disposition, and who was so rich that he could afford to be generous to
all his dependants. It was my business to see his camels loaded and
unloaded at proper places, to count his bales of merchandise, and to
take care that they were not mixed with those of his companions. This I
carefully did, till the day we arrived at Alexandria; when, unluckily,
I neglected to count the bales, taking it for granted that they were
all right, as I had found them so the preceding day. However, when we
were to go on board the vessel that was to take us to Cairo, I
perceived that three bales of cotton were missing.
"I ran to inform my master, who, though a good deal provoked at my
negligence, did not reproach me as I deserved. The public crier was
immediately sent round the city, to offer a reward for the recovery of
the merchandise; and it was restored by one of the merchants' slaves,
with whom we had travelled. The vessel was now under sail; my master
and I and the bales of cotton were obliged to follow in a boat; and
when we were taken on board, the captain declared he was so loaded that
he could not tell where to stow the bales of cotton. After much
difficulty, he consented to let them remain upon deck: and I promised
my master to watch them night and day.
"We had a prosperous voyage, and were actually in sight of shore, which
the captain said we could not fail to reach early the next morning. I
stayed, as usual, this night upon deck; and solaced myself by smoking
my pipe. Ever since I had indulged in this practice at the camp at El
Arish, I could not exist without opium and tobacco. I suppose that my
reason was this night a little clouded with the dose I took; but,
towards midnight, I was sobered by terror. I started up from the deck
on which I had stretched myself; my turban was in flames; the bale of
cotton on which I had rested was all on fire. I awakened two sailors,
who were fast asleep on deck. The consternation became general, and the
confusion increased the danger. The captain and my master were the most
active, and suffered the most in extinguishing the flames: my master
was terribly scorched.
"For my part, I was not suffered to do anything; the captain ordered
that I should be bound to the mast; and, when at last the flames were
extinguished, the passengers, with one accord, besought him to keep me
bound hand and foot, lest I should be the cause of some new disaster.
All that had happened was, indeed, occasioned by my ill luck. I had
laid my pipe down, when I was falling asleep, upon the bale of cotton
that was beside me. The fire from my pipe fell out, and set the cotton
in flames. Such was the mixture of rage and terror with which I had
inspired the whole crew, that I am sure they would have set me ashore
on a desert island, rather than have had me on board for a week longer.
Even my humane master, I could perceive, was secretly impatient to get
rid of Murad the Unlucky, and his evil fortune.
"You may believe that I was heartily glad when we landed, and when I
was unbound. My master put a purse containing fifty sequins into my
hand, and bade me farewell. 'Use this money prudently, Murad, if you
can,' said he, 'and perhaps your fortune may change.' Of this I had
little hopes, but determined to lay out my money as prudently as
possible.
"As I was walking through the streets of Grand Cairo, considering how I
should lay out my fifty sequins to the greatest advantage, I was
stopped by one who called me by my name, and asked me if I could
pretend to have forgotten his face. I looked steadily at him, and
recollected to my sorrow that he was the Jew Rachub, from whom I had
borrowed certain sums of money at the camp at El Arish. What brought
him to Grand Cairo, except it was my evil destiny, I cannot tell. He
would not quit me; he would take no excuses; he said he knew that I had
deserted twice, once from the Turkish and once from the English army;
that I was not entitled to any pay; and that he could not imagine it
possible that my brother Saladin would own me, or pay my debts.
"I replied, for I was vexed by the insolence of this Jewish dog, that I
was not, as he imagined, a beggar; that I had the means of paying him
my just debt, but that I hoped he would not extort from me all that
exorbitant interest which none but a Jew could exact. He smiled, and
answered that, if a Turk loved opium better than money, this was no
fault of his; that he had supplied me with what I loved best in the
world; and that I ought not to complain, when he expected I should
return the favor.
