The Little Hunchback

In the kingdom of Kashgar, which is, as everybody knows, situated on
the frontiers of Great Tartary, there lived long ago a tailor and his
wife who loved each other very much. One day, when the tailor was hard
at work, a little hunchback came and sat at the entrance of the shop,
and began to sing and play his tambourine. The tailor was amused with
the antics of the fellow, and thought he would take him home to divert
his wife. The hunchback having agreed to his proposal, the tailor
closed his shop and they set off together.

When they reached the house they found the table ready laid for supper,
and in a very few minutes all three were sitting before a beautiful
fish which the tailor's wife had cooked with her own hands. But
unluckily, the hunchback happened to swallow a large bone, and, in
spite of all the tailor and his wife could do to help him, died of
suffocation in an instant. Besides being very sorry for the poor man,
the tailor and his wife were very much frightened on their own account,
for if the police came to hear of it the worthy couple ran the risk of
being thrown into prison for wilful murder. In order to prevent this
dreadful calamity they both set about inventing some plan which would
throw suspicion on some one else, and at last they made up their minds
that they could do no better than select a Jewish doctor who lived
close by as the author of the crime. So the tailor picked up the
hunchback by his head while his wife took his feet and carried him to
the doctor's house. Then they knocked at the door, which opened
straight on to a steep staircase. A servant soon appeared, feeling her
way down the dark staircase and inquired what they wanted.

"Tell your master," said the tailor, "that we have brought a very sick
man for him to cure; and," he added, holding out some money, "give him
this in advance, so that he may not feel he is wasting his time." The
servant remounted the stairs to give the message to the doctor, and the
moment she was out of sight the tailor and his wife carried the body
swiftly after her, propped it up at the top of the staircase, and ran
home as fast as their legs could carry them.

Now the doctor was so delighted at the news of a patient (for he was
young, and had not many of them), that he was transported with joy.

"Get a light," he called to the servant, "and follow me as fast as you
can!" and rushing out of his room he ran towards the staircase. There
he nearly fell over the body of the hunchback, and without knowing what
it was gave it such a kick that it rolled right to the bottom, and very
nearly dragged the doctor after it. "A light! a light!" he cried
again, and when it was brought and he saw what he had done he was
almost beside himself with terror.

"Holy Moses!" he exclaimed, "why did I not wait for the light? I have
killed the sick man whom they brought me; and if the sacred Ass of
Esdras does not come to my aid I am lost! It will not be long before I
am led to jail as a murderer."

Agitated though he was, and with reason, the doctor did not forget to
shut the house door, lest some passers-by might chance to see what had
happened. He then took up the corpse and carried it into his wife's
room, nearly driving her crazy with fright.

"It is all over with us!" she wailed, "if we cannot find some means of
getting the body out of the house. Once let the sun rise and we can
hide it no longer! How were you driven to commit such a terrible
crime?"

"Never mind that," returned the doctor, "the thing is to find a way out
of it."

For a long while the doctor and his wife continued to turn over in
their minds a way of escape, but could not find any that seemed good
enough. At last the doctor gave it up altogether and resigned himself
to bear the penalty of his misfortune.

But his wife, who had twice his brains, suddenly exclaimed, "I have
thought of something! Let us carry the body on the roof of the house
and lower it down the chimney of our neighbour the Moslem." Now this
Moslem was employed by the Sultan, and furnished his table with oil
and butter. Part of his house was occupied by a great storeroom, where
rats and mice held high revel.

The doctor jumped at his wife's plan, and they took up the hunchback,
and passing cords under his armpits they let him down into the
purveyor's bed-room so gently that he really seemed to be leaning
against the wall. When they felt he was touching the ground they drew
up the cords and left him.

Scarcely had they got back to their own house when the purveyor entered
his room. He had spent the evening at a wedding feast, and had a
lantern in his hand. In the dim light it cast he was astonished to see
a man standing in his chimney, but being naturally courageous he seized
a stick and made straight for the supposed thief. "Ah!" he cried, "so
it is you, and not the rats and mice, who steal my butter. I'll take
care that you don't want to come back!"

So saying he struck him several hard blows. The corpse fell on the
floor, but the man only redoubled his blows, till at length it occurred
to him it was odd that the thief should lie so still and make no
resistance. Then, finding he was quite dead, a cold fear took
possession of him. "Wretch that I am," said he, "I have murdered a
man. Ah, my revenge has gone too far. Without the help of Allah I am
undone! Cursed be the goods which have led me to my ruin." And already
he felt the rope round his neck.

But when he had got over the first shock he began to think of some way
out of the difficulty, and seizing the hunchback in his arms he carried
him out into the street, and leaning him against the wall of a shop he
stole back to his own house, without once looking behind him.

