The Bermecide, after having boasted so much of his bread, which my brother ate only in idea, cried, Boy, bring us another dish. Though no boy appeared, Come, my good friend, said he to my brother, taste this new dish, and tell me if ever you ate better mutton and barley broth than this. It is admirably good, replied my brother, and therefore you see I eat heartily. You oblige me mightily, replied the Bermecide: I conjure you, then, by the satisfaction I have to see you eat so heartily, that you eat all up, since you like it so well. A little while after he called for a goose and sweet sauce, vinegar, honey, dry raisins, grey peas, and dry figs, which were brought just in the same manner as the other was. The goose is very fat, said the Bermecide; eat only a leg and a wing; we must save our stomachs, for we have abundance of other dishes to come. He actually called for several other dishes, of which my brother, who was ready to die of hunger, pretended to eat; but what he boasted of more than all the rest, was a lamb fed with pistacho nuts, which he ordered to be brought up in the same manner that the rest were. Here is a dish, said the Bermecide, that you will see at nobody's table but my own; I would have you eat unsparingly of it. Having spoken thus, he stretched out his hand as if he had a piece of lamb in it, and putting it to my brother's mouth, There, said he, swallow that, and you will know whether I had not reason to boast of this dish. My brother thrust out his head, opened his mouth, and made as if he took the piece of lamb, and ate it with extreme pleasure. I knew you would like it, said the Bermecide. There is nothing in the world more fine, replied my brother; your lamb is a most delicious thing. Come, bring the ragoo presently; I fancy you will like that as well as the lamb. Well, how do you relish it? said the Bermecide. O! it is wonderful! replied Schacabac, for here we taste all at once, amber, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, pepper, and the most odoriferous herbs; and all these tastes are so well mixed, that one does not hinder us from perceiving the other: O how pleasant it is. Honour this ragoo, said the Bermecide, by eating heartily of it, Ho, boy! cried he; bring us a new ragoo. No, my lord, an't please you, replied my brother; for indeed I cannot eat any more.
Come, take it away then, said the Bermecide, and bring the fruit. He staid a moment, as it were, to give time for his servants to carry away; after which, he said to my brother, Taste these almonds; they are fresh and new gathered. Both of them made as if they had peeled the almonds, and ate them. After this, the Bermecide invited my brother to eat something else. Look you, said he, there are all sorts of fruits, cakes, dry sweatmeats, and conserves; take what you like. Then stretching out his hand as if he had reached my brother something, Look, said he, there is a lozenge very good for digestion. Schacabac made as if he ate it, and said, My lord, there is no want of musk here. These lozenges, said the Bermecide, are made in my own house, where there is nothing wanting to make every thing good. He still bade my brother eat, and said to him, Methinks you do not eat as if you had been so hungry as you said when you came in. My lord, replied Schacabac, whose jaws ached with moving and having nothing to eat, I am so full, that I cannot eat one bit more.
Well, then, my friend, replied the Bermecide, we must drink now, after we have eaten so well. You drink wine, my lord, replied my brother; but I will, if you please, drink none, because I am forbidden. You are too scrupulous, replied the Bermecide, do as I do. I will drink then out of complaisance, said Schacabac; for I see you will have nothing wanting to make your treat noble: but, since I am not accustomed to drink wine, I am afraid that I shall commit some error in point of breeding, contrary to the respect that is due to you, and therefore I pray you once more to excuse me from drinking any wine; I will be content with water. No, no, said the Bermecide, you shall drink wine; and at the same time he commanded some to be brought in the same manner as the meat and fruit had been brought before. He made as if he poured out wine, drank first himself, and then pouring out for my brother, presented him the glass: Drink my health, said he, and let me know if you think this wine good. My brother made as if he took the glass, and looked as if the colour was good, and put it to his nose to try if it had a good flavour; he then made a low bow to the Bermecide, to signify that he took the liberty to drink his health, making all the signs of a man who drinks with pleasure: My lord, said he, this is very excellent wine; but I think it is not strong enough. If you would have stronger, said the Bermecide, you need only speak, for I have several sorts in my cellar; try how you like this; upon which he made as if he poured out another glass to himself, and then to my brother; and did this so often, that Schacabac, feigning to be drunk with the wine, took up his hand, and gave the Bermecide such a box on the ear as made him fall down; he lifted up his hand to give him another blow; but the Bermecide, holding up his hand to ward it off, cried to him, What! are you mad? Then my brother, making as if he had come to himself again, said, My lord, you have been so good as to admit your slave into your house, and give him a great treat; you should have been satisfied in making me eat, and not have obliged me to drink wine; for I told you beforehand that it might occasion me to come short in my respect: I am very much troubled at it, and beg you a thousand pardons. He had scarcely finished these words, when the Bermecide, instead of being in a rage, fell a laughing with all his might. It is a long time, said he, since I wished a man of your character.
