' Then he turned to the hunchback and said to him, 'So it is
thou that stealest the meat and fat. I thought it was the cats
and dogs, and I kill the cats and dogs of the quarter and sin
against them. And all the while it is thou comest down through
the windshaft! But I will take my wreak of thee with my own
hand.' So he took-a great cudgel and smote him on the breast, and
he fell down. Then he examined him and finding that he was dead,
cried out in horror, thinking that he had killed him, and said,
'There is no power and no virtue but in God the Supreme, the
Omnipotent!' And he feared for himself and said, 'May God curse
the fat and the sheep's tails, that have caused this man's death
to be at my hand!' Then he looked at the dead man and seeing him
to be humpbacked, said, 'Did it not suffice thee to be a
hunchback, but thou must turn thief and steal meat and fat? O
Protector, extend to me Thy gracious protection!' Then he took
him up on his shoulders and going forth with him, carried him to
the beginning of the market, where he set him on his feet against
the wall of a shop, at the corner of a dark lane, and went away.
After awhile, there came up a Christian, the Sultan's broker, who
had sallied forth, in a state of intoxication, intending for the
bath, for in his drunkenness he thought that matins were near.
He came staggering along, till he drew near the hunchback and
squatted down over against him to make water, when, happening to
look round, he saw a man standing against the wall.
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