One evening not long after the execution of the Emir, Haroun Alraschid,
when about to indulge in one of his nocturnal rambles, determined again
to make trial of the marvellous properties of his magical ointment.
Before sallying forth, therefore, with Giafer, always his faithful
companion in these adventures, he retired privately to his cabinet and
anointed his eyes with a small portion of the contents of the little
jar.
Once more on passing through the streets of his capital the interior of
the houses and the occupations and amusements of his subjects were
revealed to him. In some houses he saw feasting and merriment, in some
mourning and death. In the dwellings of the rich there was to be seen
fine clothes and jewellery, in the hovels of the poor squalor and rags.
And so constantly varied and animated were the scenes which by virtue
of the ointment he was enabled to observe, that he walked on for more
than an hour without experiencing either fatigue or weariness.
At length, as he was passing a certain mean-looking house in one of the
less important thoroughfares, his attention was attracted to a scene
which caused him to stop before the house; and, resting in the
obscurity of a great recessed doorway on the opposite side of the way,
to observe with much interest what took place in the room before him.
It was a large room, and but dimly lighted by a single oil lamp placed
upon the table. A great number of packages were lying in a confused
heap on one side of the room; and on a raised divan near to the table
and facing the door of the apartment sat an old man of no very inviting
appearance. About his head he wore an old turban, not very clean and
put on in a careless and slovenly manner. His eyes were shielded and
concealed by a large green shade, as though the light even of the one
oil lamp were too strong for him. His clothes were plain, but much
better than his head-gear; his form seemed slight and wiry, and Haroun
noticed that his hands, which were small and plump, were adorned with
several very handsome and valuable rings.
Between this large room occupied by the figure just described and the
door in the wall of the house was a small ante-room or lobby, in which
was seated on the bare floor a little ill-looking hump-backed slave,
whom the Caliph, whose memory for faces was remarkable, immediately
recognized as a mute who had been under the orders of Mesrúr, and who,
in consequence, it was supposed, of some punishment inflicted upon him,
had fled from the palace some months previously. The sight of this
slave caused Haroun to be additionally curious to learn what might be
the business of his present master. The occupation of the mute was
obvious. He sat in the lobby at the door of the house ready to open it
for any one who might wish to enter.
The Caliph had but few moments to wait before the figure of a man
carrying a small bundle crept stealthily up the street and stood at the
door. Pressing what looked like the head of a large bolt on the
surface of the door, a piece of wood on the inside was slightly raised.
On this sign the mute rose, and opening the door just sufficiently wide
to allow the man to enter, he closed it quickly, and immediately led
the way into the large room where the old man sat by the lamp. The
new-comer placed his bundle on the table, and having opened and
displayed its contents, which consisted of some jewellery and some
pieces of fine cloth, he packed it up again and deposited it with the
other packages upon the floor.
The old man, who had sat quite motionless, and whose lips did not once
move, proceeded to count out certain coins on to the table; these the
other took, also apparently in silence, and forthwith departed, leaving
the house and passing down the street in the same stealthy and furtive
manner in which he had arrived.
The Caliph and Giafer remained some time concealed thus in the black
shadow of the doorway where they were standing; Giafer being half
asleep, and supposing his master to be resting where they were simply
because he was tired. The Caliph, however, was watching the
proceedings of the old man and his slave. One after another half a
dozen visitors arrived, were admitted on giving the same signal, showed
the contents of their several bundles, deposited them on the same heap,
were paid in silence by the old man, and thereupon went their way.
There was no departure from the uniformity of this procedure, excepting
that when any one arrived and gave the signal while another was still
occupied with the old man, the mute took no notice whatever of the
signal, and in every case the man wishing to enter seemed at once to
understand why his signal remained unanswered, and waited patiently
until the door was opened for the other to depart.
The Caliph, who had at first been somewhat puzzled by the strangely
conducted traffic which he here observed, had guessed before long that
the actual business of this disreputable old merchant was that of
purchasing from the thieves, which always infest a large town, whatever
plunder they might have to dispose of.
