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"Hum!" murmured the Berber-Bashi to himself, "this is a thing well worth remembering." "On the following day the pale prince made a present of Irene to the Grand Vizier.
With your bare hand too! To kill a man with nothing but your empty fist! If a cannon-ball had knocked him over he could not be deader than he is." "But what shall we do now?" cried Janaki, looking around him with tremulous terror. "The Sultan is sure to send and make inquiries about his lost Berber-Bashi. It is known that he came here in disguise. The affair cannot long remain hidden."
Nor can I tell you his name, but that has nothing to do with the story. This merchant had an only daughter whom he loved most dearly. She had ne'er a wish that was not instantly gratified, and he guarded her as the very apple of his eye. Not even the breath of Heaven was allowed to blow upon her." "And know you not what the name of the maiden was?" inquired the Berber-Bashi.
And with that Gül-Bejáze embraced her husband and kissed him again and again, and smiled upon him with her large radiant eyes. "A very pretty story truly!" observed Musli, smacking his lips; "what a pity there is not more of it!" "Oh, no regrets, worthy Mussulman, there is more of it!" cried the Berber-Bashi, rising from his place; "just listen to the sequel of it!
And all this time the worthy Berber-Bashi was looking on at this junketing through the trellised window, and could scarce restrain himself from giving expression to his astonishment when he perceived that Gül-Bejáze no longer collapsed like a dead thing at the contact of a kiss, or even at the pressure of an embrace, as she was wont to do in the harem, indeed her face had now grown rosier than the dawn.
"Thou hast laid the command upon me, most puissant and most gracious Padishah," continued the Berber-Bashi, unwinding the pearl-embroidered kauk from the head of the Sultan "thou hast laid the command upon me to discover and acquaint thee with what further befell Gül-Bejáze after she had been cast forth from thy harem.
Janaki promised money and loads of treasure to Ali Kermesh if only he would hold his tongue, say nothing of what had happened, and let the girl remain with her husband. But the Berber-Bashi was inexorable. "No," said he, "I will take away the girl, and your treasures also shall be mine.
Let him come hither!" This sentiment was greeted with an approving howl. "Let him come hither if he wants to talk to a Janissary!" cried many voices. "Who ever heard of summoning a Janissary away from his camp?" It was as much as Pelivan could do to restrain his fury. "You two are murderers," said he, "you have killed the Sultan's Berber-Bashi." At this there was a general outburst of laughter.
And she promised her father and her husband that she would tell them such a lot of things things wondrous, unheard of, of which they had not and never could have the remotest idea. And through the thin iron shutters which covered the window the Berber-Bashi curiously observed the touching scene!
The sun is shining through the windows of the Seraglio, the two Ulemas who are wont to come and pray with the Sultan have withdrawn, and the Kapu-Agasi, or chief doorkeeper, and the Anakhtar Oglan, or chief key-keeper, hasten to open the doors through which the Padishah generally goes to his dressing-room, where already await him the most eminent personages of the Court, to wit, the Khas-Oda-Bashi, or Master of the Robes, the Chobodar who hands the Sultan his first garment, the Dülbendar who ties the shawl round his body, the Berber-Bashi who shaves his head, the Ibrikdar Aga who washes his hands, the Peshkiriji Bashi who dries them again, the Serbedji-Bashi who has a pleasant potion ready for him, and the Ternakdji who carefully pares his nails.
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