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 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 
 
 m 2 1 lb 
 
 OCT 13 
 
 3CT 1 7 
 
 .U6 
 
 L161 — O-1096 
 
ROMANCE OF THE EAST SERIES 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 L. CRANMER-BYNG 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 BY CLAUD FIELD 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE CONFESSIONS OF AL GHAZZALI " 
 
 LONDON 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. 
 
 1909 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. Al Mansur^ the Builder of Bagdad 
 Al Mansur and the Poet Thalibi 
 Al Mansur and Abu Muslim . 
 Al Mansur and Ibn al MukafFa 
 Al Mansur Rebuked . 
 How Mansur was tricked by Isa Ibn 
 Al Mansur and the Guide 
 Death of Al Mansur . 
 
 Musa 
 
 II. Al Mahdi 
 
 Al Mahdi and the Arabs of the Desert 
 Al Mahdi and his Vizier Yakub ibn Daud 
 Al Mahdi and the Poet Abul Atahiyah 
 Death of Al Mahdi .... 
 
 III. Haroun al Rashid .... 
 
 Rashid and the Musician Meskin 
 
 The Barmecides (Viziers of Haroun al Rashid) 
 
 The Fall of the Barmecides . 
 
 IV. Haroun al Rashid and the Blacksmith 
 
 Mamouii and Al Farra the Grammarian 
 Al Mamoun and his Uncle Ibrahim, the 
 
 Mahdi .... 
 Al Mamoun^ the Parasite^ and Ibrahim^ the 
 
 Mahdi .... 
 The Death of Al Mamoun 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 3 
 7 
 9 
 11 
 12 
 13 
 
 15 
 
 18 
 21 
 25 
 27 
 
 28 
 
 29 
 32 
 
 37 
 48 
 
 V. Harouni al Rashid and Abu^l Kasim of Basra . 68 
 < VI. Al Mamoun . . . . . .94 
 
 Son of 
 
 Son of 
 
 96 
 
 97 
 
 . 99 
 . 105 
 
 V 
 
vi CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 VII. The Clerk who became Caliph of Cordova . 107 
 Al Mansour and the Messenger of the Christians . 108 
 Al Mansour and the Jewel-Merchant . .110 
 Al Mansour and his General, Ibn-al-Mushafi . 1 13 
 Spartan Characteristics of Al Mansour . .116 
 Al Mansour and Abu Ali Said^ the Knavish Poet . 117 
 
 All literary communications to he addressed 
 to the Editor of the Rmnance of the East Series^ 
 50«, Albetmale Street^ W, 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 There is now no longer a despotic " Vicar of God " or 
 Caliph in Islam, Abdul Hamid having taken upon him 
 the role of a constitutional monarch. Islam itself, 
 especially in Turkey, less notably in other Muham- 
 madan countries, is undergoing a series of extraordinary 
 transformations. Some judges of great authority, such 
 as Lord Cromer, tell us that Islam is incapable of refor- 
 mation, that a reformed Islam ipso facto ceases to be 
 Islam. Others, equally well acquainted with Muham- 
 madanism, such as Mr. Theodore Morison, formerly 
 Principal of the Muhammadan College, Aligarh, and 
 now a member of the India Council, look upon the 
 prospect with more hopeful eyes. Pessimist and optimist 
 alike, and all who have felt the strange spell of the 
 religion founded by the Arabian camel-driver, may, it is 
 hoped, be interested in the following short historico- 
 romantic sketches of the Caliphate in its palmy days. 
 As Browning says, 
 
 There blazed the glory^ there shot black the shame.^^ 
 
 At a time when Europe was slowly emerging from 
 barbarism, in Bagdad the Arab theologians and philo- 
 sophers were splitting metaphysical hairs, poets were 
 making fortunes by poetry, and from Spain to India 
 the arms of Islam were striking terror into the infidels. 
 
 Nowhere is the period more graphically reflected than 
 in the pages of Masoudi the historian, from whose work, 
 "Marouj-ud-dhahab'' ("Meadows of Gold''), most of 
 
 vii 
 
viii 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 the following sketches have been taken. Of this work 
 no less an authority than Renan says: "In the vast 
 field of Arab history and polygraphy there is no more 
 instructive book. I know of no reading more attractive 
 than that of this chatty author, who abounds in paren- 
 theses and recalls the manner of Sainte-Beuve. This 
 garland of anecdotes and digressions woven on a slender 
 thread holds the attention spellbound by its charm. 
 Never was a man better fitted than Masoudi, by his easy- 
 going philosophy and moral insouciance, to play the 
 part of a collector and chronicler of facetiae. The parti- 
 cular form of imaginative pleasure which the ' Arabian 
 Nights' has rendered universally popular, and which 
 has enhaloed the Caliphate of Bagdad with such a 
 brilliant aureole of fantasy, in Masoudi is found not in 
 the form of fiction, but as the product of historic 
 tableaux. 
 
 " At the culminating period of their power the Abbas- 
 side Caliphs displayed a gaiety and skill in the art of 
 living which had hitherto never been witnessed in 
 Eastern sovereigns. At this epoch, gifts which the 
 Arab spirit had never shown before were revealed ; witty 
 conversation became the highest form of enjoyment; 
 theories of literary art were elaborated with extreme 
 refinement. Thus were formed a series of anecdotes 
 compounded of fact and fiction. Certain typical figures, 
 like that of the Caliph Haroun al Rashid and the prince- 
 poet Ibrahim, the son of Mahdi, gave the keynote to the 
 rest, and from all this resulted a picture, true in its 
 general outlines, although imagination was responsible 
 for the arrangement of details. 
 
 " This Arab society of the ninth century, the final pro- 
 duct of an intellectual race, will always have its place in 
 the history of culture. It had misused everything and 
 fathomed nothing, and finds its highest embodiment in 
 a Prince of Believers who does not even believe in him- 
 self ; a Vicar of the Prophet, who produces the same 
 impression as would be produced on us by a Pope who 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 ix 
 
 took his chief delight in the poetry of Theophile Gautier 
 or Alfred de Musset. 
 
 " Such a civilization was doomed to be ephemeral. 
 
 " Without energy, without heirs, the spirit of the 
 Abbasside Caliphate had nothing in itself on which to 
 found a stable dynasty guarded by a loyal army. After 
 the reign of Mutasim the Turkish militia became neces- 
 sary to Arab society, fickle, anarchic, and incomplete as 
 it was. The solid Tartar race became the legatee of a 
 world incapable of finding within itself the conditions 
 of stability. 
 
 " Nevertheless, the Caliphs, whom one might be some- 
 times tempted to regard as grown-up children, rendered 
 a service of the highest value to humanity. It was 
 under their auspices that translations of the chief works 
 of Greek philosophy and science were made into Arabic. 
 Few events in history are more important, for it was by 
 means of these Arabic translations that the Western 
 world in the twelfth century obtained its first knowledge 
 of the writings on which all science is founded, the 
 Greek originals of which did not come to light till the 
 great Renaissance of the fifteenth century .''^ 
 
 C. F. 
 
 January y 1909. 
 
TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 AL MANSUR, THE BUILDER OF BAGDAD 
 
 Al Mansur, the third Caliph of the House of Abbas, 
 succeeded his brother Es-Saffah (" the blood-shedder 
 A.D. 754. He was a Prince of great prudence, integrity, 
 and discretion ; but these good quahties were sullied by 
 his extraordinary covetousness and occasional cruelty. 
 He patronized poets and learned men, and was endowed 
 with a remarkable memory. It is said that he could 
 remember a poem after having only once heard it. He 
 also had a slave who could commit to memory anything 
 that he had heard twice, and a slave-girl who could do 
 the same with what she had heard three times. 
 
 One day there came to him a poet bringing a congratu- 
 latory ode, and Al Mansur said to him : " If it appears 
 that anybody knows it by heart, or that anyone com- 
 posed it — that is to say, that it was brought here by 
 some other person before thee — we will give thee no 
 recompense for it ; but if no one knows it, we will give 
 thee the weight in money of that upon which it is 
 written.'*' 
 
 So the poet repeated his poem, and the Caliph at 
 once committed it to memory, although it contained a 
 thousand lines. Then he said to the poet : " Listen to it 
 from me," and he recited it perfectly. Then he added : 
 
 1 
 
2 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 " And this slave, too, knows it by heart/' This was the 
 case, as he had heard it twice, once from the poet and 
 once from the Caliph. Then the Caliph said : " And 
 this slave-girl, who is concealed by the curtain, she also 
 recollects it."*' So she repeated every letter of it, and 
 the poet went away unrewarded. 
 
 Another poet. El Asmaiy, was among the intimate 
 friends and table companions of the Caliph. He 
 composed some very difficult verses, and scratched them 
 upon a fragment of a marble y)illar, which he wrapped 
 in a cloak and placed on the back of a camel. Then he 
 disguised himself like a foreign Arab, and fastened on a 
 face-cloth, so that nothing was visible but his eyes, and 
 came to the Caliph and said : " Verily I have lauded the 
 Commander of the Faithful in a * Kasidah'**' (ode). 
 
 Then said Al Mansur : " O brother of the Arabs ! if 
 the poem has been brought by anyone beside thee, we 
 will give thee no recompense for it ; otherwise we will 
 bestow on thee the weight in money of that upon which 
 it is written."*' So El AsmaYy recited the Kasidah, which, 
 as it was extraordinarily intricate and difficult, the 
 Caliph could not commit to memory. He looked to- 
 wards the slave and the girl, but they had neither of 
 them learnt it. So he cried : " O brother of the Arabs ! 
 bring hither that whereon it is written, that Vv^e may 
 give thee its weight." 
 
 Then said the seeming Arab : " O my Lord ! of a truth 
 I could find no paper to write it upon ; but I had 
 amongst the things left me at my father's death a piece 
 of a marble column which had been thrown aside as 
 useless, so I scratched the Kasidah upon that." 
 
 Then the Caliph had no help for it but to give him 
 its weight in gold, and this nearly exhausted his 
 treasury. The poet took it and departed. 
 
 When he had gone away, the CaUph said : " It forces 
 itself upon my mind that this is El Asmaiy." So he 
 commanded him to be brought back, and lo ! it was El 
 Asmaiy, who said : "O Commander of the Faithful ! verily 
 
AL MANSUR, THE BUILDER OF BAGDAD 3 
 
 the poets are poor and are fathers of families, and thou 
 dost debar them from receiving anything by the power 
 of thy memory and the memories of this slave and this 
 slave-girl. But wert thou to bestow upon them what 
 thou couldst easily spare, they might with it support 
 their families, and it could not injure thee."' 
 
 Al Mansur and the Poet Thalibi. 
 
 One day the poet Thahbi recited an ode in the 
 presence of Al Mansur, hoping for a reward. When he 
 had finished, the Caliph said to him : " Will you have 
 three hundred dinars from my treasury, or hear three 
 wise sayings from my lips P**^ " Oh,""" said the poet, 
 anxious to curry favour with his master, ^'durable 
 wisdom is better than transitory treasure." "Very 
 well," said the Caliph, " the first word of wisdom is : 
 When your garment is worn, don't sew on a new patch, 
 for it looks badly."" " Alas ! alas ^ wailed the poet, 
 " there go a hundred dinars at one blow.'" The Caliph 
 smiled, and continued : " The second piece of advice is : 
 When you anoint your beard, don't anoint the bottom 
 of it, lest you soil your clothes.'" " Ah !"" sighed the 
 poet, " there go the second hundred." Again the Caliph 
 
 smiled, and continued : " The third piece of advice "" 
 
 " O Caliph,"" cried the poet in an agony : " keep the 
 third piece of advice to yourself and let me have the 
 last hundred dinars."" Then the Caliph laughed outright 
 and ordered five hundred dinars to be paid him from the 
 treasury. 
 
 Al Mansuh and Abu Muslim. 
 
 Abu Muslim was one of the chief generals of Es- 
 Saffah, Al Mansur's brother and predecessor. On his 
 accession Al Mansur became jealous of Abu Muslim's 
 great power and influence, but sent him notwithstanding 
 to put down a revolt raised by Abd Allah, the son of 
 
 1—2 
 
4 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 Ali. After several battles, Abd Allah fled and took 
 refuge in Bassorah, the whole of his camp and treasure 
 falling into the hands of Abu Muslim. Al Mansur 
 sent Yak tin bin Musa to take charge of the treasure. 
 On appearing before Abu Muslim, Yaktin said to him: 
 " Peace be to thee, Emir " A murrain on thee, son 
 of a prostitute answered the general. " They can use 
 me to shed my blood, but not to guard a treasure.**^ 
 " My lord,'** answered the messenger, what has put 
 such thoughts into your head " Has not thy master,'' 
 answered Abu Muslim, "sent thee to confiscate all the 
 treasure which has come into my possession " May 
 my wife be divorced for ever,'' said the Caliph's agent, 
 if he has not sent me simply and solely to congratulate 
 you upon your victory and success !" On these words 
 Abu Muslim embraced him and made him sit by his 
 side. Notwithstanding this, however, when he had 
 bidden him farewell, he said to his officers : " By Allah ! 
 I know this man will divorce his wife, simply out of 
 fidelity to his master." 
 
 When he had resolved to revolt against Al Mansur, 
 Abu Muslim left Mesopotamia, and set out for Khoras-- 
 san ; while on his part Al Mansur left Anbar, and en- 
 camped near the city of Kumiyeh. From thence he 
 sent the following message to Abu Muslim : " I wish to 
 consult you on matters which cannot be confided to a 
 letter ; come hither, and I shall not detain you long." 
 Abu Muslim read the letter, but would not go. Al 
 Mansur then sent to him Djerir, son of Yezid, the 
 most accomplished diplomatist of his time, who had 
 already made the acquaintance of Abu Muslim in 
 Khorassan. 
 
 When Djerir came into Abu Muslim's presence, he 
 addressed him as follows : " My lord, you have fought 
 hitherto faithfully for the Abbassides" (Al Mansur's 
 family) : " why should you now turn against them ? No 
 information has reached the Caliph which should inspire 
 you with any sort of fear ; you have really, in my belief. 
 
AL MANSUR, THE BUILDER OF BAGDAD 5 
 
 no reason to pursue this line of conduct."" Abu Muslim 
 was on the point of promising to return with him, when 
 one of his intimates pressed him not to do so. " My 
 friend," the chief answered him, " I can resist the 
 suggestions of the devil, but not those of a man like 
 this."" And in fact Djerir did not cease his persuasions 
 till he had induced him to proceed to the Caliph. 
 
 Abu Muslim had consulted astrologers, who told him 
 that he was to destroy a dynasty, create a dynasty,* and 
 be slain in the land of Rum (Asia Minor). Al Mansur 
 was then at Rumaiyat al-Madain, a place founded by 
 one of the Persian Kings, and Abu Muslim never 
 suspected that he should meet with his death there, as 
 he fancied that it was Asia Minor which was meant by 
 the oracle. 
 
 On entering into Al Mansur"s presence, he met with a 
 most favourable reception, and was then told to retire to 
 his tent; but the Caliph only waited a favourable 
 opportunity to take him unawares. Abu Muslim then 
 rode a number of times to visit Al Mansur, whose 
 manner appeared less cordial than before. At last he 
 went to the palace one day, and, being informed that 
 the Caliph was making his ablutions previously to his 
 prayers, sat down in an antechamber. In the meanwhile 
 Al Mansur had posted some persons behind a curtain 
 near to the sofa where Abu Muslim was sitting, with 
 the orders not to appear till the Caliph clapped his 
 hands. On this signal they were to strike off Abu 
 Muslim's head. 
 
 Al Mansur then took his seat on the throne, and Abu 
 Muslim, being introduced, made his salutation, which 
 the Caliph returned. Al Mansur then permitted him 
 to sit, and, having commenced the conversation, pro- 
 ceeded to level sundry reproaches against him. " Thou 
 hast done this,"" said he, " and thou hast done that."' 
 " Why does my lord speak so to me,"" replied Abu 
 
 * Abu Muslim had been the chief means of transferring the 
 Caliphate from the Omeyyads to the family of Abbas. 
 
6 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 Muslim, ''after all my efforts and services?^ "Son of 
 a piostitute exclaimed Al Mansur, "thou owest thy 
 success to our own good fortune. Had a negress slave 
 been in thy place, she would have done as much as 
 thou ! Was it not thou who soughtest to obtain in 
 marriage my aunt, Aasiya, pretending indeed that thou 
 wast a descendant of Salit, the son of Abd Allah Ibn 
 Abbas ? Thou hast undertaken, infamous wretch ! to 
 mount where thou canst not reach.'" 
 
 On this Abu Muslim seized him by the hand, which 
 he kissed and pressed, offering excuses for his conduct ; 
 but Al Mansur shouted : " May God not spare me if I 
 spare thee He then clapped his hands, on which the 
 assassins rushed out upon Abu Muslim and cut him to 
 pieces with their swords, Al Mansur exclaiming all the 
 time : " God cut your hands off, rascals ! Strike T On 
 receiving the first blow Abu Muslim said: "Commander 
 of the Faithful, spare me that I may be useful against 
 thy enemies.*''' The Caliph replied : " May God never 
 spare me if I do ! Where have I a greater enemy than 
 thee r 
 
 When Abu Muslim w^as slain, his body was rolled up 
 in a carpet, and soon after Al Mansur's general, Jafar Ibn 
 Hanzala, entered. " What think you of Abu Muslim ?''' 
 the Caliph said to him. " Commander of the Faithful,'*'' 
 answered the other, " if you have ever the misfortune 
 to pull a single hair out of his head, there is no resource 
 for you but to kill him, and to kill him, and to kill him 
 again.'''' "God has given thee understanding,'" replied 
 Al Mansur : " here he is in the carpet. "'^ On seeing him 
 dead, Hanzala said : " Commander of the Faithful, 
 count this as the first day of your reign. ^'' Al Mansur 
 then recited this verse : " He threw away his stafi' of 
 travel, and found repose after a long journey.''"' After 
 this he turned towards the persons present, and recited 
 these lines over the prostrate body : 
 
 "Thou didst pretend that our debt to thee could 
 never be paid ! Receive now thy account in full, O 
 
AL MANSUR, THE BUILDER OF BAGDAD 7 
 
 Abu Mujrim.* Drink of that draught which thou didst 
 so often serve to others — a draught more bitter to the 
 throat than gall/'' 
 
 Al Mansur and Ibn al Mukaffa. 
 
 Ibn al MukafFa, the translator of the book ^^Kalilah 
 and Dimnah t from Pehlevi into Arabic, was one of 
 the most learned men during the reign of Al Mansur, 
 but suspected of Zendikism, or free-thinking. Al Mansur 
 is reported to have said : " I never found a book on 
 Zendikism which did not owe its origin to Ibn al 
 Mukaffa/'' The latter used to be a thorn in the side of 
 Sofyan, the Governor of Basra. As Sofyan had a large 
 nose, Ibn al Mukaffa used to say to him when he visited 
 him : " How are you both ?'''' meaning him and his nose. 
 Sofyan once said : " I had never reason to repent keeping 
 silence.**** And Ibn al Mukaffa replied : " Dumbness 
 becomes you ; why should you repent of it ?'** 
 
 These gibes rankled in Sofyan's mind, and ere long 
 he had an opportunity of glutting his vengeance on 
 Ibn al Mukaffa. 
 
 Abdallah, the uncle of Al Mansur, had revolted 
 against his nephew, and aspired to the Caliphate ; but 
 being defeated by Abu Muslim, who had been sent 
 against him at the head of an army, he took to flight, 
 and dreading the vengeance of Al Mansur, lay concealed 
 at the house of his brothers, Sulaiman and Isa. These 
 two then interceded for him with the Caliph, who con- 
 sented to forgive what had passed ; and it was decided 
 that a letter of pardon should be granted by Al Mansur. 
 
 On coming to Basra the two brothers told Ibn al 
 Mukaffa, who was secretary to Isa, to draw up the letter 
 of pardon, and to word it in the strongest terms, so as to 
 leave no pretext to Al Mansur for making an attempt 
 against Abdallah*'s life. Ibn al Mukaffa obeyed their 
 
 * Father of a villain : a play upon the name Abu Muslim, 
 t Otherwise known as Anwar-i-Suheili. 
 
8 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 directions, and drew up the letter in the most bind- 
 ing terms, inserting in it, among others, the following 
 clause : " And if at any time the Commander of the 
 Faithful act perfidiously towards his uncle, Abdallah 
 Ibn Ali, his wives shall be divorced from him, his horses 
 shall be confiscated for the service of God in war, his 
 slaves shall become free, and the Moslems loosed from 
 their allegiance to him.'" The other conditions of the 
 deed were expressed in a manner equally strict. Al 
 Mansur, having read the paper, was highly displeased, 
 and asked who wrote it. On being informed that it was 
 Ibn al MukafFa, his brother"*s secretary, he sent a letter 
 to Sofyan, the Governor of Basra, ordering him to put 
 Ibn al Mukaffato death. Sofyan was already filled with 
 rancour against Ibn al Mukaffa,for the reasons mentioned 
 above. He summoned him, and, when he appeared, 
 reminded him of his gibes. " Emir exclaimed Ibn 
 al Mukafta, "I implore you in the name of God to 
 spare my life.'' May my mother be disgraced,"" replied 
 Sofyan, if I do not kill thee in a manner such as none 
 were ever killed in before."' On this he ordered an oven to 
 be heated, and the limbs of Ibn al Mukaffa to be cut off*, 
 joint by joint; these he cast into the oven before his 
 eyes, and he then threw him in bodily, and closed the 
 oven on him, saying ; " It is not a crime in me to punish 
 you thus, for you are a Zindik" (free-thinker) "who 
 corrupted the people." 
 
 Sulaiman and Isa, having made inquiries about their 
 secretary, were informed that he had gone into the 
 palace of Sofyan in good health and that he had not 
 come out. They therefore cited Sofyan before Al Mansur, 
 and brought him with them in chains. Witnesses were 
 produced, who declared that they saw Ibn al Mukaffa 
 enter Sofyan's palace, and that he never came out after, 
 and Al Mansur promised to examine into the matter. 
 He then said to them : " Suppose that I put Sofyan to 
 death in retaliation for the death of Ibn al Mukaffa, and 
 that Ibn al Mukaffa himself then came forth from that 
 
AL MANSUR, THE BUILDER OF BAGDAD 9 
 
 door" (pointing to one which was behind him) '^and spoke 
 to you — what should I do to you in that case ? I should 
 put you to death in retaliation for the death of Sofyan." 
 On this the witnesses retracted their evidence, and Isa 
 and Sulaiman ceased to speak of their secretary, knowing 
 that he had been killed by order of Al Mansur, who, dis- 
 regarding his promise, cast Abdallah Ibn Ali into prison. 
 
 Al Mansur rebuked. 
 
 Terrible as was the wrath of Al Mansur when roused, 
 there were not wanting on occasion those among his sub- 
 jects who had the courage to rebuke him. Once the Caliph 
 was addressing an audience at Damascus, and said : O 
 ye people ! it is incumbent on you to give praise to the 
 Most High that He has sent me to reign over you. For 
 verily since I began to reign over you, He has taken 
 away the plague which had come amongst you.'*'' But a 
 certain Arab cried out to him : " Of a truth Allah is too 
 merciful to give us both thee and the plague at one 
 time r On another occasion the theologian Malik Ibn 
 Anasrelates the following: "One day the Caliph Mansur 
 sent for me and my friend Ibn Taous, against whom he 
 was known to entertain a grudge. When we entered 
 the presence-chamber, we beheld the executioner with 
 his sword drawn and the leather carpet spread, on 
 which it was customary to behead criminals. The 
 Caliph signed to us to seat ourselves, and when we had 
 done so he remained a long time with his head bent in 
 meditation. He then raised it, and turning to Ibn Taous, 
 said : " Recite me a saying of the Prophet, on whom be 
 peace.**' 
 
 Ibn Taous replied : " The Prophet of God has said, 
 ' The worst punished criminals in the Day of Judgment 
 will be those to whom God has entrusted authority and 
 who have abused it.' '' The Caliph was silent, and there 
 was a pause. I trembled, and drew my garments close 
 round me, lest any of the blood of Ibn Taous, whom I 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 expected to see instantly executed, should spirt upon 
 them. 
 
 Then the Caliph said to Ibn Taous : " Hand me that 
 ink-pot."" But he never stirred. " Why don't you 
 hand it asked the Caliph. " Because,'' he said, " I 
 fear you may write some wrong order, and I do not wish 
 to share the responsibility." " Get up and go," the 
 Caliph growled. "Precisely what we were desiring," 
 answered Ibn Taous, of whose courage and coolness I 
 from that day formed a high opinion. 
 
 Another bold rebuker of Al Mansur was the saint 
 and mystic Amr Ibn Obaid, of whom it was said that 
 he had been " educated by the angels and brought up 
 by the prophets." Before Al Mansur's elevation to the 
 Caliphate, Amr Ibn Obaid had been his companion and 
 intimate friend. When Mansur came to the throne 
 Amr went one day into his presence, and was told by 
 him to draw near and sit down. The Caliph then asked 
 to hear an exhortation from him. Amr addressed him 
 an admonition, in which he said, among other things : 
 " The power which thou now wieldest, had it remained 
 in the hands of thy predecessors, would never have come 
 to thee. Be warned, then, of that night which shall give 
 birth to a day never more to be followed by another 
 night. When Amr rose to depart, Al Mansur said : 
 " We have ordered ten thousand pieces of silver to be 
 given thee." " I stand not in need thereof," replied 
 Amr. " By Allah, thou shalt take it !" exclaimed the 
 Caliph. "By Allah, I shall not take it !" answered the 
 other. 
 
 On this Al Mansur s son, Al Mahdi, who happened 
 to be present, said to Amr: "The Commander of the 
 Faithful swears that a thing shall be done, and yet thou 
 art bold enough to swear that it shall not." " Who is 
 this youth .^" said Amr, turning to Al Mansur. " He 
 is the declared successor to the Caliphate, my son, Al 
 Mahdi," replied Mansur. " Thou hast clothed him in 
 raiment,'' said Amr, " which is not the raiment of the 
 
AL MANSUR, THE BUILDER OF BAGDAD 11 
 
 righteous, and thou hast given him a name* which he 
 deserveth not, and thou hast smoothed for him a path 
 wherein the more profit the less heed."*** 
 
 Al Mansur then asked him if there was anything he 
 wished, and Amr made answer : " Send not for me, but 
 wait till I come to thee." " In that case,'' said Mansur, 
 "thou wilt never meet me."" "That,*" replied Amr, 
 ''is precisely what I desire.'"* He then withdrew, and 
 Al Mansur looked after him and said : ^' All of you 
 walk with stealthy steps ; all of you are in pursuit of 
 prey — all except Amr Ibn Obaid f 
 
 How Mansur was tricked by 
 IsA Ibn Musa. 
 
 It has before been mentioned that Al Mansur, dis- 
 regarding the promise of pardon he had made to his 
 uncle, Abdallah Ibn Ali, who had revolted against him, 
 cast him into prison, where he remained a long time. 
 When the Caliph set out on the pilgrimage to Mecca, 
 he committed Abdallah to the care of Isa Ibn Musa, 
 with private orders to put him to death. Isa, not wish- 
 ing to kill Abdallah, contented himself with concealing 
 him, sending a message to the Caliph to say that he 
 had been put to death. This rumour spread about, 
 and the Alides, the partisans of Abdallah, petitioned 
 Al Mansur on the subject. The Caliph declared that 
 he had been committed to the care of Isa. The Alides 
 then went to Isa, and hearing from him that Abdallah 
 had been put to death, came again with complaints to 
 Al Mansur. The latter feigned to be in a rage, and 
 exclaimed : " Since Isa has killed my uncle without my 
 authorizing him to do so, he shall perish in his turn." 
 The Caliph secretly desired that Isa should have per- 
 petrated this murder, so that he might have a reason- 
 able pretext for killing him, and thus ridding himself 
 of two enemies at once. 
 