A few minutes before the sun rose, a rich Christian merchant, who
supplied the palace with all sorts of necessaries, left his house,
after a night of feasting, to go to the bath. Though he was very
drunk, he was yet sober enough to know that the dawn was at hand, and
that all good Mussulmen would shortly be going to prayer. So he
hastened his steps lest he should meet some one on his way to the
mosque, who, seeing his condition, would send him to prison as a
drunkard. In his haste he jostled against the hunchback, who fell
heavily upon him, and the merchant, thinking he was being attacked by a
thief, knocked him down with one blow of his fist. He then called
loudly for help, beating the fallen man all the while.

The chief policeman of the quarter came running up, and found a
Christian ill-treating a Moslem. "What are you doing?" he asked
indignantly.

"He tried to rob me," replied the merchant, "and very nearly choked me."

"Well, you have had your revenge," said the man, catching hold of his
arm. "Come, be off with you!"

As he spoke he held out his hand to the hunchback to help him up, but
the hunchback never moved. "Oho!" he went on, looking closer, "so this
is the way a Christian has the impudence to treat a Moslem!" and
seizing the merchant in a firm grasp he took him to the inspector of
police, who threw him into prison till the judge should be out of bed
and ready to attend to his case. All this brought the merchant to his
senses, but the more he thought of it the less he could understand how
the hunchback could have died merely from the blows he had received.

The merchant was still pondering on this subject when he was summoned
before the chief of police and questioned about his crime, which he
could not deny. As the hunchback was one of the Sultan's private
jesters, the chief of police resolved to defer sentence of death until
he had consulted his master. He went to the palace to demand an
audience, and told his story to the Sultan, who only answered,

"There is no pardon for a Christian who kills a Moslem. Do your
duty."

So the chief of police ordered a gallows to be erected, and sent criers
to proclaim in every street in the city that a Christian was to be
hanged that day for having killed a Moslem.

When all was ready the merchant was brought from prison and led to the
foot of the gallows. The executioner knotted the cord firmly round the
unfortunate man's neck and was just about to swing him into the air,
when the Sultan's purveyor dashed through the crowd, and cried,
panting, to the hangman,

"Stop, stop, don't be in such a hurry. It was not he who did the
murder, it was I."

The chief of police, who was present to see that everything was in
order, put several questions to the purveyor, who told him the whole
story of the death of the hunchback, and how he had carried the body to
the place where it had been found by the Christian merchant.

"You are going," he said to the chief of police, "to kill an innocent
man, for it is impossible that he should have murdered a creature who
was dead already. It is bad enough for me to have slain a Moslem
without having it on my conscience that a Christian who is guiltless
should suffer through my fault."

Now the purveyor's speech had been made in a loud voice, and was heard
by all the crowd, and even if he had wished it, the chief of police
could not have escaped setting the merchant free.

"Loose the cords from the Christian's neck," he commanded, turning to
the executioner, "and hang this man in his place, seeing that by his
own confession he is the murderer."

The hangman did as he was bid, and was tying the cord firmly, when he
was stopped by the voice of the Jewish doctor beseeching him to pause,
for he had something very important to say. When he had fought his way
through the crowd and reached the chief of police,

"Worshipful sir," he began, "this Moslem whom you desire to hang is
unworthy of death; I alone am guilty. Last night a man and a woman who
were strangers to me knocked at my door, bringing with them a patient
for me to cure. The servant opened it, but having no light was hardly
able to make out their faces, though she readily agreed to wake me and
to hand me the fee for my services. While she was telling me her story
they seem to have carried the sick man to the top of the staircase and
then left him there. I jumped up in a hurry without waiting for a
lantern, and in the darkness I fell against something, which tumbled
headlong down the stairs and never stopped till it reached the bottom.
When I examined the body I found it was quite dead, and the corpse was
that of a hunchback Moslem. Terrified at what we had done, my wife
and I took the body on the roof and let it down the chimney of our
neighbour the purveyor, whom you were just about to hang. The
purveyor, finding him in his room, naturally thought he was a thief,
and struck him such a blow that the man fell down and lay motionless on
the floor. Stooping to examine him, and finding him stone dead, the
purveyor supposed that the man had died from the blow he had received;
but of course this was a mistake, as you will see from my account, and
I only am the murderer; and although I am innocent of any wish to
commit a crime, I must suffer for it all the same, or else have the
blood of two Musselmans on my conscience. Therefore send away this
man, I pray you, and let me take his place, as it is I who am guilty."

On hearing the declaration of the Jewish doctor, the chief of police
commanded that he should be led to the gallows, and the Sultan's
purveyor go free. The cord was placed round the Jew's neck, and his
feet had already ceased to touch the ground when the voice of the
tailor was heard beseeching the executioner to pause one moment and to
listen to what he had to say.

