Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 2.djvu/448

436

A similar colloquy to that in this story occurs in the "Turkish Tales."

"Let me suppose that I am at court, (continued he, taking his cap off his head, and laying it on the floor before him,) let me suppose my cap to be Togaltimur, and see if I can have the confidence to insist upon a lie in the face of the king. Entering into his presence, I salute him. Saddyq, says he to me, let my black horse be got ready, I mean to ride him to-day.—Sir, an accident has befallen him; yesterday, in the evening, he would eat nothing whatever that was offered to him, and he died at midnight; nor can I imagine what has killed him.—How! my black horse, that carried me so well but yesterday, is he dead? Why must it be he rather than so many others that are in the same stable? What story is this you tell me? Begone, you are a liar. Thou hast either sold my horse to some foreigner, who went away with him last night into his own country, or killed him yourself in some freak or other. Think not of escaping my vengeance, you shall be punished according to your deserts. One of you stab that villain to the heart this moment: cut him to pieces!"