thine attendant.' And having agreed upon this, we fared forth till we came to the place, where we found two baskets hanging ready. So we sat down in them and were drawn up to the usual-place, where the damsel came forward and saluted us. Now when Al Maamun saw her, he was amazed at her beauty and loveliness; and she began to entertain him with stories and verses. Presently, she called for wine and we fell to drinking she paying him special attention and he repaying her in kind. Then she took the lute and sang these verses,
'My lover came in at the close of night, * I rose till he sat and
remained upright;
And said 'Sweet heart, hast thou come this hour? * Nor feared on
the watch and ward to 'light:'
Quoth he 'The lover had cause to fear, * But Love deprived him of
wits and fright.'
And when she ended her song she said to me, 'And is thy cousin also a merchant?' I answered, 'Yes,' and she said, 'Indeed, ye resemble each other nearly.' But when Al-Maamun had drunk three pints,[1] he grew merry with wine and called out, saying, 'Ho, Isaac!' And I replied, 'Labbayk, Adsum, O Commander of the Faithful,' whereupon quoth he, 'Sing me this air.' Now when the young lady learned that he was the Caliph, she withdrew to another place and disappeared; and, as I had made an end of my song, Al-Maamun said to me, 'See who is the master of this house', whereupon an old woman hastened to make answer, saying, 'It belongs to Hasan bin Sahl.'[2] 'Fetch him to me,' said the Caliph. So she went away and after a while behold, in came Hasan, to whom said Al-Maamun 'Hast thou a daughter?' He said, 'Yes, and her name is Khadijah.' Asked the Caliph, 'Is she married?' Answered Hasan, 'No, by Allah!' Said Al-Maamun, Then I ask her of thee in marriage.' Replied her father, 'O Commander of the Faithful, she is thy handmaid and
- ↑ Arab. "Artál"=rotoli, pounds; and
"A pint is a pound
All the world round;"
except in highly civilised lands where the pint has a curious power of shrinking. - ↑ One of Al-Maamun's Wazirs. The Caliph married his daughter whose true name was Búrán; but this tale of girl's freak and courtship was invented (?) by Ishak. For the splendour of the wedding and the munificence of the Minister see Lane, ii. 350-352.
