spider's family could venture out of their den.
It was no wonder that they became hungry for stories, and that at the
first gleam of sunshine they all ran together and began to pull at the
line of cobweb to which poor Fuz-Buz was fettered.
As for Fuz-Buz he was so wet and cold that he crawled out of his hole
with trouble and pain.
"Ah, my dears!" cried he. "I ache all over with the gout. We lived too
high in Spain I fear."
"Bother the gout!" said the spiders.
"Tell us a new story, and pretty soon too, or mammy will eat you, and
won't that be worse than the gout?"
"I don't know," answered Fuz-Buz, "I think I would rather be eaten up
at once, and have it over."
"Ha! ha!" cried Mrs. Grabem, who overheard what the fly had said.
"Ha! ha! you would like to be eaten; would you like to have your legs
pulled off and your wings torn, and—-?"
"Oh dear! oh dear!" shrieked Fuz-Buz. "Pray stop, I am all in a shiver.
I will never be so hasty again."
[Illustration]
"Very well," returned the spider firmly. "See that you remember
what I have said, and on no account venture to keep my blessed little
children waiting. It spoils their tempers for life. I will have no more
of it."
When Mrs. Grabem ceased, all the young spiders cried aloud,
"You had better take care, or mammy will finish you!"
"How are your legs?" said one.
"Where is that story?" said another.
"Here it is," answered Fuz-Buz, tapping his head. "I have it all here
ever since the day I heard it told by a famous Dervish at the porch of
the great Mosque of Salamanca."
MUSTAPHA, OR THE MUSICAL GOURD.
"In the year of the Hegira, 709, and the twelfth of our Caliph Haroun,
the Magnificent, there lived in the royal city of Bagdad a cobbler of
the name of Ali Ben Slippah.
"His shop was small, but being well situated at the corner of the
street of the Prophet, and the great street of Mosques, the cobbler
managed to live very comfortably, so that with the aid of Smyrna
tobacco and a contented disposition which the poet has well called the
'Pipe of the just,' he eked out a tranquil life free from care and
ambition.
"His house was neatly kept by his daughter Lelie, or the Dark-eyed, who
was a little maiden with lips like the roses of Istamboul, and cheeks
as darkly lovely as the brown lilies of Ispahan.
"Besides these the sole remaining member of their household was a great
black cat known by the name of Yussef, or the Hump-backed, because she
was always in an evil humour, and was forever hunching her back up to
show how cross she felt.
"It so chanced that when Lelie was a child this cat pursued by boys and
dogs had taken refuge with Lelie, who had saved her life. Thenceforward
she had never left her, but was so jealous of her mistress that it was
enough to look at her to drive the Pussy crazy with rage.
"Now to let you into a secret. You should know that Yussef was a wicked
genius who for a terrible crime had been condemned to live an hundred
years in the body of a cat.
"About the time at which this trap story begins, a young soldier of the
Caliph's guard, whose name was Mustapha, fell in love with Lelie, and
as he was very handsome and clever, was so lucky as to make her also
love him in return.
"Unhappily for them both, Yussef overheard Mustapha speaking of the day
when they were to be married, and at once fell into a fit of jealousy
which was dreadful to see.
"In her wrath she flew at Mustapha and scratched his nose, then
knocked down and broke the cobbler's best chibouque, and at length
dashed out of the house just as Ali Ben Slippah threw his lap-stone at
her in fierce anger, because of his broken pipe.
"It was late in the evening when Yussef darted out, and with her heart
full of jealous rage bounded up the walls and over the house-tops,
until at last she seated herself on a gable and began to think.
"As it became later she was suddenly aware of a noble-looking person
who was walking slowly along, followed at a short distance by four
guards with drawn scimetars.
"As soon as Yussef saw the cavalier she knew that he was the Caliph,
and remembering that he was then seeking everywhere for beautiful women
to wait upon his sick daughter, she formed on the moment the most
spiteful scheme of mischief that ever you heard of.
"With two or three crazy leaps she alighted at the feet of the Caliph
and began to miaou a tune of the most singular character.
"'By the beard of the Prophet!' said Haroun al Raschid, 'This is
passing wonderful! Catch that cat!'
