Besides,
after what has befallen me to-day, I cannot think of staying any
longer in this town; I must go whither my ill fortune leads me.
And actually, when I was cured, I took all the money I thought
necessary for my travels, and divided the remainder of my estate
among my kindred.
Thus, gentlemen, I left Bagdad, and came hither. I had ground to
hope that I should not meet this pernicious barber in a country
so far from my own, and yet I found him amongst you. Do not be
surprised, then, at my haste to be gone; you may easily judge how
disgusting to me the sight of a man is who was the occasion of my
lameness, and of my being reduced to the melancholy necessity of
living at so great a distance from my kindred, friends, and
country.
When the lame young man had spoken these words, he rose, and went
out: the master of the house conducted him to the gate, and told
him he was sorry that he had given him, though innocently, so
great a subject of mortification.
When the young man was gone, continued the tailor, we were all
astonished at the story; and turning to the barber, told him he
was very much in the wrong, if what we had just now heard was
true. Gentlemen, answered he, raising up his head, which till
then he had held down, my silence during the young man's
discourse is enough to testify that he advanced nothing but what
was really true; but, notwithstanding all that he has said to
you, I maintain that I ought to have done what I did; I leave
yourselves to be judges of it.
Pages:
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553