It is strange men should dwell in the house of abjection
When the plain of God's earth is so wide and so great!"
At these words of the Mameluke, Badr al-Din covered his head with
the skirt of his garment and went forth on foot till he stood
outside of the city, where he heard folk saying: "The Sultan hath sent
his new Wazir to the house of the old Wazir, now no more, to seal
his property and seize his son Badr al-Din Hasan and take him before
the presence, that he may put him to death." And all cried, "Alas
for his beauty and his loveliness!" When he heard this, he fled
forth at hazard, knowing not whither he was going, and gave not over
hurrying onward till Destiny drove him to his father's tomb. So he
entered the cemetery and, threading his way through the graves, at
last he reached the sepulcher, where he sat down and let fall from his
head the skirt of his long robe, which was made of brocade with a
gold-embroidered hem whereon were worked these couplets:
O thou whose forehead, like the radiant East,
Tells of the stars of Heaven and bounteous dews,
Endure thine honor to the latest day,
And Time thy growth of glory ne'er refuse!
While he was sitting by his father's tomb, behold, there came to him
a Jew as he were a shroff, a money-changer, with a pair of
saddlebags containing much gold, who accosted him and kissed his hand,
saying: "Whither bound, O my lord? 'Tis late in the day, and thou
art clad but lightly, and I read signs of trouble in thy face.
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