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Page 61
"How should I know?" replied the Khoja. "I don't deal in the moon."
_Tale_ 22.--The Khoja's Dream.
One night when he was asleep the Khoja dreamed that he found nine pieces
of money.
"Bountiful heaven!" said he, "let me have been mistaken. I will count
them afresh. Let there be ten!" And when he counted them there were ten.
Then he said, "Let there be nineteen!" And vehemently contending for
nineteen he awoke. But when he was awake and found that there was
nothing in his hands, he shut his eyes again, and stretching his hands
out said, "Make it nine pieces, I'll not say another word."
_Tale_ 23.--The Old Moon.
One day some of the neighbours said, "Let us ask this Khoja something
that will puzzle him, and see what he will say." So they came to the
Khoja and said, "The moon is on the wane, Khoja Effendi, and we shall
soon have a new one; what will be done with the old moon?"
"They will break it up and make stars of it," said the Khoja.
_Tale_ 24.--The Short Piece of Muslin.
One day Nasr-ed-Deen Effendi was tying a new piece of muslin for his
turban, when to his annoyance he discovered that it was too short. He
tried a second time, but still it was not long enough, and he spoiled
his turban, and lost his temper. Much vexed with the muslin, the Khoja
took it to the bazaar, and gave it in to be sold by auction.
By and by the sale began, and after a time the muslin was put up, and a
man came forward and began to bid. Another man bid against him, and the
first man continued to raise his price.
The Khoja was standing near, and at last he could bear it no longer.
"That rascal of a muslin has cheated me and put me to infinite
inconvenience," said he; "it played me false; and am I bound to conceal
its deficiencies?"
Then he came softly up to the highest bidder, and whispered, "Take care
what you are about, brother, in buying that muslin. It's a short
length."
_Tale_ 25.--The Khoja Peeps Into Futurity.
Having need of a stout piece of wood, the Khoja one day decided to cut
off a certain branch from a tree that belonged to him, as he perceived
that it would serve his purpose.
Taking, therefore, his axe in his hand, and tucking his skirts into his
girdle, he climbed the tree, and the branch he desired being firm and
convenient, he seated himself upon it, and then began to hack and hew.
As he sat and chopped a man passed by below him, who called out and
said, "O stupid man! What are you doing? When the branch is cut through
you will certainly fall to the ground."
"Are the decrees of the future less veiled from this man than from me,
who am a Khoja?" said Nasr-ed-Deen Effendi to himself, and he made the
man no reply, but chopped on.
In a few moments the branch gave way, and the Khoja fell to the ground.
When he recovered himself he jumped up, and ran after the man who had
warned him.
[Illustration: THE KHOJA FALLS.]
"O you fellow!" cried he. "It has happened to me even as you foretold.
At the moment when the branch was cut through I fell to the ground. Now,
therefore, since the future is open to thee, I beseech thee to tell me
the day of my death."
"This madness is greater than the other," replied the man. "The day of
death is among the hidden counsels of the Most High."
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