. And when the day was far spent, behold! one of the two youths who had been with the young man drew near. And I never remember to have felt greater pleasure at anything than my pleasure that moment on seeing him.
And he said to me, "O my lord! I am late in reaching thee."
But I said not a word to him of what I had suffered.
Then he asked me, "Didst thou recognize the man?"
I said, "No."
"He is the heir-apparent," said he, "el-Walîd-ibn-Hishâm."[1] Upon hearing which, I remained silent.
Then he said, "Rise, and mount."
- ↑ This is another careless misstatement of historical fact. El-Walîd was the heir-apparent, but he was the nephew, and not the son, of Hishâm; the Khalîfah, Yezîd-ibn-ʾAbd-el-Málik having nominated his brother Hishâm to succeed him, on condition that upon the death of the last-named prince, his own son, el-Walîd, should be called to the throne.
