There were others however before Qays who did not take this attitude toward children. Sa’sa’a, the grandfather of the poet Al-Farazdac, frequently redeemed female children that were about to be buried alive. Inasmuch as he too was of the tribe of Tamim his action would indicate that Qays was not an innovator. In order to save them he was obliged to buy them off and the price he paid every time was two she-camels, big with young, and one he-camel.[258] Boasting of this humane action on the part of his ancestor (who was the François Villon of his day) Al-Farazdac vauntingly declared one day before the Khalifs of the family of Omayya: “I am the son of the giver of life to the dead.” When he was reproved for this boasting he justified it by quoting the Koran: “He who saveth a soul alive shall be as if he had saved the souls of all mankind.”[259] The Aghani explains the practice on the ground of poverty and credits Sa’sa’a with being the first one to attempt to put an end to the practice. Thereafter this humane grandparent of a vagabond poet was known as Muhiyyu’l-Maw’udat, or “He who brings buried girls to life.” According to the Kamil he saved as many as one hundred and eighty daughters.[260] That infanticide was rare in the desert is the claim made by defenders of the faith. The following verses are quoted by Lane as going to show that the Arabs really had a tender feeling toward their women and their children; and that infanticide, which is commonly attributed to the whole Arab nation of every age before Islam, was in reality exceedingly rare in the desert, and after almost dying out only revived about the time of Mohammed. It was probably adopted by poor and weak clans, either from inability to support their children, or in order to protect themselves from the stain of having their children dishonoured by stronger tribes, and the occasional practice of this barbarous and suicidal custom affords no ground for assuming an unnatural hatred and contempt for girls among the ancient Arabs. These verses of a father to his daughter tell a different story: If no Umaymah were there, no want would trouble my soul, no labour call me to toil for bread through pitchiest night; What moves my longing to live is but that well do I know how low the fatherless lies, how hard the kindness of kin. I quake before loss of wealth lest lacking fall upon her, and leave her shieldless and bare as flesh set forth on a board. My life she prays for, and I from mere love pray for her death—yea, death, the gentlest and kindest guest to visit a maid. I fear an uncle’s rebuke, a brother’s harshness for her; my chiefest end was to spare her heart the grief of a word. Once more, the following lines do not breathe the spirit of infanticide: