When the foolish BROKAH heard these things he cried, “Justice, O Aga
of the BROKAHS,--justice and the fulfilment of my bond! Let the prince
deliver unto me the STOKH. Here are my fifty thousand sequins.” But the
prince said, “Have I not told that my godmother is dying, and that
my STOKH is valueless?” At this the BROKAH only clamored the more for
justice and the fulfilment of his bond. Then the Aga of the BROKAHS
said, “Since the bond is destroyed, behold thou hast no claim. Go thy
ways!” But the BROKAH again cried, “Justice, my lord Aga! Behold, I
offer the prince seventy thousand sequins for his STOKH!” But the prince
said, “It is not worth one sequin!” Then the Aga said, “Bismillah! I
cannot understand this. Whether thy godmother be dead, or dying, or
immortal, does not seem to signify. Therefore, O prince, by the laws
of BIZ and of ALLAH, thou art released. Give the BROKAH thy STOKH for
seventy thousand sequins, and bid him depart in peace. On his own head
be it!” When the prince heard this command, he handed his STOKH to the
BROKAH, who counted out to him seventy thousand sequins. But the heart
of the virtuous prince did not rejoice, nor did the BROKAH, when he
found his STOKH was valueless; but the merchants lifted their hands in
wonder at the sagacity and wisdom of the famous Prince BULLEBOYE.
For none would believe that it was the law of ALLAH that the prince
followed, and not the rules of BIZ.
THE RUINS OF SAN FRANCISCO
Towards the close of the nineteenth century the city of San Francisco
was totally ingulfed by an earthquake. Although the whole coast-line
must have been much shaken, the accident seems to have been purely
local, and even the city of Oakland escaped. Schwappelfurt, the
celebrated German geologist, has endeavored to explain this singular
fact by suggesting that there are some things the earth cannot
swallow,--a statement that should be received with some caution, as
exceeding the latitude of ordinary geological speculation.
Historians disagree in the exact date of the calamity. Tulu Krish, the
well-known New-Zealander, whose admirable speculations on the ruins
of St. Paul as seen from London Bridge have won for him the attentive
consideration of the scientific world, fixes the occurrence in A. D.
1880. This, supposing the city to have been actually founded in 1850,
as asserted, would give but thirty years for it to have assumed the
size and proportions it had evidently attained at the time of its
destruction. It is not our purpose, however, to question the conclusions
of the justly famed Maorian philosopher. Our present business lies with
the excavations that are now being prosecuted by order of the Hawaiian
government upon the site of the lost city.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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