I could kiss his sandal. Remain in my land for as long as you wish.”

He then ordered that food and clothing be supplied to us, and added, “Send these two men back with their gifts.”

ʿAmr was short of stature (1), whereas ʿUmārah was a strikingly handsome man. The two of them had crossed the sea to visit the Negus, who one day sat drinking with ʿAmr and his wife. When the wine had taken effect, ʿUmārah said to ʿAmr, “Tell your wife to kiss me.”

ʿAmr retorted, “Have you no shame?” Whereupon ʿUmārah seized ʿAmr and set about throwing him into the sea; ʿAmr kept pleading with him until he let him go. From that moment ʿAmr nursed a grudge, and he said to the Negus, “Whenever you leave the palace, ʿUmārah slips in among your family.”

The Negus summoned ʿUmārah, blew into his penis, and the man went off roaming with the wild beasts (2).

Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah reports from Ibn Shihāb:

ʿAmr tricked ʿUmārah, saying, “ʿUmārah, you are a handsome fellow. Go to the Negus’s wife and converse with her when her husband is away; that will help us secure our request.” ʿUmārah corresponded with her until he gained entry to her quarters. ʿAmr then went to the Negus and said, “My companion is a womanizer, and he has designs on your household.”

The Negus dispatched a messenger to his own house and found ʿUmārah there with his womenfolk. He ordered that ʿUmārah’s penis be blown into—casting a spell on him—then had him thrown onto an island in the sea, where he lost his mind and lived among the wild beasts.

Ibn Isḥāq relates from Yazīd ibn Rūmān, from ʿUrwah (3), from ʿĀʾishah, who said: “When he died…"