# THE STORY OF THE HUNCHBACK WITH THE TAILOR, THE JEW, THE CHRISTIAN, AND THE BARBER OF BAGHDAD

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## The Jewish Doctor's Narrative, Part 4.
## The Taylor's Narrative, Part 1.

# ON THE FIFTEENTH NIGHT

***Sheherazade said:***

The governor said: "I ardently desire to make you a member of my family and to give you in marriage my third daughter, who is a wise, ingenuous, and virginal young girl, and who has none of the vices of her sisters. And I will not ask you for any dowry, for this marriage; on the contrary, I will reward you generously myself, and you will remain with me, in my house, like a son."

Then I said to him: 'Let it be done according to your will, Lord. But first, as I recently learned that my father was dead, I would like to collect his inheritance."

The governor immediately had somebody sent to Mosul, my native town, to collect, in my name, the inheritance left by my father. And I, indeed, married the governor's daughter; and from that day on, all of us here live the most prosperous and sweetest life.

And you yourself, O physician, have seen with your own eyes how much I am loved and honored in this house. And you will not take into account the incivility that I committed towards you, during all my illness, by extending my left hand to you, since my right hand was cut off!"

As for me, continued the Jewish doctor, I was very amazed by this story, and I congratulated the young man on having gotten out of this adventure in this way. And he showered me with presents and kept me three days with him in the palace, and sent me away laden with riches and goods.

And so, I began to travel the world, to better educate myself in my art. And so I came to your empire, O mighty and generous king! And then, last night, I had this rather unpleasant adventure with the hunchback! And here is my story!

Then the King of China said: "This story interested me enough. But you are mistaken, O doctor! it is neither as marvelous nor as astonishing as the adventure of the hunchback. So it only remains for me to hang all four of you, and especially this cursed tailor who is the cause and the beginning of your crime!"

At these words, the tailor stepped into the hands of the king of China and said: "O king full of glory, before you hang us, allow me, too, to speak, and I will tell you a story which, by itself, contains things more extraordinary than all the other stories put together, and exceeds in prodigies even the story of the hunchback!"

And the King of China said: "If you are telling the truth, I will forgive you all! But woe to you if you tell me a story of little interest and devoid of sublime things. Because I will not hesitate to impale you and your three companions, by having you drilled further and further, from the base to the top!"

Then the tailor said:

# THE TAILOR'S STORY

Know then, O king of time, that before my adventure with the hunchback, I was invited to a house where a feast was given to the principal members of the corporations of our city: tailors, cobblers, sellers of fabrics, barbers, carpenters, and others too.

And it was early in the morning. Also, from daybreak, we had all sat down in a circle to begin the first meal and we were only waiting for the master of the house when we saw him enter accompanied by a foreign young man, handsome, well-made, kind, and dressed in the fashion of Baghdad. And he was as handsome as one could wish and as well dressed as one could imagine. But he was ostensibly lame. So he came into our midst and wished us peace, and we all rose to return his greeting. Then we were all going to sit down, and he with us, when suddenly we saw him changing color, refraining from sitting down and stepping back to go out. Then all of us, with the master of the house, we made our efforts to keep him in our midst, and the master of the house insisted a lot and adjured him and said to him: “In truth, we understand nothing of the thing. Please, tell us at least the cause that pushes you to leave us!"

Then the young man replied: “By Allah! lord, I beg you not to insist any longer on keeping me. Because there is someone here among you who is the cause that compels me to go away. And it is this barber who is sitting in the middle of you!"

At these words, the master of the feast was extremely surprised and said to us: “How can it be that this young man, who has just arrived from Baghdad, can be inconvenienced by the presence of this barber who is here?" Then all of us, the guests, turned to the young man and said to him: "Please, tell us the reason for the revulsion for this barber!" He answered: "Sirs, this barber with the face of tar and the soul of bitumen is the cause of an extraordinary adventure which happened to me in Baghdad, my city, and it is he too, that accursed, which is the cause that I am lame. So I swore never to live in the city where this barber would live and never to sit down in a place where he would sit. And that's why I had to leave Baghdad, my city, and come to this far country. But here I find it right here. So, from this moment, I will go away, and, this evening, I will already be far from this city and from the sight of this man of misfortune!"

