"This is all true," replied the merchant; "I do not deny it."
"Well, then," said the other, "I tell thee thou hast killed my son; for while thou wast throwing about the stones, my son passed by; one of them struck him in the eye, and caused his death,[5] and thus hast thou slain my son."
"Ah, sire, forgive me," cried the merchant.
"I have neither forgiveness nor mercy," replied the giant; "and is it not just that he who has inflicted death should suffer it?"
"I grant this; yet surely I have not done so: and even if I have, I have done so innocently, and therefore I entreat you to pardon me, and suffer me to live."
"No, no," cried the genie, still persisting in his resolution, "I must destroy thee, as thou hast killed my son."
At these words, he took the merchant in his arms, and having thrown him with his face on the ground, he lifted up his saber, in order to strike off his head.
Schehera-zade, at this instant perceiving it was day, and knowing that the sultan rose early to his prayers,[6] and then to hold a council, broke off.
"What a wonderful story," said Dinar-zade, "have you chosen!"