' 'Not
so,' rejoined the two old men; 'she died a Muslim and we claim
her.' And the dispute waxed hot between them, till one of the
Muslims said, 'Be this the test of her faith. Let the forty
monks of the monastery come all and [essay to] lift her from
the grave. If they succeed, then she died a Nazarene; if not,
one of us shall come and lift her up, and if she yield to him,
she died a Muslim.' The villagers agreed to this and fetched
the forty monks, who heartened each other and came to her, to
lift her, but could not. Then we tied a great rope about her
middle and tugged at it with our might; but the rope broke in
sunder, and she stirred nor; and the villagers came and joined
their endeavour to ours, but could not move her from her place.
At last, when all our devices failed, we said to one of the two
old Muslims, 'Come thou and lift her.' So he went up to the
grave and covering her with his mantle, said, 'In the name of
God the Compassionate, the Merciful, and of the Faith of the
Apostle of God, on whom be peace and salvation!' Then he lifted
her and taking her in his bosom, betook himself with her to a
cave hard by, where they laid her, and the two women came and
washed her and shrouded her.
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