Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 6.djvu/194

168 they bring him before thee, look thou spare him not.’ So the King went out and sat down on his throne; and presently, the sailors brought in Gherib, saying, ‘O King, we found this youth shipwrecked in the midst of the sea, and he believeth not in our gods.’ Then they told him all that had passed and the King said, ‘Carry him to the house of the great idol and cut his throat before him, so haply he may look favourably upon us.’ But the Vizier said, ‘O King, it befits not to slaughter him thus, for he would die forthright; rather let us burn him with fire.’

So the King commanded to cast Gherib into prison and caused wood to be brought; and they made a great pyre and set fire to it, and it burnt till the morning. Then the King and the people of the city came forth and the King sent to fetch Gherib; but his men found him not; so they returned and told the King, who said, ‘How made he his escape?’ Quoth they, ‘We found the doors locked and the chains and shackles cast down.’ Whereat the King marvelled and said, ‘Hath this fellow flown up to heaven or sunk into the earth?’ And they said, ‘We know not.’ Then said the King, ‘I will go and ask my god, and he will tell me whither he is gone.’ So he rose and went in, to prostrate himself to his idol, but found it not and began to rub his eyes and say, ‘Am I asleep or awake?’ Then he turned to his Vizier and said to him, ‘Where is my god and where is the prisoner? By my faith, O dog of Viziers, hadst thou not counselled me to burn him, I had slaughtered him; for it is he who hath stolen my god and fled; and needs must I be avenged of him!’ Then he drew his sword and cut off the Vizier’s head.

Now there was a strange cause for Gherib’s escape, and it was on this wise. When they had shut him up in a cell adjoining the temple of the idol, he rose to pray, calling upon the name of God the Most High and seeking deliverance of Him, may He be exalted and glorified! The