Tales of the Caravan, Inn, and PalaceHauff, Wilhelm
General
Tales of the Caravan, Inn, and Palace
Hauff, Wilhelm
Short stories, German -- Translations into English
Kalum congratulated himself at having got out of a very bad scrape so
easily, and was just going to thank the kind caliph, when Haroun
continued: "For the perjury you committed about the hundred gold
pieces, you will receive a hundred lashes on the soles of your feet.
Further than this Said will have the choice of taking your shop and its
contents and you as a porter, or of contenting himself with ten gold
pieces for every day's work he did for you."
"Let the wretch go, Caliph!" cried the youth; "I would not take
anything that ever belonged to him."
"No," replied Haroun, "I prefer that you should be compensated. I will
choose for you the ten gold pieces a day, and you can reckon up how
many days you were in his claws. Away with this wretch!"
The two offenders were led away, and the caliph conducted Benezar and
Said to another apartment, where he related to Benezar his rescue by
Said, interrupted by the shrieks of Kalum-Bek, upon the soles of whose
feet a hundred gold pieces of full weight were being counted out.
The caliph invited Benezar to come to Bagdad and live with him and
Said. Benezar consented, and made only one more journey home in order
to fetch his large possessions. Said lived in the palace which the
grateful caliph built for him, like a prince. The caliph's brother and
grand vizier's son were his constant companions; and it soon became a
proverb in Bagdad: "I would that I were as good and as fortunate as
Said, the son of Benezar."
"I could keep awake for two or three nights without experiencing the
least sensation of sleepiness, with such entertainment," said
the compass-maker, when the huntsman had concluded. "And I have
often proved the truth of what I say. I was once apprentice to a
bell-founder. The master was a rich man and no miser, and therefore our
wonder was all the more aroused on a certain occasion, when we had a
big job on hand, by a display of parsimony on his part. A bell was
being cast for a new church, and we apprentices had to sit up all night
and keep the fire up. We did not doubt that the master would tap a cask
of the best wine for us. But we were mistaken. He began to talk about
his travels, and to tell all manner of stories of his life; then the
head apprentice's turn came, and so on through the whole row of us, and
none of us got sleepy, so intent were we all in listening. Before we
knew it, day was at hand. Then we perceived the master's stratagem of
keeping us awake by telling stories; for when the bell was done he did
not spare his wine, but brought out what he had wisely saved on those
nights."
"He was a sensible man," said the student. "There is no remedy for
sleepiness like conversation. And I should not have cared to sit alone
to-night, for about eleven o'clock I should have succumbed to sleep."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account