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I will accept no hire of thee till I have served thee and have

ministered to thy wants; and I care not if I never take money of

thee. If thou know not my quality, I know thine; and I owe thy

father, an honest man, on whom Allah Almighty have mercy! many a

kindness, for he was a liberal soul and a generous. By Allah, he

sent for me one day, as it were this blessed day, and I went in

to him and found a party of his intimates about him. Quoth he to

me, 'Let me blood;' so I pulled out my astrolabe and, taking the

sun's altitude for him, I ascertained that the ascendant was

inauspicious and the hour unfavourable for blooding. I told him

of this, and he did according to my bidding and awaited a better

opportunity. So I made these lines in honour of him:-