 Al Mahdi=the rightly-directed. 
 
 a— 2 
 
12 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 He accordingly sent for Isa, and said : " Is it true 
 that you have killed my uncle Yes,*" replied Isa ; 
 " you yourself ordered me to do so.'*'' " I never gave 
 such an order r cried the Caliph. " My lord, here is 
 the letter you sent me." I never wrote it,""^ said 
 Mansur. Isa, seeing the mood the Caliph was in, and 
 fearing for his own life, confessed at last that the 
 prisoner had been spared, and was in safe-keeping. The 
 Caliph then ordered him to hand Abdallah over to the 
 keeping of Abou '1 Azhar, which was accordingly done, 
 and Abdallah remained in prison till his death was 
 decided on. 
 
 When Abou '1 Azhar came to execute the sentence, he 
 found Abdallah with one of his female slaves. He 
 strangled him first, but when he was proceeding to 
 strangle the slave also, she cried out : Servant of God, 
 I pray thee for another kind of death.*^' " It was the 
 only time,'' Abou '1 Azhar said, " that I felt pity in 
 carrying out a death-sentence. I turned away my eyes 
 while I gave the order to kill her. She was strangled 
 and placed by the side of her master. I then had the 
 house demolished, and they remained buried in the 
 ruins.'' 
 
 Al Mansur and the Guide, 
 
 Al Mansur visited Medina, and said to his chamber- 
 lain, Ar-Rabi, on entering the city : " Find me some 
 learned and intelligent person who can point out to me 
 the chief mansions of the place : it is now so long since 
 I saw the dwellings of my family." An intelligent youth 
 was discovered by Ar-llabi, and presented to the Caliph. 
 During their excursion the guide did not make any 
 observations unless asked by Al Mansur to do so, but 
 he then proceeded with great precision and eloquence 
 to furnish every requisite information. 
 
 Al Mansur was so highly pleased with him that he 
 ordered him a considerable sum of money, but the pay- 
 
AL MANSUR, THE BUILDER OF BAGDAD 13 
 
 ment was delayed so long that the youth found himself 
 under the necessity of asking for it. On being asked 
 again to accompany Al Mansur, he fulfilled his object 
 in the following ingenious manner : As they passed by 
 the house which belonged to Aatika, the granddaughter 
 of Abu Sofyan, the young man said, "This, O Com- 
 mander of the Faithful, is the house of that Aatika to 
 whom Ibn Muhammad al Ansari alluded in these lines : 
 
 "'Dwelling of Aatika ! mansion which I avoid through 
 dread of foes! although my heart be fixed on thee, 
 I turn away and fly thee ; but yet unconsciously I turn 
 toward thee again.' 
 
 These words caused Al Mansur to reflect; and he 
 said to himself that the youth here must have some 
 reason for giving information, contrary to his habit, 
 without being asked for it. He therefore turned over 
 the leaves of the poem from which the verses were taken, 
 passage by passage, till he came to the following line : 
 
 " We see that you do what you promise, but there 
 are persons with deceitful tongues who promise but 
 never perform.''*' 
 
 He immediately asked his chamberlain if he had given 
 the youth what had been awarded him, and was informed 
 by him that a particular circumstance, which he men- 
 tioned, had caused delay in the payment. The Caliph 
 then ordered Ar-Rabi to give him immediately the 
 double of what had been promised. The youth had 
 most ingeniously hinted the circumstance, and Al 
 Mansur showed great penetration in perceiving it. 
 
 Death of Al Mansur. 
 
 Al Mansur was in the habit of saying : " I was born 
 in the month of Z'ul hajja, circumcised in it, attained 
 the Caliphate in it, and I think I shall die in the same 
 month.*" And so it befell. Fadl, son of Rabi, relates 
 the following : "I accompanied Al Mansur in the journey 
 during which he died. When we had arrived at one of 
 
14 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 the stages of the march he sent for me. I found him 
 seated in his pavilion, with his face turned towards the 
 wall. He said to me : ' Have I not told you to prevent 
 people coming into this room and writing doleful 
 sentences upon the wall ?' ' What do you mean, Prince ? 
 I asked. ' Don't you see what is written on the wall 
 
 " ' " Abu Jafar,* thou art about to die ; thy years are 
 fulfilled : the will of God must be done. 
 
 Abu Jafar, can any astrologer bind the decrees of 
 God, or art thou entirely blind 
 
 " ' Truly, Prince,' I replied, ' I can see no inscription 
 on this wall : its surface is smooth and quite white.' 
 ' Swear it, by God !' he said. I did so. ' It is, then,' 
 he replied, 'a warning given me to prepare for my 
 approaching demise. Let us hasten to reach the sacred 
 territory, that I may place myself under the protection 
 of God, and ask pardon for that wherein I have 
 exceeded.' 
 
 " We continued our journey, during which the Caliph 
 suffered great pain. When we arrived at the well of 
 Maimun, I told him the name of the place, and that we 
 had reached the sacred territory. He said, *God be 
 praised !' and died the same day." 
 
 * The Caliph's full name was Abu Jafar Al Mansur. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 AL MAHDI 
 
 Al Mahdi, the third Caliph of the Abbasside dynasty, 
 succeeded his father, Abu Jafar al Mansur, a.d. 774. 
 He was as prodigal as his father was avaricious, and 
 rapidly squandered his vast inheritance. Al Mansur 
 had appointed as his instructor, before he succeeded to 
 the throne, Sharki Ibn Kotami, who was learned in all 
 the lore and traditions of the Arabs. One evening Al 
 Mahdi asked his preceptor to divert him with some 
 amusing anecdote. " I obey. Prince. May God protect 
 you,'' answered Sharki. "They relate that a certain 
 King of Hirah had two courtiers whom he loved equally 
 with himself. They never quitted his society night or 
 day, in the palace or on a journey. He took no decision 
 without consulting them, and his wishes coincided with 
 theirs. Thus they lived together a long time ; but one 
 evening the King, having drank to excess, drew his 
 sword from the sheath, and, rushing upon his two friends, 
 killed them ; then he fell into a drunken slumber. 
 
 " The next morning, when told of what he had done, 
 he cast himself upon the earth, biting it in his fury, 
 weeping for his friends, and bewailing the loss of them. 
 He fasted for some days, and swore that for the rest of 
 his life he would abstain from the beverage which had 
 deprived him of reason. Then he had them buried, and 
 erected a shrine over their remains, to which he gave 
 the title, ' El-Ghareiain ' (The Two Effigies). He 
 commanded, in addition, that no persons should pass this 
 monument without prostrating themselves. 
 
 15 
 
16 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 "Now, like the laws of the Medes and Persians, 
 every custom set up by a King of Hirah could not be 
 changed, but became a hard-and-fast tradition, handed 
 on from generation to generation. The command, there- 
 fore, of the King was rigidly obeyed : his subjects, of 
 low and high degree, never passed before the double 
 tomb without prostrating themselves. This usage 
 gradually acquired the binding force of a religious rite. 
 The King had ordered that anyone who refused to 
 conform to it should be punished with death after 
 expressing two wishes, which would be granted, no 
 matter what they were. 
 
 " One day a fuller passed, bearing on his back a 
 bundle of clothes and a mallet. The guardians of the 
 mausoleum ordered him to kneel down. He refused. 
 They threatened him with death. He persisted in his 
 refusal. They brought him before the King, whom they 
 informed of the matter. ' Why did you refuse to bow 
 down asked the King. ' I did bow down," answered 
 the man ; ' they are lying.' ' No ; you are the liar !' 
 said the King. ' Express two wishes ; they shall be 
 granted, and then you will die.** * Nothing, then, can 
 save me from death after those men have accused me 
 asked the fuller. ' Nothing." ' Very well,' replied the 
 fuller, ' here is my wish : I wish to strike the King on the 
 head with this mallet.' ' Fool !' answered the King. 
 ' It were better worth your while to let me enrich those 
 whom you leave behind you.' ' No,' said the fuller ; 
 ^ I only wish to strike the King on the back of his 
 head.' 
 
 " The King then addressed his ministers : ' What do you 
 think,' he said to them, * of the wish of this madman 
 ' Your Majesty,' they answered, ' you yourself have 
 instituted this law : your Majesty knows better than 
 anyone that the violation of law is a shame, a calamity, 
 a crime which involves damnation. Besides, after 
 having violated one law, you will violate a second, then 
 a third ; your successors will do the same, and all our 
 
AL MAHDI 
 
 17 
 
 laws will be profaned/ The King replied : ' Get this 
 man to ask anything he likes ; provided he lets me off, 
 I am ready to grant all his requests, even to the half of 
 my kingdom.'' 
 
 They laid these proposals before the fuller, but in 
 vain ; he declared that he had no other wish but to 
 strike the King. The latter, seeing that the man was 
 thoroughly resolved, convoked a public assembly. The 
 fuller was introduced. He took his mallet and struck the 
 King on the back of the head so violent a blow that he 
 fell from his throne and lay stretched on the ground 
 unconscious. Subsequently he lay ill with fever for six 
 months, and was so severely injured that he could only 
 drink a drop at a time. At last he got well, recovered 
 the use of his tongue and could eat and drink. He 
 asked for news of the fuller. On being told that he was 
 in prison, he summoned him and said : 'There is still a 
 wish remaining to you : express it, so that I may order 
 your death according to law." 
 
 "'Since it is absolutely necessary that I must die,' 
 replied the fuller, ' I wish to strike you another blow on 
 the head.' At these words the King was seized with 
 dismay and exclaimed that it was all over with him. 
 At last he said to the fuller : ' Wretch ! i^enounce a 
 claim which is profitless to you. What advantage have 
 you reaped from your first wish ? Ask for something 
 else, and whatever it is, I will grant it.' 'No,' said 
 the man, ' I only demand my right — the right to strike 
 you once more.' 
 
 "The King again consulted his ministers, who answered 
 that the best thing for him was to resign himself to 
 death, in obedience to the law. ' But,' said the King, 
 'if he strikes me again, I shall never be able to drink 
 any more ; I know what I have already suffered.' ' We 
 cannot help that, your Majesty,' answered the ministers. 
 
 " Finding himself in this extremity, the King said to 
 the fuller: 'Answer, fellow! that day when you were 
 brought hither by the guardians of the mausoleum, did 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 not I hear you declare that you had prostrated yourself 
 and that they had slandered you P*" ' Yes, I did say so,** 
 answered the fuller, ' but you would not believe me.'' 
 The King jumped from his seat, embraced the fuller, 
 and exclaimed : ' I swear that you are more truthful 
 than these rascals, and that they have lied at your 
 expense. I give you their place, and authorize you to 
 inflict upon them the punishment they have deserved." ''^ 
 Al Mahdi laughed heartily on hearing this story, 
 complimented the narrator, and rewarded him generously. 
 
 Al Mahdi and the Arabs of the Desert. 
 
 The following anecdotes are related by Faika, the 
 daughter of Abd Allah : We were one day with the 
 Caliph Al Mahdi, who had just returned from Anbar, to 
 which he had made a pleasure excursion, when Ar-Rabi, 
 the chamberlain, came in, holding a piece of leather on 
 which some words were written in charcoal, and to which 
 was attached a seal composed of clay mixed with ashes 
 and bearing the impression of the Caliph's signet-ring. 
 'Commander of the Faithful," said Ar-Rabi, 'I never 
 saw anything more extraordinary than this document ; 
 I received it from an Arab of the desert who was crying 
 out : " This is the Commander of the Faithful's letter ! 
 Show me where to find the man who is called Ar-Rabi, 
 for it is to him that he told me to deliver it ' 
 
 " Al Mahdi took the letter and laughed ; he then 
 said : ' It is true : this is my writing and this is my seal. 
 Shall I relate how it happened ? To this we replied : 
 ' If it please the Commander of the Faithful." Then he 
 said : ' I went out to hunt yesterday evening when the 
 shower was over. The next morning a thick mist over- 
 whelmed us, and I lost sight of my companions ; I then 
 suffered such cold, hunger, and thirst as God only 
 knows, and I lost my way besides. At that moment 
 came to my mind a form of prayer which my father, 
 Al Mansur, had taught me, saying that his father, 
 
AL MAHDI 
 
 19 
 
 Muhammad, had learnt it from his grandfather, Ali, 
 who had been taught it by his father, Abd Allah, the 
 son of Abbas. It was this : " In the name of God," 
 and By the might of God! We have no power or 
 force but in God ! I fly to God for protection ! I 
 confide in God : God sufficeth me ! He protecteth, 
 sufRceth, directeth, and healeth, from fire and flood, 
 from the fall of house, and from evil death 
 
 ' When I had uttered these words, God raised up a 
 light before me, and I went towards it, and lo ! I found 
 this very Arab of the desert in his tent, with a fire 
 which he had been just lighting up. "Arab of the 
 Desert"* said I, "hast thou withal to treat a guest?'"* 
 " Dismount said he. Then I dismounted, and he said 
 to his wife : " Bring here that barley ; and she brought 
 it. Grind it,**' said he ; and she began to grind it. I 
 then said to him : " Give me a drink of water and he 
 brought me a skin in which was a little milk mixed 
 with water, and I drank thereof a drink such as I had 
 never drunk before, it was so sweet ! and he gave me 
 one of his saddle-cloths, and I laid my head on it, and 
 never did I sleep a sounder sleep. 
 
 " ' On awaking, I saw him seize on a poor miserable 
 sheep and kill it, when his wife said to him : " Beware, 
 wretched man ! thou hast slain thyself and thy children ; 
 our nourishment came from this sheep, and yet thou 
 hast killed it ! What then have we to live upon ?"*' On 
 this I said : " Do not mind. Bring the sheep here"**; and 
 I opened it with the knife I wore in my boot, and I 
 took out the liver, and having split it open, I placed it 
 upon the fire and I ate thereof. I then said to him : 
 " Dost thou want anything ? I shall give thee a written 
 order for it."" On this he brought me that piece of 
 leather, and I wrote on it with a bit of burnt wood 
 which I picked up at his feet — that very note. I then 
 set this seal on it, and told him to go and ask for one 
 Ar-Rabi, to whom he was to give it."* This note con- 
 tained an order for five hundred thousand dirhems, and 
 
 3—2 
 
20 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 Al Mahdi exclaimed on hearing it: ' By Allah ! I meant 
 only fifty thousand, but since five hundred thousand are 
 written in it, I shall not diminish the sum one single 
 dirhem ; and were there no more in the treasury, he 
 should have it. So give him beasts of burden, and let 
 him take it away."* 
 
 " In a very short time that Arab had numerous flocks 
 of camels and sheep, and his dwelling became a halting- 
 place for those who were going on the pilgrimage, and 
 it received the name of the ' Dwelling of the host of 
 Al Mahdi, the Commander of the Faithful.' 
 
 On another occasion it is recorded that Al Mahdi 
 went out hunting, and his horse ran away with him 
 until he came to the hut of an Arab. And the Caliph 
 cried : " O Arab ! hast thou wherewith to feed a guest 
 The Arab replied, " Yes,**' and produced for him a 
 barley loaf, which Al Mahdi ate ; then he brought some 
 wine in a bottle, and gave him to drink. And when 
 Al Mahdi had drunk it, he said O brother of the 
 Arabs, dost thou know who I am " No, by Allah," 
 he replied. ^' I am one of the personal attendants of the 
 Commander of the Faithful,'' said Al Mahdi. " May 
 Allah prosper thee in thy situation !" returned the 
 Arab. Then he poured out a second glass, and when 
 Al Mahdi had drank it, he cried : " O Arab, dost thou 
 know who I am ?*" 
 
 He answered : " Thou hast stated that thou art one of 
 the personal attendants of the Commander of the Faith- 
 ful." " No," said Al Mahdi, " but I am one of the chief 
 officers of the Commander of the Faithful." " May thy 
 country be enlarged and thy wishes fulfilled !" exclaimed 
 the Arab. Then he poured out a third glass for him, 
 and when Al Mahdi had drained it, he said : O Arab ! 
 dost thou know who I am ?" The man replied : " Thou 
 hast made me believe thou art one of the chief officers 
 of the Commander of the Faithful." " Not so," said Al 
 Mahdi "but I am the Commander of the Faithful 
 himself." 
 
AL MAHDI 
 
 Then the Arab took the bottle and put it away and 
 said : "By Allah ! wert thou to drink the fourth, thou 
 wouldst declare thyself to be Muhammad the Prophet 
 of God 
 
 Then Al Mahdi laughed till he could laugh no more. 
 And lo ! the horsemen surrounded them, and the Princes 
 and nobles dismounted before him, and the heart of the 
 Arab stood still. But Al Mahdi said to him : " Fear 
 not ! thou hast done no wrong."' And he ordered a robe 
 and a sum of money to be given him. 
 
 Al Mahdi and his Vizier Yakub ibn 
 
 Daud. 
 
 When Al Mahdi's father, Al Mansur, died, he left in 
 the treasury nine hundred million and sixty thousand 
 dirhems (^22,501,500), and Abu Obaid Allah, the first 
 Vizier of Al Mahdi, advised the Caliph to be moderate in 
 his expenses and to spare the public money. When 
 Abu Obaid Allah was deposed, his successor, Yakub ibn 
 Daud, flattered the inclinations of the Caliph, and 
 encouraged him to spend money, enjoy all sorts of 
 pleasures, drink wine, and listen to music. By this 
 means he succeeded in obtaining the entire administration 
 of the State. One of the poets of the time composed an 
 ode containing the following lines : 
 
 " Family of Abbas ! your Caliphate is ruined ! If you 
 seek for the Vicar of God, vou will find him with a wine- 
 flask on one side and a lute on the other.'' 
 
 Abu Haritha, the guardian of the treasure-chambers, 
 seeing that they had become empty, waited on Al Mahdi 
 with the keys, and said : " Since you have spent all your 
 treasures, what is the use of my keeping these keys ? 
 Give orders that they be taken from me.*" Al Mahdi 
 replied : " Keep them still, for money will be coming in 
 to you." He then despatched messengers to all quarters 
 in order to press the payment of the revenues, and in a 
 very short time these sums arrived. They were so 
 
22 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 abundant that Abu Haritha had enough to do in 
 receiving them and verifying the amount. During 
 three days he did not appear before Al Mahdi, who at 
 length said : " What is he about, that silly Bedouin 
 Arab Being informed of the cause which kept him 
 away, he sent for him and said : " What prevented your 
 coming to see us?" "The arrival of cash,**** replied the 
 other. "How foolish it was in you,"' said Ai Mahdi, 
 " to suppose that money would not come in to us 
 
 Commander of the Faithful,'' replied Abu Haritha, 
 " if some unforeseen event happened which could not be 
 surmounted without the aid of money, we should not 
 have time to wait till you sent to have the cash brought 
 
 in." 
 
 It is related that Al Mahdi made the pilgrimage one 
 year, and passed by a milestone on which he saw some- 
 thing written. He stopped to see what it was, and read 
 the following line : 
 
 " O Mahdi ! you would be truly excellent if you had 
 not taken for a favourite Yakub the son of Daud.*" 
 
 He then said to a person who was with him : " Write 
 underneath that : ' It shall still be so, in spite of the 
 fellow who wrote that — bad luck attend him f On his 
 return from the pilgrimage, he stopped at the same 
 milestone, because the verse had probably made an 
 impression on his mind ; and such, in fact, appears to 
 have been the case, for very soon after he let his 
 vengeance fall on Yakub. Rumours unfavourable to 
 this minister had greatly multiplied. His enemies had 
 discovered a point by which he might be attacked, and 
 they reminded the Caliph of his having seconded Ibn 
 Abd Allah the Alide* in the revolt against Al Mansur. 
 
 One of Yakub's servants informed Al Mahdi that he 
 had heard his master say : " The Caliph has built a 
 pleasure-house, and spent on it fifty millions of dirhems 
 (0^1,250,000) out of the public money.'' The fact was 
 that Al Mahdi had just founded the town of Isabad. 
 * I.e., descendant of Ali. 
 
AL MAHDI 
 
 23 
 
 Another time Al Mahdi was about to execute some 
 project when Yakub said to him : " Commander of the 
 Faithful, that is mere profusion.'' To this Al Mahdi 
 answered : " Evil betide you ! does not profusion befit 
 persons of a noble race 
 
 At last Yakub got so tired of the post which he filled 
 that he requested of Al Mahdi permission to give it up, 
 but that favour he could not obtain. Al Mahdi then 
 wished to try if he was still inclined towards the party 
 of the Alides, and sent for him, after taking his seat in 
 a saloon of which all the furniture was red. He himself 
 had on red clothes, and behind him stood a young 
 female slave dressed in red ; before him was a garden 
 filled with roses of all sorts. " Tell me, Yakub,"*' said 
 he, " what do you think of this saloon of ours ?**' The 
 other replied : " It is the very perfection of beauty. 
 May God permit the Commander of the Faithful to 
 enjoy it long!" "Well,'' said Al Mahdi, " all that it 
 contains is yours, with this girl to crown your happi- 
 ness, and, moreover, a sum of one hundred thousand 
 dirhems " (£2,500). Yakub invoked God's blessing on 
 the Caliph, who then said to him : " I have something 
 to ask of you." On this, Yakub stood up from his 
 seat, and exclaimed : " Commander of the Faithful, such 
 words can only proceed from anger. May God protect 
 me from your wrath." Al Mahdi replied : " I wish you 
 to promise to do what I ask." Yakub answered : " I 
 hear, and shall obey." " Swear by Allah," said the 
 Caliph. He swore. " Swear again by Allah." He swore. 
 " Swear again by Allah." He swore for the third time, 
 and the Caliph then said to him : " Lay your hand on 
 my head and swear again." Yakub did so. 
 
 Al Mahdi, having thus obtained from him the firmest 
 promise that could be made, said : " There is an Alide, 
 and I wish you to deliver me from the uneasiness which 
 he causes me, and thus set my mind at rest. Here he 
 is ; I give him up to you." He then delivered the 
 Alide over to him, and bestowed on him the girl, with 
 
24 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 all the furniture that was in the saloon and the money. 
 When the Alide was alone with him, he said: "Yakub, 
 beware lest you have my blood to answer for before 
 God. I am descended from Fatima, the daughter of 
 Muhammad, on whom God's blessings and favours 
 always repose.'' To this Yakub replied : " Tell me, sir, 
 if there be good in you.'' The Alide answered : " If 
 you do good to me, I shall be grateful and pray for your 
 happiness." " Receive the money," said Yakub, " and 
 take whatever road you like." Such a road," said the 
 Alide, naming it, " is the safest." Depart with my 
 good wishes," said Yakub. 
 
 The girl heard all this conversation, and told a ser- 
 vant of hers to go and relate it to Al Mahdi, and to say 
 in her name : ' Such is the conduct of one whom in 
 giving me to him you preferred to yourself ; such is the 
 return he makes you for your kindness." Al Mahdi 
 immediately had the road watched, so that the Alide 
 was taken prisoner. He then sent for Yakub, and said 
 to him: " What has beconfe of that man.^^" Yakub 
 replied : " I have delivered you from the uneasiness he 
 gave you." " Is he dead " He is." " Swear by 
 Allah." I swear by Allah." " Lay your hand upon 
 my head." Yakub did so, and swore by his head. 
 Al Mahdi then said to an attendant : " Boy, bring out 
 to us those who are in that room." The boy opened 
 the door, and there the Alide was seen with the very 
 money which Yakub had given him. 
 
 Yakub was so much astounded that he was unable to 
 utter a word. " Your life," said Al Mahdi, " is justly 
 forfeited, and it is in my power to shed your blood, but 
 I will not. Shut him up in the matbak."* 
 
 He had him confined in that dungeon, and gave 
 orders that no one should ever speak to him or to any 
 other about him. Yakub remained there during the 
 rest of Al Mahdi's reign (over two years), and during 
 
 * An underground dungeon. 
 
AL MAHDI 
 
 25 
 
 the reign of Musa-al-Hadi, the son of Al Mahdi, and 
 during five years and seven months of the reign of 
 Harun ar Rashid. 
 
 Al Mahdi and the Poet Abu'l Atahiyah. 
 
 Some historians relate that the poet Abu**I Atahiyah 
 had conceived a passion for Otbah, the slave of Khay- 
 zuran^ the chief wife of the Caliph. This young girl 
 complained to her mistress of the gossip to which this 
 affair gave rise. One day Al Mahdi found her seated 
 near her mistress in tears. He questioned her, and 
 having discovered the cause of her grief, sent for Abu'l 
 Atahiyah. When the poet came and stood before him, 
 Al Mahdi said to him : " You are the autlior of this 
 verse concerning Otbah : 'May God judge between me 
 and my mistress, since she shows me nothing but disdain 
 and reproach !' " He then continued : ''What kindness 
 has Otbah ever shown you that you have the right to 
 complain of her disdainfulness 
 
 " Sire,"' answered Abu'l Atahiyah, '' I am not the 
 author of that verse, but of these : 
 
 O my camel^ carry me rapidly ; be not beguiled by what thou 
 deemest repose — 
 
 Carry me to a Prince to whom God has given the gift of work- 
 ing miracles ; 
 
 A Prince who^ when the wind rises^ says^ ^ O wind^ hast thou 
 
 partaken of my benefits ?' 
 Two crowns adorn his brow — the crown of beauty and the 
 
 diadem of humility/^ 
 
 Al Mahdi sat silent for some time, looking at the 
 ground, which he tapped with his staff ; then he lifted 
 his head and continued : " You have also said : 
 
 What does my mistress think upon when she displays her 
 charms and allurements ? 
 
 There is among the slaves of Princes a young girl who con- 
 ceals beneath her veil Beauty itself." 
 
 4 
 
26 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 " How do you know what she conceals beneath her 
 veil the Caliph asked. Abu'l Atahiyah replied in 
 the same flattering style : 
 
 Royalty has come to do him obeisance, and trailing her robe 
 
 majestically^ 
 She only is fit for him^ as he for her/^ 
 
 But as the Caliph continued to ply him with ques- 
 tions Abu'l Atahiyah became embarrassed in his 
 answers, and was condemned to expiate his temerity by 
 a flogging. He had just undergone his punishment 
 when Otbah met him in this piteous plight. The poet 
 reproached her thus : " Praise be to thee, Otbah ! It 
 is because of thee that the Caliph has shed the blood of 
 a man already dying of love.'' Tears started to Otbah's 
 eyes ; she ran sobbing to her mistress, Khayzuran, and 
 there met the Caliph. He asked why she wept, and 
 hearing she had seen the poet after his flagellation, con- 
 soled her ; then he caused a sum of fifty thousand dirhems 
 to be given to the former. 
 
 Abul Atahiyah distributed them to all those whom 
 he met in the palace. Al Mahdi, being informed of his 
 generosity, asked him why he had thus disposed of the 
 money he had just received from the Caliph. The poet 
 answered : " I did not wish to profit by what my love 
 had won."" Al Mahdi sent him fifty thousand more 
 dirhems, making him swear not to employ them in fresh 
 benefactions. 
 
 Another historian relates that Abul Atahiyah on a 
 certain New Year's Day presented Al Mahdi with a 
 Chinese vase containing perfumes. On the vase were 
 engraved these verses : 
 
 My soul is attached to one of the good things of this world ; the 
 accomplishment of its desires depends on God and Al Mahdi 
 His Vicar'* 
 
 I despair of obtaining my object,, but thy contempt of the world 
 and all which it contains reanimates my hope." 
 
 The Caliph thought of giving him Otbah, when she 
 
AL MAHDI 
 
 27 
 
 said to him : " Prince of the Believers ! would you, in 
 spite of my privileges, my rights, and my services, 
 bestow me upon a pottery merchant — a man who makes 
 money out of his poetry Al Mahdi then sent a 
 message to the poet : " As to Otbah, you will never 
 obtain her, but I have ordered the vase you sent to be 
 filled with money."'' 
 
 Soon afterwards Otbah, passing by, found the poet 
 disputing with the clerks of the treasury, and maintain- 
 ing that by " money " the Caliph meant gold dinars, 
 while they alleged that he only intended silver dirhems. 
 "If you really loved Otbah," she said to him, "you 
 would not think of the difference between gold and 
 silver.**** 
 
 Death of Al Mahdi. 
 
