पृष्ठ 300 / 1116

One day when the wine had gotten the better of us, the son of my

uncle said to me, "O my cousin, I have a great service to ask of

thee; and I desire that thou stay me not in whatso I desire to

do!" And I replied, "With joy and goodly will." Then he made me

swear the most binding oaths and left me; but after a little

while he returned leading a lady veiled and richly apparelled

with ornaments worth a large sum of money. Presently he turned to

me (the woman being still behind him) and said, "Take this lady

with thee and go before me to such a burial ground" (describing

it, so that I knew the place), "and enter with her into such a

sepulchre[FN#190] and there await my coming." The oaths I swore

to him made me keep silence and suffered me not to oppose him; so

I led the woman to the cemetery and both I and she took our seats

in the sepulchre; and hardly had we sat down when in came my

uncle's son, with a bowl of water, a bag of mortar and an adze

somewhat like a hoe.