O vizier, I may bury him?
THE VIZIER.
O king, thou know’st, I have been sick
These many days, and heard no thing
(For Allah shut my ears and mind),
Not even what thou dost, O king!
Wherefore, that I may counsel thee,
Let Hussein, if thou wilt, make haste
To speak in order what hath chanced.
THE KING.
O vizier, be it as thou say’st!
HUSSEIN.
Three days since, at the time of prayer,
A certain Moollah, with his robe
All rent, and dust upon his hair,
Watched my lord’s coming forth, and pushed
The golden mace-bearers aside,
And fell at the king’s feet, and cried,—
“Justice, O king, and on myself!
On this great sinner, who did break
The law, and by the law must die!
Vengeance, O king!”
But the king spake:
“What fool is this, that hurts our ears
With folly? or what drunken slave?
My guards, what! prick him with your spears!
Prick me the fellow from the path!”
As the king said, so was it done,
And to the mosque my lord passed on.