Pagina 503 de 1116

Then they set up the gallows and made Ja'afar and the others

stand underneath in readiness for execution, but whilst every eye

was looking for the Caliph's signal, and the crowd wept for

Ja'afar and his cousins of the Barmecides, lo and behold! a young

man fair of face and neat of dress and of favour like the moon

raining light, with eyes black and bright, and brow flower-white,

and cheeks red as rose and young down where the beard grows, and

a mole like a grain of ambergris, pushed his way through the

people till he stood immediately before the Wazir and said to

him, "Safety to thee from this strait, O Prince of the Emirs and

Asylum of the poor! I am the man who slew the woman ye found in

the chest, so hang me for her and do her justice on me!" When

Ja'afar heard the youth's confession he rejoiced at his own

deliverance.