Explore "Saïd the Fisherman" by Marmaduke Pickthall on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
"Woe is me! . Allah have mercy!... I am ruined!... all my wealth is gone!... I have been robbed by wicked men; may Allah strike them dead for it.... Oh, that I knew the thief, that I might kill him!... Yesterday, in the evening, I was rich: now I have no resource but to stretch out my hand.... But I will have justice -- vengeance! I go straight to the Qadi -- to the chief of the soldiers -- to the Sultàn himself!... Up, Selìm! Let us hasten to inform the judge."
"Woe is me!... My heart is very sad for thee, O my master. Alas! did I not counsel thee to leave were it but half of thy wealth behind with the lord of the khan? -- but thou wouldst not! I have done all that it is in a man's power to do. I have sought out the owner of that house of sin. I have threatened him with horrid tortures so that he wept. And now, having achieved nothing, I have come back to mourn with thee in the place which thou namedst, even in this garden by the riverside. The Qadi will not help thee, for thou canst bring nothing in thy hand. Moreover, a part of the profits of that house of sin is paid to a great one of the city for his protection.... Think not that I am careless for thy loss. For two hours I was with the master of that house, cursing and threatening. Once I held him by the throat...."