The Arabian Nights Entertainments - Volume 01Anonymous
General
The Arabian Nights Entertainments - Volume 01
Anonymous
Arabs -- Folklore; Fairy tales; Folklore -- Arab countries
At this spectacle I cried out most hideously; I beat my head, my
face, and breast; I tore my clothes, and threw myself on the
ground with unspeakable sorrow and grief. Alas! I cried, there
were only some hours wanting to have put him out of that danger
from which he sought sanctuary here; and when I myself thought
the danger past, then I became his murderer, and verified the
prediction. But, O Lord, said I, lifting up my face and hands to
heaven, I beg thy pardon, and, if I be guilty of his death, let
me not live any longer.
After this misfortune I would have embraced death without any
reluctance, had it presented itself to me. But what we wish to
ourselves, whether good or bad, will not always happen.
Nevertheless, considering with myself that all my tears and
sorrows would not bring the young man to life again, and, the
forty days being expired, I might be surprised by his father, I
quitted that subterranean dwelling, laid down the great stone
upon the entry of it, and covered it with earth.
I had scarcely done, when, casting my eyes upon the sea towards
the main-land, I perceived the vessel coming to fetch home the
young man. I began then to consider what I had best do; I said to
myself, if I am seen by the old man, he will certainly lay hold
on me, and perhaps cause me to be massacred by his slaves. When
he has seen his son killed, all that I can allege to justify
myself will not be able to persuade him of my innocence. It is
better for me, then, to withdraw, since it is in my power, than
expose myself to his resentment.
There happened to be near this subterranean habitation a large
tree with thick leaves, which I thought fit to hide me in. I got
up to it, and was no sooner fixed in a place where I could not be
seen, than I saw the vessel come to the same place where she lay
the first time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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