Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 3.djvu/354

324 if the Khalif assented yet once more, it would be the signal of his death, laughed till his wang-teeth appeared; at which Hisham’s wrath redoubled and he said to him, ‘O boy, meseems thou art mad; seest thou not that thou art about to depart the world? Why then dost thou laugh in mockery of thyself?’ ‘O Commander of the Faithful,’ answered the young Arab, ‘if my life is to be prolonged, none can hurt me, great or small; but I have bethought me of some verses, which do thou hear, for my death cannot escape thee.’ ‘Say on and be brief,’ replied Hisham; so the Arab repeated the following verses:

At this Hisham smiled and said, ‘By my kinship to the Prophet (whom God bless and preserve), had he spoken thus at first, I had given him all he asked, except the Khalifate!’ Then he bade his servants stuff his mouth with jewels and entreat him courteously; so they did as he bade them and the Arab went his way. IBRAHIM BEN EL MEHDI AND THE BARBER-SURGEON.

When the Khalifate fell to El Mamoun the son of Haroun er Reshid, the latter’s brother Ibrahim, son of El Mehdi, refused to acknowledge his nephew and betook himself to Er Reï, where he proclaimed himself Khalif and abode