Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 6.djvu/24

8 ‘Didst thou not bind his hands behind him and throw him into the lake, and did he not say to thee, “If my hands appear above the water first, cast thy net over me and pull me out in haste; but, if my feet appear first, know that I am dead and carry the mule to the Jew Shemaiah, who will give thee a hundred dinars?” And did not his feet appear first and didst thou not carry the mule to the Jew and take of him the hundred dinars?’ ‘Since thou knowest all this,’ replied Jouder, ‘why dost thou question me?’ Quoth the Moor, ‘I would have thee do with me as thou didst with my brother.’ Then he gave him a silken cord, saying, ‘Bind my hands behind me and throw me in, and if I fare as did my brother, take the mule to the Jew and he will give thee other hundred dinars.’ Quoth Jouder, ‘Come.’ So he came and he bound him and pushed him into the lake, where he sank.

After awhile, his feet appeared above the water and Jouder said, ‘He is dead and damned! So God will, may Moors come to me every day, and I will bind them and push them in and they shall die; and I will be content with a hundred dinars for each dead man.’ Then he took the mule to the Jew, who exclaimed, on seeing him, ‘The other is dead?’ ‘May thy head live!’ answered Jouder, and the Jew said, ‘This is the reward of the covetous.’ Then he took the mule and gave Jouder a hundred dinars, with which he returned to his mother. ‘O my son,’ said she, ‘whence hast thou this money?’ So he told her and she said, ‘Go not again to Lake Caroun, for I fear for thee from the Moors.’ ‘O my mother,’ answered he, ‘I do but cast them in by their own wish, and what am I to do? This craft brings me in a hundred dinars a day and I return speedily; wherefore, by Allah, I will not leave going to Lake Caroun, till the trace of the Moors is cut off and not one of them is left.’

So, on the morrow, he went down to the lake and stood