Amgiad and the lady continued in conversation for at least half an hour longer; and before they retired to rest, the latter having occasion to pass through the vestibule, heard Bahadar, who was already fast asleep, snore very loud. As she had observed that there was a scimitar hanging up in the room where they had been feasting, she went back and said to Amgiad, “I beg of you to do one thing for love of me.”—“What can I do to serve you?” replied the prince.—“Oblige me, by taking this scimitar,” added she, “and go and cut off the head of your slave.”
This proposal excited the greatest astonishment in the prince; and he had no doubt, but that the quantity of wine she had drank was the cause of it. “Madam,” he replied, “let us not regard my slave; he is not worthy of your thoughts: I have punished him, and so have you also; let this be sufficient. Besides, I am very well satisfied with him upon the whole, as he is not in general accustomed to be guilty of these faults.”—“That is of no consequence to me,” replied the enraged female, “I wish the rascal dead, and if he is not to be killed by your hands, he shall by mine.” Having said this, she took up the scimitar, drew it from the scabbard, and ran out, to put her diabolical design in execution.
Amgiad followed and overtook her in the vestibule, “You must be satisfied, madam,” he cried, “since you insist upon it. I am, however, determined, that no one but myself shall kill my slave.” As soon as she had given him the scimitar, he said, “Follow me, and do not make any noise for fear of waking him.” They went into the chamber where Bahadar was; but, instead of aiming the blow at him, Amgiad directed it at the lady, whose head fell upon Bahadar. If the noise made by the action of cutting off the lady’s head would not have disturbed his sleep, the head itself gave him a sufficient blow to rouse him. Astonished at seeing Amgiad standing by him with the bloody scimitar in his hand, and the headless body of the female upon the ground, Bahadar eagerly inquired the meaning of all this. The prince related every thing to him exactly as it had passed, and in conclusion, he added, “To prevent this enraged creature from taking your life, I could discover no other sure method than destroying her own.”
“Sir,” replied Bahadar, impressed with the greatest gratitude, “persons of your rank and generous character are not capable of giving aid to any actions of so wicked a nature. You are my preserver, and I cannot sufficiently thank you.” So great was his sense of the obligation, that he instantly embraced him. “Before the day breaks,” said he, “this body must be carried out. I will undertake to do this.” Amgiad, however, opposed it: and said that he would take that charge upon himself, as he had been the cause of her death. “A stranger in this place, like you, will not be so well able to manage it,” replied Bahadar. “Leave it to me, and do you retire to rest. If I do not return before day-break, you may be assured that the watch has surprised me. For fear this should happen, I will now make over to you, in writing, this house, and all it contains, and you may live here at your ease.”
As soon as Bahadar had written what was sufficient to transfer the house to Amgiad, and had put this deed of gift into his hands, he took the lady’s body and head, and inclosed them in a sack. He then threw it across his shoulders, and walked along, from street to street, towards the sea. He had not, however, proceeded very far, before he encountered the officer of the police, who was going his rounds in person. His attendants stopped Bahadar, and, opening the sack, discovered the body and head of the murdered lady. The magistrate, who knew the master of the horse notwithstanding his disguise, carried him home with him; as he durst not put a person of his high rank and dignity to death, without acquainting the king with it. The next morning, therefore, he took Bahadar into the royal presence. The king had no sooner been informed, from the report of the officer, of this cruel action, which, as appeared from all the circumstances, Bahadar had been guilty of, than he loaded him with abuse. “Is this the way,” he cried, “that you murder my subjects, in order to plunder them, and then throw their bodies into the sea, to prevent the discovery of your tyranny? Let them be freed from such a monster, and hang him.”
Notwithstanding the conscious innocence of Bahadar, he received the sentence of death with perfect resignation, and said not a word in his own justification. The judge reconducted him to prison, and while the gibbet was preparing, he sent criers to publish in all the quarters of the city, the justice, which was going to be executed at noon, on the grand master of the horse, for having committed murder.
Prince Amgiad, who ineffectually waited for Bahadar, was in inexpressible consternation, when he heard the crier proclaiming this sentence from the house in which he was. “If any one is to die for the death of so wicked a woman,” said he to himself, “it is not Bahadar who should suffer, but myself; and I cannot bear that the innocent should be punished for the guilty.” Without further deliberation, he went immediately to the spot, where the execution was to take place; and mingled with the crowd, which was collecting from all parts.
As soon as Amgiad saw the judge make his appearance, leading Bahadar to the gibbet, he went and presented himself before him: “My lord,” said he, “I come to declare to you, and assure you, that the master of the horse, whom you are going to lead to execution, is quite innocent of the death of the lady for which he is to suffer. It was I who committed this crime, if a crime indeed it can be called, to deprive a detestable woman of life, who was on the point of murdering the master of the horse; the thing happened thus.”
When prince Amgiad had informed the judge of the manner in which the lady had accosted him on his coming out of the bath; of her being the cause of his breaking into the house of Bahadar, and of all that had passed, until he found himself obliged to cut off her head to save the life of Bahadar, the judge suspended the execution, and took them both before the king.
The monarch desired to be informed of the whole affair by Amgiad himself; and in order to exculpate himself, as well as the master of the horse the better, he took advantage of the opportunity to relate the whole of his history, together with that of prince Assad, his brother, from the beginning up to the present time.