Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 3.djvu/234

212 lady to hold her hand and she answered, ‘Let me stay my anger on him;’ till at last he snatched the stick from her hand and pushed her away. Behadir arose and wiping away his tears, waited upon them awhile; after which he swept the hall and lighted the lamps; but, as often as he went in and out, the lady railed at him and cursed him, till Amjed was wroth with her and said, ‘For God’s sake, leave my servant; he is not used to this.’ Then they sat eating and drinking, whilst Behadir waited upon them, till midnight, when the latter, weary with service and beating, fell asleep in the midst of the hall and snored and snorted; whereupon the lady, who was heated with wine, said to Amjed, ‘Arise, take the sword that hangs yonder and cut off this slave’s head, or I will be the death of thee.’ ‘What possesses thee to kill my slave?’ asked Amjed; and she answered, ‘Our delight will not be fulfilled but by his death. If thou wilt not kill him, I will do it myself.’ ‘For God’s sake,’ cried Amjed, ‘do not this thing!’ ‘It must be,’ replied she and taking down the sword, drew it and made at Behadir to kill him; but Amjed said in himself, ‘This man hath entreated us courteously and sheltered us and done us kindness and made himself my servant: and shall we requite him by killing him? This shall never be.’ [sic] Then he said to the lady, ‘If my slave must be killed, better I should do it than thou.’ So saying, he took the sword from her and raising his hand, smote her on the neck and made her head fly from her body. It fell upon Behadir, who awoke and sitting up, saw Amjed standing by him, with the bloodstained sword in his hand, and the damsel lying dead. He enquired what had passed, and Amjed told him what she had said, adding, ‘Nothing would serve her but she must kill thee; and this is her reward.’ Behadir rose and kissing the prince’s hand, said to him, ‘Would God thou hadst spared her! But now there is nothing for it but to rid us of her forthright, before the