The Household of God · Volume 3 · Chapter 259

[01] The captors, however, to assure themselves of their reward from the queen, cut off the head from the slain Waltar, wrapped it in a cloth and brought it to the queen.

[02] She was shocked at first at the sight of the head; but soon recovered and said to the captors:

[03] "Your loyalty has been proven! You have destroyed my greatest enemy; the enemy of my love you have killed and have deserved your reward! Here are a hundred pounds of gold; take it as your well-deserved reward!

[04] But take the head with you and bury it somewhere in the garden of the beauty goddesses; there he can gaze forever at those who were more to him than I!

[05] If you have buried the head, then go to the seven women who still live here in a lower part of the palace and bring them here, together with the fourteen sub-wives!

[06] What then has to be done, you will be told at the hour! Do your job well and the reward will not fail!"

[07] Here, the captors took the head and did what the queen had commanded.

[08] But the beauty goddesses who saw the burial of the head, were mightily terrified and said among themselves: “This is a bad omen for all of us! It will be better to quickly escape from this place, rather than follow this head and be buried in the ground!"

[09] But some wished to speak to the general chief priest. He, though, was too busy with plans to make the king distrustful towards Agla, and therefore was not available; for his anger towards the queen was too great. Thus, the goddesses had to wait anxiously for the things to come.

[10] Already the very next day the captors went and brought the seven women of Waltar together with the fourteen sub-wives, to the queen.

[11] When they came before the queen, she asked them: "Are you not mourning Waltar who has been killed by my power?”

[12] Here the women began to cry and lament.

[13] And the queen said: "Thus, your love for Waltar was great, because you mourn his certain death?! Behold, also my love was great for him; because out of love I had him killed, so that he should not be yours!

[14] But I can see now that you suffer because of his loss; therefore I want to put an end to your suffering! Strip all the women and tie them naked to the columns of this my royal hall!"

[15] And the captors did so at once.

[16] When the women together with the sub-women were tied naked to the columns, Agla herself took a sharp pointed dagger and walked to the tethered wives and spoke to one as to the other, probing their bodies in the region of the heart: "So there throbs the heart that loved my brother?”

[17] Then she pushed the dagger into the heart of the bound woman and said: "This is your reward, you wretch!"

[18] Thus Agla herself killed with her own hand the wives of her brother out of revenge.

[19] And the king, although learning about it the next day already, did not dare to say to her: "Woman! What have you done?"; because he loved and feared Agla.