252
was told that he lay sick in the hut of such a woman. Now this was an old woman, renowned for piety, who had a hut of reeds in the burial-ground. So I went thither and found him lying on the naked earth, with a brick for a pillow and his face beaming with light. I saluted him and he returned my salute; and I sat down at his head, weeping over his tenderness of years and strangerhood and submission to the will of his Lord. Then said I to him, “Hast thou any need?” “Yes,” answered he; and I said, “What is it?” He replied, “Come hither to-morrow in the forenoon and thou wilt find me dead. Wash me and dig my grave and tell none thereof: but shroud me in this my gown, after thou hast unsewn it and taken out what thou shalt find in the bosom, which keep with thee. Then, when thou hast prayed over me and laid me in the dust, go to Baghdad and watch for the Khalif Haroun er Reshid, till he come forth, when do thou bear him my salutation and give him what thou shalt find in the breast of my gown.’ Then he made the profession of the Faith and glorified his Lord in the most eloquent of words, reciting the following verses:
Carry the trust of him on whom the wished-for death hath come To Er Reshid, and thy reward with thy Creator stand!
“An exile greets thee,” say, “who longed full sorely for thy sight; With long desire he yearned for thee, far in a foreign strand.
Nor hate nor weariness from thee estranged him, for, indeed, To God Most High he was brought near by kissing thy right hand.
But, O my father, ’twas his heart, shunning the vain delights Of this thy world, that drove him forth to seek a distant land!”
Night ccccii.Then he betook himself to prayer, asking pardon of God and blessing the Lord of the Just[1] and repeating verses of the Koran; after which he recited the following:
Let not prosperity delude thee, father mine; For fortune wastes and life itself must pass away.
- ↑ Mohammed.
