At last, when his patience failed him
and his passion was sore on him and he was at his wits' end
concerning her affair, he went in, one day of state, to El
Mamoun, after the folk had retired, and said to him, "O
Commander of the Faithful, if thou wilt this day make trial of
thy governors,[FN#165] by visiting them unawares, thou wilt the
men of worth from those that lack of it and note each one's
[due] place, after the measure of his faculties." (But he
purposed, in saying this, to win to sit with Curret el Ain in
her lord's house.) El Mamoun approved his proposal and bade
make ready a barge, called the Flyer, in which he embarked,
with his brother and a party of his chief officers. The first
house he visited was that of Hemid et Tawil of Tous, whom he
found seated on a mat and before him singers and players, with
lutes and hautboys and other instruments of music in their
hands. El Mamoun sat with him awhile, and presently he set
before him dishes of nothing but flesh-meat, with no birds
among them. The Khalif would not taste thereof and Abou Isa
said to him, "O Commander of the Faithful, we have taken the
owner of this place unawares, and he knew not of thy coming;
but now let us go to another place, that is prepared and fitted
for thee.
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