A Chinese slave girl was brought to one of the kings. He wanted to be with her in a state of drunkenness. The slave girl resisted. The king became angry and gave her to a black man whose upper lip extended beyond his nostrils and whose lower lip hung down to his collar. A figure from whose appearance Sakhraljinn would flee and from whose side Ayn al-Qatr would rot.

You would say that ugliness until the Day of Judgment

Is sealed upon him, and beauty upon Joseph.

As the witty ones have said:

A person, not so hideous in appearance

That his ugliness can be described.

Then a side, God forbid,

A carcass in the August sun.

It is said that during that time, the black man's desires were strong and his lust prevailed; his affection stirred and he took his seal. In the morning, when the king looked for the slave girl and did not find her, they told him the story. He became angry and ordered that the black man be tightly bound with the slave girl and thrown from the roof of the palace into the bottom of the moat. One of the well-intentioned ministers interceded and said: The poor black man is not at fault in this, for other servants and attendants are accustomed to the king's favors. He said: If you had delayed his negotiation for one night, what would have happened? For I would have consoled him more than the price of the slave girl. He said: O lord of the earth! Have you not heard?:

When a parched, burning man reaches a clear spring,

Do not think that he thinks of a raging elephant.

A hungry heretic at a table in an empty house,

Reason cannot believe that he thinks of Ramadan.

The king liked this witty remark and said: Now I have pardoned the black man for you; what should I do with the slave girl? He said: Give the slave girl to the black man, for his leftovers are suitable for him.

Never choose for friendship one

Who goes to an undesirable place.

A thirsty person does not desire pure water

Leftovers from a rotten mouth.