Thousand & One Nights:148th Night: Lame Young Man & Baghdad Barber -10

Shahrazad is the Frame story teller.The story was originally told by Lame Young Man to the guests of Quran recitation. The tailor who choked the hunchback to death tell the story to the king of China to get relief from the punishment.
The original story as a first person account by the lame young man:

The barber said, "The corn dealer sings better than the nightingale, and dances and says, 'O wailing mistress, you have not done badly.' which the men laugh until their hearts burst. As for the garbage man, he dances to the tambourine and charms even the birds, as he sings, 'News from my neighbour is locked in chest.' He is clever, deft, spirited, quick-witted, and refined fellow of whose virtues I like to say:
A handsome garbage man
Whose gait has set my heart on fire!
Fate blessed me with him one night 
On the ebb and flow of my desire 

I said: you have inflamed me
No wonder a scavenger can light the pyre!

Every one of us know how to divert mind with mirth and fun. Perhaps my lord would like to join us today and postpone going to his friends. You still show traces of illness. You may meet there some meddlesome talkative men or a busybody who will give you a head ache."

I said to him, "You have not failed in your advice," and in spite of my anger, I laughed. "Finish my business and go in peace, and enjoy yourself with your friends. They are waiting for you."

The barber said, "My lord, I only wish to introduce you to the company of these nice fellows among whom there is not one meddlesome garrulous man. Since I reached manhood I do not tolerate the company of a man who meddles ill what concerns him not or who is not, like myself, a man of few words. If you were once in their company, you would forsake all your friends.

I said, "May God grant joy with them. I must visit you and enjoy their company one of these days."
He replied, "I wish it were today, but if you are determined not to come with me but to go to your friends today, then let me take to my guests what you have kindly given me for them."

I said, "Go to your friends, and enjoy yourself with them. And let me go to my friends, they are waiting for me."
Barber: "I leave you, and let you go. I believe that you are going to meet a woman, and not your friends"

Morning overtook and Shahrazad lapsed into silence 




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