 Tabari, the historian, describes the death of Al 
 Mahdi as taking place in the following tragic manner : 
 Among his wives there were two for whom he seems to 
 have entertained an equal degree of affection ; but as 
 one of them seemed to the other to have the preference 
 in his heart, the latter, whose name was Hassanna, con- 
 ceived a bitter jealousy against her rival, and determined 
 to be avenged on her. In order to accomplish her 
 purpose, she prepared a dish of confectionery, in which 
 she mixed a malignant poison, and sent it as an offering 
 to her rival. 
 
 As the damsel who was despatched upon the errand 
 happened to pass beneath one of the balconies of the 
 palace, Al Mahdi, who was watching the sunset, saw 
 her. The confectionery, which was uncovered, attract- 
 ing his notice, he asked the messenger whither she was 
 bound. She having informed him, he took and ate 
 heartily of it, saying : " Hassanna will, I am sure, be 
 better pleased that I should partake of her sweets than 
 anyone else.""' In a few hours he was a corpse. 
 
 4—2 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 Haroun al Rashid became Caliph in the year a.d. 786, 
 and he ranks among the Caliphs who have been most 
 distinguished by eloquence, learning, and generosity. 
 During the whole of his reign he performed the pil- 
 grimage to Mecca or carried on war with the unbelievers 
 nearly every year. His daily prayers exceeded the 
 number fixed by the law,* and he used to perform the 
 pilgrimage on foot, an act which no previous Caliph had 
 done. When he went on pilgrimage he took with him 
 a hundred learned men and their sons, and when he did 
 not perform it himself, he sent three hundred substitutes, 
 whom he apparelled richly, and whose expenses he 
 defrayed with generosity. 
 
 His conduct generally resembled that of the Caliph 
 Mansur, but he did not imitate the parsimony of the 
 latter. He always repaid services done to him, and 
 that without much delay. He was fond of poetry and 
 poets, and patronized literary and learned men. Re- 
 ligious controversies were hateful to him. Eulogy he 
 relished highly, especially eulogy by gifted poets, whom 
 he richly rewarded. 
 
 The historian Asmai relates the following anecdote : 
 One day the Caliph gave a feast in a magnificently 
 decorated hall. During the feast he sent for the poet 
 Abu'l Atahiyah, and commanded him to depict in verse 
 the gorgeous scene. 
 
 * Five. 
 28 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 29 
 
 The poet began : " Live, O Caliph, in the fulfilment 
 of all thy desire, in the shelter of thy lofty palace 
 
 " Very good exclaimed Rashid. " Let us hear the 
 rest;' 
 
 The poet continued: ''Each morn and eve be all 
 thy servitors swift to execute thy behests 
 
 " Excellent r said the Caliph. " Go on !" 
 
 The poet replied : " But when the death-rattle chokes 
 thy breath thou wilt learn, alas ! that all thy delights 
 were a shadow." 
 
 Rashid burst into tears. Fadhl, the son of Yahya 
 (Haroun's Vizier), seeing this, said to the poet: " The 
 Caliph sent for you to divert him, and you have plunged 
 him into melancholy." " Let him be," said Rashid ; 
 " he saw us in a state of blindness, and tried to open 
 our eyes." 
 
 This Prince treated learned men with great regard. 
 Abou Moawia, one of the most learned men of his time, 
 related that when he was sitting one day at food with 
 the Caliph, the latter poured water on his hands after 
 the meal, and said to him : " Abou Moawia, do you 
 know who has just washed your hands ?" He answered : 
 " No." Rashid informed him that it was himself. Abou 
 Moawia replied : " Prince, you doubtless act in this 
 manner in order to do homage to learning." " You 
 speak truth," answered Rashid. 
 
 Rashid and the Musician Meskin. 
 
 Ibrahim Mouseli relates the following story : Rashid 
 one day summoned all his musicians, I and Meskin of 
 Medina were among the performers. Rashid had par- 
 taken freely of wine, and wished to hear performed an 
 air which had suddenly occurred to his mind. The 
 officer stationed before the curtain which concealed the 
 Caliph told Ibn Jami to sing this piece. The latter 
 obeyed, but did not succeed in pleasing the Caliph. 
 Each of the singers present attempted it, but were no 
 
30 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 more successful than Ibn Jami. Then the officer, ad- 
 dressing Meskin, said: 'The Commander of the Faithful 
 orders you to sing this air if you can do it properly." 
 
 " Meskin commenced at once to sing, to the great 
 surprise of the audience, who could not understand how 
 a musician like him had the courage to attempt before 
 us an air which none of us had been able to render to 
 the satisfaction of the Caliph. As soon as he had 
 finished I heard Rashid raise his voice and ask to hear 
 it a second time. Meskin recommenced with a skill and 
 spirit which won him everybody's applause. The Caliph 
 congratulated and praised him to the skies ; then he had 
 the curtain behind which he had been sitting drawn 
 aside. 
 
 "'Prince of the Believers," then said Meskin to him, 
 ' a strange story attaches to this piece ; and at the 
 invitation of the Caliph he narrated it in these words : 
 ^ I was formerly a slave of a member of the family of 
 Zobeir, and carried on the trade of a tailor. My master 
 claimed from me a tax of two dirhems daily, after 
 paying which I was free to do what 1 liked. I was 
 passionately fond of singing. One day a descendant of 
 Ali, for whom I had just completed a tunic, paid me 
 two dirhems for it, kept me to eat with him, and made 
 me drink generously. As I left him I met a negress 
 carrying her pitcher on her shoulder, and singing the 
 song you have just heard. I was so delighted at it 
 that, forgetting everything else, I said to her : " By the 
 Prophet, I adjure thee to teach me that air." " By the 
 Prophet,'' she answered, " I will not teach it unless you 
 pay me two dirhems."' 
 
 "'Then, Prince of Believers, I took out the two 
 dirhems, with which I had intended to pay my daily tax, 
 and gave them to the negress. She, setting her pitcher 
 down, sat on the ground and, keeping time with her 
 fingers on the pitcher, sang the piece, and repeated it 
 till it was well impressed on my memory. 
 
 " ' I then proceeded to my master. As soon as he saw 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 31 
 
 me he demanded his two dirhems, and I related my 
 adventure to him. " Scoundrel r he said. Have I not 
 warned you that I will take no excuse, even if a farthing 
 is missing Saying this, he laid me on the ground 
 and, with the utmost vigour of his arm, gave me fifty 
 strokes of a rod, and, as an additional disgrace, caused 
 my head and chin to be shaved. Verily, O Prince, I 
 passed a melancholy night. The severe punishment I 
 had undergone made me forget the piece I had learnt, 
 and this was the saddest of all. In the morning, wrap- 
 ping my head in a cloak, I hid my large tailor's scissors 
 in my sleeve, and directed my steps to the spot where I 
 had met the negress. I waited there in perplexity, not 
 knowing her name nor her abode. All at once I saw 
 her coming ; the sight of her dispersed all my cares. I 
 approached her, and she said to me : " By the Lord of 
 the Kaaba, you have forgotten the song I" Yes, I 
 have,"' I answered. I told her how my head and chin 
 had been shaved, and offered her a reward if she would 
 sing her song again. " By the Prophet,**' she answered, 
 " I will not for less than two dirhems.'' 
 
 " ' I took out my scissors and ran and pawned them 
 for two dirhems, which I gave her. She put down her 
 pitcher, and began to sing as she had done the evening 
 before ; but as soon as she began, I said : " Give 
 me back the two dirhems ; I don't need your song." " By 
 Allah," she said, " you shall not see them again ; don't 
 think it." Then she added : " I am certain that the four 
 dirhems you have spent will be worth to you four 
 thousand dinars from the hand of the Caliph." Then 
 she resumed her song, accompanying herself, as before, 
 on her pitcher, and did not cease repeating it till I had 
 got it by heart. 
 
 " ' We separated. I returned to my master, but in a 
 state of great apprehension. When he saw me he 
 demanded his daily due, while I stammered out excuses. 
 " Beast !" he shouted, " was not yesterday's lesson enough 
 for you I wish to speak to you frankly and without 
 
TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 falsehood,"" I answered. " Yesterday**s and to-day's 
 dirhems went in payment for a song and I began to 
 sing it to him. ^'What!''' he exclaimed, "you have 
 known an air like that for two days and told me nothing 
 of it ? May my wife be divorced if it is not true that 
 I would have let you go yesterday if you had sung it 
 to me ! Your head and chin have been shaved — I 
 cannot help that — but I let you off your tax till your 
 hair grows again.'** ' 
 
 " Hearing this recital, Rashid laughed heartily, and 
 said to the musician : ' I don't know which is better, 
 your song or your story ; I will see in my turn that the 
 forecast of the negress is verified.' So Meskin went out 
 from the Caliph's presence richer by four thousand 
 dinars." 
 
 The Barmecides (Viziers of Haroun al 
 
 Rashid). 
 
 On attaining the Caliphate, Rashid conferred the 
 Viziership on Yahya, son of Khaled, son of Barmek. 
 Yahya had served him as secretary before his accession 
 to the throne, and this was the foundation of the 
 magnificence of the family of the Barmecides, whose 
 commencement and whose tragic fall we are about to 
 narrate. 
 
 The family of the Barmecides had originally been 
 Zoroastrians in religion, but from the time of their 
 embracing Islam they continued to be good Mussalmen. 
 They were the crown and ornament of their age. Their 
 generosity passed into a proverb; adherents thronged 
 to their Court from every side, and multitudes centred 
 their hopes on them. Fortune showered upon them a 
 prodigality of favours. Yahya and his sons were like 
 brilliant stars, vast oceans, impetuous torrents, benefi- 
 cent showers. Every kind of talent and learning was 
 represented in their Court, and men of worth received a 
 hearty welcome there. The world was revived under 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 33 
 
 their administration, and the empire reached its culmin- 
 ating point of splendour. They were a refuge for the 
 afflicted and a haven for the distressed. The poet 
 Abou-Nowas said of them : 
 
 " Since the world has lost you, O sons of Barmek, we 
 no longer see the ways crowded with travellers at sun- 
 rise and sunset.*' 
 
 We have an example of the generosity of the Barme- 
 cides in the following story, related by Salih bin Muhran, 
 one of the intimate attendants of Haroun al Rashid : 
 
 " One day Haroun sent for me, and when I arrived in 
 his presence I saw that he was vexed and perplexed, and 
 full of thought, and very much enraged. When I stood 
 still awhile he lifted up his head and said : ' Go this 
 moment to Mansur Bin Ziyad, and before night thou 
 must have from him ten thousand thousand dirhems, 
 and, if not, cut off his head and bring it to me ; and if 
 thou fail in this, I swear by the soul of Mahdi I will 
 command thy head to be severed from thy body." I 
 said : ' May the life of the Commander of the Faithful 
 be prolonged ! If he gives a part to-day, and sends 
 somewhat more to-morrow on the condition that he 
 
 gives me a pledge for the payment of the whole 
 
 He replied : ' No ! If he does not give thee to-day ten 
 thousand thousand dirhems in coined money, bring me 
 his head. What concern hast thou in this matter?" 
 When he said this I knew he was aiming at the life of 
 Mansur, and I went out from him in great perplexity 
 and distress, saying, ' O Lord, what has come to me ? 
 It will be needful to slay Mansur, and he is one of the 
 most worthy and best-known men of Bagdad, and has 
 a numerous following.** 
 
 "At length I went to the house of Mansur, and, 
 taking him on one side, told him the whole story as it 
 had happened, and what my commands were. When 
 he heard he wept aloud, and fell at my feet, saying : 
 ' In truth the Commander of the Faithful seeks my life ; 
 for his courtiers and many others know there is no such 
 
 5 
 
84 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 sum in my house. Nor could I in my whole life bring 
 together so much ; how, then, can I do it in one day ? 
 But do thou show me one favour, for God's sake : take 
 me to my house, that I may bid farewell to my children 
 and followers and clansmen, and ask forgiveness of my 
 offences from my companions and acquaintance."' 
 
 " I took him to his house, as he desired, and when his 
 family and chief friends heard what had happened, there 
 was an outcry among them. They wept and bewailed 
 so that jinns and men, and wild beasts and birds, were 
 sorrowful for them, and my heart burnt to see them. 
 At last he brought out what money and valuables he 
 had, amounting to two million dirhems, and gave it 
 to me, saying : ' In days past, before Haroun al Rashid 
 was Caliph, I often vexed Yahya the Barmecide, and 
 during this present reign also he suffered much annoy- 
 ance and persecution from me. But on a certain occa- 
 sion he treated me with kindness, and put my hand in 
 his, and I knew that he had forgiven my fault, and that 
 there was no feeling of revenge remaining in his heart ; 
 and afterward he did me many kindnesses with the 
 Caliph. If thou wilt deal kindly with me — his house is 
 at the head of the way — take me there. It may be his 
 heart will be touched for me ; for all the members of 
 his house are men of liberality, and they desire that 
 even their enemy and ill-wisher may take refuge with 
 them, that they may help him in his distress and 
 misery.'' 
 
 " I said : ' Thou speakest truly, and it will be a delight 
 to myself to take thee there. Come, let us go. By 
 Allah the Most High, it must needs be they will cause 
 thee to rejoice.'' When we arrived at the house of 
 Yahya, he had just finished the afternoon prayer, and 
 was repeating the Tesbih.* When he saw Mansur, and 
 he had explained to him his distress and misery, Yahya 
 came up to me and inquired of me the state of the case, 
 which 1 revealed to him. He comforted Mansur, and 
 
 Praise of God. 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 35 
 
 brO-de him keep up his heart ; ' For,' said he, ' I will not 
 be wanting in doing all that is in my power to help 
 thee.' At the same time he called his treasurer, and 
 said to him : ' Bring me all that is in the treasury." The 
 treasurer brought all that he had of coined money and 
 jewels, and the amount was two hundred thousand 
 dirhems. 
 
 " Then he wrote a letter to his eldest son, FadhI, 
 bidding him send what money he had, for that an un- 
 fortunate man was waiting for it. When Fadhl had 
 read the note, he immediately sent two hundred thousand 
 dirhems. Then he wrote a note to Jafar, his younger 
 son, bidding him send immediately all the money he had. 
 He also sent three hundred thousand dirhems. Then he 
 said to me : ' Take this money to the Commander of the 
 Faithful, and represent to him that I will send to-morrow 
 three million dirhems more into his treasury.' I replied : 
 'This is not in my orders. To-day, by the hour of 
 evening prayer, I must be in the presence of the Caliph 
 with the gold or the head.' 
 
 " When Yahya heard this he sent for his slave Otbah, 
 and bade her go to Fatimah, the sister of the Com- 
 mander of the Faithful, and to explain the case to her. 
 When Otbah had told Fatimah how the matter stood, 
 that lady, who was a woman of much generosity, took 
 off a collar set with jewels which she had received from 
 the Caliph, of which the value was estimated at two 
 hundred thousand dinars of gold, and sent it to Yahya, 
 asking beside a thousand pardons that she could do no 
 more. 
 
 " When at last the ten million of dirhems was raised, 
 Yahya delivered it all to porters, and sent it by me to 
 the Caliph. It was near the setting of the sun when I 
 brought the money to Haroun al Rashid. When he 
 saw me, he cried : ' Hast thou brought Mansur T I 
 told him all that had passed, whereupon he bade me 
 send the money to the treasury and go for Yahya. 
 When I had placed the money in the treasury, I went 
 
36 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 to Yahya and told him that the Cahph had accepted 
 the money, and wished to see him. He broke out into 
 exclamations of gladness when he heard this, and, call- 
 ing for Mansur, he said : ' Take courage, for thou art 
 saved from destruction. The Commander of the 
 Faithful has just asked for me, and I will so contrive as 
 to render him again favourably disposed toward thee." 
 
 " Then Mansur's soul again returned to his body, and 
 he thanked Yahya fervently. When Yahya arrived in 
 the presence of the Caliph and saw his face averted, he 
 was afraid ; for he thought : ^ Perchance he will reprove 
 me for my want of respect in releasing Mansur/ So, 
 after some time, he prayed for pardon of his offence, and 
 conciliated the Caliph. Afterwards he said : ' Wilt thou 
 tell me what was the crime of which Mansur was guilty?' 
 The Caliph replied : ' His crime was his enmity against 
 you and his evil speaking concerning you. For this 
 reason I have long wished to strike off his head. To-day 
 I was so incensed that I commanded either that he 
 should pay this money or that his head should be cut 
 off. But thou hast done as the generous always do.** 
 Yahya said : ' May the life of the Commander of the 
 Faithful be long ! For if the Commander of the Faithful 
 had said, " The wealth of Yahya and his sons is of my 
 gift, and this necklace, too, of my sister's is a gift of 
 mine. What has anyone to do in this matter Go 
 and cut off Mansur's head,**** what could he have done 
 and what could I have done T 
 
 "This speech pleased Haroun al Rashid, but he blamed 
 Yahya because he had asked for his sister's necklace, 
 and sent it to the treasury to meet the demand on 
 Mansur. He also blamed his sister for giving away the 
 necklace. She replied : ' It would have been shame if 
 I had not answered the request of one who was in the 
 place of a father to me.' This reply pleased the Caliph, 
 and he restored to Fatimah the jewelled collar, and 
 Yahya and Mansur were again glad at heart."" 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 37 
 
 The Fall of the Barmecides. 
 
 Haroun al Rashid had such an extraordinary affection 
 to Jafar the Barmecide that he could not bear to be one 
 hour apart from him. Rashid loved his own sister 
 Abbasah also with an extreme affection, and could not 
 bear to be long absent from her. She was a woman of 
 extraordinary beauty, and exceeded all in science and 
 knowledge. Zobeidah, who was the chief favourite of 
 the Caliph, and all her dependents were opposed to 
 Abbasah. 
 
 One day Rashid said to Jafar : Thou knowest how 
 great is my affection to thee, and also how greatly I 
 love my sister Abbasah, and that I cannot live without 
 the company of either of you. I have thought of an 
 expedient whereby you may both accompany me in the 
 same assembly — that a marriage take place between 
 you. That will legalize your meeting and authorize 
 your beholding one another. But all this is on condi- 
 tion that you never meet except I am a third in the 
 party." 
 
 When Jafar heard this, the world on all sides grew 
 black with darkness to his eyes. Distressed and con- 
 founded, he fell at the feet of Rashid, and said : " Com- 
 mander of the Faithful, wilt thou slay me? From the 
 time of Adam to our day no servant has been admitted 
 to such confidence as that he should marry with the 
 family of his lords and benefactors ; or if anyone hath 
 treacherously imagined such a thing, very shortly he 
 hath been reduced to nothingness, and all men have 
 counted him a bread-and-salt traitor. And what sin 
 hath thy slave committed, O Commander of the Faith- 
 ful, that thou shouldest seek after his blood ? Is this 
 the reward of all my services and devotion ? And, 
 besides, how should I, the son of a Persian Guebre 
 [fire- worshipper], be allied to the family of Hashem and 
 the nephews of the Prophet — may the mercy of God be 
 upon him and his family ! — and by what right can I 
 
38 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 aspire to such a distinction ? If my father and mother 
 heard of this, they would mourn for me, and my enemies 
 would rejoice." 
 
 Some days passed, and he neither ate nor drank, but 
 all was of no avail. He could not oppose the decrees 
 of Heaven and the ordainment of God by remedy or 
 contrivance. Unable to help himself, he submitted and 
 consented to a marriage on the terms before mentioned. 
 When Yahya, the father of Jafar and Fadhl, and his 
 other brothers heard of this, they were full of sorrow, 
 and looked for the reversal of their fortune and the 
 downfall of their power. 
 
 These forebodings were soon justified. The cruel 
 commands of Rashid to his favourite and his sister were 
 disregarded, and Abbasah became a mother. The birth 
 of the child, concealed for a time, was revealed to 
 Rashid by a revengeful slave-girl whom Abbasah had 
 struck. The Caliph was intensely wroth, but concealed 
 his indignation for a time, though betraying it at un- 
 guarded moments. 
 
 Ahmed Bin Muhammad Wasil, who was one of his 
 confidential attendants, relates as follows : " One day I 
 was standing before Rashid in his private apartment 
 when no one besides was there. Perfumes were burn- 
 ing, and the place was filled with sweet odours. Haroun 
 al Rashid laid down to rest, and wrapped his head in 
 the skirt of his garment to keep his eyes cool, when 
 Jafar the Barmecide came in and told his business to 
 the Caliph, receiving in return a gracious answer, and 
 retiring. In those days the story of Abbasah and her 
 union with Jafar wei e talked of currently among the 
 people. 
 
 When Jafar was gone Rashid lifted his head out of 
 his skirt, and from his mouth came these words : ' O 
 God, do Thou so favour Jafar the Barmecide that he 
 may kill me, or make me quickly powerful over him 
 that I may cut off his head from his body ; for with 
 anger and jealousy against him I am near to destrue- 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 39 
 
 tion.' These words he spoke to himself, but they 
 reached my ears, and I trembled within and without, 
 and I said to myself : ' If the Commander of the Faithful 
 knows that I have heard this, he will not leave me 
 alive." 
 
 " Suddenly Haroun al Rashid lifted up his head from 
 its covering, and said to me : ^ Hast thou heard that 
 which I said to myself just now ?** I said : ' I have not 
 heard it."' The Commander of the Faithful said : 
 ' There is no one but thyself here, and so truly as the 
 censer is in thy hand, thou hast heard all. If thou care 
 for thy life, keep this secret concealed ; and if not, I 
 will strike off thy head." I replied: ' May the life of 
 the Commander of the Faithful be long ! I have not 
 heard any of these words.** And with this the Caliph 
 was satisfied."" 
 
 It was not long after this that the blow fell on the 
 Barmecides. On his return from one of his pilgrimages 
 to Mecca, Rashid came by water from Hira to Anbar, 
 on the River Euphrates. Here he invited the three 
 brothers Fadhl, Jafar, and Mousa, to his presence, and, 
 having caressed them v/ith extraordinary cordiality, dis- 
 missed them once more to their quarters, with rich 
 " khelats,'' the customary robe of honour. The Caliph 
 withdrew to his apartments, and betook himself to his 
 usual indulgence in wine. In a little time he sent one 
 of his domestics to inquire if Jafar was employed in the 
 same way. Finding that such was not the case, Rashid 
 sent his attendant again to Jafar, urging him by the life 
 of his master to imitate his example without further 
 delay, for that his wine seemed deprived of all its zest 
 until he knew that his faithful Jafar partook of the 
 same enjoyment. 
 
 Jafar felt, however, unaccountably alarmed and averse 
 to such a gratification, and, reluctantly withdrawing to 
 his chamber, called for the wine. It happened that he 
 was attended by a favourite blind minstrel named Abou 
 Zaccar, to whom, after a few goblets, he could not for- 
 
40 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 bear from communicating his apprehensions. The min- 
 strel treated them as merely imaginary, urged his master 
 to banish them from his thoughts, and to resume his 
 usual cheerfulness. But Jafar declared that he found it 
 impossible to dispel the uneasiness which seemed to 
 haunt him. About the hour of evening prayer another 
 messenger arrived from Rashid with a present of nuts 
 and sweetmeats for Jafar, as a relish to his wine, from 
 his own table. 
 
 When midnight came, Rashid called for Mesrour, his 
 favourite domestic, and directed him to bring Jafar and 
 strike off his head. Mesrour proceeded accordingly, and, 
 entering Jafar's apartment while Abou Zaccar was sing- 
 ing some Arabic verses, stood suddenly at the head of 
 Jafar, who started involuntarily at his appearance. 
 Mesrour told him that he was summoned to attend the 
 Caliph. Jafar entreated that he might be permitted to 
 withdraw for a moment, to speak to the women of his 
 family. This last indulgence was withheld, Mesrour 
 observing that any instructions which he had to com- 
 municate might as well be delivered where he was. This 
 he was accordingly obliged to do, after which he accom- 
 panied Mesrour to his tent, on entering which the latter 
 immediately drew his sword. Jafar asked that the 
 Caliph's instructions might be explained to him, and 
 when he heard them, cautioned Mesrour to beware how 
 he carried into execution an order which had evidently 
 been given under the influence of wine, lest, when their 
 sovereign should be restored to himself, it might be 
 followed by unavailing repentance and remorse. He 
 further adjured Mesrour by the memory of their past 
 friendship that he would return to the Caliph'*s presence, 
 and require his final commands. 
 
 Mesrour yielded to these entreaties, and appeared 
 before Rashid, whom he found expecting his return. 
 " Is this the head of Jafar demanded the Caliph. 
 " Jafar is at the door, my lord,'' replied Mesrour, with 
 some trepidation. I wanted not Jafar," said the 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 41 
 
 Caliph sternly ; " I wanted his head."' This sealed the 
 fate of the unhappy favourite. Mesrour immediately 
 withdrew, decapitated Jafar in the antechamber, and 
 returned with his head, which he laid at the Caliph's 
 feet. He was then directed by Rashid to keep that 
 head by him till he should receive further orders. 
 
 In the meantime he was enjoined to proceed without 
 delay and apprehend Yahya, his three sons, Fadhl, 
 Muhammad, and Mousa, and his brother Muhammad. 
 These commands were immediately carried into execu- 
 tion. The head of Jafar was despatched the next day, 
 to be suspended to a gibbet on the bridge of Bagdad, 
 after which the Caliph continued his journey to 
 Rakkah. 
 
 Stripped of all their wealth and honours, Yahya, his 
 three sons, and his brother Muhammad, languished in 
 confinement, until the former perished in prison. At 
 first they were allowed some liberty, but subsequently 
 they experienced alternatives of rigour and relaxation, 
 according to the reports which reached Rashid concern- 
 ing them. He then confiscated the property of every 
 member of the family. It is said that Mesrour was sent 
 by him to the prison, and that he told the gaoler to 
 bring Fadhl before him. When he was brought out, 
 Mesrour addressed him thus : " The Commander of the 
 Faithful sends me to say that he ordered thee to make 
 a true statement of thy property, and that thou didst 
 pretend to do so ; but he is assured that thou hast still 
 great wealth in reserve, and his orders to me are that, 
 if thou dost not inform me where the money is, I am to 
 give thee two hundred strokes of a whip. I should 
 therefore advise thee not to prefer thy riches to thy- 
 self." 
 
 On this Fadhl looked up at him and said : " By Allah, 
 I made no false statements ; and were the choice offered 
 to me of being sent out of the world or of receiving a 
 single stroke of a whip, I should prefer the former 
 alternative —^Aa^ the Commander of the Faithful well 
 
42 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 knoweth, and thou also knowest full well that we main- 
 tained our reputation at the expense of our wealth. 
 How, then, could we now shield our wealth at the ex- 
 pense of our bodies ? If thou hast really got any orders, 
 let them be executed."' 
 
 On this Mesrour produced some whips, which he 
 brought with him rolled up in a napkin, and ordered 
 his servants to inflict on Al Fadhl two hundred stripes. 
 They struck him with all their force, using no modera- 
 tion in their blows, so that they nearly killed him. 
 There was in that place a man skilled in treating wounds, 
 who was called in to attend Al Fadhl. When he saw 
 him he observed that fifty strokes had been inflicted on 
 him ; and when the others declared that two hundred 
 had been given, he asserted that his back bore the traces 
 of fifty, and not more. He then told Al Fadhl that he 
 must lie down on his back on a reed-mat, so that they 
 might tread on his breast. Al Fadhl shuddered at the 
 proposal, but, having at length given his consent, they 
 placed him on his back. The operator then trod on 
 him, after which he took him by the arms and dragged 
 him along the mat, by which means a great quantity of 
 flesh was torn off* the back. He then proceeded to dress 
 the wounds, and continued his services regularly, till 
 one day, when, on examining them, he immediately 
 prostrated himself in thanksgiving to God. They asked 
 him what was the matter, and he replied that the patient 
 was saved, because new flesh was forming. He then 
 said : " Did I not say that he had received fifty strokes ? 
 Well, by Allah ! one thousand strokes could not have 
 left worse marks ; but I merely said so that he might 
 take courage, and thus aid my efforts to cure him.*" 
 
 Al Fadhl, on his recovery, borrowed ten thousand 
 dirhems from a friend, and sent them to the doctor, who 
 returned them. Thinking that he had offered too little, 
 he borrowed ten thousand more ; but the man refused 
 them, and said : " I cannot accept a fee for curing the 
 greatest among the generous. Were it even twenty 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 43 
 
 thousand dinars, I should refuse them.'' When this 
 was told to Al Fadhl, he declared that such an act of 
 generosity surpassed all that he himself had done during 
 the whole course of his life. 
 
