tailor, the doctor, the purveyor, and the merchant, who bore the dead hunchback
on their shoulders.
When the procession reached the palace the chief of police prostrated himself at
the feet of the Sultan, and related all that he knew of the matter. The Sultan was
so much struck by the circumstances that he ordered his private historian to write
down an exact account of what had passed, so that in the years to come the
miraculous escape of the four men who had thought themselves murderers might
never be forgotten.
The Sultan asked everybody concerned in the hunchback's affair to tell him their
stories. Among others was a prating barber, whose tale of one of his brothers
follows.
Story of the Barber's Fifth Brother
As long as our father lived Alnaschar was very idle. Instead of working for his
bread he was not ashamed to ask for it every evening, and to support himself
next day on what he had received the night before. When our father died, worn
out by age, he only left seven hundred silver drachmas to be divided amongst us,
which made one hundred for each son. Alnaschar, who had never possessed so
much money in his life, was quite puzzled to know what to do with it. After
reflecting upon the matter for some time he decided to lay it out on glasses,
bottles, and things of that sort, which he would buy from a wholesale merchant.
Having bought his stock he next proceeded to look out for a small shop in a good
position, where he sat down at the open door, his wares being piled up in an
uncovered basket in front of him, waiting for a customer among the passers-by.
In this attitude he remained seated, his eyes fixed on the basket, but his thoughts
far away. Unknown to himself he began to talk out loud, and a tailor, whose shop
was next door to his, heard quite plainly what he was saying.
"This basket," said Alnaschar to himself, "has cost me a hundred drachmas-- all
that I possess in the world. Now in selling the contents piece by piece I shal turn
two hundred, and these hundreds I shall again lay out in glass, which will
produce four hundred. By this means I shall in course of time make four
thousand drachmas, which will easily double themselves. When I have got ten
thousand I will give up the glass trade and become a jeweller, and devote all my
time to trading in pearls, diamonds, and other precious stones. At last, having all
the wealth that heart can desire, I will buy a beautiful country house, with horses
and slaves, and then I will lead a merry life and entertain my friends. At my feasts
I will send for musicians and dancers from the neighbouring town to amuse my
guests. In spite of my riches I shall not, however, give up trade till I have
amassed a capital of a hundred thousand drachmas, when, having become a
man of much consideration, I shall request the hand of the grand-vizir's daughter,
taking care to inform the worthy father that I have heard favourable reports of her
beauty and wit, and that I will pay down on our wedding day 3 thousand gold
pieces. Should the vizir refuse my proposal, which after all is hardly to be
expected, I will seize him by the beard and drag him to my house."
When I shall have married his daughter I will give her ten of the best eunuchs
that can be found for her service. Then I shall put on my most gorgeous robes,
and mounted on a horse with a saddle of fine gold, and its trappings blazing with
diamonds, followed by a train of slaves, I shall present myself at the house of the
grand-vizir, the people casting down their eyes and bowing low as I pass along.
At the foot of the grand-vizir's staircase I shall dismount, and while my servants
stand in a row to right and left I shall ascend the stairs, at the head of which the
grand-vizir will be waiting to receive me. He will then embrace me as his son-in-law, and giving me his seat will place himself below me. This being done (as I
have every reason to expect), two of my servants will enter, each bearing a purse
containing a thousand pieces of gold. One of these I shall present to him saying,
"Here are the thousand gold pieces that I offered for your daughter's hand, and
here," I shall continue, holding out the second purse, "are another thousand to
show you that I am a man who is better than his word." After hearing of such
generosity the world will talk of nothing else.
I shall return home with the same pomp as I set out, and my wife will send an
officer to compliment me on my visit to her father, and I shall confer on the officer
the honour of a rich dress and a handsome gift. Should she send one to me I
shall refuse it and dismiss the bearer. I shall never allow my wife to leave her
rooms on any pretext whatever without my permission, and my visits to her will
be marked by all the ceremony calculated to inspire respect. No establishment
will be better ordered than mine, and I shall take care always to be dressed in a
manner suitable to my position. In the evening, when we retire to our apartments,
I shall sit in the place of honour, where I shall assume a grand demeanour and
speak little, gazing straight before me, and when my wife, lovely as the full moon,
stands humbly in front of my chair I shall pretend not to see her. Then her women
will say to me, "Respected lord and master, your wife and slave is before you
waiting to be noticed. She is mortified that you never deign to look her way; she
is tired of standing so long. Beg her, we pray you, to be seated." Of course I shall
give no signs of even hearing this speech, which will vex them mightily. They will
throw themselves at my feet with lamentations, and at length I will raise my head
and throw a careless glance at her, then I shall go back to my former attitude.
