" Quoth Khalifah: "I want no alms. Read the paper."
So Ibn al-Kirnas took the letter and read it, and no sooner knew its
import than he kissed it and laid it on his head. Then he arose and
said to Khalifah, "O my brother, where is thy house?" Asked
Khalifah: "What wantest thou with my house? Wilt thou go thither and
steal my slave girl?" Then Ibn al-Kirnas answered: "Not so. On the
contrary, I will buy thee somewhat whereof you may eat, thou and she."
So he said, "My house is in such a quarter," and the merchant
rejoined: "Thou hast done well. May Allah not give thee health, O
unlucky one!" Then he called out to two of his slaves and said to
them: "Carry this man to the shop of Mohsin the shroff and say to him,
'O Mohsin, give this man a thousand dinars of gold,' then bring him
back to me in haste."
So they carried him to the money-changer, who paid him the money,
and returned with him to their master, whom they found mounted on a
dapple she-mule worth a thousand dinars, with Mamelukes and pages
about him, and by his side another mule like his own, saddled and
bridled. Quoth the jeweler to Khalifah, "Bismillah, mount this
mule.
Pages:
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588