 When Rashid had overthrown the family of the 
 Barmecides, he endeavoured to obliterate even their 
 very name. He forbade the poets to compose elegies 
 on their fall, and commanded that those who did so 
 should be punished. One day one of the soldiers of the 
 guard, passing near some ruined and abandoned build- 
 ings, perceived a man standing upright with a paper in 
 his hand. It contained a lament for the ruin of the 
 Barmecides, which he was reciting with tears. 
 
 The soldier arrested him, and conducted him to the 
 palace of Rashid. He related the whole matter to the 
 Caliph, who caused the accused to be brought before 
 him. When he was convinced by the man's own con- 
 fession of the truth of the accusation, he said to him : 
 
 Did you not know that I have forbidden the utterance 
 of any lament for the family of the Barmecides ? As- 
 suredly I will treat thee according to thy deserts." 
 " Prince," the accused answered, " if thou wilt allow, I 
 will relate my history. Afterwards deal with me as 
 thou pleasest." 
 
 Rashid having allowed him to speak, he went on : 
 " I was one of the petty officials in the Court of Yahya. 
 One day he said to me : 'I must dine at your house.' 
 ' My lord,' I said to him, ' I am far too mean for such 
 an honour, and my house is not fit to receive you.' 
 ' No,' replied Yahya, ' I must come to you.' ' In that 
 case,' I said, ' will you allow me some time to make the 
 proper arrangements and put my house in order ? — and 
 afterwards do as you like.' 
 
 " He then wished to know how much time I wanted. 
 At first I asked for a year. This appeared to him too 
 much ; I therefore asked for some months. He con- 
 sented, and I immediately began to prepare everything 
 necessary for his reception. When all the preparations 
 
 6—2 
 
44 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 were complete I sent to inform Yahya, who said he would 
 come on the morrow. On the next day, accordingly, he 
 came, with his two sons Jafar and Fadhl and a few of 
 his most intimate friends. Scarcely had he dismounted 
 than he addressed me by name, and said : ' Make haste 
 and get me something to eat, for I am hungry."' Fadhl 
 told me that his Either was especially fond of roast 
 fowl; accordingly I brought some, and when Yahya 
 had eaten he rose and began to walk about the house, 
 and asked me to show him all over it. ' My lord," I 
 said, 'you have just been over it: there is no more.' 
 ' Certainly there is more,'' he replied. 
 
 " It was in vain that I assured him, in the name of 
 God, that that was all I had : he had a mason sent for, 
 and told him to make a hole in the wall. The mason 
 began to do so. I said to Yahya: *My lord, is it per- 
 missible to make a hole into one's neighbour's house 
 when God has commanded us to respect our neighbours' 
 rights?' ' Never mind,' said he. And when the mason 
 had made a sufficiently wide entrance, he went through, 
 with his sons. 
 
 I followed them, and we came into a delicious 
 garden, well planted and watered by fountains. In this 
 garden were pavilions and halls adorned with all kinds 
 of marbles and tapestry ; on all sides were numbers of 
 beautiful slaves of both sexes. Yahya then said to me : 
 ' This house and all that you see is yours.' I hastened 
 to kiss his hands and to pray God to bless him, and 
 then I learned that from the very day he had told me 
 that he was coming to my house he had bought the 
 ground adjacent to it, and caused a beautiful mansion 
 to be constructed, furnished, and adorned, without my 
 knowing anything of it. I saw indeed that building 
 was going on, but I thought it was some work being 
 carried on by one of my neighbours. 
 
 " Yahya then, addressing his son Jafar, said to him : 
 ' Well, here is a house, with attendants, but how is he 
 to keep it up ?' ' I will make over to him such and 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 45 
 
 such a farm, with its revenues,*^ answered Jafar, 'and 
 sign a contract with him to that effect."* ' Very good,' 
 said Yahya, turning to his other son, Fadhl ; 'but till 
 he receives those revenues, how is he to meet current 
 expenses?" 'I will give him ten thousand pieces of 
 gold," answered Fadhl, 'and have them conveyed to his 
 house." ' Be quick, then," said Yahya, ' and fulfil your 
 promises without delay.' This they both did, so that 
 I found myself rich of a sudden and living a life of ease. 
 Thus, O Commander of the Faithful, I have never failed 
 on all fitting occasions to rehearse their praises and to pray 
 for them, in order to discharge my debt of gratitude, but 
 never shall I be able to do so completely. If thou 
 choosest, slay me for doing that." 
 
 Rashid was moved at this recital, and let him go. 
 He also gave a general permission to the poets to bewail 
 the tragic end of the Barmecides. A pathetic anecdote 
 relating to their fall is recorded by Muhammad, son of 
 Abdur Rahman the Hashimite. 
 
 " Having gone to visit my mother on the day of the 
 Feast of Sacrifice, I found her talking with an old 
 woman of venerable appearance, but meanly clad. My 
 mother asked if I knew her, and I answered, ' No." She 
 replied : ' It is Abbadah, the mother of Jafar Bin 
 Yahya." I turned to her and saluted her with respect. 
 After some time I said to her : ' Madam, what is the 
 strangest thing you have seen ?" ' My friend," she 
 replied, ' there was once a time when this same festival 
 saw me escorted by four hundred slaves, and still I 
 thought that my son was not sufficiently grateful to 
 me. To-day the feast has returned, and all I wish for 
 is two sheep-skins — one to lie down on and one to 
 cover me." 
 
 " I gave her,"" adds the narrator, " five hundred 
 dirhems, and she nearly died of joy. She did not cease 
 her visits till the day death separated us."" 
 
 This sketch of the tragic fall of the Barmecides may 
 conclude with a grim detail mentioned by the historian 
 
46 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 El Amrani. On one occasion he had an opportunity of 
 consulting a memorandum of Rashid's expenditure. In 
 this he found, one after the other, the two following 
 items: "For presents bestowed on the Vizier Jafar, son of 
 Yahya, four hundred thousand dinars'' ( = i?l 00,000). 
 " For naphtha and reeds for burning the body of Jafar, 
 ten carats'' (about five shillings). 
 
 After the destruction of this family, the affairs of 
 Rashid fell into irretrievable confusion. Treason, 
 revolt, and rebellion assailed him in different parts of 
 the empire. He himself became a prey to disease, and 
 was tortured by unavailing remorse. If anyone blamed 
 the Barmecides in his presence he would say : " Cease 
 to blame them or fill the void." So great was the dis- 
 affection aroused by his treatment of them that he 
 removed the seat of government from Bagdad to 
 Rakkah, on the Euphrates. 
 
 Yahya, the father of Jafar and Fadhl, died in prison, 
 A.D. 805. On his body was found a paper containing 
 these words : " The accuser has gone on before to the 
 tribunal, and the accused shall follow soon. The Cadi 
 will be that just Judge Who never errs and Who needs 
 no witnesses." This, being reported to Rashid, deepened 
 his gloom, which began to wear the appearance of mad- 
 ness. One morning his physician, finding him greatly 
 discomposed, inquired the reason. Rashid replied : " I 
 will describe to thee what presented itself to my imagi- 
 nation. Methought I saw an arm suddenly extend 
 itself from beneath my pillow, holding in the palm of 
 the hand a quantity of red earth, while a voice addressed 
 me in the following words : ' Haroun, behold this 
 handful of earth ; it is that in which they are about to 
 bury thee.' I demanded to know where I was about to 
 find my grave, and the voice replied : ' At Tus.' The 
 arm disappeared and I awoke." 
 
 ShoTtly after this R.ashid, though suffering from the 
 disease which was to end his life, set out to put down a 
 rebellion in Transoxiana. When one of the captured 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 47 
 
 rebel leaders was brought into his presence, he ordered 
 him to be cut to pieces limb by limb on the spot. 
 
 When the execution was over Rashid fell into a 
 swoon, and, on recovering himself, asked his physician if 
 he did not recollect the dream which had occurred to 
 him at Rakkah, for they were now in the neighbourhood 
 of Tus. He also desired his chamberlain Mesrour to 
 bring him a sample of the native earth of the country. 
 When Mesrour returned with his naked arm extended, 
 Rashid immediately exclaimed : " Behold the arm and 
 the earth, precisely as they appeared in my dream r 
 
 The Caliph died at midnight the following Saturday, 
 March 23, a.d. 809. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 HAROUN AL RASHID AND THE BLACKSMITH 
 
 Haroun al Rashid one night experienced an unusual 
 restlessness, and sent for his Vizier, Jafar, who presented 
 himself with the usual prostrations. " Commander of 
 the Faithful, said the minister, " what are thy com- 
 mands " I have experienced,^'' replied the Caliph, 
 " so much disquietude that I have not been able once to 
 close my eyes."' Let us, then,'"* said the Vizier, " repair 
 to my lord's favourite garden of the Tartars ; there we 
 may gaze upon the trees and flowers, listen to the 
 warbling of the birds, and inhale the fragrance of the 
 violets.'' " No," answered the Caliph, " that proposal 
 does not please me." After receiving similar negatives 
 to other proposals, the Vizier suggested a perambulation 
 of the lanes and bazaars of Bagdad. I like that idea 
 very much," said the Caliph, starting up. " Let us go." 
 
 They immediately disguised themselves in the habits 
 of merchants, the Vizier having first summoned the black 
 slave Mesrour, sword-bearer and executioner. When 
 he had come and disguised himself, they departed together 
 through a private door, and proceeded to ramble through 
 the streets of Bagdad. 
 
 They at length arrived at the corner of one of the 
 most secluded streets. Here the Caliph stopped, for 
 the voice of a man singing reached his ear. Looking 
 about him, he discerned a light reflected from an upper 
 chamber, which seemed to be very much illuminated. 
 They approached the light together, and easily per- 
 
 48 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 49 
 
 ceived on the opposite wall the shadow of a person, who 
 appeared to have a glass in his hand ; they stopped, and 
 heard a man singing very jovially. 
 
 The Caliph on this turned to his Vizier. " I am 
 certain,^' he said, " that nothing this night will conquer 
 my disquietude but holding a conversation with this 
 fellow who is drinking. Knock instantly at the door.'" 
 Mesrour accordingly gave the door a gentle knock. The 
 man in the upper chamber heard the noise and ap- 
 proached the balcony. " What rascal,^' said he, " is 
 knocking at my door at this unseasonable hour ?*" 
 " Sir,''*' said Jafar, looking up, and in a tone of great 
 civility, " we are strangers in this great city ; night has 
 overtaken us, and, having lost our way, we are afraid of 
 falling into the hands of the watch, from whom, if they 
 meet with us, we shall experience very harsh treatment. 
 We beseech you, therefore, in the name of Allah to open 
 your door and admit us. Allah will certainly reward 
 you."'' Not I, indeed r said he. You are a parcel of 
 impudent vagabonds. I have no doubt all you want is 
 to get up into my room, where as soon as you come you 
 think to gormandize on my food and to drink my 
 wine. Go about your business.^'' At this Rashid 
 laughed very heartily.**' " Indeed, sir,**' said he, " we are 
 only merchants.'*' " Tell me,'** said the other, have you 
 supped or have you not?'** Thanks and praise to 
 Allah !*** returned the Caliph mildly, " we have supped 
 long since and heartily.*" If that be the case,'** said the 
 man, "you may come up; but, mind, it must be on these 
 conditions : whatever you may see me do, you must not 
 presume to open your lips — no, not if what you hear dis- 
 pleases you ever so much.*" "We promise you, sir," 
 replied they, " that we will sit in your apartment deaf 
 and mute.*'*' On this the man came down and opened 
 the door. The Caliph and his attendants followed him 
 up to his room. 
 
 On their entrance they perceived a table set out, on 
 which was a pitcher of wine almost full, several kinds of 
 
 7 
 
50 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 fruit, roast meats, preserves, and confectioneries. The 
 man, without any ceremony, sat down and immediately 
 tossed off a bumper. " Go into that corner,'*'^ said he to 
 the strangers, " and sit quietly down."' They complied 
 in silence. " Where do you fellows come from,**" said he, 
 " and where are you going " Sir,^' said the Vizier in 
 a humble voice, " we are merchants of Mosul, and were 
 this day invited to an entertainment with some mer- 
 chants of Bagdad. Having feasted with our friends and 
 drunk heartily, we left our hosts just as the darkness of 
 the night began ; we were unable to find our way to the 
 caravanserai where we lodge, and found ourselves acci- 
 dentally in this street. Here we observed the reflection 
 of the light from the balcony, and hearing your voice, 
 entreated your hospitality.^'' " By heavens said the 
 fellow, " I don't believe a word you say. You are no 
 merchants. You are spies or thieves who go to honest 
 people''s houses, and endeavour to get admission at un- 
 seasonable hours. Here, you barrel-belly,"** said he, 
 addressing himself to the Vizier, " you with whiskers like 
 a bear ! Hang me if I ever saw a rascal with so 
 villainous a countenance. You, too, Mr. Blackface,"*^ 
 said he to Mesrour, "you gaunt belly, what do you 
 mean by casting such a hawk's eye upon my wine and 
 food ? By heavens ! if any one among you shall but dare 
 to stretch out a finger to touch a bit, Fll break all your 
 bones.**' Saying this he hastily rose, and going to one 
 corner of the room, took an immense cudgel, and putting 
 it under his arm, sat down again. 
 
 Pray,'** said the Caliph in a whisper to his Vizier, 
 " contrive by some means or other to learn this man's 
 name and occupation." " In the name of God, sir," said 
 the Vizier in a fright, " let us have nothing to do with 
 this rascal. He is evidently drunk, and should he knock 
 us on the head with that cudgel, we should be murdered 
 without a soul knowing anything of the matter." Be 
 not afraid, man,**' said the Caliph. " I insist upon your 
 inquiring his name and profession." " I entreat you, 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 51 
 
 sir, to excuse me,'' replied the Vizier: " let us ask him no 
 questions.'' " I will be obeyed," said the Caliph. " I 
 insist upon your asking his name, and for what reason it 
 is that he thus passes the night." 
 
 Whilst they were conversing the man kept drinking, 
 and, growing somewhat more good-humoured over his 
 cups, "What," said he in a milder tone, "'are you 
 fellows prating about .^^" When Jafar saw that he spoke 
 with more civility, he ventured to address him. " We 
 were talking," said he, " my good brother, of your great 
 kindness in admitting us into your apartment. I entreat 
 you, therefore, in the name of hospitality, to tell us to 
 whom we are so greatly obliged." " Pray, Mr. Impu- 
 dence," returned the man, " did I not tell you not to 
 notice anything and to ask no questions ? Get up, go 
 about your business, and may the devil go with you !" 
 
 I pray," replied the Vizier imperturbably, " that Allah 
 may increase our friendship. We have now been sitting 
 a considerable time in your apartment, and you have 
 treated us with kindness ; we came to your house, and 
 you gave us refuge. The only thing now necessary to 
 render our obligation to you complete is to tell us your 
 name, your occupation, and what motive you have for 
 thus spending your time." " Well," replied the man, 
 " if I shall then condescend to inform you of the history 
 of my life, let no man, if he would escape instant death, 
 presume to interrupt or contradict me." " We agree to 
 that," they replied without hesitation. 
 
 " Know, then," returned the other, with an assumed 
 dignity of countenance, " my name is Basem, my trade 
 a blacksmith. I delight in sports and pastimes. I am 
 a stout wrestler ; my body is robust, and my trust in 
 God secures to me a necessary provision of wine and 
 victuals. The man who provokes me to give him a box 
 on the ear will retain the sound of it for a twelve- 
 month." 
 
 May Allah," said they, " preserve us from your 
 
 rage !" 
 
 7—2 
 
52 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 " What !*" said Basem, " does any one of you think of 
 contradicting me ? By Allah ! if any one does so, I will 
 drive him to the devil/'' " Heaven defend us from such 
 a fellow said the Caliph to himself 
 
 " My guests,^' continued Basem, first tossing off a 
 bumper, " every day I work as a blacksmith, and do not 
 fail before afternoon prayer to gain five dirhems ; then 
 I proceed to the bazaar. There with one dirhem I 
 purchase flesh, another dirhem goes in wine, another is 
 spent in candles, another in nuts, cakes, and fruit, and 
 with the last I purchase oil for my lamps, with two 
 loaves of bread, and I always take care that for the next 
 day not a single dinar remains. Thus day after day my 
 hours are spent invariably in the same way. In the 
 evening I come home to my apartments, and as you see, 
 put everything in order. I light up my candles, eat a 
 little roast meat, then I set down my leathern pitcher 
 and my glass, and never have any companion whatever. 
 Now, you Mr. Merchants or Spies, or whatever you may 
 be, you have the whole of my history."*' 
 
 Then Rashid and Jafar could not help admiring 
 Basem's account of himself. " In truth,*" said they, " it 
 must be allowed that you are a man of resolute mind, 
 and strange in your course of life ; but in thus separating 
 yourself from society, you are exempt from many in- 
 conveniences.'** " Ay,"' said Basem, " I have lived thus 
 for the space of twenty-one years : every night my 
 apartment ha,s been lighted up, and never once have I 
 been molested or interrupted." "But, my friend,**' said 
 the Vizier, " suppose the Caliph should to-morrow put 
 a stop to the trade of a blacksmith, and pass a decree 
 that anyone who should open his shop and work in this 
 occupation before the expiration of three days would 
 certainly be hanged — could you then light up your 
 apartment and enjoy your dried fruit and your delicately 
 flavoured wine ?**' " May God," said Bcxsem, " never re- 
 joice your hearts with glad tidings ! By Allah! nothing 
 comes of you but what is bad. It is only a moment 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 53 
 
 ago that I warned you not to disturb me with your 
 supposes. Twenty years have I lived secure till this 
 night, when you come to vex me and confuse my mind 
 with unpleasant suggestions. But I conjure you in the 
 name of God to get up and leave me. How could I be 
 such a fool as to give you admission into my house, and 
 expose the secret of my life 
 
 " My good friend Basem," said the Vizier, " we are 
 but jesting with you. You tell us that for these twenty 
 years you have gone on thus without interruption. 
 No such order from the Caliph ever did pass ; believe me, 
 we would not for the world give you a moment's un- 
 easiness. (During this time Basem kept drinking, and 
 became more and more intoxicated.) " But yet, suppose 
 it should happen, what could you possibly do, as you 
 never leave a dirhem for the next day On this Basem 
 became quite exasperated. " What, you scoundrel 
 said he, " do you dare to repeat your words ? By Allah, 
 you are black, unlucky rascals, and should the Caliph 
 to-morrow do as you say, I would search for you through 
 every corner of Bagdad, and murder every one of you." 
 On this the Caliph was obliged to stop his mouth with 
 his robe to prevent laughing aloud : they then took 
 their leave. " If I do not," said the Caliph, as he went 
 along, " find out to-morrow some means of being even 
 with my friend the blacksmith, I shall be surprised 
 indeed." Morning approached, and the Caliph and his 
 servants again entered the secret gate of the palace. 
 Rashid retired to his couch. After a short sleep, day 
 broke upon him. He arose, performed his morning 
 prayers, and proceded to the chamber of audience. The 
 Emirs, Viziers, officers, and grandees surrounded him, but 
 the Caliph's whole mind was occupied with the adven- 
 tures of the preceding night. Calling, therefore, for 
 Jafar, he said : " Send to the Governor of the city, and 
 let it be proclaimed throughout Bagdad that no black- 
 smith shall open his doors or labour in his occupation 
 for three days, on pain of death." The name of the 
 
54 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 Governor was Khalid ibn Jaleb, who took care that 
 the royal proclamation should be published with the 
 greatest pomp : six heralds, splendidly attended, made 
 known through the different quarters of Bagdad the will 
 of the Sovereign, The people wondered and obeyed. 
 
 The master of Basem came, as usual, to his shop early 
 in the morning, and with some of his servants was 
 preparing to open it, when they heard the Governor and 
 his retinue proclaim the edict of the Caliph — that what- 
 ever blacksmith should open his shop or labour at his 
 trade before the expiration of three days should be 
 hanged before the door of his house. The master of 
 Basem said to one of his men : " There ! go home ; take 
 the keys, and come again on the fourth day.**" 
 
 As to Basem himself, as soon as his guests had left 
 him, he fell fast asleep, nor did he open his eyes till 
 long after sunrise. When he rose he went abroad, and 
 proceeded, as usual, to the shop, ignorant of the royal 
 proclamation. When he came near he observed the 
 boy sitting outside and the door of the shop shut. 
 
 You little dog said he, " why don''t you open the 
 door ? If anything be the matter with the lock, I will 
 clench my fist, and with one blow make the bolts fly ; 
 or if the folding window is out of order, I will draw the 
 nails of the hinges with my fingers.'*' On this the 
 master came up. " There is nothing the matter with the 
 lock,'" said he. ''AVhy, what the devil, then,'** cried 
 Basem, " does the boy mean by sitting outside ?**** " Basem,*" 
 said the master, ''you certainly are either drunk or 
 asleep. What, don't you know of the royal proclamation 
 " What royal proclamation ?" said Basem. " I know of 
 none.*" " Why,'** returned the other, " the Governor has 
 but just proclaimed that whatever blacksmith shall open 
 his shop or labour at his trade before the expiration of 
 three days shall be hanged before the door of his 
 house. If you don't choose to believe me, make the 
 experiment." 
 
 When Basem heard this the tools fell from his hands, 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 55 
 
 and the recollection of his guests occurred to his mind. 
 " Oh, the scoundrels l*" said he to himself ; " might I but 
 find them out and satisfy my anger ! They impudently 
 supposed this would happen, and it has happened ; they 
 did but hint at it and it has come.'** Whilst Basem 
 was standing confused and uncertain what to do, his 
 master said to him : " Why should you be uneasy, 
 Basem ? You have no wife, no children, nor anyone to 
 take care of but yourself. I, unfortunate man, am 
 the father of a family, and if unemployed for three 
 days, how shall I possibly procure food for them ? 
 I know that this mischief has happened to me on your 
 account. Every morning you come to work half drunk. 
 This is a curse which you have brought upon us, who 
 for twenty years have never abstained from drinking 
 wine. Go, sir, and beg for these three days." Thus he 
 abused Basem, who, lost in the confusion of his thoughts, 
 hastily departed. " O Allah said he as he went 
 along, biting his lips — "O that I could meet with 
 my rascally guests ! From the moment of their visit I 
 thought it would be an unfortunate day.'*'' 
 
 That day, however, he managed to obtain a vacant 
 post in a bagnio, and waited upon the persons who 
 came to the bath, and performed his office as well as he 
 could. The first on whom he waited gave him two 
 dirhems, another gave one ; some gave one piece of 
 money, some another, till by the afternoon prayers he 
 had made up his five dirhems, the sum which he usually 
 acquired as a blacksmith. As soon as Basem had got 
 this sum, he exulted exceedingly. " Who cares for the 
 Caliph now he said. " I will work no more to day ; 
 but, by the blessing of Allah, I will never do anything 
 again but work in a bagnio ; it is so charmingly easy. I 
 like it ten times better than being a blacksmith.^' 
 
 He then dressed himself, went home, took his leather 
 pitcher, his dish, and a basket, and immediately went 
 to market, where he laid out one dirhem on mutton. 
 He bought one dirhem's worth of wine ; a third was 
 
56 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 spent in wax candles and flowers ; with the fourth he 
 purchased pistachio nuts, sweet pastry, and fruits. Chang- 
 ing the fifth dirhem, he spent it in oil for his lamp and 
 two loaves of bread. 
 
 As soon as he reached his apartment he took off his 
 clothes, cleaned his room, lighted his lamp, and set out 
 his table, placing his supper, wine, and fruit in order, 
 and filling a bumper, " Here,"' said he, " is to the 
 confusion of my rascally guests, and may Heaven grant 
 me to meet them to-night When the evening was 
 somewhat advanced, the Caliph, who had been thinking 
 of Basem all day, sent for his Vizier Jafar. " I have 
 been just thinking,"' said he, "how that poor devil of a 
 blacksmith will manage to-night.""' "I presume, sir,**" 
 answered the Vizier, " that he must now be sitting in a 
 melancholy mood, with an empty belly and his jar un- 
 filled."" " Send for Mesrour,"" said the Caliph. " We 
 three will go as before and make him a visit for our amuse- 
 ment."" " Indeed, sir,"" said the Vizier, " I think we had 
 better stay at home ; he may chance to do one or more 
 of us a mischief."" ''I insist upon going,"" said the 
 Caliph. They again disguised themselves and went as 
 before. On approaching the same street, they beheld the 
 reflection of the light, and heard Basem, bumper in 
 hand, singing as on the preceding night. ''By Allah,"" 
 exclaimed the Caliph, " the condition of our friend does 
 not appear in the least altered. We suspended on his 
 account the occupation of the blacksmiths, but it does not 
 seem to have made any alteration in his affairs. I insist 
 upon your procuring admission, that we may again 
 amuse ourselves."" The Vizier expostulated, as on the 
 previous evening ; but the Caliph was peremptory, and 
 Mesrour knocked at the door. 
 
 At this moment Basem, into whose head the wine 
 had ascended, was thinking of his guests, and wishing 
 he might meet with them. He heard the knock, and 
 went impatiently to the balcony. "Who is there?"" 
 said he angrily. " Your guests of last night,"" returned 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 57 
 
 Jafar. Basem looked out, and beheld his three visitors. 
 "Go and be hanged !" said he. ''You shall have no 
 admission here. By Allah, I have been looking for you 
 all the day, that I might break your bones !" " Noble 
 Basem, said the Vizier, " we have no evil designs, I can 
 assure you. We are come to inquire kindly after your 
 health. We have heard of this unaccountable decree 
 forbidding blacksmiths to work, and we are anxious to 
 know whether it has done you any injury. We beseech 
 you to let us in.'"* "Provoke me if you dare,'" said he, 
 "and take the consequences. However, you shall 
 come in.'** 
 
 He then went down and opened the door ; but the 
 wine had got into his head, and he was nearly drunk. 
 They followed him upstairs, and seated themselves in a 
 corner of the apartment. " Now, fellows," said Basem, 
 " you know my ways. There's my fruit and meat, and 
 here's my wine. Not a drop shall one of you have ! 
 You, fellow, with the black beard,"' he added, addressing 
 the Caliph, " I won't have you cast such a sheep's eye 
 on my fruit." " Indeed, sir," answered the Caliph, " we 
 do not intend to eat any part of your provisions ; we 
 are merely come as visitors to inquire after your health. 
 This prohibition of the blacksmith's trade has excited 
 both our wonder and our indignation." " All that has 
 happened," replied Basem, "is on your account, and 
 comes from your impertinent forebodings." " Indeed, 
 sir, we will not again displease you ; yet we beseech you 
 to tell us how you have been able to procure what we 
 see now before you." Basem condescended to inform 
 them, and added : " With this money I have done as 
 you see. I am Basem : my provision comes from God. 
 A fig for the Caliph ! and may every evil light upon all 
 Caliphs, and blacksmiths, too ! I will die a servant to a 
 bagnio — a trade ten times better than that of a black- 
 smith. The Caliph cannot prohibit bagnios." 
 
