When the third Saturday came round, I went to the standing, but
found him not; so I enquired for him and was told that he lay
sick in the hut of such a woman. Now this was an old woman,
renowned for piety, who had a hut of reeds in the burial-
ground. So I went thither and found him lying on the naked
earth, with a brick for a pillow and his face beaming with
light. I saluted him and he returned my salute; and I sat
down at his head, weeping over his tenderness of years and
strangerhood and submission to the will of his Lord. Then said
I to him, "Hast thou any need?" "Yes," answered he; and I said,
"What is it?" He replied, "Come hither tomorrow in the forenoon
and thou wilt find me dead. Wash me and dig my grave and tell
none thereof: but shroud me in this my gown, after thou hast
unsewn it and taken out what thou shalt find in the bosom,
which keep with thee. Then, when thou hast prayed over me and
laid me in the dust, go to Baghdad and watch for the Khalif
Haroun er Reshid, till he come forth, when do thou bear him my
salutation and give him what thou shalt find in the breast of
my gown." Then he made the profession of the Faith and glorified
his Lord in the most eloquent of words, reciting the following
verses:
Carry the trust of him on whom the wished-for death hath come
To Er Reshid, and thy reward with thy Creator stand!
"An exile greets thee," say, "who longed full sorely for thy
sight; With long desire he yearned for thee, far in a
foreign strand.
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