afraid lest my mother should swinge me on account of the apple, so for
fear of her I went with my brother outside the city and stayed there

till evening closed in upon us, and indeed I am in fear of her. And
now, by Allah, O my father, say nothing to her of this or it may add

to her ailment!"
"When I heard what my child said, I knew that the slave was he who

had foully slandered my wife, the daughter of my uncle, and was
certified that I had slain her wrongfully. So I wept with exceeding

weeping and presently this old man, my paternal uncle and her
father, came in, and I told him what had happened and he sat down by

my side and wept, and we ceased not weeping till midnight. We have
kept up mourning for her these last five days and we lamented her in

the deepest sorrow for that she was unjustly done to die. This came
from the gratuitous lying of the slave, the blackamoor, and this was

the manner of my killing her. So I conjure thee, by the honor of thine
ancestors, make haste to kill me and do her justice upon me, as

there is no living for me after her!"
The Caliph marveled at his words and said: "By Allah, the young

man is excusable. I will hang none but the accursed slave, and I
will do a deed which shall comfort the ill-at-ease and suffering,

and which shall please the All-glorious King." Then he turned to
Ja'afar and said to him: "Bring before me this accursed slave who

was the sole cause of this calamity, and if thou bring him not
before me within three days, thou shalt be slain in his stead." So

Ja'afar fared forth weeping and saying: "Two deaths have already beset
me, nor shall the crock come off safe from every shock. In this matter

craft and cunning are of no avail, but He who preserved my life the
first time can preserve it a second time. By Allah, I will not leave

my house during the three days of life which remain to me, and let the
Truth (whose perfection be praised!) do e'en as He will." So he kept

his house three days, and on the fourth day he summoned the kazis
and legal witnesses and made his last will and testament, and took

leave of his children weeping.
Presently in came a messenger from the Caliph and said to him:

"The Commander of the Faithful is in the most violent rage that can
be, and he sendeth to seek thee and he sweareth that the day shall

certainly not pass without thy being hanged unless the slave be
forthcoming," When Ja'afar heard this he wept, and his children and

slaves and all who were in the house wept with him. After he had
bidden adieu to everybody except this youngest daughter, he

proceeded to farewell her, for he loved this wee one, who was a
beautiful child, more than all his other children. And he pressed

her to his breast and kissed her and wept bitterly at parting from
her, when he felt something round inside the bosom of her dress and

asked her, "O my little maid, what is in the bosom pocket?" "O my
father," she replied, "it is an apple with the name of our Lord the

Caliph written upon it. Rayhan our slave brought it to me four days
ago, and would not let me have it till I gave him two dinars for

it." When Ja'afar heard speak of the slave and the apple, he was
glad and put his hand into his child's pocket and drew out the apple

and knew it and rejoiced, saying, "O ready Dispeller of trouble!"
Then he bade them bring the slave and said to him, "Fie upon thee,

Rayhan! Whence haddest thou this apple?" "By Allah, O my master," he
replied, "though a he may get a man once off, yet may truth get him

off, and well off, again and again. I did not steal this apple from
thy palace nor from the gardens of the Commander of the Faithful.

The fact is that five days ago, as I was walking along one of the
alleys of this city, I saw some little ones at play and this apple

in hand of one of them. So I snatched it from him and beat him, and he
cried and said, 'O youth, this apple is my mother's and she is ill.

She told my father how she longed for an apple, so he traveled to
Bassorah and bought her three apples for three gold pieces, and I took

one of them to play withal.' He wept again, but I paid no heed to what
he said and carried it off and brought it here, and my little lady

bought it of me for two dinars of gold. And this is the whole story."
When Ja'afar heard his words he marveled that the murder of the

damsel and all this misery should have been caused by his slave. He
grieved for the relation of the slave to himself while rejoicing

over his own deliverance, and he repeated these lines:
"If ill betide thee through thy slave,

Make him forthright thy sacrifice.
A many serviles thou shalt find,

But life comes once and never twice."
Then he took the slave's hand and, leading him to the Caliph,

related the story from first to last, and the Caliph marveled with
extreme astonishment, and laughed till he fell on his back, and

ordered that the story be recorded and be made public amongst the
people.

But Ja'afar said, "Marvel not, O Commander of the Faithful, at this
adventure, for it is not more wondrous than the History of the Wazir

Nur al-Din Ali of Egypt and his brother Shams al-Din Mohammed."
Quoth the Caliph, "Out with it, but what can be stranger than this

story?" And Ja'afar answered, "O Commander of the Faithful, I will not
tell it thee save on condition that thou pardon my slave." And the

Caliph rejoined, "If it be indeed more wondrous than that of the three
apples, I grant thee his blood, and if not I will surely slay thy

slave." So Ja'afar began in these words the

• account [ə´kaunt] vi.说明 vt.认为 n.帐目 (初中英语单词)
• presently [´prezəntli] ad.不久；目前 (初中英语单词)
• midnight [´midnait] n.午夜；漆黑 (初中英语单词)
• mourning [´mɔ:niŋ] n.悲伤；治丧；戴孝 (初中英语单词)
• cunning [´kʌniŋ] a.&n.狡猾(诡诈)的 (初中英语单词)
• preserve [pri´zə:v] v.保藏 n.保藏物 (初中英语单词)
• messenger [´mesindʒə] n.使者；送信人 (初中英语单词)
• commander [kə´mɑ:ndə] n.指挥员，司令员 (初中英语单词)
• faithful [´feiθfəl] a.忠实的；可靠的 (初中英语单词)
• violent [´vaiələnt] a.强暴的；猛烈的 (初中英语单词)
• farewell [feə´wel] int.再见 n.&a.告别 (初中英语单词)
• bitterly [´bitəli] ad.悲痛地；憎恨地 (初中英语单词)
• misery [´mizəri] n.痛苦；悲惨；穷困 (初中英语单词)
• astonishment [ə´stɔniʃmənt] n.吃惊；惊异 (初中英语单词)
• pardon [´pɑ:dən] n.&vt.原谅；饶恕；赦免 (初中英语单词)
• saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
• perfection [pə´fekʃən] n.完美；极致；熟练 (高中英语单词)
• repeated [ri´pi:tid] a.反复的；重复的 (高中英语单词)
• amongst [ə´mʌŋst] prep.其中之一 =among (高中英语单词)
• conjure [´kʌndʒə] v.祈求；召(鬼)；变魔术 (英语四级单词)
• accursed [ə´kə:sid] a.被诅咒的；可憎的 (英语四级单词)
• calamity [kə´læmiti] n.灾害，大灾难 (英语四级单词)
• testament [´testəment] n.契约，誓约；遗嘱 (英语四级单词)
• parting [´pɑ:tiŋ] a.&n.分离(的) (英语四级单词)
• whence [wens] ad.从何处；从那里 (英语四级单词)
• traveled [´trævəld] a.见面广的；旅客多的 (英语四级单词)
• deliverance [di´livərəns] n.援救；获释 (英语四级单词)
• wondrous [´wʌndrəs] a.极好的 ad.惊人地 (英语四级单词)
• paternal [pə´tə:nl] a.(象)父亲的；父方的 (英语六级单词)
• weeping [´wi:piŋ] a.&n.哭泣(的) (英语六级单词)