Page:Tales from the Arabic, Vol 1.djvu/132

112 Hadst thou wrought deliberately, the false had been made manifest to thee from the true; so where was thy judgment and thy sight?’

Then said he to Arwa, ‘What wilt thou that I do with them?’ And she answered, saying, ‘Accomplish on them the ordinance of God the Most High; the slayer shall be slain and the transgressor transgressed against, even as he transgressed against us; yea, and the well-doer, good shall be done unto him, even as he did unto us.’ So she gave [her officers] commandment concerning Dadbin and they smote him on the head with a mace and slew him, and she said, ‘This is for the slaughter of my father.’ Then she bade set the vizier on a beast [and carry him] to the desert whither he had caused carry her [and leave him there without victual or water]; and she said to him, ‘An thou be guilty, thou shalt abide [the punishment of] thy guilt and perish of hunger and thirst in the desert; but, if there be no guilt in thee, thou shalt be delivered, even as I was delivered.’

As for the eunuch, the chamberlain, who had counselled King Dadbin [not to slay her, but] to [cause] carry her to the desert [and there abandon her], she bestowed on him a sumptuous dress of honour and said to him, ‘The like of thee it behoveth kings to hold in favour and set in high place, for that thou spokest loyally and well, and a man is still requited according to his deed.’ And Kisra the king invested him with the governance of one of the provinces of his empire. Know, therefore, O king,” continued the youth, “that whoso doth good is requited