Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 6.djvu/245

217 So I repaired to thy deputy, Merwan ben el Hekem, and sought succour of him. He summoned my father-in-law and questioned him, and he denied any knowledge of me. “May God amend the Amir!” said I. “If it please him to send for the woman and question her of her father’s saying, the truth will appear.” So he sent for her; but no sooner had he set eyes on her than he fell passionately in love with her and becoming my rival, denied me succour and was wroth with me. Moreover, he sent me to prison, and I became as I had fallen from heaven and the wind had cast me down in a far country. Then said Merwan to my father-in-law, “Wilt thou give her to me to wife, at a [present] dowry of a thousand dinars and [a contingent one of] ten thousand dirhems, and I will engage to quit her of yonder Arab?” Her father was seduced by the bribe and agreed to the bargain; whereupon Merwan sent for me and looking at me like an angry lion, said to me, “O Arab, put away Suad.” “I will not put her away,” answered I; but he set on me a company of his servants, who tortured me with all manner tortures, till I found no help for it but to do as he bade. So I divorced her and he sent me back to prison, where I abode till the days of her purification were accomplished, when he married her and set me free. So now I come to thee, hoping in thee, and imploring thy succour and throwing myself on thy protection.’ And he recited the following verses:

Then he was convulsed, and his teeth chattered and he fell down in a fit, writhing like a slain snake. When Muawiyeh heard his story, he said, ‘Verily, Merwan ben el Hekem hath transgressed against the laws of the Faith