is but a half lie! How, then, if he had told me a whole lie? He
would ruin a city, aye or even two." Then in his fury he went to
the Governor, and they gave me a neat thing in the bastinado-line
and made me eat stick till I was lost to the world and a fainting
fit came on me; and, whilst I was yet senseless, they brought the
barber who docked me and gelded me[FN#102] and cauterised the
wound. When I revived I found myself a clean eunuch with nothing
left, and my master said to me, "Even as thou hast burned my
heart for the things I held dearest, so have I burnt thy heart
for that of thy members whereby thou settest most store!" Then he
took me and sold me at a profit, for that I was become an eunuch.
And I ceased not bringing trouble upon all, wherever I was sold,
and was shifted from lord to lord and from notable to notable,
being sold and being bought, till I entered the palace of the
Commander of the Faithful. But now my spirit is broken and my
tricks are gone from me, so alas! are my ballocks. When the two
slaves heard his history, they laughed at him and chaffed him and
said, "Truly thou art skite[FN#103] and skite-son! Thou liedest
an odious lie." Then quoth they to the third slave, "Tell us thy
tale." "O sons of my uncle," quoth he, "all that ye have said is
idle: I will tell you the cause of my losing my testicles, and
indeed I deserved to lose even more, for I futtered both my
mistress and my master's eldest son and heir: but my story is a
long one and this is not the time to tell it; for the dawn, O my
cousins, draweth near and if morning come upon us with this chest
still unburied, we shall get into sore disgrace and our lives
will pay for it. So up with you and open the door and, when we
get back to the palace, I will tell you my story and the cause of
my losing my precious stones." Then he swarmed up and dropped
down from the wall inside and opened the door, so they entered