'
When the Khalif heard this, he laughed till he fell backward;
then calling Mesrour, he gave him a blow, whereat he cried out
and said, 'O Commander of the Faithful, one-third sufficeth me:
give him the two-thirds.' The Khalif laughed at them and
ordered them a thousand diners each, and they went away,
rejoicing.
THE DEVOUT PRINCE.
The Khalif Haroun er Reshid had a son, who, from the time he
attained the age of sixteen, renounced the world and walked in
the way of ascetics and devotees. He was wont to go out to the
tombs and say, 'Behold, ye that lie here once possessed the
world, but that was no deliverer for you [from death], and now
are ye come to your graves! Would God I knew what ye say and
what is said to you!' And he wept, as one weeps that is
troubled and fearful, and repeated the words of the poet:
Whene'er the funerals pass, my heart with fear is torn, And the
wailing of the mourners maketh me to mourn.
One day, as he sat among the tombs, according to his wont, his
father passed by, in all his state, surrounded by his viziers
and grandees and the officers of his household, who saw the
Khalif's son, with a gown of woollen stuff on his body and a
cowl of the same on his head, and said to one another, 'This
youth dishonours the Commander of the Faithful among Kings:
but, if he reproved him, he would leave his present way of
life.
Pages:
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386