When he
came home, his wife and children received him with all the
demonstrations of perfect joy. But he, instead of making them
answerable returns, fell a-weeping bitterly; from whence they
readily conjectured that something extraordinary had befallen
him. His wife asked the reason of his excessive grief and tears;
we are all overjoyed, says she, at your return, but you frighten
us to see you in this condition? Pray tell us the cause of your
sorrow. Alas! replies the husband, the cause of it is, that I
have but a year to live; and then told what had passed betwixt
him and the genie, and that he had given his oath to return at
the end of the year to receive death from his hands.
When they had heard these sad news, they all began to lament
heavily; his wife made a pitiful outcry, beat her face, and tore
her hairs. The children, being all in tears, made the house
resound with their groans; and the father, not being able to
overcome nature, mixed his tears with theirs; so that, in a word,
it was the most affecting spectacle that any man could behold.
Next morning, the merchant applied himself to put his affairs in
order, and, first of all, to pay his debts. He made presents to
his friends, gave great alms to the poor, set his slaves of both
sexes at liberty, divided his estate among his children,
appointed guardians for such of them as were not come of age; and
restoring to his wife all that was due to her by contract of
marriage, he gave her, over and above, all that he could do by
law.
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