The judge of the police, and all the spectators, were filled with astonishment at the various strange events that the death of the little hunchback seemed to have given rise to. “Let the physician then depart,” said the judge, “and hang the tailor, since he confesses the crime. I must candidly own, that this adventure is a very extraordinary one, and is worthy of being written in letters of gold.” When the executioner had set the physician at liberty, he put the cord round the tailor’s neck.
While all this was passing, and the executioner was preparing to hang the tailor, the sultan of Casgar, who never passed any length of time without seeing the little hunchback, his buffoon, ordered him into his presence; when one of the attendants replied, “Little hunchback, sire, whom your majesty is so desirous to see, after having got drunk yesterday, escaped from the palace, contrary to his usual custom, in order to wander about the city; and this morning he was found dead. They have brought a man before the judge of the police, who was accused of his murder, and the judge immediately ordered a gibbet to be erected. At the very moment they were going to hang the accused person, another man came up to the gallows, and then a third, who each accused themselves, and declared the former to be innocent of the murder. All this took up some time, and the judge is at this moment in the very act of examining this third man, who says that he is the real murderer.”
On hearing this, the sultan of Casgar sent one of his attendants to the place of execution, “Go,” he cried, “with all possible speed, and tell the judge instantly to bring all the accused persons before me; and order them also to bring the body of poor little hunchback, whom I wish once more to see.” The officer instantly went, and arrived at the very moment that the executioner began to draw the cord, in order to hang the tailor. He called out to them as loud as he could to suspend the execution. As the hangman knew the officer, he durst not proceed, but let the tailor live. The officer, having now come up to the judge, declared the will of the sultan. The judge obeyed, and proceeded to the palace with the tailor, the Jew, the purveyor, and the Christian merchant, and ordered four of his people to carry the body of the hunchback.
As soon as they were come into the presence of the sultan, the judge prostrated himself at his feet; and when he got up, he gave a faithful and accurate detail of every thing that related to the adventure of little hunchback. The sultan thought it so very singular, that he commanded his own historian to write it down, with all its particulars: then addressing himself to those who were present, he said, “Have any one of you ever heard a more wonderful adventure than this, which is now happened to the hunchback, my buffoon?” The Christian merchant, having first prostrated himself so low at the sultan’s feet, that his head touched the ground, then spoke as follows: “Powerful monarch, I think I am acquainted with a still more surprising history than that which you have just heard recited; and if your majesty will grant me permission, I will relate it. The circumstances are of such a nature, that no person can hear them without being affected at the narrative.” The sultan having permitted him to speak, he began his story in these words:
THE STORY
TOLD BY THE CHRISTIAN MERCHANT.
Before I begin, sire, the account which your majesty has consented to listen to, I must, if you please, just remark, that I have not the honour of being born in any spot within the limits of your empire. I am a stranger: a native of Cairo, in Egypt, of Coptic parents, and by religion a Christian. My father was by profession a broker, and had amassed a considerable fortune, which, when he died, he left to me. I followed his example, and pursued the same line of business. One day, when I was in the public grain market at Cairo, which is frequented by the dealers in all sorts of grain, a young merchant, very well made, handsomely dressed, and mounted upon an ass, accosted me. He saluted me, and opening a handkerchief, in which he had a sample of sesamè, he showed it to me, and inquired how much a large measure of grain of a similar quality was worth. I examined the sample, which the young merchant had put into my hands, and told him, that, according to the present price, a large measure was worth a hundred drachms of silver. “Look then,” he said, “for a merchant who will buy it at that price, and come to the gate, called Victory, where you will see a khan, separate from every other house, and I will wait for you there.” Having said this, he went away, and left me the sample of sesamè, which I showed to different merchants on the spot, who all said, they would take as much as I would sell them, at one hundred and ten drachms of silver a measure; and at this rate I should gain ten drachms for each measure sold.
Pleased with so much profit, I went directly to the Victory gate, where the merchant was waiting for me. He carried me into his warehouse, which was full of sesamè. I had it measured, and there were about one hundred and fifty large measures. I then loaded it upon asses and went and sold it for five thousand drachms [2] of silver. “Of this sum,” said the young man to me, “you have a right, according to our agreement, to five hundred drachms, after the rate of ten drachms a measure; what remains belongs to me, but as I have no immediate want of it, go in and put it by for me, till I shall come and demand it of you.” I told him, it should be ready at any time, that he should wish to come for it, or send any one to demand it. I kissed his hand, when he left me; and went home, very well satisfied with his generosity.
A whole month passed without my seeing him; at the end of which time he appeared. “Where,” he asked me, “are the four thousand five hundred drachms of silver, which you owe me?”—“They are all ready,” I replied, “and I will immediately count them out to you.” As he was mounted upon an ass, I requested him to alight, and do me the honour to eat with me before he received his money. “No,” he answered, “I have not time at present, I have some urgent business, which requires my presence, and cannot stay; but, in coming back, I will call for my money; be so good as to have it ready for me.” Having said this, he went away. I waited for him a long time, but it was to no purpose, for he did not return till a month after. “This young merchant,” thought I to myself, “places a great deal of confidence in me, to leave the sum of four thousand five hundred drachms of silver in my hands, without knowing any thing of me. No one besides himself would surely act thus, for fear I should run away with the money.” At the end of the third month, I saw him come back, mounted upon the same ass, but much more magnificently dressed than he was before.
As soon as I perceived the young man, I went out to meet him. I entreated him to alight, and asked, whether he wished me to count out the money which I had of his. “Never mind that,” he replied, in a lively and contented manner, “I am in no hurry. I know it is in good hands: and I will come and take it when I shall have spent all I now have, and nothing more remains. Adieu,” added he, “and expect me again at the end of the week.” At these words, he gave his ass a cut with his whip, and was out of sight in a moment. “Vastly well;” said I to myself, “he has told me to expect him in a week, and yet if I may judge from the tenor of his conversation, I may not see him this age. Why should not I in the mean time make some use of his money? it will be of considerable advantage to me.”