Howbeit all the city knew that she had set fire to her father’s house. So she was taken before the judge to be tried for her wrong-doing.
“Child,” said the judge, “what made you do this thing?”
“I was mad,” she said, “I did it for love’s sake. I said, ‘I will burn the house, we shall have nowhere to lay our heads, then we shall take shelter at the temple; I will see my lover.’ Lord, I have not seen him nor heard of him these many, many moons.”
“Who is your lover?” said the judge.
Then she told him.
Now as for the law of the city, it was hard and could not be altered. Death was the penalty for the crime of the Yaoya’s daughter. Only a child might escape.
“My little maid,” the judge said, “are you perhaps twelve years old?”
“Nay, lord,” she answered.
“Thirteen, then, or fourteen? The gods send you may be fourteen. You are little and slender.”
“Lord,” she said, “I am fifteen.”