Opening, part 19 · page 21 2101"Worshipful sir," he began, "this Mussulman whom you desire to hang is unworthy of death; I alone am guilty.102Last night a man and a woman who were strangers to me knocked at my door, bringing with them a patient for me to cure.103The servant opened it, but having no light was hardly able to make out their faces, though she readily agreed to wake me and to hand me the fee for my services.104While she was telling me her story they seem to have carried the sick man to the top of the staircase and then left him there.105I jumped up in a hurry without waiting for a lantern, and in the darkness I fell against something, which tumbled headlong down the stairs and never stopped till it reached the bottom.106When I examined the body I found it was quite dead, and the corpse was that of a hunchback Mussulman.107Terrified at what we had done, my wife and I took the body on the roof and let it down the chimney of our neighbour the purveyor, whom you were just about to hang.108The purveyor, finding him in his room, naturally thought he was a thief, and struck him such a blow that the man fell down and lay motionless on the floor.109Stooping to examine him, and finding him stone dead, the purveyor supposed that the man had died from the blow he had received; but of course this was a mistake, as you will see from my account, and I only am the murderer; and although I am innocent of any wish to commit a crime, I must suffer for it all the same, or else have the blood of two Musselmans on my conscience.110Therefore send away this man, I pray you, and let me take his place, as it is I who am guilty."1 2← previousOpening, part 18next →Opening, part 20↑ back to The Arabian Nights EntertainmentsThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/19/page/2/