laughed at this conceit, and ordered her a present of a casket of
jewels."

Another of the ladies whom Ibn Khallikan so seldom leaves his high road
to notice is As-Saiyida Sukaina, who, however, could not well be
excluded, since she was "the first among the women of her time [she died
A.D. 735] by birth, beauty, wit, and virtue." Part of her fame rests
upon her repartees to poets: a most desirable form of activity. Thus,
Orwa had a brother called Abu Bakr, whose death he lamented in some
extravagant verses of which these are the concluding lines: _My sorrow
is for Bakr, my brother! Bakr has departed from me! What life can now be
pleasing after the loss of Bakr?_

When Sukaina heard these verses, she asked who was Bakr? And on being
informed, she exclaimed: "What! that little blackamoor who used to run
past us? Why, everything is pleasing after the loss of Bakr, even the
common necessaries of life--bread and oil!"

Another female intruder. It is told of Ibn As-Sammak, a pious sage and
"professional relater of anecdotes," that having held a discourse one
day in the hearing of his slave-girl, he asked her what she thought of
it. She replied that it would have been good but for the repetitions.

"But," said he, "I employ repetitions in order to make those understand
who do not."

"Yes," she replied, "and to make those understand who do not, you weary
those who do."

One of the sayings of Ibn As-Sammak was: "Fear God as if you had never
obeyed Him, and hope in Him as if you had never disobeyed Him."

XVII.--THE GREAT JAAFAR

The father of the great Jaafar was Yahya the Barmekide, the friend and
vizier of Harun Ar-Raschid. From this family Ibn Khallikan claimed
descent. Yahya was "highly distinguished for wisdom, nobleness of mind,
and elegance of language." One of his sayings was this: "Three things
indicate the degree of intelligence possessed by him who does them: the
bestowing of gifts, the drawing up of letters, and the acting as
ambassador."

Another: "Spend when Fortune turns toward you, for her bounty cannot
then be exhausted; spend when she turns away, for she will not remain
with you."

He said also, very comfortingly: "The sincere intention of doing a good
action and a legitimate excuse for not doing it are equivalent to its
accomplishment."

He died in 805, after long imprisonment by the illustrious khalif whose
pleasure it had been to address him always as "My father."

Such was Jaafar's parent.