Nothing could prevent the execution of this prince's severe and irrevocable sentence, and the lives of the most deserving people in the city were just going to be sacrificed, when a young man of handsome mien pressed through the crowd till he came up to the grand vizier, and after he had kissed his hand, said, "Most excellent vizier, chief of the emirs of this court, and comforter of the poor, you are not guilty of the crime for which you stand here. Withdraw, and let me expiate the death of the lady that was thrown into the Tigris. It is I who murdered her, and I deserve to be punished for my offence." Though these words occasioned great joy to the vizier, yet he could not but pity the young man, in whose look he saw something that instead of evincing guilt was engaging: but as he was about to answer him, a tall man advanced in years, who had likewise forced his way through the crowd, came up to him, saying, "Do not believe what this young man tells you, I killed that lady who was found in the trunk, and this punishment ought only to fall upon me. I conjure you in the name of God not to punish the innocent for the guilty." "Sir," said the young man to the vizier, "I do protest that I am he who committed this vile act, and nobody else had any concern in it." "My son," said the old man, "it is despair that brought you hither, and you would anticipate your destiny. I have lived a long while in the world, and it is time for me to be gone; let me therefore sacrifice my life for yours." "Sir," said he again to the vizier, "I tell you once more I am the murderer; let me die without delay."