How many a man denies his soul to do the generous deed, To which
it's fain, till lack of means deprive him of the power!
THE GENEROUS DEALING OF YEHYA BEN KHALID
WITH A MAN WHO FORGED A LETTER IN HIS
NAME.
There was between Yehya ben Khalid and Abdallah ben Malik el
Khuzai[FN#10] a secret enmity, the reason whereof was that Haroun
er Reshid loved the latter with an exceeding love, so that Yehya
and his sons were wont to say that he had bewitched the Khalif;
and thus they abode a long while, with rancour in their hearts,
till it fell out that the Khalif invested Abdallah with the
government of Armenia and sent him thither. Soon after he had
established himself in his seat of government, there came to him
one of the people of Irak, a man of excellent parts and good
breeding, who had lost his wealth and wasted his substance, and
his estate was come to nought; so he forged a letter to Abdallah
in Yehya's name and set out therewith for Armenia. When he came
to the governor's gate, he gave the letter to one of the
chamberlains, who carried it to his master.
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