Page:Muhammad Diyab al-Itlidi - Historical Tales and Anecdotes of the Time of the Early Khalîfahs - Alice Frere - 1873.djvu/63

34 began sounding their lutes, and sang the song which begins—

until it says:

And when Jábalah heard this, he laughed until his eye-teeth appeared, and asked me, "Do you know who composed that?" I replied, "No." He said, "Hásan-ibn-Thâbit, the Prophet's poet."

Then he made a sign to the slave-girls upon his left hand, and said, "Make us weep." So they burst into song, striking their lutes, and recited this poetry: until the song runs: