Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 3.djvu/26

10 certified that this was indeed he without doubt; wherefore there took me great fear of him for myself and I withdrew a little apart and waited to see what he would do with the young lion. Then I saw the son of Adam dig a pit hard by the chest and throwing the latter therein, heap brushwood upon it and burn the young lion with fire. At this sight, my fear of the son of Adam redoubled, and in my affright I have been these two days fleeing from him.’

When the peahen heard the duck’s story, she wondered exceedingly and said to her, ‘O my sister, thou art safe here from the son of Adam, for we are in one of the islands of the sea, whither there is no way for him; so do thou take up thine abode with us, till God make easy thine and our affair.’ Quoth the duck, ‘I fear lest some calamity come upon me by night, for no runaway can rid him of fate.’ ‘Abide with us,’ rejoined the peahen, ‘and be even as we;’ and ceased not to persuade her, till she yielded, saying, ‘O my sister, thou knowest how little is my fortitude: had I not seen thee here, I had not remained.’ ‘That which is written on our foreheads,’ said the peahen, ‘we must indeed fulfil, and when our appointed day draws near, who shall deliver us? But not a soul passes away except it have accomplished its predestined term and fortune.’ As they talked, a cloud of dust appeared, at sight of which the duck shrieked aloud and ran down into the sea, crying out, ‘Beware, beware, albeit there is no fleeing from Fate and Fortune!’ After awhile, the dust subsided and discovered an antelope; whereat the duck and the peahen were reassured and the latter said to her companion, ‘O my sister, this thou seest and wouldst have me beware of is an antelope, and he is making for us. He will do us no hurt, for the antelope feeds upon the herbs of the earth, and even as thou art of the bird-kind, so is he of the beast-kind. So be of good cheer and leave care-taking;caretaking; [sic] for care-takingcaretaking [sic] wasteth