"ANOTHER WONDERFUL STORY."
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assert that thou didst enter their house and didst steal their goods. What sayest thou?"
He replied, "They speak the truth, O Prince! I did enter their house, and did steal of their possessions."
Perhaps," said Khâlid, "it was something of no great value that thou stolest?"[1]
"On the contrary," said he, "I stole their goods of greatest worth."
"Then it may be," said Khâlid, "that it was not in its proper place when thou didst lay hands upon it?"[2]
"Not so," he answered, "it was placed in security."
"But it may chance that thou wert partner with these people in a portion of it," suggested Khâlid.
"No," said he, "the whole of it was theirs; I had no right whatsoever to it."
Then Khâlid grew furious, and went up and struck
- ↑ According to the Súnnah, or Traditions of the Prophet, the punishment of mutilation was not to be carried out if the value of the stolen property was less than a quarter of a dinâr. In Sale's translation of the Kurân the sum in question is erroneously stated as four dinârs.
- ↑ To render a thief liable to the punishment of mutilation, it it was held necessary that the stolen property should have been taken from a place to which he had not easy access.
