A slave, belonging to the Sultan Umrulais, escaped and ran away.
Servants were quickly sent in pursuit. He didn't get far. They caught
him, brought him back, and threw him in chains at the feet of the Sultan.
'Make an example of him,' said the vazier, who had grudge against the slave.
'Have him executed, my lord, or you'll have all the slaves trying to escape.'
The slave fell to the ground before Umrulais. 'O Sultan,' he said, 'if you want
my head off there's nothing I can do about it. However, you haven't been a
bad master. You've fed me well and on the whole I've been happy. So I
should be sorry if, on the Day of Resurrection, you were punished for illegally
shedding my blood. If you must kill me, do it according to the law.'
'Indeed?' said the Sultan. 'Suppose you tell me how I could do that?'
'Well,' said the slave, 'here's one way, for example: the law says it is perfectly
all right to kill in retaliation for another death. Now if you were to give me
permission to kill your vizier here, you could then execute me legally without
any fear.'
The Sultan laughed and turned to the vazier. 'What do you say to that?' he asked.
The vizier groaned and raised his eyes to heaven. 'It's my fault,' he sighed. 'I should
have remembered the saying: If you shoot an arrow at your foe, don't forget you are
also a sitting target for him. My lord, rather than get myself into any further danger,
I beg you to let the rascal go!,
SA'ADI
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