"For my part it has always been my opinion that when the wind backs to
the south-east, the fish repair to the deep water; and if you will be
careful when you gather the grapes not to throw in the stalks, that the
wine will, as I before stated to your highness, only increase the
extreme difficulty of ascertaining how far a man could conscientiously
demand, that is to say, in proportion to the degree of intellect, stated
at different intervals, and extending down the crags of the whole
ravine."
"I cannot, positively, understand a word of all this!" exclaimed the
pacha, with irritation; "can you, Mustapha?"
"How is it possible for your slave to comprehend that which is concealed
from the wisdom of your highness?"
"Very true," replied the pacha.
"Your highness will understand it all by-and-bye," observed the maniac;
"but it will be necessary that you wait until I have finished the story,
when it will all reel off like a skein of silk, which at present but
appears to be ravelled."
"Well then," replied the pacha, "I wish you would begin at the end of
your story, and finish with the beginning. Now go on."
"There is nought under Heaven so interesting--so graceful--so pleasing
to contemplate as a young mother with her first-born at her breast. The
soft lisps and caresses of childhood--the expanding graces of the
budding maiden--the blushing, smiling yet trembling bride, all lose in
the comparison with woman in her beauty, fulfilling her destiny on
earth; her countenance radiating with those intense feelings of delight,
which more than repay her for her previous hours of sorrow and of
anguish. But I'm afraid I tire your highness."
"Wallah el Nebi!--by God and his Prophet, you do indeed. Is it all to
be like that?"
"No! pacha. I wish to Heaven that it had been. Merciful God!--why
didst thou permit the blow? Was not I grateful?--Were not my eyes
suffused with tears, springing from gratitude and love, at the very
moment when they rushed in--when their murdering weapons were pointed to
my breast--when the mother shrieked as they tore away the infant as a
useless incumbrance and dashed it to the ground--when I caught it up,
and the pistol of the savage Turk put an end to its existence? I see it
now, as I kissed the little ruby fountain which bubbled from its heart:
I see her too, as they bore her away senseless in their arms. Pacha, in
one short minute I was bereft of all--wife, child, home, liberty, and
reason; and here I am, a madman and a slave!"
The maniac paused: then starting upon his feet, he commenced in a loud
voice:--"But I know who they were--I know them all, and I know where she
is too: and now, pacha, you shall do me justice. This is he who stole
my wife; this is he who murdered my child; this is he who keeps her from
my arms: and thus I beard him in your presence;" and as he finished his
exclamations, he sprang upon the terrified Mustapha, seizing him by the
beard with one hand, while, with the other, he beat his turban about his
head.
The guards rushed in, and rescued the vizier from the awkward position
in which he was placed by his own imprudence, in permitting the man to
appear at the divan.
The rage of the pacha was excessive; and the head of the maniac would
have been separated from his body, had it not been for the prudence of
Mustapha, who was aware that the common people consider idiots and
madmen to be under the special protection of Heaven, and that such an
act would be sufficient to create an insurrection. At his intercession,
the man was taken away by the guards, and not released until he was a
considerable distance from the palace.
"Allah karim!--God is merciful!" exclaimed the pacha as soon as the
maniac had been carried away. "I'm glad that he did not think it was me
who had his wife."
"Allah forbid that your highness should have been so treated. He has
almost ruined the beard of your slave," replied the vizier, adjusting
the folds of his turban.
"Mustapha, make a memorandum never again to accept an offer. I'm
convinced that a volunteer story is worth nothing."
"Your highness speaks the truth--no man parts readily with what is worth
retaining--gold is not kicked up with the sandal, nor diamonds to be
found glittering in the rays of the sun. If we would obtain them, we
must search and labour in the dark mine.--Will your highness be pleased
to hear the manuscript which had been translated by the Greek slave?"
"Be it so," replied the pacha, not in the very best of humours.
The Greek made his appearance and made his salutation, and then read as
follows:--