But we said, " We will not taste thy food until
thou hast granted us what we desire."

"And what is your request 1 " he asked.
"We seek," we replied, "thy honoured daughter
in marriage for 'Utbah-ibn-Khabib-ibn-el-Miindztr,
the noble, the illustrious, the well-descended." Where-
upon he remarked, " O my brother ! verily this is
her business whom thou demandest, and I shall go
and acquaint her of it." And he rose up wrathfully,
and went out to Riya."

And she asked, " What is this anger, O my father !
which I perceive on thy brow } "

He answered, " Some of the el- Ansary people
have arrived here seeking thee in marriage from me."

" They are illustrious chiefs," said she ; " may the

* Intd'a, or Nitd'a, a piece of leather which is spread on
the ground, and upon which the dishes are placed at a feast. It
is also used when corporal punishment , is to be inflicted
upon criminals, and when they are brought out for public
execution.
142 'ilAm-en-nAs.
Prophet intercede for them ! But which amongst
them seeks me to wife ? "

" The young man who is known as 'Utbah-ibn-
Khab^b," he repHed.
" I have heard," said she, " of this 'Utbah, that he
is one who performs what he promises, and follows
what he seeks."

Then cried her father, " I have sworn that I will
never marry thee to him, for of a truth a certain tale
concerning thee and him has reached me."

" It was not true," she said.
