once from the poet, and once from the Khalîfah. So he repeated it. And then the Khalîfah said, "And this slave-girl who is concealed by the curtain, she also recollects it." And to be sure the slave-girl had heard it three times. So she repeated every letter of it, and the poet went away unrewarded.
The historian continues: Now el-Asmaïy[1] was among the intimate friends and table companions of the Khalîfah. And he composed some difficult verses, and scratched them upon a fragment of a marble pillar, which he wrapped in an Abâh,[2] and placed on the back of a camel. Then he disguised himself to the appearance of a foreign Arab, and fastened on a Lisâm[3] so that nothing was visible but his eyes, and came to the Khalîfah, and said, "Verily I have lauded the Commander of the Faithful in a kasîdah."[4]
Then said el-Mansûr, "O brother of the Arabs! if it has been brought by any one beside thee, we will give
