The
place was full of crates and sacks of flour and grain and other
victual; and at the upper end stood a couch with a canopy over
it. My uncle went up to the bed and drawing the curtains, found
his son and the lady in each other's arms; but they were become
black coal, as they had been cast into a well of fire. When he
saw this, he spat in his son's face and taking off his shoe,
smote him with it, exclaiming, "Swine that thou art, thou hast
thy deserts! This is thy punishment in this world, but there
awaits thee a far sorer and more terrible punishment in the world
to come!" His behaviour amazed me, and I mourned for my cousin,
for that he was become a black coal, and said to the king, "O my
uncle, is not that which hath befallen him enough, but thou must
beat him with thy shoe?" "O son of my brother," answered my
uncle, "this my son was from his earliest youth madly enamoured
of his sister, and I forbade him from her, saying in myself,
'They are but children.' But, when they grew up, sin befell
between them, notwithstanding that his attendants warned him to
abstain from so foul a thing, which none had done before nor
would do after him, lest the news of it should be carried abroad
by the caravans and he become dishonoured and unvalued among
kings to the end of time. I heard of this and believed it not,
but took him and upbraided him severely, saying, 'Have a care
lest this thing happen to thee; for I will surely curse thee and
put thee to death.
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