SAID ‘ÍSÁ IBN HISHÁM: One day, joined to a small company of friends bound together in friendship, like the Pleiades, 2 I alighted 3 in the cathedral mosque of Bukhára. Now, when the mosque was filled with its congregation, there appeared before us one clad in a pair of worn-out garments. 4 He had slung his empty wallet over his shoulder, and was bringing behind him a naked boy whose endurance was straitened by calamity, while the cold anon gripped him and let 'him go. 5 He possessed no covering but his own skin and had nought that sufficed to protect him from a single shivering. The man stood and said: 'None will regard this child except him to whom God has been gracious, and none will be moved to pity by this misfortune but him who is not secure from the like. O possessors of famous fortunes, embroidered robes, lofty houses, and strongly built castles, ye will not be secure from accident, nor will heirs fail you. Hasten then to do good, while ye can and be bounteous unto the world as long as it is bounteous unto you. For, by Heavens! we have eaten "sikbáj", 6 ridden the fleet-footed camel, donned brocaded silk 7 and slept on stuffed couches in the evenings.
With a necklace like unto the Gemini in beauty!
Like a lover meeting his friend,
And then lovingly and pathetically embraces him.
Selecting one not of his own tribe,
As an ally against fate.
A precious thing whose worth is exalted,
Yet, verily, more exalted is he who gave it.
I swear, if in glory men were words,
Thou wouldst be their meaning.' 5
Said ‘Ísá ibn Hishám: So we gave him what was easy of attainment at once, and then he turned away from us praising us.
He answered:--
By this I knew he was averse to conversing with me, so I left him and went away.
76:1 Bukhára: The old Sámanid capital and now the chief city of the State of Bukhára. For ages it has been a great centre of learning and religious life. For a description of the literary splendour of this city at the time of the author, see Yatima al-Bahr, iv, 33, and Browne, Literary History of Persia, i, 365. It is still the principal book market of Central Asia. Yaqút, i, 517.
76:2 Like the Pleiades: Literally, on the string of the Pleiades, a frequently used simile for being inseparably bound together. Cf. Job, xxxviii, 31.
76:3 I alighted: Literally a day caused me to alight.
76:4 In a pair of worn-out garments: Literally, the possessor of two worn-out garments.
76:5 Gripped him and let him go: As a cat plays with a mouse.
76:6 Sikbáj: Arabicized from the Persian vinegar and arabicized into food. Fleshmeat cooked with vinegar. It is said that Khusru Perwíz, who is one of the exemplars of magnificence and luxury among the Arabs, was the first for whom Sikbáj was cooked and that none fed on it without his permission. De Sacy, Ḥarírí, i, 224, and Chenery, Translation of Ḥarírí, p. 451.
76:7 Brocaded silk: Probably from the Persian, or The change of the final ﮦ into ﺝ in arabicized words from the Persian is common. A certain kind of cloth or garment made of (i.e. silk or raw silk) particularly a name for that which is variegated or embellished. (Lane, Lexicon, article p. 843).
77:1 Blackness: Plural of darkness, or night: it also means a horse entirely black.
77:2 Remember me: Qur’án, ii, 147.
77:3 His little finger: i.e. the boy's little finger.
77:4 O the encircled with itself: Metre, kámil.
77:5 Thou wouldst be their meaning: Cf. Mutanabbí, (Dierterici), p. 460,
78:1 Abú’l-Fatḥ thou hast grown old: Metre, mutaqárib.
78:2 A stranger am I: Metre, mutaqárib. A pleasing effect is produced here by the Improvisor replying in the same metre and rhyme.