Page:Muhammad Diyab al-Itlidi - Historical Tales and Anecdotes of the Time of the Early Khalîfahs - Alice Frere - 1873.djvu/188

Rh "He shall find in me whatever he desires, in-shäa-Allâh!" replied the young man.

And when he appeared before el-Hajjâj, the latter asked him, "Hast thou read the Kurân?" "I have," he replied; "and have, moreover, committed it to memory."

"And dost thou know any poetry?" asked el-Hajjâj.

"There is not one of the poets that I have not studied," he answered.

"And art thou acquainted with the pedigrees of the Arabs, and their adventures?" continued el-Hajjâj.

"Of all that, nothing is forgotten by me," the young man made answer. And he continued narrating whatever the Amîr desired, until the latter thought of