第130章 GHANIM BEN EYOUB THE SLAVE OF LOVE.(4)

What mischiefs hast thou wrought！But I will strip thy skin from thy flesh and cut thy flesh off thy bones！'By Allah，'replied I'thou canst do nothing with me，for thou boughtest me with my fault，with witnesses to testify against thee that thou didst so and that thou knewest of my faultwhich is that I tell one lie every year. This is but half a lie，but by the end of the year，I will tell the other halfand it will then be a whole lie.'O dog，son of a dog，'exclaimed my master，'O most accursed of slaves，is this but a half lie？ Indeed，it is a great calamity！

Go out from me；thou art free before God！'By Allah，'rejoined I'if thou free me，I will not free thee，till I have completed my year and told the other half lie. When that is done，take me down to the market and sell meas thou boughtest me，to whosoever will buy me with my fault： but free me not，for I have no handicraft to get my living by： and this my demand is according to the law，as laid down by the doctors in the chapter of Manumission.'Whilst we were talkingup came the people of the quarter and others，men and women，together with the chief of the police and his suite. So my master and the other merchants went up to him and told him the story and how this was but half a lie，at which the people wondered and deemed the lie an enormous one. And they cursed me and reviled me，whilst I stood laughing and saying，'How can my master kill me，when he bought me with this fault？'Then my master returned home and found his house in ruins，and it was I who had laid waste the most part of it，having destroyed things worth much money，as had also done his wife，who said to him，'It was Kafour who broke the vessels and the china.'Thereupon his rage redoubled and he beat hand upon handexclaiming，'By Allahnever in my life did I see such a son of shame as this slave；and he says this is only half a lie！

How if he had told a whole one？ He would have laid waste a city or two！'Then in his rage he went to the chief of the police，who made me eat stick till I fainted： and whilst I was yet senseless，they fetched a barber，who gelded me and cauterized the parts.

When I revived，I found myself an eunuch，and my master said to me，'Even as thou hast made my heart bleed for the most precious things I had，so will I grieve thy heart for that of thy members by which thou settest most store.'Then he took me and sold me at a profit，for that I was become an eunuch，and I ceased not to make troublewherever I came，and was shifted from Amir to Amir and notable to notablebeing bought and soldtill I entered the palace of the Commander of the Faithful，and now my spirit is broken and I have abjured my tricks，having lost my manhood.'

When the others heard his story，they laughed and said'Verily，thou art dungthe son of dung！Thou liedst most abominably！'

Then said they to the third slave，'Tell us thy story.'O my cousins，'replied he，'all that ye have said is idle： I will tell you how I came to lose my cullions，and indeed，I deserved more than this，for I swived my mistress and my master's son： but my story is a long one and this is no time to tell it，for the dawn is near，and if the day surprise us with this chest yet unburied，we shall be blown upon and lose our lives. So let us fall to work at once，and when we get back to the palace，I will tell you my story and how I became an eunuch.'So they set down the lantern and dug a hole between four tombs，the length and breadth of the chest，Kafour plying the spade and Sewab clearing away the earth by basketsful，till they had reached a depth of half a fathom，when they laid the chest in the hole and threw back the earth over it： then went out and shutting the door，disappeared from Ghanim's sight. When he was sure that they were indeed gone and that he was alone in the placehis heart was concerned to know what was in the chest and he said to himself；'I wonder what was in the chest！'However，he waited till break of day，when he came down from the palm-tree and scraped away the earth with his hands，till he laid bare the chest and lifted it out of the hole.

Then he took a large stone and hammered at the lock，till he broke it and raising the coverbeheld a beautiful young lady，richly dressed and decked with jewels of gold and necklaces of precious stones，worth a kingdom，no money could pay their price.

She was asleep and her breath rose and fell，as if she had been drugged. When Ghanim saw her，he knew that some one had plotted against her and drugged her；so he pulled her out of the chest and laid her on the ground on her back. As soon as she scented the breeze and the air entered her nostrils and lungs，she sneezed and choked and coughed，when there fell from her mouth a pastille of Cretan henbaneenough to make an elephant sleep from night to nightif he but smelt it. Then she opened her eyes and looking roundexclaimed in a sweet and melodious voice，'Out on thee，O breeze！There is in thee neither drink for the thirsty nor solace for him whose thirst is quenched！Where is Zehr el Bustan？'But no one answered her；so she turned and cried out，'HoSebiheh，Shejeret ed Durr，Nour el Huda，Nejmet es Subh，Shehweh，NuzhehHulweh，Zerifeh！Out on yespeak！'