TALES OF THE KHOJA.[3]
(Adapted from the Turkish.)
INTRODUCTION.
"O my children!" said the story-teller, "do you indeed desire amusement by the words of my lips? Then shut your mouths, that the noise you make may be abated, and I may hear myself speak; and open your ears, that you may be entertained by the tales that I shall tell you. Shut your mouths and open your ears, I say, and you will, without doubt, receive pleasure from what I shall have to relate of Khoja Nasr-ed-Deen-Effendi.
"This Khoja was not altogether a wise man, nor precisely a fool, nor entirely a knave.
"It is true, O children, that his wisdom was flecked with folly, but what saith the proverb? 'No one so wise but he has some folly to spare.' Moreover, in his foolishness there was often a hidden meaning, as a letter is hid in a basket of dates—not for every eye.
"As to his knaveries, they were few, and more humorous than injurious. Though be it far from me, O children, as a man of years and probity, to defend the conduct of the Khoja to the Jew money-lender.
"What about the Jew money-lender, do you ask?
"This is the tale."
Tale 1.—The Khoja and the Nine Hundred and Ninety-nine Pieces of Gold.