TOLD BY THE PURVEYOR OF THE SULTAN OF CASGAR.
I was yesterday, Sire, invited by a man of great respectability and fortune to the wedding of one of his daughters. I did not fail to be at his house by the appointed hour, and found a large company composed of the best inhabitants of the city, and of various professions. When the ceremony was over, the feast, which was very magnificent, was served up. We sat down to table, and each person eat what was most agreeable to his taste. Amongst other things, there was a dish dressed with garlic, which was so very excellent, that every one was anxious to get a little of it. We could not, however, but remark, that one of the guests did not seem desirous of eating any of it, although the dish stood directly before him. We invited him to help himself to some, as we did; but he requested us not to press him to eat any.—“I shall be very careful,” said he, “how I touch a ragout dressed with garlic. I have not yet forgotten what was the consequence of it to me the last time I tasted one.” We then requested him to inform us what had been the cause of such an aversion for garlic, as he seemed to have. The master of the house, however, called out, without giving him time to answer our inquiries, “Is it thus you honour my table? This ragout is delicious; do not, therefore, pretend not to eat of it; you must do me that favour like the rest of the company.”—“Sir,” replied his guest, who was a merchant of Bagdad, “do not suppose that I act thus out of any notions of false delicacy. I certainly will obey your commands, if you insist upon it: but it must only be on condition, that after eating of it you will permit me to wash my hands forty times with alkali, forty times with the ashes of the same plant from which that is procured, and as many times with soap. I hope you will not take my mode of procedure ill, but it is in consequence of an oath I have taken, and which I do not wish to break, never to eat a ragout with garlic, but on those conditions.”
As the master of the house would not dispense with the merchant’s eating some of the ragout, he ordered his servants to get some basons ready, containing a solution of alkali, ashes of the same plant, and soap, that the merchant might wash himself as often as he pleased. After having given these orders, he said to the merchant, “Come then, now do as we do, and eat; neither the alkali, the ashes of the plant, nor the soap shall be deficient.”
Although the merchant was enraged at this sort of violence that was done to him, he put out his hand, and took a small quantity of the ragout, which he put to his mouth with fear and trembling, and eat with a repugnance which very much astonished us all. But what we remarked with still greater surprise was, that he had only four fingers, and no thumb, and till this moment no person had noticed this circumstance, although he had eaten of several other dishes. The master of the house then spoke, “You seem to have lost your thumb,” said he, “how did such an accident happen? There must probably have been some singular circumstances connected with the occasion of it; and you will afford this company a great pleasure, if you will relate them.”
“Sir,” replied the guest, “it is not only on my right hand that I have no thumb, my left is also in the same state. He held out his left hand at the same time, that we might be convinced he spoke the truth. “Nor is this all,” he added, “I have lost the great toe from each of my feet. I have been maimed in this manner through a most unheard of adventure, and which, if you will have the patience to listen to it, I have no objection to relate; and I think it will not excite your astonishment more than it will your compassion. First of all, however, permit me to wash my hands.” Having said this, he got up from table, and after washing his hands one hundred and twenty times, he sat down again, and related his history in the following terms:
“You must know, gentlemen, that my father lived at Bagdad, during the reign of the caliph Haroun Alraschid, where I also was born; and he was reckoned one of the richest merchants in that city. But as he was a man very fond of pleasure, and one who loved dissipation of every sort, he very much neglected his affairs, and instead therefore of inheriting a large fortune at his death, I encountered great difficulties, and was obliged to make use of the greatest economy to pay the debts he left behind him. With great attention, however, and care, I at last discharged them all, and my small fortune then began to assume a favorable appearance.
“One morning, when I was opening my shop, a lady, mounted upon a mule, accompanied by a eunuch, and followed by two slaves, passed close to my door, and stopped. The eunuch directly assisted her to alight, by taking hold of her hand; he then said to her, ‘I am afraid, madam, you have arrived too soon; you see, there is no one yet come to the bezestein. If you had believed what I said, you would not have had the trouble of waiting.’ She looked every where about, and finding that there was, in fact, no other shop open but mine, she came up, and saluting me, requested permission to sit down in it, till the other merchants were arrived. I returned such an answer as became me.
“When the lady had entered my shop, and sat down, as she observed there was no one to be seen in the bezestein, except the eunuch and myself, she took off her veil, in order to enjoy the air. I had never seen any one before so beautiful, and to see, and to be passionately in love, were with me one and the same thing. I kept my eyes constantly fixed upon her, and I thought she looked as if my attention was not unpleasing to her, for she gave me full opportunity, during the whole time, of beholding her; and she did not put down her veil, till the fear of any one’s approach obliged her.
“After she had adjusted her dress, as it was before, she informed me that she was come with the intention of looking at some of the finest and richest kinds of stuff, which she described to me; and inquired, whether I had any such. ‘Alas, madam,’ I said, ‘I am but a young merchant, who have not long begun business, and am not yet sufficiently rich to trade so largely; and it is a great mortification to me to have none of the things for which you come into the bezestein. But to save you the trouble of going from shop to shop, I will, as soon as the merchants come, if you please, go and get whatever you wish from them. They will tell me exactly the lowest price, and you will thus be enabled, without having the trouble of seeking any farther, to execute all your commissions.’ To this she consented, and I entered into conversation with her, which lasted a long time, as I made her believe, that those merchants who had the stuffs she wanted were not yet come.
“I was not less charmed with her wit and understanding than I had been with her person; I was, however, at last compelled to deprive myself of the pleasure of her conversation, and I went to inquire for the stuffs she wanted. When she had fixed upon those she wished to have, I informed her, that they came to five thousand drachms of silver. I then made them up into a parcel, and gave them to the eunuch, who put them under his arm. She immediately got up, and after taking leave of me, she went away. I followed her with my eyes till she was got to the gate of the bezestein, nor did I leave off gazing at her till she mounted her mule.