"But Yussef was too quick for that. She turned two somersaults, and
miaoued again. The guards and the Caliph followed her in wonder, while
she retreated until they came to the cobbler's door. Here she miaoued
once more, and leaped into an open window.
"When the Caliph drew near as she had desired he would do, he looked
into the window and saw the beautiful Lelie.
"'Bismillah!' cried he, as he thrust back the guards. 'Blessed be cats
for evermore! Here is the maiden I have sought for my daughter.'
"So saying, he turned and gave brief orders to his attendants bidding
them be careful and secret; and thus saying moved away quietly through
the deserted streets.
"Very early next morning when the cobbler had gone to market Yussef
heard a noise, and looking saw the shop full of black slaves who seized
Lelie, muffled her in a shawl, and leaving a bag of gold on the counter
hurried away swiftly.
"As soon as they left Yussef hastened after them, and when they entered
a gilded caique on the Tigris, she also tried to leap into the boat.
But to her dismay one of the guards seized her by the tail and threw
her thirty feet away into the river.
"Yussef spluttered and spit as she came to the surface, and must surely
have been drowned had she been a real cat.
"As it was she lost three out of her nine lives, and unluckily came to
land on the premises of a tanner where she was set upon by six dogs
who tore her hair out and bit her tail, and altogether so misused her
that she came to look more like a bit of ill-used foot-rug than a
respectable Maltese cat.
"At last, with her heart full of rage and her stomach full of water,
she reached home to find the poor cobbler in the utmost grief for the
loss of his daughter.
"By and by he resigned himself to his fate, and seeing well that no
common person had stolen the maiden, he smoked the more abundantly,
and like a true believer took comfort in that verse of the Koran which
says, 'All things that are are well; but some, saith the Prophet, are
disagreeable.'
"Meanwhile poor Mustapha became nearly crazed with grief. He roamed the
streets all day, and at evening returned to the cobbler's in the vain
hope of hearing some news of Lelie.
"On one of these occasions he was so unlucky as to stumble over Yussef
who gave him a fierce scratch, and fled from his wrath to devise new
plans of mischief, for although Lelie was gone, she was lost to herself
as well as to Mustapha, and the cat never had ceased to hate him as the
cause of all her troubles.
"Yussef therefore resolved to rid herself of his presence, and she set
about it after her own wicked fashion.
"Some two or three nights later Mustapha was wandering sadly in the
gardens of the Caliph when he heard a voice from the trees above him
saying,
"'Come to-night to the tomb of the Caliphs, under the cedars, on the
road to Damascus, and thou shalt hear news of thy love.'
"The voice sounded like that of Lelie, and the soldier in vain sought
about him on every side for its source. At length the words were
repeated and he made up his mind to obey them.
"It was near midnight when Mustapha found himself at the appointed
spot. All Bagdad lay behind him still and slumbering. Here and there
a long arrow of light darted from some tall minaret, while the full
moon-light pouring down on the Mosque of El Rahab lit up its golden
dome like a mound of fire.
"Before him the quiet groves of fig and olive, pomegranates and
mourning cypresses stretched away for miles, bounded in the far
distance by the curves of the Tigris, whose broad bendings flashed in
the light like gigantic scimetars.
"As Mustapha approached the Caliph's tomb he came to an open space
girt in by dense thickets. Pushing these aside he stepped cautiously
forward, for he heard a sound of music and voices.
"Presently a fire flashed up on the open ground among the ruined tombs,
and the soldier shook with fear as he looked on what its light revealed.
"Seated about the slope which led downwards on every side to a broken
tomb were gigantic figures in white robes that floated about them like
mist, so that only sometimes he could see their solemn faces.
"From the tomb came slowly a long procession of Ghouls and Vampires
and Afrites of hideous shapes, such as men see in dreams, while all the
air and the ground seemed to be alive with a myriad of little winged
forms who hovered about like butterflies.
"At last there was silence, when Yussef suddenly appeared before the
tallest of the Genii, and miaoued frightfully.
"Then the Genie said in a mild great voice, 'What would you of your
brethren?'
"'The man,' said Yussef, 'who has mocked my fallen estate and stolen my
love from me is here awaiting judgment.'