"I will not weary you, gentlemen, with all the arguments that passed
between me and Rachub. At last we compromised matters; he would take
nothing less than the whole debt: but he let me have at a very cheap
rate a chest of second-hand clothes, by which he assured me I might
make my fortune. He brought them to Grand Cairo, he said, for the
purpose of selling them to slave-merchants, who at this time of the
year were in want of them to supply their slaves; but he was in haste
to get home to his wife and family, at Constantinople, and therefore he
was willing to make over to a friend the profits of this speculation. I
should have distrusted Rachub's professions of friendship and
especially of disinterestedness; but he took me with him to the khan,
where his goods were, and unlocked the chest of clothes to show them to
me. They were of the richest and finest materials, and had been but
little worn. I could not doubt the evidence of my senses; the bargain
was concluded, and the Jew sent porters to my inn with the chest.
"The next day I repaired to the public market-place; and, when my
business was known, I had choice of customers before night: my chest
was empty,--and my purse was full. The profit I made, upon the sale of
these clothes, was so considerable, that I could not help feeling
astonishment at Rachub's having brought himself so readily to
relinquish them.
"A few days after I had disposed of the contents of my chest, a
Damascene merchant, who had bought two suits of apparel from me, told
me, with a very melancholy face, that both the female slaves who had
put on these clothes were sick. I could not conceive that the clothes
were the cause of their sickness; but soon afterwards, as I was
crossing the market, I was attacked by at least a dozen merchants, who
made similar complaints. They insisted upon knowing how I came by the
garments, and demanded whether I had worn any of them myself. This day
I had for the first time indulged myself with wearing a pair of yellow
slippers, the only finery I had reserved for myself out of all the
tempting goods. Convinced by my wearing these slippers that I could
have had no insidious designs, since I shared the danger, whatever it
might be, the merchants were a little pacified; but what was my terror
and remorse the next day, when one of them came to inform me that
plague-boils had broken out under the arms of all the slaves who had
worn this pestilential apparel! On looking carefully into the chest, we
found the word Smyrna written, and half effaced, upon the lid. Now, the
plague had for some time raged at Smyrna; and, as the merchants
suspected, these clothes had certainly belonged to persons who had died
of that distemper. This was the reason why the Jew was willing to sell
them to me so cheap; and it was for this reason that he would not stay
at Grand Cairo himself to reap _the profits of his speculation_.
Indeed, if I had paid attention to it at the proper time, a slight
circumstance might have revealed the truth to me. Whilst I was
bargaining with the Jew, before he opened the chest, he swallowed a
large dram of brandy, and stuffed his nostrils with sponge dipped in
vinegar: this he told me he did to prevent his perceiving the smell of
musk, which always threw him into convulsions.
"The horror I felt, when I discovered that I had spread the infection
of the plague, and that I had probably caught it myself, overpowered my
senses; a cold dew spread over all my limbs, and I fell upon the lid of
the fatal chest in a swoon. It is said that fear disposes people to
take the infection; however this may be, I sickened that evening, and
soon was in a raging fever. It was worse for me whenever the delirium
left me, and I could reflect upon the miseries my ill fortune had
occasioned. In my first lucid interval, I looked round and saw that I
had been removed from the khan to a wretched hut. An old woman, who was
smoking her pipe in the farthest corner of my room, informed me that I
had been sent out of the town of Grand Cairo by order of the cadi, to
whom the merchants had made their complaint. The fatal chest was burnt,
and the house in which I had lodged razed to the ground. 'And if it had
not been for me,' continued the old woman, 'you would have been dead,
probably, at this instant; but I have made a vow to our great prophet,
that I would never neglect an opportunity of doing a good action:
therefore, when you were deserted by all the world, I took care of you.
Here, too, is your purse, which I saved from the rabble; and, what is
more difficult, from the officers of justice: I will account to you for
every para that I have expended; and will moreover tell you the reason
of my making such an extraordinary vow.'
"As I believed that this benevolent old woman took great pleasure in
talking, I made an inclination of my head to thank her for her promised
history, and she proceeded; but I must confess I did not listen with
all the attention her narrative doubtless deserved. Even curiosity, the
strongest passion of us Turks, was dead within me. I have no
recollection of the old woman's story. It is as much as I can do to
finish my own.