"Oh, my lord," he cried, turning to the chief of police, "how nearly
have you caused the death of three innocent people! But if you will
only have the patience to listen to my tale, you shall know who is the
real culprit. If some one has to suffer, it must be me! Yesterday, at
dusk, I was working in my shop with a light heart when the little
hunchback, who was more than half drunk, came and sat in the doorway.
He sang me several songs, and then I invited him to finish the evening
at my house. He accepted my invitation, and we went away together. At
supper I helped him to a slice of fish, but in eating it a bone stuck
in his throat, and in spite of all we could do he died in a few
minutes. We felt deeply sorry for his death, but fearing lest we
should be held responsible, we carried the corpse to the house of the
Jewish doctor. I knocked, and desired the servant to beg her master to
come down as fast as possible and see a sick man whom we had brought
for him to cure; and in order to hasten his movements I placed a piece
of money in her hand as the doctor's fee. Directly she had disappeared
I dragged the body to the top of the stairs, and then hurried away with
my wife back to our house. In descending the stairs the doctor
accidentally knocked over the corpse, and finding him dead believed
that he himself was the murderer. But now you know the truth set him
free, and let me die in his stead."

The chief of police and the crowd of spectators were lost in
astonishment at the strange events to which the death of the hunchback
had given rise.

"Loosen the Jewish doctor," said he to the hangman, "and string up the
tailor instead, since he has made confession of his crime. Really, one
cannot deny that this is a very singular story, and it deserves to be
written in letters of gold."

The executioner speedily untied the knots which confined the doctor,
and was passing the cord round the neck of the tailor, when the Sultan
of Kashgar, who had missed his jester, happened to make inquiry of his
officers as to what had become of him.

"Sire," replied they, "the hunchback having drunk more than was good
for him, escaped from the palace and was seen wandering about the town,
where this morning he was found dead. A man was arrested for having
caused his death, and held in custody till a gallows was erected. At
the moment that he was about to suffer punishment, first one man
arrived, and then another, each accusing themselves of the murder, and
this went on for a long time, and at the present instant the chief of
police is engaged in questioning a man who declares that he alone is
the true assassin."

The Sultan of Kashgar no sooner heard these words than he ordered an
usher to go to the chief of police and to bring all the persons
concerned in the hunchback's death, together with the corpse, that he
wished to see once again. The usher hastened on his errand, but was
only just in time, for the tailor was positively swinging in the air,
when his voice fell upon the silence of the crowd, commanding the
hangman to cut down the body. The hangman, recognising the usher as
one of the king's servants, cut down the tailor, and the usher, seeing
the man was safe, sought the chief of police and gave him the Sultan's
message. Accordingly, the chief of police at once set out for the
palace, taking with him the tailor, the doctor, the purveyor, and the
merchant, who bore the dead hunchback on their shoulders.

When the procession reached the palace the chief of police prostrated
himself at the feet of the Sultan, and related all that he knew of the
matter. The Sultan was so much struck by the circumstances that he
ordered his private historian to write down an exact account of what
had passed, so that in the years to come the miraculous escape of the
four men who had thought themselves murderers might never be forgotten.

The Sultan asked everybody concerned in the hunchback's affair to tell
him their stories. Among others was a prating barber, whose tale of
one of his brothers follows.

The Story of the Barber's Fifth Brother

READ MORE - The Little Hunchback

The Story of the Barber's Fifth Brother

As long as our father lived Alnaschar was very idle. Instead of
working for his bread he was not ashamed to ask for it every evening,
and to support himself next day on what he had received the night
before. When our father died, worn out by age, he only left seven
hundred silver drachmas to be divided amongst us, which made one
hundred for each son. Alnaschar, who had never possessed so much money
in his life, was quite puzzled to know what to do with it. After
reflecting upon the matter for some time he decided to lay it out on
glasses, bottles, and things of that sort, which he would buy from a
wholesale merchant. Having bought his stock he next proceeded to look
out for a small shop in a good position, where he sat down at the open
door, his wares being piled up in an uncovered basket in front of him,
waiting for a customer among the passers-by.

In this attitude he remained seated, his eyes fixed on the basket, but
his thoughts far away. Unknown to himself he began to talk out loud,
and a tailor, whose shop was next door to his, heard quite plainly what
he was saying.

