Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 4.djvu/266

236 THE WOMAN’S TRICK AGAINST HER HUSBAND.

A man brought his wife a fish one Friday and bidding her cook it against the end of the congregational prayers, went out to his business. Meanwhile, there came in her friend, who bade her to a wedding at his house; so she agreed and laying the fish in a jar of water, went off with him and was absent a whole week, whilst her husband sought her from house to house and enquired after her; but none could give him any news of her.

On the following Friday, she came home, [and he fell to chiding and reproaching her;] but she brought out to him the fish alive from the jar and assembled the folk against him. He told them his case; but they credited him not and said, ‘It cannot be that the fish should have remained alive all this while.’ So they caused adjudge him mad and imprisoned him and laughed at him, whereupon he wept sore and recited the following verses:

THE DEVOUT WOMAN AND THE TWO WICKED ELDERS.

There was once, of old time, a virtuous woman among the children of Israel, who was pious and devout and used every day to go out to the place of prayer, first entering a garden, which adjoined thereto, and there making the ablution. Now there were in this garden two old men, its keepers, who fell in love with her and sought her favours;