“This is thine end, as it was written, O Ahzab the Merchant!”
By Allah! (whose name be exalted) I thought it was even as he said; and none but myself had fallen into sudden dissolution, but that everything slippery is not a pancake, and the jar that is struck may yet escape unbroken.
So it befell that by great good fortune and by the exercise of my agility and intelligence, I tripped the negro and his head came in contact with the mastabah, and before he could recover himself, I held to his ebony throat the blade of a razor which, by the mercy of God, and because it was a custom of my profession, I carried in my kamar.
“O thou dog!” I exclaimed, “prepare to depart to that utter darkness and perdition that awaits assassins! For assuredly I am about to slay thee!”
But he humbled himself to the ground before me, and embraced my feet, crying:
“Have mercy, O my master! I but obeyed the commands!”
“Of whom, thou vile and unnamable vermin?” I asked of him.
“Of whom else but Abu-el-Hassan, the son of the Kadî! For hath he not revealed to thee that for what has passed with Jullanar (Pomegranate Flower), the daughter of the Walî, he will slay thee?”
“He hath revealed this to me?” I asked of him, astonished at his words.
And he replied: “Thou knowest, master, it was by my hand that the message was borne.”