the corpse to the leads of our house, and
tumble it down the chimney into the house of the Mussulman, our
next neighbour. This Mussulman, or Turk, was one of the sultan's
purveyors for furnishing oil, butter, and all sorts of fat,
tallow, &c. and had a magazine in his house, in which the rats
and mice made prodigious havoe.
The Jewish doctor approving the proposed expedient, his wife and
he took the little hunch-back up to the roof of the house; and,
clapping ropes under his arm-pits, let him down the chimney into
the purveyor's chamber so softly and dexterously, that he stood
upright against the wall as if he had been alive. When they found
he stood firm, they pulled up the ropes, and left the gentleman
in that posture. They were scarcely got into their chamber, when
the purveyor went into his, being just come from a wedding feast,
with a lantern in his hand. He was mightily surprised, when, by
the light of his lantern, he descried a man standing upright in
his chimney; but being a stout man, and apprehending it was a
thief or a robber, he took up a large cane; and, making straight
up to the hunch-back, Ah, said he, I thought it was the rats and
the mice that ate my butter and tallow! and it is you that come
down the chimney to rob me, is it? I question if ever you come
back again on the same errand? This said, he fell foul of the
man, and gave him a good many swinging thwacks with his cane:
upon which the corpse fell down, running its nose against the
ground, and the purveyor redoubled his blows: but, observing that
the body did not move, he stood to consider a little; when,
perceiving it was a corpse, fear succeeded his anger.
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