Page:Arabian Nights Entertainments (1728)-Vol. 4.djvu/27

he ſtood to conſider a little; and then, perceiving it was a dead Corps, Fear ſucceeded his Anger. Wretched Man that I am, ſaid he, what have I done! I have killed a Man dead; Alas, I have carried my Revenge to far. Good God unleſs thou pity me, my Life is gone. Curſed, Ten Thouſand times accurſed, be the Fat and the Oil that gave Occaſion to this my Commiſſion of ſuch a Criminal Action. In fine, he ſtood pale and thunder-ſtruck, he thought he ſaw the Officers already come to drag him to condign Puniſhment; and could not think what Reſolution to take.

Here the Dawn of the Morning interrupted Scheherazade, but next Night ſhe proceeded thus.

Sir the Sultan of Caſgar’s Purveyor had never minded the little Gentleman’s Hunch when he was beating him; but as ſoon as he perceived it, he threw out a thouſand Imprecations againſt him. Ah you crooked Hunch-back, cried he, you crooked Son of a Bitch, would to God you had robbed me of all my Fat, and I had not found you here. If it had been ſo, I had not been ſo much perplexed as I now am, for the Love of you and your naſty Hunch, Oh! The Stars that twinkle in the Heavens, gave Light to none but me in this dangerous Juncture. As ſoon as he had utter’d theſe Words, he took the little crooked Corps upon his Shoulders, and carried him out of Doors to the End of the Street, where he ſet him upright, reſting againſt a Shop, and ſo trudged home again without looking behind him.

A few Minutes before the Break of Day, a Chriſtian Merchant, who was very rich, and furniſhed the Sultan’s Palace with moſt Things it wanted; this Merchant, I ſay having ſat up all Night debauching, ſtep’d then out of his Houſe to go to bathe. Though he was drunk, he was ſenſible that the Night was far ſpent, and that the People would quickly be called to the Morning Prayers, that begin at the break of Day; therefore quicken’d his Pace to get in time at the Bath, for fear a Turk, meeting him in his way to the Moſque, ſhould carry him to Priſon for a Drun-