“A certain kind of mint grows so tall that people make ladders out of it.”

Abū al-Faraj shot back, saying, “The marvels of the world are of many sorts, and Omnipotence can do anything. We have something even more astonishing than that: a pair of pigeons that lays two eggs. We remove the eggs and put in their place two copper cymbals(1); the birds brood them until they hatch into a wash-basin and its ewer(2).” Everyone burst into laughter, and al-Juhanī was put to shame(3).

He died in Dhu al-Hijjah of the year 356 AH, at the age of seventy-two.

141 – Rukn al-Dawla Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn Būya al-Daylamī

This ruler, Rukn al-Dawla Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn Būya al-Daylamī, was the master of Isfahan and the Persian provinces and the father of the sultan ʿAḍud al-Dawla. He was one of three brothers who rose from poverty to take possession of the land.

He was a fortunate king. He divided his domains among his sons, who governed them in exemplary fashion. His reign was long, his subjects submitted to him, and he ruled for forty-five years.

The peerless vizier, the very tongue of eloquence—Abū al-Faḍl Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAmīd—served him first; he was succeeded by his son Abū al-Fatḥ ibn al-ʿAmīd. When the king’s two sons, Muʾayyad al-Dawla and Fakhr al-Dawla, came to power, the celebrated al-Ṣāḥib Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbbād became their vizier.

He died of colic in Muḥarram of the year 366 AH, at the age of eighty. Nothing of note was wanting in his dominion.