Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 3.djvu/335

307 the merchants in irons, and Alaeddin among the rest; and the King and the captain mounted and made the captives walk before them, till they reached the palace, where the King sat down in the audience-chamber and making the prisoners pass before him, one by one, said to the first, ‘O Muslim, whence comest thou?’ ‘From Alexandria,’ answered he; whereupon the King said, ‘O headsman, put him to death.’ So the headsman smote him with the sword and cut off his head: and thus it fared with the second and the third, till forty were dead and there remained but Alaeddin, who drank the cup of his comrades’ anguish and said to himself, ‘God have mercy on thee, O Alaeddin! Thou art a dead man.’ Then said the King to him, ‘And thou, what countryman art thou?’ ‘I am of Alexandria,’ answered Alaeddin, and the King said, ‘O headsman, strike off his head.’ So the headsman raised his arm and was about to strike, when an old woman of venerable aspect presented herself before the King, who rose to do her honour, and said to him, ‘O King, did I not bid thee remember, when the captain came back with captives, to keep one or two for the convent, to serve in the church?’ ‘O my mother,’ answered the King, ‘would thou hadst come a while earlier! But take this one that is left.’ So she turned to Alaeddin and said to him, ‘Wilt thou serve in the church, or shall I let the King kill thee?’ Quoth he, ‘I will serve in the church.’ So she took him and carried him forth of the palace to the church, where he said to her, ‘What service must I do?’ And she answered, ‘Thou must arise in the morning and take five mules and go with them into the forest and there cut dry firewood and split it and bring it to the convent-kitchen. Then must thou take up the carpets and sweep and wipe the stone and marble pavements and lay the carpets down again, as they were; after which thou must take two bushels and a half of wheat and sift it and grind it and knead it and make it