صفحة 510 من 1116

I looked for the apples and finding only two of the three asked

my wife, "O my cousin, where is the third apple?"; and raising

her head languidly she answered, "I wot not, O son of my uncle,

where 'tis gone!" This convinced me that the slave had spoken the

truth, so I took a knife and coming behind her got upon her

breast without a word said and cut her throat. Then I hewed off

her head and her limbs in pieces and, wrapping her in her

mantilla and a rag of carpet, hurriedly sewed up the whole which

I set in a chest and, locking it tight, loaded it on my he-mule

and threw it into the Tigris with my own hands. So Allah upon

thee, O Commander of the Faithful, make haste to hang me, as I

fear lest she appeal for vengeance on Resurrection Day. For, when

I had thrown her into the river and none knew aught of it, as I

went back home I found my eldest son crying and yet he knew

naught of what I had done with his mother.