Nur al-Din Ali and the Damsel Anis al-Jalis

"...go to my brother’s house, for he is circumcising his son today."¹ In short, every one of them asked permission to leave on some excuse or another, until all ten were gone, leaving Nur al-Din alone. Then he called his slave-girl and said to her, "O Anis al-Jalis, have you seen the situation I am in?" And he told her what the Steward had told him. Then she said, "O my lord, for many nights I intended to speak with you about this matter, but I heard you repeating these verses:—

"When I heard these verses, I held my peace and did not wish to argue with you." "O Anis al-Jalis," said Nur al-Din, "you know that I have not wasted my wealth except on my friends, especially these ten who have now left me destitute. I believe they will not abandon and desert me without offering some relief." "By Allah," she replied, "they will not give you any help at all." He said, "I will get up at once and go to them and knock at their doors; perhaps I shall get something from them with which I may trade, and I will leave behind this life of pastime and pleasure." So he rose without any delay and went to the street where all ten of his friends lived. He went up to the nearest door and knocked; a handmaid came out and asked him, "Who are you?" He answered, "Tell your master that Nur al-Din Ali stands at the door and says to him: Your servant kisses your hand and awaits your generosity." The girl went in and told her master, who shouted at her, "Go back and say: My master is not at home." So she returned to Nur al-Din and said to him, "O my lord, my master is out." At this, he turned away and said to himself, "If this one is a vile scoundrel who denies his presence, another may not prove to be the same."

¹ In one matter, Muslims contrast strongly with Christians by scrupulously following the example of their Law-giver; thus, they are the model of tradition. But European Christendom is here, as in other things, curiously contradictory. For instance, it still observes a "Feast of the Circumcision" but practically holds the practice in horror. Eastern Christians, however, have not entirely abolished it, and the Ethiopians original: "Abyssinians", who find it a useful health precaution, still practice it. For ulcers, syphilis, and other venereal diseases that are easily cured in Egypt become dangerous in the Highlands of Ethiopia.