Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 4.djvu/52

30 THE GENEROUS DEALING OF YEHYA BEN KHALID WITH A MAN WHO FORGED A LETTER IN HIS NAME.

There was between Yehya ben Khalid and Abdallah ben Malik el Khuzaï a secret enmity, the reason whereof was that Haroun er Reshid loved the latter with an exceeding love, so that Yehya and his sons were wont to say that he had bewitched the Khalif; and thus they abode a long while, with rancour in their hearts, till it fell out that the Khalif invested Abdallah with the government of Armenia and sent him thither. Soon after he had established himself in his seat of government, there came to him one of the people of Irak, a man of excellent parts and good breeding, who had lost his wealth and wasted his substance, and his estate was come to nought; so he forged a letter to Abdallah in Yehya’s name and set out therewith for Armenia. When he came to the governor’s gate, he gave the letter to one of the chamberlains, who carried it to his master. Abdallah read it and considering it attentively, knew it to be forged; so he sent for the man, who presented himself before him and called down blessings upon him and praised him and those of his court. Quoth Abdallah to him, ‘What moved thee to weary thyself thus and bring me a forged letter? But be of good heart; for we will not disappoint thy travail.’ ‘God prolong the life of our lord the Vizier!’ replied the other. ‘If my coming irk thee, cast not about for a pretext to repel me, for God’s earth is wide and the Divine Provider liveth. Indeed, the letter I bring thee from Yehya ben Khalid is true and no forgery.’ Quoth Abdallah, ‘I will write a letter to my