Page:Muhammad Diyab al-Itlidi - Historical Tales and Anecdotes of the Time of the Early Khalîfahs - Alice Frere - 1873.djvu/156

Rh ʾAbd-el-Málik-ibn-Marwân sent the following letter to el-Hajjâj-ibn-Yûsuf:—"In the name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful, to el-Hajjâj-ibn-Yûsuf. When this my letter reaches thee, and thou hast read it, send to me three foreign slave-girls, full-grown, virgins. They must possess the very perfection of beauty. And write to me a description of each one of them, and the amount of her value in money."

So when el-Hajjâj had read the letter, he sent for the Nakhkhâsîn, that is, the slave-merchants, and laid upon them the commands which he had received from the Commander of the Faithful, ordering them at the same time to search through the towns until they should attain their end. So they went from town to town and from country to country, until having found what they sought, they returned to el-Hajjâj with three foreign full-grown virgin slave-girls, whose like was nowhere to be found. And el-Hajjâj was loud in his praise, and set himself to examine each one of them, and to estimate her money value. And he found that they were priceless, and that each one of them was worth the cost of them all.

Then he wrote a letter to ʾAbd-el-Málik, the son of Marwân, in which, after the customary salutation, he