When the young man was gone, continued the tailor, we were all astonished at the story, and turning to the barber, told him he was very much to-blame, if what we had just heard was true.  “Gentlemen,” answered he, raising up his head, which till then he had held down, “my silence during the young man’s discourse is sufficient to testify that he advanced nothing that was not true:  but for all that he has said to you, I maintain that I ought to have done what I did; I leave you to be judges.  Did not he throw himself into danger, and could he have come off so well without my assistance?  He may think himself happy to have escaped with the lame leg Did not I expose myself to greater danger to get him out of a house where I thought he was ill-treated?  Has he any reason to complain of and abuse me?  This is what one gets by serving unthankful people.  He accuses me of being a prattling fellow, which is a mere slander:  of seven brothers, I speak least, and have most wit to my share; and to convince you of this, gentlemen, I need only relate my own story and theirs.  Honour me, I beseech you, with your attention.”

The Story of the Barber.

In the reign of the caliph Mustunsir Billah, that is, seeking victory of God, a prince so famous for his liberality towards the poor, ten highwaymen infested the roads about Bagdad, and for a long time committed unheard-of robberies and cruelties.  The caliph, having notice of this, sent for the judge of the police, some days before the feast of Bairam, and ordered him, on pain of death, to bring all the ten to him.

The judge of the police used so much diligence, and sent so many people in pursuit of the ten robbers, that they were taken on the very day of Bairam.  I was walking at the time on the banks of the Tigris, and saw ten men richly appareled go into a boat.  Had I but observed the guards who had them in custody, I might have concluded they were robbers; but my attention was fixed on the men themselves, and thinking they were people who designed to spend the festival in jollity, I entered the boat with them, hoping they would not object to my making one of the company.  We descended the Tigris, and landed before the caliph’s palace:  I had by this time had leisure to reflect, and to discover my mistake.  When we quitted the boat, we were surrounded by a new troop of the judge of the police’s guard, who bound us all, and carried us before the caliph.  I suffered myself to be bound as well as the rest, without speaking one word:  for what would it have availed to have spoken, or made any resistance?  That had been the way to have got myself ill-treated by the guards, who would not have listened to me, for they are brutish fellows, who will hear no reason:  I was with the robbers, and that was enough to make them believe me to be one of their number.