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Muawiyeh wondered greatly ad Kaab's story and said to him, "Hath any mortal ever made his way to the city?"
Accordingly the lieutenant sent for me and questioned me, and I told him what I had seen; whereupon he despatched me to Muawiyeh, to whom I repeated my story; but he would not credit it. So I brought out to him some of the pearls and balls of musk and ambergris and saffron, in which latter there was still some sweet smell; but the pearls were grown yellow and discoloured.
Then I took of the jewels of its gravel and the musk of its dust as much as I could bear and returned to my own country, where I told the folk what I had seen. After awhile, the news reached Muawiyeh ben Abou Sufyan, who was then Khalif in the Hejaz; so he wrote to his lieutenant in Senaa of Yemen to send for the teller of the story and question him of the truth of the case.
'Excuse me from answering this, O Commander of the Faithful! replied he; but Muawiyeh said, 'I conjure thee to answer. Then said Ahnaf, 'I entreat her kindly and show her pleasant familiarity and am large in expenditure, for women were created of a crooked rib. 'And how, asked the Khalif, 'dost thou when thou hast a mind to lie with her? 'I speak to her to perfume herself, answered the other, 'and kiss her till she is moved to desire; then, if it be as thou knowest, I throw her on her back.
"What is it, O Commander of the Faithful?" asked Kaab, and Muawiyeh said, "Wottest thou of a city builded of gold and silver, the pillars whereof are of rubies and chrysolites and its gravel pearls and balls of musk and ambergris and saffron?" "Yes, O Commander of the Faithful," answered Kaab.
Then arose Omar and worked a work and furnished forth a strife, of which none might do the like When Othman came, he diverted a stream from the river, and Muawiyeh in his turn sundered several streams from it.
'To plant my feet firmly on the ground, replied Ahnaf, 'to move them with deliberation and keep watch over them with my eyes. 'How, asked the Khalif, 'dost thou carry thyself, when thou goest in to the common folk of thy tribe? 'I lower my eyes modestly, replied Ahnaf, 'and salute them first, abstaining from what does not concern me and being sparing of words. 'And how, when thou goest in to thine equals? asked Muawiyeh.
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