"When Mustapha heard these words he was ready to die with fear, but his
limbs refused to bear him away and he was forced to support himself by
grasping a tree.
"'Oh King,' cried Yussef, 'Let him be brought to thee.'
"'Be it so!' said the Genie.
"At this two fearful-looking Afrites leaped into the air, and with one
swoop of their clawed wings alighted beside Mustapha. Then they seized
him and thrust him into the circle before the cloudy form of the King
of the Genii who thus addressed him.
"'It is not given us to slay, but that thou shalt no more trouble us
we order thee to become a gourd, and as we may not sentence any to an
endless fate it shall be that when it pleaseth Allah to turn thee
inside out thou shalt then only assume again the form of man.'
"'It is well,' cried Yussef. 'Thanks, oh King!'
"At these words Mustapha fainted. When he recovered he found himself
hanging on a vine near by, and presently discovered that he was a huge
green gourd.
"After this many days fled away, and Mustapha the gourd grew bigger and
bigger, and at last began to ripen and turn yellow.
"Every night as he hung on the vine he saw the strange midnight
meetings of the Genii and Ghouls and Afrites. All the wonderful things
he heard and saw no one will ever know, for he saw their wild feasts
and dances, and heard music such as before no mortal ears had ever
listened to.
"At length one warm summer morning two farmers came by on the way to
market.
"'Bismillah!' cried one, as he saw the great gourd Mustapha. 'What a
monstrous gourd!'
"'Let us take it with us and sell it,' said the second.
"Thus saying he took a knife from his girdle and cut the stem by which
Mustapha hung. This caused him so much pain that he cried aloud,
"'What's that?' said the farmer. 'The gourd speaks! It is alive!'
"Upon this he pricked the gourd with his knife. At this Mustapha
exclaimed, 'Don't!'
"'Mahomet!' said the farmer. 'The thing is enchanted. It will fetch us
a fortune.'
"Shortly afterwards they carried the gourd to the market. Here they
made a goodly fortune by running pins into Mustapha that he might cry
out for the amusement of the by-standers.
"Before long all Bagdad flocked to see and hear this wonderful gourd,
and at last an officer of the Caliph's household arrived, payed a great
sum for the gourd, and putting it in a basket, carried it away to the
Palace.
"By and by Mustapha found himself in a superb room of the Palace,
where, surrounded by her ladies, the Princess lay upon a couch.
"Suddenly Mustapha the gourd as he lay in his basket heard the voice of
his beloved Lelie who was fanning the Princess.
"This so moved poor Mustapha that he cried aloud,
"'Allah! I hear my love!' and so saying rolled from the basket and fell
at Lelie's feet.
"'Mahomet!' cried the Princess. 'The thing is bewitched! take it away!'
"But as for Lelie the words were as sweet music to her, and seizing the
gourd she placed it tenderly in the basket and carried it to her room.
Here she implored it with tears to speak again, but in vain; so that at
last she was forced to leave it and return to the Princess.
"Soon after she had gone Mustapha was aware of a rose-colored cloud in
the room, out of which grew into shape the form of a huge Genie which
thus addressed him.
"'Know, frail mortal, that I am your guardian spirit. I have heard
with pity of your sad fate and am come to give you a chance for life
again. Perhaps what I shall do for you may render your position better.
Unluckily I cannot give to you once more your mortal shape.'
"With these words the figure inclined towards him gravely and touched
his yellow cheek. He shuddered and lost consciousness.
"What next was his amazement to find himself standing in the shop of
Harim, the merchant. Presently he began to look at himself with curious
care. He had a gold head like that of a bird, with ruby eyes. His
neck was of satin wood, long and slim, while his clothes which were
stiffened with whalebone and wire, resembled petticoats upside down.
"'Allah il Allah!' cried he, 'What an existence!'
"Just then a Dervish looking at him asked the merchant, 'What is that?'
"'It is,' answered he, 'a Frankish device which the men in Frangistan
carry to keep off the rain. Their women are only allowed to carry
smaller ones, so they make up for that by bearing them about in fair as
well as wet weather.'
"'A device of Eblis!' exclaimed the Dervish, and muttering a verse of
the Koran, walked gravely away.