"The weather became excessively hot; it was affirmed, by some of the
physicians, that this heat would prove fatal to their patients; but,
contrary to the prognostics of the physicians, it stopped the progress
of the plague. I recovered, and found my purse much lightened by my
illness. I divided the remainder of my money with my humane nurse, and
sent her out into the city, to inquire how matters were going on.
"She brought me word that the fury of the plague had much abated; but
that she had met several funerals, and that she had heard many of the
merchants cursing the folly of Murad the Unlucky, who, as they said,
had brought all this calamity upon the inhabitants of Cairo. Even
fools, they say, learn by experience. I took care to burn the bed on
which I had lain, and the clothes I had worn: I concealed my real name,
which I knew would inspire detestation, and gamed admittance, with a
crowd of other poor wretches, into a lazaretto, where I performed
quarantine, and offered up prayers daily for the sick.
"When I thought it was impossible I could spread the infection, I took
my passage home. I was eager to get away from Grand Cairo, where I knew
I was an object of execration. I had a strange fancy haunting my mind;
I imagined that all my misfortunes, since I left Constantinople, had
arisen from my neglect of the talisman upon the beautiful china vase. I
dreamed three times, when I was recovering from the plague, that a
genius appeared to me, and said, in a reproachful tone, 'Murad, where
is the vase that was intrusted to thy care?'
"This dream operated strongly upon my imagination. As soon as we
arrived at Constantinople, which we did, to my great surprise, without
meeting with any untoward accidents, I went in search of my brother
Saladin, to inquire for my vase. He no longer lived in the house in
which I left him, and I began to be apprehensive that he was dead; but
a porter, hearing my inquiries, exclaimed, 'Who is there in
Constantinople that is ignorant of the dwelling of Saladin the Lucky?
Come with me, and I will show it to you.'
"The mansion to which he conducted me looked so magnificent, that I was
almost afraid to enter lest there should be some mistake. But, whilst I
was hesitating, the doors opened, and I heard my brother Saladin's
voice. He saw me almost at the same instant that I fixed my eyes upon
him, and immediately sprang forward to embrace me. He was the same good
brother as ever, and I rejoiced in his prosperity with all my heart.
'Brother Saladin,' said I, 'can you now doubt that some men are born to
be fortunate, and others to be unfortunate? How often you used to
dispute this point with me!'
"'Let us not dispute it now in the public street,' said he, smiling;
'but come in and refresh yourself, and we will consider the question
afterwards at leisure.'
"'No, my dear brother,' said I, drawing back, 'you are too good: Murad
the Unlucky shall not enter your house, lest he should draw down
misfortunes upon you and yours. I come only to ask for my vase.'
"'It is safe,' cried he; 'come in, and you shall see it; but I will not
give it up till I have you in my house. I have none of these
superstitious fears: pardon me the expression, but I have none of these
superstitious fears.'
"I yielded, entered his house, and was astonished at all I saw! My
brother did not triumph in his prosperity; but, on the contrary, seemed
intent only upon making me forget my misfortunes: he listened to the
account of them with kindness, and obliged me by the recital of his
history; which was, I must acknowledge, far less wonderful than my own.
He seemed, by his own account, to have grown rich in the common course
of things; or, rather, by his own prudence. I allowed for his
prejudices, and, unwilling to dispute further with him, said, 'You must
remain of your opinion, brother; and I of mine: you are Saladin the
Lucky, and I Murad the Unlucky; and so we shall remain to the end of
our lives.'
"I had not been in his house four days when an accident happened, which
showed how much I was in the right. The favorite of the sultan, to whom
he had formerly sold his china vase, though her charms were now
somewhat faded by time, still retained her power, and her taste for
magnificence. She commissioned my brother to bespeak for her, at
Venice, the most splendid looking-glass that money could purchase. The
mirror, after many delays and disappointments, at length arrived at my
brother's house. He unpacked it, and sent to let the lady know it was
in perfect safety. It was late in the evening, and she ordered it
should remain where it was that night; and that it should be brought to
the seraglio the next morning. It stood in a sort of antechamber to the
room in which I slept; and with it were left some packages, containing
glass chandeliers for an unfinished saloon in my brother's house.
