The Little Hunchback

: The Arabian Nights Entertainments

In the kingdom of Kashgar, which is, as everybody knows, situated on

the frontiers of Great Tartary, there lived long ago a tailor and his

wife who loved each other very much. One day, when the tailor was hard

at work, a little hunchback came and sat at the entrance of the shop,

and began to sing and play his tambourine. The tailor was amused with

the antics of the fellow, and thought he would take him home to divert

his wife. The hunchback having agreed to his proposal, the tailor

closed his shop and they set off together.



When they reached the house they found the table ready laid for supper,

and in a very few minutes all three were sitting before a beautiful

fish which the tailor's wife had cooked with her own hands. But

unluckily, the hunchback happened to swallow a large bone, and, in

spite of all the tailor and his wife could do to help him, died of

suffocation in an instant. Besides being very sorry for the poor man,

the tailor and his wife were very much frightened on their own account,

for if the police came to hear of it the worthy couple ran the risk of

being thrown into prison for wilful murder. In order to prevent this

dreadful calamity they both set about inventing some plan which would

throw suspicion on some one else, and at last they made up their minds

that they could do no better than select a Jewish doctor who lived

close by as the author of the crime. So the tailor picked up the

hunchback by his head while his wife took his feet and carried him to

the doctor's house. Then they knocked at the door, which opened

straight on to a steep staircase. A servant soon appeared, feeling her

way down the dark staircase and inquired what they wanted.



"Tell your master," said the tailor, "that we have brought a very sick

man for him to cure; and," he added, holding out some money, "give him

this in advance, so that he may not feel he is wasting his time." The

servant remounted the stairs to give the message to the doctor, and the

moment she was out of sight the tailor and his wife carried the body

swiftly after her, propped it up at the top of the staircase, and ran

home as fast as their legs could carry them.



Now the doctor was so delighted at the news of a patient (for he was

young, and had not many of them), that he was transported with joy.



"Get a light," he called to the servant, "and follow me as fast as you

can!" and rushing out of his room he ran towards the staircase. There

he nearly fell over the body of the hunchback, and without knowing what

it was gave it such a kick that it rolled right to the bottom, and very

nearly dragged the doctor after it. "A light! a light!" he cried

again, and when it was brought and he saw what he had done he was

almost beside himself with terror.



"Holy Moses!" he exclaimed, "why did I not wait for the light? I have

killed the sick man whom they brought me; and if the sacred Ass of

Esdras does not come to my aid I am lost! It will not be long before I

am led to jail as a murderer."



Agitated though he was, and with reason, the doctor did not forget to

shut the house door, lest some passers-by might chance to see what had

happened. He then took up the corpse and carried it into his wife's

room, nearly driving her crazy with fright.



"It is all over with us!" she wailed, "if we cannot find some means of

getting the body out of the house. Once let the sun rise and we can

hide it no longer! How were you driven to commit such a terrible

crime?"



"Never mind that," returned the doctor, "the thing is to find a way out

of it."



For a long while the doctor and his wife continued to turn over in

their minds a way of escape, but could not find any that seemed good

enough. At last the doctor gave it up altogether and resigned himself

to bear the penalty of his misfortune.



But his wife, who had twice his brains, suddenly exclaimed, "I have

thought of something! Let us carry the body on the roof of the house

and lower it down the chimney of our neighbour the Mussulman." Now this

Mussulman was employed by the Sultan, and furnished his table with oil

and butter. Part of his house was occupied by a great storeroom, where

rats and mice held high revel.



The doctor jumped at his wife's plan, and they took up the hunchback,

and passing cords under his armpits they let him down into the

purveyor's bed-room so gently that he really seemed to be leaning

against the wall. When they felt he was touching the ground they drew

up the cords and left him.



Scarcely had they got back to their own house when the purveyor entered

his room. He had spent the evening at a wedding feast, and had a

lantern in his hand. In the dim light it cast he was astonished to see

a man standing in his chimney, but being naturally courageous he seized

a stick and made straight for the supposed thief. "Ah!" he cried, "so

it is you, and not the rats and mice, who steal my butter. I'll take

care that you don't want to come back!"



