Page:Muhammad Diyab al-Itlidi - Historical Tales and Anecdotes of the Time of the Early Khalîfahs - Alice Frere - 1873.djvu/271

242 And es-Saffâh, hearing this, laughed, and said, "I will give them all in cultivated land."

And the narrator of this tale remarks, "Observe his adroitness and cunning in asking; how he began with the sporting dog, which it was easy to grant, and made one demand lead to another, in order and amusingly, until he had gained everything he wanted. Whereas had he asked for all at once, verily it would have been refused him. May Allâh prosper him!"