"By and by came the grand Purveyor of the Caliph. He was seeking new
and curious things for the Princess, who was ill and refused to eat so
that day after day she became more feeble.
"'Ah!' said the Purveyor, 'This is a Frank tent. I saw them when I was
Envoy to the court of Charlemagne.'
"At this Mustapha blushed, for the officer seized him and began to
expand his skirts so that his leg, for he had but one, was alarmingly
exposed.
"Very soon the Purveyor, having paid a good price, took Mustapha away
to the Palace where he explained the uses of this portable tent.
"'This,' said he, 'Is what the Franks, whom Allah confound! call an
umbrella, and the female of the thing they term a parasol.'
"'I shall need it not,' said the Princess Ellera. 'No sun will shine
on me any more. On me no rain will fall. I shall die if I find nothing
that I can eat.'
"'Take it Lelie,' she cried, 'As thou hast lost thy gourd, take it.'
"Upon this Lelie took Mustapha away and placed him in a quiet corner of
her room.
"Meanwhile some days went by, and all the cooks tried in vain to please
the sick Princess. All day long an army of slaves went past her bed,
each bearing some rare dish or some luscious fruit, but still alas! in
vain; so that at length the doctors decided that if she did not eat
within a day she would surely die.
"Lelie, who was in great distress, left the Princess and went to her
own room to weep alone. At last she arose to go out into the garden,
thinking that perhaps the Princess might be tempted by a rose-leaf
salad.
"As she walked past Mustapha he cried aloud, 'Take me.'
"'This is queer,' said she, but when the words were repeated she
clutched the Frankish toy and ran out into the garden. Here she
wandered long, but as evening fell she suddenly saw that a storm had
gathered.
"Before she could reach the Palace, a wild gust of wind caught in
Mustapha's skirts and nearly tore him from her hand. As she struggled
the wind expanded his petticoats, and at last crack went the wires, and
then what do you think?
"Mustapha was turned inside out, and the umbrella was a man once more.
"In a moment he explained everything, but after he had kissed her twice
she began to sob, for now she knew that he had escaped one evil fate
only to light upon another as fearful.
"'Ah!' she cried, 'a man! You, a soldier, in the gardens of the Palace!
You will be put to death at once.'
"'No!' he answered, after thinking a little. 'Not if I can save the
Princess. Let us go to the Caliph and confess all. Meanwhile have no
fears.'
"Lelie at last gave her consent, and with trembling steps she left him,
and seeking the Princess related their strange story.
"In a moment all was confusion. A man in the harem!
"'Bowstrings and sacks!' cried the captain of the guard, as he hurried
Mustapha before the Caliph.
"'Wretch!' said Al Raschid the Caliph, 'Who art thou?'
"'A soldier,' said Mustapha.
"'Let him die!' cried Al Raschid.
"'Oh Caliph,' answered Mustapha, 'In the land of the Genii it was given
me once to learn secrets of the vile Franks, wherewith it may be that I
can save thy daughter the Princess.'
"'Thou dost lie like unto a rusty weathercock,' said the Caliph, 'But
that none may say I am unjust, take this man to the kitchen. Let him do
his best, and if he fail have him strangled instantly.'
"'It is well said,' replied Mustapha.
"Very soon he was left alone in the great kitchen of the Palace, while
all the strange things he had seen at the feasts of the Genii came back
to his mind.
"Presently he sought about him among the stores of provisions, and
took from a basket those striped apples which grow by the brooks of
Alkeldrina.
"These he pared deftly and set each within a cup of wheaten dough,
such as only the Caliph's farms can furnish. Therein he placed also
the golden orange-peel and the spices of distant Borneo. Lastly, he
sprinkled it within and without with the aromatic sugar of Turkan, and
hanging each apple thus prepared in a silken net carefully cooked them.
"When they were ready he placed them upon golden dishes, and threw over
each a hail of snowy sugar and fragrant cinnamon, covering all with a
handful of almond blossoms.
"Then he called the guard, and with scimetars crossed over his head he
was allowed to carry his dish to the Princess. As she looked languidly
upon it he shook off the blossoms.
"'Then,' said the Princess, 'These be the roses of Paradise which I do
smell.'
