“Well, my friend, and what do you think now?  Have you ever heard of anyone who has suffered more, or had more narrow escapes than I have?  Is it not just that I should now enjoy a life of ease and tranquillity?”

Hindbad drew near, and kissing his hand respectfully, replied, “Sir, you have indeed known fearful perils; my troubles have been nothing compared to yours.  Moreover, the generous use you make of your wealth proves that you deserve it.  May you live long and happily in the enjoyment in it.”

Sindbad then gave him a hundred sequins, and hence-forward counted him among his friends; also he caused him to give up his profession as a porter, and to eat daily at his table that he might all his life remember Sindbad the Sailor.

The Little Hunchback

In the kingdom of Kashgar, which is, as everybody knows, situated on the frontiers of Great Tartary, there lived long ago a tailor and his wife who loved each other very much.  One day, when the tailor was hard at work, a little hunchback came and sat at the entrance of the shop, and began to sing and play his tambourine.  The tailor was amused with the antics of the fellow, and thought he would take him home to divert his wife.  The hunchback having agreed to his proposal, the tailor closed his shop and they set off together.

When they reached the house they found the table ready laid for supper, and in a very few minutes all three were sitting before a beautiful fish which the tailor’s wife had cooked with her own hands.  But unluckily, the hunchback happened to swallow a large bone, and, in spite of all the tailor and his wife could do to help him, died of suffocation in an instant.  Besides being very sorry for the poor man, the tailor and his wife were very much frightened on their own account, for if the police came to hear of it the worthy couple ran the risk of being thrown into prison for wilful murder.  In order to prevent this dreadful calamity they both set about inventing some plan which would throw suspicion on some one else, and at last they made up their minds that they could do no better than select a Jewish doctor who lived close by as the author of the crime.  So the tailor picked up the hunchback by his head while his wife took his feet and carried him to the doctor’s house.  Then they knocked at the door, which opened straight on to a steep staircase.  A servant soon appeared, feeling her way down the dark staircase and inquired what they wanted.

“Tell your master,” said the tailor, “that we have brought a very sick man for him to cure; and,” he added, holding out some money, “give him this in advance, so that he may not feel he is wasting his time.”  The servant remounted the stairs to give the message to the doctor, and the moment she was out of sight the tailor and his wife carried the body swiftly after her, propped it up at the top of the staircase, and ran home as fast as their legs could carry them.