Tales of Folk and Fairies Part 9

She was frightened lest the lad should in some way offend the Caliph by saying or doing something ill-judged.

The lad tried to rea.s.sure her, though he himself was far from being at ease.

"If the Caliph was pleased with the way I conducted the case last night I do not think he can be so very much displeased with me to-day," said he; "for I feel sure that only in this way can we discover the truth between the two merchants."

When the lad returned to the Vizier he looked very grave, and as they went along together on their way to the palace the Vizier tried in every way to put him more at ease and give him confidence.

Immediately upon their arrival at the palace they were shown into the room where the Caliph was sitting. Haroun-al-Raschid greeted the boy with no less kindness than the Vizier had shown and asked him if he understood the purpose for which he had been brought thither.

The lad said he did.

"Then let the two merchants come in," said the Caliph.

Ali Cogia and Abul Ha.s.san were at once brought in by the officers of the court. Ali Cogia brought with him the jar of olives, for so he had been commanded to do.

The Cadi who had judged between the two merchants had also been ordered to attend, and he entered and took the place a.s.signed to him.

The Caliph then turned to the lad and bade him open the case by bidding the merchants tell their stories, and this, after a moment's pause, the lad did.

Ali Cogia told his story just as he had before, stating that he had left with Abul Ha.s.san seven years before a thousand pieces of gold packed in a jar and covered over with olives.

"Is this the jar you left with Abul Ha.s.san?" asked the boy, pointing to the jar Ali had brought into court.

Ali stated that it was.

"Abul Ha.s.san, do you also say this is the jar Ali Cogia left with you?" asked the lad.

Abul answered that it was. He also asked to be allowed to take his oath that the jar had not been disturbed after it was left in his warehouse until Ali Cogia had returned and removed it.

"That is not necessary at present," answered the boy. "First let some expert olive merchants be brought in."

Several olive dealers, the most expert in the city, had been sent for, and they now came forward.

The lad asked these real merchants the same questions he had asked of the feigned merchants the night before. "How long," said he, "is it possible to keep olives good?"

And the merchants answered, as had the boys, "Not more than three years, for no matter how carefully they have been packed, after that time they lose both color and flavor."

"Look in that jar," said the lad, "and tell us how long you think those olives have been kept there."

The merchants examined the olives with the greatest care, and then they all agreed that the olives were of that year's growth and quite fresh.

"And do you not think it possible they may have been kept a year or so?"

"No, it is not possible," answered the merchants. "We know, of a surety, as we have already said, that these olives are of this year's growth, and have only recently been packed in the jar."

When Ali Cogia heard this he gave a cry of surprise, but Abul Ha.s.san was silent; his face grew as pale as ashes, and his legs failed under him, for he knew that the merchants, in saying this, had p.r.o.nounced sentence against him.

But the lad turned to the Caliph and begged that he might now be allowed to hand over the case to him. "When I p.r.o.nounced sentence last night, it was but in play," said he. "But this is not play. A man's life is at stake, and I dare not p.r.o.nounce sentence upon him."

To this request the Caliph agreed. "Abul Ha.s.san, you have condemned yourself," he said. He then bade the guards take Abul Ha.s.san away and execute him according to the law.

Before the wretched man was hanged, however, he confessed his guilt and told where he had hidden the thousand pieces of gold that belonged to Ali Cogia.

After Abul had been led away the Caliph caressed and praised the lad for conducting the case so wisely and with so much judgment.

"As for you," said he to the Cadi, "you have not shown the wisdom I demand from my judges. Learn from this child that such cases are not to be dismissed lightly, but to be inquired into with judgment and care. Otherwise it may go ill with you."

The Cadi retired, full of shame, but the Caliph ordered that a hundred pieces of gold should be given to the boy and that he should be sent home to his mother with honor.

OH!

A COSSACK STORY

There was once a man who had one son, and he was so lazy that he would not work at all. The father apprenticed him to a tailor, but the lad went to sleep between the st.i.tches. He apprenticed him to a cobbler and the lad only sat and yawned instead of driving pegs. What to do with him the man did not know.

"Come," said the father one day, "we will go out into the wide world.

It may be that somewhere or other we will find a master who can make you work."

The lad was very good-natured. "Very well," said he, "I am willing"; and he arose and stretched himself and yawned, and then he was ready to set out.

The father put on his cap and took a staff in his hand, and then he was ready, too.

The two of them journeyed along together, in step and out of step, and after a while they came to a deep wood. When they were well into it, the father grew so weary that he had to sit down and rest.

"Oh! what have I done that I should have such a lazy son!" he cried.

At once a little old, wrinkled, weazened man, all dressed in green, with a green face, green hair, and a green beard stood before them.

"Why did you call me," said he, "and what do you want?"

"I did not call you," answered the man.

"But you did call me, for I heard you. Did not you call 'Oh'? And that is my name."

"I said, 'Oh, what have I done to have such a lazy son,'" replied the man, "but I did not call you, for I did not know that was your name."

The Green one looked closely at the lad. "Is he so lazy?" he asked.

"He looks a stout, healthy fellow."

"That is the worst of it," answered the father. "He is so stout and healthy that he eats me out of house and home, and not one stroke will he do to pay for it. I have tried to apprentice him to different masters, but they soon weary of him and drive him out."

"Very well; I will take him as an apprentice myself," answered the little man. "Leave him here with me for a year. Come back at the end of that time, and if you know him again and are able to choose him out from among my other apprentices, then you shall take him home with you, but if not, then he shall serve with me a year longer."

Very well, the father was willing to agree to that. It would only be for a year, for of course he would recognize his own son anywhere. So he left the lad with Oh and went on home again.