Thousand & One Nights: 70th Night

Harun al Rashid on his roaming the country side, saw a fisherman who did not have any catch for the day and worried about his family's bread. The Caliph had brought him to the banks of Tigris and asked him to throw the net. When they pulled the net the catch was a locked heavy chest. The Caliph paid him one hundred dinars. The chest was taken to the palace.

Now the story to continue:

When the chest was opened there was a girl. She had been cut into nineteen pieces. The Caliph looked at her, felt very sad, and turned to Ja'far and said angrily, "You, dog of a vizier, people are being killed and thrown into river in my city while I take the responsibility of Doomsday. If you do not find her killer, I will hang you and forty of your kin with you."
"O Commander of the Faithful, give me three days."Ja'far said.

Ja'far went into the city, vexed, worried and sad. He had no idea what to do. He thought to himself, "Where shall I find the murderer?" 
The Caliph asked, "Where is the murderer?"
"O the Commander of the Faithful, am I an expert in detecting the murderer?" The Caliph was furious. He yelled at his vizier and commanded that he be hanged along with his kith and kin before the palace. Then he bid a crier to cry out this information throughout Baghdad. The crier cried out, "Whoever wishing to see the hanging of the vizier with forty of his kith and kin let him come before the palace and look at the spectacle."

The governor of the city and the chamberlains brought Ja'far and his forty kith and kin and made them stand under the gallows.

The spectators waited to see the handkerchief at the window. A neatly dressed young man pushed his way through the crowd towards Ja'far. He had a bright face, dark eyes, fair eyebrows and rosy cheeks covered with downy beard, graced with a mole, like a disc of ambergris. Finally he made his way and stood before Ja'far, kissed his hand, and said, "May I save you from such a horrible fate, O Grand vizier, most eminent prince, and refuge of the poor? Hang me for the murder of the girl, for I am
the one who murdered her."

When Ja'far heard the young man's confession, he rejoiced at his own deliverance, but grieved for the young man. But suddenly a man, well advanced in years, pushed his way through the crowd and reached Ja'far and said, "O vizier and mighty lord, do not believe what this young man is saying, for none has murdered the girl but I. Punish me for her death, if you do not, I will call you to account before the Almighty, God." But the young man cried out, "O vizier, none murdered her but I."

The old man said, "Son, you are still very young, while I am an old man who has had enough of life. I will give my life for you."And turning to Ja'far, he continued, "None murdered the girl but I. Hurry up and hang me, for my life is over, now that she is dead."

Ja'far was amazed at their talk. He took both of them to Caliph. After kissing the ground before him seven times, he said, "O Commander of the Faithful, I have brought you the murderer of the girl. Each of these two men, claims that he is the murderer. Here they stand before you." The Caliph, looking at the young man and the old man, asked, "Which of you killed the girl and threw her into the river?"

The young man replied, "I murdered her." The old man said, "None killed her but I."

Caliph said to Ja'far, "Hang both of them."
Ja'far said, "O Commander of the Faithful, since only one of them is guilty it is unjust to kill the other too."

The young man said, "By him who raised the firmament, I am the one who four days ago killed the girl, placed her in a basket of palm leaves, covered her with a woman's cloak, placed a piece of carpet over it, sewed the basket with a red woolen thread, and threw her into the river. In the name of God and His Judgement Day, I ask you to punish me for her death; do not let me live after her."

The Caliph marveling at what the young man said, asked him, "What caused to kill her, and what caused you to come forward on your own?"

The young man replied, "O Commander of the Faithful, our story is such that were it engraved with needles at the corner of my, it would be a lesson to those who would consider."

The Caliph said, "Relate to us what happened to you and her."
The young man replied, "I hear and obey the command of God, and the Commander of the Faithful."

Then the young man ...... It was dawn, and the time for a break.







Notes:-
1. Waving of handkerchief: Waving white handkerchief at the window was a signal by woman, that she was ready to receive a lover. In war waving of white handkerchief was a signal to surrender. No historical record is available with regard to this practice in execution. However, the entire episode shows the crude way of crime detection.
 

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