"'I persuaded the man that he had fallen asleep during the operation of anointing his tumour, and that I had housed him for the night out of kindness. For this he thanked me sincerely, allowed me to bleed him for the good of his health, and to wash and shave him, and paying me handsomely for all I had done for him, departed with much satisfaction.
"'This morning, therefore, when I happened to give utterance to that rash boast of being able to shave successfully any living thing—a boast you so cleverly turned against me—I determined to make good my words by virtue of the camel's-hair brush.'"
"And what," asked Haroun of Sidi ibn Thalabi, "what has become of the brush? did you not buy it of the barber?"
"I endeavoured to do so," answered he, "but the barber declared that unless the Caliph himself seated upon his throne should demand it, he would never part with it on any terms to any man."
"I think, friend Sidi ibn Thalabi," said Haroun, "that the barber is right. But now that I have heard the story of the barber, which is a very strange story, and has interested me greatly, I must for the present leave you, and return to my house where my people will be anxiously awaiting me. I hope, however, to have the pleasure very shortly of receiving you in my own house, and till then I bid you farewell."
[1] The Caliph was commonly so designated by the vulgar.
[2] A common Arab practice.
The Caliph and Sidi ibn Thalabi
THE BANQUET.
On the next morning after Haroun Alraschid had given the customary audiences to his Viziers and the great officers of his kingdom, he ordered Mesrúr to send and fetch Kaseem, the barber whose story Sidi ibn Thalabi had related to him.