Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 1.djvu/328

302 dead, without telling him the reason: after which he returned to his shop, in a sorry plight, and told one of the King’s household, who laughed till he fell backward and said to him, “O my brother, know that the King cannot endure the sight of a one-eyed man; especially if he be blind of the left eye, in which case, he does not let him go without killing him.” When my brother heard this, he resolved to fly that city, so went forth and repaired to another country, where he was known of none. Here he abode a long while, till one day, being heavy at heart for what had befallen him, he went out to divert himself. As he was walking along, he heard the tramp of horse behind him; whereupon he exclaimed, “The judgment of God is upon me!” and looked out for a hiding-place, but found none. At last he saw a closed door, and pushing against it, it yielded and he found himself in a long corridor, in which he took refuge. Hardly had he done so, when two men laid hold of him, exclaiming, “Praise be to God, who hath delivered thee into our hands, O enemy of Allah! These three nights thou hast bereft us of sleep and given us no peace and made us taste the agonies of death!” “O folk,” said my brother, “what ails you?” And they answered, “Thou givest us the change and goest about to dishonour us and to murder the master of the house! Is it not enough that thou hast brought him to beggary, thou and thy comrades? But give us up the knife, wherewith thou threatenest us every night.” Then they searched him and found in his girdle the knife he used to cut leather; and he said, “O folk, have the fear of God before your eyes and maltreat me not, for know that my story is a strange one.” “What is thy story?” asked they. So he told them what had befallen him, hoping that they would let him go; however, they paid no heed to what he said, but beat him and tore off his