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Then he bade his sister bring me ten dresses of silk; so she brought them and laid them on me, and this gown I have on my body is one of them. Moreover, he made her bring one of the best of the riding camels, laden with stuffs and victual, and a sorrel horse, and gave the whole to me. I abode with them three days, eating and drinking, and what he gave me is with me to this day. At the end of this time, he said to me, ‘O Hemmad, O my brother, I would fain sleep awhile and rest myself. I trust myself to thee; but if thou see horsemen making hither, fear not, for they are of the Beni Thaalebeh, seeking to wage war on me.’ Then he laid his sword under his head and slept; and when he was drowned in slumber, the devil prompted me to kill him; so I rose, and drawing the sword from under his head, dealt him a blow that severed his head from his body. His sister heard what I had done, and rushing out from within the tent, threw herself on his body, tearing her clothes and repeating the following verses:
Carry the tidings to the folk, the saddest news can be; But man from God His ordinance no whither hath to flee.
Now art thou slaughtered, brother mine, laid prostrate on the earth, Thou whose bright face was as the round of the full moon to see.
Indeed, an evil day it was, the day thou mettest them, And after many a fight, thy spear is shivered, woe is me!
No rider, now that thou art dead, in horses shall delight Nor evermore shall woman bear a male to match with thee.
Hemmad this day hath played thee false and foully done to death; Unto his oath and plighted faith a traitor base is he.
He deemeth thus to have his will and compass his desire; But Satan lieth to his dupes in all he doth decree.
When she had ended, she turned to me and said, ‘O man of accursed lineage, wherefore didst thou play my brother false and slay him, whenas he purposed to send thee back to thy country with gifts and victual and it was his intent also to marry thee to me at the first of the
