'" "By Allah," said my master, "he came to me but
now, crying out, 'Alas, my mistress! Alas, her children!' and
said, 'My mistress and her children are all dead.'" Then he
looked round and seeing me with my torn turban hanging down my
neck, shrieking and weeping violently and strewing earth on my
head, cried out at me. So I came to him and he said, "Woe to
thee, O pestilent slave, O whore-son knave, O accurst of race!
What mischiefs hast thou wrought! But I will strip thy skin from
thy flesh and cut thy flesh off thy bones!" "By Allah," replied
I, "thou canst do nothing with me, for thou boughtest me with my
fault, with witnesses to testify against thee that thou didst so
and that thou knewest of my fault, which is that I tell one lie
every year. This is but half a lie, but by the end of the year, I
will tell the other half, and it will then be a whole lie." "O
dog, son of a dog," exclaimed my master, "O most accursed of
slaves, is this but a half lie? Indeed, it is a great calamity!
Go out from me; thou art free before God!" "By Allah," rejoined
I, "if thou free me, I will not free thee, till I have completed
my year and told the other half lie. When that is done, take me
down to the market and sell me, as thou boughtest me, to
whosoever will buy me with my fault: but free me not, for I have
no handicraft to get my living by: and this my demand is
according to the law, as laid down by the doctors in the chapter
of Manumission.
Pages:
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496