grave; shall I smite off his head and be quit of his blood?" "Yes," replied Hisham. He repeated his question and the Caliph again answered in the affirmative. Then he asked leave a third time; and the youth, knowing that, if the Caliph assented yet once more, it would be the signal of his death, laughed till his wisdom-teeth showed; whereupon Hisham's wrath redoubled and he said to him, "O boy, meseems thou art mad; seest thou not that thou art about to depart the world? Why then dost thou laugh in mockery of thyself?" He replied, "O Commander of the Faithful, if a larger life-term befell me, none can hurt me, great or small; but I have bethought me of some couplets, which do thou hear, for my death cannot escape thee." Quoth Hisham, "Say on and be brief;" so the Arab repeated these couplets,
"It happed one day a hawk pounced on a bird, * A wildling sparrow
driven by destiny;
And held in pounces spake the sparrow thus, * E'en as the hawk
rose ready home to hie:—
'Scant flesh have I to fill the maw of thee * And for thy lordly
food poor morsel I.
Then smiled the hawk in flattered vanity * And pride, so set the
sparrow free to fly.
At this Hisham smiled and said, "By the truth of my kinship to the Apostle of Allah (whom Allah bless and keep!), had he spoken this speech at first and asked for aught except the Caliphase, verily I would have given it to him. Stuff his mouth with jewels,[1] O eunuch and entreat him courteously;" so they did as he bade them and the Arab went his way. And amongst pleasant tales is that of
IBRAHIM BIN AL-MAHDI AND THE BARBER- SURGEON.
They relate that Ibrahím, son of al-Mahdí,[2] brother of Harun al-Rashid, when the Caliphate devolved to
- ↑ A common and expressive way of rewarding the tongue which "spoke poetry." The Jewels are often pearls.
- ↑ Ibrahim Abu Ishák bin al-Mahdi, a pretender to the Caliphate of well known wit and a famed musician surnamed from his corpulence "Al-Tannín"=the Dragon or, according to others (Lane ii. 336), "Al-Tin"= the fig. His adventurous history will be found in Ibn Khallikan D'Herbelot and Al-Siyuti.
