[121]
Thus resourceless and hopeless, she passed the long hours, expecting
death rather than aught else, until half none was come and gone;
when, his siesta ended, the scholar bethought him of his lady, and
being minded to see how she fared, hied him back to the tower, and
sent his servant away to break his fast. As soon as the lady espied
him, she came, spent and crushed by her sore affliction, to the aperture,
and thus addressed him:
[122]
"Rinieri, the cup of thy vengeance
is full to overflowing: for if I gave thee a night of freezing in my
courtyard, thou hast given me upon this tower a day of scorching,
nay, of burning, and therewithal of perishing of hunger and thirst:
wherefore, by God I entreat thee to come up hither, and as my heart
fails me to take my life, take it thou, for 'tis death I desire of all
things, such and so grievous is my suffering.
[123]
But if this grace thou
wilt not grant, at least bring me a cup of water wherewith to lave
my mouth, for which my tears do not suffice, so parched and torrid is
it within."[124]Well wist the scholar by her voice how spent she was;
he also saw a part of her body burned through and through by the
sun; whereby, and by reason of the lowliness of her entreaties, he
felt some little pity for her; but all the same he made answer:
[125]
"Nay, wicked woman, 'tis not by my hands thou shalt die; thou
canst die by thine own whenever thou art so minded; and to temper
thy heat thou shalt have just as much water from me as I had fire
from thee to mitigate my cold.
[126]
I only regret that for the cure of
my chill the physicians were fain to use foul-smelling muck, whereas
thy burns can be treated with fragrant rose-water; and that, whereas
I was like to lose my muscles and the use of my limbs, thou, for all
thy excoriation by the heat, wilt yet be fair again, like a snake that
has sloughed off the old skin."
[127]
"Alas! woe's me!" replied the
lady, "for charms acquired at such a cost, God grant them to those
that hate me. But thou, most fell of all wild beasts, how hast thou
borne thus to torture me? What more had I to expect of thee or
any other, had I done all thy kith and kin to death with direst
torments?
[128]
Verily, I know not what more cruel suffering thou
couldst have inflicted on a traitor that had put a whole city to the
slaughter than this which thou hast allotted to me, to be thus roasted,
and devoured of the flies, and therewithal to refuse me even a cup of
water, though the very murderers condemned to death by the law,
as they go to execution, not seldom are allowed wine to drink, so they
but ask it.
[129]
Lo now, I see that thou art inexorable in thy ruthlessness,
and on no wise to be moved by my suffering: wherefore with
resignation I will compose me to await death, that God may have
mercy on my soul. And may this that thou doest escape not the
searching glance of His just eyes."
[130]
Which said, she dragged herself,
sore suffering, toward the middle of the floor, despairing of ever
escaping from her fiery torment, besides which, not once only, but a
thousand times she thought to choke for thirst, and ever she wept
bitterly and bewailed her evil fate.
[131]
But at length the day wore to
vespers, and the scholar, being sated with his revenge, caused his
servant to take her clothes and wrap them in his cloak, and hied him
with the servant to the hapless lady's house, where, finding her maid
sitting disconsolate and woebegone and resourceless at the door:
"Good woman," quoth he, "what has befallen thy mistress?"
[132]
Whereto: "Sir, I know not," replied the maid. "I looked to find
her this morning abed, for methought she went to bed last night,
but neither there nor anywhere else could I find her, nor know I
what is become of her; wherefore exceeding great is my distress;
but have you, Sir, nought to say of the matter?"
[133]
"Only this,"
returned the scholar, "that I would I had had thee with her there
where I have had her, that I might have requited thee of thy offence,
even as I have requited her of hers. But be assured that thou shalt
not escape my hands, until thou hast from me such wage of thy
labour that thou shalt never flout man more, but thou shalt mind
thee of me." Then, turning to his servant, he said: "Give her
these clothes, and tell her that she may go bring her mistress away,
if she will."
[134]
The servant did his bidding; and the maid, what
with the message and her recognition of the clothes, was mightily
afraid, lest they had slain the lady, and scarce suppressing a shriek,
took the clothes, and, bursting into tears, set off, as soon as the
scholar was gone, at a run for the tower.
