70 – The judge Abū al-Qāsim informed us; Abū ʿAlī narrated to us; ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us; ʿUmar ibn Shabbah reported to me; Abū Ghassān Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā al-Kinānī said:

Ibn Muslim the poet—who claimed to be a client of the household of Talha ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿUbayd Allah—came to Harb ibn Khālid ibn Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya and addressed him with these lines of praise (metre: al-baḥr al-mutaqārib):

When I was guided to their lofty gates,
And met with Harb, I met success and grace.
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We found him thronged by petitioners in need;
Faced with hard times, he answers only with generosity.
They call on him so long, so loud, so near
That even their dog, awed by the soft entreaties,
Holds back a growl and quite forgets to bark.

Ibn Muslim went on: Harb sent me a bundle of clothes and a purse. His courier set the bundle down and, judging the gift too small, spoke disparagingly of it, then said, “I am ashamed to tell you what has been sent. When you rise, take what you will find beneath your mattress.” Under my bedding he had placed one thousand dinars.