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Page 55
But as the Khoja spoke the third wise man came forward and said: "Most
worshipful Effendi! Be pleased now to hear my question, and if you can
answer it, we will conform to the wishes of the Sultan. How many hairs
are there in my beard?"
"As many," replied the Khoja, "as there are hairs in my donkey's tail."
"How do you know that?" asked the wise man.
"If you do not believe me, count for yourself," said the Khoja.
But the wise man replied: "It is for you to count, and to prove to me
the truth of what you say."
"With all my heart," replied the Khoja. "And I will do it in a way that
cannot possibly fail. I shall first pull out a hair from your beard, and
then one from my donkey's tail, and then another from your beard, and so
on. Thus at the end it will be seen whether the number of the hairs of
each kind exactly correspond."
But the wise man did not wait for this method of proof to be enforced by
the Sultan. He hastily announced himself as a convert to the Padisha's
wishes. The other two Sages followed his example, and their wisdom was
for many years the light of the court of the Sultan Ala-ed-Deen.
Moreover, they became disciples of the Khoja.
_Tale_ 5.--The Khoja's Donkey.
One day there came a man to the house of the Khoja to ask him for the
loan of his donkey.
"The donkey is not at home," replied the Khoja, who was unwilling to
lend his beast.
At this moment the donkey brayed loudly from within.
"O Khoja Effendi!" cried the man, "what you say cannot be true, for I
can hear your donkey quite distinctly as I stand here."
"What a strange man you must be," said the Effendi. "Is it possible that
you believe a donkey rather than me, who am grey-haired and a Khoja?"
_Tale_ 6.--The Khoja's Gown.
One day the Khoja's wife, having washed her husband's gown, hung it out
in the garden to dry.
Now in the dusk of the evening the Khoja repaired to his garden, where
he saw, as he believed, a thief standing with outstretched arms.
"O you rascal!" he cried, "is it you who steal my fruit? But you shall
do so no more."
And having called to his wife for his bow and arrows, the Khoja took
aim and pierced his gown through the middle. Then without waiting to see
the result he hastened into his house, secured the door with much care,
and retired to rest.
When morning dawned, the Khoja went out into the garden, where
perceiving that what he had hit was his own gown, he seated himself and
returned thanks to the All-merciful Disposer of Events.
"Truly," said he, "I have had a narrow escape. If I had been inside it,
I should have been dead long before this!"
_Tale_ 7.--The Khoja and the Fast of Ramadan.
In a certain year, when the holy month of the fast of Ramadan was
approaching, Khoja Nasr-ed-Deen took counsel with himself and resolved
not to observe it.
"Truly," said he, "there is no necessity that I should fast like the
common people. I will rather provide myself with a vase into which I
will drop a stone every day. When there are thirty pebbles in the vase,
I shall know that Ramadan is over, and I shall then be able to keep the
feast of Bairam at the proper season."
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