Now when he had ceased from the dictation of his address, and showed forth his prowess in the strife of eloquence, the company gratified him both by word and deed, and made large to him their courtesy and their bounty. Then was he asked from what tribe was his origin, and in what valley was his lair; and he answered:
Ghassan is my noble kindred, and Seruj my ancient land:
There my home was like the sun in splendor and mighty rank;
And my dwelling was as paradise in sweetness and pleasantness and worth.
Oh, excellent were the life I led there and the plenteous delights,
In the day that I drew my broidered robe in its meadow, sharp of purpose,
I walked proudly in the mantle of youth and looked upon goodly pleasures;
Fearing not the visitations of time and its evil haps.
Now if grief could kill, surely I should perish from my abiding griefs;
Or if past life could be redeemed my good heart's blood should redeem it.
For death is better for a man than to live the life of a beast.
When the ring of subjection leads him to mighty trouble and outrage,
And he sees lions whom the paws of assailing hyenas seize.
But the fault is in the time: but for its ill luck character would not miss its place:
If the time were upright, then would the conditions of men be upright in it.
After this his story reached the Governor, who filled his mouth with pearls, and bade him join himself to his followers, and preside over his court of public writing. But the gifts sufficed him, and unwillingness restrained him from office. Said the narrator: Now I had recognized the wood of his tree before the ripening of his fruit: And I had nigh roused the people to the loftiness of his worth before that his full moon shone forth. But he hinted to me by a twinkle of his eyelid that I should not bare his sword from its sheath. And when he was going forth, full of purse, and parting from us, having gotten victory, I escorted him, performing the duty of respect, and chiding him for his refusal of office. But he turned away with a smile and recited with a chant:
Sure to traverse the lands in poverty is dearer to me than rank:
For in rulers there is caprice and fault-finding, oh what fault-finding!
There is none of them who completes his good work, or who builds up where has laid foundation.