Note 559 — Chapter XLIV · THE REMAINDER OF ALY’S REIGN. A.H. XXXVIII.–XL. A.D. 658–660.
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The mother, for example, apostrophising the assassin, speaks of her infants, with singular beauty and pathos, as pearls whose shell has been rudely torn asunder:
Ah! who hath seen my two little ones— Darlings that lay hidden, as it were pearls within the fold of their shell?
As they were grandchildren of Abbâs, the Caliph’s uncle, the incident naturally occupies a conspicuous position in Abbasside tradition. Ackîl, Aly’s brother, deserts.Aly cursed Bosor, praying that he might lose his intellect, and in answer to the prayer (so it is said) he became a hopeless, drivelling lunatic.