"This basket," said Alnaschar to himself, "has cost me a hundred
drachmas--all that I possess in the world. Now in selling the
contents piece by piece I shall turn two hundred, and these hundreds I
shall again lay out in glass, which will produce four hundred. By this
means I shall in course of time make four thousand drachmas, which will
easily double themselves. When I have got ten thousand I will give up
the glass trade and become a jeweller, and devote all my time to
trading in pearls, diamonds, and other precious stones. At last,
having all the wealth that heart can desire, I will buy a beautiful
country house, with horses and slaves, and then I will lead a merry
life and entertain my friends. At my feasts I will send for musicians
and dancers from the neighbouring town to amuse my guests. In spite of
my riches I shall not, however, give up trade till I have amassed a
capital of a hundred thousand drachmas, when, having become a man of
much consideration, I shall request the hand of the grand-vizir's
daughter, taking care to inform the worthy father that I have heard
favourable reports of her beauty and wit, and that I will pay down on
our wedding day 3 thousand gold pieces. Should the vizir refuse my
proposal, which after all is hardly to be expected, I will seize him by
the beard and drag him to my house."

When I shall have married his daughter I will give her ten of the best
eunuchs that can be found for her service. Then I shall put on my most
gorgeous robes, and mounted on a horse with a saddle of fine gold, and
its trappings blazing with diamonds, followed by a train of slaves, I
shall present myself at the house of the grand-vizir, the people
casting down their eyes and bowing low as I pass along. At the foot of
the grand-vizir's staircase I shall dismount, and while my servants
stand in a row to right and left I shall ascend the stairs, at the head
of which the grand-vizir will be waiting to receive me. He will then
embrace me as his son-in-law, and giving me his seat will place himself
below me. This being done (as I have every reason to expect), two of
my servants will enter, each bearing a purse containing a thousand
pieces of gold. One of these I shall present to him saying, "Here are
the thousand gold pieces that I offered for your daughter's hand, and
here," I shall continue, holding out the second purse, "are another
thousand to show you that I am a man who is better than his word."
After hearing of such generosity the world will talk of nothing else.

I shall return home with the same pomp as I set out, and my wife will
send an officer to compliment me on my visit to her father, and I shall
confer on the officer the honour of a rich dress and a handsome gift.
Should she send one to me I shall refuse it and dismiss the bearer. I
shall never allow my wife to leave her rooms on any pretext whatever
without my permission, and my visits to her will be marked by all the
ceremony calculated to inspire respect. No establishment will be
better ordered than mine, and I shall take care always to be dressed in
a manner suitable to my position. In the evening, when we retire to
our apartments, I shall sit in the place of honour, where I shall
assume a grand demeanour and speak little, gazing straight before me,
and when my wife, lovely as the full moon, stands humbly in front of my
chair I shall pretend not to see her. Then her women will say to me,
"Respected lord and master, your wife and slave is before you waiting
to be noticed. She is mortified that you never deign to look her way;
she is tired of standing so long. Beg her, we pray you, to be seated."
Of course I shall give no signs of even hearing this speech, which will
vex them mightily. They will throw themselves at my feet with
lamentations, and at length I will raise my head and throw a careless
glance at her, then I shall go back to my former attitude. The women
will think that I am displeased at my wife's dress and will lead her
away to put on a finer one, and I on my side shall replace the one I am
wearing with another yet more splendid. They will then return to the
charge, but this time it will take much longer before they persuade me
even to look at my wife. It is as well to begin on my wedding-day as I
mean to go on for the rest of our lives.

The next day she will complain to her mother of the way she has been
treated, which will fill my heart with joy. Her mother will come to
seek me, and, kissing my hands with respect, will say, "My lord" (for
she could not dare to risk my anger by using the familiar title of
"son-in-law"), "My lord, do not, I implore you, refuse to look upon my
daughter or to approach her. She only lives to please you, and loves
you with all her soul." But I shall pay no more heed to my
mother-in-law's words than I did to those of the women. Again she will
beseech me to listen to her entreaties, throwing herself this time at
my feet, but all to no purpose. Then, putting a glass of wine into my
wife's hand, she will say to her, "There, present that to him yourself,
he cannot have the cruelty to reject anything offered by so beautiful a
hand," and my wife will take it and offer it to me tremblingly with
tears in her eyes, but I shall look in the other direction. This will
cause her to weep still more, and she will hold out the glass crying,
"Adorable husband, never shall I cease my prayers till you have done me
the favour to drink." Sick of her importunities, these words will goad
me to fury. I shall dart an angry look at her and give her a sharp
blow on the cheek, at the same time giving her a kick so violent that
she will stagger across the room and fall on to the sofa.

"My brother," pursued the barber, "was so much absorbed in his dreams
that he actually did give a kick with his foot, which unluckily hit the
basket of glass. It fell into the street and was instantly broken into
a thousand pieces."

His neighbour the tailor, who had been listening to his visions, broke
into a loud fit of laughter as he saw this sight.