Saladin charged all his domestics to be vigilant this night, because he
had money to a great amount by him, and there had been frequent
robberies in our neighborhood. Hearing these orders, I resolved to be
in readiness at a moment's warning. I laid my scimitar beside me upon a
cushion; and left my door half open, that I might hear the slightest
noise in the antechamber or the great staircase. About midnight I was
suddenly awakened by a noise in the antechamber. I started up, seized
my scimitar, and the instant I got to the door, saw, by the light of
the lamp which was burning in the room, a man standing opposite to me,
with a drawn sword in his hand. I rushed forward, demanding what he
wanted, and received no answer; but, seeing him aim at me with his
scimitar, I gave him, as I thought, a deadly blow. At this instant, I
heard a great crash; and the fragments of the looking-glass, which I
had shivered, fell at my feet. At the same moment something black
brushed by my shoulder: I pursued it, stumbled over the packages of
glass, and rolled over them down the stairs.
"My brother came out of his room, to inquire the cause of all this
disturbance; and when he saw the fine mirror broken, and me lying
amongst the glass chandeliers at the bottom of the stairs, he could not
forbear exclaiming, 'Well, brother! you are indeed Murad the Unlucky.'
"When the first emotion was over, he could not, however, forbear
laughing at my situation. With a degree of goodness, which made me a
thousand times more sorry for the accident, he came down stairs to help
me up, gave me his hand, and said, 'Forgive me, if I was angry with you
at first. I am sure you did not mean to do me any injury; but tell me
how all this has happened.'
"Whilst Saladin was speaking, I heard the same kind of noise which had
alarmed me in the antechamber; but, on looking back, I saw only a black
pigeon, which flew swiftly by me, unconscious of the mischief he had
occasioned. This pigeon I had unluckily brought into the house the
preceding day; and had been feeding and trying to tame it for my young
nephews. I little thought it would be the cause of such disasters. My
brother, though he endeavored to conceal his anxiety from me, was much
disturbed at the idea of meeting the favorite's displeasure, who would
certainly be grievously disappointed by the loss of her splendid
looking-glass. I saw that I should inevitably be his ruin, if I
continued in his house; and no persuasions could prevail upon me to
prolong my stay. My generous brother, seeing me determined to go, said
to me, 'A factor, whom I have employed for some years to sell
merchandise for me, died a few days ago. Will you take his place? I am
rich enough to bear any little mistakes you may fall into, from
ignorance of business; and you will have a partner who is able and
willing to assist you.'
"I was touched to the heart by this kindness, especially at such a time
as this. He sent one of his slaves with me to the shop in which you now
see me, gentlemen. The slave, by my brother's directions, brought with
us my china vase, and delivered it safely to me, with this message:
'The scarlet dye that was found in this vase, and in its fellow, was
the first cause of Saladin's making the fortune he now enjoys: he
therefore does no more than justice, in sharing that fortune with his
brother Murad.'
"I was now placed in as advantageous a situation as possible; but my
mind was ill at ease, when I reflected that the broken mirror might be
my brother's ruin. The lady by whom it had been bespoken was, I well
knew, of a violent temper; and this disappointment was sufficient to
provoke her to vengeance. My brother sent me word this morning,
however, that, though her displeasure was excessive, it was in my power
to prevent any ill consequences that might ensue. 'In my power!' I
exclaimed; 'then, indeed, I am happy! Tell my brother there is nothing
I will not do to show him my gratitude, and to save him from the
consequences of my folly.'
"The slave who was sent by my brother seemed unwilling to name what was
required of me, saying that his master was afraid I should not like to
grant the request. I urged him to speak freely, and he then told me the
favorite declared nothing would make her amends for the loss of the
mirror but the fellow vase to that which she had bought from Saladin.
It was impossible for me to hesitate; gratitude for my brother's
generous kindness overcame my superstitious obstinacy; and I sent him
word I would carry the vase to him myself.
"I took it down this evening from the shelf on which it stood; it was
covered with dust, and I washed it, but unluckily, in endeavoring to
clean the inside from the remains of the scarlet powder, I poured hot
water into it, and immediately I heard a simmering noise, and my vase,
in a few instants, burst asunder with a loud explosion. These
fragments, alas! are all that remain. The measure of my misfortunes is
now completed! Can you wonder, gentlemen, that I bewail my evil
destiny? Am I not justly called Murad the Unlucky? Here end all my
hopes in this world! Better would it have been if I had died long ago!
