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Story Told By The Christian BrokerStory Told By The Christian Broker
Story Told By The Christian Broker
Know, O King of the age, that I came to this country with merchandise,
and destiny stayed me among your people. I was born in Cairo, and am one of
its Copts, and there I was brought up. My father was a broker; and when I had
attained to manhood, he died, and I succeeded to his business; and as I was
sitting one day, lo, a young man of most handsome aspect, and clad in a dress
of the richest description, came to me, riding upon an ass, and when he saw
me, saluted me; whereupon I rose to him, to pay him honour, and he produced a
handkerchief containing some sesame, and said, What is the value of an
ardebb^3 of this? I answered him, A hundred pieces of silver. And he said to
me, Take the carriers and the measures, and repair to the Khan of El-Jawali
in the district of Bab En-Nasr:^4 there wilt thou find me. And he left me
and went his way, after having given me the handkerchief with the sample of
the sesame. So I went about to the purchasers; and the price of each ardebb
amounted to a hundred and twenty pieces of silver; and I took with me four
carriers, and went to him. I found him waiting my arrival; and when he saw me
he rose and opened a magazine, and we measured its contents, and the whole
amounted to fifty ardebbs. The young man then said, Thou shalt have, for every
ardebb, ten pieces of silver as brokerage; and do thou receive the price and
keep it in thy care: the whole sum will be five thousand; and thy share of it,
five hundred: so there will remain for me four thousand and five hundred; and
when I shall have finished the sale of the goods contained in my store-room,
I will come to thee and receive it. I replied, It shall be as thou desirest.
And I kissed his hand, and left him. Thus there accrued to me, on that day, a
thousand pieces of silver, [besides my brokerage.]
[Footnote 3: In Cairo, nearly five bushels.]
[Footnote 4: "Gate of Victory or of Aid": the easternmost of the northern
gates of Cairo built in Iowa. The Khan referred to is mentioned by El-Makrizi
as being situated at a short distance within the present gate and by the site
of the older gate of the same name, and as existing in his time [1417]]
He was absent from me a month, at the expiration of which he came and
said to me, Where is the money? I answered, Here it is, ready. And he said,
Keep it until I come to thee to receive it. And I remained expecting him; but
he was absent from me another month; after which he came again, and said,
Where is the money? Whereupon I arose and saluted him, and said to him, Wilt
thou eat something with us? He, however, declined, and said, Keep the money
until I shall have gone and returned to receive it from thee. He then
departed; and I arose; and prepared for him the money, and sat expecting him;
but again he absented himself from me for a month, and then came and said,
After this day I will receive it from thee. And he departed, and I made ready
the money for him as before, and sat waiting his return. Again, however, he
remained a month absent from me, and I said within myself, Verily this young
man is endowed with consummate liberality! After the month he came, attired in
rich clothing, and resembling the full moon, appearing as if he had just come
out of the bath, with red cheek and fair forehead, and a mole like a globule
of ambergris. When I beheld him I kissed his hand, and invoked a blessing upon
him, and said to him, O my master, wilt thou not take thy money? - Have
patience with me, he answered, until I shall have transacted all my affairs,
after which I will receive it from thee. And so saying, he departed; and I
said within myself, By Allah, when he cometh I will entertain him as a guest,
on account of the profit which I have derived from his money; for great wealth
hath accrued to me from it.
At the close of the year he returned, clad in a dress richer than the
former; and I swore to him that he should alight to be my guest. - On the
condition, he replied, that thou expend nothing of my money that is in thy
possession. I said, Well: - and, having seated him, prepared what was
requisite of meats and drinks and other provisions, and placed them before
him, saying, In the name of Allah! And he drew near to the table, and put
forth his left hand, and thus ate with me: so I was surprised at him;^5 and
when we had finished he washed his hand, and I gave him a napkin with which to
wipe it. We then sat down to converse, and I said, O my master, dispel a
trouble from my mind. Wherefore didst thou eat with thy left hand? Probably
something paineth thee in thy right hand? - On hearing these words, he
stretched forth his arm from his sleeve, and behold, it was maimed - an arm
without a hand! And I wondered at this; but he said to me, Wonder not; nor say
in thy heart that I ate with thee with my left hand from a motive of self -
conceit; for rather to be wondered at is the cause of the cutting off of my
right hand. And what, said I, was the cause of it? He answered thus: -
[Footnote 5: The Arabs consider it indecorous to eat with the left hand.]
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