"Wretched man!" he cried, "you ought to die of shame at behaving so to
a young wife who has done nothing to you. You must be a brute for her
tears and prayers not to touch your heart. If I were the grand-vizir I
would order you a hundred blows from a bullock whip, and would have you
led round the town accompanied by a herald who should proclaim your
crimes."

The accident, so fatal to all his profits, had restored my brother to
his senses, and seeing that the mischief had been caused by his own
insufferable pride, he rent his clothes and tore his hair, and lamented
himself so loudly that the passers-by stopped to listen. It was a
Friday, so these were more numerous than usual. Some pitied Alnaschar,
others only laughed at him, but the vanity which had gone to his head
had disappeared with his basket of glass, and he was loudly bewailing
his folly when a lady, evidently a person of consideration, rode by on
a mule. She stopped and inquired what was the matter, and why the man
wept. They told her that he was a poor man who had laid out all his
money on this basket of glass, which was now broken. On hearing the
cause of these loud wails the lady turned to her attendant and said to
him, "Give him whatever you have got with you." The man obeyed, and
placed in my brother's hands a purse containing five hundred pieces of
gold. Alnaschar almost died of joy on receiving it. He blessed the
lady a thousand times, and, shutting up his shop where he had no longer
anything to do, he returned home.

He was still absorbed in contemplating his good fortune, when a knock
came to his door, and on opening it he found an old woman standing
outside.

"My son," she said, "I have a favour to ask of you. It is the hour of
prayer and I have not yet washed myself. Let me, I beg you, enter your
house, and give me water."

My brother, although the old woman was a stranger to him, did not
hesitate to do as she wished. He gave her a vessel of water and then
went back to his place and his thoughts, and with his mind busy over
his last adventure, he put his gold into a long and narrow purse, which
he could easily carry in his belt. During this time the old woman was
busy over her prayers, and when she had finished she came and
prostrated herself twice before my brother, and then rising called down
endless blessings on his head. Observing her shabby clothes, my
brother thought that her gratitude was in reality a hint that he should
give her some money to buy some new ones, so he held out two pieces of
gold. The old woman started back in surprise as if she had received an
insult. "Good heavens!" she exclaimed, "what is the meaning of this?
Is it possible that you take me, my lord, for one of those miserable
creatures who force their way into houses to beg for alms? Take back
your money. I am thankful to say I do not need it, for I belong to a
beautiful lady who is very rich and gives me everything I want."

My brother was not clever enough to detect that the old woman had
merely refused the two pieces of money he had offered her in order to
get more, but he inquired if she could procure him the pleasure of
seeing this lady.

"Willingly," she replied; "and she will be charmed to marry you, and to
make you the master of all her wealth. So pick up your money and
follow me."

Delighted at the thought that he had found so easily both a fortune and
a beautiful wife, my brother asked no more questions, but concealing
his purse, with the money the lady had given him, in the folds of his
dress, he set out joyfully with his guide.

They walked for some distance till the old woman stopped at a large
house, where she knocked. The door was opened by a young Greek slave,
and the old woman led my brother across a well-paved court into a
well-furnished hall. Here she left him to inform her mistress of his
presence, and as the day was hot he flung himself on a pile of cushions
and took off his heavy turban. In a few minutes there entered a lady,
and my brother perceived at the first glance that she was even more
beautiful and more richly dressed than he had expected. He rose from
his seat, but the lady signed to him to sit down again and placed
herself beside him. After the usual compliments had passed between
them she said, "We are not comfortable here, let us go into another
room," and passing into a smaller chamber, apparently communicating
with no other, she continued to talk to him for some time. Then rising
hastily she left him, saying, "Stay where you are, I will come back in
a moment."

He waited as he was told, but instead of the lady there entered a huge
black slave with a sword in his hand. Approaching my brother with an
angry countenance he exclaimed, "What business have you here?" His
voice and manner were so terrific that Alnaschar had not strength to
reply, and allowed his gold to be taken from him, and even sabre cuts
to be inflicted on him without making any resistance. As soon as he
was let go, he sank on the ground powerless to move, though he still
had possession of his senses. Thinking he was dead, the black ordered
the Greek slave to bring him some salt, and between them they rubbed it
into his wounds, thus giving him acute agony, though he had the
presence of mind to give no sign of life. They then left him, and
their place was taken by the old woman, who dragged him to a trapdoor
and threw him down into a vault filled with the bodies of murdered men.

At first the violence of his fall caused him to lose consciousness, but
luckily the salt which had been rubbed into his wounds had by its
smarting preserved his life, and little by little he regained his
strength. At the end of two days he lifted the trapdoor during the
night and hid himself in the courtyard till daybreak, when he saw the
old woman leave the house in search of more prey. Luckily she did not
observe him, and when she was out of sight he stole from this nest of
assassins and took refuge in my house.