There was no haggling as to price. The terms on which the transaction
was based were evidently very simple. The thief displayed his wares;
the old man paid him what he chose, and clearly the thief, whose market
for his ill-gotten goods was likely to be very limited, was satisfied
to accept what the buyer chose to award.
The Caliph was not ill-pleased to have discovered the nefarious trade
which was being here carried on, and determined to have the house
closely watched in future, in the hope of thus noting and securing a
great number of the most expert and artful thieves in Bagdad.
As he moved out of the obscurity of the doorway revolving these things
in his mind, a ragged and decrepit beggar, who had just dragged himself
with slow and weary steps to this spot, begged an alms in the
professional whine common to his class. The Caliph gave him a small
piece of silver, and then watched him as he crossed the road and
entered a dilapidated and wretched hovel, which stood close by the
outer wall of the house of the dealer in stolen goods.
The inside of the hovel consisted of one small room, containing no
furniture of any kind but a litter of rags in one corner, which
evidently served the old beggar as a bed.
The old man, when he had entered and lighted his lamp, pushed some of
these rags aside with trembling hands, and raising a piece of the dirty
and half-rotten flooring, he produced a stout and rather heavy hag.
Out of this he took in succession several smaller hags, each evidently
full of money; and having pleased himself with handling and gloating
over his treasure, he added the coin which the Caliph had just given
him, together with several others, the produce of that day's exertion,
to the contents of one of the bags, and then carefully replaced the
whole in its hiding-place, and covering the board again with the rags,
lay down to sleep.
Three hours had now elapsed since the Caliph had anointed his eyes with
the magical ointment, and the increased power of vision it conferred
upon him began rapidly to vanish. Therefore he turned to go back to
the palace, laughing within himself as he thought, "Thieves, beggars,
and misers, a goodly company have I become acquainted with to-night!"
The streets were now silent and deserted, and all honest people were
already in bed and asleep. But he had not proceeded far before he came
to a door which was partly open, and through which he could see across
a courtyard a great house brightly lighted, and could hear the voices
of the guests within very merrily laughing and conversing. Moreover, a
very delicious aroma of cooking assailed his nostrils, and reminded him
that he was both hungry and tired. Bidding Giafer knock at the door,
he told the slave who appeared to go to his master and say that two
merchants, strangers in the town, and who had lost their way, craved to
be partakers of his hospitality.
Returning shortly, the slave conducted them across the courtyard, and
ushered them into a room handsomely furnished and brilliantly lighted,
in which ten young men were seated, all very merry and evidently
enjoying a plentiful supper, which they washed down with good wine.
One of the ten, evidently the host, a young man with finely formed
features and black eyes, bright and piercing, addressed the Caliph and
Giafer as they entered.
"Merchants and strangers," said he, "you are welcome to our party. Be
seated, I pray you, and by your diligence in eating and drinking,
endeavour to make up for the time you have lost."
Then the company having saluted them, and they having saluted the
company, by placing their hands across the breast and bowing the head
in the customary manner, the Caliph and Grand Vizier sat down, and the
slaves who waited continued from time to time to bring them plenty both
to eat and to drink.
When the slave who attended on the Caliph had set a handsome goblet of
silver before him and had filled it with wine, the Caliph raised the
goblet, and said--
"We thank you, gentlemen, and you, sir, especially, who are master of
this house, for the welcome you have given us, and your kindness in
admitting us to be partakers of your feast. And we beg that you will
continue that merry conversation in which we heard you engaged when we
ventured to interrupt you and to intrude on your agreeable society."
"Gentlemen," said the host, whose name was Abou Hassan, "you must know
that during several evenings on which the present pleasant company have
previously assembled, we have entertained each other by a relation of
such parts of the history of each of us as the narrators have judged
might prove interesting. Just before you entered the eighth of our
party had finished an account of his experiences, which gave rise to
the merry discussion which you heard. There now remain but two of us,
Murad Essed and myself, who owe our stories to the company, and I will,
therefore, by your leave, at once invite Murad to begin."