When Er Reshid heard this, he was sore chagrined and waxed
exceeding wroth and said, "Shall this happen in a city wherein I
am?" And the Hashimi vein[FN#42] started out between his eyes.
Then he bade fetch Jaafer, and when he came before him, he
acquainted him with the matter and said to him, "Shall this come
to pass in my city and I have no news of it?" Then he bade Jaafer
fetch all whom the young Damascene had named [as having
maltreated him], and when they came, he let smite off their
heads. Moreover, he summoned him whom they called Ahmed and who
had been the means of the young man's deliverance a first time
and a second, and thanked him and showed him favour and bestowed
on him a sumptuous dress of honour and invested him with the
governance over his city.[FN#43]

Then he sent for the old man, the Muezzin, and when the messenger
came to him and told him that the Commander of the Faithful
sought him, he feared the denunciation of the damsel and
accompanied him to the palace, walking and letting wind[FN#44] as
he went, whilst all who passed him by laughed at him. When he
came into the presence of the Commander of the Faithful, he fell
a-trembling and his tongue was embarrassed, [so that he could not
speak]. The Khalif laughed at him and said to him, "O elder, thou
hast done no offence; so [why] fearest thou?" "O my lord,"
answered the old man (and indeed he was in the sorest of that
which may be of fear,) "by the virtue of thy pure forefathers,
indeed I have done nought, and do thou enquire of my conduct."
The Khalif laughed at him and ordering him a thousand dinars,
bestowed on him a sumptuous dress of honour and made him chief of
the Muezzins in his mosque.