Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 1.djvu/240

218 and travelled till they reached Kumreh, where they took him out of the chest and brought him before the Vizier, who said to him, “Art thou he who made the mess of pomegranate-seed?” “Yes, O my lord,” answered he; and Shemseddin said, “Shackle him.” So they shackled him and returned him to the chest and fared on again, till they arrived at Cairo and halted in the suburb of Er Reidaniyeh. Then the Vizier commanded to take Bedreddin out of his chest and sent for a carpenter, to whom he said, “Make a cross of wood for this fellow.” Quoth Bedreddin, “What wilt thou do with it?” “I mean to nail thee upon it,” replied the Vizier, “and parade thee throughout the city.” “And why wilt thou use me thus?” asked Bedreddin; and the Vizier answered, “Because of thy villainous mess of pomegranate-seed and for that it lacked pepper.” “And because it lacked pepper,” said Bedreddin, “wilt thou do all this to me? Is it not enough that thou hast laid my shop in ruins and smashed my gear and imprisoned me and fed me but once a day?” “It lacked pepper,” answered the Vizier; “and nothing less than death is thy desert.” At this Bedreddin wondered and mourned for himself, till the Vizier said to him, “Of what art thou thinking?” “I was thinking of crack-brains like unto thee,” answered Bedreddin, “for hadst thou any sense, thou wouldst not treat me thus.” Quoth the Vizier, “It behoves me to punish thee, lest thou do the like again.” And Bedreddin said, “Verily, my offence were over-punished by the least of what thou hast already done to me.” “It avails not,” answered Shemseddin; “I must crucify thee.” All this time the carpenter was shaping the cross, whilst Bedreddin looked on; and thus they did till nightfall, when the Vizier took him and clapped him in the chest, saying, “The thing shall be done to-morrow.” Then he waited till he knew Bedreddin to be asleep, when he mounted and taking