The Kazi Abu Yusuf With Harun Al-Rashid And Queen Zubaydah

The Caliph Harun al-Rashid went up one noon-tide to his couch, to lie down; and mounting, found upon the bed-clothes semen freshly emitted; whereat he was startled and troubled with sore trouble. So he called the Lady Zubaydah and said to her, "What is that spilt on the bed?" She looked at it and replied, "O Commander of the Faithful, it is semen." Quoth he, "Tell me truly what this meaneth or I will lay violent hands on thee forthright." Quoth she, "By Allah, O Commander of the Faithful, indeed I know not how it came there and I am guiltless of that whereof you suspectest me." So he sent for the Kazi Abú Yúsuf and acquainted him of the case. The Judge raised his eyes to the ceiling and, seeing a crack therein, said to the Caliph, "O Commander of the Faithful, in very sooth the bat hath seed like that of a man,[FN#121] and this is bat's semen." Then he called for a spear and thrust it into the crevice, whereupon down fell the bat. In this manner the Caliph's suspicions were dispelled,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Three hundred and Eighty-ninth Night

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Kazi Abu Yusuf took the spear and thrust it into the crevice, down fell the bat, and thus the Caliph's suspicions were dispelled and the innocence of Zubaydah was made manifest; whereat she gave loud and liberal vent to her joy and promised Abu Yusuf a magnificent reward. Now there were with her certain delicious fruits, out of their season, and she knew of others in the garden; so she asked Abu Yusuf, "O Imam of the Faith, which wouldst thou rather have of the two kinds of fruits, those that are here or those that are not here?" And he answered, "Our code forbiddeth us to pronounce judgement on the absent; whenas they are present, we will give our decision." So she let bring the two kinds of fruits before him; and he ate of both. Quoth she, "What is the difference between them?" and quoth he, "As often as I think to praise one kind, the adversary putteth in its claim." The Caliph laughed at his answer[FN#122] and made him a rich present; and Zubaydah also gave him what she had promised him, and he went away, rejoicing. See, then the virtues of this Imám and how his hands were manifest the truth and the innocence of the Lady Zubaydah. And amongst other stories is that of


Footnotes:


[FN#121] This is the popular prejudice and it has doubtless saved many a reputation. The bat is known to Moslems as the Bird of Jesus, a legend derived by the Koran from the Gospel of Infancy (1 chapt. xv. Hone's Apocryphal New Testament), in which the boy Jesus amuses herself with making birds of clay and commanding them to fly when (according to the Moslems) they became bats. These Apocryphal Gospels must be carefully read, if the student would understand a number of Moslem allusions to the Injíl which no Evangel contains.

[FN#122] Because it quibbled away out of every question, a truly diplomatic art.