" She said to the King,
"From what motive hast thou come hither?"
He said, "I have lost my wife."
She answered: "Stay here, and pass the night. We will give thee a dinner
and will question thee."
When the sun had set she said to the servant, "Go, bring the dinner, that
the guests may eat." When they had eaten she said to the King, "Tell me
your story."
He answered: "My story is long. My wife went away in the company of a
trusted vezir. He returned and said: 'By God, your wife has gone to
heaven.'
"I replied: 'No, you have lied. I'll go and look for her.'"
She said to him, "I am your wife."
"How came you here?" he asked.
She replied: "After having started, your vezir came to me and asked me to
marry him or he would kill my son, 'Kill him,' I said, and he killed them
both."
Addressing the vezir, she said: "And your story? Let us hear it."
"I will return in a moment," said the vezir, for he feared her. But the
King cut off his head.
The next day he assembled the council of the village, and his wife said,
"Forgive me and let me go, for I am a woman.
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