"'Ayesha!' cried out old Sarè, overcome by anguish, 'and my son —where is my son? Is my beautiful boy's head amongst the three hundred?'
"'No; brave Hussein withstood long ago the enticement of the witch, and she has been since then his bitterest enemy.'
"Sarè heaved a deep sigh of relief.
"'Hussein was to deliver me from that heinous wretch. Last night we were to flee together. I had the houris to help me, but alas! Ibrahim Velagic had the powers of darkness. It was night, and he won. Hussein yesternight was under my windows, as we had agreed upon. I opened my lattice and lowered him a ladder of ropes, upon which he was climbing joyfully; a moment more he would have reached the windowsill. All at once, an owl screeched, the ropes gave way, and Hussein, my brave Hussein, was dashed down those rocks and into the dreadful chasm. Sarè, my poor Sarè, you have no son. Still, be of good cheer; this morning, when the first rays of the sun were gilding the tops of the Veli-Berdo, I saw the celestial maidens tending him. His mangled body is in the chasm, but his soul is in the blessed abode of peace.'
"'Ayesha,' interrupted the Aga, 'is all this true?'
"The girl beckoned to a slave to approach, and then she took a parcel from his hands.
"'This,' said she, opening it, 'is what remains of the ladder; and you will find Hussein's body in the chasm, smiling in the happy sleep of death. The houris, who have been praying over him the whole day, have covered him with garlands of flowers. Go and dig his grave in the burying-ground, and dig another one by his side.'
"'But,' said Kuna Hassan, 'how did the accident happen?'
"'Nedurè hated Hussein, but she could not harm him, so she apprised Velagic of what was to happen; nay, she did more, she transformed him into the likeness of a rat, and changing herself into an owl, she deposited the Dizdar on the sill of my room, there he came and gnawed at the ropes of the ladder.'
"'This is false,' said the Dizdar. 'Whoever can believe such a story? Why, the girl is mad!'