Then the first wise man came forward and said:  “My question, most worshipful Effendi, is this:  Where is the middle of the world?”

The Khoja, without an instant’s hesitation, pointed with his stick to a fore-hoof of his donkey.

“There,” said he, “exactly where my donkey’s foot is placed—­there is the centre of the earth.”

“How do you know that?” asked the Sage.

“If you do not believe me,” replied the Khoja, “measure for yourself.  If you find it wrong one way or the other, I will acknowledge my error.”

The second Sage now came forward and said:  “O Khoja Effendi, how many stars are there on the face of this sky?”

“The same number,” replied the Khoja, “as there are hairs on my donkey.”

“How do you know that?” asked the wise man.

“If you do not believe me,” replied the Khoja, “count for yourself.  If there is a hair too few or too many, I will acknowledge my error.”

“O most learned Khoja!” said the wise man, “have you indeed counted the hairs on your donkey?”

“O most venerable Sage!” replied the Khoja, “have you indeed numbered the stars of the sky?”

But as the Khoja spoke the third wise man came forward and said:  “Most worshipful Effendi!  Be pleased now to hear my question, and if you can answer it, we will conform to the wishes of the Sultan.  How many hairs are there in my beard?”

“As many,” replied the Khoja, “as there are hairs in my donkey’s tail.”

“How do you know that?” asked the wise man.

“If you do not believe me, count for yourself,” said the Khoja.

But the wise man replied:  “It is for you to count, and to prove to me the truth of what you say.”

“With all my heart,” replied the Khoja.  “And I will do it in a way that cannot possibly fail.  I shall first pull out a hair from your beard, and then one from my donkey’s tail, and then another from your beard, and so on.  Thus at the end it will be seen whether the number of the hairs of each kind exactly correspond.”

But the wise man did not wait for this method of proof to be enforced by the Sultan.  He hastily announced himself as a convert to the Padisha’s wishes.  The other two Sages followed his example, and their wisdom was for many years the light of the court of the Sultan Ala-ed-Deen.

Moreover, they became disciples of the Khoja.

Tale 5.—­The Khoja’s Donkey.

One day there came a man to the house of the Khoja to ask him for the loan of his donkey.

“The donkey is not at home,” replied the Khoja, who was unwilling to lend his beast.

At this moment the donkey brayed loudly from within.

“O Khoja Effendi!” cried the man, “what you say cannot be true, for I can hear your donkey quite distinctly as I stand here.”

“What a strange man you must be,” said the Effendi.  “Is it possible that you believe a donkey rather than me, who am grey-haired and a Khoja?”