“’At last, the victuals were exhausted, and I became alarmed and complained to God.  He is so beneficent that the door of the inclosure opened and another corpse was brought in; an old man accompanied it.  When, having left him also, they went away, it came into my head to kill the old man, and take possession of his chest of provisions.  So, having taken up the leg of an old chest, I went up to him; he was, poor wretch, sorely perplexed, seated with his head resting on his knees.  I came behind him, and struck him such a blow, that his skull was fractured and his brains came out, and he instantly resigned his soul to God.  I seized his stock of provisions, I began to live on it.  For a long while this was my way, that whatever living beings came in with the dead, I used to kill the former, and having taken their provisions, I fared plentifully.

“’After some time, a young girl once came with a corpse; she was very handsome, and I had not the hard heart to kill her [as had hitherto been my practice].  She espied me, and swooned away through fear.  I took up her stock of provisions, and carried it to where I lived; but I did not eat it alone; when I was hungry, I used to carry her some victuals, and we ate together.  When the young girl perceived that I did not molest her, her timidity lessened daily and she became more familiar, and used to come to my shed.  One day I asked her her story, and who she was; she replied, “I am the daughter of the king’s wakili mutlak, [354] and had been betrothed to my uncle’s son.  On the day of the marriage night he was attacked with a colic, and was in such agonies from the pain, that he expired in an instant; [355] they brought me here with his corpse and have left me.”  She then asked to hear my story; I also related the whole to her, and said, “God hath sent thee here for my sake.”  She smiled and remained silent.

“’In this way mutual affection increased between us in a short time; I taught her the principles of the Musalman faith, and made her repeat our kalima.  I then performed the marriage ceremony, and cohabited with her; she also became pregnant and brought forth a son.  Nearly three years passed in this manner.  When she weaned the child, I said to my wife, “How long shall we remain here, and how shall we get out from hence?” She replied, “If God takes us out, then we shall get out; otherwise we shall some day die here.”  I wept bitterly at what she said, and at our confinement, and continuing to weep, I fell asleep.  I saw a person in my dream, who said to me, “There is an outlet through the drain; go thou forth.”  I started up with joy, and said to my wife, “Collect and bring with you all the old nails and bolts which belonged to the rotten chests, that I may [with their help] widen [the mouth of the drain].”  In short, I having applied a large nail to the mouth of that drain, used to strike it with a stone until I became quite tired; however, after a year’s labour, I widened the opening so much that a man could get through it.