Pagina 436 van 1116

No sooner had morning dawned than he went forth and sat upon the

throne of his sovereignty; and, turning to Ja'afar, after all his

Grandees and Officers of state were gathered together, he said,

"Bring me the three ladies and the two bitches and the three

Kalandars." So Ja'afar fared forth and brought them all before

him (and the ladies were veiled); then the Minister turned to

them and said in the Caliph's name, "We pardon you your

maltreatment of us and your want of courtesy, in consideration of

the kindness which forewent it, and for that ye knew us not: now

however I would have you to know that ye stand in presence of the

fifth[FN#301] of the sons of Abbas, Harun al-Rashid, brother of

Caliph Musa al-Hadi, son of Al-Mansur; son of Mohammed the

brother of Al-Saffah bin Mohammed who was first of the royal

house.