The Bermecide caressed Schacabac mightily, and told him, I not only forgive the blow you have given me, but am willing henceforward we should be friends; and that you take my house for your home: you have been so complaisant as to accommodate yourself to my humour, and have had the patience to bear the jest out to the last; we will now eat in good earnest. When he had finished these words, he clapped his hands, and commanded his servants, who then appeared, to cover the table; which was speedily done, and my brother was treated with all those viands in reality which he ate of before in fancy. At last they took them away, and brought wine; and at the same time a number of handsome slaves, richly apparelled, came in and sung some agreeable airs to their musical instruments. In a word, Schacabac had all the reason in the world to be satisfied with the Bermecide's civility and bounty; for he treated him as his familiar friend, and ordered him a suit out of his wardrobe.
The Bermecide found my brother to be a man of so much wit and understanding, that in a few days after he trusted him with his household, and all his affairs. My brother acquitted himself very well in that employment for twenty years, at the end of which the generous Bermecide died, and, leaving no heirs, all his estate was confiscated to the use of the prince; upon which my brother was reduced to his first condition, and joined a caravan of pilgrims going to Mecca, designing to accomplish that pilgrimage upon their charity; but by misfortune the caravan was attacked and plundered by a number of Beduins [Footnote: Vagabond Arabians, who wander in the deserts, and plunder the caravans when they are not strong enough to resist them.] superior to that of the pilgrims. My brother was then taken as a slave by one of the Beduins, who put him under the bastinado for several days, to oblige him to ransom himself. Schacabac protested to him that it was all in vain. I am your slave, said he, you may dispose of me as you please: but I declare unto you that I am extremely poor, and not able to redeem myself. In a word, my brother discovered to him all his misfortunes, and endeavoured to soften him with tears; but the Beduin had no mercy; and, being vexed to find himself disappointed of a considerable sum, which he reckoned he was sure of, he took his knife, and slit my brother's lips, to avenge himself, by this inhumanity, for the loss that he imagined he had sustained.
The Beduin had a handsome wife; and frequently, when he went on his courses, he left my brother alone with her, and then she used all her endeavours to comfort my brother under the rigour of his slavery: she gave him tokens enough that she loved him; but he durst not yield to her passion, for fear he should repent it, and therefore he shunned to be alone with her, as much as she sought the opportunity to be alone with him. She had so great a custom of toying and jesting with the miserable Schacabac, whenever she saw him, that one day she happened to do it in presence of her husband. My brother, without taking notice that he observed them, (so his stars would have it) jested likewise with her. The Beduin, immediately supposing that they lived together in a criminal manner, fell upon my brother in a rage, and after he had mangled him in a barbarous manner, he carried him on a camel to the top of a desert mountain, where he left him. The mountain was on the way to Bagdad, so that the passengers who passed that road gave me an account of the place where he was. I went thither speedily, where I found the unfortunate Schacabac in a deplorable condition: I gave him what help he stood in need of, and brought him back to the city.
This is what I told the caliph, added the barber; that prince applauded me with new fits of laughter. Now, said he, I cannot doubt that they justly gave you the surname of Silent; nobody can say the contrary. For certain reasons, however, I command you to depart this town immediately, and let me hear no more of your discourse. I yielded to necessity, and went to travel several years in far countries. I understood at last that the caliph was dead, and returned to Bagdad, where I found not one of my brethren alive. It was on my return to this town that I did the important service to the same young man which you have heard. You are, however, witness of his ingratitude, and of the injurious manner in which he treated me. Instead of testifying his acknowledgments, he chose rather to fly from me, and to leave his own country. When I understood that he was not at Bagdad, though nobody could tell me truly whither he was gone, yet I did not forbear to go and seek him. I travelled from province to province a long time; and when I had given over all hopes, I met him this day; but I did not think to find him so incensed against me.
The tailor made an end of telling the sultan of Casgar the history of the lame young man, and the barber of Bagdad, after that manner I had the honour to tell your majesty.
When the barber, continued he, had finished his story, we found that the young man was not to blame for calling him a great prattler. However, we were pleased that he would stay with us, and par take of the treat which the master of the house had prepared for us. We sat down to table, and were merry together till afternoon prayers; then all the company parted, and I went to my shop, till it was time for me to return home.
It was during this interval that Hump-back came half drunk before my shop, where he sung and taboured. I thought that, by carrying him home with me, I should divert my wife; therefore I brought him along. My wife gave us a dish of fish, and I presented Hump-back with some, which he ate without taking notice of a bone. He fell down dead before us; and, after having in vain essayed to help him, in the trouble occasioned us by such an unlucky accident, and through the fear of punishment, we carried the corpse out, and dexterously lodged it with the Jewish doctor. The Jewish doctor put it into the chamber of the purveyor, and the purveyor carried it forth into the street, where it was believed the merchant had killed him. This, sir, added the tailor, is what I had to say to satisfy your majesty, who must pronounce whether we be worthy of mercy or wrath, life or death.