THE STORY OF THE HUNCHBACK WITH THE TAILOR, THE JEW, THE CHRISTIAN, AND THE BARBER OF BAGHDAD
Note: The reasons that I did not publish yesterday are:
I flew from British Columbia to France. There is a nine hours difference and I almost did not sleep in the airplane.
A week ago, I discovered that I have shingles, and that is very painful.
Now, I am much better, and I will continue to blog every day.
The Jewish Doctor's Narrative, Part 1.
ON THE TWELFTH NIGHT
Sheherazade said:
But, at that moment, the Jewish doctor came forward, kissed the ground, and said: "O king of this time, I am going to tell you a story which is certainly, this time, much more extraordinary than all that you have heard and that the very adventure of the hunchback!"
So the King of China said to him: "Give what you have, for I can't wait any longer!"
And the Jewish doctor says:
STORY OF THE JEWISH DOCTOR
“The most extraordinary thing that happened to me in my youth was precisely this story.
I was then studying medicine and science in the city of Damascus. And when I had learned my trade well, I began to practice it and earn my living.
Now one day, a slave of the house of the governor of Damascus came to me and bade me go with him, and brought me to the house of the governor. And there, in the middle of the great hall, I saw a bed of gold-laminated marble. On this bed lay a sick son of Adam. He was such a handsome young man that his equal could not be seen in the world of that day. So I stood at his bedside and wished him a speedy recovery and health. But he only answered me by waving his eyes at me. And I said to him: “Lord, give me your hand." Then he held out his left hand to me, at which I was greatly astonished, and I said to myself: “Allah! what a surprising thing! Here's a very decent-looking young man, and he's of very high condition. And yet he has no politeness. What an amazing thing!" But that didn't stop me from feeling his pulse and writing him a recipe. And since then I continued to go to see him for ten days, after which he regained his strength and was able to get up as usual. So I told him to go to the hammam to take a bath, and then come back home to rest.
To show me his gratitude, the governor of Damascus made me put on a very rich robe of honor and appointed me his own doctor, and also a doctor in the Damascus hospital. As for the young man, who throughout his illness had continued to hold out his left hand to me, he asked me to accompany him to the hammam, which had been specially reserved for him alone, preventing all customers from entering. When we arrived at the hammam, the servants approached the young man, helped him to undress, took his clothes, and gave him new, clean ones. The young man once naked, I noticed that he had no right hand. At this sight, I was extremely surprised and pained; and my astonishment increased still more when I saw traces of beatings all over his body. Then the young man turned to me and said: “O doctor of the century! Do not be surprised to see me in this state, for I intend to tell you soon the cause, and you will hear a very extraordinary story. But, for that, we must wait until we are out of the hammam."
After leaving the hammam, we arrived at the house, where we sat down to rest and then eat while chatting. And the young man said to me: "Wouldn't you rather we go up to the upper room?" I said to him: “Certainly!" So he ordered the people of the house to grill us a mutton on a spit and then bring it up to us in the upper room, where we went up ourselves. And the slaves soon brought us the grilled mutton and also all kinds of fruit. And we began to eat, but he was still using his left hand. So I said: “Now tell me that story!" He replied: “O physician of the century! I will tell it to you. So listen."
“Know that I am a native of the city of Mosul; where my family is one of the largest in town. My father was one of ten children left by my grandfather when he died and he was the eldest of his brothers; and my father, like all my uncles, when my grandfather died, was already married. But he alone had had a child, which is me; and none of my uncles had children. Also, I gained by growing the affection of all my uncles, who loved me and rejoiced while looking at me.
One day when I was with my father in the great mosque of Mosul to say the Friday prayer, I saw that after the prayer everyone had retired, except my father and my uncles, who were also there. They all sat on the big mat and I sat with them. And they began to talk, and the conversation fell on travels and the marvels of foreign countries and great cities afar off. But it was above all the city of Cairo and Egypt that people talked about. And my uncles told us the admirable stories of travelers who had visited Egypt and who said that there was no more beautiful country on earth, nor a more marvelous river than the Nile. Also, the poets were right to sing of this country and its Nile, and he is quite right, the poet who exclaims:
By Allah! I I conjure you, you will say to the river of my country,
To the Nile of my country, you will tell it that here my thirst cannot be quenched,
That here the Euphrates cannot cure me of the thirst that alters me!
So my uncles began to enumerate for us the marvels of Egypt and its river, and with such eloquence and such warmth that, when they stopped talking and went each to their own homes, I remained completely taken aback and thoughtful; and my mind could no longer detach itself from the pleasant memory of all those things I had just heard about this admirable country. And when I got home, I couldn't sleep a wink all night, and I lost my appetite and refused to eat and drink.
In the meantime, I learned, a few days later, that my uncles had made preparations for a trip to Egypt, and I began to beg my father so much and to cry so much to let me go with them, that he consented and even bought goods from me to trade in; he recommended, however, to my uncles not to keep me with them as far as Egypt, but to leave me, on their way, at Damascus, where I would realize the gain of my goods. So I bade farewell to my father, joined my uncles, and, all together, we left Mosul and set off.
We traveled thus to Aleppo, where we stopped for a few days, and from there we made our way to Damascus, which we soon reached.
We saw that the city of Damascus was a place buried among gardens, running waters, trees, fruits, and birds. It was a paradise full of delights; but what exceedingly abounded there was fruit full of flavor, all kinds of fruit.
We took our lodgings in one of the khans, and my uncles remained in Damascus until they had sold their goods from Mosul, and bought goods from Damascus to sell in Cairo, and they also sold my merchandise and so advantageously that each drachma of merchandise brought me five drachmas of silver. So that did not fail to rejoice me very much. Then my uncles left me alone in Damascus and made their way to Egypt.
At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.
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