I dressed his wounds and tended him carefully, and when a month had
passed he was as well as ever. His one thought was how to be revenged
on that wicked old hag, and for this purpose he had a purse made large
enough to contain five hundred gold pieces, but filled it instead with
bits of glass. This he tied round him with his sash, and, disguising
himself as an old woman, he took a sabre, which he hid under his dress.

One morning as he was hobbling through the streets he met his old enemy
prowling to see if she could find anyone to decoy. He went up to her
and, imitating the voice of a woman, he said, "Do you happen to have a
pair of scales you could lend me? I have just come from Persia and
have brought with me five hundred gold pieces, and I am anxious to see
if they are the proper weight."

"Good woman," replied the old hag, "you could not have asked anyone
better. My son is a money-changer, and if you will follow me he will
weigh them for you himself. Only we must be quick or he will have gone
to his shop." So saying she led the way to the same house as before,
and the door was opened by the same Greek slave.

Again my brother was left in the hall, and the pretended son appeared
under the form of the black slave. "Miserable crone," he said to my
brother, "get up and come with me," and turned to lead the way to the
place of murder. Alnaschar rose too, and drawing the sabre from under
his dress dealt the black such a blow on his neck that his head was
severed from his body. My brother picked up the head with one hand,
and seizing the body with the other dragged it to the vault, when he
threw it in and sent the head after it. The Greek slave, supposing
that all had passed as usual, shortly arrived with the basin of salt,
but when she beheld Alnaschar with the sabre in his hand she let the
basin fall and turned to fly. My brother, however, was too quick for
her, and in another instant her head was rolling from her shoulders.
The noise brought the old woman running to see what was the matter, and
he seized her before she had time to escape. "Wretch!" he cried, "do
you know me?"

"Who are you, my lord?" she replied trembling all over. "I have never
seen you before."

"I am he whose house you entered to offer your hypocritical prayers.
Don't you remember now?"

She flung herself on her knees to implore mercy, but he cut her in four
pieces.

There remained only the lady, who was quite ignorant of all that was
taking place around her. He sought her through the house, and when at
last he found her, she nearly fainted with terror at the sight of him.
She begged hard for life, which he was generous enough to give her, but
he bade her to tell him how she had got into partnership with the
abominable creatures he had just put to death.

"I was once," replied she, "the wife of an honest merchant, and that
old woman, whose wickedness I did not know, used occasionally to visit
me. 'Madam,' she said to me one day, 'we have a grand wedding at our
house to-day. If you would do us the honour to be present, I am sure
you would enjoy yourself.' I allowed myself to be persuaded, put on my
richest dress, and took a purse with a hundred pieces of gold. Once
inside the doors I was kept by force by that dreadful black, and it is
now three years that I have been here, to my great grief."

"That horrible black must have amassed great wealth," remarked my
brother.

"Such wealth," returned she, "that if you succeed in carrying it all
away it will make you rich for ever. Come and let us see how much
there is."

She led Alnaschar into a chamber filled with coffers packed with gold,
which he gazed at with an admiration he was powerless to conceal.
"Go," she said, "and bring men to carry them away."

My brother did not wait to be told twice, and hurried out into the
streets, where he soon collected ten men. They all came back to the
house, but what was his surprise to find the door open, and the room
with the chests of gold quite empty. The lady had been cleverer than
himself, and had made the best use of her time. However, he tried to
console himself by removing all the beautiful furniture, which more
than made up for the five hundred gold pieces he had lost.

Unluckily, on leaving the house, he forgot to lock the door, and the
neighbours, finding the place empty, informed the police, who next
morning arrested Alnaschar as a thief. My brother tried to bribe them
to let him off, but far from listening to him they tied his hands, and
forced him to walk between them to the presence of the judge. When
they had explained to the official the cause of complaint, he asked
Alnaschar where he had obtained all the furniture that he had taken to
his house the day before.

"Sir," replied Alnaschar, "I am ready to tell you the whole story, but
give, I pray you, your word, that I shall run no risk of punishment."

"That I promise," said the judge. So my brother began at the beginning
and related all his adventures, and how he had avenged himself on those
who had betrayed him. As to the furniture, he entreated the judge at
least to allow him to keep part to make up for the five hundred pieces
of gold which had been stolen from him.