 On this the Caliph made signs to the Vizier to enter 
 into dispute with Basem. " Friend Basem," exclaimed 
 
 8 
 
68 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 the Vizier, " suppose the Caliph were to forbid the use 
 of bagnios — what would you do, then P"** " Did I not 
 tell you," said Basem, " that you were officious, prying 
 intruders ? and did you not swear by Allah that you 
 would no more interfere in my concerns ? You, barrel- 
 belly — you, refuse of a dunghill, with your old bear's 
 whiskers — did I not desire to hear no more of your 
 forebodings P*"' 
 
 Jafar happened at this moment to turn round to the 
 Caliph, and found him laughing heartily. " Yes, yes,'' 
 said he to himself ; " this sport highly delights my 
 master, but may end seriously for us." Basem, how- 
 ever, being deep in his cups, they got away without 
 further ado. In the morning the Caliph issued a decree 
 that all the bagnios in Bagdad should be shut for three 
 days, on pain of the crucifixion of the owners. Basem 
 went through the same experience again. He came to 
 the bagnio, found it closed, was abused for bringing 
 ill-luck with him by the master, and sent about his 
 business. 
 
 Vowing vengeance upon his guests, he sought them 
 the whole of the day through the streets of Bagdad, 
 but, of course, in vain. " To-night,'"* said he, " I must 
 be supperless — no meat, no fruit, no wine, no lights." 
 He then returned home, dressed himself, wound his sash 
 round his head, and, taking his prayer- carpet, said : 
 
 This will I sell, and provide myself as usual.*" When 
 he went out and was standing in the street, undecided 
 whither to go, a woman approached, and seeing him with 
 a sash round his head, imagined him to be a wakeel, or 
 officer of justice, belonging to the Cadi. " Pray, sir,'** 
 said she, ^' are you a messenger or wakeel " I am," 
 replied Basem. " O Hadji,"* said the woman, " I have 
 a just claim upon my debtor." "Let me know," said 
 Basem, "who this debtor is." "I desire," said the 
 woman, " to complain against my husband, who is in 
 debt to me for clothes for five years." "Come along 
 ^ ^ Pilgrim to Mecca — aw honorific title. 
 
 r 
 
HAROUN AI. RASHID 
 
 59 
 
 with me,"' said Basem. I will confound him.''' Upon 
 this the woman, from the string of coins which she wore 
 upon her head, cut off two dirhems, and presented them 
 to him. These he snatched with hawklike avidity, say- 
 ing : " I am Basem : my provision is from God."' 
 
 They then proceeded to the serai where her husband 
 was. Before entering, Basem took care to raise and 
 adjust his turban and bare his arms, that he might have 
 more the appearance of the character he assumed. The 
 woman by a sign pointed out her husband, whom 
 Basem found to be a meagre, diminutive man, and em- 
 ployed in performing his Friday prayers. Without say- 
 ing a word, Basem took him up in his arms, together 
 with the carpet upon which he kneeled, to carry him 
 off. " Hadji, Hadji !" he screamed, " for Heaven's sake, 
 what is the matter " You have only to show respect 
 and obedience to the noble law,'' replied Basem. ^'Have 
 consideration for me," said the captive, " and set me 
 down upon the ground, that I may put on my outer 
 vest." Basem then set him and his carpet down, while 
 all the people in the serai came crowding round them. 
 
 The captive now asked Basem where his creditor was. 
 " Your wife is your creditor," said Basem, " and I am 
 her appointed wakeel." They then proceeded together 
 towards the court, the woman going before them ; but 
 they had hardly got half-way when the man, addressing 
 Basem, said : " I beseech you, O Hadji, to let me speak 
 two words." " Speak twenty," said Basem in a surly 
 tone. "Only," said the man, '^accept of a present, 
 and permit me to depart. After evening prayer I will 
 return to my wife, and you may depend on it all will 
 end well." " What the devil, after all," thought Basem 
 within himself, " have I to do with the woman ? It 
 will be better to take something from this fellow." The 
 man with great humility presented Basem with three 
 dirhems, which he secured in his girdle. " By heaven!" 
 said Basem, " all this goes well. I have now got five 
 dirhems. I am Basem, and my provision is from God. 
 
 8-^2 
 
60 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 I will die a messenger of the law.**' Without delay he 
 proceeded, as usual, to procure his provisions in the 
 bazaar — roast meat, wine, fruit, etc. — lit up his room, 
 and thanked God for enabling him to continue his old 
 custom. 
 
 Again the Caliph, Jafar, and Mesrour came, and, after 
 hearing some fresh abuse from Basem, obtained admis- 
 sion to his room. " Now, my guests,*" said Basem, " do 
 you know nothing of what has happened to me this day, 
 and what has been done by that blockhead the Caliph P^"* 
 His hearers could hardly refrain from laughing, but 
 begged him to proceed. " Why/' said Basem, " from 
 his want of understanding he issued a royal ordinance 
 for shutting all the bagnios for three days. However, 
 Providence did not desert me, but put five dirhems in 
 my way, with which, as you see, I made my usual pro- 
 vision.'** Basem returned to his wine, and, without 
 taking notice of his guests, continued to regale himself 
 till he became to all appearance intoxicated. Jafar, 
 then, by the instigation of the Caliph, induced him to 
 recount all the adventures of the past day. " To-morrow,**' 
 thought the Caliph, " I will make an example of this 
 drunkard, which shall furnish conversation for all the 
 inhabitants of Bagdad.*" The next day, in the presence 
 of all his officials, the Caliph said to Jafar : " Issue im- 
 mediate orders to the courts of justice in my name, that 
 strict inquiry be made concerning the messengers of 
 justice, in order to prevent people being imposed upon 
 by such as have intruded themselves into office. Let 
 those who are of long standing be retained, with an 
 increase of salary, but all those of short standing, and 
 who have intruded without due recommendation, be 
 bastinadoed and dismissed." On the following morning 
 Basem sallied forth, and, proceeding to the court-house, 
 mingled in the crowd of messengers attending the Cadi*'s 
 divan. 
 
 When the order of the Caliph was delivered to the 
 Cadi, he rose from his seat, and, in token of respect, 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 61 
 
 kissed the paper, and then raised it to his forehead. 
 " Let the instruments for the bastinado," said he, " be 
 brought, the stocks (for securing the legs) and the rods ; 
 let all the messengers be ready to appear when called 
 for/' Basem said to himself : By Allah, what is the 
 meaning of all this ? What is intended to be done 
 The first messenger who was called made a respectful 
 bow, and stood before the Cadi with his hands crossed, 
 and his eyes fixed on the ground. When he had 
 answered the latter's questions satisfactorily, he ordered 
 a present to be given him, and that he should stand on 
 one side to make room for the next. 
 
 Basem was roused from his reverie by the Cadi calling 
 to him, but he did not move till called a second time. 
 " What is your name ?*" demanded the Cadi. " Basem, 
 the blacksmith."*' " As your trade,'*'' observed the Cadi, 
 " is that of a blacksmith, since when did you become an 
 officer of justice " I entered into the law yesterday,"" 
 said Basem ; but, O Cadi,'" continued he, " I am a 
 man of wonderful abilities. When I please, I can be a 
 Cadi, or a wakeel, or a wise, devout man with a capacious 
 belly." 
 
 Neither the Cadi nor the spectators could forbear 
 laughing; but Basem'*s legs were soon secured in the 
 stocks, and he suffered the bastinado, in obedience to the 
 Caliph's orders. 
 
 After this disaster he returned to his house, mortified 
 and melancholy, and sat down to ponder on his situa- 
 tion. He soon, however, recovered his spirits, and, 
 starting up, he girt his loins, and, seizing a piece of an 
 old palm-tree which had the form of a sword, he thrust 
 it in his belt, and adjusted his turban. " I have now," 
 said he, " neither master nor friends in this city, and 
 must, therefore, go elsewhere and seek my livelihood."*' 
 He then sallied forth from his abode, and wandered 
 throuo'h the streets of Bao^dad. As he went swaororerino: 
 along, grasping his wooden sword in one hand, everyone 
 considered him to be a " beldar '"* belonging to some 
 
62 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 great man. Bewildered in thought, and not noticing 
 where he was going, he found himself in a market-place, 
 where a great multitude was assembled round two men 
 who were fighting. Having learned what was the 
 matter, he began to flourish his sword, and soon made 
 his way through the crowd, who, taking him for an 
 officer of the Caliph's, or dreading the strength of his 
 arm, fled on all sides. When he got sight of the com- 
 batants, he found them covered with dust and blood, 
 and fighting fiercely, while none of the spectators dared 
 to separate them. Basem, observing the impression 
 which his strength had made on the people, and that 
 he was mistaken for a beldar, clapped one hand on the 
 hilt of his wooden sword, approached the combatants, 
 and, after dealing a few blows to each, put an end to 
 the fray. The Sheikh of the market now appeared, and, 
 addressing Basem as a beldar, presented him with five 
 dirhems, and requested him to carry the offenders before 
 the Caliph, that they might be punished as disturbers 
 of the public peace. Basem, as he secured the money 
 in his girdle^ muttered to himself : " I am Basem : my 
 provision is from God.*'' Then, seizing the two culprits, 
 he lifted them from the ground, and walked off with 
 ease, caiTying one under each arm. A great crowd 
 followed, entreating that the combatants might be re- 
 conciled and dismissed, to which Basem at last con- 
 sented. When he found himself alone, ^' All this,**^ said 
 he, " is well beyond expectation. The five dirhems 
 were certainly a godsend, and I shall remain a beldar 
 all the days of my life.*" 
 
 The same evening, while Basem was carousing as 
 usual, the Caliph, Jafar, and Mesrour knocked at his 
 door, and, after receiving the usual abuse, persuaded 
 him to admit them. Waiting till the wine had mounted 
 to his head, they wormed his secret out of him as before, 
 and took their departure. Next morning, soon after 
 sunrise, Basem, starting up from sleep, said : " A new 
 day, new provision ! By heaven ! I will die a beldar.'^'' 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 63 
 
 He then dressed himself as the day before, combed his 
 beard, twisted his whiskers, and salHed forth. On his 
 arrival at the palace, he, without further ceremony, 
 placed himself among the ten beldars who were in daily 
 waiting. 
 
 When the Caliph came into the divan, he scanned 
 the beldars, and was not long in discovering Basem 
 among them. Then, calling Jafar, he said : " Do you 
 observe our friend Basem yonder ? You shall soon see 
 how I will perplex him."" The chief of the beldars was 
 called. " What is the number of your corps said the 
 Caliph. " In all, thirty," replied the beldar, " ten of 
 whom attend three days at the palace, and, at the 
 expiration of that time, are relieved by another ten, so 
 that there is always the same number in waiting by 
 rotation.*" " I wish," said the Caliph, " to review those 
 now present, and to examine each particularly." The 
 order was instantly obeyed, and Basem ranged himself 
 with others in the divan, but not without being alarmed 
 and saying to himself : " Mercy on me ! What can all 
 this mean ? Yesterday was the inquisition and reckon- 
 ing with the Cadi ; to-day it is with the Caliph in 
 person." 
 
 As the Caliph paused before each, and examined him 
 in turn, Basem became more and more alarmed. "Good 
 heavens !" said he to himself, " one mischance is still 
 worse than another. Till this day such a thing as this 
 review was never heard of. There is no remedy or 
 support but from God." The Caliph, who had all 
 along observed Basem's embarrassment, was repeatedly 
 obliged to put his handkerchief to his mouth to prevent 
 laughing, or to turn his head aside. The last of the 
 beldars was now examined, and ranged on the other 
 side with his companions. Basem remained alone in 
 trembling apprehension. The Caliph with the utmost 
 difficulty restrained himself from laughing when he 
 ordered him to approach. The order was repeated 
 three times, but Basem, as if insensible, remained fixed 
 
64 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 to the spot. The chief of the beldars at length aroused 
 him by a push, saying : " You, fellow, answer the Com- 
 mander of the Faithful." Basem, starting up as if from 
 a dream, asked hastily : " What's the matter " What 
 is your name said the Caliph. " Meaning me, sir 
 said Basem, in great perturbation. " Yes, it is you I 
 mean.''* Basem then began to advance, but his legs 
 could hardly perform their office. His complexion took 
 a yellow tinge ; his tongue, at other times so voluble 
 and sharp, trembled, and he stood totally at a loss what 
 answer to make. 
 
 The Caliph then, retaining a serious aspect with 
 difficulty, asked his name, his father's name, his present 
 appointments, and by what means they were obtained. 
 
 Is it to me you speak, sir ?*' replied Basem. The 
 Caliph calmly answered, "Yes"; but Jafar, who stood 
 near his master, said to Basem in an angry tone : " You 
 miserable beldar ! answer the Commander of the Faithful 
 speedily, or the sword will soon be applied to your 
 neck." Basem's confusion was now complete ; his joints 
 trembled, his face became still yellower than before, and 
 his tongue faltered. After a pause, during which the 
 Caliph had recovered his gravity : " And so," said he, 
 " you are a beldar — the son of a beldar ?" ^' Yes, yes, 
 sir," hastily replied Basem. " I am a beldar, the son of 
 a beldar, and my mother was a beldar before me." It 
 was not in the power of the Caliph, nor of his Vizier, 
 nor of any of those present, to refrain from laughing at 
 this answer. " You are, then, a beldar, the son of a 
 beldar, and your allowance is twenty dinars and five 
 pounds of mutton ?" " Oh yes, yes. Commander of the 
 Faithful," replied Basem, " and may the decrees of God 
 be your protection !" " It is well," returned the Caliph. 
 " In the meantime, do you select three beldars to ac- 
 company you to the prison, and immediately bring 
 before me the four banditti now confined there." 
 
 In a short time the four criminals were brought, 
 their arms pinioned and their heads bare. The Caliph 
 
HAROUN AL llASHID 
 
 65 
 
 asked them whether they were guilty. They answered: 
 " We were, O Caliph, abandoned by God, and instigated 
 by the devil ; but we now appear in humility and re- 
 pentance before your Majesty.^' You are delinquents 
 of that kind,"' said the Caliph, " for whom there is no 
 remedy but the sword.**** 
 
 He then ordered the first three beldars each to seize 
 one of the prisoners, to cut open his vest and blindfold 
 him, then to unsheathe his sword, and wait for further 
 orders. The three beldars then, each in order, seizing 
 a criminal, placed him at a distance on the ground 
 according to custom, sitting on his knees and hams, his 
 arms pinioned and his eyes covered. Each beldar, with 
 his sword drawn, stood a little behind the criminal, and 
 said : " O Commander of the Faithful, have I your leave 
 to strike?" 
 
 While the three beldars, each with a criminal before 
 him, stood thus arranged, Basem stood lost in dreadful 
 reflections. This crowns all,'** said he to himself. 
 " By Allah ! to escape from death is now impossible.*" 
 At this instant the Caliph called to him : " You there, 
 are you not one of my beldars ? Why do you not lead 
 out your criminal, as your companions have done 
 Basem, being now obliged to obey, laid hands on the 
 fourth prisoner, tied his hands behind, cut open his vest, 
 and bound a handkerchief over his eyes ; he then took 
 his stand behind him, but without moving his sword. 
 " I am lost,'** thought he. " How can I manage the 
 sword ? In a few minutes it will be found to be but 
 wood : I shall be the public jest, and lose my head by 
 the Caliph's order." 
 
 He then took his sword from his belt, and, grasping 
 the hilt in his right hand, rested the sword on his left 
 arm. The Caliph was highly diverted at this manoeuvre, 
 but called out to him : " You, beldar ! why do you not 
 unsheathe your sword, as your comrades have done ?" 
 *'My lord," replied Basem, "it is not good that a 
 naked sword should dazzle the eyes of the Commander 
 
 9 
 
66 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 of the Faithful/** The Caliph, seemingly acquiescing in 
 this answer, turned to the iirst beldar, and commanded 
 him to strike, when in a moment the criminal's head 
 was severed from his body. " Well done, Ahmed ^ said 
 the Caliph, and at the same time ordered him a present 
 and an increase of salary. Then, speaking to the second 
 beldar, he said : " Do you, Othman, execute your 
 criminal.'' " I am prepared,'" replied he. Then, raising 
 his arm aloft, he at one stroke made the head leap to 
 some distance from the shoulders. 
 
 The Caliph, after commending his dexterity, ordered 
 him the same reward as the former. The third criminal 
 was next decapitated, and the executioner received 
 the same commendation and gratuity that his 
 companions had done. The Caliph now turned to 
 Basem. You, beldar," said he, " cut off the head 
 of your criminal, as your comrades have done, and be 
 entitled to the same reward." But Basem was lost in 
 thought, or rather was in a state of stupefaction, till 
 Mesrour, stepping up to him and touching him on the 
 side, whispered in his ear : " Answer the Caliph and 
 obey his commands, or else your head shall instantly fly 
 from your shoulders like those of the banditti." 
 
 Basem, aroused from his reverie, lifting up his head, 
 replied : Yes, yes, your Majesty." " Strike off the 
 head of your prisoner," said the Caliph. " Upon my 
 head and eyes be it," replied Basem. Then, drawing 
 near the surviving culprit, ^' It is the Caliph's command," 
 said he, " that your head should be severed from your 
 body. If you are prepared to pronounce the profession 
 of your faith, pronounce it, for this is your last moment." 
 The culprit distinctly recited the Moslem creed. Then 
 Basem, baring his right arm to the elbow and fiercely 
 rolling his eyes, walked thrice round his prisoner. " If 
 you are thirsty," he said, " I will give you to drink ; if 
 hungry, I will feed you ; and if innocent, say with a 
 loud voice, ' I am an innocent man.'" 
 
 The Caliph was very attentive to all that passed, and 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 67 
 
 highly diverted by Basem's ingenuity. The criminal 
 then exclaimed in a loud voice : " I am an innocent 
 man."'* " You lie !" replied Basem ; " but I have a 
 secret which I will not disclose except to the Caliph 
 himself." He then approached the latter, and, kissing 
 the ground, said : " O Commander of the Faithful, hear 
 me only two words. I have along with me a treasure 
 which has long been in our family. My grandfather 
 inherited it from his grandfather, and my father from 
 his father. It is this sword'*'' — laying it before the 
 Caliph — " which possesses a talisman. The power of this 
 talisman is most wonderful, O Caliph,'*'' continued he. 
 " If this man is innocent the sword, when unsheathed, 
 will appear to be wood ; but if he is guilty it will emit 
 a flash of fire, which will consume his neck as if it were 
 a reed.'*'* "Let us have a proof of this prodigy ,'*'* said 
 the Caliph. Basem now unsheathed his wooden sword, 
 exclaiming, with an air of triumyjh, " Innocent, my 
 lord !'*'' to the admiration and diversion of all who were 
 present in the divan. 
 
 When the laughter he had occasioned ceased, Basem, 
 addressing the Caliph, said : " O Commander of the 
 Faithful, this man was unjustly condemned; let him be 
 set free.'" The Caliph, after having ordered the criminal 
 to be liberated, called the head beldar, and, pointing to 
 Basem, " Let that man,''' said he, " be immediately 
 enrolled in your corps, with the usual appointments." 
 He then gave directions that Basem should be completely 
 equipped with a suit of clothes, and made him a present 
 of a hundred pieces of gold. The Vizier and Mesrour 
 also made him presents in money, so that Basem the 
 blacksmith found himself at once a rich man. He soon 
 became a companion of the Caliph in his private hours 
 of relaxation, and rose in time to the station of chief 
 of the Caliph'*s beldars. 
 
 9—2 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 HAROUN AL RASHID AND ABUX KASIM OF 
 
 BASRA 
 
 All the historians agree that the Caliph Haroun al 
 Rashid would have been the completest, as well as 
 the most powerful, Prince of his age if he had not been 
 too much prone to anger and vanity. Jafar, his Vizier, 
 who could not bear his way of boasting, took the liberty 
 one day to speak to him as follows : O my sovereign 
 lord, be not offended with your slave when he takes the 
 liberty of representing to you that you ought not to 
 praise yourself. Leave it to your subjects and the crowd 
 of strangers who frequent your Court to speak of your 
 good qualities.''*' 
 
 Rashid was provoked at this speech : he looked with 
 a countenance of anger on his Vizier, and demanded of 
 him if he knew any man that might compare with him 
 in generosity. " Yes, my lord,*" answered Jafar. " In 
 the city of Basra dwells a young man called Abul 
 Kasim, and there is not a Prince in the world so generous 
 as this young man." 
 
 At this discourse the Caliph's cheeks glowed and his 
 eyes flashed with anger. " Dost thou not know,"" said 
 he, " that a subject who has the impudence to lie before 
 his master deserves to be punished with death " I 
 speak only the truth,'' replied the Vizier. " In the last 
 journey which I made to Basra I saw this Abu'l Kasim, 
 and my eyes, though accustomed to behold your 
 
 68 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 69 
 
 treasures, were surprised with his riches, and I was 
 wholly charmed with his generous behaviour." 
 
 At these words Rashid was not able to restrain his 
 passion. " You are very insolent," he said, raising his 
 voice, "to bring a private man into comparison with 
 me ; your audacity shall not go unpunished." He had 
 no sooner spoken than he made a sign to the captain of 
 his guards to come forward and seize the Vizier. After 
 this he retired to the apartment of his wife Zobeide, 
 who turned pale with fear when she saw him enter with 
 his countenance full of rage. 
 
 " My lord, what has befallen you ?" said she. He 
 informed her of what had passed, and she represented 
 to him that he ought for a time to control his resent- 
 ment, and send someone to Basra to inquire into the 
 truth of the matter. This proposal abated the anger of 
 the Caliph. " Madam," said he, " I approve of your 
 counsel ; but the person I may entrust with this business 
 may not be faithful in his report to me : therefore I will 
 undertake a journey to Basra and inform myself of the 
 truth. I will myself make acquaintance with the young 
 man whose generosity is so much praised in my presence." 
 
 Rashid, having taken this resolution, thought of 
 nothing now but to put it into execution. He went 
 privately from his palace by night, mounted his horse, 
 and began his journey, without permitting any of his 
 courtiers to accompany him. As soon as he came to 
 Basra he alighted at the first inn he found, and asked 
 the innkeeper : " Is it true that there is a young man in 
 this city named Abul Kasim, who surpasses even Kings 
 in magnificence and generosity ?" " Yes, sir," replied 
 he. " Had I a hundred mouths, and in every mouth a 
 tongue, I could not recount all his generous actions." 
 The Caliph, fatigued with his journey, and wanting rest, 
 called for something to eat and betook himself to bed. 
 The next morning he rose very early, and going to a 
 tailor's shop, inquired for the dwelling of Abu'l Kasim. 
 " From what part of the world do you come ?" said the 
 
70 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 tailor to him. " You must be an utter stranger in 
 Basra, since you are unacquainted with the dwelling of 
 Abu'^1 Kasim.'^ The Caliph answered : " I am an utter 
 stranger. I know no person within the city, and you 
 will oblige me if you will send somebody to conduct me 
 to the house of this great man.^' Immediately upon this 
 the tailor ordered one of his apprentices to go along 
 with him to the mansion of Abu'l Kasim. 
 
 The dwelling was very spacious, built all of hewn 
 stone, with a portal of green marble. The Caliph 
 entered the court, and said to one of the attendants : 
 " Brother, I request of you the favour to go and tell 
 your master that a stranger desires to speak with him/' 
 The servant ran to acquaint his master, who imme- 
 diately came down into the court, took the stranger by 
 the hand, and led him into a very spacious hall. Having 
 seated him on a sofa, he demanded of him from what 
 country and of what profession he was, and where he 
 lodged at Basra. The Caliph answered : I am a mer- 
 chant of Bagdad, and have taken lodgings in the first 
 inn I found on entering this city."' 
 
 After a conversation of a few minutes there came into 
 the hall twelve pages, who carried vases of agate and 
 rock-crystal, embossed with rubies and filled with the 
 most exquisite liquors. The pages tasted the liquors 
 first before presenting them to the Caliph, who, though 
 he had been accustomed to the most delicious liquors of 
 the East, confessed he had never tasted the like. Abu'l 
 Kasim then went out of the hall, and returned in a 
 moment, holding in one hand a wand, and bearing in the 
 other a little tree, the stem of which was silver, with 
 branches and leaves of emerald, and the fruit that hung 
 thick upon the tree was made of rubies. On the top of 
 the tree stood a peacock, finely wrought in gold, the 
 body of which was filled with amber and aloes and other 
 rich perfumes. He placed this tree at the feet of the 
 Caliph, then, touching the head of the peacock with his 
 wand, the bird spread his wings and his train, and 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 71 
 
 whirled round with incredible swiftness ; and as fast as 
 it turned, the perfumes issued out from all parts of its 
 body, and scattered their odours through the whole hall. 
 The attention of the Caliph was wholly riveted upon 
 the tree and the peacock ; and while he was absorbed in 
 looking at them, Abu'l Kasim bore them suddenly away 
 from his sight. Rashid was a little provoked at it, and 
 said within himself : " What can be the meaning of 
 this ? The young man, methinks, does not understand 
 civility so well as I imagined ; he snatches from my 
 presence the tree and the peacock while he sees me 
 intent on them. Is he afraid that I should request them 
 of him for a present ? I fear that Jafar was mistaken 
 in him when he gave him the character of a generous 
 man.'^ 
 
 While he was taken up with these thoughts Abu'l 
 Kasim returned into the hall, accompanied by a little 
 page as beautiful as the sun. This lovely child was 
 arrayed in a robe of cloth of gold, embroidered with 
 pearls and diamonds. He held in his hand a cup made out 
 of a single ruby, and filled with wine of a purple colour. 
 He drew near to the Caliph, and prostrated himself on 
 the earth before him. The Prince reached out his hand 
 to receive the cup, and, taking it, he bore it to his lips. 
 When he had drunk of it, as he returned it to the page 
 he perceived, to his great astonishment, that it was still 
 full to the brim. He took it instantly back, and, carry- 
 ing it to his mouth, drank it up ; then giving it again 
 into the hand of the slave, on an instant saw it full 
 again. At this amazing incident Rashid was extremely 
 surprised, and quite forgot the tree and the peacock. 
 He asked by what means this wonder was wrought. 
 "Sir," replied Abu^l Kasim, "this cup is the workman- 
 ship of an ancient sage who knew all the secrets of 
 Nature."" Having said these words, he took the page by 
 the hand and went again abruptly out of the hall. The 
 Caliph was again displeased. "Certainly,""* thought he, 
 " this young fellow is not well in his wits. He brings 
 
73 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 me out all these curiosities without my asking him ; he 
 presents them to my eyes, and as soon as he perceives 
 that I take pleasure in looking on them, he snatches 
 them from my sight. Nothing could be so ridiculous 
 and impolite. Well, Jafar, I shall teach you to take a 
 truer estimate of men."' 
 
 A third time his host entered, followed by a damsel, 
 covered with pearls and precious stones, and yet more 
 shining in her beauty than in her dress. Abu'l Kasim 
 called for a lute ready tuned. A lute was brought to 
 him made of the wood of aloes, of ivory, and of ebony. 
 He delivered this instrument to the fair slave, who played 
 upon it so skilfully that Rashid, who was a good judge, 
 cried out in the excess of his admiration : " O young 
 man, how worthy of envy is your condition ! The 
 greatest Kings of the earth, including the Commander of 
 the Faithful, are not so happy as you." 
 
 As soon as Abu'l Kasim saw that his guest was 
 delighted with the damsel, he took her likewise by the 
 hand and led her out of the hall. 
 
 This again was a fresh occasion of displeasure to the 
 Caliph. Scarcely could he contain himself from breaking 
 out ; but he restrained his temper, and, his host return- 
 ing immediately, they continued to pass the time agree- 
 ably till the setting of the sun. Then Rashid said to 
 the young man : " O generous Abu'^1 Kasim ! I am 
 confounded at the entertainment you have given me. 
 Permit me now to retire and to leave you to your 
 repose.''^ The young man of Basra, who was unwilling 
 to lay any restraint on him, bowed with an air of con- 
 descension and led him to the door, asking his pardon 
 that he had not received him with a magnificence pro- 
 portioned to his merit. 
 
