Page:Muhammad Diyab al-Itlidi - Historical Tales and Anecdotes of the Time of the Early Khalîfahs - Alice Frere - 1873.djvu/239

210 Then Khuzaimah took the bag, and went in to the daughter of his uncle, and said to her, "Rejoice! for verily happiness and freedom from care have been bestowed upon us by Allâh; and if it be but copper, still there is plenty. Get up, and bring me a light." But she said, "I have no means of getting a light." So he spent the night in fingering the money, and the stamp seemed to him like that of dinârs. And he could not believe it.

As for ʾIkrimah, he returned to his dwelling, and there found that his wife had discovered his absence, and had been asking about him, and had been informed of his riding off. And she disapproved of it, and began to suspect him, and said to him, "The Governor of Mesopotamia should go out in the middle of the night unattended by his servants and unknown to his people only to visit his wives or his slaves." He made answer, "Know that I went not to any of them." "Then tell me whither thou wentest," said she. He replied, "O woman! I did not go out at such a time desiring that anybody should know about me." "There is no help for it," said she, "thou must tell me." "Wilt thou keep it secret?" he asked. "Certainly I will," she replied. So he told her the whole story as