Barmecide With Mansur.

It is told that Harun al-Rashid, in the days before he became jealous of the Barmecides, sent once for one of his guards, Sálih by name, and said to him, "O Salih, go to Mansúr and say to him: 'You owest us a thousand thousand dirhams and we require of you immediate payment of this amount.' And I command you, O Salih, unless he pay it between this hour and sundown, sever his head from his body and bring it to me." "I hear and I obey," answered Salih and, going to Mansur, acquainted him with what the Caliph had said; whereupon he said, "I am a lost man, By God; for all my estate and all my hand owns, if sold for their utmost value, would not fetch a price of more than an hundred thousand dirhams. from where then, O Salih, shall I get the other nine hundred thousand?" Salih replied, "Contrive how you may speedily acquit yourself, else you are a dead man; for I cannot grant you an eye twinkling of delay after the time appointed me by the Caliph; nor can I fail of anything which the Prince of True Believers has enjoined on me. Hasten, therefore, to devise some means of saving yourself before the time expire."

Mansur said, "O Salih, I beg you of your favour to bring me to my house, that I may take leave of my children and family and give my kinsfolk my last injunctions." Now Salih relats: "So I went with him to his house where he fell to bidding his family farewell, and the house was filled with a clamour of weeping and lamentations and calling for help on Almighty Allah. Thereupon I said to him, 'I have bethought me that Allah may Perhaps vouchsafe you relief at the hands of the Barmecides. Come, let us go to the house of Yahya bin Khalid.' So we went to Yahya's house, and Mansur told him his case, at which he was sore concerned and bowed him groundwards for a while; then raising his head, he called his treasurer and said to him, 'How much have we in our treasury?' 'A matter of five thousand dirhams,' answered the treasurer, and Yahya bade him bring them and sent a messenger to his son, Al-Fazl, saying, 'I am offered for sale a splendid estate which may never be laid waste; so send me something of money.' Al-Fazl sent him a thousand thousand dirhams, and he despatched a messenger with a like message to his son Ja'afar, saying, 'We have a matter of much moment and for it we want money;' whereupon Ja'afar at once sent him a thousand thousand dirhams; nor did Yahya leave sending to his kinsmen of the Barmecides, till he had collected from them a great sum of money for Mansur. But Salih and the debtor knew not of this; and Mansur said to Yahya, 'O my lord, I have laid hold upon your skirt, for I know not where to look for the money but to you, in accordance with your wonted generosity; so discharge you the rest of my debt for me and make me your freed slave.'

Thereupon Yahya hung down his head and wept; then he said to a page, 'Harkye, boy, the Commander of the Faithful gave our slave girl Dananir a jewel of great price: go you to her and bid her send it to us.' The page went out and presently returned with the jewel, whereupon Yahya said, 'O Mansur, I bought this jewel of the merchant for the Commander of the Faithful, at a price of two hundred thousand dinars, and he gave it to our slave girl Dananir, the lute player; and when he sees it with you, he will know it and spare your blood and do you honour for our sake; and now, O Mansur, truly your money is complete.' (Salih continued) So I took the money and the jewel and carried them to Al-Rashid together with Mansur, but on the way I heard him repeat this couplet, applying it to his own case,

'Twas not of love that fared my feet to them; 'Twas that I feared me lest they shoot their shafts!'

Now when I heard this, I marvelled at his evil nature and his depravity and mischief making and his ignoble birth and provenance and, turning upon him, I said, 'There is none on the face of the earth better or more righteous than the Barmecides, nor any baser nor more wrongous than you; for they bought you off from death and delivered you from destruction, giving you what should save you; yet you thankest them not nor praise them, neither acquittest you after the manner of the noble; nay, you meetest their benevolence with this speech.' Then I went to Al-Rashid and acquainted him with all that had passed"—

Generous Dealing of Yahya Bin Khalid. 181

When it was the Three Hundred and sixth night

She said, Salih continued: "So I acquainted the Commander of the Faithful with all that passed and Al-Rashid marvelled at the generosity and benevolence of Yahya and the vileness and ingratitude of Mansur, and bade restore the jewel to Yahya, saying, 'whatever we have given it befits us not to take again.' After that Salih returned to Yahya and acquainted him with the tale of Mansur and his ill conduct; whereupon he replied, 'O Salih, when a man is in want, sick at heart and sad of thought, he is not to be blamed for anything that falls from him; for it comes not from the heart;' and in this way he took to seeking excuse for Mansur. But Salih wept and exclaimed, 'Never shall the revolving heavens bring forth into being the like of you, O Yahya! Alas, and well away, that one of such noble nature and generosity should be laid in the dust!' And he repeated these two couplets,

'Haste to do kindness you do intend; You can not always on boons expend: How many from bounty themselves withheld, Till means of bounty had come to end!'

And men tell another tale of the