Better that I had never been born! Nothing I ever have done or
attempted has prospered. Murad the Unlucky is my name, and ill fate has
marked me for her own."
III.
The lamentations of Murad were interrupted by the entrance of Saladin.
Having waited in vain for some hours, he now came to see if any
disaster had happened to his brother Murad. He was surprised at the
sight of the two pretended merchants, and could not refrain from
exclamations on beholding the broken vase. However, with his usual
equanimity and good-nature, he began to console Murad; and, taking up
the fragments, examined them carefully, one by one joined them together
again, found that none of the edges of the china were damaged, and
declared he could have it mended so as to look as well as ever.
Murad recovered his spirits upon this. "Brother," said he, "I comfort
myself for being Murad the Unlucky, when I reflect that you are Saladin
the Lucky. See, gentlemen," continued he, turning to the pretended
merchants, "scarcely has this most fortunate of men been five minutes
in company before he gives a happy turn to affairs. His presence
inspires joy: I observe your countenances, which had been saddened by
my dismal history, have brightened up since he has made his appearance.
Brother, I wish you would make these gentlemen some amends for the time
they have wasted in listening to my catalogue of misfortunes, by
relating your history, which, I am sure, they will find rather more
exhilarating."
Saladin consented, on condition that the strangers would accompany him
home, and partake of a social banquet. They at first repeated the
former excuse of their being obliged to return to their inn; but at
length the sultan's curiosity prevailed, and he and his vizier went
home with Saladin the Lucky, who, after supper, related his history in
the following manner:--
"My being called Saladin the Lucky first inspired me with confidence in
myself; though I own that I cannot remember any extraordinary instances
of good luck in my childhood. An old nurse of my mother's, indeed,
repeated to me, twenty times a day, that nothing I undertook could fail
to succeed, because I was Saladin the Lucky. I became presumptuous and
rash; and my nurse's prognostics might have effectually prevented their
accomplishment, had I not, when I was about fifteen, been roused to
reflection during a long confinement, which was the consequence of my
youthful conceit and imprudence.
"At this time there was at the Porte a Frenchman, an ingenious
engineer, who was employed and favored by the sultan, to the great
astonishment of many of my prejudiced countrymen. On the grand
seignior's birthday he exhibited some extraordinarily fine fireworks;
and I, with numbers of the inhabitants of Constantinople, crowded to
see them. I happened to stand near the place where the Frenchman was
stationed; the crowd pressed upon him, and I amongst the rest; he
begged we would, for our own sakes, keep at a greater distance, and
warned us that we might be much hurt by the combustibles which he was
using. I, relying upon my good fortune, disregarded all these cautions;
and the consequence was, that as I touched some of the materials
prepared for the fireworks, they exploded, dashed me upon the ground
with great violence, and I was terribly burnt.
"This accident, gentlemen, I consider as one of the most fortunate
circumstances of my life; for it checked and corrected the presumption
of my temper. During the time I was confined to my bed, the French
gentleman came frequently to see me. He was a very sensible man; and
the conversations he had with me enlarged my mind, and cured me of many
foolish prejudices, especially of that which I had been taught to
entertain, concerning the predominance of what is called luck, or
fortune, in human affairs. 'Though you are called Saladin the Lucky,'
said he, 'you find that your neglect of prudence has nearly brought you
to the grave even in the bloom of youth. Take my advice, and
henceforward trust more to prudence than to fortune. Let the multitude,
if they will, call you Saladin the Lucky; but call yourself, and make
yourself, Saladin the Prudent.'
"These words left an indelible impression on my mind, and gave a new
turn to my thoughts and character. My brother, Murad, has doubtless
told you that our difference of opinion, on the subject of
predestination, produced between us frequent arguments; but we could
never convince one another, and we each have acted, through life, in
consequence of our different beliefs. To this I attribute my success
and his misfortunes.