“How nice!” said the Khoja, smiling benevolently upon the crowd beneath him, as he prepared to take his departure.  “Then those of you who know can explain it all to those who do not know.”

Tale 28.—­The Khoja and the Horsemen.

One day when Khoja Effendi was crossing a certain desert plain a troop of horsemen suddenly appeared riding towards him.

“No doubt these are Bedawee robbers,” thought the Khoja, “who will kill me without remorse for the sake of the Cadi’s ferejeh which I wear.”  And in much alarm he hastened towards a cemetery which he had perceived to be near.  Here he quickly stripped off his clothes, and, having hidden them, crept naked into an empty tomb and lay down.

But the horsemen pursued after him, and by and by they came into the cemetery, and one of them peeped into the tomb and saw the Khoja.

“Here is the man we saw!” cried the horseman; and he said to the Khoja, “What are you lying there for, and where are your clothes?”

“The dead have no possessions, O Bedawee!” replied the Khoja.  “I am buried here.  If you saw me on the plain as I used to appear in life, without doubt you are one of those who can see ghosts and apparitions.”

Tale 29.—­The Ox Trespassing.

One day Khoja Effendi, repairing to a piece of ground which belonged to him, found that a strange ox had got into the enclosure.  The Khoja took a thick stick to beat it with, but the beast, seeing him coming, ran away and escaped.

Next week the Khoja met a Turk driving the ox, which was harnessed to a waggon.

Thereupon the Khoja took a stick in his hand, and, running after the ox, belaboured it soundly.  “O man!” cried the Turk, “what are you beating my beast for?”

“Hold your tongue, you fool,” said the Khoja, “and don’t meddle with what doesn’t concern you. The ox knows well enough.”

Tale 30.—­The Khoja’s Camel.

The next time Khoja Effendi was obliged to take a journey he resolved to accompany a caravan for protection.

Now the Khoja had lately become possessed of a valuable camel, and he said to himself, “I will ride my camel instead of going on foot; the journey will then be a pleasure, and I shall not be fatigued.”  So he mounted the camel and set forth.

But as he was riding with the caravan the camel stumbled, and the Khoja was thrown off and severely hurt.  The people of the caravan coming to his assistance found that he was stunned, but after a while they succeeded in restoring him.

When the Khoja came to his senses he tore his clothes, and cried in great rage and indignation, “O Muslims! you do not know what care I have taken of this camel, and this is how I am rewarded!  Will no one kill it for me?  It has done its best to kill me.”

But his friends said, “Be appeased, most worthy Effendi, we could not kill your valuable camel.”