"Before a stranger may enter and sell goods in Jerusalem, he must shave his head and blacken his face. Art thou ready to do this?"
"And why not," replied the other, "as long as I have a prospect of large profits; why should I falter or hesitate at so slight a thing as that?"
So the stranger, shaving the hair from his head and blackening his face (by which all Jerusalem knew him as the man who had ridiculed the city), took up his place in the market, with his wares spread before him.
Buyers paused before his stall, and asked him:—
"How much for the shoes?"
"Ten ducats a pair," he answered; "or I may sell for nine; but certainly for not less than eight."
This caused a great laugh and uproar in the market, and the stranger was driven from it in derision and his shoes thrown after him.
Seeking the Jerusalemite who had deceived him, he said:—
"Why hast thou so treated me? did I so to thee in Athina?"
"Let this be a lesson to thee," answered the Jerusalemite. "I do not think thou wilt be so ready to make sport of us in the future."