Once more Abû Zayd appears, together with his young wife, in a Court of Justice, this time that of the Kadi of Ramlah, on the plea of seeking redress for their matrimonial grievances. The first instance of their quarrels was contained in the ninth Assembly, and Rückert, in his free translation, or rather imitation of Ḥarîri in German, has very skilfully interwoven the two compositions into one. The same subject we have seen treated from a different point of view in the fortieth, called “of Tebriz,” and as both the ninth and fortieth are much more elaborate than the present one, it seems to me highly probable that this Assembly is what we would call the first sketch or preliminary study to the two former, which he may have thought fit to insert here, among some of the most artificial and carefully finished of his compositions, because its comparative simplicity and soberness endows it with a particular charm of its own by way of contrast.

Al Ḥârith, son of Hammâm, related: I had gathered it from men of experiences, that travel is a mirror of marvels, wherefore I ceased not crossing every desert, and braving every danger, so that I might bring into my reach everything wonderful. Now amongst the finest sights I ever enjoyed, and the strangest adven­tures that I reckoned pleasant, was that I found myself in the presence of the Kadi of Ramlah,—and he one of the lords of wealth and power,—when there had appealed to him a worn wight in worn raiment, and a fair one in faded finery. The old man was minded to speak, and explain the object of his suit, but the wench cut short his peroration, and checked his bark. Then she removed from her face the flap of kerchief and indited with the tongue of an impudent shrew:

“O Kadi of Ramlah, in whose hands there is for us the date or else the hot cinder-coal,

To thee complain I of my mate’s cruelty, who pays his pilgrim’s duty but once a while:

Would that, when his devotion has come to end, and eased his back is after his pebble-throw,

He followed Abû Yûsuf’s wise rule and wont to join the lesser with the chief pilgrimage.

This is his way in spite of that since he first took me to him I never crossed him in aught.

So bid him show me henceforth sweet kindliness, or make him drink the bitter draught of divorce,

Before he puts from him the last shred of shame, obedient to old Abû ’l-Murrah’s hest.”

Then the Kadi said to him: “Thou hast heard what she lays at thy door and with what she threatens thee, so turn aside from that which disgraces thee and beware to anger her and come to grief.” Thereupon the Shaykh crouched on his knees and poured forth the springs of his utterances, saying:

“Listen, thou whom no blame may reach, to the speech of one who clears himself of doubts cast on him:

By Allah, not from hatred turn I from her, nor has my heart’s love for my spouse died away,

But fortune’s fitful freak has come over us, ruthlessly robbing us of both pearl and bead.

So my abode is empty, as unadorned her neck you see by shell or gold ornament.

Erewhile my views on love and his creed and cult were those professed so staunchly by ‘Uẕrah’s tribe,

But since fell fortune fled I left dolls alone, like one who vows chastity for caution’s sake,

And not from grudge held I aloof from my field, only from fear to see the seed spring in halm.

So blame not one who in such plight finds himself, rather be kind to him and bear with his talk.”

Said the narrator: Then the woman flared up at his speech and unsheathed arguments to fight him, saying: “Woe betide thee, thou fool, thou lack-food and lack-a-lance, makest thou a fuss about a child, when for every grazing creature there is a pasture-ground? Forsooth, thy understanding has strayed, and thy arrow missed its aim: thou art a wretch, and thy spouse is wretched through thee.” Said the Kadi to her: “As for thee, if thou wert to wrangle with Khansâ’, she would go away from thee silenced, but as for him, if he is truthful in his assertion and his alleged poverty, there is enough in his concern for his growling entrails, to make him forget his pendulum.” Then she dropped her head, looking askance, and returning no reply, so that we said, shame has come back to her, or victory has encompassed her. Then the Shaykh said to her: “Out on thee, if thou hast tinselled thy speech or concealed that which is full well known to thee.” Said she: “Alas, is there concealment after appeal, and remains to us a seal upon any secret? There is neither of us, but says that which is true and tears the veil of modesty in speaking out: so would that we had been visited with dumbness, and not repaired to the judge.” Thereupon she covered herself with her kerchief, and pretended to weep at her exposure. But the Kadi began to wonder at their address, and to admire it, and to blame fortune and lament over it on their behalf, whereupon he brought forth of dirhems two thousand, saying: “Content therewith the two hollows, and resist the mischief-maker between two friends.” So the twain thanked him for the handsome way in which he had dismissed them and departed [as united] as though they were wine and water. After they had gone, and their persons were at a distance, the Kadi began to praise their cultured minds, and to ask: “Is there anyone who knows them?” Then the foremost of his henchmen and the most particular of his intimates said to him: “As for the Shaykh, he is the Serûji, to whose excellence all the world witnesses, and as for the woman she is his travelling consort, but as for their litigation, it is a wile of his device, and one of the hunting-nets of his deceit.” The Kadi was angered at what he heard, and burned with rage to see how he was cheated. Accordingly he said to the informer against them: “Get thee up, and spy for the pair of them, then pursue and chase them.” So he rose, shaking his limbs defiantly, and after a while he returned, defeated. Said the Kadi to him: “Let us know what thou hast unearthed, and conceal not from us aught of vileness thou hast found out.” He replied: “I ceased not following up the roads, and trying to overcome all obstructions, until I per­ceived them entering the desert, and they had already bridled the beast of separation, when I excited their eagerness for a second draught, and pledged myself for their obtaining [the object of] their hope; but the Shaykh’s heart was disposed to take a despairing view of the case, and said: “Flight with Kurâb (name of a celebrated horse) is wiser,” while she said: “Nay, rather the return is praiseworthier, and cowardice is weakly.” Now when the Shaykh saw clearly the foolish­ness of her notion, and the risk of her venturesomeness, he took hold of her skirts, whereupon he indited, saying to her:

“Take my advice, and follow its guarded way, and let the sum suffice thee for details:

Fly from the date-tree when thou hast had thy pick, and separate for good from it henceforth,

Bewaring to return to it even though its keeper made it free to all comers,

For best a thief should not be seen in a spot where he has given proof of his cunning.”

Whereupon he said to me: “Thou hast taken trouble in that which thou hast been bid to do: so return to whence thou hast come, and say to him who has sent thee, if thou wilt:

“Eh, gently, let not bounty be followed by injury, for else both thy wealth and fame alike will be lost and gone,

And fly not into passion if a beggar exaggerates, for he is by no means first to polish and gloss his speech,

And if some deceit of mine is taken by thee amiss, remember, Abû Mûsá before thee has been deceived.”

Said the Kadi to him: “Allah confound him! how charming are his ways and how exquisite his arts!” Then he sent off his spy with two mantles and a purse full of coin, saying to him: “Fare speedily like one who turns neither right nor left, until thou seest the Shaykh and the wench, and moist their hands with this gift, and show to them how fain I am to be beguiled by the learned.” Quoth the narrator: Now in all my wanderings abroad, I never saw a sight as wonderful as this, nor heard I the like of it from anyone who roved about and roamed through the lands.