They tell that Al-Hajjáj once bade the Chief of Police go his rounds about Bassorah city by night, and whomsoever he found abroad after supper tide that he should smite his neck. So he went round one night of the nights and came upon three youths swaying and staggering from side to side, and on them signs of wine bibbing. So the watch laid hold of them and the captain

Al-Hajjaj And The Three Young Men. 35 said to them, "Who are you that you dare transgress the commandment of the Commander of the Faithful and come abroad at this hour?" One of the youths said, "I am the son of him to whom all necks abase themselves, alike the nose-pierced and the breaker; they come to him in their own despite, abject and submissive, and he takes of their wealth and of their blood." The Master of Police held his hand from him, saying, "Perhaps he is of the kinsmen of the Prince of True Believers," and said to the second, "Who are you?" He said, "I am the son of him whose rank Time abases not, and if it be lowered one day, it will assuredly return to its former height; you see the folk crowd in troops to the light of his fire, some standing around it and some sitting." So the Chief of Police refrained from slaying him and asked the third, "Who are you?" He answered, "I am the son of him who plunges through the ranks with his might and levels them with the sword, so that they stand straight; his feet are not loosed from the stirrup, when the horsemen on the day of the battle are weary." So the Master of Police held his hand from him also, saying, "Perhaps he is the son of a brave of the Arabs." Then he kept them under guard, and when morning came, he referred their case to Al-Hajjaj, who caused them to be brought before him and, enquiring into their affair, found that the first was the son of a barber surgeon, the second of a bean seller and the third of a weaver. So he marvelled at their eloquent readiness of speech and said to the men of his assembly, "Teach your sons the rhetorical use of Arabic: for, by God, but for their ready wit, I had smitten off their heads!"