words: what have I done that, since thou broughtest
thy possessions into this country among us, Abraham,
thou hast thus bitterly contrived a plot against me?
Thou, a foreigner, wouldst deceive us in this country 2680
with evil and pollute us with sin: thou saidest in plain
words that Sarra was thy sister, thy blood relation;
through that woman thou wouldst have foully put upon
me sin, measureless evil! We received thee honorably, 2685
and in friendship gave thee a dwelling-place among this
people, land at thy pleasure: now thou makest return
and thankest us [most] ungratefully for our favors!"




XXXIII.


Abraham then answered: 2690

"I did that, not for evil nor for hostility nor for any
woe that I might bring upon thee. But by this strat-
agem, O ruler of men, I protected myself against blows
of the fierce sword, far from my kinsfolk [as I was]
Since the Holy One[37] first led me from the family of 2695
the prince, my father, I have sought out many peoples,
strange allies, and this woman with me, destitute of
friends: I always kept this peril in mind, when some foe 2700
should deprive me--a stranger--of my life, who wished
to have this woman for his own. Therefore I have told