Ja'afar Bin Musa Al-Hadi once had a slave girl, a lutist, called Al-Badr al-Kabir. Than her there was not in her time a fairer of face, nor shapelier of form, nor more elegant in manners, nor more accomplished in the art of singing and playing the strings. She was indeed perfect in beauty and extreme in every charm. Now Mohammed al-Amin, son of Zubaydah, heard of her and was urgent with Ja'afar to sell her to him. But he replied, "You know it beseems not one of my rank to sell slave girls nor set prices on concubines. But were she not my ward-child I would send her to you as a gift and not grudge her to you." And some days after this, Mohammed al-Amin went to Ja'afar's house to make merry. The host set before him what behoves to set before true friends and bade the damsel al-Badr al-Kabir sing to him and gladden him. So she tuned the lute and sang with ravishing melody, while Mohammed al-Amin fell to drinking and jollity and bade the cup bearers ply Ja'afar with much wine until they made him drunk. Then he took the damsel and carried her to his own house, but laid not a finger on her.

And when morning dawned he bade invite Ja'afar. When he came, he set wine before him and made the girl sing to him from behind the curtain. Ja'afar knew her voice and was angered at this, but because of the nobleness of his nature and the magnanimity of his mind he showed no change. Now when the carousal ended, al-Amin commanded one of his servants to fill the boat in which Ja'afar had come with dirhams and dinars and all manner of jewels and precious stones and rich raiment and goods galore. So he laid within it a thousand myriads of money and a thousand fine pearls, each worth twenty thousand dirhams, and he did not stop loading the barge with all kinds of things precious and rare until the boatmen cried out for help, saying, "The boat cannot hold any more!" Whereupon he bade them carry all this to Ja'afar's palace. Such are the exploits of the magnanimous, Allah have mercy on them! And a tale is related of