JA'AFAR THE BARMECIDE AND THE BEAN SELLER.
When Harun al-Rashid crucified Ja'afar the Barmecide[FN#224] he
commended that all who wept or made moan for him should also be
crucified; so the folk abstained from that. Now it chanced that a
wild Arab, who dwelt in a distant word, used every year to bring
to the aforesaid Ja'afar an ode[FN#225] in his honour, for which
he rewarded him with a thousand dinars; and the Badawi took them
and, returning to his own country, lived upon them, he and his
family, for the rest of the year. Accordingly, he came with his
ode at the wonted time and, finding that Ja'afar had been
crucified, betook himself to the place where his body was
hanging, and there made his camel kneel down and wept with sore
weeping and mourned with grievous mourning; and he recited his
ode and fell asleep. Presently Ja'afar the Barmecide appeared to
him in a vision and said, "Verily thou hast wearied thyself to
come to us and findest us as thou seest; but go to Bassorah and
ask for a man there whose name is such and such, one of the
merchants of the town, and say to him, 'Ja'afar, the Barmecide,
saluteth thee and biddeth thee give me a thousand dinars, by the
token of the bean.'" Now when the wild Arab awoke, he repaired to
Bassorah, where he sought out the merchant and found him and
repeated to him what Ja'afar had said in the dream; whereupon he
wept with weeping so sore that he was like to depart the world.
Then he welcomed the Badawi and seated him by his side and made
his stay pleasant and entertained him three days as an honoured
guest; and when he was minded to depart he gave him a thousand
and five hundred dinars, saying, "The thousand are what is
commanded to thee, and the five hundred are a gift from me to
thee; and every year thou shalt have of me a thousand gold
pieces." Now when the Arab was about to take leave, he said to
the merchant, "Allah upon thee, tell me the story of the bean,
that I may know the origin of all this." He answered: "In the
early part of my life I was poor and hawked hot beans[FN#226]
about the streets of Baghdad to keep me alive. So I went out one
raw and rainy day, without clothes enough on my body to protect
me from the weather; now shivering for excess of cold and now
stumbling into the pools of rain-water, and altogether in so
piteous a plight as would make one shudder with goose-skin to
look upon. But it chanced that Ja'afar that day was seated with
his officers and his concubines, in an upper chamber overlooking
the street when his eyes fell on me; so he took pity on my case
and, sending one of his dependents to fetch me to him, said as
soon as he saw me, 'Sell thy beans to my people.' So I began to
mete out the beans with a measure I had by me; and each who took
a measure of beans filled the measure with gold pieces till all
my store was gone and my basket was clean empty. Then I gathered
together the gold I had gotten, and Ja'afar said to me, 'Hast
thou any beans left?' 'I know not,' answered I, and then sought
in the basket, but found only one bean. So Ja'afar took from me
the single bean and, splitting it in twain, kept one half himself
and gave the other to one of his concubines, saying, 'For how
much wilt thou buy this half bean?' She replied, 'For the tale of
all this gold twice-told;' whereat I was confounded and said to
myself, 'This is impossible.' But, as I stood wondering, behold,
she gave an order to one of her hand-maids and the girl brought
me the sum of the collected monies twice-told. Then said Ja'afar,
'And I will buy the half I have by me for double the sum of the
whole,' presently adding, 'Now take the price of thy bean.' And
he gave an order to one of his servants, who gathered together
the whole of the money and laid it in my basket; and I took it
and went my ways. Then I betook myself to Bassorah, where I
traded with the monies and Allah prospered me amply, to Him be
the praise and the thanks! So, if I give thee every year a
thousand dinars of the bounty of Ja'afar, it will in no wise
injure me. Consider then the munificence of Ja'afar's nature and
how he was praised both alive and dead, the mercy of Allah
Almighty be upon him! And men also recount the tale of
