' So the chamberlain went down at once
to the place of execution, where he found the hangman on the
point of hanging the tailor and cried out to him to stop. Then he
gave the King's order to the prefect, who took the tailor, the
physician, the controller and the broker, and brought them all,
together with the dead hunchback, before the King. When he came
into the presence, he kissed the earth and told the King all that
had passed; whereat he was moved to wonder and mirth and
commended the story to be written in letters of gold, saying to
the courtiers, 'Did you ever hear a more wonderful story than
that of this hunchback?' With this came forward the Christian
broker and said, 'O King of the age, with thy leave, I will tell
thee a thing that happened to myself and which is still stranger
and more wonderful and pleasant than the story of the hunchback.'
Quoth the King, 'Let us hear it.' Then said the broker, 'O King
of the age, I came to this city with merchandise, and Fate made
me settle here with you, but
The Christian Broker's Story.
I am by birth a Copt, and a native of Cairo, where I was brought
up. My father was a broker, and when I came to man's estate, he
died and I became a broker in his stead. One day, as I was
sitting in my shop, there came up to me a young man as handsome
as could be, richly clad and riding on an ass.
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