1877.] 
life of the poet as given in the Kitdh-el-Aghdm. 
69 
thee ?” And ‘Omar returned to him the five hundred dirhems, but left 
the stipend of Lebid at two thousand five hundred. Abu Zeyd relates 
that Mo‘awiyeh when he became Khalifeh desired to retrench the odd five 
hundred from the allowance : for he said—“ The two posts” (meaning the 
two thousands) “ are well enough : but what need is there for the cross¬ 
piece ?” (meaning the five hundred). And Lebid replied to him—“ I am but 
an owl 24 of to-day or to-morrow : return to me the name of it : for perchance 
I shall never touch the thing itself, and thou wilt save both the cross-piece 
and the two posts.” And Mo‘awiyeh’s heart was touched, and he left him 
his stipend undiminished ; but Lebid died before he could receive it. 
‘Omar ibn Sliebbeh relates in the traditions which he gathered from 
‘Abdallah ibn Mohammed ibn Haldm, and I have been told by Ibrahim ibn 
Ayyub, who had it from ‘Abdallah ibn Muslim, that Lebid was one of the 
most generous of the Arabs ; he had sworn in the days of the Ignorance 
that the East wind should never blow without his giving a feast to the poor. 
And he had two great bowls which he used to fill with meat morning and 
evening at the place of prayer of his people, and feed men out of them. 
And one day the East wind blew when el-Welid son of ‘Oqbeh 25 was 
governor of el-Kufeh. And el-Welid mounted the pulpit and pronounced 
the Khutbeli before the people ; then he said—“ Your brother Lebid son of 
Babi‘ah made a vow in the days of the Ignorance that whenever the East 
wind blew he would feed those in need. Now this is one of the days of its 
blowing: help him therefore. As for me, I will set you the example.” 
Then he came down from the pulpit, 1 and sent to Lebid a hundred young 
she-camels, and wrote to him these verses — 26 
“ I see the butcher sharpening his two knives 
when the breezes of Abu ‘Aqil are blowing : 
High-nosed is he, high-headed, a man of ‘Amir— 
long are his arms even as a polished blade. 
The son of the Ja‘fari fulfilled his oaths, 
in spite of infirmities and slender store, 
By slaughtering large-humped camels when there swept by 
the skirts of the East wind blowing at eventide.” 
When Lebid received these verses, he said to his daughter—“ Answer 
him : for by my life ! I have lived a long time, and am too weary to reply to 
a poet.” So his daughter composed these lines— 27 
“ When there blow the breezes of Abu ‘Aqil 
at their blowing we call for help to el-Welid ; 
High-nosed is he, keen-hearted, of ‘Abd-Shems’s line : 
he has holpen in his generosity Lebid 
By the gift of camels like hills, as though a company 
of the sons of Ham were riding on their backs. 
