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Updated: June 20, 2025
Quoth the Caliph, "O Abu Nowas, I have sought direction of Allah Almighty and have appointed thee Kazi of pimps and panders." Asked he, "Dost thou indeed invest me with that high office, O Commander of the Faithful?"; and the Caliph answered "I do;" whereupon Abu Nowas rejoined, "O Commander of the Faithful, hast thou any suit to prefer to me?"
And while this was going on behold, Ja'afar the Barmecide, who had been absent on an important business for the Commander of the Faithful, entered and recognising the poet, albeit in this plight, said to him, "Holla, Abu Nowas!" He said, "Here at thy service, O our lord." Ja'afar asked, "What offence hast thou committed to bring this punishment on thee?"
'I will take him, answered the maiden; and as Abu Nowas made no objection, it was all arranged. The Sultana had the most beautiful clothes made for the bride, and the Sultan gave the bridegroom his wedding suit, and a thousand gold pieces into the bargain, and soft carpets for the house.
Suffices thee not ever weeping eye, * And vitals on fire when thy name they say? He must smile and laugh and in pride must cry * 'The promise of Night is effaced by Day." Last came Abu Nowas and recited the following couplets,
'We have run through our fortune, said Abu Nowas, 'what are we to do now? I am afraid to go back to the Sultan, for he will command his servants to turn me from the door. But you shall return to your mistress, and throw yourself at her feet and weep, and perhaps she will help us. 'Oh, you had much better go, said the wife. 'I shall not know what to say.
The Caliph bade give a myriad of money each to Al-Rakashi and Abu Mus'ab, but bade strike off the head of Abu Nowas, saying, "Thou wast with us yesternight in the palace." Said he, "By Allah, I slept not but in my own house! And another tale is that of
"I passed a beardless pair without compare * And cried, 'I love you, both you ferly fir! 'Money'd? quoth one: quoth I, 'And lavish too; * Then said the fair pair, 'Pere, c'est notre affaire." Now Abu Nowas was given to these joys and loved to sport and make merry with fair boys and cull the rose from every brightly blooming check, even as saith the bard,
'Soon after midday Abu Nowas came into the hall, his eyes streaming with tears, and when I asked him the reason he answered that his wife was dead, and they had sold everything they had, and he had nothing left, not so much as would buy her a shroud, far less for her burial.
One day Abu Nowas came weeping into the hall of the palace where the Sultan was sitting, and said to him: 'Oh, mighty Sultan, my wife is dead. 'That is bad news, replied the Sultan; 'I must get you another wife. And he bade his Grand Vizir send for the Sultana. 'This poor Abu Nowas has lost his wife, said he, when she entered the hall.
And when the money was counted out Abu Nowas bowed low, and left the hall, his tears still flowing, but with joy in his heart. 'Have you got anything? cried his wife, who was waiting for him anxiously. 'Yes, a hundred gold pieces, said he, throwing down the bag, 'but that will not last us any time.
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