It is related that Hind, daughter of al-Nu'man, was the fairest woman of her day, and her beauty and loveliness were reported to al-Hajjaj, who sought her in marriage and lavished much treasure on her. So he took her to wife, engaging to give her a dowry of two hundred thousand dirhams in case of divorce, and when he went into her, he abode with her a long time.
Hind, Daughter of Al-Nu'man and Al-Hajjaj. 97
One day after this, he went in to her and found her looking at her face in the mirror and saying,
"Hind is an Arab filly purest bred, Which has been covered by a mongrel mule; An colt of horse she throw By God! well, If mule, it but results from mulish rule."
When al-Hajjaj heard this, he turned back and went his way, unseen of Hind; and, being minded to put her away, he sent Abdullah bin Táhir to her, to divorce her. So Abdullah went in to her and said to her, "Al Hajjaj Abu Mohammed says to you: 'Here be the two hundred thousand dirhams of your contingent dowry he ows you'; and he has deputed me to divorce you." She replied, "O Ibn Tahir, I gladly agree to this; for know that I never for one day took pleasure in him; so, if we separate, By God, I shall never regret him, and these two hundred thousand dirhams I give to you as a reward for the glad tidings you bring me of my release from that dog of the Thakafites." After this, the Commander of the Faithful,
Abd al-Malik bin Marwán, heard of her beauty and loveliness, her stature and symmetry, her sweet speech and the amorous grace of her glances and sent to her, to ask her in marriage;—
When it was the Six Hundred and Eighty second night
When the Caliph read her answer, he laughed and wrote to her, citing his saying (whom may Allah bless and keep!) "If a dog lap in the vessel of one of you, let him wash seven times, once of it with earth," and adding, "Wash the affront from the place of use." With this she could not gainsay him; so she replied to him, saying (after praise and blessing), "O Commander of the Faithful I will not consent save on one condition, and if you ask me what it is, I reply that al-Hajjaj lead my camel to the town where you tarriest barefoot and clad as he is." When the Caliph read her letter, he laughed long and loudly and sent to al-Hajjaj, bidding him to do as she wished. He dared not disobey the order, so he submitted to the Caliph's commandment and sent to Hind, telling her to make ready for the journey. So she made ready and mounted her litter, when al-Hajjaj with his suite came up to Hind's door and as she mounted and her damsels and eunuchs rode around her, he dismounted and took the halter of her camel and led it along, barefooted, whilst she and her damsels and tirewomen laughed and jeered at him and made mock of him. Then she said to her tirewoman, "Draw back the curtain of the litter;" and she drew back the curtain, till Hind was face to face with al-Hajjaj, whereupon she laughed at him and he improvised this couplet,
"Though now you jeer, O Hind, how many a night I've left you wakeful sighing for the light."
Khuzaymah Bin Bishr and Ikrimah Al-Fayyaz. 99
And she answered him with these two,
"We reck not, an our life escape from bane, Por waste of wealth and gear that went in vain: Money may be regained and rank re won When one is cured of malady and pain."
And she did not stop to laugh at him and make sport of him, till they drew near the city of the Caliph, when she threw down a dinar with her own hand and said to al-Hajjaj, "O camel driver, I have dropped a dirham; look for it and give it to me." So he looked and seeing nothing but the dinar, said, "This is a dinar." She replied, "Nay, 'tis a dirham." But he said, "This is a dinar." Then she said, "Praise be Allah who has given us in exchange for a paltry dirham a dinar! Give it us." And al-Hajjaj was abashed at this. Then he carried her to the palace of the Commander of the Faithful, and she went in to him and became his favourite. —
When it was the Six Hundred and Eighty third night
She pursued, men also tell a tale anent