 " I must own,"*' said the Caliph to himself, as he was 
 returning to his inn, " that Abu'l Kasim far exceeds all 
 Kings in magnificence, but for generosity Jafar has no 
 reason to bring him into comparison with me ; for, after 
 all, has he made me the least present? and yet I was 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 73 
 
 lavish in my commendations of the tree, of the cup, of 
 the page, and of the damsel. He might at least have 
 made me an offer of some one of these. No ; this man 
 has no other quality in him but ostentation. He takes a 
 pleasure in displaying his riches to the eyes of strangers. 
 This man, rightly considered, is but a miser, and I shall 
 not pardon Jafar for the lie he told me.'' 
 
 Full of these reflections, he reached the inn. But 
 how great was his surprise to find there pieces of rich 
 tapestry, a great number of slaves, fine horses, mules, 
 camels, and besides all these, the tree and the peacock, 
 the page with his cup, and the beautiful slave with her 
 lute ! 
 
 The servants threw themselves prostrate before him, 
 and the damsel presented to him a roll, which he opened 
 and read the following words : " O my dear guest, whom 
 as yet I know not, I have not, I fear, received you 
 with that regard which is due to you. I humbly desire 
 you, in your great goodness, to forget any faults I may 
 have been guilty of in entertaining you, and not to 
 punish me with the refusal of these small presents which 
 I send you. The tree, the peacock, the page, the cup, 
 and the slave were yours, of course, because you seemed 
 to take a liking to them ; for when anything pleases my 
 guests it ceases to be mine, and becomes their own from 
 that moment.'** 
 
 When the Caliph had finished reading this letter, he 
 could not but admire the liberality of Abu'l Kasim, and, 
 being convinced that he had judged too rashly, ex- 
 claimed : " Thousands and millions of blessings fall upon 
 Jafar! Ah, Rashid ! vaunt thyself no more the most 
 generous amongst men ; one of thy own subjects out- 
 rivals all thy glory ! I must see this young man once 
 more, and endeavour to make him discover to me the 
 methods by which he has been able to acquire so 
 prodigious a fortune." 
 
 Impatient to satisfy his curiosity, he left his new 
 servants all at the inn, and returned without delay to 
 
 10 
 
74 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 Abu'l Kasim's house. Finding him at home, he said : 
 " Oh, too amiable Abu'l Kasim, the presents which 
 you have made me are so very considerable that I 
 fear in accepting of them to abuse your generosity. 
 Permit me, therefore, to send them back, and let me, 
 when I return to Bagdad, publish abroad the story of 
 your magnificence and generosity."**^ " Sir,''*' answered 
 the young man, with a dejected look, " you have reason 
 without doubt to be displeased with the unfortunate 
 Abu'l Kasim ; it must be that some one of his actions 
 has disgusted you, since you refuse his presents.*" 
 " No,'' replied Rashid. " Heaven be witness for me ! I 
 am charmed with your politeness. But your presents 
 are too costly ; they surpass even those of Kings ; and if 
 I may venture to say so, you ought not to be so lavish 
 of your riches, but to reflect that they may one time 
 fail through your generosity.**** 
 
 At these words of the Caliph, Abu'^1 Kasim smiled, 
 saying : " I am overjoyed, sir, that you do not refuse my 
 presents with any intention to punish me for any 
 misbehaviour of mine towards you, and to make you 
 the more inclined to receive them, I must tell you that 
 I can every day give away the like and far richer ones 
 without any inconvenience to myself.'' As he was 
 speaking he conducted Rashid into a hall a thousand 
 times richer in ornaments than those in which he had 
 been before. It was exquisitely perfumed, and at the 
 upper end of it there rose a stately throne of gold, hung 
 with rich tapestry. The young man asked him to 
 mount the throne, and, seating himself by his side, he 
 began the history of his life in these words : 
 
 " I am the son of a jeweller of Cairo ; my father's 
 name was Abdulaziz. The riches he possessed were so 
 considerable that he feared he might one day fall a 
 sacrifice to the envy of the Sultan of Egypt. For this 
 reason he left his native country and settled himself at 
 Basra, where he married an only daughter of the 
 wealthiest merchant of this city. 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 75 
 
 " I am the sole offspring of this marriage, and by 
 inheriting all the wealth of my father, together with 
 that of my mother, after their death I found myself 
 possessed of a considerable fortune. I was then very 
 young and much addicted to extravagance ; I was so 
 profuse in my way of living that in less than three years 
 I wasted my whole patrimony. Then, when it was too 
 late, I began to be sensible of my folly and to blame my 
 extravagance. 
 
 " After reflection I thought my deplorable condition 
 would be more supportable among strangers. I sold 
 my house, the only thing I could now call my own. 
 This done, I joined myself to a caravan of merchants, 
 with whom I went as far as Mosul ; from thence to 
 Damascus, and, traversing the desert of Arabia, I arrived 
 at last at Cairo. The beauty of the houses and the 
 magnificence of the mosques surprised me ; then, imme- 
 diately recollecting that I was now in the city where 
 my father was born, my heart began to swell with sighs, 
 and tears dropped from my eyes. ' O my father,** said I 
 to myself, ' if you were yet living and saw the deplorable 
 condition of your son in that very place where you 
 enjoyed a fortune to be envied, how great would be 
 your grief V 
 
 " Of all the money I had brought with me I had now 
 but one sequin of gold remaining. This I changed, and 
 bought fruits and sweetmeats and balm of roses. With 
 these I went every day to a shop where persons of 
 quality resorted to drink cooling liquors. There I pre- 
 sented my basket round to everyone. Each one took 
 what he liked, and gave me some small piece of silver, 
 so that this little trade supplied me with a convenient 
 subsistence. 
 
 " One day, as I presented my flowers up and down in 
 this liquor-shop, there was in one corner of the room an 
 old man who had hitherto escaped my notice. He, see- 
 ing that I did not address myself to him, called to me : 
 ' Friend, how comes it that you do not offer to me some 
 
 10—2 
 
76 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 of your wares as well as to others ? Do you not, then, 
 take me for a person of fashion ? or do you imagine that 
 I have no money in my purse ' Sir,** I replied, ' I beg 
 of you not to be offended with me. I do assure you 
 that I saw you not. What I have is at your service, 
 and I ask nothing."' 
 
 " Upon this I presented my basket to him. He took 
 out an apple, and bade me sit down by him. After a 
 long conversation together, when he rose to go away, he 
 took out of his purse ten sequins of gold, which he put 
 into my hand. I was surprised at this liberality. The 
 persons of the first rank to whom I used to offer my 
 basket never gave me near the value of one sequin, so 
 that I knew not what to think of this man. Next day 
 he was one of the first that I took notice of. I went 
 up to him, and he took a little balm, after which, 
 making me sit down by him, he urged me with so much 
 earnestness to give him some account of myself that it 
 was not possible to refuse him. 
 
 " I related to him every circumstance of my life, and 
 after I had confided in him, he spoke thus : ' I knew 
 your father. I am a merchant of Basra. I have no 
 children, neither hopes of any. I have conceived a 
 liking for you, and I adopt you as my son. Therefore, 
 my child, be comforted, and forget your past misfor- 
 tunes. You will find in me a father richer than Abdul- 
 aziz, and one who will love you with equal tenderness.** 
 
 " I returned my acknowledgments to this venerable 
 old man for the honour which he did me, and I followed 
 him when he went out. He bade me throw away my 
 basket and my flowers, and took me along with him to 
 a spacious house in which he lived. He assigned me an 
 apartment there, with slaves to attend me. He ordered 
 a variety of rich costumes to be brought me. I imagined 
 my father Abdulaziz to be living, and forgot that I had 
 ever been in misery. 
 
 " When this merchant had despatched all his business 
 and sold off the cargo of goods which he had brought 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 77 
 
 to Bagdad, we set out together for Basra. My friends, 
 who Httle thought ever to see me again, were surprised 
 to find me adopted by a man who was regarded as the 
 wealthiest merchant in the city. I made it my study to 
 please the old man. He would often say to me : ' Abu'l 
 Kasim, I think myself happy to have met you at Bagdad. 
 To me you appear worthy of all I have done for you.' 
 
 "After a while the old man fell desperately ill, 
 insomuch that it was not in the power of doctors to 
 restore him. Finding himself near death, he ordered 
 everyone but me to retire ; he then turned towards me 
 and said : 'It is now time, my son, to reveal an im- 
 portant secret to you. If I had nothing more to leave 
 you but this house, with the riches which you see in it, 
 I should think I left you but a moderate fortune ; but 
 all the wealth I have amassed through the whole course 
 of my life is nothing compared with a treasure which 
 lies hid here, and which I shall discover to you. I will 
 not pretend to tell you how many years ago, or by what 
 means it came hither, being myself ignorant of all this. 
 All I know of the matter is that my grandfather 
 informed my father of it a little before his death, and 
 he, in the same manner, entrusted me with the secret 
 when he found he was dying. But,** continued he, ' I 
 have one counsel to give you, and be careful not to 
 disregard it. I foresee that you will live in so splendid 
 a manner that you will stir up the envy of the King of 
 Basra and of his ministers. They will suspect that you 
 have a treasure concealed : they will spare no pains to 
 discover it, and they will take it from you. To prevent 
 this misfortune you need only follow my example. I 
 have always, as my grandfather and father did before 
 me, enjoyed this treasure without ostentation.' 
 
 " I promised the merchant that I would imitate his 
 moderation. He acquainted me with the place where 
 the treasure lay hid, assuring me that the amount of the 
 riches hid there would far surpass my imagination. 
 When he died, I took possession of all that was his, and 
 
78 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 I went to visit the treasure. I must confess to you, 
 sir, that I was amazed when I saw it; if it be not 
 inexhaustible, it is at least so very abundant that it 
 would be impossible for me to exhaust it. There is not 
 an inhabitant of Basra who has not tasted of my bounty. 
 And can I make a better use of it than by employing it 
 to relieve the necessitous ? 
 
 " In spite of my promise to the old man, I lived at 
 such an extraordinary rate that at last I drew envy 
 upon myself, as he foretold. It was reported up and down 
 the city that I had found a treasure. This alone was 
 sufficient to draw numbers of covetous persons to my 
 house. The Governor of Basra came to make me a visit. 
 ' I am,** said he, ' the Governor of the city, and I come 
 to demand of you where the treasure lies that supports 
 you in so great magnificence.'' I was confounded at 
 these words, and knew not what to reply. 
 
 ^' He judged very rightly from my confusion that the 
 rumour which had spread about me was not without 
 some ground. But instead of pressing to discover my 
 treasure, he said : ' Abu'l Kasim, I exercise my office 
 like a man of understanding. Make me a present fit for 
 me to receive, and I shall give you no further trouble.** 
 ' What will satisfy you ?^ said 1. ' I shall content 
 myself,' replied he, ' with ten sequins of gold paid me 
 daily.** I answered : " That is too little ; I will give you 
 an hundred. You need only call here every day, or at 
 the end of every month, and my treasurer shall count 
 them out to you.** 
 
 " The Governor was overjoyed at what I said. * I 
 wish with all my heart, sir,** replied he, ' that you had 
 found a thousand treasures. Enjoy your wealth in 
 quiet : I promise never to give you any trouble in the 
 possession of it.' I advanced a considerable sum to 
 him, and he went his way. 
 
 " Not long after this the Vizier Abu'lfatah sent for 
 me, and said : ' O young man, I am informed that you 
 have found a treasure. You know that the fifth part 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 79 
 
 belongs to God, and you must give it to the King. 
 Pay down, therefore, the fifth part, and you shall re- 
 main a quiet possessor of the other four.' I answered : 
 ' Sir, I will confess that I have found a treasure ; and at 
 the same time I swear to you, by the great God who 
 created you and me, that I will never reveal it, though 
 I were to be torn piecemeal. But I will engage to give 
 you every day a thousand sequins of gold, provided you 
 will give me no trouble." Abu'lfatah complied as readily 
 as the Governor. He sent a trusty servant, to whom 
 my treasurer paid thirty thousand sequins for the first 
 month. 
 
 " This Vizier, fearing, doubtless, lest the King of 
 Basra might come to know what had passed, told the 
 King himself. The King heard him attentively, and 
 sent for me. He received me with a pleasant counte- 
 nance, and said : ' O young man ! why will you not let me 
 see your treasure? Do you think me so unjust as to 
 take it from you ?' ' Sire," replied I, ' may Your Majesty 
 live while the sun and moon endureth ; but as for my 
 treasure, though my flesh were to be torn with red-hot 
 pincers, I would not discover it. I consent to pay Your 
 Majesty every day two thousand sequins of gold. If you 
 refuse to accept them, and you think it more for your 
 interest to put me to death, you have but to give your 
 orders. I am prepared to suffer all the torments imagin- 
 able rather than to satisfy your curiosity.** 
 
 When I had spoken, the King looked at the Vizier, 
 and asked his advice. * Sir,"* said the latter, ' the sum 
 he offers is so very considerable that it is a treasure of 
 itself. Let the young man go, provided that he is 
 punctual in performing his promise to Your Majesty.' 
 The King followed his counsel, and let me depart. From 
 that day forward, by virtue of the several agreements I 
 had made with the Lieutenant, the Vizier, and the King, 
 I continued to pay every year more than one million 
 and sixty thousand sequins of gold. And now, sir, I 
 have told you all you were desirous to know. You 
 
80 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 ought no longer to be surprised at the presents I have 
 made you, nor at anything which you have seen in my 
 house." 
 
 When Abu**! Kasim had finished relating his adven- 
 tures, the Caliph, inflamed with a strong desire to see 
 the treasure, said to him : " Is it possible that there 
 should be a treasure rich enough to support your gener- 
 ous way of life ? To me it seems incredible. And if it 
 be not too great a request to make, I desire, sir, a sight 
 of that which is in your possession, giving you my oath 
 that I will not abuse the confidence you place in me.^"* 
 The son of Abdulaziz seemed troubled at what the 
 Caliph said, and replied : " This curiosity, sir, of yours 
 afflicts me. I cannot comply with it but upon condi- 
 tions that will appear harsh." " Give yourself no 
 trouble on that score," said the Prince. "Let the condi- 
 tions be what they may, I willingly submit to them." 
 " You must, then," answered Abu'l Kasim, " be content 
 to have your eyes blindfolded, and to let me conduct 
 you unarmed, and with your head bare, while I hold a 
 scimitar in my hand." 
 
 " Let me entreat you, then," replied the Caliph, " to 
 gratify my curiosity this instant." " It is impossible," 
 said the other, " to do so at once. Stay with me this 
 night, and, when all my domestics are fast asleep, I will 
 come into your apartment in order to conduct you." 
 Having said this, he called for his servants, and, by the 
 light of a great number of tapers, which were borne by 
 slaves in golden candlesticks, he led the Prince into a 
 magnificent chamber, and retired himself to his own. 
 
 Haroun al Rashid never closed his eyes, so great was 
 the impatience with which he awaited Abu**! Kasim. 
 The latter came to him about midnight, and said : " Sir, 
 all my domestics are fast asleep ; there is a profound 
 silence all over the house. Now I can conduct you to 
 my treasure upon the conditions I have mentioned." 
 " Let us go, then," answered the Caliph, rising ; " I am 
 ready to follow you. And I swear by the Creator of 
 
HAROUN AL RASIIID 
 
 81 
 
 the heavens and of the earth that you shall never have 
 cause to repent satisfying my curiosity."*" 
 
 The son of Abdulaziz helped the Prince to put on his 
 clothes, then tied a bandage over his eyes, and led him 
 down a pair of back-stairs into a garden of vast extent. 
 After passing through several intricate v^alks, they both 
 went down into the place where the treasure lay con- 
 cealed. It was a profound and spacious vault under- 
 ground, the entrance to which was covered by one entire 
 stone. At first they went down a long, dark passage, 
 at the end of which was a great hall that shone with 
 the lustre of carbuncles. When they came into the 
 middle of this hall, the young man took the bandage 
 from the eyes of the Caliph, who was struck with aston- 
 ishment at what he saw. A basin of white marble, 
 which was fifty feet in circumference, and thirty feet 
 deep, stood in the middle. It was full of great pieces 
 of gold, and round about it rose twelve pillars of the 
 same metal, upon which stood twelve statues of precious 
 stone, exquisitely wrought. 
 
 Abu'l Kasim led the Caliph up to the basin, and said 
 to him : " This basin is thirty feet deep. Behold this 
 quantity of gold ! It has not yet sunk two inches. 
 Do you imagine I can waste all this in a short time 
 Rashid, when he had considered the basin attentively 
 for a while, answered : "These riches are indeed immense, 
 but you may consume them.'' " Well,'' replied the 
 young man, " when I have emptied this basin, I will 
 have recourse to what I am going to show you." 
 
 Saying this, he led him into another hall, where there 
 was likewise a basin of marble. It was not, indeed, so 
 wide or so deep as that which contained the pieces of 
 gold ; but it was full of rubies, topazes, emeralds, and 
 all sorts of precious stones. Never was any man so 
 surprised as the Caliph seemed to be at this. Scarcely 
 could he persuade himself that he was awake. While his 
 eyes were still fixed upon it, the young man pointed out 
 to him an embalmed figure upon a throne of gold, who, 
 
 11 
 
82 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 he told him, was the first possessor of the treasure. At 
 the feet of the figure was an ebony tablet, upon which 
 these words might be read : 
 
 " During the course of a long life I have amassed all 
 the riches that are laid up here ; I have taken towns 
 and strong castles ; I have conquered realms and beaten 
 down all my enemies ; I have been the most puissant 
 monarch of the earth ; but all my prowess at last 
 yielded to death. Whosoever shall see me in the 
 condition I now am in let him open his eyes ; let him 
 reflect that I once was living like himself, and that he 
 will one day die like me; let him not fear that this 
 treasure will fail ; it is inexhaustible. Let him make 
 use of it to acquire friends and to lead an agreeable 
 life ; for when the hour appointed for him is come, all 
 these riches will not save him from the common destiny 
 of men.^' 
 
 Rashid said to the young man, after he had read these 
 lines : " I do not blame your conduct. You are in the 
 right to live as you do. But I would gladly know the 
 name of this Prince. What King was it who possessed 
 such immense riches ? I am sorry that this inscription 
 does not inform me." 
 
 The young man brought the Caliph into another 
 hall in which there were a great many things of extra- 
 ordinary value, and, amongst others, several trees like 
 that which he had sent him for a present. The Prince 
 would have been well pleased to employ the rest of the 
 night in examining the various wonders shut up in 
 these apartments underground ; but Abu'l Kasim, 
 fearing to be discovered by some of his servants, obliged 
 Rashid to return from thence before day, after the 
 same manner in which he had brought him — that is, 
 with his head uncovered and a bandage over his eyes, 
 while he held a scimitar in his right hand ready to 
 strike off his head if he attempted to put aside his 
 bandage. 
 
 They crossed over the garden, and mounted by the 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 83 
 
 back-stairs into the room where the Caliph had lain. 
 They found the tapers still burning, and conversed 
 together till the sun had risen. After this the Caliph 
 went back to his inn, and began his journey home to 
 Bagdad with all the domestics, the page, the beautiful 
 slave, and the other presents which he had received 
 from Abu'l Kasim. 
 
 As soon as he entered his palace he set his Vizier 
 Jafar at liberty, and placed more confidence in him 
 than ever. After he had given him the particulars of 
 his journey, he said: "Jafar, what can I do? You 
 know that an Emperor should never suffer himself to be 
 surpassed in generosity. If I only content myself with 
 sending back to Abu'l Kasim the most rare and valuable 
 things out of my treasury they will appear but of small 
 value to him, and far short of the presents which he has 
 made me.'''* " Sir,'' Jafar replied, " if Your Majesty will 
 be advised by me, you will write this very day to the 
 King of Basra, and give him orders to place the govern- 
 ment of the State in the hands of Abu'l Kasim. We 
 will despatch the courier immediately, and in a few 
 days I will go myself to carry your credentials to the 
 new King." 
 
 The Caliph highly approved this counsel. " You are 
 right,'' he said to his minister. " This will be a means 
 of discharging my debt to Abu'l Kasim and of doing 
 justice upon the King of Basra and his Vizier, who have 
 concealed from me the great sums they have drawn 
 from this young man. It will be but just to punish 
 them for the violence done to him." Accordingly, he 
 wrote immediately to the King of Basra, and despatched 
 his courier. In the next place he went to the apart- 
 ment of Zobeide to acquaint her with the success of his 
 journey, and to make her a present of the little page, 
 with the tree and the peacock. The rest of the things 
 he gave to his Vizier Jafar, who, as he had determined, 
 ordered all things to be ready for his journey in a few 
 days. 
 
 11—2 
 
84 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 As soon as the courier of the Caliph arrived at Basra, 
 he went immediately and delivered his despatches to the 
 King, who was much troubled upon reading them, and 
 showed them to his Vizier, saying : " Abu'lfatah ! see 
 what fatal orders I have received from the Commander 
 of the Faithful. May I dispense with obedience to 
 them " You may, sir," answered the minister. " Abu'l 
 Kasim must be ruined. Without taking away his life, I 
 will make everyone believe him dead. It shall be my 
 care to keep him so well concealed that he will never be 
 discovered. By this means you will continue still to 
 reign, and you will get all the riches of this young man 
 into your possession ; for when we have his person in 
 our power we will inflict so many sufferings upon him 
 as shall oblige him to discover his treasure to us." " Do 
 as you think fit," replied the King ; " but what answer 
 shall we return to the Caliph ?" " As for that," said 
 the Vizier, " rely upon me. The Commander of the 
 Faithful shall be kept in ignorance as well as the rest 
 of the world. Leave it only to me to put in execution 
 the design which I am forming, and give yourself no 
 further trouble." 
 
 After this Abu'lfatah, accompanied by some courtiers 
 who knew nothing of his design, went to make a visit to 
 Abul Kasim. He received them according to their 
 rank, and treated them with magnificence. He made 
 the Vizier sit in the place of honour, and paid him all 
 imaginable civilities without having the least suspicion 
 of his treachery. While they were all at the table in 
 the height of their mirth, the traitor, Abu'lfatah, watched 
 his opportunity to slip into AbuU Kasim's cup a powder 
 which had the power in an instant to lock up all the 
 senses and to bring so great a lethargy upon the whole 
 body as to make it seem like a corpse long deprived of 
 life. The young man had no sooner tasted of the cup 
 than he fainted away. His servants rushed to his help ; 
 but seeing in a few minutes all the signs of death upon 
 him, they laid him upon a sofa and filled the house with 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 85 
 
 lamentations. All the guests, struck with sudden terror, 
 became like statues at the sight. Abu'lfatah not only 
 feigned immoderate grief, but likewise rent his garments. 
 After this he gave orders to have a coffin made of ivory 
 and ebony, and while it was getting ready he seized 
 upon all the effects of Abu'l Kasim and sequestered 
 them to the use of the King. 
 
 In the meantime the news of Abul Kasim's death 
 spread through the city. All persons of both sexes put 
 on deep mourning and came before the gates of his 
 house with their heads uncovered and their feet bare. 
 The old men and the young, the wives and the virgins, 
 all wept alike ; nothing but cries and lamentations were 
 heard in the street. It seemed as if one had lost in him 
 an only son, another a brother, others a husband ; the 
 rich and the poor were equally concerned in his death. 
 During this time Abu'l Kasim had been put into his 
 coffin ; and the people, by order from Abu'lfatah, carried 
 him without the city into a large field of burial, where 
 there were several tombs and monuments, particularly 
 one very magnificent in which the Vizier's father lay with 
 other members of his family. The coffin was placed in 
 this mausoleum, and Abu'^lfatah, bowing his head down 
 to his knees, smote upon his breast and showed all the 
 actions of a man distracted with grief and despair. 
 
 When night came on, the people returned to the city ; 
 but the Vizier with two of his slaves remained in the 
 mausoleum, and double-locked the door. They made a 
 fire and heated some water over it in a silver basin ; 
 then taking Abu'l Kasim out of the coffin, they chafed him 
 with cloths dipped in the water. By degrees the young 
 man recovered his senses. He cast his eyes upon Abu'l- 
 fatah and said : " Ah, sir ! where are we ? Into what 
 condition do I see myself reduced 
 
 " Wretch that thou art,'' replied the minister, " know 
 that I have done this. I will not cease to torment you ; 
 I will invent every day new punishments, till I render 
 life unsupportable to you, unless you deliver up to me 
 
86 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 the hidden riches that enable you to live in greater 
 splendour than Kings.**' " I am in your power to do 
 with me as you please,*" answered Abu'l Kasim ; " but I 
 will not discover my treasure.'** Scarcely had he finished 
 speaking than Abu"*lfatah commanded his slaves to hold 
 him fast while he drew from under his robe a scourge 
 made of the thongs of a lion'^s hide, with which he 
 lashed him so long, and with so much violence, that the 
 young man fainted away. When the Vizier saw him in 
 this condition, he ordered his slaves to put him back 
 again into the coffin ; then, leaving him in the mauso- 
 leum, which he took care to lock up, he went home. 
 
 On the morrow he went to give an account to the 
 King of what he had done : ^' Yesterday, sir,"" said he, 
 " I put the courage of Abu**l Kasim to proof. As yet it 
 remains firm and unshaken, but I believe it will not 
 long be able to hold out against the torments I prepare 
 for him."*"* The King replied : " I am satisfied with you. 
 I hope we shall soon be able to learn the place where 
 the treasure lies. In the meantime the Caliph*'s courier 
 must be sent back without further delay. In what 
 manner shall we write to the Caliph?**** "Write him 
 word/** replied Abu'lfatah, " that Abu**l Kasim, when he 
 was apprised of the honour and dignity conferred upon 
 him, was so transported with joy, and gave such a 
 sumptuous entertainment, that he died suddenly from 
 excess of wine.*" 
 
 The King approved the idea, and accordingly they 
 wrote word to this effect to Haroun al Rashid and sent 
 back the courier. The Vizier, who thought that Abu'l 
 Kasim would now discover the secret to him, went out 
 of the city with a resolution to torment him afresh. 
 When he arrived at the mausoleum, he was surprised to 
 find the door of it open. He entered with a troubled 
 heart, and, not finding Abu'l Kasim in the coffin, was 
 struck with dismay. 
 
 He returned in haste to the palace and told the King 
 what had happened. The King was seized with deadly 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 87 
 
 fear, and said to him : " O Abu'lfatah ! what will become 
 of us ? Now this young man has made his escape, we 
 are utterly ruined. He will go directly to Bagdad and 
 make his complaint to the Caliph.'"' 
 
 Abu'lfatah was in the greatest disquiet imaginable at 
 seeing the victim of his avarice and cruelty no longer in his 
 power, and said to the King : Would to Heaven that I 
 had taken away his life yesterday, then should we have 
 been at ease. But nevertheless we must not give our- 
 selves up to despair. If he has betaken himself to flight, 
 as it is reasonable to believe, he cannot be far from 
 hence. Let us lose no time in calling out the guards, 
 and make a search through the city, and I hope we shall 
 find him out.*" The King without hesitation consented 
 to the proposal. He assembled all his soldiers and 
 divided them into two bodies. He gave the one to the 
 Vizier and put himself at the head of the other ; with 
 these troops they searched the town and the country 
 round. 
 
