“I swear it by the ancient house, the worshipful, and those who circumambulate the holy fane,
Thou art a good man to appeal for justice to, the best of Kadis judging amongst Arab tribes,
So live as long as camels speed the pilgrims on.”
Then he replied without deliberation and on the spur of the moment, saying:
“Allah reward thee for thy thanks, dear nephew mine, though I exact no thanks as ever due to me,
For worst of men is he who wrongs, when made a judge, and who, when made trustee of aught, betrays his trust,
These twain I reckon with the dog alike in worth.”
Thereupon he ordered one into my presence, to hand over to me my camel, without snubbing me for his favour, and I went away successful in my suit, and trailing the skirt of joy, calling out: “How marvellous!”—Said Al Ḥârith, son of Hammâm: Then I said to him: “By Allah! thou hast told a wonderful tale, and been lavish in thy praise on a subject thou knowest well. [Tell me] I conjure thee by Allah, hast thou ever found one more gifted with the sorcery of eloquence than thyself, and a finer craftsman in fashioning the jewellery of speech?” He replied: “By Allah, yea, listen therefore and enjoy [what thou wilt hear]. I had intended, at a time when I made for Tihâmeh, on taking a wife to myself, so that she might be a helpmate to me. Now when the resident proxy [for the conduct of the marriage negotiation] had been instructed, and the affair was all but concluded, I bethought myself with the thoughtfulness of one who guards against a mistake, and considers carefully where the arrow may fall, passing my night in communing with my tortured heart, and revolving my wavering resolve, until I decided that I would go out early in the morning and consult the first whom I saw. So when darkness had drawn in her tent-ropes, and the stars had turned their tails, I sallied forth in the morning like one who seeks a stray beast, and was early with the earliness of the diviner from the flight of birds. Then I encountered a youth, whose face pleaded in his favour, wherefore I augured well from his cheering aspect and wished to take light from his views on matrimony. Said he: ‘Wishest thou her to be a matron, or a maid that gives trouble?’ I replied: ‘Choose thou for me what thou seest fit, I have put the matter in thy hands (lit. thrown the loops or handles to thee).” Then he said: ‘To me then belongs the explanation, and on thee devolves the application, so listen, may I be thy ransom after the burial of thy enemies: as for the virgin, she is a treasured pearl, and a hidden egg, an early fruit ripe for gathering, and a must that agrees well with thee, a fresh meadow, and a necklace costly and precious, none has soiled her with his touch, and no intimate has come near her, no wanton has plied her, and no deflowerer has despoiled her. She has a face suffused with shame, and a bashful eye, her tongue is faltering, and her heart is pure; withal she is a playful puppet, and a sportive doll, a frolicsome gazelle, and accomplished gracefulness, a jewelled belt bright and new, and a sharer of thy couch that rejuvenates, not renders hoary. But for the matron: she is the trained steed, the ready morsel, the desire made easy, one who has gained knowledge by repeated practice; the fond companion and confidential friend, the skilful and well advised, the intelligent and experienced; moreover, she is the hasty meal of the rider, a slipknot for the suing proxy [or suitor], an easy mount for the enfeebled, a booty swiftly snatched by the combatant; her disposition is gentle, her bonds are light to bear, her inward state is clearly manifest, and her service adorns; and I swear by Allah, that I have been truthful in both descriptions, and have displayed the two kinds, by which of the twain is thy heart enraptured, and which rouses thy lust (on which of them stands thy carnal desire)?’” Said Abû Zayd: “Then I saw that he was a stone against which the adversary must be on his guard, and by which the cupping - places of the veins are made to bleed, save that I said: ‘I had heard that the virgin is stronger in her love, and less given to wiles.’ Said he: ‘Upon my life, this has been said indeed, but how many a say has done harm. Woe betide thee, she is a filly refusing the bridle, and the mount tardy to be tamed, the fire-shaft difficult to strike from, and the fortress hard to conquer; moreover, the provision she requires is plentiful, and the help she affords is scanty, her enjoyment is savourless, and her coquettishness provoking, her hand is clumsy, her temper a snake that will not be charmed, and her disposition froward, her night is a long and dark night forsooth [her night is a night indeed]; to break her in is a heavy task, and to know her needs the lifting of a screen, and oftentimes she puts the combatant to shame, and is averse to the sportive, and angers one inclined to toy, and humbles the experienced stallion; moreover, it is she who says: “I dress and sit in company, so I seek one who holds and spends.”’ Said I to him: ‘What then thinkest thou of the matron, O father of all that is sweet?’ He replied: ‘Woe betide thee! listest thou for the remnant of the dishes, and the residue of the watering-ponds? for draggled garments and worn-out vessels? For one dainty, who browses on every pasture? One lavish of expenditure, a spendthrift, an impudent shrew? One grasping and never satisfied? Moreover, all her talk is: “I was and have become, erewhile when I was wronged I had given me help, but what a difference between to-day and yesterday, and where is the moon beside the sun?” [Listest thou for her] though she be always bewailing [her former husband], and blest [with adult sons], and withal a bold-faced wanton; she is a collar [round a man’s neck] that breeds vermin and an ulcer that never cicatrizes.’ Then I said to him: ‘Art thou of opinion that I should become a monk, and enter on that path of conduct?’ Thereupon he chid me with the chiding of one who rails at the slip of his pupil, saying: ‘Woe to thee, wilt thou follow in the track of the monks, when the truth has been manifest? Fy on thee and the weakness of thy understanding, out upon thee and them! Showest thou thyself up as though thou hadst not heard that there is no monkery in Islâm, and hadst not been told of the wedlocks of thy Prophet, may purest peace be upon him? Or knowest thou not that a good helpmate puts thy house in order, and obeys thy voice, sobers thy sight, and brings thy fame into good odour? Through her thou beholdest the coolness of thy eye, and the flower sweet to thy nostrils, and the joy of thy heart, and the lastingness of thy memory, and the solace of thy day and morrow (all this meaning offspring). How then art thou averse to the ordinance of the sent ones, and the enjoyment of the wedded, and the path of the guarded, and that which draws forth wealth and sons? By Allah, ill pleases in thee, what I have heard from thy mouth.’ Then he turned from me as one enraged, and bounded aside with the bound of the locust. Said I to him: ‘Allah curse thee! Wilt thou strut jauntily away and leave me bewildered?’ Said he: ‘I suspect thou pretendest goodness, and indulgest thyself a bit, so that thou mayest dispense with a damsel exacting a big dowry.’ Said I to him: ‘Allah confound thy suspicion, and allow not thy generation to grow old.’ Whereupon I went away from him shamefacedly, and repented of consulting striplings.” Al Ḥârith, son of Hammâm, continued: Then I said to him: “I swear by Him who has planted the forests that this controversy was carried on by thee and with thee (i.e., between thee and thy own self).” So he burst out laughing exceedingly, and rejoiced with the glee of the thoroughgoing, whereupon he said: “Lick up the honey and ask no questions.” Then I began to expatiate in the praise of learning, and to exalt its owner above the possessor of riches. But he glanced at me with the glance of one who taxes with ignorance, and winked at me indulgently, and when I waxed excessive in my partiality for the learned fraternity, he said to me: “Hush, hear from me and inwardly digest:
“They say that a man’s chief adornment and pride, and his beauty is learning deep-rooted, sound,
Alas, it adorns but the wealthy and him, whose summit of lordship is rising aloft:
But as for the poor man I reckon for him far better than learning a loaf and a stew.
What beauty bestows it on him, if they say: a scholar, a school-
Thereupon he said: “Presently there will become
evident to thee the truth of my assertion, and the
illustration of my argument.” So we travelled on
with unfailing strength and without flagging in our
exertion, until the journey brought us to a village,
may the good keep aloof from it, and forthwith we
entered it to forage for provender, for we were both of
us short of provisions. Now we had not reached the
halting-place, and the spot assigned for the kneeling
down of the camels, before a lad met us, who had not
known yet [or grown up to the state of] sin, with a bundle
of grass on his shoulder. Abû Zayd greeted him with
the salutation of the Moslem, and asked him to stand
still, and give information. Said he: “And of what
wishest thou to ask, may Allah prosper thee.” He
said: “Are here fresh dates sold for discourses?” He
replied: “No, by Allah.” Said he: “Nor green dates
for witticisms?” He replied: “Certainly not, by
Allah.” Said he: “Nor fruit for night-talk?” He
replied: “Far from it, by Allah.” Said he: “Nor
honey-fritters for poems?” He replied: “Be silent,
may Allah preserve thee!” Said he: “Nor bread in
broth for choice verses?” He replied: “Whither stray
thy wits, may Allah guide thee aright.” Said he:
“Nor sifted flour for subtle sayings?” He replied:
“Give over with this, may Allah restore thy senses.”
But Abû Zayd took pleasure in reiterating question
and reply, and measuring out from this self-same sack,
and the youth perceived that the goal of his talk was
distant, and that the Shaykh was a devilkin. So he
said: “Let this suffice thee, O Shaykh, I know now
what is thy drift, and see clearly thy quiddity. Take
then thy answer in a lump, and be satisfied with it for
thy ken: In this place poetry fetches not a barley-corn,
nor prose a bread-crumb, nor a narrative nail-parings,
nor a treatise slop-water, nor the wise maxims of
Lokmân a mouthful of food, nor the history of battles
a morsel of meat, for, as for the people of this age, there
is none amongst them who bestows a gift when an
encomium has been fashioned for him, none who gives
a reward when a poem has been recited to him, none
who shows himself bountiful when a tale has diverted
him, none who provides support, though he be a prince,
and with them the learned is like a waste spring-