heavier and she is the mother of the boy-babe whereas the other
bare the girl-child and we know not an it be alive or dead."
Hereat the true mother of the boy held her peace but the other
wailed aloud and said, "'Tis well: still this be my babe!"
Thereupon quoth the Wazir, "I am about to take the boy and hew
him in halves whereof I will give one to each of you twain." But
the true mother arose and cried out, "No! O my lord, do not on
this wise: I will forfeit my claim for Allah's sake;" while the
other one exclaimed, "All this is right good!" Now all the folk
of the city who were then standing by heard these words and
looked on; but when this order was pronounced and the woman was
satisfied and declared, "I will take half the boy," the Wazir
gave orders forthright that they seize her and hang her; so they
hanged her and he gave the babe to the right mother. Then said
they to him, "O our lord, how was it proved to thee that the boy
was the child of this one?" and he said, "It became evident to me
from two sides; in the first place because her milk was the
heavier, so that I knew that the boy was her boy, and secondly
when I commanded, 'Let us cut the boy in half,' the real mother
consented not to this and the matter was hard upon her because
the child was a slice of her liver, and she said to herself, 'His
life is better than his death, even though my sister-wife take
him, at any rate I shall be able to look upon him.' But the
second woman designed only to gratify her spite whether the boy
died or not and to harm her sister-wife; so when I saw that she
was contented to have the babe killed, I knew that it was right
to do her die." Then all who were present of the Lords of the
land and the Olema and divines and notables wondered at the
judgment and exclaimed, "By Allah, well done,[FN#280] O Wazir of
the realm." Now this history of the Minister's perspicacity and