' (Q.) 'What was the first skirt that trailed upon the
surface of the earth?' (A.) 'That of Hagar, out of shame before
Sarah, and it became a custom among the Arabs.' (Q.) 'What is
that which breathes without life?' (A.) 'Quoth God the Most
High, "By the morning, when it breathes!"'[FN#339] (Q.) 'A
number of pigeons came to a high tree and lighted, some on the
tree and others under it. Said those on the tree to those on
the ground, "If one of you come up to us, ye will be a third
part of us [all] in number; and if one of us descend to you, we
shall be like unto you in number." How many pigeons were there
in all?' (A.) 'Twelve: seven alighted on the tree and five
beneath.'
With this the philosopher put off his clothes and fled forth:
whereupon she turned to those present and said, 'Which of you
is the rhetorician that can discourse of all kinds of
knowledge?' There came forward Ibrahim ben Siyyar and said to
her, 'Think me not like the rest.' Quoth she, 'It is the more
sure to me that thou wilt be beaten, for that thou art a
boaster, and God will help me against thee, that I may strip
thee of thy clothes.
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