"'[FN#129] "At this, Hisham rose, in great wrath, and
said, 'O headsman, bring me his head; for indeed he multiplies
talk, such as passes conception, and fears not reproach.' So the
headsman took him and making him kneel on the carpet of blood,
drew his sword and said to the Khalif, 'O Commander of the
Faithful, shall I smite off the head of this thy misguided slave,
who is on the way to his grave, and be quit of his blood?' 'Yes,'
replied Hisham. He repeated his question and the Khalif again
replied in the affirmative. Then he asked leave a third time, and
the youth, knowing that, if the Khalif assented yet once more, it
would be the signal of his death, laughed till his wang-teeth
appeared; at which Hisham's wrath redoubled and he said to him,
'O boy, meseems thou art mad; seest thou not that thou art about
to depart the world? Why then dost thou laugh in mockery of
thyself?' 'O Commander of the Faithful,' answered the young Arab,
'if my life is to be prolonged, none can hurt me, great or small;
but I have bethought me of some verses, which do thou hear, for
my death cannot escape thee.' 'Say on and be brief,' replied
Hisham; so the Arab repeated the following verses: A hawk once
seized a sparrow, so have I heard men say, A sparrow of the
desert, that fate to him did throw; And as the hawk was flying to
nestward with his prize, The sparrow in his clutches did thus
bespeak his foe: "There's nought in me the stomach of such as
thou to stay; Indeed, I'm all too paltry to fill thy maw, I
trow.
Pages:
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470