University of Virginia Library

A certain king once proclamation made
Unto the people of his realm and said,
“Know that 'gainst almsgiving I've set my thought;
Wherefore his hands, who giveth alms of aught,
Will I cut off.” Whereat from almsgiving
The folk forbore, for terror of the king,
And none might give an alms of anything.
One day unto a certain woman came
A beggar and besought her in God's name
Give him to eat; and “How shall I,” quoth she,
“Give thee to eat, seeing the king's decree
Is that who giveth alms of aught shall feel
Upon his either hand the hangman's steel?”
But he forbore her not and round her feet
Clinging, conjured her, “Give thou me to eat
By God most High, who all things ordereth!
For I am hungered even unto death.”
And she, when thus she heard him her conjure,
Against his prayer no longer might endure,
But, “What God willeth be with me!” she said
And gave him of her store two cakes of bread.
When to the king this her transgression known
Became, he summoned her before his throne
And for her trespass against his commands
Reproaching her, let strike off both her hands
And sent her back, thus maimed, unto her place,
Where she was like to starve, except God's grace,
The people's hearts toward her softening,
Had boldened them to disobey the king,
So that they pity on her plight did take
And fed and tended her for heaven's sake.
Then the case came to the king's mother's ear,
Who brought her to the palace in to her
And unto her rich gifts and raiment gave;
Yea, for herself she took her to her slave
And taught her with her feet to serve and spin.
And for that she was chaste and clean from sin,
God lent her lovesomeness and made her fair
Of face and sweet of speech and debonair,
Beyond all other women, of demean.

Now the king minded was to take a queen
And to his dam discovering his thought,
Some damsel fair to find him her besought
Enough and good and gracious for his bed,
Whom he unto his lawful wife might wed
And set her by his side upon the throne.
Quoth she, “No need to look beyond our own.
Here, in a palace of thy palaces,
Among the women in my service is
A maiden more of price than gems and gold,
Fairest of all fair women to behold:
But one default she hath and passing sore,
In that her two fair hands have heretofore
Been cruelly hewn off.” Whereunto he,
“Nay, bring her forth to me and let me see.”
So out to him she brought her and the maid
Sweet-faced and shining as the moon displayed.
And he of her forthright enamoured fell
And took her to his wife and loved her well
And lay with her; and ere a year was done,
The maid conceived by him and bore a son.

Now this was she whose hands cut off had been
For almsgiving; and when to be his queen
The king of all the land did her prefer,
The women of the palace envied her;
And when thereafterward a son she bore,
Their jealousy went waxing more and more,
Till at the last they counsel each with each
To work her ruin took; and to impeach
Her to her husband of adultery
They presently together did agree.
Wherefore, with lying letters to the king,
Who for the nonce was absent, warraying
Against his foes in a far distant land,
They gave him guilefully to understand
That she, whom he had wived and made his queen,
Was of her body blemished and unclean
And that the child which she had borne was none
Of his begetting, but another's son.
He, credit to their false advertisement
Vouchsafing, letters to his mother sent,
Into the desert that his wife unchaste
Bidding her bear and leave her in the waste,
To die of hunger. The old queen obeyed
Her son's behest and carried, as he said,
The damsel to a desert far away,
Where never any came by night or day,
And having bound the child about her neck,
There left the twain to perish without reck.

The damsel fell to weeping bitterly
For that which had befallen her; then she
(For she was parched with thirst) went wandering
Hither and thither, seeking for some spring
Where she might drink, and coming presently
Unto a running river, on her knee
(The child upon her bosom hanging still)
Knelt down thereby, to drink thereof her fill,
Well nigh forspended being with excess
Of thirst, for sorrowing and weariness.
But, as she stooped and bent her head to drink,
The child into the water at the brink
Fell from her neck and nought might she avail
To save it, for the hands to her did fail.
Then sat she weeping sore for that her child,
And as she wept, alone in that vast wild,
There came two men to her and saw her sad
And asked her why she wept. Quoth she, “I had
But now a child about my neck and he
Is fallen in the water, woe is me!”
Then said they, “Wilt thou that we bring him out
To thee?” And “Yea,” she answered; “without doubt.”
So unto God Most High they prayed and lo!
The child came forth the river evenso
And safe and sound was unto her restored.
Then to her said they, “Wilt thou that the Lord
Give thee thy hands again, as erst they were?”
“Surely,” quoth she; whereat they offered prayer
To God, extolled and hallowed be His name!
And she her hands again, yet not the same,
Received, but goodlier than they were by far.
Then said the two men, “Know'st thou who we are?”
“Nay, God alone all-knowing is,” she said;
And “We,” quoth they, “are thy two cakes of bread,
Which on the beggar thou bestow'dst whilere
And of the cutting-off thy hands which were
Th' occasion. Wherefore unto God Most High
Praise do thou render, for that at thy cry,
Thy child and eke thy hands He hath restored.”
So praise and thanks she rendered to the Lord
And glorified His might and majesty.
And eke, thereafterward, by His decree,
The king her husband, to his realm when he
Returned and came to know her innocence,
Her enemies and enviers banished thence
And seeking out his exiled wife, was fain
To take her to his bosom back again.