I saw her and she was a beautiful woman,
but she saw me not. And they closed up the opening and went away. Then
I took the leg bone of a dead man and, going up to the woman, smote
her on the crown of the head, and she cried one cry and fell down in a
swoon. I smote her a second and a third time, till she was dead,
when I laid hands on her bread and water and found on her great plenty
of ornaments and rich apparel, necklaces, jewels and gold trinkets,
for it was their custom to bury women in all their finery. I carried
the vivers to my sleeping place in the cavern side and ate and drank
of them sparingly, no more than sufficed to keep the life in me,
lest the provaunt come speedily to an end and I perish of hunger and
thirst.
Yet did I never wholly lose hope in Almighty Allah. I abode thus a
great while, killing all the live folk they let down into the cavern
and taking their provisions of meat and drink, till one day, as I
slept, I was awakened by something scratching and burrowing among
the bodies in a corner of the cave and said, "What can this be?"
fearing wolves or hyenas. So I sprang up, and seizing the leg bone
aforesaid, made for the noise.
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