The judge, however, would say nothing about this, and lost no time in
sending men to fetch away all that Alnaschar had taken from the house.
When everything had been moved and placed under his roof he ordered my
brother to leave the town and never more to enter it on peril of his
life, fearing that if he returned he might seek justice from the
Caliph. Alnaschar obeyed, and was on his way to a neighbouring city
when he fell in with a band of robbers, who stripped him of his clothes
and left him naked by the roadside. Hearing of his plight, I hurried
after him to console him for his misfortunes, and to dress him in my
best robe. I then brought him back disguised, under cover of night, to
my house, where I have since given him all the care I bestow on my
other brothers.
----
The Story of the Barber's Sixth Brother

READ MORE - The Story of the Barber's Fifth Brother

The Story of the Barber's Sixth Brother

There now remains for me to relate to you the story of my sixth
brother, whose name was Schacabac. Like the rest of us, he inherited a
hundred silver drachmas from our father, which he thought was a large
fortune, but through ill-luck, he soon lost it all, and was driven to
beg. As he had a smooth tongue and good manners, he really did very
well in his new profession, and he devoted himself specially to making
friends with the servants in big houses, so as to gain access to their
masters.

One day he was passing a splendid mansion, with a crowd of servants
lounging in the courtyard. He thought that from the appearance of the
house it might yield him a rich harvest, so he entered and inquired to
whom it belonged.

"My good man, where do you come from?" replied the servant. "Can't you
see for yourself that it can belong to nobody but a Barmecide?" for the
Barmecides were famed for their liberality and generosity. My brother,
hearing this, asked the porters, of whom there were several, if they
would give him alms. They did not refuse, but told him politely to go
in, and speak to the master himself.

My brother thanked them for their courtesy and entered the building,
which was so large that it took him some time to reach the apartments
of the Barmecide. At last, in a room richly decorated with paintings,
he saw an old man with a long white beard, sitting on a sofa, who
received him with such kindness that my brother was emboldened to make
his petition.

"My lord," he said, "you behold in me a poor man who only lives by the
help of persons as rich and as generous as you."

Before he could proceed further, he was stopped by the astonishment
shown by the Barmecide. "Is it possible," he cried, "that while I am
in Baghdad, a man like you should be starving? That is a state of
things that must at once be put an end to! Never shall it be said that
I have abandoned you, and I am sure that you, on your part, will never
abandon me."

"My lord," answered my brother, "I swear that I have not broken my fast
this whole day."

"What, you are dying of hunger?" exclaimed the Barmecide. "Here,
slave; bring water, that we may wash our hands before meat!" No slave
appeared, but my brother remarked that the Barmecide did not fail to
rub his hands as if the water had been poured over them.

Then he said to my brother, "Why don't you wash your hands too?" and
Schacabac, supposing that it was a joke on the part of the Barmecide
(though he could see none himself), drew near, and imitated his motion.

When the Barmecide had done rubbing his hands, he raised his voice, and
cried, "Set food before us at once, we are very hungry." No food was
brought, but the Barmecide pretended to help himself from a dish, and
carry a morsel to his mouth, saying as he did so, "Eat, my friend, eat,
I entreat. Help yourself as freely as if you were at home! For a
starving man, you seem to have a very small appetite."

"Excuse me, my lord," replied Schacabac, imitating his gestures as
before, "I really am not losing time, and I do full justice to the
repast."

"How do you like this bread?" asked the Barmecide. "I find it
particularly good myself."

"Oh, my lord," answered my brother, who beheld neither meat nor bread,
"never have I tasted anything so delicious."

"Eat as much as you want," said the Barmecide. "I bought the woman who
makes it for five hundred pieces of gold, so that I might never be
without it."

After ordering a variety of dishes (which never came) to be placed on
the table, and discussing the merits of each one, the Barmecide
declared that having dined so well, they would now proceed to take
their wine. To this my brother at first objected, declaring that it
was forbidden; but on the Barmecide insisting that it was out of the
question that he should drink by himself, he consented to take a
little. The Barmecide, however, pretended to fill their glasses so
often, that my brother feigned that the wine had gone into his head,
and struck the Barmecide such a blow on the head, that he fell to the
ground. Indeed, he raised his hand to strike him a second time, when
the Barmecide cried out that he was mad, upon which my brother
controlled himself, and apologised and protested that it was all the
fault of the wine he had drunk. At this the Barmecide, instead of
being angry, began to laugh, and embraced him heartily. "I have long
been seeking," he exclaimed, "a man of your description, and henceforth
my house shall be yours. You have had the good grace to fall in with
my humour, and to pretend to eat and to drink when nothing was there.
Now you shall be rewarded by a really good supper."

Then he clapped his hands, and all the dishes were brought that they
had tasted in imagination before and during the repast, slaves sang and
played on various instruments. All the while Schacabac was treated by
the Barmecide as a familiar friend, and dressed in a garment out of his
own wardrobe.