 While they were busy in the search for Abu'l Kasim 
 in all the villages, in the woods, and in the mountains, 
 the Vizier Jafar, who was now upon the road, met the 
 courier returning, who said to him : " Sir, it is to no 
 purpose that you should go to Basra if you wish to see 
 Abu'l Kasim ; for that young man is dead. His funeral 
 was solemnized two days ago ; I saw it with mine own 
 eyes.'*'' Jafar, who had promised himself the pleasure of 
 seeing the new King and the satisfaction of presenting 
 him with his credentials, was extremely afflicted at his 
 death. His eyes overflowed with tears, and, thinking it 
 needless to continue his journey, he set his face towards 
 Bagdad. Upon his arrival, he went with the courier 
 directly to the palace. The sorrow that was expressed 
 in their countenances soon gave the Caliph to understand 
 that they had some disastrous news to tell him. " Ah, 
 Jafar V he cried, " your return is very speedy ! What 
 news do you bring Commander of the Faithful," 
 
 said the Vizier, "you little expect the sad tidings I 
 
88 
 
 TALES OP THE CALIPHS 
 
 have to relate : Abu'l Kasim is no more. The young 
 man died after Your Majesty's departure from Basra.*" 
 When Rashid heard these words he cast himself down 
 from his throne and remained for some time extended 
 upon the earth without any signs of life. His courtiers 
 ran to his relief, and when they had recovered him from 
 his swoon, he cast his eyes about for the courier that 
 had returned from Basra, and when he saw him, he 
 demanded his despatches. The courier presented them 
 to him. The Caliph read them with great attention ; 
 then he shut himself up in his private room with Jafar, 
 to whom he showed the letter from the King of Basra, 
 and after having perused it several times, said : " This 
 does not seem very probable; I suspect the King of 
 Basra and his Vizier. Instead of executing my orders, I 
 fear they have put Abu'l Kasim to death."' " Sir,'" said 
 Jafar, " I have the same suspicion, and I should think 
 it advisable to put the King and his Vizier under arrest."' 
 " I have already determined it shall be so," replied 
 Haroun. " Take ten thousand of my horse-guards and 
 march directly to Basra ; seize the King and the Vizier, 
 and bring them to me." Jafar obeyed : he chose out 
 ten thousand horsemen and put himself at the head of 
 them. 
 
 Let us now return to Abu"l Kasim. The young man, 
 after he had remained a long time insensible in con- 
 sequence of the cruel chastisement he had received, began 
 to come to himself. Suddenly he felt a strong hand lay 
 hold of him to draw him out of the coffin. He imagined 
 it to be Abu'lfatah and his slaves returned to torment 
 him. " Villains," said he, " put me to death, if your 
 hearts are capable of compassion. Spare your vain 
 tortures, since I declare again to you all you can inflict 
 upon me will never wrest the secret from me." "Fear 
 not, young man," answered one of the persons who had 
 taken him out of the coffin. W^e come not to torment 
 but to deliver you." 
 
 At these words Abu'l Kasim opened his eyes and cast 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 89 
 
 them upon his deliverer, who said to him : " I am Ali, the 
 son of the Vizier Abu'lfatah. I was not deceived by 
 the false rumour of your death. I suspected my father 
 of all that he has done, and I questioned one of his 
 slaves, who let me into the whole secret. This slave is 
 one of the two that were here with my father ; and as 
 he had the key of the mausoleum given into his keeping, 
 he entrusted it to me. I made what haste I could to 
 your rescue ; and thanks be to Heaven, we are not come 
 too late.'" " By Allah," said Abu'l Kasim, " is it possible 
 that so base a father should have a son of so noble a 
 mind P"' " Come, sir,'' said Ali, " we have no time to 
 lose ; there is no doubt but that the Vizier to-morrow, 
 when he finds you not in the mausoleum, will cause you 
 to be searched after with the utmost diligence. There- 
 fore, I shall conduct you to my house, where you will be 
 safe. He will never suspect me of having given you 
 refuge.'' 
 
 He caused Abu'l Kasim to put on the disguise of a 
 slave, after which they all went out of the mausoleum, 
 leaving the door open, and took their way into the city. 
 Ali conducted Abu'l Kasim to his own house, where he 
 kept him so well concealed that his enemies never guessed 
 where he was. Finally, the King of Basra and the 
 Vizier Abu'lfatah, despairing ever to find him, gave 
 up the search. 
 
 Then Ali furnished Abu'l Kasim with gold and 
 jewels, and mounting him upon an excellent horse, said 
 to him : " You may make your escape ; the way is open 
 to you. Your enemies know not what is become of 
 you, so that you may go wherever you please." Abu'l 
 Kasim thanked the gallant Prince for all his kindnesses, 
 and assured him that he would hold them in remem- 
 brance for ever, Ali embraced him, saw him depart, 
 and prayed Heaven to be his guide. 
 
 Abu'l Kasim took the road to Bagdad, and arrived 
 happily there in a few days. The first thing he did was 
 to go to the place where the merchants assembled, to 
 
 12 
 
90 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 find out, if possible, among them the person whom he 
 had entertained at Basra, and to relate to him the hard- 
 ships he had undergone. To his great distress, his search 
 was unsuccessful. He ran through the town, and 
 examined the faces of all he met in hopes of recognizing 
 him. Tired at last with wandering to and fro, he rested 
 himself before the palace of the Caliph. The little page 
 whom he had given to Rashid happened to be at the 
 window, and casting his eyes by chance upon Abu'l 
 Kasim, recognized him. Upon this, he ran suddenly to 
 the Caliph's apartment. "Your Majesty said he, "I 
 have just now seen my old master of Basra.''"^ Rashid 
 gave no credence to him. " Thou art mistaken,"' he 
 replied ; " Abu'l Kasim is not alive. Thou hast mis- 
 taken some other person for him.'*'' "No, no, Com- 
 mander of the Faithful,'' rejoined the page, " I am 
 very certain it is he ; I know him well." 
 
 Although the Caliph did not believe him, yet he was 
 curious to examine further into the matter. He sent 
 immediately one of the officers with the page to see if 
 it was really Abu'l Kasim. They found him still in 
 the same place, because, thinking on his part that he 
 knew the little page, he waited for him to come again 
 to the window. When the page was convinced that he 
 could not be mistaken, he threw himself at the feet of 
 Abul Kasim, who raised him from the ground, and 
 asked him if he belonged to the Caliph. " Yes, sir,*''* he 
 replied ; " it was the Commander of the Faithful him- 
 self whom you entertained at Basra, and to whom you 
 presented me as a gift. Come along with me, for the 
 Caliph will be glad to see you.'" 
 
 Abu''l Kasim followed the page and the officer into 
 the palace, where he was immediately brought into the 
 presence of Rashid, who was seated on a sofa. At the 
 sight of Abu'^l Kasim he was much moved. He rose, 
 and embraced him, without being able to speak for some 
 time, so great was his joy. When he had recovered 
 himself, he said to Abu''l Kasim : " O young man, lift 
 
HAROUN AI. RASHID 
 
 91 
 
 up thine eyes, and behold thy happy guest ! It is I 
 whom thou didst entertain so handsomely ; it is I to 
 whom thou gavest presents Kings cannot equal.'" 
 
 At these words Abu'l Kasim, who was no less aston- 
 ished than the Caliph, and who as yet, out of respect, 
 had not dared to lift up his eyes, looked upon Rashid, 
 and recognizing him, cried : " O my sovereign lord and 
 master, () monarch of the world, is it you that came 
 under the roof of your slave So saying, he cast him- 
 self with his face to the earth at the feet of the Caliph, 
 who raised him up and made him sit by him on the 
 sofa. 
 
 " Is it possible,"' said the Caliph, ^' that you are still 
 alive Then Abu'l Kasim related to him the cruelty 
 of Abu'lfatah, and by what means he had escaped his 
 fury. Rashid gave an attentive ear to his story, and 
 when he had finished, said to him : " I have been the 
 cause of your latter misfortunes. When I returned to 
 Bagdad I was impatient to acquit myself in some mea- 
 sure of my obligations to you. To this end I sent a 
 courier to the King of Basra, and I wrote to him that 
 my intention was he should resign his crown to you. 
 He, instead of executing my orders, resolved to take 
 away your life. The hope he had of obliging you by the 
 means of torture to make you discover to him your 
 treasure was his only reason for deferring your death. 
 But you shall be revenged. Jafar has set out with a 
 great number of troops to Basra. He has my orders to 
 seize upon both your persecutors, and to bring them to 
 me. In the meantime you shall remain in my palace, 
 and be served there by my officers like myself."' 
 
 Having spoken these words, he took the young man 
 by the hand, and led him down into a garden abound- 
 ing with the most beautiful flowers. Here were several 
 basins of marble, of porphyry, and of jasper, containing 
 numbers of fish. In the middle of the garden were 
 twelve pillars of black marble of great height, support- 
 ing a dome whose inside was vaulted with sandal and 
 
 12—2 
 
92 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 aloe wood. The interstices of the columns were filled 
 up with double lattices of gold, which fornied an aviary 
 all round, inhabited by choice singing-birds of every 
 kind, who, warbling, filled the air with an exquisite 
 variety of harmony. 
 
 Under this dome were the baths of Haroun al Rashid. 
 Here the Caliph and his guest bathed themselves, after 
 which orders were given to clothe Abu'l Kasim in a rich 
 dress, and the Caliph then conducted him into a hall, 
 where he made him eat with him. There were served up 
 to the table broths made of the juices of the most 
 delicate flesh. After this the table was covered with 
 pomegranates of Amlass and of Ziri, with peaches of 
 Exhlat, with grapes of Melah and of Servise, and with the 
 pears of Ispahan. After this Abu'l Kasim was conducted 
 to a richly furnished apartment which had been pre- 
 pared for him in the palace. 
 
 On the next day Jafar returned with his troops, lead- 
 ing Abu'lfatah in bonds. As soon as he had rendered 
 an account of his commission to the Caliph, a scaffold 
 was built before the palace, and Abu'lfatah was com- 
 pelled to mount it. All the people who had heard of 
 his cruelty were so far from feeling any pity for him 
 that they cried out with impatience for his execution. 
 The executioner was standing with his scimitar in his 
 hand ready to strike off* the head of the criminal, when 
 Abu'l Kasim, falling prostrate before the Caliph, said to 
 him : " Commander of the Faithful, grant the life of 
 Abu'lfatah to my entreaties. Let him live, let him 
 be a witness of my happiness, let him see the favours 
 you heap upon me. And will he not be sufficiently 
 punished P"*"* 
 
 " O too generous Abu 1 Kasim,**"* cried the Caliph, 
 " how well you deserve to reign ! How happy will the 
 people of Basra be to have you for their King!'" "Sir,'' 
 said Abu'l Kasim, " I have yet one favour to ask of you: 
 give to Ali the throne you design for me. As to me, 
 while I enjoy the favour of the Commander of the 
 
HAROUN AL RASHID 
 
 93 
 
 Faithful, I stand in no need of a crown, and I am more 
 to be envied than Kings." 
 
 Yielding to this request, the Caliph, to recompense 
 Ali for the service he had done to Abu'l Kasim, sent 
 him his credentials and constituted him King of Basra. 
 Rut, judging Abu'lfatah too criminal to be set at 
 hberty, he ordered him to be shut up in a dark tower 
 for the rest of his life. When the people of Bagdad 
 came to know that it was the injured person who begged 
 the life of his persecutor, they extolled Abu'l Kasim to 
 the skies. The Caliph's consort Zobeide gave him to 
 wife one of her most beautiful slaves, and he after a 
 few days returned to Basra, attended by troops of the 
 Caliph's guards and followed by a very great number of 
 officers. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 AL MAMOUN 
 
 When Haroun al Rashid died he left the empire to his 
 sons Emin and Mamoun, giving the former Irak and 
 Syria, and the latter Khorassan and Persia. Emin had 
 the title of Caliph, to which Mamonn was to succeed. 
 War broke out between the brothers ; Emin fled from 
 Bagdad, but was captured and slain, and his head sent 
 to Mamoun in Khorassan, who wept at the sight of it. 
 He had, however, previously, when his general Tahir 
 sent to him requesting to know what to do with Emin 
 in case he caught him, sent to the general a shirt with 
 no opening in it for the head. By this Tahir knew 
 that he wished Emin to be put to death, and acted 
 accordingly. 
 
 The Caliph, however, bore a grudge against Tahir 
 for the death of his brother, as was shown by the follow- 
 ing circumstance : Tahir went one day to ask some 
 favour from Al Mamoun ; the latter granted it, and 
 then wept till his eyes were bathed in tears. " Com- 
 mander of the Faithful," said Tahir, "why do you 
 weep ? May God never cause you to shed a tear ! The 
 universe obeys you, and you have obtained your utmost 
 wishes.'^' " I weep not," replied the Caliph, " from any 
 humiliation which may have befallen me, neither do I 
 weep from grief, but my mind is never free from cares.'' 
 
 These words gave great uneasiness to Tahir, and, on 
 retiring, he said to Husain, the eunuch who waited at 
 the door of the Caliph's private apartment : " I wish you 
 
 94 
 
AL MAMOUN 
 
 96 
 
 to ask the Commander of the Faithful why he wept on 
 seeing me." On reaching home Tahir sent Husain one 
 hundred thousand dirhems. Some time afterwards, 
 when AI Mamoun was alone and in a good humour, 
 Husain said to him : " Why did you weep when Tahir 
 came to see you " What is that to you replied the 
 Prince. " It made me sad to see you weep,"*" answered 
 the eunuch. " I shall tell you the reason,*" the Caliph 
 said ; " but if you ever allow it to pass your lips, I shall 
 have your head taken off." " O my master,*""* the 
 eunuch replied, " did I ever disclose any of your secrets ?*" 
 ^' I was thinking of my brother Emin,**^ said the Caliph, 
 " and of the misfortune which befell him, so that I was 
 nearly choked with weeping ; but Tahir shall not escape 
 me ! I shall make him feel what he will not like.**^ 
 
 Husain related this to Tahir, who immediately rode 
 off to the Vizier Abi Khalid, and said to him: ''I am 
 not parsimonious in my gratitude, and a service rendered 
 to me is never lost ; contrive to have me removed away 
 from Al Mamoun.'' "I shall,'' replied Abi Khalid. 
 
 Come to me to-morrow morning." He then rode off 
 to Al Mamoun, and said : " I was not able to sleep last 
 night." " Why so ?" asked the Caliph. " Because you 
 have entrusted Ghassan with the government of 
 Khorassan, and his friends are very few, and I fear that 
 ruin awaits him." And whom do you think a proper 
 person for it ?" said Al Mamoun. " Tahir," replied Abi 
 Khalid. " He is ambitious," observed the Caliph." 
 " I will answer for his conduct," said the other. 
 
 Al Mamoun then sent for Tahir, and named him 
 Governor of Khorassan on the spot; he made him also 
 a present of an eunuch, to whom he had just given 
 orders to poison his new master if he remarked anything 
 suspicious in his conduct. When Tahir was solidly 
 established in his government he ceased mentioning Al 
 Mamoun's name in the public prayers as the reigning 
 Caliph. A despatch was immediately sent off by ex- 
 press to inform Al Mamoun of the circumstance, and 
 
96 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 the next morning Tahir was found dead in his bed. It 
 is said that the eunuch administered the poison to him 
 in some sauce. 
 
 Mamoun and Al Farra the Grammaeian. 
 
 Al Mamoun placed his two sons under the tuition of 
 Al Farra, so that they might be instructed in grammar. 
 One day Al Farra rose to leave the house, and the two 
 young Princes hastened to bring his shoes. They 
 struggled between themselves for the honour of offering 
 them to him, and they finally agreed that each of them 
 should present him with one slipper. As Al Mamoun 
 had secret agents who informed him of everything that 
 passed, he learned what had taken place, and caused Al 
 Farra to be brought before him. 
 
 When he entered, the Caliph said to him : " Who is 
 the most honoured of men P^' Al Farra answered : " I 
 know not anyone more honoured than the Commander 
 of the Faithful." " Nay," replied Al Mamoun, " it is 
 he who arose to go out, and the two designated succes- 
 sors of the Commander of the Faithful contended for 
 the honour of presenting him his slippers, and at length 
 agreed that each of them should offer him one." Al 
 Farra answered : " Commander of the Faithful, I should 
 have prevented them from doing so had I not been 
 apprehensive of discouraging their minds in the pursuit 
 of that excellence to which they ardently aspire. We 
 know by tradition that Ibn Abbas held the stirrups of 
 Hasan and Husain, when they were getting on horse- 
 back after paying him a visit. One of those who were 
 present said to him : ' How is it that you hold the 
 stirrups of these striplings, you who are their elder?*" 
 To which he replied : ' Ignorant man ! No one can 
 appreciate the merit of people of merit except a man of 
 merit.'" 
 
 Al Mamoun then said to him : " Had you prevented 
 them, I should have declared you in fault. That which 
 
AL MAMOUN 
 
 97 
 
 they have done is no debasement of their dignity; on 
 the contrary, it exalts their merit. No man, though 
 gi'eat in rank, can be dispensed from three obligations : 
 he must respect his Sovereign, venerate his father, and 
 honour his preceptor. As a reward for their conduct, 
 I bestow upon them twenty thousand dinars (c£^10,000), 
 and on you for the good education you give them, ten 
 thousand dirhems'*'' (c£^500). 
 
 Al Mamoun and his Uncle Ibrahim, the 
 Son of Mahdi. 
 
 When Al Mamoun was still in Khorassan, a revolt 
 was raised against him in Bagdad by his uncle, Ibrahim, 
 the son of Mahdi. This Prince had great talent as a 
 singer, and was a skilful performer on musical instru- 
 ments. Being of a dark complexion, which he inherited 
 from his mother, Shikla, who was a negress, and of a 
 large frame of body, he received the name of At-Tinnin 
 (the Dragon). He was proclaimed Caliph at Bagdad 
 during the absence of Al Mamoun. The cause which 
 led the people to renounce Al Mamoun and choose 
 Ibrahim was that the former had chosen as his successor 
 one of the descendants of Ali, and in doing so had 
 ordered the public to cease wearing black, which was 
 the distinctive colour of the Abbassides, the reigning 
 family, and to put on green, the colour of the family of 
 Ali and their partisans. 
 
 On Mamoun's entry into Bagdad, Ibrahim fled dis- 
 guised as a woman. He was, however, detected and 
 arrested by one of the negro police. When he was 
 before Al Mamoun, who addressed him in ironic terms, 
 he replied : " Prince of the Believers, my crime gives you 
 the right of retaliation, but ' forgiveness is near neigh- 
 bour to piety.'* God has placed you above all those 
 who are generous, as He has placed me above all criminals 
 in the magnitude of my crime. If you punish me you 
 
 ^ Koran II. 238. 
 
 13 
 
98 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 will be just; if you pardon me you will be great.'*'* 
 "Then I pardon you/' said Mamoun, and prostrated 
 himself in prayer. 
 
 He commanded, however, that Ibrahim should con- 
 tinue to wear the " burqa,*" or long female veil in which 
 he had fled, so that people might see in what disguise 
 he had been arrested ; he ordered also that he should be 
 exposed to view in the palace courtyard ; then he com- 
 mitted him to police supervision, and finally, after some 
 days of detention, set him free. 
 
 The following anecdote was related by Ibrahim re- 
 garding the time when he was in hiding with a price 
 set on his head : " 1 went out one day at the hour of 
 noon without knowing whither I was going. I found 
 myself in a narrow street, which ended in a cul-de-sac, 
 and noticed a negro standing in front of the door of a 
 house. I went straight to him, and asked if he could 
 afford me shelter for a short time. He consented, and 
 bade me enter. The hall was adorned with mats and 
 leather cushions. Then he left me alone, closed the 
 door, and departed. A suspicion flashed across my 
 mind : this man knew that a price was set on my head, 
 and had gone to denounce me. 
 
 " While I was revolving these gloomy thoughts, he 
 returned with a servant bearing a tray loaded with 
 victuals. ' May my life be a sacrifice for you,"* he said. 
 ' I am a barber, and therefore I have not touched any 
 of these things with my hand ; do me the honour to 
 partake of them.' Hunger pressed me ; I rose and 
 obeyed. ' What about some wine ?' he asked. ^ I do 
 not detest it,' I replied. He brought some, and then 
 said again : ' Mav my life be your ransom ! Will you 
 allow me to sit near you and drink to your health ?' I 
 consented. After having emptied three cups, he opened 
 a cupboard and took out a lute. ' Sir,' he said, ' it does 
 not behove a man of my low degree to beg you to sing, 
 but your kindness prompts me to do so ; if you deign 
 to consent it will be a great honour for your slave.' 
 
AL MAMOUN 
 
 99 
 
 " ' How do you know that I am a good singer ?' I 
 asked him. 'By Allah !' he answered, with an air of 
 astonishment, ' your reputation is too great for me not 
 to know it : you are Ibrahim, the son of Mahdi, and a 
 reward of a hundred thousand dirhems is promised by 
 Al Mamoun to the man who will find you." At thes^* 
 words I took the lute, and was about to commence, when 
 he added : ' Sir, would you be so kind as first to sing 
 the piece which I shall choose ?** When I consented he 
 chose three airs in which I had no rival. Then I said 
 to him : ' You know me, I admit ; but where did you 
 learn to know these three airs T ' I have been,' he 
 answered, 'in the service of Ishak, son of Ibrahim 
 Mausili,* and I have often heard him speak of the 
 great singers and the airs in which they excelled ; but 
 who could have guessed that I would hear you myself 
 and in my own house ?** 
 
 " I sang to him accordingly, and remained some time 
 in his company, charmed with his agreeable manners. 
 At nightfall I took leave of him. I had brought with 
 me a purse full of gold pieces ; I offered it to him, 
 promising him a greater reward some day, ' This is 
 strange,' he said ; ' it is rather I who should offer you 
 all I possess, and implore you to do me the honour to 
 accept it. Only respect has restrained me from doing 
 so.** He refused, accordingly, to receive anything from 
 me ; but he went out with me and put me on the road 
 to the place whither I wished to go. Then he went off, 
 and I have never seen him since.'' 
 
 Al Mamoun, the Parasite, and Ibrahim, 
 THE Son of Mahdi. 
 
 One day ten inhabitants of Basra were denounced to 
 Al Mamoun as heretics who held the doctrine of Manes 
 (Manichaeans) and the two principles of light and 
 
 * A famous musician of the period. 
 
 13—2 
 
100 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 darkness. He ordered them to be brought into his 
 presence. A parasite, who saw them being taken, said 
 to himself : " Here are folk who are going off for a 
 jollification.'" He slipped in among them, and accom- 
 panied them without perceiving who they were till they 
 reached the boat in which their guards made them 
 embark. " Doubtless this is a pleasure party he 
 exclaimed, and went on board with them. Soon, how- 
 ever, the guards brought chains and fettered the whole 
 band, including the parasite, who said to himself : " My 
 greediness has ended by making me a prisoner.''' Then 
 he addressed the seniors of the band : " Pardon me,"' he 
 said ; " may I ask who you are P"' " Tell us, rather, who 
 you are," they answered, " and whether we may reckon 
 you among our brothers.'' God knows I scarcely 
 know you," he replied. " As for me, to tell the truth, 
 I am a professional parasite. When I left my home 
 this morning I happened to fall in with you. Struck 
 with your agreeable appearance and good manners, I 
 said to myself : ' Here are some well-to-do people going 
 to enjoy themselves.' Consequently I joined your com- 
 pany, and took my place beside you as though I were 
 one of you. When we reached the boat, which was 
 provided with carpets and cushions, and I saw all these 
 bags and well-filled baskets, I thought : ' They are going 
 for an outing in some park or pleasure-ground ; this is 
 a lucky day for me.' 
 
 " I was still congratulating myself when the guards 
 came and fettered you, and me with you. I now feel 
 quite bewildered; tell me, therefore, what it is all 
 about." These words amused the prisoners, and made 
 them smile. They replied : " Now that you are on the 
 list of the suspected, and are chained, know that we are 
 Manichaeans who have been denounced to Mamoun, and 
 are being taken to him. He will ask us who we are, 
 will question us concerning our belief, and will exhort 
 us to repent and to abjure our religion, proposing 
 various tests to us ; he will, for example, show us an 
 
AL MAMOUN 
 
 101 
 
 image of Manes, commanding us to spit upon it and 
 to renounce him ; he will command us to sacrifice a 
 pheasant. Whoever will do so will save his life ; who- 
 ever refuses will be put to death. When you are called 
 and put to the test you will say who you are and what 
 your belief is, according as you feel prompted. But did 
 you not say you were a parasite ? Now, such people 
 have an ample store of anecdotes and stories ; shorten 
 our journey, then, by recounting some.*''' 
 
 As soon as they arrived at Bagdad the prisoners were 
 conducted into the presence of Mamoun. He called 
 each in turn as his name was on the list ; he asked each 
 concerning his sect, and urged them to renounce Manes, 
 showing them his image, and commanding them to spit 
 on it. As they refused, he had them handed over one 
 by one to the executioner. 
 
 At last the parasite's turn came. But as the ten 
 prisoners had been done with and the list was exhausted, 
 Mamoun asked the guards who he was. " Truly, we 
 know nothing about him,"*' they answered. " We found 
 him among them and brought him hither."" " Who 
 are you the Caliph asked him. Prince of the 
 Believers," he said, ''may my wife be divorced if I 
 understand what they are talking about ! I am only a 
 poor parasite.*" And he told him his whole story from 
 beginning to end. 
 
 The Caliph was much amused, and ordered the image 
 of Manes to be presented to him ; the parasite cursed 
 and renounced the heretic heartily. Al Mamoun, how- 
 ever, was about to punish him for his temerity and 
 impudence, when Ibrahim, the son of Mahdi, who was 
 present, said : " Sire, let this man off, and I will relate 
 to you a kind of Bohemian adventure, of which I was 
 the hero.**** The Caliph assented, and Ibrahim con- 
 tinued : 
 
 " Prince of the Believers, I had gone out one day, and 
 was roving at random through the streets of Bagdad, 
 when I came to the porch of a lofty mansion, whence 
 
102 
 
 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 issued a delicious odour of spices and dressed meats, by 
 which I was strongly attracted. I addressed a passer- 
 by, and asked to whom the house belonged. * To a 
 linen-merchant,** he answered. ' What is his name ?' I 
 asked. ' Such an one, son of such an one," was his 
 reply. I lifted my eyes to the house. Through the 
 lattice-work which covered one of the windows I saw 
 appear such a beautiful hand and wrist as I had never 
 seen before. The charm of this apparition made me 
 forget the enticing odours, and I stood there troubled 
 and perplexed. Finally, I asked the man who had 
 remained standing near if the master of the house ever 
 gave entertainments. ' Yes, I think he is giving one 
 to-day,** he answered ; ' but his guests are merchants, 
 staid and sober people like himself. ** 
 
 " We were thus engaged in talk when two persons of 
 well-to-do appearance came down the street towards us. 
 'There are his two guests,** the man said to me. ' What 
 are their names and their fathers^ names ?** I asked. He 
 informed me, and I accosted them immediately, saying : 
 ' May my life be your sacrifice ; your host is waiting 
 impatiently for you."* I escorted them to the door as 
 if I belonged to the house ; they went in, and I followed. 
 The master of the house perceived me, and, supposing 
 that I had been brought by his friends, received me 
 graciously, and placed me in the seat of honour. Then 
 the meal was brought ; it was well served, and we did 
 honour to the dishes, whose savour excelled their odour. 
 When the food had been removed and we had washed 
 our hands, our host led us into another hall richly 
 adorned. He redoubled his politeness towards me, and 
 specially addressed his conversation to me. The two 
 guests believed me to be an intimate friend of his, while 
 the host treated me in this fashion because he believed 
 I had been brought by his two friends. 
 
 " We had already emptied several cups when a young 
 female slave came forward^ as graceful as a willow- 
 branch, and saluted us without timidity. She was 
 
AL MAMOUN 
 
 103 
 
 offered a cushion to sit upon, and a lute was brought to 
 her, which she tuned with a skill which struck me. She 
 then sang an air in a most enchanting fashion ; so great 
 was the skill and art with which she sang that I could 
 not suppress a feeling of jealousy. ' Young girl,' I said 
 to her, ' you have still a good deal to learn.** These 
 words irritated her ; she threw down the lute, and ex- 
 claimed to the host : ' Since when do you admit to your 
 intimacy such vexatious guests V 
 
 " I repented of my remark when I saw the others look 
 at me askance. ' Is there a lute here ?** I asked. ' Yes," 
 was the reply. They brought me one, which I tuned to 
 my liking, and then sang. I had hardly finished when 
 the young slave cast herself at my feet, and, embracing 
 them, said : ' Sir, pardon me in the name of Heaven ; I 
 have never heard that air sung so exquisitely." Her 
 master and those present followed her example in 
 praising me; cheerfulness was restored, and the cups 
 circulated rapidly. I sang again, and the enthusiasm 
 of my hearers was roused to such a pitch that I thought 
 they would take leave of their senses. I waited awhile 
 to let them recover themselves ; then, taking my lute 
 again, I sang for the third time. ' By Allah !' cried the 
 slave, ' that is what deserves to be called singing V 
 
 " The others, however, were beginning to feel the effects 
 of the wine ; the master of the house, who had a stronger 
 head than his guests, entrusted them to the care of his 
 own servants and of theirs, and had them conveyed 
 home. I remained alone with him. After we had 
 emptied some more cups, he said to me : ' Truly, sir, I 
 consider the past days of my life, in which I did not 
 know you, wasted. Kindly inform me who you are." 
 He pressed me so much that at last I told him my name. 
 Immediately he rose, kissed my hand, and said : ' I 
 should have been surprised, sir, had anyone of a rank 
 inferior to your own possessed such skill. To think one 
 of the royal house was with me all the time, and I knew 
 it not!' Being pressed by him to tell my story and 
 
104 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 what had attracted me to his house, I told him how I 
 had stopped when I smelt the odour of the food, and 
 described the hand and wrist I had seen at the window. 
 
