I awoke the next morning to hear the man calling my name. "How do you feel?" I asked him.
"I'm about to die," he said. "Open up the purse that's in the sleeve of my cloak." I opened it and found a ring set with a red stone. "When I am dead and buried," he said, "take this ring to Harun, the Commander of the Faithful, and tell him: 'He whose ring this is warns you to beware! Don't let death find you in your inebriated state, or you'll regret it.'"
After I had seen to his burial, I inquired into what day Harun would appear outside the palace. I wrote an account of the case, presented myself before the Commander of the Faithful, and submitted it to him.
And then began my sufferings, for once inside the palace, the caliph read my account and said, "Bring me the author of this tale!" And I was hustled inside the palace to face his wrath.
"This is how you address me?" Harun said. "This is how you act?" Seeing his anger, I brought out the ring, and when he beheld it, he asked where it came from.
"It was given me by a man who works in plaster," I said. "A plasterer," the caliph said. "A plasterer!" And he bid me come closer.
I said, "The man sent me with instructions, O Commander of the Faithful." "Woe unto you!" he said. "Tell them to me."
"O Commander of the Faithful," I said, "he told me to give you this ring and say: 'He whose ring this is sends you his greetings, and warns you to beware! Don't let death find you in your inebriated state, or you'll regret it.'"
The caliph rose to his feet, and flung himself onto the carpet. "My son!" he cried, writhing about, "you've given guidance to your father!" And to myself I said, "It is as if the father were the son!" [To be continued.]
From The Lamp that Sheds Its Brightness on the Caliphate of al-Mustadi’ by Ibn al-Jawzi; cf. Ibn al-Jawzi's Characteristic of Faultless People
