starving.' The prince of the believers, Omar, hearing these words, went to the
woman, and with a salutation said, 'May I approach?'
"The woman answered, 'If it be by way of goodness, come.'
"He approached her and questioned her about her situation.
"The woman said: 'I come from a far place; and as it was dark when I arrived
here, I could not enter the city. So I stopped at this place. My children and I are
suffering from hunger and we cannot sleep.'
"The Caliph inquired, 'What is there in this kettle?'
"The woman answered: 'Nothing but water. I put it in the kettle so that the
children should imagine that I was cooking rice—perhaps, then, they would go
to sleep and stop crying so loudly.'
"As soon as Omar had heard these words he returned promptly to the city of
Medina. Arriving at a shop where they sold flour, he bought some and put it into
a sack. In another shop he bought some meat. Then lifting the sack to his
shoulders he carried it out of the city. I said to him:
"'O prince of the believers, give me this sack, that I may carry it for you.'
"'If you bear the weight of this sack,' said his glorious Majesty to me, 'who will
bear the weight of my fault, and who will clear me from the prayer of this
woman in the affliction of her heart when she complained to the Lord of my
negligence?'
"Omar, having said these words, continued to walk in tears until he had come
near the woman and her children. Then he gave her the flour and the meat, and
they ate till their hunger was appeased. The woman with a satisfied heart cried:
"'May God the most high hear my prayer and render you benefits, since you are
so full of compassion for the servants of God and are so much better than Omar.'
"The Caliph said to her, 'O woman, blame not Omar, for he knew not how you
fared.'"
There was once a king in the country of Syria named Malik-es-Saleh, very pious