Afterwards The Kadi Went To The Melich, And Represented To Him That The Law
Of Mahomet Would Be Overthrown If These People Were Allowed To Live.
He
observed farther, that, by the precepts of Mahomet in the alcoran, it was
declared, that any one who slew a Christian, acquired as much merit by that
action as by the pilgrimage to Mecca.
Then said the melich unto him, "Go
thy way, and do what thou wilt." Whereupon the kadi took four armed men,
whom he directed to go and slay the friars. These men crossed over the
water while it was night, but were then unable to find the friars. In the
meantime, the melich caused all the Christians in the city to be taken up
and thrown into prison. In the middle of the night, the three friars rose
up to say matins, and being then discovered by the four armed Saracens,
they were dragged out of the village to a place beneath a certain tree,
where they thus addressed our friars: "Know ye that we are ordered by the
kadi and the melich to slay you, which we are very unwilling to do, as you
are good and holy men; but we dare not refuse, as we and our wives and
children would be put to death." Then answered the friars, "Do ye even as
you have been commanded, that by a temporal death we may gain eternal life;
since, for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified and died
for us, and in honour of our faith in his holy gospel, we are prepared
willingly to suffer every kind of torment, and even death itself." A
Christian man, who had joined company with the friars, reasoned much with
the four armed Saracens, declaring, if he had a sword, he would either
defend these holy men from death, or would die along with them.
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