Prevod

It is told that one day al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah was riding in procession when he passed a garden and saw a man there surrounded by slaves and servants. He asked him for water, and the man gave him a drink, then said, “Perhaps the Commander of the Faithful would honor me by dismounting and visiting me in this garden.” So the ruler dismounted, and his army halted in the garden. The man brought out a hundred carpets, a hundred leather mats, a hundred cushions, a hundred platters of fruit, a hundred bowls filled with sweetmeats, and a hundred basins filled with sweet sherbets. Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah was astonished and said to him, “Your tale is a marvel, my good man! Did you know we were coming and prepare all this for us?” He replied, “No, by Allah, Commander of the Faithful! I knew nothing of your coming. I am merely a merchant among your subjects, but I have a hundred concubines. When the Commander of the Faithful honored me with his visit, I sent word to each of them to send me my midday meal in the garden. Each sent some of her furnishings, together with her surplus food and drink. Every day, each of them sends me a platter of food, a platter of chilled refreshments, a platter of fruit, a bowl filled with sweetmeats, and a basin of sherbet. This is my daily fare; I have added nothing to it on your account.” Then the Commander of the Faithful, al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, prostrated himself and said, “Praise be to Allah, who has placed among our subjects a man whom He has so enriched that he can feed the caliph and his army without making any preparations for them, but merely from the surplus of his own table.” He then ordered that the man be given all the dirhams in the treasury that had been minted that year. They amounted to three million seven hundred thousand, and he would not mount his horse until they had been brought and handed over to the man. “Use these to support your household,” he told him, “for your generosity deserves more than this.” Then the ruler mounted and rode away.