The Arabian Nights Entertainments
tedious, but I bore it patiently, reflecting that at least I had not to
fear tempests, nor pirates, nor serpents, nor any of the other perils
from which I had suffered before, and at length we reached Bagdad. My
first care was to present myself before the Caliph, and give him an
account of my embassy. He assured me that my long absence had
disquieted him much, but he had nevertheless hoped for the best. As to
my adventure among the elephants he heard it with amazement, declaring
that he could not have believed it had not my truthfulness been well
known to him.
By his orders this story and the others I had told him were written by
his scribes in letters of gold, and laid up among his treasures. I
took my leave of him, well satisfied with the honours and rewards he
bestowed upon me; and since that time I have rested from my labours,
and given myself up wholly to my family and my friends.
Thus Sindbad ended the story of his seventh and last voyage, and
turning to Hindbad he added:
"Well, my friend, and what do you think now? Have you ever heard of
anyone who has suffered more, or had more narrow escapes than I have?
Is it not just that I should now enjoy a life of ease and tranquillity?"
Hindbad drew near, and kissing his hand respectfully, replied, "Sir,
you have indeed known fearful perils; my troubles have been nothing
compared to yours. Moreover, the generous use you make of your wealth
proves that you deserve it. May you live long and happily in the
enjoyment in it."
Sindbad then gave him a hundred sequins, and hence-forward counted him
among his friends; also he caused him to give up his profession as a
porter, and to eat daily at his table that he might all his life
remember Sindbad the Sailor.
The Little Hunchback
In the kingdom of Kashgar, which is, as everybody knows, situated on
the frontiers of Great Tartary, there lived long ago a tailor and his
wife who loved each other very much. One day, when the tailor was hard
at work, a little hunchback came and sat at the entrance of the shop,
and began to sing and play his tambourine. The tailor was amused with
the antics of the fellow, and thought he would take him home to divert
his wife. The hunchback having agreed to his proposal, the tailor
closed his shop and they set off together.
When they reached the house they found the table ready laid for supper,
and in a very few minutes all three were sitting before a beautiful
fish which the tailor's wife had cooked with her own hands. But
unluckily, the hunchback happened to swallow a large bone, and, in
spite of all the tailor and his wife could do to help him, died of
suffocation in an instant. Besides being very sorry for the poor man,
the tailor and his wife were very much frightened on their own account,
for if the police came to hear of it the worthy couple ran the risk of
being thrown into prison for wilful murder. In order to prevent this
dreadful calamity they both set about inventing some plan which would
throw suspicion on some one else, and at last they made up their minds
that they could do no better than select a Jewish doctor who lived
close by as the author of the crime. So the tailor picked up the
hunchback by his head while his wife took his feet and carried him to
the doctor's house. Then they knocked at the door, which opened
straight on to a steep staircase. A servant soon appeared, feeling her
way down the dark staircase and inquired what they wanted.
"Tell your master," said the tailor, "that we have brought a very sick
man for him to cure; and," he added, holding out some money, "give him
this in advance, so that he may not feel he is wasting his time." The
servant remounted the stairs to give the message to the doctor, and the
moment she was out of sight the tailor and his wife carried the body
swiftly after her, propped it up at the top of the staircase, and ran
home as fast as their legs could carry them.
Now the doctor was so delighted at the news of a patient (for he was
young, and had not many of them), that he was transported with joy.
"Get a light," he called to the servant, "and follow me as fast as you
can!" and rushing out of his room he ran towards the staircase. There
he nearly fell over the body of the hunchback, and without knowing what
it was gave it such a kick that it rolled right to the bottom, and very
nearly dragged the doctor after it. "A light! a light!" he cried
again, and when it was brought and he saw what he had done he was
almost beside himself with terror.
"Holy Moses!" he exclaimed, "why did I not wait for the light? I have
killed the sick man whom they brought me; and if the sacred Ass of
Esdras does not come to my aid I am lost! It will not be long before I
am led to jail as a murderer."
Agitated though he was, and with reason, the doctor did not forget to
shut the house door, lest some passers-by might chance to see what had
happened. He then took up the corpse and carried it into his wife's
room, nearly driving her crazy with fright.
"It is all over with us!" she wailed, "if we cannot find some means of
getting the body out of the house. Once let the sun rise and we can
hide it no longer! How were you driven to commit such a terrible
crime?"
"Never mind that," returned the doctor, "the thing is to find a way out
of it."
For a long while the doctor and his wife continued to turn over in
their minds a way of escape, but could not find any that seemed good
enough. At last the doctor gave it up altogether and resigned himself
to bear the penalty of his misfortune.
But his wife, who had twice his brains, suddenly exclaimed, "I have
thought of something! Let us carry the body on the roof of the house
and lower it down the chimney of our neighbour the Mussulman." Now this
Mussulman was employed by the Sultan, and furnished his table with oil
and butter. Part of his house was occupied by a great storeroom, where
rats and mice held high revel.