So saying he struck him several hard blows. The corpse fell on the

floor, but the man only redoubled his blows, till at length it occurred

to him it was odd that the thief should lie so still and make no

resistance. Then, finding he was quite dead, a cold fear took

possession of him. "Wretch that I am," said he, "I have murdered a

man. Ah, my revenge has gone too far. Without the help of Allah I am

undone! Cursed be the goods which have led me to my ruin." And already

he felt the rope round his neck.



But when he had got over the first shock he began to think of some way

out of the difficulty, and seizing the hunchback in his arms he carried

him out into the street, and leaning him against the wall of a shop he

stole back to his own house, without once looking behind him.



A few minutes before the sun rose, a rich Christian merchant, who

supplied the palace with all sorts of necessaries, left his house,

after a night of feasting, to go to the bath. Though he was very

drunk, he was yet sober enough to know that the dawn was at hand, and

that all good Mussulmen would shortly be going to prayer. So he

hastened his steps lest he should meet some one on his way to the

mosque, who, seeing his condition, would send him to prison as a

drunkard. In his haste he jostled against the hunchback, who fell

heavily upon him, and the merchant, thinking he was being attacked by a

thief, knocked him down with one blow of his fist. He then called

loudly for help, beating the fallen man all the while.



The chief policeman of the quarter came running up, and found a

Christian ill-treating a Mussulman. "What are you doing?" he asked

indignantly.



"He tried to rob me," replied the merchant, "and very nearly choked me."



"Well, you have had your revenge," said the man, catching hold of his

arm. "Come, be off with you!"



As he spoke he held out his hand to the hunchback to help him up, but

the hunchback never moved. "Oho!" he went on, looking closer, "so this

is the way a Christian has the impudence to treat a Mussulman!" and

seizing the merchant in a firm grasp he took him to the inspector of

police, who threw him into prison till the judge should be out of bed

and ready to attend to his case. All this brought the merchant to his

senses, but the more he thought of it the less he could understand how

the hunchback could have died merely from the blows he had received.



The merchant was still pondering on this subject when he was summoned

before the chief of police and questioned about his crime, which he

could not deny. As the hunchback was one of the Sultan's private

jesters, the chief of police resolved to defer sentence of death until

he had consulted his master. He went to the palace to demand an

audience, and told his story to the Sultan, who only answered,



"There is no pardon for a Christian who kills a Mussulman. Do your

duty."



So the chief of police ordered a gallows to be erected, and sent criers

to proclaim in every street in the city that a Christian was to be

hanged that day for having killed a Mussulman.



When all was ready the merchant was brought from prison and led to the

foot of the gallows. The executioner knotted the cord firmly round the

unfortunate man's neck and was just about to swing him into the air,

when the Sultan's purveyor dashed through the crowd, and cried,

panting, to the hangman,



"Stop, stop, don't be in such a hurry. It was not he who did the

murder, it was I."



The chief of police, who was present to see that everything was in

order, put several questions to the purveyor, who told him the whole

story of the death of the hunchback, and how he had carried the body to

the place where it had been found by the Christian merchant.



"You are going," he said to the chief of police, "to kill an innocent

man, for it is impossible that he should have murdered a creature who

was dead already. It is bad enough for me to have slain a Mussulman

without having it on my conscience that a Christian who is guiltless

should suffer through my fault."



Now the purveyor's speech had been made in a loud voice, and was heard

by all the crowd, and even if he had wished it, the chief of police

could not have escaped setting the merchant free.



"Loose the cords from the Christian's neck," he commanded, turning to

the executioner, "and hang this man in his place, seeing that by his

own confession he is the murderer."



The hangman did as he was bid, and was tying the cord firmly, when he

was stopped by the voice of the Jewish doctor beseeching him to pause,

for he had something very important to say. When he had fought his way

through the crowd and reached the chief of police,



"Worshipful sir," he began, "this Mussulman whom you desire to hang is

unworthy of death; I alone am guilty. Last night a man and a woman who

were strangers to me knocked at my door, bringing with them a patient

for me to cure. The servant opened it, but having no light was hardly

able to make out their faces, though she readily agreed to wake me and

to hand me the fee for my services. While she was telling me her story

they seem to have carried the sick man to the top of the staircase and

then left him there. I jumped up in a hurry without waiting for a

lantern, and in the darkness I fell against something, which tumbled

headlong down the stairs and never stopped till it reached the bottom.

