THE STORY OF THE THREE EDUCATED YOUNG MEN.

T is related that el-Hajjâj commanded the captain

IT

of his guard to patrol during the night, and to behead any one whom he might find abroad after supper. So one night he patrolled, and found three young men reeling about, and bearing traces of wine. And he surrounded them, and asked, "Who are ye that thus disobey the Amîr?"

Then answered the first,

His son am I to whom indebted are

All who 'midst maimed or wounded may be found
Before him low his slaves themselves abase,

He takes their means, he takes their blood.

And the captain of the guard, who had seized hold of him to kill him, said, “Perhaps he is of kin to the Commander of the Faithful."

Then said the second young man,

I am his son whose power will never be lowered.
Is it one day lessened?-instantly it returns.

Thou mayst see men in crowds by the glow of his fire,
And amongst them those who stand and those who sit.

And the captain of the guard, having seized him

to kill him, said, "But perhaps he may belong to the noblest among the Arabs."

Then said the third young man,

My sire rushed boldly into the ranks,

And corrected with his sword until all was in order
His feet are never parted from his stirrups,

E'en when in raging fight the horsemen flee.

Then the captain of the guard, who had laid hold of him to kill him, said, "But maybe he is of the Arab heroes." And early next morning he reported their affair to el-Hajjâj, who ordered them to be brought before him. And he discovered their condition, and lo! the first was the son of a barber,* and the second was a son of a bean-seller,† and the third was the son of a weaver. And el-Hajjâj was astonished at their quickness, and said to those seated

* Even to the present day, barbers in the East practise phlebotomy by cupping, bleeding, leeching, and teeth-drawing, as did English barbers until recent years.

+ The bean-seller cooks his beans over an open fire in his shop. And these beans being a favourite article of food among the lower orders, he rarely wants for customers, some of whom sit round his fire and eat their beans on the spot, while others carry their purchase away with them.

Any one who has seen a handloom will at once recognize the applicability of the weaver's son's enigma.

with him, "Give your sons a good education,* for by Allah! had it not been for ready wit, they would have been beheaded. Then he released them, and

quoted:

Be the son of whom you may, yet acquire knowledge;
The glory thereof will serve thee instead of lineage.
Verily the youth who can say—I have got,

Is not the same as the youth who says-My father was.

* Ibn-Khalikân, on the authority of Ibn-'Abd-Rabbih, says that el-Hajjâj and his father kept school at et-Taïf, and that the former afterwards entered the police-guard of the Khalîfah 'Abd-el-Málik.

HOW HIND, DAUGHTER OF EN-NÚAMÂN, REVENGED HERSELF UPON EL-HAJJÂJ.

T is said that Hind, the daughter of en-Nuamân,*

IT

was the most beautiful woman of her time; and

* There appears to be some confusion here, consequent upon the possession of the same name by two women who lived about the same time, and both of whom were celebrated for beauty of person and power of mind. Ibn-Khalikân, in his Biographical Dictionary, gives a slightly different version of the lines in the text which he attributes to Hind, daughter of en-Nuamân, but states that she composed them upon her husband, Abu-Zarâa, Rûh-ibn-Zinba, whom she detested. This Abu-Zarâa was the head of the tribe of Judâm, and was appointed Governor of Palestine by the Khalîfah 'Abd-el-Málik, whose intimate and inseparable companion he became. IbnKhalikân says that the lines were also attributed to Humaidah, Hind's sister; and he makes no mention of Hind having been married either to el-Hajjâj or to 'Abd-el-Málik. According to the same author, the Hind who married el-Hajjâj was daughter of el-Muhállab, who when el-Hajjâj was made ruler over 'Irâk, Sijistan, and Khorassân, was appointed to administer the affairs of the last-mentioned province in the name of el-Hajjâj. On el-Muhállab's death-bed, he nominated his son Yezîd as his successor; but el-Hajjâj, having conceived a violent dislike to, and jealousy of, him, persuaded the Khalifah to dismiss him. He then fell into the power of el-Hajjâj, who extorted money from him with tortures so cruel that he could not restrain his

her beauty being highly extolled before el-Hajjâj, he sought her in marriage, and laid out large sums upon her, and settled two hundred thousand dirhems upon her over and above the dowry. Then he married her, and she went down with him to el-Mȧárrah, her father's country.* And el-Hajjâj remained with her in el-Måárrah for a long while, and then set off with her for 'Irâk, where she abode with him according to the will of God.

And Hind was well-educated and eloquent; and it happened that one day as el-Hajjâj was going to see her, he heard her reciting:

How can Hind, the perfect little Arabian mare,

The daughter of noble blood, have mated with a mule? Should foal of hers prove thoroughbred-richly has Allâh endowed her,

If mulish be his nature-'tis from the mule his sire.

And when el-Hajjâj heard this, he would have

screams.

His sister, Hind, who heard his cries, began to weep and lament, whereupon el-Hajjâj divorced her. Whether, however, Hind were the daughter of el-Muhállab, or of en-Núamân, she must have been a woman of great spirit and determination ; for she seems to have been the only person capable of coping with such a monster of cruelty as el-Hajjâj is represented te have been.

* Måárrat-en-Nủamân lay in the territory of el-'Awâsim, a large district in Syria, having Antioch for its capital.