58
took them suddenly and lo, they were confounded!’[1] As for her saying, ‘God increase thee in elevation!’ she took it from the saying of the poet, ‘No bird flieth and riseth up on high, but, like as he flieth, he falleth.’ And as for her saying, ‘Indeed, thou hast done justice and wrought equitably,’ it is from the saying of the Most High, ‘[If ye deviate[2] or lag behind or turn aside, verily, God of that which ye do is aware;’[3] and] ‘As for the transgressors,’[4] they are fuel for hell[-fire].’”[5]
Then he turned to the woman and said to her, “Is it not thus?” “Yes, O Commander of the Faithful,” answered she; and he said, “What prompted thee to this?” Quoth she, “Thou slewest my father and my mother and my kinsfolk and tookest their goods.” “Whom meanest thou?” asked the Khalif, and she replied, “I am of the house of Bermek.”[6] Thens aid he to her, “As for the dead, they are of those who are past away, and it booteth not to speak of them; but, as for that which I took of wealth, it shall be restored to thee, yea, and more than it.” And he was bountiful to her to the utmost of munificence.
