Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 9.djvu/141

121 past, diverting himself with the stories and witticisms he heard and repeating [in himself] the following lines:

Then Kemerezzeman and his father took Ubeid and carrying him into the saloon of the harem, shut themselves up with him; and Abdurrehman said to him, ‘We did but hinder thee from speaking before the folk, for fear of dishonour to thee and to us: but now we are private; so tell me all that hath passed between thee and thy wife and my son.’ So he told him all, from beginning to end, and when he had made an end of his story, Abdurrehman said to him, ‘Was the fault with my son or with thy wife?’ ‘By Allah,’ answered Ubeid, ‘thy son was not to blame, for men [naturally] lust after women, and it behoveth women to defend themselves from men. So the fault lies with my wife, who played me false and did with me these things.’

Then Abdurrehman arose and taking his son aside, said to him, ‘O my son, we have proved his wife and know her to be a traitress; and now I mean to prove him and see if he be a man of worth and honour or a wittol.’ ‘How so?’ asked Kemerezzeman; and Abdurrehman said, ‘I mean to urge him to make peace with his wife and if he consent and forgive her, I will smite him with a sword and kill him and kill her after, her and her maid, for there is no good in the life of a whore and a wittol; but, if he turn from her with aversion, I will marry him to thy sister and give him more than that thou tookest from him of wealth.’

Then he went back to Ubeid and said to him, ‘O master, verily, the commerce of women calls for patience