He said, "You have arrived at a most liberal dwelling. Ho, slaves! come hither." And the slaves came forward, and spread out the Intâʾa,[1] and placed the cushions, and slaughtered of the flocks and the herds.
But we said, "We will not taste thy food until thou hast granted us what we desire."
"And what is your request?" he asked.
"We seek," we replied, "thy honoured daughter in marriage for ʾUtbah-ibn-Khabâb-ibn-el-Múndzîr, the noble, the illustrious, the well-descended." Whereupon 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 Riyâ."
And she asked, "What is this anger, O my father! which I perceive on thy brow?"
He answered, "Some of the el-Ansâry people have arrived here seeking thee in marriage from me."
"They are illustrious chiefs," said she; "may the
- ↑ Intâʾa, or Nitâʾa, 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.