Twenty years passed by, and my brother was still living with the
Barmecide, looking after his house, and managing his affairs. At the
end of that time his generous benefactor died without heirs, so all his
possessions went to the prince. They even despoiled my brother of
those that rightly belonged to him, and he, now as poor as he had ever
been in his life, decided to cast in his lot with a caravan of pilgrims
who were on their way to Mecca. Unluckily, the caravan was attacked
and pillaged by the Bedouins, and the pilgrims were taken prisoners.
My brother became the slave of a man who beat him daily, hoping to
drive him to offer a ransom, although, as Schacabac pointed out, it was
quite useless trouble, as his relations were as poor as himself. At
length the Bedouin grew tired of tormenting, and sent him on a camel to
the top of a high barren mountain, where he left him to take his
chance. A passing caravan, on its way to Baghdad, told me where he was
to be found, and I hurried to his rescue, and brought him in a
deplorable condition back to the town.

"This,"--continued the barber,--"is the tale I related to the Caliph,
who, when I had finished, burst into fits of laughter.

"Well were you called `the Silent,'" said he; "no name was ever better
deserved. But for reasons of my own, which it is not necessary to
mention, I desire you to leave the town, and never to come back."

"I had of course no choice but to obey, and travelled about for several
years until I heard of the death of the Caliph, when I hastily returned
to Baghdad, only to find that all my brothers were dead. It was at this
time that I rendered to the young cripple the important service of
which you have heard, and for which, as you know, he showed such
profound ingratitude, that he preferred rather to leave Baghdad than to
run the risk of seeing me. I sought him long from place to place, but
it was only to-day, when I expected it least, that I came across him,
as much irritated with me as ever"-- So saying the tailor went on to
relate the story of the lame man and the barber, which has already been
told.

"When the barber," he continued, "had finished his tale, we came to the
conclusion that the young man had been right, when he had accused him
of being a great chatter-box. However, we wished to keep him with us,
and share our feast, and we remained at table till the hour of
afternoon prayer. Then the company broke up, and I went back to work
in my shop.

"It was during this interval that the little hunchback, half drunk
already, presented himself before me, singing and playing on his drum.
I took him home, to amuse my wife, and she invited him to supper.
While eating some fish, a bone got into his throat, and in spite of all
we could do, he died shortly. It was all so sudden that we lost our
heads, and in order to divert suspicion from ourselves, we carried the
body to the house of a Jewish physician. He placed it in the chamber
of the purveyor, and the purveyor propped it up in the street, where it
was thought to have been killed by the merchant.

"This, Sire, is the story which I was obliged to tell to satisfy your
highness. It is now for you to say if we deserve mercy or punishment;
life or death?"

The Sultan of Kashgar listened with an air of pleasure which filled the
tailor and his friends with hope. "I must confess," he exclaimed,
"that I am much more interested in the stories of the barber and his
brothers, and of the lame man, than in that of my own jester. But
before I allow you all four to return to your own homes, and have the
corpse of the hunchback properly buried, I should like to see this
barber who has earned your pardon. And as he is in this town, let an
usher go with you at once in search of him."

The usher and the tailor soon returned, bringing with them an old man
who must have been at least ninety years of age. "O Silent One," said
the Sultan, "I am told that you know many strange stories. Will you
tell some of them to me?"

"Never mind my stories for the present," replied the barber, "but will
your Highness graciously be pleased to explain why this Jew, this
Christian, and this Moslem, as well as this dead body, are all here?"

"What business is that of yours?" asked the Sultan with a smile; but
seeing that the barber had some reasons for his question, he commanded
that the tale of the hunchback should be told him.

"It is certainly most surprising," cried he, when he had heard it all,
"but I should like to examine the body." He then knelt down, and took
the head on his knees, looking at it attentively. Suddenly he burst
into such loud laughter that he fell right backwards, and when he had
recovered himself enough to speak, he turned to the Sultan. "The man
is no more dead than I am," he said; "watch me." As he spoke he drew a
small case of medicines from his pocket and rubbed the neck of the
hunchback with some ointment made of balsam. Next he opened the dead
man's mouth, and by the help of a pair of pincers drew the bone from
his throat. At this the hunchback sneezed, stretched himself and
opened his eyes.

The Sultan and all those who saw this operation did not know which to
admire most, the constitution of the hunchback who had apparently been
dead for a whole night and most of one day, or the skill of the barber,
whom everyone now began to look upon as a great man. His Highness
desired that the history of the hunchback should be written down, and
placed in the archives beside that of the barber, so that they might be
associated in people's minds to the end of time. And he did not stop
there; for in order to wipe out the memory of what they had undergone,
he commanded that the tailor, the doctor, the purveyor and the
merchant, should each be clothed in his presence with a robe from his
own wardrobe before they returned home. As for the barber, he bestowed
on him a large pension, and kept him near his own person.

READ MORE - The Story of the Barber's Sixth Brother