At this speech, the barber turned yellow, lowered his eyes, and said not a word. So we insisted so much on the young man that he wanted to tell us this story:

# STORY OF THE LAME YOUNG MAN WITH THE BARBER OF BAGHDAD

Know then, O all of you here present, that I was born of a father who was one of the principal merchants of Baghdad, and, by the will of Allah, my father had little more than me as a child. My father, although very rich and esteemed by the whole town, led a peaceful, calm, and restful life in his house. And he brought me up in this way, and when I had attained the age of man, he left me all his wealth, made me master of all his servants and of all his family, and died in the mercy of Allah, to whom he went to render an account of the debt of his life. And I continued, as in the past, to live liberally, to dress in the most sumptuous clothes, and to eat the most exquisite dishes. But I must tell you that Allah, who is Almighty and Most Glorious, had put in my heart the horror of women, of all women, and so much that the mere sight of them was an object of suffering and inconvenience. So I lived without worrying about them, very happy moreover, and wanted nothing more.

One the day, I was walking in one of the streets of Baghdad when I saw coming from my side a large troop of women. Immediately, to avoid them, I quickly fled and rushed into an alley, which ended in a dead end. At the end of this alley, there was a bench on which I sat down to rest.

***At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.***

[First Night](https://peakd.com/story/@vcelier/one-thousand-and-one-nights-the-story-of-the-hunchback-with-the-tailor-the-jew-the-christian-and-the-barber-of-baghdad-first-n) - [Second Night](https://peakd.com/story/@vcelier/one-thousand-and-one-nights-the-story-of-the-hunchback-with-the-tailor-the-jew-the-christian-and-the-barber-of-baghdad-second-) - [Third Night](https://peakd.com/story/@vcelier/one-thousand-and-one-nights-the-story-of-the-hunchback-with-the-tailor-the-jew-the-christian-and-the-barber-of-baghdad-third-n) - [Fourth Night](https://peakd.com/story/@vcelier/one-thousand-and-one-nights-the-story-of-the-hunchback-with-the-tailor-the-jew-the-christian-and-the-barber-of-baghdad-fourth-) - [Fifth Night](https://peakd.com/story/@vcelier/one-thousand-and-one-nights-the-story-of-the-hunchback-with-the-tailor-the-jew-the-christian-and-the-barber-of-baghdad-fifth-n) - [Sixth Night](https://peakd.com/story/@vcelier/one-thousand-and-one-nights-the-story-of-the-hunchback-with-the-tailor-the-jew-the-christian-and-the-barber-of-baghdad-sixth-n) - [Seventh Night](https://peakd.com/story/@vcelier/one-thousand-and-one-nights-the-story-of-the-hunchback-with-the-tailor-the-jew-the-christian-and-the-barber-of-baghdad-seventh)
[Eighth Night](https://peakd.com/story/@vcelier/one-thousand-and-one-nights-the-story-of-the-hunchback-with-the-tailor-the-jew-the-christian-and-the-barber-of-baghdad-eighth-) - [Ninth Night](https://peakd.com/story/@vcelier/one-thousand-and-one-nights-the-story-of-the-hunchback-with-the-tailor-the-jew-the-christian-and-the-barber-of-baghdad-ninth-n) - [Tenth Night](https://peakd.com/story/@vcelier/one-thousand-and-one-nights-the-story-of-the-hunchback-with-the-tailor-the-jew-the-christian-and-the-barber-of-baghdad-tenth-n) - [Eleventh Night](https://peakd.com/story/@vcelier/one-thousand-and-one-nights-the-story-of-the-hunchback-with-the-tailor-the-jew-the-christian-and-the-barber-of-baghdad-elevent) - [Twelfth Night](https://peakd.com/story/@vcelier/one-thousand-and-one-nights-the-story-of-the-hunchback-with-the-tailor-the-jew-the-christian-and-the-barber-of-baghdad-twelfth) - [Thirteenth Night](https://peakd.com/story/@vcelier/one-thousand-and-one-nights-the-story-of-the-hunchback-with-the-tailor-the-jew-the-christian-and-the-barber-of-baghdad-thirtee)
[Fourteenth Night](https://peakd.com/story/@vcelier/one-thousand-and-one-nights-the-story-of-the-hunchback-with-the-tailor-the-jew-the-christian-and-the-barber-of-baghdad-fourtee)

[Sixteenth Night](https://peakd.com/story/@vcelier/one-thousand-and-one-nights-the-story-of-the-hunchback-with-the-tailor-the-jew-the-christian-and-the-barber-of-baghdad-sixteen)