Then she came, may I be her ransom, and cooed, and with her greetings appeased her lovelorn and loved one.”
Thereupon the Shaykh began to scan carefully that which the boy had set into lines, and let his glance run over it, and when he had found his writing beautiful and his punctuation correct, he said to him: “May thy ten [fingers] not dry up, nor thy odour be found foul.” Then he called a lad of bewitching looks, who [on removing his face-veil] displayed blossoms of a garden, and said to him: “Recite the two bordered couplets, that silence every speaker, and are sure not to be matched by a third.” Said the boy to him: “Listen! and may thy hearing never become hard, nor thy collected senses be scattered,” and recited without tarrying and without delay:
“Make thee a mark, whose traces show fair to sight, give thanks for gifts, though trifling as sesam-seed,
And shun deceitfulness with all might and main, that thou mayst gain thee lordship and weight with men.”
Said he to him: “Thou hast excelled, O imp, O father of despoilment.” Then he called out: “Propound, O Yâsîn, that which is difficult of words written with Sîn.” Thereupon he rose and tarried not to indite with a nasal voice:
“In niqs, which means ‘writing-ink,’ and nasgh, ‘the wrist of the hand,’ the Sîn is used whether they be written or read aloud.
“And so in qasb ‘hard’ (of dates), and bâsiqah ‘lofty palm,’ in safḥun ‘foot of a mount,’ in bakhs ‘defect,’ iqsir ‘force!’
In iqtabis ‘borrow fire!’ taqassast ‘I heard it said,’ musait̤ir ‘custodian,’ shamûs ‘unbroke,’ jaras ‘bell.’
Qarîs, or else qâris ‘cold’; learn this from me as correct, lighting thy torch at the fire of knowledge sound and approved,”
Said he to him: “Thou hast done well, O unrest, O
cymbal-beater of the troop.” Then he said: “Get thee
up, O ‘Anbasah (a name of the lion) and explain the
Sâds that are [vulgarly] confounded with Sîn.” Thereupon
he leaped up with the leap of the roused lion-
“With Ṣâd is written qabaṣt ‘I took with the finger-tips,’ and aṣikh ‘be listening that thou may’st receive the news,’
And baṣaqt ‘I spat,’ and ṣimâkh ‘the ear,’ and ṣanjah ‘cymbal,’ and qaṣṣ and ṣadr ‘the breast,’ iqtaṣṣ ‘he traced.’
Bakhaṣt ‘I gouged his eye,’ and furṣah ‘the proper time,’ and farîṣah ‘muscles beneath the arm that quake in fear.’
And qaṣartu Hindan ‘I guarded Hind,’ fiṣḥu ’n-naṣârá ‘paschal feast of the Christians who look out for it,’
And qaraṣt ‘I pinched,’ and the wine is qâriṣah, ‘tart of taste,’ when it pricks the tongue, and all this is orthography.”
Said he: “Allah keep thee, O my son, thou hast
indeed given coolness to both my eyne.” Then he bade
get up one small of body as a chess-pawn, and swift of
motion as a falcon, and commanded him to stick to his
way, and rehearse the words that are differently written
with Sîn or Ṣâd. Then the boy rose, trailing his coat-
“If so thou wilt write with Sîn, the words I will tell to thee, and if thou wilt, let them be correctly written with Ṣâd:
Maghs ‘gripes,’ and faqs ‘breeding young,’ must̤âr ‘new wine,’ mummalis
‘Slipped from the hand,’ sâligh ‘shedding teeth,’ sirât̤ ‘path of truth,’
Saqab ‘approach,’ sâmighân ‘the corners twain of the mouth,’
Saqr ‘hawk,’ sawîq ‘wheat in broth,’ miṣlâq ‘glib-tongued’: thus they teach.”
Said he to him: “Well done. O thou mite, O thou eye of a fly.” Then he called out: “O Daghfal (young elephant), O Abû Zanfal (father of mischief).” Forthwith a boy stood ready to his bidding, fairer than an [ostrich’s] egg on the green-sward. Then he said to him: “What is the rule with regard to the spelling of the verbs terminating in a weak letter?” He replied: “Listen, may thy echo never be deaf, nor thy enemies endowed with hearing,” whereupon he indited, needing no prompter:
“If ever thou art doubtful of spelling a final weak, then put such a verb into the second of preterite:
If its Tâ is preceded by Yâ, let a Yâ it be, if not, put an Alif last, in order to write it right:
And think not that verbs of three or more letters of this class, or such as contain a Hamzah, will differ in that respect.”
The Shaykh rejoiced at that which the boy had propounded, saying to him: “I commend thee to the protection of Allah from the eye of the envier, and fain would be made thy ransom,” whereupon he said: “Hither, O Ḳa‘ḳâ‘, O thou bird, cautious as to where thou sippest water.” Then came forward a lad brighter than the fire of hospitality in the eyes of the son of night-faring. He said to him: “Explain the distinction between Ẓâd and Z̤â so as to cleave thereby the hearts of the adversaries.” The boy bestirred himself gleefully at his speech, and forthwith indited with a loud voice:
“Thou who askest about the two letters Ẓâd and Z̤â, in order to make no error in writing:
Let suffice thee to know by heart those in Z̤â, so hear them like a man wide awake and retain them,
Namely z̤amyâ ‘with blackish lips,’ al-maz̤âlim ‘plaints for justice,’ iz̤lâm ‘producing obscureness,’
Z̤alm ‘the whiteness of teeth,’ z̤ubá ‘points of weapons,’ al-laḥâz̤ ‘the eye-corner next to the temples,’
And ‘az̤â ‘kind of lizards,’ and az̤-z̤alîm ‘male of the ostrich,’ or ‘wronged,’ and also ‘the wronger,’
Z̤abyun ‘antelope,’ shaiz̤am ‘tall,’ z̤ill ‘a shadow,’ and laz̤á ‘blaze,’ shiwâz̤ ‘a flame burning smokeless,’
At̤-t̤az̤annî ‘opinion,’ al-lafz̤ ‘the word,’ and nam ‘a poem,’ and at̤-t̤aqrîz̤ ‘panegyric,’
Qaiz̤ ‘the summer,’ z̤umá ‘athirst,’ and lamâz̤ ‘taste on the tip of the tongue,’ ḥiz̤á ‘shares of fortune,’
An-naz̤îr ‘what resembles,’ z̤îr ‘foster-mother,’ jâḥiz̤ ‘goggling,’ an-naz̤îrûn ‘the beholders,’
And tashaz̤z̤î ‘a splitting up,’ z̤ilf ‘the hoof of ruminants,’ and îqâz̤ ‘awaking a sleeper,’
‘Az̤m ‘a bone,’ and z̤unbûb ‘the bone of the hip,’ and ash-shaz̤â ‘bone of arm or leg,’ z̤ahr ‘the backside,’
Ash-shiz̤âz̤ ‘yoke for carrying,’ ḥâfiz̤ûn ‘those who preserve,’ iḥfâz̤ ‘provoking to anger,’
Al-ḥaz̤îrât ‘the lofts for dates,’ al-maz̤annah ‘likely place where a thing is found,’ z̤innah ‘notion,’
Kâz̤imûn ‘folks in silent wrath,’ al-waz̤îfât ‘daily rations,’ mughtâz̤ ‘enraged,’ kiz̤z̤ah ‘surfeit.’”