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And conceive not, O Commander of the Faithful, that I am prodigal

of speech; but I must perforce explain to thee that I am a man of

greater worth and fewer words than any of them. From each one of

my brothers hangs a tale of how he came by his bodily defect and

these I will relate to thee." So the Caliph gave ear to

The Barber's Tale of his First Brother.

Know then, O Commander of the Faithful, that my first brother, Al

Bakbuk, the Prattler, is a Hunchback who took to tailoring in

Baghdad, and he used to sew in a shop hired from a man of much

wealth, who dwelt over the shop,[FN#635] and there was also a

flour-mill in the basement. One day as my brother, the Hunchback,

was sitting in his shop a tailoring, he chanced to raise his head

and saw a lady like the rising full moon at a balconied window of

his landlord's house, engaged in looking out at the passers

by.[FN#636] When my brother beheld her, his heart was taken with

love of her and he passed his whole day gazing at her and

neglected his tailoring till eventide. Next morning he opened his

shop and sat him down to sew; but, as often as he stitched a

stitch, he looked to the window and saw her as before; and his

passion and infatuation for her increased.