Thousand & One Nights: 120th Night

One thousand and one nights that we see today is, in fact, was a blueprint kept by the ancient and mediaeval story tellers, and storytelling was a precursor of drama. In the course of actual rendering of the art they might have embellished upon this blueprint to prolong the process and to retain the suspense of the audience.
Title of the story: 
The young man with severed hand and the girl - 10

She gave a cup of wine to the young man. He took it with his left hand, tears rolling down his cheeks. A very loud cry from her, followed by, "My lord, why do you weep, and why do you hold the cup with your left hand?
"I have a boil on my right hand," said the young man.
"Put it out, I will lance it for you," she said.
"It is not ready yet," said the young man. She kept forcing him to drink, and he drank and fell asleep. In his sleep she examined his right hand and found the truth. Then she searched him and found the purse and his severed hand wrapped in a handkerchief.

In the morning he had a broth of boiled chicken and a cup of wine. He laid down the purse and was about to go out. 

"Where are you going? Sit down." She came to me, and said, "Has your love for me been so great that you have spent all your substance on me until you finally lost even your hand?" He was silent. He knew that she knew how he lost his hand, and felt ashamed.

"I pledge to you that I will die nowhere but at your feet, and you shall soon see the truth of my words," she said. She sent for witnesses and drew up a marriage contract, saying, "Write down that everything I own belongs to this young man."

After she paid the witnesses their fee, she took him by the hand, and leading him to a chest, said to him, "Look at all these handkerchiefs inside; they contain all the money you brought me. Take your money back, for I can never reward you enough for your precious and dear self." He locked the money in the chest, forgetting his sorrows. Feeling happy he thanked her. She continued, "Even if I gave all my life for you, it would be less than you deserve."

They lived together, but in less than a month, she fell ill and continued to get worse, because of her grief, and in less than eight weeks she was dead. After her burial, he found that she had left countless bequests, including the store room and the crop of sesame.

The break of dawn.

Notes:- The story highlights the theme of love, sacrifice and fate, which are common in Thousand and one nights.

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