Volume Seven-第2章

When it was the One Hundred and Twentysixth Night，She said，It hath reached me，O auspicious King，that the Wazir Dandan thus continued his tale to Zau alMakan： Then quoth the youth Aziz to Taj alMuluk，Now when I found my life at the mercy of her slave women with my cheeks dust soiled，and I saw her sharpen the knife，I made sure of death and cried out to her for mercy.But she only redoubled in ferocity and ordered the slave girls to pinion my hands behind me，which they did； and，throwing me on my back，she seated herself on my middle and held down my head.Then two of them came up and squatted on my shin bones，whilst other two grasped my hands and arms； and she summoned a third pair and bade them beat me.So they beat me till I fainted and my voice failed.When I revived，I said to myself，'Twere easier and better for me to have my gullet slit than to be beaten on this wise！'And I remembered the words of my cousin，and how she used to say to me，'Allah，keep thee from her mischief！'； and I shrieked and wept till my voice failed and I remained without power to breathe or to move.Then she again whetted the knife and said to the slave girls，'Uncover him.'Upon this the Lord inspired me to repeat to her the two phrases my cousin had taught me，and had bequeathed to me，and I said，'O my lady，dost thou not know that Faith is fair，Unfaith is foul？'When she heard this，she cried out and said，'Allah pity thee，Azizah，and give thee Paradise in exchange for thy wasted youth！ By Allah，of a truth she served thee in her life time and after her death，and now she hath saved thee alive out of my hands with these two saws.Nevertheless，I cannot by any means leave thee thus，but needs must I set my mark on thee，to spite yonder brazen faced piece，who hath kept thee from me.'There upon she called out to the slave women and bade them bind my feet with cords and then said to them，'Take seat on him！'They did her bidding，upon which she arose and fetched a pan of copper and hung it over the brazier and poured into it oil of sesame，in which she fried cheese.[3] Then she came up to me （and I still insensible）