You were about, added he,
to put to death an innocent person; for how can he be guilty of
the death of a man who was dead before he saw him? My burden is
sufficient in having killed a Turk, without loading my conscience
with the additional charge of the death of a Christian who is not
guilty.
The sultan of Casgar's purveyor having publicly charged himself
with the death of the little hunch-backed man, the sheriff could
not avoid doing justice to the merchant. Let the Christian go,
said he, and hang this man in his room, since it appears by his
own confession that he is guilty. Whereupon the hangman released
the merchant, and clapped the rope round the purveyor's neck; but
just as he was going to pull him up, he heard the voice of the
Jewish doctor, earnestly entreating him to suspend the execution,
and make room for him to throw himself at the foot of the
gallows. When he appeared before the judge, My lord, said he,
this Mussulman you are going to hang is not guilty: the crime
rests with me. Last night a man and a woman, unknown to me, came
to my house with a sick man they had brought along with them; and
knocking at my door, my maid went and opened it without a light,
and received from them a piece of money, with a commission to
come and desire me, in their names, to step down and look upon
the sick person.
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