A.	G.	Serial.	TITLES OF THE ANECDOTES.
			Part I, Chapter XVI. On pithy and judicious answers given by wise men.
f202a	f146b	838	Introduction. The Cailph ‘Umar excuses a sinner, when he reminds him of his neglect of three injunctions.
”	”	839	Happy retorts of a drunkard to the Amír of Balkh.
f202b	f147a	840	The retaliation of the Imám Ḥasan against Mu‘áwiya.
”	”	841	Muḥammad ibnu’l-Ḥanafiyya’s reply about the Caliph ‘Alí’s sending him to the field and keeping Ḥasan and Ḥusayn at home.
”	”	842	‘Abdu’llah b. ‘Abbás supports his prediction about the rule of ‘Abdullah b. Muṭí‘ and ‘Abdu’llah b. Ḥanẓala by a clever reply, when challanged by questioners.
”	”	843	Admonishing reply of Muḥammad ibnu’l-Ḥanafiyya to al-Ḥajjáj.
”	”	844	Hishám b. ‘Abdu’l-Malik cooled down by the pointed reply of a convicted servant.
”	”	845	The three occasions upon which the Caliph al-Ma’mún was reduced to silence in spite of his ready wit.
f203a	”	846	‘Abdu’l-Masiḥ, the archbishop of Ḥíra, gives evasive replies to Khálid b. Walíd while settling peace terms.
”	f147b	847 bis	Witty remarks of a divine about cheese on and off the table of a Caliph.
”	”	847a	The Caliph Mu‘áwiya’s three piquant replies to Iyás, when three of his defects were pointed out to him.
A.	G.	Serial.	TITLES OF THE ANECDOTES.
f203a	f147b	848	Jaḥáma (?) the Zindíq, when brought before the Caliph Hárún and questioned about his heretical conduct, acquits himself by blaming the Caliph in return.
”	”	849	The conspiracy of Dihqán of Baḥrayn against Mughíra b. Shu‘ba, and the latter’s counterstroke before the Caliph ‘Umar.
f203b	”	850	Brutal rejoinder of a rich pilgrim, a notable of Bukhárá, to a poor pilgrim, who had impudently challanged him. (Cf. Qábús-Náma, Litho. Ṭihrán. P 20/1, Anec. same.)
”	*	851	Why Mu‘áfá (?) b. Nu‘aym and Ma‘bad b. Ṭawq were saluted respectively by the Baní ‘Anbar.
”	f147b	852	Sátigín, the Turkish guard, defends the Turks from the charge of insolence by asking his critics the fate of the first four Caliphs, when there was no fear of Turks.
”	f148a	853	The Qádhí Sharík b. ‘Abdu’llah’s moral courage and bold replies to the Caliph al-Mahdí.
”	”	854	Bárbad the Minstrel in jealousy kills his slave musician, and Parwíz’s order for his execution is averted by a clever reply.
”	”	855	Another witty reply of Bárbad, at which Parwíz releases a condemned courtier and rewards Bárbad. (Cf. N. S. N. p. 118 and also T. F. S. pt. I, ch. IV, pp. 72—3).
f204a	”	856	Murra (?) a friend of al-Ḥajjáj passes a witty remark about the government officials while blaming the scribes.
”	”	857	The wilful silence of Thumáma b. Ashras when the Wazír Fadhl b. Sahl wanted a corroboration of his denunciation of ‘Abdu’llah b. Málik al-Khuzá‘í, and his clever defence.
”	f148b	858	‘Abdu’l-Malik b. Marwán appreciates the explanation of Ibn-i-‘Uyayna on his refusal of the offer of Egypt.
”	”	859	Ma‘n b. Zá’ida’s happy replies to the Caliph Hárún’s queries.
”	”	860	‘Attábí, the poet’s, mixed condolence and congratulation, at the death of al-Hádí and the accession of Hárún to the Caliphate.
”	”	861	ash-Sha‘bí as an ambassador to the court of the Qayṣar of Rúm, and how he removed the unfavourable impression produced by the Qayṣar’s letter on al-Manṣúr (?). (Cf. Ibn Khallikán. Wüst. Biog. no. 316, story ascribed to Sha‘bi and the Caliph ‘Abdu’l-Malik b. Marwán).
f204b	”	862	ash-Sha‘bí’s young nephew plays a practical joke on a retainer of an Amír, who took him as a bearer.
”	”	863	Ibn Ḥamdún’s humorous remark about Yúnus (?), a favourite slave of the Caliph al-Mu‘tazz.
”	”	864	Khálid b. Azhar’s puns on his own, his father’s name and the name of his native town, and his witty remark about a line of a poet on the bread of Káshán, his native place, and how the Caliph al-Ma’mún appreciated it and installed him as the governor of Jurján and Ṭabaristán.
”	f149a	865	On the Caliph al-Manṣúr expressing resentment at the inefficiency of his own generals, and citing the instance of al-Ḥajjáj among the Umayyads, ‘Abbás the courtier submits that al-Ḥajjáj was almost absolute, and that if the Caliph chose there were to be found many more efficient than he in the Caliph’s army.
A.	G.	Serial.	TITLES OF THE ANECDOTES.
f204b	f149a	866	A eunuch obtains his release by sophistry, when brought before the court of the Amír Siddí (or Sindí) for peculation, by saying that just as the people falsely call him Siddí or ‘Black’, so also they have con­victed him falsely.
f205a	”	867	Thumáma retorts upon Aḥmad b. Abí Khálid, the sensitive Wazír, by hinting that he was fit for the post of a minister, if offered.
”	”	868	A Rabbi taunts Khálid-i-Qasrí for his disregard of the worshipfulness of Zayd b. ‘Alí the descendant of the Prophet.
”	”	869	Hibatu’llah Ibráhím b. al-Mahdí embarrassed at the witty remark of the young son of al-Ma’mún about his signet-ring.
”	”	870	An Arab among the ‘Helpers’ makes a sarcastic remark on the irritability of Aḥmad b. Abí Khálid.
”	*	871	Duwayd of Khurásán impeaches Qásim b. Mujáshi‘ for asking leave from the battle-field; the latter’s reply and Abú Muslim of Marw’s appreciation.
”	f149a	872	The Imám Ḥasan abhors war and bloodshed, and refuses to fight for Mu‘áwiya against the rising of Duwaydatu’l-Asadí.
f205b	f149b	873	An Arab’s trenchant remark on Mu‘awiya’s miserliness at meals.
”	”	874	The Caliph al-Hádí forgives a condemned secretary who recites apologetic verses proper to the occasion.
”	”	875	The Caliph al-Manṣúr arrests Ja‘far b. Muḥammad b. ‘Alí b. Ḥusayn and forgives him on his describing a certain type of hypocrisy, illustrated by Ibráhím and Muḥammad the sons of ‘Abdu’r-Raḥmán b. al-Ḥusayn.
”	”	876	Ṭurayḥ b. Ismá‘íl ath-Thaqafí the poet’s clever defence before the Caliph al-Manṣúr for having written an ode in honour of the Caliph Walid b. Yazid. (Cf. Ibn Qutayba’s ash-Shu‘ará, p. 427).
”	*	877	A drunkard and a Zindíq are brought before the tribunal; the former escapes punishment by a witty remark, while the latter is executed. (T. F. S. pt. I, ch. IV. p. 73).