The women will think that I am displeased at my wife's dress and will lead her
away to put on a finer one, and I on my side shall replace the one I am wearing
with another yet more splendid. They will then return to the charge, but this time
it will take much longer before they persuade me even to look at my wife. It is as
well to begin on my wedding-day as I mean to go on for the rest of our lives.
The next day she will complain to her mother of the way she has been treated,
which will fill my heart with joy. Her mother will come to seek me, and, kissing my
hands with respect, will say, "My lord" (for she could not dare to risk my anger by
using the familiar title of "son-in-law"), "My lord, do not, I implore you, refuse to
look upon my daughter or to approach her. She only lives to please you, and
loves you with all her soul." But I shall pay no more heed to my mother-in-law's
words than I did to those of the women. Again she will beseech me to listen to
her entreaties, throwing herself this time at my feet, but al to no purpose. Then,
putting a glass of wine into my wife's hand, she will say to her, "There, present
that to him yourself, he cannot have the cruelty to reject anything offered by so
beautiful a hand," and my wife will take it and offer it to me tremblingly with tears
in her eyes, but I shall look in the other direction. This will cause her to weep still
more, and she will hold out the glass crying, "Adorable husband, never shall I
cease my prayers till you have done me the favour to drink." Sick of her
importunities, these words will goad me to fury. I shall dart an angry look at her
and give her a sharp blow on the cheek, at the same time giving her a kick so
violent that she will stagger across the room and fall on to the sofa.
"My brother," pursued the barber, "was so much absorbed in his dreams that he
actually did give a kick with his foot, which unluckily hit the basket of glass. It fell
into the street and was instantly broken into a thousand pieces."
His neighbour the tailor, who had been listening to his visions, broke into a loud
fit of laughter as he saw this sight.
"Wretched man!" he cried, "you ought to die of shame at behaving so to a young
wife who has done nothing to you. You must be a brute for her tears and prayers
not to touch your heart. If I were the grand-vizir I would order you a hundred
blows from a bullock whip, and would have you led round the town accompanied
by a herald who should proclaim your crimes."
The accident, so fatal to all his profits, had restored my brother to his senses,
and seeing that the mischief had been caused by his own insufferable pride, he
rent his clothes and tore his hair, and lamented himself so loudly that the
passers-by stopped to listen. It was a Friday, so these were more numerous than
usual. Some pitied Alnaschar, others only laughed at him, but the vanity which
had gone to his head had disappeared with his basket of glass, and he was
loudly bewailing his folly when a lady, evidently a person of consideration, rode
by on a mule. She stopped and inquired what was the matter, and why the man
wept. They told her that he was a poor man who had laid out all his money on
this basket of glass, which was now broken. On hearing the cause of these loud
wails the lady turned to her attendant and said to him, "Give him whatever you
have got with you." The man obeyed, and placed in my brother's hands a purse
containing five hundred pieces of gold. Alnaschar almost died of joy on receiving
it. He blessed the lady a thousand times, and, shutting up his shop where he had
no longer anything to do, he returned home.
He was still absorbed in contemplating his good fortune, when a knock came to
his door, and on opening it he found an old woman standing outside.
"My son," she said, "I have a favour to ask of you. It is the hour of prayer and I
have not yet washed myself. Let me, I beg you, enter your house, and give me
water."
My brother, although the old woman was a stranger to him, did not hesitate to do
as she wished. He gave her a vessel of water and then went back to his place
and his thoughts, and with his mind busy over his last adventure, he put his gold
into a long and narrow purse, which he could easily carry in his belt. During this
time the old woman was busy over her prayers, and when she had finished she
came and prostrated herself twice before my brother, and then rising called down
endless blessings on his head. Observing her shabby clothes, my brother
thought that her gratitude was in reality a hint that he should give her some
money to buy some new ones, so he held out two pieces of gold. The old woman
started back in surprise as if she had received an insult. "Good heavens!" she
exclaimed, "what is the meaning of this? Is it possible that you take me, my lord,
for one of those miserable creatures who force their way into houses to beg for
alms? Take back your money. I am thankful to say I do not need it, for I belong to
a beautiful lady who is very rich and gives me everything I want."
My brother was not clever enough to detect that the old woman had merely
refused the two pieces of money he had offered her in order to get more, but he
inquired if she could procure him the pleasure of seeing this lady.
"Willingly," she replied; "and she will be charmed to marry you, and to make you
the master of all her wealth. So pick up your money and follow me."
Delighted at the thought that he had found so easily both a fortune and a
beautiful wife, my brother asked no more questions, but concealing his purse,
with the money the lady had given him, in the folds of his dress, he set out
joyfully with his guide.
