who presents me with a thousand dirhems
every year.' He used to say that the wine of this world is better than
that of the next; and, being asked for the reason, replied: 'This is a
sample of the wine of paradise, and for a sample the best is always
taken.'

Ismail bin Nubakht said: 'I never saw a man of more extensive learning
than Abu Nuwas, nor one who, with a memory so richly furnished,
possessed so few books. After his decease we searched his house, and
could only find one book-cover containing a quire of paper, in which
was a collection of rare expressions and grammatical observations.'

He died on the same day as the mystic Al-Kerkhi, whose corpse was
accompanied to the grave by more than three hundred persons, but that
of Abu Nuwas by not one. When, however, one of the three hundred
exclaimed: 'Was not Abu Nuwas a Muslim? And why do none of the Muslims
recite the funeral prayer over his body? all the three hundred who had
assisted at the interment of Kerkhi recited the prayer also over the
corpse of Abu Nuwas.

He is considered to have been an equally good narrator, scholar, and
poet; and, being asked by Sulaiman bin Sehl what species of poetry he
thought to be the best, replied: 'There are no poems on wine equal to
my own, and to my amatory compositions all others must yield,' He used
to boast that he knew by heart the poems of sixty poetesses, and among
them those of Khansa and Leila, as also seven hundred Arjuzat, or
poems in unshackled metre, by men. He said that he could compose
nothing except when he was in a good humour, and in a shady garden. He
often began a Kasida, put it away for several days, and then took it
up again to rescind much of it.

According to Abu Amr, the three greatest poets in the description of
wine are Aasha, Akhtal, and Abu Nuwas. Abu Hatim al Mekki often said
that the deep meanings of thoughts were concealed underground until
Abu Nuwas dug them out.

His end was tragic. Zonbor, the secretary, and Abu Nuwas were in the
habit of composing lampoons against each other; whereon the former
conceived the idea of propagating a satire against Ali, the son-in-law
of the Prophet, in the name of Abu Nuwas; and this became the cause of
his death. In an already half-drunken circle Zonbor recited the satire
on Ali as the work of Abu Nuwas; on which all fell upon the poet,
ripped open his belly, and pulled his entrails about till he expired.
Others assert that Ismail bin Abu Sehl administere