Page:Arabian Nights Entertainments (1728)-Vol. 4.djvu/81

are Whites, he reſembles an Ehiopian; and when. all is come to all, his Soul is yet blacker and more horrible than his Face.

Scheherazade perceiving Day, ſaid no more for that Night; but next Day went on as follows.

WE were all ſurprized to hear the young Man ſpeak ſo, continued the Taylor; and we began to have a very bad Opinion of the Barber, without knowing what Ground the young Man had for what he ſaid, Nay, we proteſted we would not ſuffer any. one to remain in our Company, that bore ſo horrid a Character. The Maſter of the Houſe intreated the Stranger to tell us what Reaſon he had for hating the Barber. Gentlemen, ſaid the young Man, you muſt know this curſed Barber is the Cauſe of my being lame, and fallen under the cruelleſt Accident that any one can imagine. For this Reaſon I have made an Oath to avoid all the Places where he is, and even not to ſtay in the Cities where he dwells. ’Twas for this Reaſon that I left Bagdad, where he then was; and travelled ſo far to ſettle in this City, in the Heart of great Tartary, a Place where I flattered my ſelt I ſhould never ſee him. And now after all, contrary to my Expectation, I find him here. This obliges me, Gentlemen, againſt my Will, to deprive my ſelf of the Honour of being merry with you. This very Day I take leave of your Town, and will go if I can to hide my Head where he ſhall not come. This ſaid, he would have left us, but the Maſter kept and intreated him to ſtay, and tell the Cauſe of his Averſion for the Barber, who all this while looked down and ſaid ne’er a Word. We joined with the Maſter of the Houſe in requeſting him to ſtay, and at laſt the young Man giving way to our Inſtances, ſat down upon the Sofa, and after turning his Back to the Barber that he might not ſee him, gave us the following Account.

My Father’s Quality might have intitled him to the higheſt Poſts in the City of Bagdad, but he always preferred a quiet Life to all the Honours he might deſerve. I was aways his only Child; and when he died I was already educated, and of Age to diſpoſe of the plentiful Fortune he had