Alas! against the law of Death no arbiter is there!
Thou layst upon my back the load of passion and desire, When I
for weakness scarce can lift the very gown I wear!
That so my soul should waste away, small wonder is to me; But oh!
I wonder how my flesh can thine estrangement bear.
Then I wept again, and he looked at me and reviled and reproached
me, repeating the following verses:
Thou hast forgotten my love in the arms of another than me; Thou
shew'st me estrangement, though I was never unfaithful to
thee.
So I will cast thee away, since thou wast the first to forsake,
And by thy pattern content to live without thee will I be.
And (like thyself) in the arms of another thy charms I'll forget;
'Tis thou that hast sundered our loves: thou canst not
reproach it to me.
Then he called to the slave with the sword, saying "Cut her in
half and rid us of her, for we have no profit of her." So the
slave drew near to me and I gave myself up for lost and committed
my affair to God the Most High; but, at this moment, in came the
old woman and threw herself at my husband's feet and kissed them,
saying, "O my son, for the sake of my fosterage of thee and my
service to thee, spare this young lady, for indeed she has done
nothing deserving of death. Thou art a very young man, and I fear
lest her death be laid to thy count, for it is said, 'He who
kills shall be killed.
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