"Then you allow making him odious," answered the other, "is what ought to be done?"
"Will a stone get up and throw itself?"
"Will a man complain unless he be aggrieved?"
"Hallo! my friend," said the sahib najib to the bystander, "what is said about this atrocious act, eh?"
"Why, some say, 'Poor king!' others say, 'Poor stone!'" answered the bystander in the coolest manner possible.
At this I began truly to have an insight into things, and could not help exclaiming in the bottom of my gullet, "Allah Allah, il Allah! There is but one Allah!"
"You understood what that man said?" said Jān Pûl to me, with a sigh, and in a low voice.
"Belli, yes," said I, "wonderful! The men of this country are lions without saints. Allah! Allah! to throw a stone at the king, and no executioner by, to cut the wretch's head off."
"No, no," said he, "that must be proved; first, whether it was a stone; second, whether it was a man who threw it; and, third, whether it hit the king's head, or some other head."
"Aman, aman! Mercy, mercy!" I exclaimed; "let me return to Persia. If so little is said about breaking the king's head, where shall I turn for justice if some one cuts off my ears? Well may the people want reform!"