At Mecca, one day, in the season of pilgrimage, whilst the people
were making the enjoined circuits about the Holy House and the
place of compassing was crowded, a man laid hold of the covering
of the Kaabeh and cried out, from the bottom of his heart,
saying, 'I beseech Thee, O God, that she may once again be wroth
with her husband and that I may lie with her!' A company of the
pilgrims heard him and falling on him, loaded him with blows and
carried him to the governor of the pilgrims, to whom said they,
'O Amir, we found this man in the Holy Places, saying thus and
thus.' The governor commanded to hang him; but he said, 'O Amir,
I conjure thee, by the virtue of the Prophet (whom God bless and
preserve), hear my story and after do with me as thou wilt.' 'Say
on,' quoth the Amir. 'Know then, O Amir,' said the man, 'that I
am a scavenger, who works in the sheep-slaughterhouses and
carries off the blood and the offal to the rubbish-heaps.[FN#144]
One day, as I went along with my ass loaded, I saw the people
running away and one of them said to me, "Enter this alley, lest
they kill thee." Quoth I, "What ails the folk to run away?" And
he answered, "It is the eunuchs in attendance on the wife of one
of the notables, who drive the people out of her way and beat
them all, without distinction.
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