" Rejoined the slave:
"Thou liest, damn thee! Now I swear an oath by the valor and honor
of blackamoor men (and deem not our manliness to be the poor manliness
of white men), from today forth if thou stay away till this hour, I
will not keep company with thee nor will I glue my body with thy body.
Dost play fast and loose with us, thou cracked pot, that we may
satisfy thy dirty lusts, O vilest of the vile whites?"
When I heard his words, and saw with my own eyes what passed between
these two wretches, the world waxed dark before my face and my soul
knew not in what place it was. But my wife humbly stood up weeping
before and wheedling the slave, and saying: "O my beloved, and very
fruit of my heart, there is none left to cheer me but thy dear self,
and, if thou cast me off, who shall take me in, O my beloved, O
light of my eyes?" And she ceased not weeping and abasing herself to
him until he deigned be reconciled with her. Then was she right glad
and stood up and doffed her clothes, even to her petticoat trousers,
and said, "O my master, what hast thou here for thy handmaiden to
eat?" "Uncover the basin," he grumbled, "and thou shalt find at the
bottom the broiled bones of some rats we dined on.
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