"His shop was small, but being well situated at the corner of the street of the Prophet, and the great street of Mosques, the cobbler managed to live very comfortably, so that with the aid of Smyrna tobacco and a contented disposition which the poet has well called the 'Pipe of the just,' he eked out a tranquil life free from care and ambition.
"His house was neatly kept by his daughter Lelie, or the Dark-eyed, who was a little maiden with lips like the roses of Istamboul, and cheeks as darkly lovely as the brown lilies of Ispahan.
"Besides these the sole remaining member of their household was a great black cat known by the name of Yussef, or the Hump-backed, because she was always in an evil humour, and was forever hunching her back up to show how cross she felt.
"It so chanced that when Lelie was a child this cat pursued by boys and dogs had taken refuge with Lelie, who had saved her life. Thenceforward she had never left her, but was so jealous of her mistress that it was enough to look at her to drive the Pussy crazy with rage.
"Now to let you into a secret. You should know that Yussef was a wicked genius who for a terrible crime had been condemned to live an hundred years in the body of a cat.
"About the time at which this trap story begins, a young soldier of the Caliph's guard, whose name was Mustapha, fell in love with Lelie, and as he was very handsome and clever, was so lucky as to make her also love him in return.
"Unhappily for them both, Yussef overheard Mustapha speaking of the day when they were to be married, and at once fell into a fit of jealousy which was dreadful to see.
"In her wrath she flew at Mustapha and scratched his nose, then knocked down and broke the cobbler's best chibouque, and at length dashed out of the house just as Ali Ben Slippah threw his lap-stone at her in fierce anger, because of his broken pipe.
"It was late in the evening when Yussef darted out, and with her heart full of jealous rage bounded up the walls and over the house-tops, until at last she seated herself on a gable and began to think.
"As it became later she was suddenly aware of a noble-looking person who was walking slowly along, followed at a short distance by four guards with drawn scimetars.