When the business of the court was over, the kazi, pitying the supposed madman, sent for him to learn the reason of his strange behaviour, and in answer to his inquiries the simpleton said, “You don’t seem to know me, sir, nor recognise this bridle, which has been in your mouth so often.  You appear to forget that you are the foal of one of my asses, that I got changed into a man, for the fee of a hundred rupis, by a learned mullah who transforms asses into educated men.  You forget what you were, and, I suppose, will be as little submissive to me as you were to the mullah when you ran away from him.”  All present were convulsed with laughter:  such a “case” was never heard of before.  But the kazi, seeing how the mullah had taken advantage of the poor fellow’s simplicity, gave him a present of a hundred rupis, besides sufficient for the expenses of his journey home, and so dismissed him.

A party of rogues once found as great a blockhead in a rich Indian herdsman, to whom they said, “We have asked the daughter of a wealthy inhabitant of the town in marriage for you, and her father has promised to give her.”  He was much pleased to hear this, and gave them an ample reward for their trouble.  After a few days they came again and told him that his marriage had taken place.  Again he gave them rich presents for their good news.  Some more days having passed, they said to him, “A son has been born to you,” at which he was in ecstacies and gave them all his remaining wealth; but the next day, when he began to lament, saying, “I am longing to see my son,” the people laughed at him on account of his having been cheated by the rogues, as if he had acquired the stupidity of cattle from having so much to do with them.

It is not generally known that the incident which forms the subject of the droll Scotch song “The Barring of the Door,” which also occurs in the Nights of Straparola, is of Eastern origin.  In an Arabian tale, a blockhead, having married his pretty cousin, gave the customary feast to their relations and friends.  When the festivities were over, he conducted his guests to the door, and from absence of mind neglected to shut it before returning to his wife.  “Dear cousin,” said his wife to him when they were alone, “go and shut the street door.”  “It would be strange indeed,” he replied, “if I did such a thing.  Am I just made a bridegroom, clothed in silk, wearing a shawl and a dagger set with diamonds, and am I to go and shut the door?  Why, my dear, you are crazy.  Go and shut it yourself.”  “Oh, indeed!” exclaimed the wife.  “Am I, young, robed in a dress, with lace and precious stones—­am I to go and shut the street door?  No, indeed!  It is you who are become crazy, and not I. Come, let us make a bargain,” she continued; “and let the first who speaks go and fasten the door.”  “Agreed,” said the husband, and immediately he became mute, and the wife too was silent, while they both sat down, dressed as they were in their