"Begone, both of you," said the Khoja; "but come back to-morrow, when I will give judgment."
When the men had gone, the Khoja withdrew to a quiet place, where he would be undisturbed, that he might try if he could bite his own ear. Taking the ear in his fingers, he made many efforts to seize it with his teeth, crying, "Can I bite it?"
But in the vehemence of his efforts the Khoja lost his balance and fell backwards, wounding his head.
The following day he took his seat with his head bound up in a linen cloth, and the men coming before him related their dispute as before, and cried, "Now, is it possible, O Cadi?"
"O, you fellows!" said the Khoja, "biting is easy enough, and you can fall and break your own head into the bargain."
Tale 13.—The Khoja's Quilt.
One night after Khoja Nasr-ed-Deen had retired to rest he was disturbed by a man making a great noise before his door in the street outside.
"O wife!" said he, "get up, I pray you, and light a candle, that I may discover what this noise in the street is about."
"Lie still, man," said his wife. "What have we to do with street brawlers? Keep quiet and go to sleep."