The doctor jumped at his wife's plan, and they took up the hunchback,
and passing cords under his armpits they let him down into the
purveyor's bed-room so gently that he really seemed to be leaning
against the wall. When they felt he was touching the ground they drew
up the cords and left him.
Scarcely had they got back to their own house when the purveyor entered
his room. He had spent the evening at a wedding feast, and had a
lantern in his hand. In the dim light it cast he was astonished to see
a man standing in his chimney, but being naturally courageous he seized
a stick and made straight for the supposed thief. "Ah!" he cried, "so
it is you, and not the rats and mice, who steal my butter. I'll take
care that you don't want to come back!"
So saying he struck him several hard blows. The corpse fell on the
floor, but the man only redoubled his blows, till at length it occurred
to him it was odd that the thief should lie so still and make no
resistance. Then, finding he was quite dead, a cold fear took
possession of him. "Wretch that I am," said he, "I have murdered a
man. Ah, my revenge has gone too far. Without the help of Allah I am
undone! Cursed be the goods which have led me to my ruin." And already
he felt the rope round his neck.
But when he had got over the first shock he began to think of some way
out of the difficulty, and seizing the hunchback in his arms he carried
him out into the street, and leaning him against the wall of a shop he
stole back to his own house, without once looking behind him.
A few minutes before the sun rose, a rich Christian merchant, who
supplied the palace with all sorts of necessaries, left his house,
after a night of feasting, to go to the bath. Though he was very
drunk, he was yet sober enough to know that the dawn was at hand, and
that all good Mussulmen would shortly be going to prayer. So he
hastened his steps lest he should meet some one on his way to the
mosque, who, seeing his condition, would send him to prison as a
drunkard. In his haste he jostled against the hunchback, who fell
heavily upon him, and the merchant, thinking he was being attacked by a
thief, knocked him down with one blow of his fist. He then called
loudly for help, beating the fallen man all the while.
The chief policeman of the quarter came running up, and found a
Christian ill-treating a Mussulman. "What are you doing?" he asked
indignantly.
"He tried to rob me," replied the merchant, "and very nearly choked me."
"Well, you have had your revenge," said the man, catching hold of his
arm. "Come, be off with you!"
As he spoke he held out his hand to the hunchback to help him up, but
the hunchback never moved. "Oho!" he went on, looking closer, "so this
is the way a Christian has the impudence to treat a Mussulman!" and
seizing the merchant in a firm grasp he took him to the inspector of
police, who threw him into prison till the judge should be out of bed
and ready to attend to his case. All this brought the merchant to his
senses, but the more he thought of it the less he could understand how
the hunchback could have died merely from the blows he had received.
The merchant was still pondering on this subject when he was summoned
before the chief of police and questioned about his crime, which he
could not deny. As the hunchback was one of the Sultan's private
jesters, the chief of police resolved to defer sentence of death until
he had consulted his master. He went to the palace to demand an
audience, and told his story to the Sultan, who only answered,
"There is no pardon for a Christian who kills a Mussulman. Do your
duty."
So the chief of police ordered a gallows to be erected, and sent criers
to proclaim in every street in the city that a Christian was to be
hanged that day for having killed a Mussulman.
When all was ready the merchant was brought from prison and led to the
foot of the gallows. The executioner knotted the cord firmly round the
unfortunate man's neck and was just about to swing him into the air,
when the Sultan's purveyor dashed through the crowd, and cried,
panting, to the hangman,
"Stop, stop, don't be in such a hurry. It was not he who did the
murder, it was I."
The chief of police, who was present to see that everything was in
order, put several questions to the purveyor, who told him the whole
story of the death of the hunchback, and how he had carried the body to
the place where it had been found by the Christian merchant.
"You are going," he said to the chief of police, "to kill an innocent
man, for it is impossible that he should have murdered a creature who
was dead already. It is bad enough for me to have slain a Mussulman
without having it on my conscience that a Christian who is guiltless
should suffer through my fault."
Now the purveyor's speech had been made in a loud voice, and was heard
by all the crowd, and even if he had wished it, the chief of police
could not have escaped setting the merchant free.
"Loose the cords from the Christian's neck," he commanded, turning to
the executioner, "and hang this man in his place, seeing that by his
own confession he is the murderer."
The hangman did as he was bid, and was tying the cord firmly, when he
was stopped by the voice of the Jewish doctor beseeching him to pause,
for he had something very important to say. When he had fought his way
through the crowd and reached the chief of police,
"Worshipful sir," he began, "this Mussulman whom you desire to hang is
unworthy of death; I alone am guilty. Last night a man and a woman who
were strangers to me knocked at my door, bringing with them a patient
for me to cure. The servant opened it, but having no light was hardly
able to make out their faces, though she readily agreed to wake me and