'By Allah, I
will take no hire of thee till I have served thee; and needs must
I serve thee, for indeed it is incumbent on me to do so and
fulfil thy need; and I care not if I take no money of thee. If
thou knowest not my worth, I know thine; and I owe thy father
(may God the Most High have mercy on him!) many a kindness, for
he was a generous man. By Allah, he sent for me one day as it
were this blessed day, and I went in to him and found a company
of his friends with him. He would have had me let him blood; but
I pulled out my astrolabe and taking an altitude for him, found
the aspect inauspicious and the hour unfavourable for the letting
of blood. I told him of this and he conformed to my advice and
put off the operation to a more convenient season. So I recited
the following verses in his honour:
I came one day unto my lord, that I might let him blood, But
found that for his body's health the season was not good;
So sat me down and talked with him of many a pleasant thing And
all the treasures of my mind before him freely strewed.
Well pleased, he listened, then, "O mine of knowledge!" he did
say, "Thy wit and wisdom overpass the bounds of likelihood!"
"Not so," quoth I; "my wit indeed were little, but for thee, O
prince of men, that pour'st on me thy wisdom like a flood!
Thou seem'st indeed the lord of grace, bounty and excellence,
World's treasure-house of knowledge, wit, sense and
mansuetude!"
Thy father was charmed and cried out to the servant, saying,
"Give him a hundred and three dinars and a dress of honour.
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