They walked for some distance till the old woman stopped at a large house,
where she knocked. The door was opened by a young Greek slave, and the old
woman led my brother across a well-paved court into a well-furnished hall. Here
she left him to inform her mistress of his presence, and as the day was hot he
flung himself on a pile of cushions and took off his heavy turban. In a few minutes
there entered a lady, and my brother perceived at the first glance that she was
even more beautiful and more richly dressed than he had expected. He rose from
his seat, but the lady signed to him to sit down again and placed herself beside
him. After the usual compliments had passed between them she said, "We are
not comfortable here, let us go into another room," and passing into a smaller
chamber, apparently communicating with no other, she continued to talk to him
for some time. Then rising hastily she left him, saying, "Stay where you are, I will
come back in a moment."
He waited as he was told, but instead of the lady there entered a huge black
slave with a sword in his hand. Approaching my brother with an angry
countenance he exclaimed, "What business have you here?" His voice and
manner were so terrific that Alnaschar had not strength to reply, and allowed his
gold to be taken from him, and even sabre cuts to be inflicted on him without
making any resistance. As soon as he was let go, he sank on the ground
powerless to move, though he still had possession of his senses. Thinking he
was dead, the black ordered the Greek slave to bring him some salt, and
between them they rubbed it into his wounds, thus giving him acute agony,
though he had the presence of mind to give no sign of life. They then left him,
and their place was taken by the old woman, who dragged him to a trapdoor and
threw him down into a vault filled with the bodies of murdered men.
At first the violence of his fall caused him to lose consciousness, but luckily the
salt which had been rubbed into his wounds had by its smarting preserved his
life, and little by little he regained his strength. At the end of two days he lifted the
trapdoor during the night and hid himself in the courtyard till daybreak, when he
saw the old woman leave the house in search of more prey. Luckily she did not
observe him, and when she was out of sight he stole from this nest of assassins
and took refuge in my house.
I dressed his wounds and tended him carefully, and when a month had passed
he was as well as ever. His one thought was how to be revenged on that wicked
old hag, and for this purpose he had a purse made large enough to contain five
hundred gold pieces, but filled it instead with bits of glass. This he tied round him
with his sash, and, disguising himself as an old woman, he took a sabre, which
he hid under his dress.
One morning as he was hobbling through the streets he met his old enemy
prowling to see if she could find anyone to decoy. He went up to her and,
imitating the voice of a woman, he said, "Do you happen to have a pair of scales
you could lend me? I have just come from Persia and have brought with me five
hundred gold pieces, and I am anxious to see if they are the proper weight."
"Good woman," replied the old hag, "you could not have asked anyone better. My
son is a money-changer, and if you will follow me he will weigh them for you
himself. Only we must be quick or he will have gone to his shop." So saying she
led the way to the same house as before, and the door was opened by the same
Greek slave.
Again my brother was left in the hall, and the pretended son appeared under the
form of the black slave. "Miserable crone," he said to my brother, "get up and
come with me," and turned to lead the way to the place of murder. Alnaschar
rose too, and drawing the sabre from under his dress dealt the black such a blow
on his neck that his head was severed from his body. My brother picked up the
head with one hand, and seizing the body with the other dragged it to the vault,
when he threw it in and sent the head after it. The Greek slave, supposing that all
had passed as usual, shortly arrived with the basin of salt, but when she beheld
Alnaschar with the sabre in his hand she let the basin fall and turned to fly. My
brother, however, was too quick for her, and in another instant her head was
rolling from her shoulders. The noise brought the old woman running to see what
was the matter, and he seized her before she had time to escape. "Wretch!" he
cried, "do you know me?"
"Who are you, my lord?" she replied trembling all over. "I have never seen you
before."
"I am he whose house you entered to offer your hypocritical prayers. Don't you
remember now?"
She flung herself on her knees to implore mercy, but he cut her in four pieces.
There remained only the lady, who was quite ignorant of all that was taking place
around her. He sought her through the house, and when at last he found her, she
nearly fainted with terror at the sight of him. She begged hard for life, which he
was generous enough to give her, but he bade her to tell him how she had got
into partnership with the abominable creatures he had just put to death.
"I was once," replied she, "the wife of an honest merchant, and that old woman,
whose wickedness I did not know, used occasionally to visit me. "Madam," she
said to me one day, "we have a grand wedding at our house to-day. If you would
do us the honour to be present, I am sure you would enjoy yourself." I allowed
myself to be persuaded, put on my richest dress, and took a purse with a
hundred pieces of gold. Once inside the doors I was kept by force by that
dreadful black, and it is now three years that I have been here, to my great grief."
"That horrible black must have amassed great wealth, remarked my brother.
"Such wealth," returned she, "that if you succeed in carrying it all away it will
make you rich for ever. Come and let us see how much there is."
She led Alnaschar into a chamber filled with coffers packed with gold, which he
gazed at with an admiration he was powerless to conceal. "Go," she said, "and
bring men to carry them away."
My brother did not wait to be told twice, and hurried out into the streets, where he
soon collected ten men. They all came back to the house, but what was his
surprise to find the door open, and the room with the chests of gold quite empty.
The lady had been cleverer than himself, and had made the best use of her time.
However, he tried to console himself by removing all the beautiful furniture, which
more than made up for the five hundred gold pieces he had lost.
Unluckily, on leaving the house, he forgot to lock the door, and the neighbours,
finding the place empty, informed the police, who next morning arrested
Alnaschar as a thief. My brother tried to bribe them to let him off, but far from
listening to him they tied his hands, and forced him to walk between them to the
presence of the judge. When they had explained to the official the cause of
complaint, he asked Alnaschar where he had obtained all the furniture that he
had taken to his house the day before.
"Sir," replied Alnaschar, "I am ready to tell you the whole story, but give, I pray
you, your word, that I shall run no risk of punishment."
"That I promise," said the judge. So my brother began at the beginning and
related all his adventures, and how he had avenged himself on those who had
betrayed him. As to the furniture, he entreated the judge at least to allow him to
keep part to make up for the five hundred pieces of gold which had been stolen
from him.
The judge, however, would say nothing about this, and lost no time in sending
men to fetch away all that Alnaschar had taken from the house. When everything
had been moved and placed under his roof he ordered my brother to leave the
town and never more to enter it on peril of his life, fearing that if he returned he
might seek justice from the Caliph. Alnaschar obeyed, and was on his way to a
neighbouring city when he fell in with a band of robbers, who stripped him of his
clothes and left him naked by the roadside. Hearing of his plight, I hurried after
him to console him for his misfortunes, and to dress him in my best robe. I then
brought him back disguised, under cover of night, to my house, where I have
since given him all the care I bestow on my other brothers.
The Story of the Barber's Sixth
Brother
There now remains for me to relate to you the story of my sixth brother, whose
name was Schacabac. Like the rest of us, he inherited a hundred silver
drachmas from our father, which he thought was a large fortune, but through ill-luck, he soon lost it all, and was driven to beg. As he had a smooth tongue and
good manners, he really did very well in his new profession, and he devoted
himself specially to making friends with the servants in big houses, so as to gain
access to their masters.
One day he was passing a splendid mansion, with a crowd of servants lounging
in the courtyard. He thought that from the appearance of the house it might yield
him a rich harvest, so he entered and inquired to whom it belonged.
"My good man, where do you come from?" replied the servant. "Can't you see for
yourself that it can belong to nobody but a Barmecide?" for the Barmecides were
famed for their liberality and generosity. My brother, hearing this, asked the
porters, of whom there were several, if they would give him alms. They did not
refuse, but told him politely to go in, and speak to the master himself.
My brother thanked them for their courtesy and entered the building, which was
so large that it took him some time to reach the apartments of the Barmecide. At
last, in a room richly decorated with paintings, he saw an old man with a long
white beard, sitting on a sofa, who received him with such kindness that my
brother was emboldened to make his petition.
"My lord," he said, "you behold in me a poor man who only lives by the help of
persons as rich and as generous as you."
Before he could proceed further, he was stopped by the astonishment shown by
the Barmecide. "Is it possible," he cried, "that while I am in Bagdad, a man like
you should be starving? That is a state of things that must at once be put an end
to! Never shall it be said that I have abandoned you, and I am sure that you, on
your part, will never abandon me."
"My lord," answered my brother, "I swear that I have not broken my fast this
whole day."
"What, you are dying of hunger?" exclaimed the Barmecide. "Here, slave; bring
water, that we may wash our hands before meat!" No slave appeared, but my
brother remarked that the Barmecide did not fail to rub his hands as if the water
had been poured over them.
Then he said to my brother, "Why don't you wash your hands too?" and
Schacabac, supposing that it was a joke on the part of the Barmecide (though he
could see none himself), drew near, and imitated his motion.
When the Barmecide had done rubbing his hands, he raised his voice, and cried,
"Set food before us at once, we are very hungry." No food was brought, but the
Barmecide pretended to help himself from a dish, and carry a morsel to his
mouth, saying as he did so, "Eat, my friend, eat, I entreat. Help yourself as freely
as if you were at home! For a starving man, you seem to have a very small
appetite."
"Excuse me, my lord," replied Schacabac, imitating his gestures as before, "I
really am not losing time, and I do full justice to the repast."
"How do you like this bread?" asked the Barmecide. "I find it particularly good
myself."
"Oh, my lord," answered my brother, who beheld neither meat nor bread, "never
have I tasted anything so delicious."
"Eat as much as you want," said the Barmecide. "I bought the woman who
makes it for five hundred pieces of gold, so that I might never be without it."
After ordering a variety of dishes (which never came) to be placed on the table,
and discussing the merits of each one, the Barmecide declared that having dined
so well, they would now proceed to take thei