 " He straightway called one of his female slaves and 
 said : ' Go and tell So-and-so to come down."* He had 
 all the slaves in succession brought before me. After 
 having examined their hands, I said : ' No ! the possessor 
 of the hand I saw is not among them.' ' By Allah !' 
 said my host, ' there are only my mother and my sister 
 left ! I will send for them.** Such generosity and kindness 
 of heart surprised me. I said to him : ' May my life be 
 your sacrifice ! Before calling your mother, call your 
 sister ; it is probably she of whom I am in search.' 
 ' Very well,' he said, and sent for her. 
 
 " As soon as I set eyes on her hand and wrist I cried : 
 ' It is she, my dear host, it is she !' Without losing a 
 moment, he ordered his servants to bring together ten 
 respectable elderly men from the neighbourhood. They 
 came; he then sent for a sum of twenty thousand 
 dirhems in two bags, and, addressing the ten men, said : 
 *' I take you to witness that I give my sister here in 
 marriage to Ibrahim, son of Mahdi, and that I bestow 
 upon her a dowry of twenty thousand dirhems.' His 
 sister and I both gave our agreement to the marriage, 
 after which I gave one of the bags of money to my 
 young wife, and distributed the other among the 
 witnesses, saying : ' Excuse me, but this is all I have by 
 me at present.' They accepted my present and retired. 
 
 " My host then proposed to prepare in his own house 
 an apartment for us. Such generosity and kindness 
 made me feel quite embarrassed. I said that I only 
 desired a litter to convey my wife. He readily agreed, 
 and sent along with it so magnificent a trousseau that it 
 entirely fills one of my houses." 
 
 Mamoun was astonished at the generosity of the 
 merchant. He granted his freedom and a rich present 
 to the parasite, and ordered Ibrahim to present his 
 father-in-law at Court. The latter became one of the 
 most intimate courtiers and companions of the Caliph. 
 
AL MAMOUN 
 
 105 
 
 The Death of Al Mamoun. 
 
 During Al Mamoun's last campaign against the 
 Greek Emperor he arrived at the River Qushairah, and 
 encamped on its banks. Charmed by the clearness and 
 purity of its waters, and by the beauty and fertility of 
 the surrounding country, he had a kind of arbour con- 
 structed by the banks of the stream, intending to rest 
 there some days. So clear was the water that the 
 inscription on a coin lying at the bottom could be 
 clearly read ; but it was so cold that it was impossible 
 for anyone to bathe in it. 
 
 All at once a fish, about a fathom in length and 
 flashing like an ingot of silver, appeared in the water. 
 The Caliph promised a reward to anyone who would 
 capture it ; an attendant went down, caught the fish 
 and regained the shore, but as he approached the spot 
 where Al Mamoun was sitting, the fish slipped from his 
 grasp, fell into the water, and sank like a stone to the 
 bottom. Some of the water was splashed on the Caliph's 
 neck, chest, and arms, and wetted his clothes. The 
 attendant went down again, recaptured the fish, and 
 placed it, wriggling, in a napkin before the Caliph. 
 Just as he had ordered it to be fried, Al Mamoun felt a 
 sudden shiver, and could not move from the place. In 
 vain he was covered with rugs and skins ; he trembled 
 like a leaf, and exclaimed : ''I am cold ! I am cold !*" 
 He was carried into his tent, covered with clothes, and 
 a fire was lit, but he continued to complain of cold. 
 When the fish had been cooked it was brought to him, 
 but he could neither taste nor touch it, so great was his 
 suffering. 
 
 As he grew rapidly worse, his brother Mutasim 
 questioned Bakhteshou and Ibn Masouyieh, his phy- 
 sicians, on his condition, and whether they could do him 
 any good. Ibn Masouyieh took one of the patient's hands 
 and Bakhteshou the other, and felt his pulse together ; 
 the irregular pulsations heralded his dissolution. Just 
 
 14 
 
106 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 then Al Mamoun awoke out of his stupor ; he opened 
 his eyes, and caused some of the natives of the place to 
 be sent for, and questioned them regarding the stream 
 and the locality. When asked regarding the meaning 
 of the name " Qushairah they replied that it signified 
 " Stretch out thy feet'' {i.e., "die''). Al Mamoun then 
 inquired the Arabic name of the country, and was told 
 " Rakkah." Now, the horoscope drawn at the moment of 
 his birth announced that he would die in a place of that 
 name; therefore he had always avoided residing in the 
 city of Rakkah, fearing to die there. When he heard 
 the answer given by these people, he felt sure that this 
 was the place predicted by his horoscope. Feeling him- 
 self becoming worse, he commanded that he should be 
 carried outside his tent in order to survey his camp and 
 his army once more. It was now night-time. As his 
 gaze wandered over the long lines of the camp and the 
 lights twinkling into the distance, he cried : " O Thou 
 whose reign will never end, have mercy on him whose reign 
 is now ending." He was then carried back to his bed. 
 Mutasim, seeing that he was sinking, commanded some- 
 one to whisper in his ear the confession of the Muham- 
 madan faith ("There is no God but God, and 
 Muhammad is the Apostle of God "). As the attendant 
 was about to speak, in order that Al Mamoun might 
 repeat the words after him, Ibn Masouyieh said to him : 
 " Do not speak, for truly he could not now distinguish 
 between God and Manes." The dying man opened his 
 eyes — they seemed extraordinarily large, and shone with 
 a wonderful lustre ; his hands clutched at the doctor ; 
 he tried to speak to him, but could not ; then his 
 eyes turned towards heaven and filled with tears ; finally 
 his tongue was loosened, and he spoke : " O Thou who 
 diest not, have mercy on him who dies," and he expired 
 immediately. His body was carried to Tarsus and 
 buried there. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE CLERK WHO BECAME CALIPH OF 
 CORDOVA 
 
 Muhammad Ibn Abi Amir al Mansour was born at 
 Torres, near Algesiras, a.d. 939, He was descended from 
 Abdul Malek, one of those noble Arabs who entered 
 Andalusia with Tarik the invader. His father died in 
 Africa while returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca. 
 
 While still young, Al Mansour travelled to Cordova, 
 where he studied and settled. Having established a 
 shop or office close to the royal palace, he for some time 
 earned his livelihood by writing letters or petitions for 
 such among the servants of the royal household as stood 
 in need of them. At last one of the Caliph Hakem's 
 wives, named Sobha, happening to want a confidential 
 secretary, one of the eunuchs of the palace, who was an 
 intimate friend of Al Mansour, recommended him to that 
 Princess, who appointed him her secretary. Being an 
 able man, Al Mansour had no difficulty in gaining the 
 favour of the Princess, who introduced him to her 
 husband, Hakem, the Caliph of Cordova. Al Hakem 
 then made him Cadi of a town ; and as Al Mansour dis- 
 tinguished himself in that post, he was shortly after- 
 wards promoted to the office of collector of tithes. He 
 then returned to Cordova, where he so contrived to gain 
 the favour of Sobha by his attention to her service that 
 no man in Cordova enjoyed so much favour. 
 
 Step by step he made his way upward and supplanted 
 all his rivals, till at last he became Vizier to Hakem's 
 
 107 14—2 
 
108 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 feeble-minded successor, Hisham. Secure of the support 
 of the soldiery, whose affections he had gained by his 
 liberality, Al Mansour so little disguised his assumption 
 of supremacy that he ordered his own name to be struck 
 on the coins, and repeated in the public prayers along 
 with that of Hisham. His robes were made of a peculiar 
 fashion and stuff only worn by Kings; he received 
 embassies seated on the throne, and declared peace and 
 war in his own name. 
 
 But Andalusia needed a strong hand, and Al Mansour's 
 usurpation was redeemed by his kingly qualities of 
 justice, vigilance, and generosity. Of these the following 
 instances, preserved by the Arab historian Makkari, are 
 typical. 
 
 Al Mansour and the Messenger of the 
 
 Christians. 
 
 Al Mansour was one night sitting in his audience- 
 room. It was a dreadful night : the rain came down in 
 torrents; the wind was high, and it was piercing cold. 
 All of a sudden Al Mansour sent for one of the horse- 
 men of his guard, and said to him : Go down to 
 Tallares, and stop there till thou seest a person pass ; 
 seize him, whoever he may be, and bring him hither 
 instantly.^"* The horseman did as he was commanded. 
 He rode to the spot which had been pointed out to him, 
 and waited there nearly all night on his horse in the 
 midst of the cold, rain, and wind without seeing a 
 single creature whom he might seize and convey to his 
 master, as he had been directed. At last, a little before 
 the dawn of day, and just as the horseman was thinking 
 whether he should not return to the palace and report 
 the non-success of his expedition, a very old man, bent 
 by age, made his appearance, mounted on an ass, and 
 having an axe by his side. 
 
 " Where art thou going to, my good old man P**^ said 
 
THE CALIPH OF CORDOVA 109 
 
 the soldier. I am going to the forest to cut some 
 wood,"' he answered. " Surely,'' thought the soldier to 
 himself, "this cannot be the man whom Al Mansour 
 wishes to see — he is only a woodcutter going to cut 
 some wood. I shall let him go.'" He therefore allowed 
 him to pass on, but scarcely had the old man gone a 
 little way than the soldier, recollecting Al Mansour's 
 order, and dreading his vengeance, rode up to him, and 
 desired him to turn round and go with him to the 
 presence of Al Mansour. " And what can Al Mansour 
 want with a poor old man like myself? Pray let me 
 go, and do not hinder me from earning my livelihood. 
 I entreat thee in the name of Allah not to detain me."' 
 I cannot grant thy request,"' replied the soldier. " My 
 master's orders must needs be obeyed. Thou must come 
 along with me." 
 
 The soldier and his prisoner then proceeded together 
 to the palace, and were immediately introduced to the 
 presence of Al Mansour, whom they found sitting in his 
 hall, where he had been waiting all night without 
 retiring to rest. No sooner had he cast his eyes on the 
 old man than he said to his guards, " Search him 
 The person of the old man was accordingly searched, 
 but nothing was found on him. "Search, then, the 
 pack-saddle of his ass,*" said Al Mansour impatiently. 
 This was done as he commanded, when, behold ! there 
 was found concealed in the lining a letter from certain 
 Christians who were then employed in his service, in- 
 viting them to make an incursion into the Moslem 
 territory, and attack certain districts that were not 
 well defended. The following day an order came down 
 from Al Mansour for the arrest of the guilty parties, 
 who, together with the bearer of their message, were 
 by his orders taken outside the gate of Az-zahireh,* and 
 there beheaded. 
 
 A suburb of Cordova. 
 
110 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 Al Mansour and the Jewel-Merchant. 
 
 An Eastern merchant who traded in jewels once came 
 to Cordova from Aden. Having repaired to Az- 
 zahireh, where Al Mansour was residing, he asked leave 
 to see him, and, being admitted to his presence, he forth- 
 with proceeded to display before him all sorts of precious 
 stones of great value. Al Mansour, having taken those 
 which he liked the most, caused the price of the jewels 
 to be paid to the merchant, who returned by the same 
 road he had come, taking with him in a bag the money 
 which he had just received. 
 
 The road which the merchant had to traverse was a 
 sandy plain stretching along the banks of the river. 
 The day was a hot one, and the sun was high, so that, 
 after travelling some distance, he wished to bathe in the 
 river. He accordingly took off his clothes, and, having 
 placed his bag of money upon them, jumped into the 
 water. Scarcely, however, had he been in a few minutes, 
 when a kite alighted on the clothes, and, taking the 
 bag for a piece of meat, seized it in its bill and flew 
 away. 
 
 For some time the merchant eagerly followed the 
 thieving bird with his eyes, but at last it disappeared 
 entirely, leaving him in the greatest possible agony of 
 mind. Seeing, however, that his misfortune had no 
 remedy, he put on his clothes and went to his dwelling, 
 where the loss he had sustained so much preyed upon his 
 mind as to occasion a severe illness, through which he 
 well-nigh lost his life. 
 
 Upon his recovery the merchant went to see Al Man- 
 sour a second time for the purpose of showing him other 
 jewels ; but he was so altered in his appearance, and the 
 gloom and sorrow upon his countenance were such, that 
 Mansour could not but be struck by it, and he accord- 
 ingly inquired what had happened to him ; upon which 
 the merchant related to him his adventure. Mansour 
 said : " Why didst thou not come to us before ? We 
 
THE CALIPH OF CORDOVA 111 
 
 might, perchance, have told thee of a plan to recover 
 thy money or find out the thief. Which way did the 
 kite fly The merchant answered : " It flew eastward, 
 in the direction of this mountain, close to thy palace," 
 meaning the sandy plain. Immediately upon learning 
 this, Al Mansour sent for one of his bodyguard and 
 said to him : " Let all the old men who live in yonder 
 plain repair hither immediately."** His orders being 
 punctually executed, there soon came before him several 
 old men. He then directed them to make inquiries 
 whether any of the people of the neighbourhood had 
 been observed suddenly to pass from poverty to affluence 
 without any well-known cause. 
 
 The old men did as they were ordered, and after 
 investigating the case returned to Al Mansour, and 
 said to him : We only know of one man in our neigh- 
 bourhood who was exceedingly poor some time since, 
 and whose condition is now changed. He used to sup- 
 port himself and his family entirely by the work of his 
 hands, and he and his sons always went on foot for 
 want of a beast. We hear that this very day he has 
 bought a nag for himself, besides a complete suit of 
 the best materials for each of his sons." 
 
 Upon this Al Mansour gave orders that the man 
 alluded to should be brought into his presence the next 
 morning, bidding the merchant be also ready to appear 
 before him at the appointed hour. When morning 
 came the man presented himself to Al Mansour, who, 
 upon his entering the room, went straight to him, and 
 in the merchant's presence addressed him thus : " If 
 anything which we have lost should have fallen into thy 
 hands what would'st thou do with it ?" Upon which 
 the man replied instantly : Here it is, my lord.'' And 
 putting his hand into his bosom, he took out the very 
 bag which the merchant had lost. 
 
 At sight of his recovered treasure the merchant 
 shouted with delight and jumped with joy. Al Mansour 
 then ordered the man to explain how the circumstance 
 
112 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 had occurred, and he said : " As I was working in my 
 orchard under a palm-tree I saw something drop down 
 a few yards before me, I picked it up, and, to my great 
 surprise and dehght, found it to be a handsome bag full 
 of money. When I saw it I thought to myself : ' I 
 would swear this money belongs to our master, Al 
 Mansour, and that some bird has stolen it from his 
 castle, and dropped it while flying in this neighbour- 
 hood.'' I then opened the bag and examined its 
 contents, when my extreme poverty tempted me to take 
 ten gold dinars out of the many which it contained, all 
 the time saying to myself : ' I have no doubt that when 
 my lord Al Mansour, who is so generous, hears of the 
 circumstance he will not hesitate to give them to me." 
 Great was Al Mansour's surprise when he heard the 
 poor man's story. Having taken the bag from him, he 
 handed it over to the merchant, saying : " Take thy 
 bag and count the money ; whatever is wanting thou 
 wilt charge to my account.*" 
 
 The merchant did as he was desired, and, having 
 counted his money, said : " By the merits of thy head ! 
 there is nothing wanting but the few dinars he has told 
 us of, and those I willingly give up to him from this 
 moment.''" " No,**' replied Al Mansour, " the priority in 
 this case belongs by right to us, and it is for us to 
 reward the man as he deserves. We will take nothing 
 from thy joy ; it must be complete.'' Saying this, he 
 caused ten dinars to be given to the merchant instead 
 of the ten wanting, and rewarded the gardener with ten 
 more for his having had the virtue not to appropriate 
 to himself the whole of the sum that fell into his hands. 
 He then said : " Had he confessed his guilt before we 
 came to inquire into it his reward would have been 
 complete/'* 
 
 The merchant then began to praise Al Mansour, and, 
 finding his spirits revived, he exclaimed, " By Allah ! 
 the fame of this deed of thine shall travel the regions 
 of the world ; it shall be said of thee that thou exercisest 
 
THE CALIPH OF CORDOVA 113 
 
 over the birds of the air the same power which thou 
 hast over the inhabitants of the land in these thy 
 dominions ; there is no escaping thy will or avoiding thy 
 power."' Al Mansour smiled and said : " Be moderate in 
 thy expressions, and may God pardon thee The 
 assembly then withdrew in utter amazement at Al 
 Mansour's sagacity in discovering the lost treasure, his 
 readiness to allay the merchant's grief, and the benevo- 
 lence and forbearance he displayed in the midst of his 
 power. 
 
 Al Mansour and his General, 
 Ibn-al-Mushafi. 
 
 It is related by Abu Bekr At-Tortushi that as Al 
 Mansour was once about to cross the frontier and 
 penetrate into the enemy's territory he ascended to the 
 summit of a hill for the purpose of reconnoitring the 
 neighbouring country. Once at the top, he looked down 
 and saw his troops encamped in the middle of an 
 extensive plain, stretching both right and left. Having 
 for a while considered the imposing sight in silence, he 
 turned towards the general of his army, whose name was 
 Ibn-al-Mushafi, and said to him : " What is thy opinion 
 of an army like that ?" " My opinion is," answered Ibn- 
 al-Mushafi, " that it is a well-disciplined and numerous 
 army." I should not be astonished," replied Al 
 Mansour, " if there were in an army of that sort one 
 thousand warriors of undaunted courage and matchless 
 dexterity in the handling of weapons — capable, in short, 
 of meeting hand to hand the stoutest champion of the 
 Christians." 
 
 Ibn-al-Mushafi made no reply to the above observa- 
 tion, but kept silence. " Why answerest thou not ?" 
 said Al Mansour to him. " Is there not in my army 
 the number and description of warriors that I have 
 named ?" " Certainly there is not," was the officer's 
 reply. Al Mansour was greatly startled by the answer, 
 
114 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 yet he said almost immediately : " If there be not that 
 number, at least thou wilt grant that there are five 
 hundred ?" " Not even fifty j"*^ answered Ibn-al-Mushafi, 
 with the greatest coolness. 
 
 Al Mansour's indignation could no longer be con- 
 trolled ; he foamed at the mouth with rage ; he abused 
 Ibn-al-Mushafi, called him an infidel, a traitor and a 
 coward, and bade him leave his presence immediately if 
 he valued his head. 
 
 Some time after this occurrence, a Christian army 
 made its appearance on the plain where the Moslems 
 were encamped, and as Al Mansour never refused battle 
 whenever it was offered to him by the enemy, he 
 marshalled his troops and made every preparation for 
 the forthcoming engagement. The Christians, on their 
 side, did the same, and the two hosts, having well chosen 
 their ground, divided the extensive plain between them. 
 The two armies were already drawn in line of battle, 
 and the warriors of both nations were waiting only for 
 the signal of their respective commanders to rush upon 
 each other, when behold, a Christian knight, cased in 
 bright steel, came out from the ranks, and, advancing 
 between the two hosts, began to make his horse prance, 
 and to brandish his spear, challenging the Moslem 
 warriors to single combat. " Is there any of you,'' 
 said he, with a terrific voice which resounded through 
 the plain, " who dares to come out 
 
 Presently a Moslem champion sallied out, but after a 
 few blows were exchanged, he was unhorsed and slain. 
 Great was the joy of the infidels when they saw the 
 Christian knight slay his adversary; their deafening 
 shouts resounded through the air like claps of thunder, 
 while the Moslems were dejected at the death of their 
 comrade. Elated with success, the Christian knight 
 again rode his steed between the two hosts, and cried : 
 " Is there no one to come out and fight me ? If your 
 brave men dare not come alone, let two or three of 
 them come out ; I will fight them all."' 
 
THE CALIPH OF CORDOVA 
 
 115 
 
 Hearing this taunting bravado, another Moslem left 
 the ranks ; but, alas ! he shared the same fate with his 
 companion. " Let three to one come out,^" cried the 
 Christian with exultation ; " one is not enough for me.'' 
 A Moslem warrior then presented himself, but he was 
 immediately dispatched like the preceding ones. 
 
 Meanwhile Al Mansour was mad with rage, pacing the 
 ground with the greatest disquietude, and not knowing 
 what to do to inspire courage into his dispirited troops. 
 At last he sent for Ibn-al-Mushafi, and said to him : 
 " Hast thou seen the feats of arms performed by yonder 
 Christian dog " I have,'' answered Ibn-al-Mushafi ; 
 " I watched attentively all his movements." " And 
 what is thy advice on this occasion " Explain thy 
 wishes to me," said Ibn-al-Mushafi. " and I will counsel 
 thee to the best of my understanding." " I wish to humble 
 the pride of the Christian and put a stop to his bra- 
 vadoes." " That can only be attained," said Ibn-al- 
 Mushafi, " by finding a Moslem who will be his superior 
 in courage, strength, and dexterity ; but I will see to 
 that." 
 
 Without loss of time Ibn-al-Mushafi galloped off to 
 a division of the army where he knew of some warriors 
 renowned for their former exploits ; and when he had 
 communicated to them Al Mansour's wishes, a young 
 man came forward, mounted on a lean, sorry nag, having 
 before his saddle a water-skin. The rest of his apparel 
 was equally poor and ludicrous. ^'Well, my brave 
 youth," said Ibn-al-Mushafi to him, " didst thou see 
 the Christian slay thy comrades " I did," replied 
 the young soldier. " And what are thy wishes ?" " I 
 want thee to bring me his head." 
 
 The youth departed with his water-skin and his sorry 
 nag, and approached the Christian knight, whom he 
 attacked immediately. Scarcely had a few minutes 
 elapsed when the Moslem soldier was observed galloping 
 back to his comrades with something in his hand, which, 
 as he drew nearer, proved to be the gory head of the 
 
 15—2 
 
116 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 Christian champion. Having laid his trophy at the 
 feet of Al Mansour, he was immediately promoted, and 
 rewarded, besides, with a large sum of money. Ibn-al- 
 Mushafi then observed to Al Mansour : " Was I not 
 right when I told thee that there were not one thousand 
 warriors, nor five hundred, nor one hundred, nor fifty, 
 nor twenty, nor even ten The event has proved it. 
 This youth is one of the very few who can pass under 
 that designation." 
 
 Al Mansour restored Ibn-al-Mushafi to his favour, 
 and from that day listened more attentively to his 
 
 Spartan Characteristics of Al Mansour. 
 
 The personal courage and rigid severity of Al Mansour 
 are exemplified in the following anecdotes : 
 
 Feeling one day indisposed, he wanted to have a cau- 
 tery applied to his leg. The surgeon was sent for, and 
 although when he arrived Al Mansour was sitting on a 
 raised throne surrounded by his courtiers and administer- 
 ing justice to his subjects, he, nevertheless, directed the 
 surgeon to apply the cautery to the leg. This was ac- 
 cordingly done, the assembly perceiving nothing until 
 they actually smelt the burnt flesh and skin, which 
 caused no little astonishment among them. 
 
 Such was the awe in which Al Mansour was held by 
 all who surrounded his person, so rigorous the discipline 
 which he caused to be observed by his troops, and so 
 great his care in upholding the royal dignity that no 
 preceding sovereign ever met with such submissive obe- 
 dience to his commands. It is said that whenever he 
 passed his cavalry in review the most profound silence 
 was kept by the soldiers, and that the horses even were 
 so trained as not to break it by their neighings. 
 
 One day, as he was reviewing his troops on a plain in 
 the vicinity of Cordova, he happened to see something 
 glitter amidst a troop of men. Having inquired what 
 
THE CALIPH OF CORDOVA 
 
 117 
 
 it was that attracted his eyes, he was answered that one 
 of the soldiers had unsheathed his sword, thinking he 
 could do so unperceived. " Bring the man to me,"" said 
 Al Mansour to one of his officers. The soldier accord- 
 ingly came out of the ranks, and saluted his general. 
 " What made thee unsheathe thy sword,"' said Al Man- 
 sour, " at a time and in a spot where thou knowest it is 
 strictly forbidden to do so without previous leave from 
 the general The soldier confessed his guilt, but 
 alleged as an excuse that whilst he was in the act of 
 pointing to a comrade with his sword, the scabbard, 
 which was loose, fell off, and left the blade uncovered. 
 " Crimes of this kind no excuse can palliate,"" replied 
 Al Mansour ; and he ordered the soldier to be imme- 
 diately beheaded with his own sword. He then caused 
 his head to be fixed on a spear and to be paraded in 
 front of the ranks, whilst a proclamation was read to 
 the troops stating the crime just committed and the 
 manner in which it had been punished. 
 
 Al Mansour and Abu Ali Said, the 
 Knavish Poet. 
 
 Many men distinguished for their talents, or renowned 
 for their proficiency in science or literature, visited 
 Andalusia under this reign, and were induced through 
 the liberality of Al Mansour to fix their residence in 
 Cordova. Among the most celebrated was Abu Ali 
 Said, who was a native of Bagdad. Ibn Bessam says 
 that Al Mansour, having heard of his talents for poetry, 
 sent for him and invited him to Cordova. "But 
 Al Mansour,""* continues Ibn Bessam, " found nothing in 
 Said to justify the high opinion he had formed of him, 
 and, moreover, the learned men of Cordova became his 
 enemies. They called him a liar and an impostor, and 
 when he composed his ' Fisus ' (the ' Book of Gems they 
 criticized the work, and threw it out of contempt into 
 the river. It was in allusion to this occurrence that one 
 
118 TALES OF THE CALIPHS 
 
 of the poets of Cordova said : ' The " Book of Gems is 
 now engulphed in the river ; may all bad books meet 
 with a similar fate." To which Said replied in the 
 following verse: 'The gems have returned to their 
 mines, for in the bottom of the sea the gems are found.' 
 
 " Wishing to expose Said's ignorance, his rivals re- 
 quested Al Mansour to have some quires of white paper 
 bound together, so as to present the appearance of a 
 written volume with the following title: *Kitab-un- 
 nekat ' (the Book of Lies its author Abul Gauth of 
 Sana. The book was then placed in a spot where Said 
 might see it when he entered the hall. The stratagem 
 succeeded completely ; no sooner had Said cast his eyes on 
 the volume than he exclaimed : ' I know the work well ; 
 I read it in such a country under the direction of such 
 a Sheikh.'^ Al Mansour then took the volume into his 
 hands for fear that Said should open it and find out 
 the stratagem, and said to him : ' W ell then, since thou 
 hast read it, tell us of its contents.** 'It is so long 
 since I perused it,** replied Said, ' that I am afraid I do 
 not recollect any portion of it, however small ; but this 
 I can say, that it is composed of detached pieces without 
 either poetry or anecdotes.'' ' Leave my presence 
 immediately," said Al Mansour ; ' I never saw a greater 
 liar than thou. May God free me from men of thy 
 stamp r He then commanded that Said should be sent 
 out of the room and his book thrown into the river.*" 
 
 Al Mansour died a.d. 1002. Shortly before his death, 
 observing his son Abdul Malek weeping, Mansour 
 reproached him with his want of courage, saying : 
 " This is to me the first signal of the approaching decay 
 of this empire.'" 
 
 BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD