' 'Fear not,' said the governor; 'no harm shall come to
thee.' Then he laid the chief of the market under arrest, saying
to him, 'Give this man the price of his hand, or I will hang thee
and seize on all thy goods.' And he cried out to the officers,
who took him and dragged him away, leaving me with the governor,
who made his people unbind me and take the chain off my neck.
Then he looked at me and said, 'O my son, speak the truth and
tell me how thou camest by the necklet.' And he repeated the
following verse:
To tell the whole truth is thy duty, although It bring thee to
burn on the brasier of woe!
'By Allah, O my lord,' answered I, 'such is my intent!' And I
told him all that had passed between me and the first lady and
how she had brought the second one to me and had slain her out of
jealousy. When he heard my story, he shook his head and beat hand
upon hand; then putting his handkerchief to his eyes, wept awhile
and repeated the following verses:
I see that Fortune's maladies are many upon me, For, every
dweller in the world, sick unto death is he.
To every gathering of friends there comes a parting day: And few
indeed on earth are those that are from parting free?
Then he turned to me and said, 'Know, O my son, that she who
first came to thee was my eldest daughter. I brought her up in
strict seclusion and when she came to womanhood, I sent her to
Cairo and married her to my brother's son.
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