Volume Five-第93章

Then she sprinkled the letter with powder of musk and ambergris and，having sealed it with her signet，committed it to a merchant，saying，'Deliver it to none save to my sister.'When it reached Nasim she sent it to Masrur，who kissed it and laid it on his eyes and wept till he fell into a trance.Such was their case；but as regards the Jew，he presently heard of their correspondence and began again to travel from place to place with Zayn al-Mawasif and her damsels，till she said to him，'Glory to God！ How long wilt thou fare with us and bear us afar from our homes？'Quoth he，'I will fare on with you a year's journey，so no more letters may reach you from Masrur.I see how you take all my monies and give them to him；so all that I miss I shall recover from you： and I shall see if Masrur will profit you or have power to deliver you from my hand.'Then he repaired to a blacksmith，after stripping her and her damsels of their silken apparel and clothing them in raiment of hair-cloth，and bade him make three pairs of iron shackles.When they were ready，he brought the smith in to his wife，having said to him，'Put the shackles on the legs of these three slave-girls.'The first that came forward was Zayn al-Mawasif，and when the blacksmith saw her，his sense forsook him and he bit his finger tips and his wit fled forth his head and his transport grew sore upon him.So he said to the Jew，'What is the crime of these damsels？'Replied the other，'They are my slave-girls，and have stolen my good and fled from me.'Cried the smith，'Allah disappoint thy jealous whims！ By the Almighty，were this girl before the Kazi of Kazis，[359] he would not even reprove her，though she committed a thousand crimes a day.Indeed，she showeth not thief's favour and she cannot brook the laying of irons on her legs.'And he asked him as a boon not to fetter her，interceding with him to forbear the shackles.When she saw the blacksmith taking her part in this wise she said to her husband，'I conjure thee，by Allah，bring me not forth before yonder strange man！'