Then they set up the gallows and
made Jaafer and the others stand underneath in readiness; but
whilst they awaited the Khalif's signal for the execution and the
people wept for Jaafer and his kinsmen, behold, a handsome and
well-dressed young man, with shining face and bright black eyes,
flower-white forehead, downy whiskers and rosy cheeks and a mole
like a grain of ambergris, pressed through the crowd, till he
stood before Jaafer and said to him, 'I come to deliver thee from
this strait, O chief of the Amirs and refuge of the poor! I am he
who killed the woman ye found in the chest; so hang me for her
and do her justice on me!' When Jaafer heard this, he rejoiced at
his own deliverance, but grieved for the young man; and whilst
they were yet talking, behold, a man far advanced in years made
his way when he saluted them and said, 'O Vizier and noble lord,
credit not what this young man says. None killed the damsel but
I; so do thou avenge her on me, or I do accuse thee before God
the Most High.' Then said the youth, 'O Vizier, this is a doting
old man, who knows not what he says: it was I killed her, so do
thou avenge her on me.' 'O my son,' said the old man, 'thou art
young and desirest the things of the world, and I am old and
weary of the world. I will ransom thee and the Vizier and his
kinsmen with my life. None killed the damsel but I; so God on
thee, make haste to hang me, or there is no living for me after
her!' The Vizier marvelled at all this and taking the youth and
the old man, carried them before the Khalif and said to him, 'O
Commander of the Faithful, I bring thee the murderer of the
damsel.
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