' The Khalif heard what they said; so he bespoke his son
of this, saying, 'O my son, thou puttest me to shame by thy
present way of life.' The young man looked at him and made no
reply: then he beckoned to a bird, that was perched on the
battlements of the palace, and said to it, 'O bird, I conjure
thee, by Him who created thee, alight upon my hand.' And
straightway it flew down and perched on his hand. Quoth he,
'Return to thy place;' and it did so. Then he said, 'Alight on
the hand of the Commander of the Faithful;' but it refused, and
he said to his father, 'It is thou that puttest me to shame,
amongst the friends of God, by thy love of the world; and now I
am resolved to depart from thee, never to return to thee, save
in the world to come.' Then he went down to Bassora, where he
fell to working with those that wrought in mud,[FN#133] taking,
as his day's hire, but a dirhem and a danic.[FN#134] With the
danic he fed himself and gave alms of the dirhem.
(Quoth Abou Aamir of Bassora), There fell down a wall in my
house: so I went out to the station of the artisans, to find
one who should set it up for me, and my eyes fell on a handsome
youth of a radiant countenance.
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