"At these words he knelt down and offered the dish to the lady.
Wonderful to tell the Princess called for a silver fork and ate up the
whole of the apples so greedily that she scalded her throat in the most
dreadful way.
"But between every mouthful she blessed poor Mustapha as the king of
cooks, and from that instant she recovered so quickly as to disgust all
the doctors, who said Mustapha was a quack, and went away.
"Of course he married Lelie, and had a patent for making this wonderful
dish, and was created Lord Marquis of Apple-butter and Duke of
Dumplings, and lived merrily all his days."
* * * * *
"That's a good story," cried the spiders.
"Glad you like it," said Fuz-Buz. "Now if you please I will sleep, as I
am tired."
In this pleasant way the days went by until Fuz-buz had told them nine
hundred and ninety-nine stories.
On this last evening he overheard the spiders talking as he lay tied by
the leg in a deep dark crack of the apple tree where he slept.
"My children," said the old spider, "After Fuz-Buz has told us one more
story we will eat him. It will be best to wait until after dark, and
then seize him on a sudden and kill him; for he is a very strong fly,
and may give me trouble."
They all agreed to this excepting the youngest, who said it would be a
shame to serve him so, and that they ought to let him go.
But Mrs. Grabem replied, "You know nothing of house-keeping my dear. Go
to sleep and hold your tongue."
When Fuz-Buz overheard all this he was scared to death. All next day he
was so sick that he could not even tell the shortest story.
At night-fall when the family had gone to their den, he sat on the tree
near his cosy little crack and tried to gnaw the web which held him.
Unluckily it was too tough. When he was in despair who should hum by
but a huge Bee.
"Halloa!" said he, "What's wrong with you?"
"Sir!" replied Fuz-Buz, "I am tied by the leg to this web, and am to be
eaten to-night by a cruel monster of a spider who lives near, and who
will overhear you if you do not speak in a low voice."
"Who's afraid?" said the Bee. "Which leg is it?"
"This," answered Fuz-Buz.
"Pshaw!" cried the Bee, and with that he twisted the web about his legs
and gave a jump. Snap went the line and Fuz-buz was free once more.
Never a fly was so glad as he.
"Sir!" he said, "I am only sorry that you have not had the honour to
slay this vile spider. Now if you were to slip into this crack where I
sleep, you would have a fine chance, because when Mrs. Grabem comes to
eat me you could give her a pleasing surprise."
"That's a rather jolly notion," answered the Bee. So he went down on
the ground, and after sharpening his sting on a smooth pebble, thrust
himself deep into the crack where Fuz-Buz was wont to sleep.
But as for Fuz-Buz the fly, he sat on a limb above and looked on. After
a little, when it was dark or nearly so, out came Mrs. Grabem slowly,
and crawling over her web went down into the crack to murder poor
innocent Fuz-Buz. Presently she cried aloud,
"Oh! I'm dead!" which was true in a moment, for Sir Bee had run his
long sword straight through her, and she had tumbled off the tree as
dead as could be.
At the sound of her voice all the young spiders ran out, and in a
moment they saw Sir Bee with his quick sword. In a twinkling he stabbed
them one after another, until he came to the youngest. Then Fuz-Buz
said,
"Halloa! my friend, let this one go, for he was the only one who did
not desire to kill me."
"Sir!" cried the youngest spider, "I do not wish to live after you have
killed my mother and all my brothers and sisters. Take that, sir!"
So saying he dealt the Bee such a crack that he was forced to stab him
like the rest, and there at last was the end of all of them.
As for Fuz-Buz, he said "Well, it's one spider less, and so many flies
more. Spiders are of no use and flies are."
Meanwhile Sir Bee wiped his sword and took up his bag of honey, feeling
that he had done a clever day's work, while Fuz-Buz flew away to Spain,
and never could be brought to tell anybody a story long or short up to
the end of his happy life.
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│ Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. │
│ Otherwise spelling variations were not changed. │
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│ Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. │
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│ Mid-paragraph illustrations have been moved between paragraphs │
│ and some illustrations have been moved closer to the text that │
│ references them. The List of Illustrations pagination was │
│ changed accordingly. │
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│ Italicized words are surrounded by underline characters, _like │
│ this_. │
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