Now when the carpenter fell on his back，he waxed exceeding wroth；but he dissembled his wrath for fear of the whelp and sat up and smiled in his face，saying，'Well，I will make for thee the house.' With this he took the planks he had brought and nailed together the house，which he made in the form of a chest after the measure of the young lion. And he left the door open，for he had cut in the box a large aperture，to which he made a stout cover and bored many holes therein. Then he took out some newly wrought nails and a hammer and said to the young lion，'Enter the house through this opening，that I may fit it to thy measure.' Thereat the whelp rejoiced and went up to the opening，but saw that it was strait；and the carpenter said to him，'Enter and crouch down on thy legs and arms！' So the whelp did thus and entered the chest，but his tail remained outside. Then he would have drawn back and come . out；but the carpenter said to him，'Wait patiently a while till I see if there be room for thy tail with thee.' The young lion did as he was bid when the carpenter twisted up his tail and，stuffing it into the chest，whipped the lid on to the opening and nailed it down；whereat the whelp cried out and said，'O carpenter，what is this narrow house thou hast made me？ Let me out，sirrah！' But the carpenter answered，'Far be it，far be it from thy thought！ Repentance for past avails naught，and indeed of this place thou shalt not come out.' He then laughed and resumed，'Verily thou art fallen into the trap and from thy duress there is no escape，O vilest of wild beasts！' Rejoined the whelp，'O my brother，what manner of words are these thou addresses'to me？' The carpenter replied 'know，O dog of the desert！ that thou hast fa]len into that which thou fearedst： Fate hath upset thee，nor shall caution set thee up. ' When the whelp heard these words，O my sister，he knew that this was indeed the very son of Adam，against whom he had been warned by his sire in waking state and by the mysterious Voice in sleeping while；and I also was certified that this was indeed he without doubt；wherefore great fear of him for myself seized me and I withdrew a little apart from him and waited to see what he would do with the young lion. Then I saw，O my sister，the son of Adam dig a pit in that place hard by the chest which held the whelp and，throwing the box into the hole，heap dry wood upon it and burn the young lion with fire. At this sight，O sister mine，my fear of the son of Adam redoubled and in my affright I have been these two days fleeing from him.'But when the peahen heard from the duck this story，And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
第49章（1 / 3）