other than sleepy, finish for us thy tale that we may cut short
the watching of this our latter night!" She replied, "With love
and good will!" It hath reached me, O auspicious King, the
director, the right-guiding, lord of the rede which is benefiting
and of deeds fair-seeming and worthy celebrating, that the youth
replied, "He was driven to poetry by Iblis (whom Allah accurse!)
when he spake in this verse,

'Thou bewailest the land and all thereon * And scant was the
breadth of Eden didst own,
Where thou was girded by every good * O' life and in rest ever
wont to wone:
But ne'er ceased my wiles and my guile until * The wind o'erthrew
thee by folly blown.'"[FN#99]

Whereupon quoth Al-Hajjaj, "O young man, inform me concerning the
first couplet of verse spoken by the Arab in praise of
munificence;" and quoth the youth, "O Hajjaj, the first Arabic
distich known to me was spoken by Hatim of Tayy, and 'twas as
follows,

'And the guest I greet ere from me he go * Before wife and weans
in my weal and woe.'"

Then cried Al-Hajjaj, "Thou hast said well and hast spoken fair,
O young man; and thy due is incumbent upon us for that thou hast
drowned us in the deeps of thy wisdom." Presently the Lieutenant
of Kufah turning towards one of his eunuchs said, "Bring me at
this very moment a purse containing ten thousand dirhams[FN#100]
upon a charger of red gold and a suit of the rarest of my raiment