CALIPH Dost thou, thirdly, deny that thou didst scheme this monstrous crime for the sake of a woman?
RAFI
I have nothing to deny.
CALIPH
Rafi, thou art confessed a Blasphemer, a Traitor…and a Lunatic.
It remains to consider thy punishment.
RAFI
As thou wilt.
CALIPH Thou art brave, but I fear the shafts of unreality will prick thee extremely hard. For thou hast merited not one but a dozen deaths. Now, if I impale thee for conspiracy, how shall I burn thee for blasphemy? But with such other pains as man can suffer, judicious arrangement carries the day over unthinking brutality. For if I skin thee for thy impudence, how can I flog thee for thy folly? But if the order is reversed thou canst enjoy the benefits of both expiations.
RAFI
Thou hast certainly studied the art of pain.
CALIPH Yet what are the worst tortures thou shalt undergo to the horror of the death thou didst contrive for me?
RAFI
(With impatience) What is my condemnation?
CALIPH For Lunacy to be nailed, for Conspiracy to be stretched, for Blasphemy to be split.
PERVANEH
Ah!