Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 6.djvu/286

258 raised his eyes and seeing the Bedouin strung up in place of the old woman, said to the watchmen, ‘What is this?’ ‘Pardon, O our lord!’ cried they; and he said, ‘Tell me what has happened.’ ‘We were weary with watching with thee on guard,’ answered they, ‘and said, “Delileh is crucified.” So we fell asleep, and when we awoke, we found the Bedouin strung up in her stead; and we are at thy mercy.’ ‘God’s pardon be upon you!’ answered the masterMaster [sic] of police. ‘She is indeed a clever cheat!’ Then they unbound the Bedouin, who laid hold of the masterMaster [sic] of police, saying, ‘God succour the Khalif against thee! I look to none but thee for my horse and clothes!’ [sic] So the chiefChief [sic] of the police questioned him and he told him what had passed between Delileh and himself. ‘Why didst thou release her?’ asked the magistrate, and the Bedouin said, ‘I knew not that she was a swindler.’ Then said the others, ‘O chiefChief [sic] of the police, we look to thee for our goods; for we delivered the old woman into thy hands and she was in thy guard; and we cite thee before the Divan of the Khalif.’

Now the Amir Hassan had gone up to the Divan, when in came the masterMaster [sic] of police with the Bedouin and the five others, saying, ‘We are wronged men!’ ‘Who hath wronged you?’ asked the Khalif. So each came forward in turn and told his story, after which said the masterMaster [sic] of police, ‘O Commander of the Faithful, the old woman cheated me also and sold me these five men as slaves for a thousand dinars, albeit they are free-born.’ Quoth Er Reshid, ‘I take upon myself all that you have lost.’ Then he said to the masterMaster [sic] of police, ‘I charge thee with the old woman.’ But he shook his collar, saying, ‘O Commander of the Faithful, I will not answer for her; for, after I had strung her up on the cross, she tricked this Bedouin and tied him up in her room and made off with his clothes and horse.’ Quoth the Khalif, ‘Whom but thee shall I