At last, she
snatched the tabor from Abdalla with her left hand, and holding the
dagger in her right presented the other side of the tabor, after the
manner of those who get a livelihood by dancing, and solicit the
liberality of the spectators.
Ali Baba put a piece of gold into the tabor, as did also his son; and
Cogia Houssain, seeing that she was coming to him, had pulled his
purse out of his bosom to make her a present; but while he was putting
his hand into it, Morgiana, with a courage and resolution worthy of
herself, plunged the poniard into his heart.
Ali Baba and his son, shocked at this action, cried out aloud.
"Unhappy woman!" exclaimed Ali Baba, "what have you done, to ruin me
and my family?"
"It was to preserve, not to ruin you," answered Morgiana; "for see
here," continued she, opening the pretended Cogia Houssain's garment,
and showing the dagger, "what an enemy you had entertained! Look well
at him, and you will find him to be both the fictitious oil merchant,
and the captain of the gang of forty robbers. Remember, too, that he
would eat no salt with you; and what would you have more to persuade
you of his wicked design? Before I saw him, I suspected him as soon as
you told me you had such a guest. I knew him, and you now find that my
suspicion was not groundless."
Ali Baba, who immediately felt the new obligation he had to Morgiana
for saving his life a second time, embraced her: "Morgiana," said he,
"I gave you your liberty, and then promised you that my gratitude
should not stop there, but that I would soon give you higher proofs of
its sincerity, which I now do by making you my daughter-in-law.
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