Original content

اعرابی بر امیرالمؤمنین علی - کرم الله تعالی وجهه - درآمد و خاموش بنشست ذل فقر و فاقه بر جبین او ظاهر بود. حضرت امیر از وی پرسید که چه حاجت داری؟ شرم داشت که به زبان گوید، بر زمین نوشت که من مردی فقیرم. حضرت امیر وی را دو حله عطا داد و غیر از آن مالک هیچ چیز نبود. اعرابی یکی را ردا ساخت و دیگری را ازار و بایستاد و چند بیت مناسب حال در کمال بلاغت و فصاحت بر بدیهه انشا کرد. حضرت امیر را بسیار خوش آمد، سی دینار دیگر از حق امیرالمؤمنین حسن و امیرالمؤمنین حسین رضی الله عنهما پیش وی بود عطا دادش. اعرابی آن را گرفت و گفت: ای امیرالمؤمنین مرا توانگرترین اهل بیت من گردانیدی و برفت.

English translation

A Bedouin came into the presence of the Commander of the Faithful, Ali - may God ennoble his face - and sat down silently. The abasement of poverty and destitution was evident upon his brow. The Amir asked him: What need do you have? He was ashamed to speak it with his tongue, so he wrote upon the ground: I am a poor man. The Amir gave him two robes, and besides these he possessed nothing at all. The Bedouin made one of them into a cloak and the other into a waistcloth, and he stood up and composed on the spot several verses befitting his condition, in the utmost eloquence and fluency. The Amir was greatly pleased. Thirty more dinars, which belonged to the Commanders of the Faithful Hasan and Husayn - may God be pleased with them both - were with him, and he gave them to him. The Bedouin took them and said: O Commander of the Faithful, you have made me the wealthiest of my household, and he departed.