"Shave him!" exclaimed the barber, in a rage: "is it not enough that I should degrade myself by touching you, but you must insult me by asking me to shave your donkey? Away with you!"
The woodcutter immediately went to the caliph and related his case. "Bring Ali and his razors to me this instant," exclaimed the caliph to one of his officers; and in the course of ten minutes the barber stood before him. "Why do you refuse to shave this man's companion?" said the caliph to the barber: "was not that your agreement?" Ali, kissing the ground, answered, "It is true, O caliph, that such was our agreement; but who ever made a companion of a donkey before?"
"True enough," said the caliph; "but who ever thought of insisting upon a pack saddle's being included in a load of wood? No, no, it is the woodcutter's turn now. Shave this donkey instantly!"
So the barber was compelled to prepare a great quantity of soap, to lather the beast from head to foot, and to shave him in the presence of the caliph and of the whole court, whilst he was jeered and mocked by the bystanders. The poor woodcutter was then dismissed with a present of money; and all Bagdad resounded with the story, and praised the justice of the caliph.
There was once in Bagdad a barber who was so skillful that he was employed by all the men of fashion, and who became so proud that he would seldom work for any but men of rank. One day a poor woodcutter came to his shop to sell a load of wood. Ali offered him a sum of money for "all the wood upon the donkey." The woodcutter agreed, whereupon Ali seized the wooden pack saddle as well as the wood, saying it was included in the bargain.
After in vain seeking redress from the judges, the peasant went to the caliph, who decided that, according to the terms made, the bargain must stand; but, calling the woodcutter to him, he whispered something in his ear.
A few days afterward the woodcutter asked the barber to shave him and a companion from the country, agreeing to pay the price asked by the barber. After the woodcutter had been attended to, the barber asked for the companion, whereupon the woodcutter led in his donkey. The barber in rage drove them from his shop, but the woodcutter immediately went to the caliph and stated his case. The tables were now turned, for the caliph decided in favor of the woodcutter. The barber was obliged to shave the beast in the presence of the caliph and the whole court, who mocked at him; and the woodcutter was dismissed with a rich present.
Exercise 68. In a similar way condense this account of the battle of Hastings into about two hundred words.
In the middle of the month of October, in the year one thousand and sixty-six, the Normans and the English came front to front. All night the armies lay encamped before each other in a part of the country then called Senlac, now called Battle. With the first dawn of day they arose. There, in the faint light, were the English on a hill. A wood lay behind them, and in their midst was the royal banner, representing a fighting warrior, woven in gold thread, adorned with precious stones.
Beneath the banner, as it rustled in the wind, stood King Harold on foot, with two of his remaining brothers by his side; around them, still and silent as the dead, clustered the whole English army—every soldier covered by his shield, and bearing in his hand the dreaded English battle-ax.
On an opposite hill, in three lines,—archers, foot soldiers, and horsemen,—was the Norman force. Of a sudden, a great battle cry, "God help us!" burst from the Norman lines. The English answered with their own battle cry, "God's Rood! Holy Rood!" The Normans then came sweeping down the hill to attack the English.
There was one tall Norman knight who rode before the Norman army on a prancing horse, throwing up his heavy sword and catching it, and singing of the bravery of his countrymen. An English knight, who rode out from the English force to meet him, fell by this knight's hand. Another English knight rode out, and he also fell; but then a third rode out and killed the Norman.
The English, keeping side by side in a great mass, cared no more for the showers of Norman arrows than if they had been showers of Norman rain. When the Norman horsemen rode against them, with their battle-axes they cut men and horses down. The Normans gave way. The English pressed forward. A cry went forth among the Norman troops that Duke William was killed. Duke William took off his helmet, in order that his face might be distinctly seen, and rode along the line before his men. This gave them courage.