And the King and the rest of the folk came, as was
their wont, to condole with me and her family and to console us for
her loss, and not less to condole with me for myself. Then the women
washed her, and arraying her in her richest raiment and golden
ornaments, necklaces, and jewelry, laid her on the bier and bore her
to the mountain aforesaid, where they lifted the cover of the pit
and cast her in. After which all my intimates and acquaintances and my
wife's kith and kin came round me, to farewell me in my lifetime and
console me for my own death, whilst I cried out among them, saying:
"Almighty Allah never made it lawful to bury the quick with the
dead! I am a stranger, not one of your kind, and I cannot abear your
custom, and had I known it I never would have wedded among you!"
They heard me not and paid no heed to my words, but laying hold of me,
bound me by force and let me down. into the cavern, with a large
gugglet of sweet water and seven cakes of bread, according to their
custom. When I came to the bottom, they called out to me to cast
myself loose from the cords, but I refused to do so, so they threw
them down on me and, closing the mouth of the pit with the stones
aforesaid, went their ways.
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