Page:Tales from the Arabic, Vol 1.djvu/74

54 Quoth he, “I am the son of him whose rank time abaseth not, and if it descend one day, it will assuredly return [to its former height]; thou seest the folk [crowd] in troops to the light of his fire, some standing around it and some sitting.” So the master of the police refrained from slaying him and said to the third, “Who art thou?” Quoth he, “I am the son of him who plungeth through the ranks with his might and correcteth them with the sword, so that they stand straight; his feet are not loosed from the stirrup, whenas the horsemen on the day of battle are weary.” So the master of police held his hand from him also, saying, “Belike, he is the son of a champion of the Arabs.”

Then he kept them under guard, and when the morning morrowed, he referred their case to El Hejjaj, who caused bring them before him and enquiring into their affair, found that the first was the son of a barber-surgeon, the second of a [hot] bean-seller and the third of a weaver. So he marvelled at their readiness of speech and said to his session-mates, “Teach your sons deportment; for, by Allah, but for their ready wit, I had smitten off their heads!”