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Therefore I say that it is well for men to think of their sins after rather than before committing them. 'But the intention! What of the intention, O my master? His intention was not good. He stole! 'His intention went no further than a basket of bastirma. The Jew was only an unpleasant accident, in respect whereof no guilt attached to him.
The case is clear, and yet, although I used to argue with him on the subject, I never could contrive to make him see it. One thing is certain, and will prove to you the worth of good intentions. He only meant to eat a basket of bastirma; therefore he felt great remorse when he devoured a Jew, and so became a saint for Paradise.
The major-domo bowed his head, folded his hands upon his breast, and said: "I ask forgiveness, O my lord. The basket still remains, but the bastirma was so excellent that, having tasted but a piece of it, I wanted more, so that, in fact, I ate it all upon the journey. I wish to pay the price of it to this young Jew." 'The Cadi thought his servant's offer fair enough, but the young Jew went mad.
And so my father and my mother in Stambûl cured his dead limbs, and made of them bastirma, and sent him hither in the way thou knowest. It follows that thy servant has committed a most dreadful crime. Let him be killed, I pray, and buried in the tomb we have prepared, that so my grandfather's great wish may be fulfilled." 'The major-domo was more dead than living as he heard that story.
The Cadi and his party journeyed till they reached their destination, where, upon arrival, they discovered a young Jew inquiring earnestly about a basket of bastirma. The Cadi had forgotten its existence. "Ah, to be sure!" he cried. "I gave it my major-domo for safe keeping." 'He called that servant, and commanded him to give the basket of bastirma to the Jew there waiting.
He rent his clothes and fell down on the ground insensible. 'The Cadi answered the young Jew with wisdom, saying: "Thou art entitled to the price of one basket of bastirma, and no more, from this my servant; but he, on his side, has a right to all thou ownest.
Suleymân's opponent cried: 'It was a judgment on him, evidently, for his theft of the bastirma. Say, what became of him thereafter, O narrator? 'The major-domo, who, till then, had been a precious rogue I knew him intimately from a child, and so can vouch for it became from that day forth the saintliest of men.
'A new judge had been appointed to the Holy City. He was departing from Stambûl by ship to take up his appointment. You all know what bastirma is. It is dried and salted mutton very tasty a dish of which the Turks are most inordinately fond. The Cadi graciously consented, bidding his major-domo take the basket, and bestow it carefully among the things. The Jew departed.
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