Now, it so happened that this young man was the husband of the lady, which the old woman did not know till she had brought him, and the way she found it out was this: She went first into the house and said to the lady, "I have not been able to find the slightest trace of your lover; but failing him, I have brought you somebody to quench your fire for to-day. We will save the other for to-morrow. God has inspired to do so."
The lady then went to the window to take a look at him whom the old woman wanted to bring to her, and, getting sight of him, she recognised her husband, just on the point of entering the house.[1] She did not hesitate, but hastily donning her melahfa, she went straight to meet him, and striking him in the face, she exclaimed, "O! enemy of God and of yourself, what are you doing here? You surely came with the intention to commit adultery. I have been suspecting you for a long time, and waited here every day, while I was sending out the old woman to enveigle you to come in. This day I have found you out, and denial is of no use. And you always told me that you were not a rake! I shall demand a divorce this very very day, now I know your conduct!"
The husband, believing that his wife spoke the truth, remained silent and abashed.
Learn from this the deceitfulness of woman, and what she is capable of.
- ↑ Note in the autograph edition.—An analogous situation is found in the "Tales of Boccacio," Tale Six of the Third Day, done into verse by La Fontaine, in the story of Richard Minutolo (First Book of the Tales). It must be added that the groundwork of the Arabian tale is different from Boccaccio's. Observe, however, that the means employed by the old woman to gain tor the young man the lady's favours is not without analogy to those described in Tale Eight of the Fifth Day of the same book.
