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house, who said to them, ‘O guests, what is the matter and what are you talking about?’ Then the porter came forward and said to her, ‘O lady, the company desire that thou acquaint them with the history of the two bitches and why thou didst beat them and after fellest to kissing and weeping over them and also concerning thy sister and why she has been beaten with rods, like a man. This is what they charge me to ask thee, and peace be on thee.’ When she heard this, she turned to the others and said to them, ‘Is this true that he says of you?’ And they all replied, ‘Yes;’ except Jaafer, who held his peace. Then said she, ‘By Allah! O guests, ye have done us a grievous wrong, for we made it a previous condition with you that whoso spoke of what concerned him not, should hear what should not please him. Is it not enough that we have taken you into our house and fed you with our victual! But the fault is not so much yours as that of her who brought you in to us.’ Then she tucked up her sleeves and smote three times on the floor, saying, ‘Come quickly!’ Whereupon the door of a closet opened and out came seven black slaves, with drawn swords in their hands, to whom said the lady, ‘Bind these babblers’ hands behind them and tie them one with another.’ The slaves did as she bade, and said, ‘O noble lady, is it thy will that we strike off their heads?’ ‘Hold your hands awhile,’ answered she, ‘till I question them of their condition, before ye strike off their heads.’ ‘By Allah, O my lady,’ exclaimed the porter, ‘do not slay me for another’s fault, for all have erred and offended save myself. And by Allah, our night would have been a pleasant one, had we not been afflicted with these Calenders, whose presence is enough to lay a flourishing city in ruins.’ And he repeated the following verses:
How fair a thing is mercy to the great! And how much more to those of low estate!
By all the love that has between us been, Doom not the guiltless to the guilty’s fate!
