Thousand & One Nights: 147th Night: Lame Young Man and Baghdad Barber -9

The First Person Account of Lame Young Man:

The barber threw down the razor, went out with astrolabe, and came back, counting on his fingers, and said, "According to the learned and wise mathematicians and astrologers, there are exactly three hours left to the end of prayer, neither more nor less." 

I said to him, "For God's sake, fellow, hold your tongue, for you have tormented me enough."

Then this cursed fellow took the razor and shaved a few hairs, and said, "By God, I don't know the cause of your haste, and I am concerned about it. You would better tell me. Your father and grandfather did nothing without consulting me."

I realised that I am not going to get rid of him. I said to myself, "Noon is approaching, and I wish to go to the young lady before the people return from the mosque. If I am delayed much longer, I will not be able to get to her."

I said to him, "Be quick and stop jabbering, I have to go to a party at the house of my friends." When he heard me speak of party, he said, "This day of yours is a blessed one for me; you have reminded me that yesterday I invited a group of friends, and I have forgotten to provide something for them to eat till now. What is a disgrace in their eyes!" 

I replied, "Don't worry about it. I told you that I am going to a party today. All the food and drink in my house shall be yours, if you hurry and shave my head."

He said, "God bless you, but tell me what are you giving me, so that I may go and inform my guests."

"I have five different dishes," said I, "ten fried chickens, and a roasted lamb."

He said, "Bring them out, so that I may see them."

I bade one of my servants buy all that and bring it back quickly. The servant did as I bade him, and when the barber saw the food, he said, "My lord, the food is here, but there is no wine." I said to him, "I have two flagons of wine."

"Have them brought out," said he. I said to the servant to bring them. When it was brought, the barber said, "O, what an excellent fellow, what a generous soul, and what a noble pedigree! We have the food and wine, but there remain, the perfumes and incense."

I brought him a box containing five dinar's worth of aloe wood, ambergris, and musk, and as time was running out, I said to him, "For God's sake, take the whole box, and shave my head." 

But he replied, "By God, I will not take it until I see the contents one by one."
I bade the servant to open the box, and the barber threw down the astrolabe, sat down, and began to turn over the contents, before accepting them. Meanwhile, I waited with most of my head still unshaven, until I choked with exasperation.

 Then taking the razor, he came up to me and shaved a little hair, reciting the following verses:
The growing boy followed his father 
Just as trees grow from its root.

Then he added, "By God, my lord, I don't know whether to thank you or thank your father, my party owes itself entirely to your generosity. May God preserve it and preserve you. None of my friends is worthy of it; yet they are all decent men such as Zentut and bath keeper and Sali; the corn dealer and Sallut; the bean dealer and Akrasha; the grocer and Said and so many persons of different walks. None of them are disagreeable.

Morning overtook and Shahrazad lapsed into silence 



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