{"id":163,"date":"2020-03-27T18:28:58","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T18:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/1853archive.com\/wp_annotation\/?page_id=163"},"modified":"2021-07-12T19:31:40","modified_gmt":"2021-07-12T19:31:40","slug":"charles-dickens-the-merry-men-of-cairo-605","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/1853archive.com\/wp_annotation\/household-words-2\/charles-dickens-the-merry-men-of-cairo-605\/","title":{"rendered":"Pg. 605"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Household<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Charles Dickens.] THE MERRY MEN OF CAIRO. 605<\/p>\n\n\n\n

pushing the door, that was ajar,\nwent into the passage, and cried, \u201cBeit!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWho is there?\u201d was the reply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMay the stones, and the walls,\nand the roof of this dwelling be blessed!\u201d exclaimed the loquacious barber. \u201cI\ndemand permission to enter. I bring a message.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCome up,\u201d said Abu Munchar,\nleaning from the gallery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Ali went upstairs; and,\nhaving kissed the hands of his false friend, told him, with a thousand\ncircumlocutions, of what had taken place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it possible,\u201d cried Abu\nMunchar, \u201cthat the Emir Maza of Dork\u00e2n is in the condition which thou hast\ndescribed? He is the chief and president of our company, but has been absent a\nwhole year on a wonderful adventure. Let me hasten to receive him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the wag went down and\nembraced Maza, and took him away; leaving the poor barber in a state of\namazement and delight that he should have had an opportunity of giving\nhospitality to an emir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next day, Abu Munchar came to\nAli\u2019s shop, and entered invoking blessings on the owner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cO fortunate barber!\u201d he cried,\n\u201cthou art about to attain the accomplishment of thy wishes. The Emir of Dork\u00e2n\nhath consented to receive thee into our company; being amazed with thy\nlearning, and charmed by thy wit, and fascinated by thy elegant demeanour.\nThere remain but some few trifling formalities to undergo, which of course will\nnot stand in the way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ali was profuse in his\nexpressions of de\u00adlight, and promised to comply with whatever was demanded of\nhim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the first place,\u201d said Abu Munchar,\n\u201cthou must exercise thy razor upon thy face, and shave it until not one hair\nremaineth to look at another. Then thou must undress, keeping nothing on but\nthy shirt and thy under-clothing. Afterwards thou must take a kurbeh\n(water-skin) and fill it with foul water, and go about the streets offering to\nthe thirsty. Many things may befall thee; but, depend upon it, ere long, thou\nwilt belong to the com\u00adpany of the wise and happy. Remember, however, should\nany one ask an explanation of thy conduct, say that thou wert commanded by\nMaza, the Emir of Dork\u00e2n.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ali consented to do all this,\nalthough in his heart he feared the consequences. Accord\u00adingly, next day,\nhaving thrown away his beard, clotted with soap, he went forth in his shirt and\ndrawers, bearing on his back a kurbeh filled from the Kalish. The weather was\nvery hot, and before he had taken ten paces a crowd of boys and girls followed\nhim laughing and crying, \u201cO mad Sakka, give us to drink and he gave them from a\nbrass cup, and they spluttered, and cursed him, and pelted him with stones, so\nthat he was forced to take refuge in a crowded bazaar. Here the people made way\nfor him, crying, \u201cThis is a man performing a penance.\u201d Some asked to be\nrefreshed; and many were deceived into tasting what he gave. Whereupon they\nkicked and buffetted him from one end of the bazaar to the other, and said, \u201cThis\nis one of the wags. Let us make him have cause to weep instead of to laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this way he passed from one\nquarter to another, without ever failing to be beaten in any one, until he felt\nhis brain whirl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWoe be unto me!\u201d exclaimed the\nunfortunate shaver at length. \u201cThis matter is not agreeable. It will be well if\nI reach my destination soon, otherwise I shall not have strength to taste the\nfelicity that is prepared for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he uttered these words a Bey,\nriding upon a horse, passed with his attendants; and seeing the Sakka\n(water-carrier), who was now covered with dirt and in rags, asked for a drink,\nintending to present him afterwards with a piece of gold. But, when he tasted\nthe foul drink he was enraged, and ordered his people to seize the offender,\nand to beat him, and to drag him to prison. He was accordingly dragged to\nprison, and thrown in amidst thieves and bad servants, and passed the rest of\nthat day and the whole night in misery, bemoaning himself, and wishing that he\nhad never undertaken this adventure. In the morning they brought him before the\nhead of the police, who questioned him as to the motives of his conduct.\nRemembering what had been told him, Ali avowed that he had obeyed the\ninstructions of the Emir of Dork\u00e2n.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDork\u00e2n!\u201d cried the Zabib, \u201cI\nknow no Dork\u00e2n; therefore there can be no such place as Dork\u00e2n. Who ever heard\nof Dork\u00e2n? This man is guilty of impiety. He hath added a place to Allah\u2019s\nearth. Let him be beaten for speaking of Dork\u00e2n!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to this wise decision,\npoor Ali was beaten until he was incapable of standing. Pain and suffering\ndeprived him of his wits; and, when they cast him forth into the street, he\nmowed and gibbered at all who passed. Some compassionate folks now took him on\ntheir shoulders, and carried him to the Morist\u00e2n or madhouse, where they\nchained him to a ring and beat him, that he might return to his senses. But\nthey at length grew j weary of their benevolent exertions, and left him as\nfoolish as ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When they ceased to torment him\nhe imagined strange things; as that he was a prince of a vast country, and was\nsurrounded with wealth and bright scenes and beautiful damsels. So he danced\nand rattled his chains and shouted \u201cBlessings on Abu Munchar and the Emir of\nDork\u00e2n.\u201d Then, the keepers came and fell upon him with sticks, crying, \u201cWhat an\nobstinate maniac is this! he has been beaten enough to make three wise men; and\nlo! he will not leave howling.\u201d\n\nAli remained in this miserable condition\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charles Dickens.] THE MERRY MEN OF CAIRO. 605 pushing the door, that was ajar, went into the passage, and cried, \u201cBeit!\u201d \u201cWho is there?\u201d was the reply. \u201cMay the stones, and the walls, and the roof of this dwelling be blessed!\u201d exclaimed the loquacious barber. \u201cI demand permission to enter. I bring a message.\u201d \u201cCome […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":664,"menu_order":8,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-163","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1853archive.com\/wp_annotation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1853archive.com\/wp_annotation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1853archive.com\/wp_annotation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1853archive.com\/wp_annotation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1853archive.com\/wp_annotation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/1853archive.com\/wp_annotation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":731,"href":"https:\/\/1853archive.com\/wp_annotation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/163\/revisions\/731"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1853archive.com\/wp_annotation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1853archive.com\/wp_annotation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}