Note 238 — Chapter II

These gardens have been the occasion of preserving a trait of Moorish character: an old woman having had a portion of ground taken from her to complete the enclosure, appealed to the caïd,—

“The magistrate mounted his ass, taking with him a sack of enormous size, and presented himself before Hisham, who happened to be then sitting in a pavilion on the very ground belonging to the old woman. The arrival of the caïd, still more the sack, which he carried on his shoulders, surprised the caliph. Ibn Bechir having prostrated himself, entreated the monarch to allow him to fill his sack with some of the earth on which they then were. The request was granted, and when the sack was full, the caïd desired his master to help him to lift it on his ass. This strange demand astonished Alkakem still more, and he told the caïd that the load was too heavy. 'O prince,’ replied Ibn Bechir, 'this sack which you find too heavy, contains but a very small portion of the earth which you have unjustly taken from a poor woman; how then at the day of judgment shall you bear the weight of the whole?’”