There Was A Great Fat Sheep That Was Fed In The Court Of The Palace, Of
That Kind Whereof The Tail Only Will Sometimes Weigh Eleven Or Twelve
Pounds.
Under colour of my madness, I one day laid hold of this sheep,
repeating _Leila illala Mahumet resullah_, the words which the Sultan
desired me to repeat in his presence, by way of proof whether I was a
Mahometan or professed Mameluke.
As the sheep gave no answer, I asked
him whether he were Mahometan, Jew, or Christian. And willing to make
him a Mahometan, I repeated the formula as before, which signifies,
"There is but one God, and Mahomet is his prophet," being the words the
Mahometans rehearse as their profession of faith. As the sheep answered
never a word to all I could say, I at length broke his leg with staff.
The queen took much delight in these my mad tricks, and commanded the
carcass of this sheep to be given me, and I never eat meat with more
relish or better appetite. Three days afterwards I killed an ass that
used to bring water to the palace, because he would not say these words
and be a Mahometan. One day I handled a Jew so very roughly, that I had
near killed him. On another occasion I threw many stones at a person who
called me a Christian clog, but he threw them back at me with such
vengeance, that he hurt me sore, on which I returned to my prison, of
which I barricadoed the door with stones, and lay there for two days, in
great pain, without meat or drink, so that the queen and others thought
me dead, but the door was opened by command of the queen. Those Arabian
dogs used to deride me, giving me stones in place of bread, and pieces
of white marble, pretending that they were lumps of sugar, and others
gave me bunches of grapes all full of sand. That they might not think I
counterfeited madness, I used to eat the grapes sand and all.
When it was rumoured abroad that I had lived two days and nights without
meat or drink, some began to believe that I was a holy madman, while
others supposed me to be stark mad; wherefore they consulted to send for
certain men who dwell in the mountain, who lead a contemplative life,
and are esteemed holy as we do hermits. When they came to give their
judgment concerning me, and were debating among themselves for upwards
of an hour on my case, I pissed in my hands, and threw the water in
their faces, on which they agreed I was no saint, but a mere madman. The
queen saw all this from her window, and laughed heartily at it among her
maids, saying, "By the head of Mahomet this is a good man." Next morning
I happened to find the man asleep who had so sore hurt me with stones,
and taking him by the hair of his head with both hands, I so punched him
in the stomach, and on the face with my knees, that I left him all
bloody and half dead.
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