When I examined the body I found it was quite dead, and the corpse was

that of a hunchback Mussulman. Terrified at what we had done, my wife

and I took the body on the roof and let it down the chimney of our

neighbour the purveyor, whom you were just about to hang. The

purveyor, finding him in his room, naturally thought he was a thief,

and struck him such a blow that the man fell down and lay motionless on

the floor. Stooping to examine him, and finding him stone dead, the

purveyor supposed that the man had died from the blow he had received;

but of course this was a mistake, as you will see from my account, and

I only am the murderer; and although I am innocent of any wish to

commit a crime, I must suffer for it all the same, or else have the

blood of two Musselmans on my conscience. Therefore send away this

man, I pray you, and let me take his place, as it is I who am guilty."



On hearing the declaration of the Jewish doctor, the chief of police

commanded that he should be led to the gallows, and the Sultan's

purveyor go free. The cord was placed round the Jew's neck, and his

feet had already ceased to touch the ground when the voice of the

tailor was heard beseeching the executioner to pause one moment and to

listen to what he had to say.



"Oh, my lord," he cried, turning to the chief of police, "how nearly

have you caused the death of three innocent people! But if you will

only have the patience to listen to my tale, you shall know who is the

real culprit. If some one has to suffer, it must be me! Yesterday, at

dusk, I was working in my shop with a light heart when the little

hunchback, who was more than half drunk, came and sat in the doorway.

He sang me several songs, and then I invited him to finish the evening

at my house. He accepted my invitation, and we went away together. At

supper I helped him to a slice of fish, but in eating it a bone stuck

in his throat, and in spite of all we could do he died in a few

minutes. We felt deeply sorry for his death, but fearing lest we

should be held responsible, we carried the corpse to the house of the

Jewish doctor. I knocked, and desired the servant to beg her master to

come down as fast as possible and see a sick man whom we had brought

for him to cure; and in order to hasten his movements I placed a piece

of money in her hand as the doctor's fee. Directly she had disappeared

I dragged the body to the top of the stairs, and then hurried away with

my wife back to our house. In descending the stairs the doctor

accidentally knocked over the corpse, and finding him dead believed

that he himself was the murderer. But now you know the truth set him

free, and let me die in his stead."



The chief of police and the crowd of spectators were lost in

astonishment at the strange events to which the death of the hunchback

had given rise.



"Loosen the Jewish doctor," said he to the hangman, "and string up the

tailor instead, since he has made confession of his crime. Really, one

cannot deny that this is a very singular story, and it deserves to be

written in letters of gold."



The executioner speedily untied the knots which confined the doctor,

and was passing the cord round the neck of the tailor, when the Sultan

of Kashgar, who had missed his jester, happened to make inquiry of his

officers as to what had become of him.



"Sire," replied they, "the hunchback having drunk more than was good

for him, escaped from the palace and was seen wandering about the town,

where this morning he was found dead. A man was arrested for having

caused his death, and held in custody till a gallows was erected. At

the moment that he was about to suffer punishment, first one man

arrived, and then another, each accusing themselves of the murder, and

this went on for a long time, and at the present instant the chief of

police is engaged in questioning a man who declares that he alone is

the true assassin."



The Sultan of Kashgar no sooner heard these words than he ordered an

usher to go to the chief of police and to bring all the persons

concerned in the hunchback's death, together with the corpse, that he

wished to see once again. The usher hastened on his errand, but was

only just in time, for the tailor was positively swinging in the air,

when his voice fell upon the silence of the crowd, commanding the

hangman to cut down the body. The hangman, recognising the usher as

one of the king's servants, cut down the tailor, and the usher, seeing

the man was safe, sought the chief of police and gave him the Sultan's

message. Accordingly, the chief of police at once set out for the

palace, taking with him the tailor, the doctor, the purveyor, and the

merchant, who bore the dead hunchback on their shoulders.



When the procession reached the palace the chief of police prostrated

himself at the feet of the Sultan, and related all that he knew of the

matter. The Sultan was so much struck by the circumstances that he

ordered his private historian to write down an exact account of what

had passed, so that in the years to come the miraculous escape of the

four men who had thought themselves murderers might never be forgotten.



The Sultan asked everybody concerned in the hunchback's affair to tell

him their stories. Among others was a prating barber, whose tale of

one of his brothers follows.



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