Nor hate nor weariness from thee estranged him, for, indeed, To
God Most High he was brought near by kissing thy right
hand.
But, O my father, 'twas his heart, shunning the vain delights
Of this thy world, that drove him forth to seek a distant
land!"
Then he betook himself to prayer, asking pardon of God and
blessing the Lord of the Just[FN#135] and repeating verses of
the Koran; after which he recited the following:
Let not prosperity delude thee, father mine; For fortune wastes
and life itself must pass away.
Whenas thou com'st to know of folk in evil plight, Think thou
must answer it upon the Judgment Day;
And when thou bearest forth the dead unto the tombs, Think that
thou, too, must pass upon the self-same way!
Then I left him and went home. On the morrow, I returned, at
the appointed hour, and found him indeed dead, the mercy of God
be on him! So I washed him and unsewing his gown, found in the
bosom a ruby worth thousands of diners and said to myself, "By
Allah, this youth was indeed abstracted from the things of this
world!" After I had buried him, I made my way to Baghdad and
going to the Khalif's palace, waited till he came forth, when I
accosted him in one of the streets and gave him the ruby, which
when he saw, he knew and fell down in a swoon.
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