' Then came forward the Jewish physician and kissing the
earth, said, 'O King of the age, I will tell thee a story more
wonderful than that of the hunchback.' 'Tell on,' answered the
King; and the Jew said, 'The strangest adventure that ever befell
me was as follows:
The Jewish Physician's Story.
In my younger days I lived at Damascus, where I studied my art;
and one day, as I sat in my house, there came to me a servant
with a summons from the governor of the city. So I followed him
to the house and entering the saloon, saw, lying on a couch of
juniper-wood, set with plates of gold, that stood at the upper
end, a sick youth, never was seen a handsomer. I sat down at his
head and offered up a prayer for his recovery. He made a sign to
me with his eyes and I said to him, "O my lord, give me thy
hand." So he put forth his left hand, at which I wondered and
said to myself, "By Allah, it is strange that so handsome a
young man of high family should lack good breeding! This can be
nothing but conceit." However, I felt his pulse and wrote him a
prescription and continued to visit him for ten days, at the end
of which time he recovered and went to the bath, whereupon the
governor gave me a handsome dress of honour and appointed me
superintendent of the hospital at Damascus. I accompanied
him to the bath, the whole of which they had cleared for his
accommodation, and the servants came in with him and took off his
clothes within the bath, when I saw that his right hand had been
newly cut off, and this was the cause of his illness.
Pages:
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350