Hisham bin Abd Al-Malik bin Marwan, the Caliph, was hunting an antelope. As he was chasing, he came across an Arab youth grazing his sheep. As the Caliph lost sight of the antelope, his anger turned towards the boy and accused him of letting the antelope escape.
But the youth retorted by calling him ill-mannered and discourteous. The Caliph shouted that he was Hisham bin Abd Al–Malik. Whereupon, the youth started cursing the Caliph that his house and property would never be protected by the Allah.
The enraged Caliph ordered the soldiers to behead the youth. When the executioner asked the Caliph if he could behead him, for the third time, the youth started laughing.
When the Caliph asked him why he was laughing, the youth replied that there was a story of a hawk catching a sparrow for eating and the sparrow cleverly said that the flesh he would get from him would be too little for a great hawk. Hearing this, the hawk released the sparrow. The Caliph was pleased to hear this and ordered his men to bestow upon the youth gold and jewels.
