God forfend that the
Commander of the Faithful should envy his slave what little he
hath of understanding and worth and renown! But, if his slave
should drink wine, his reason would depart from him and ignorance
draw near to him and steal away his good breeding; so would he
revert to that low degree, whence he sprang, and become
contemptible and ridiculous in the eyes of the folk. I hope,
therefore, that the August Intelligence, of his power and bounty
and royal generosity and magnanimity, will not despoil his slave
of this jewel.'
When the Khalif heard his speech, he praised him and thanked him
and making him sit down again in his place, showed him high
honour and ordered him a present of a hundred thousand diners.
Moreover he mounted him upon a horse and gave him rich apparel;
and in every assembly he exalted him and showed him favour over
all the other doctors, till he became the highest of them all in
rank.
ALI SHAR AND ZUMURRUD.
There lived once, of old days, in the land of Khorassan, a
merchant called Mejdeddin, who had great wealth and many slaves
and servants, black and white; but he was childless until he
reached the age of threescore, when God the Most High vouchsafed
him a son, whom he named Ali Shar.
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