Jahja ibn Halid in revež

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Jahja ibn Halid in revež

Among the tales told is that Yahya ibn Khalid al-Barmaki once left the caliph’s palace and set out for his own house. At his door he saw a man who, as Yahya drew near, rose to his feet, greeted him, and said, “O Yahya, I stand in need of what you possess, and I have made God my intercessor with you.” Yahya ordered that quarters be set aside for him in his house, and instructed his treasurer to bring him a thousand dirhams each day and to serve him food from his own table. The man remained thus for a full month, by the end of which he had received thirty thousand dirhams. Fearing that Yahya might take the money back because the sum was so great, he slipped away in secret. Then dawn overtook Shahrazad, and she fell silent, leaving her tale untold.

When the three hundred and ninety-second night had come

She said: It has reached me, O fortunate king, that the man took the dirhams and slipped away in secret. When Yahya was told of this, he said, “By God, had he stayed with me all his life, to the end of his days, I would never have withheld my bounty from him or ceased to honor him as my guest.” The virtues of the Barmakids are beyond numbering, and their noble deeds beyond recounting, especially those of Yahya ibn Khalid, whose glories were many, as the poet said of him:

I asked Generosity, “Are you free?” It answered, “No, I am but a slave to Yahya ibn Khalid.” I said, “Were you bought?” It answered, “Heaven forbid! He inherited me from father after father.”