When I heard this, I scented the odour of mercy, knowing his disposition to clemency. Then he turned to his son El Abbas and his brother Abou Ishac and other his chief officers there present and said to them, "What deem ye of his case!" They all counselled him to slay me, but differed as to the manner of my death. Then said he to Ahmed ibn Ali Khalid,[FN#134] "And what sayst thou, O Ahmed?" "O Commander of the Faithful," answered he, "if thou put him to death, we find thy like who hath slain the like of him; but, if thou pardon him, we find not the like of thee that hath pardoned the like of him." At this Mamoun bowed his head and repeated the following verse:
The people of my tribe, they have my brother slain; But, an I shoot, my shaft reverts to me again.
Use not thy brother with despite, Although he mingle wrong with right, And still be kind to him, all be With thanklessness he thee requite; And if he go astray and err One day, revile thou not the wight. Seest not that loved and loathed at once In every way of life unite? That by the annoy of hoary hairs Embittered is long life's delight, And that the bristling thorns beset The branch with pleasant fruits bedight? Who is it doth good deeds alone And who hath never wrought unright? Prove but the age's sons, thou'lt find The most have fallen from the light.
When I heard this, I uncovered my head and cried out, saying, "God is most great! By Allah, the Commander of the Faithful pardons me!" Quoth he, "No harm shall come to thee, O uncle." And I, "O Commander of the Faithful, my offence is too great for me to attempt to extenuate it and thy pardon is too great for me to speak a word of thanks for it." And I chanted the following verses:
Sure, He, who made the virtues all, stored them in Adam's loins For His high-priest, the seventh prince of Abbas' royal seed! The hearts of all the folk are filled with reverence for thee, And thou, with meek and humble heart, dost keep them all and lead. Error-deluded as I was, against thee I rebelled, Intent on covetise alone and base ambitious greed; Yet hast thou pardon giv'n to one, the like of whom before Was never pardoned, though for him no one with thee did plead, And on a mother's bleeding heart hadst ruth and little ones, Like to the desert-grouse's young, didst pity in their need.