THE STORY OF THE HUNCHBACK WITH THE TAILOR, THE JEW, THE CHRISTIAN, AND THE BARBER OF BAGHDAD
The Taylor's Narrative, Part 7.
ON THE TWENTY-FIRST NIGHT
Sheherazade said:
It happened to me, O fortunate King, that the kadi, astonished, said to them: “And what has he done, your master, that I have killed him? And what is he doing in your midst, this barber who shouts and struggles like a donkey?" Then the barber exclaimed: “It was you who, a while ago, knocked out my master with a stick, while I was in the street and heard his cries!" The kadi replied: "But who is your master?" Where is he from? Where is he going? Who could introduce it here? And what did he do to deserve the beatings?" The barber said: “O kadi of misfortune, do not be cunning, because I know the whole story, the cause of the entry of my master into your house and all the details of the thing. I know, indeed, and I now want everyone to know it, that your daughter is in love with my master and that my master is in love with her! And I accompanied him myself so far. And then you caught him in bed with your daughter and knocked him out with a stick, with the help of your servants. Now, I am going to force you to come with me to our only judge, the caliph, unless you prefer to return our master to us immediately, compensate him for the ill-treatment you have inflicted on him, and deliver him safe and sound to me and his parents. Otherwise, I will be forced to enter your house by force and rescue him myself. So hurry up and give him back to us!"
At these words, the kadi was taken aback, full of confusion, and overwhelmed with shame in front of all those present who were listening. But he said all the same to the barber: “If you are not a liar, you have only to enter my house yourself, I allow you, and look for him everywhere to free him!" Then the barber rushed into the house.
As for me, who was watching this scene from the window, behind the wooden trellis, when I saw that the barber had rushed into the house in search of me, I wanted to run away. But in vain I looked for a way out, there was none within my reach which could not be seen by the people of the house or which was not within reach of the barber. I then found, in one of the rooms where I was looking for a way out, a large empty wooden chest, and I hastened into it to hide, and I closed the lid on myself, and I took my breath away.
As for the barber, when he had ferreted through the whole house, he finally entered the bedroom, must have looked right and left, and saw the chest. Then the cursed man, without saying a word, understood that I was in there, took the chest, loaded it on his head, and carried it away; and he made for the exit as quickly as possible, while I felt myself dying of terror. But, by force of fate, while he was carrying me, the assembled populace wanted to see what was in the trunk, and suddenly the lid was removed. Then, not being able to bear the shame and the jeers, I got up hastily and jumped down, but so quickly that I broke my leg, And it is since that time that I have been lame. But, for the moment, I was only thinking of running and hiding; and, as I found an extraordinary crowd there, I began to throw handfuls of gold at them; and I took advantage of the eagerness of all these people to collect the gold to steal myself away and run at top speed. So I set out to walk through a large part of the darkest streets of Baghdad. But how terrified I was when I suddenly saw the barber behind me and heard him cry out aloud: “O good people! thanks to Allah, I have found my master! They wanted to strike me in my affection for my master! But Allah did not allow the triumph of the wicked and made me overcome them and appointed me to save him from their hands!" Then he said to me, running after me: “O my master, you see now how wrong you have done to act impatiently, and not to listen to my advice. And without the help of Allah, who raised me for your deliverance, you would have suffered the worst treatment, and you would have been damaged forever! So ask Allah to preserve me so that I will be at your service all my life, and that I will be for you an insightful guide; for, you have seen it, you are weak-minded, carried away, and you are a little stupid! But, lord, where are you running to? Wait for me!" So I, no longer knowing how to save myself from this barber, except by death, I stopped and said to him: "O barber, was it not enough for you to reduce me to the state I am in! Do you want me dead?"
But, as I finished talking to him, I saw just in front of me, in the souk, the open shop of a merchant I knew. I rushed into the interior of the shop and begged the owner to prevent this accursed man from entering behind me. And he was able to stop him by showing him a huge club and giving him terrible eyes. But the barber only left, cursing the merchant, the merchant's father and grandfather, and telling him all the insults he knew.
The merchant then questioned me, and I told him my story with that barber and begged him to leave me in the shop till my leg was cured; for I no longer wanted to return to my house, for fear of being haunted all the time by the barber whose face was more intolerable to me than the worst calamity. Then, immediately after my recovery, I took all the money I had; then I summoned the witnesses and made a will by which I bequeathed to my parents all the remainder of my fortune, my goods, and my properties, but to return to them only after my death; and I appointed a sure man as steward to watch over all this, and charged him to treat all mine, great and small, well. And, to put an end to this barber for good, I resolved to leave Baghdad, my city, and go to a place where I would no longer risk finding myself face-to-face with my enemy.
So I left Baghdad and continued to travel until I arrived in this country, where I thought I had succeeded in getting rid of my persecutor. But it was a waste of time, since I have just, oh my lords, to find him here in the midst of you, at this feast to which you invited me!
So you can well imagine that I can no longer have peace of mind before I have left this country as I left the other, and all this because of this accursed, this perverse, this murderous barber whom Allah confuses, him, his family and all his posterity!"
"When the young cripple," continued the tailor in front of the King of China, "had uttered these words, he got up all yellow in complexion, wished us peace, and left without our being able to prevent him.
As for all of us, at this surprising story, we looked at the barber, who was silent and with lowered eyes, and we said to him: "But do you think that the young man has told the truth?" And, in that case, why did you act in this way and cause all these misfortunes to him? Then the barber raised his head and said to us: “By Allah! I acted knowingly, and I did so to save him from worse calamities. For, without me, he was undoubtedly lost. So he only has to thank Allah and thank me that he only lost the use of his leg instead of losing himself entirely. As for you, my lords, that you may have proof that I am neither a talker, nor an indiscreet, nor similar in any way to any of my six brothers, and to show you that I am a useful and well-advised man, and above all very silent, I am going to tell you my story, and you will judge!"
At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.
First Night - Second Night - Third Night - Fourth Night - Fifth Night - Sixth Night - Seventh Night
Eighth Night - Ninth Night - Tenth Night - Eleventh Night - Twelfth Night - Thirteenth Night
Fourteenth Night - Fifteenth Night - Sixteenth Night - Seventeenth Night - Eighteenth Night
Nineteenth Night - Twentieth Night