ABSTRACT
A C E R T A IN dervish, who had got into debt to the tune of 9,000 pieces of gold, came to Tabriz from the provinces. Now by chance in Tabriz there was a man named Badr al-Din Omar, a police-inspector but at heart a very ocean of liberality, every hair’s tip of him worthy to house Hatim; had Hatim been alive indeed, he himself would have begged of him, bowing his head to be the dust at his feet. It was in hope of him that the stranger came, for he was kith and kin to every poor stranger. The dervish was well acquainted with his door; he had paid countless debts out of his patron’s munificence. It was in fact relying on his generosity that he had contracted this debt, for he confided in his subventions.
