THE STORY
TOLD BY THE TAILOR.
A tradesman, Sire, of this city, did me the honor, two days since, of inviting me to an entertainment, which he gave yesterday morning to his friends: I repaired to his house at an early hour, and found about twenty people assembled.
We were waiting for the master of the house, who was gone out on some sudden business, when we saw him arrive, accompanied by a young stranger very neatly dressed, and of a good figure, but lame. We all rose, and to do honor to the master of the house, we begged the young man to sit with us on the sofa. He was just going to sit down, when perceiving a barber, who was one of the company, he abruptly stepped back; and was going away. The master of the house, surprised at this, stopped him. “Where are you going?” said he, “I bring you here to do me the honor of being present at an entertainment I am going to give my friends, and you are scarcely entered before you want to go away!”—“In the name of God, sir,” replied the stranger, “I entreat you not to detain me, but suffer me to depart. I cannot behold without horror that abominable barber, who is sitting there; although he is born in a country where the complexion of the people is white, yet he bears the colour of an Ethiopian; but his mind is of a still deeper and more horrible die than his visage.”
We were all very much surprised at this speech, and began to conceive a very bad opinion of the barber, without knowing whether the young stranger had any just reason for speaking of him in such terms. We even went so far as to declare that we would not suffer at our table a man of whom we had heard so shocking a character. The master of the house begged the stranger to acquaint us with the occasion of his hatred to the barber. “Gentlemen,” said the young man, “you must know, that this barber was the cause of my being lame; and also of the most cruel affair, which befel me, that you can possibly conceive; for this reason I have made a vow to quit instantly any place where he may be; and even not to reside in any town where he lives: for this reason I left Bagdad, where he was, and undertook so long a journey to come and settle myself in this city, where, being in the centre of Great Tartary, I flattered myself I should be secure of never beholding him again. However, contrary to my hopes and expectations, I find him here; this obliges me, gentlemen, to deprive myself of the honor of partaking of your feast. I will this day leave your city, and go to hide myself, if I can, in some place where he can never again offend my sight.” In saying this, he was going to leave us, but the master of the house still detained him, and entreated him to relate to us the cause of the aversion he had against the barber, who all this time kept his eyes fixed on the ground, and was silent. We joined our entreaties to those of the master of the house, and at last the young man, yielding to our wishes, seated himself on the sofa, and began his history in these words; having first turned his back towards the barber, lest he should see him.
“My father, who lived in Bagdad, was of a rank to aspire to the highest offices of state; but he preferred leading a quiet and tranquil life to all the honors he might deserve. I was his only child, and when he died, I had completed my education, and was of an age to dispose of the large possessions he had bequeathed me. I did not dissipate them in folly, but made such use of them as procured me the esteem of every one.
“I had not yet felt any tender passion, and far from being at all sensible to love, I will confess, perhaps to my shame, that I carefully avoided the society of women. One day, as I was walking in a street I saw a great number of ladies coming towards me; in order to avoid them, I turned into a little street that was before me, and sat down on a bench that was placed near a door. I was opposite to a window, where there was a number of very fine flowers, and my eyes were fixed on them, when the window opened and a lady appeared, whose beauty dazzled me. She cast her eyes on me, and watering the flowers, with a hand whiter than alabaster, she looked at me with a smile, which inspired me with as much love for her as I had hitherto had aversion towards the rest of her sex. After having watered her flowers, and bestowed on me another look full of charms, which completed the conquest of my heart, she shut the window, and left me in a state of pain and uncertainty which I cannot describe.
“I should have remained thus a considerable time, had not the noise I heard in the street brought me to my senses again. I turned my head as I got up, and saw, that it was one of the first cadis of the city, mounted on a mule, and accompanied by five or six of his people: he alighted at the door of the house where the young lady had opened the window, and went in, which made me suppose he was her father.
“I returned home in a state very different from that in which I had left it: agitated by a passion so much the more violent from its being the first attack. I went to bed with a raging fever, which caused great affliction in my household. My relations, who loved me, alarmed by so sudden an indisposition, came quickly to see me, and importuned me to acquaint them of the cause, but I was very careful to keep it secret. My silence increased their alarms, nor could the physicians dissipate their fears for my safety, because they knew nothing of my disease, which was only increased by the medicines they administered.
“My relations began to despair of my life, when an old lady of their acquaintance, being informed of my illness, arrived; she considered me with a great deal of attention, and after she had thoroughly examined me, she discovered, I know not by what chance, the cause of my disorder. She took them aside, and begged them to leave her alone with me, and to order my people to retire.