Page:Folk-lore of the Holy Land.djvu/280

having hidden behind a monument, the woman saw only her husband. Horrified by his appearance, she cried, ‘“‘ Who are you, dreadful creature, more like a beast than a man? Why am I here in the graveyard? If you are a ghûl, I pray you not to eat me.” She shuddered still more when she learnt that the frightful creature was her faithful husband, and deferred going home with him till nightfall, saying that people would talk if she went through the streets in her grave-clothes. He sat down beside her, laid his head in her lap, and in the relief of again possessing her, fell sound asleep. A sultan, journeying by that way, saw the couple near the open grave, and, struck by the woman’s beauty in her shroud, he invited her to be his love. She laid her husband’s head on the ground, and stepped into a litter that was in readiness. When the cavalcade was gone, El Khudr came and woke the husband, telling him how his wife had been carried off, and suggesting that they should follow her. They started in pursuit, and reached the palace soon after the Sultan’s arrival there. El] Khudr demanded an audience, which, on account of his commanding presence, was instantly granted. The sultan was incredulous and very angry when El Khudr proclaimed the identity of his companion, while the woman vehemently declared that the old fright had never been her husband. The saint offered to settle the question, and commanded that the woman should resume her shroud and be taken back to the graveyard. The sultan, in awe