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Page 63
"How nice!" said the Khoja, smiling benevolently upon the crowd beneath
him, as he prepared to take his departure. "Then those of you who know
can explain it all to those who do not know."
_Tale_ 28.--The Khoja and the Horsemen.
One day when Khoja Effendi was crossing a certain desert plain a troop
of horsemen suddenly appeared riding towards him.
"No doubt these are Bedawee robbers," thought the Khoja, "who will kill
me without remorse for the sake of the Cadi's ferejeh which I wear." And
in much alarm he hastened towards a cemetery which he had perceived to
be near. Here he quickly stripped off his clothes, and, having hidden
them, crept naked into an empty tomb and lay down.
But the horsemen pursued after him, and by and by they came into the
cemetery, and one of them peeped into the tomb and saw the Khoja.
"Here is the man we saw!" cried the horseman; and he said to the Khoja,
"What are you lying there for, and where are your clothes?"
"The dead have no possessions, O Bedawee!" replied the Khoja. "I am
buried here. If you saw me on the plain as I used to appear in life,
without doubt you are one of those who can see ghosts and apparitions."
_Tale_ 29.--The Ox Trespassing.
One day Khoja Effendi, repairing to a piece of ground which belonged to
him, found that a strange ox had got into the enclosure. The Khoja took
a thick stick to beat it with, but the beast, seeing him coming, ran
away and escaped.
Next week the Khoja met a Turk driving the ox, which was harnessed to a
waggon.
Thereupon the Khoja took a stick in his hand, and, running after the ox,
belaboured it soundly. "O man!" cried the Turk, "what are you beating my
beast for?"
"Hold your tongue, you fool," said the Khoja, "and don't meddle with
what doesn't concern you. _The ox knows well enough._"
_Tale_ 30.--The Khoja's Camel.
The next time Khoja Effendi was obliged to take a journey he resolved to
accompany a caravan for protection.
Now the Khoja had lately become possessed of a valuable camel, and he
said to himself, "I will ride my camel instead of going on foot; the
journey will then be a pleasure, and I shall not be fatigued." So he
mounted the camel and set forth.
But as he was riding with the caravan the camel stumbled, and the Khoja
was thrown off and severely hurt. The people of the caravan coming to
his assistance found that he was stunned, but after a while they
succeeded in restoring him.
When the Khoja came to his senses he tore his clothes, and cried in
great rage and indignation, "O Muslims! you do not know what care I have
taken of this camel, and this is how I am rewarded! Will no one kill it
for me? It has done its best to kill me."
But his friends said, "Be appeased, most worthy Effendi, we could not
kill your valuable camel."
"O benefactors!" replied the Khoja, "since you desire the brute's life
it must be spared. But it shall have no home with me. I am about to
drive it into the desert, where it may stumble to its heart's content."
So the Khoja drove the camel away; but before he did so he tore the
furniture and trappings furiously from its back, crying, "I won't leave
you a rag, you ungrateful beast!"
And he pursued his journey on foot, carrying the camel's furniture as
best as he might.
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