'
So saying, she brought out the apple, and it shone in the
darkness of the night, as it were a sparkling star. So they
carried her to the monastery, where she repeated to us her
vision and showed us the apple; never saw we its like among all
the fruits of the world. Then I took a knife and cut the apple
into as many pieces as we were folk in the company; and never
knew we aught more delicious than its taste nor sweeter than
its scent; but we said, 'Haply this was a devil that appeared
to her, to seduce her from her faith.' Then her people took her
and went away; but she abstained from eating and drinking till
the fifth night, when she rose from her bed and going forth the
village to the grave of the young Muslim, threw herself upon it
and died.
Her people knew not what was come of her; but, on the morrow,
there came to the village two Muslim elders, clad in hair-
cloth, and with them two women in like garb, and said, 'O
people of the village, with you is a woman of the friends of
God,[FN#161] who died a Muslim, and we will take charge of her,
instead of you.' So the damsel's family sought her and found
her dead on the young Muslim's grave; and they said, 'This our
sister died in our faith, and we will take charge of her.
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