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So Salih took the money and the jewel and carried them to the Khalif, together with Mensour; but on the way, he heard the latter repeat this verse, applying it to his own case:
It was not love, indeed, my feet to them that led; Nay, but because the stroke of th’ arrows I did dread.
When Salih heard this, he marvelled at the baseness and ingratitude of Mensour’s nature, and turning upon him, said, ‘There is none on the face of the earth better than the Barmecides, nor any baser nor more depraved than thou; for they bought thee off from death and saved thee from destruction, giving thee what should deliver thee; yet thou thankest them not nor praisest them, neither acquittest thee after the manner of the noble; nay, thou requitest their benevolence with this speech.’ Then he went to Er Reshid and acquainted him with all that had passed; Night cccvi.and he marvelled at the generosity and benevolence of Yehya ben Khalid and the baseness and ingratitude of Mensour and bade restore the jewel to Yehya, saying, ‘That which we have given, it befits not that we take again.’
So Salih returned to Yehya, and acquainted him with Mensour’s ill conduct; whereupon, ‘O Salih,’ replied he, ‘when a man is in distress, sick at heart and distracted with melancholy thought, he is not to be blamed for aught that falls from him; for it comes not from the heart.’ And he fell to seeking excuse for Mensour. But Salih wept [in telling the tale] and exclaimed, ‘Never shall the revolving sphere bring forth into being the like of thee, O Yehya! Alas, that one of such noble nature and generosity should be buried beneath the earth!’ And he repeated the following verses:
Hasten to do the kindnesses thou hast a mind unto; For bounty is not possible at every tide and hour.
How many a man denies his soul to do the generous deed, To which it’s fain, till lack of means deprive him of the power!
