Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 3.djvu/235

213 day break.’ So saying, he wrapped the body in a mantle and laying it in a basket, said to Amjed, ‘Thou art a stranger here and knowest no one: so sit thou here and await my return. If I come back, I will assuredly do thee great good service and use my endeavour to have news of thy brother; but if I return not by sunrise, know that all is over with me; in which case the house and all it contains are thine, and peace be on thee.’ Then he shouldered the basket and going forth, made for the sea, thinking to throw it therein: but as he drew near the shore, he turned and found himself surrounded by the chief of the police and his officers. They knew him and wondered and opened the basket, in which they found the slain woman. So they seized him and laid him in irons till the morning, when they carried him and the basket to the King and acquainted the latter with the case. The King was sore enraged and said to Behadir, ‘Out on thee! This is not the first time thou hast slain folk and cast them into the sea and taken their goods. How many murders hast thou done ere this?’ Behadir hung his head, and the King cried out at him, saying, ‘Woe to thee! Who killed this young lady?’ ‘O my lord,’ answered Behadir, ‘I killed her, and there is no power and no virtue but in God the Most High, the Supreme!’ At this the King’s anger redoubled and he commanded to hang him. So the hangman and the chief of the police went down with him, by the King’s commandment, and paraded him through the streets and markets of the town, whilst a crier forewent them, bidding all the folk to the execution of Behadir, the King’s Master of the Horse.

Meanwhile, Amjed awaited his host’s return till the day broke and the sun rose, and when he saw that he came not, he exclaimed, ‘There is no power and no virtue but in God the Most High, the Supreme! I wonder what is come of him?’ As he sat musing, he heard the crier