He saluted us, while
we rose to receive him; and he was about to sit down, when he
espied amongst us a certain barber; whereupon he refused to sit
and would have gone away. But we stopped him and the host seized
him and adjured him, saying, "What is the reason of thy coming in
and going out again at once?" "By Allah, O my lord," answered he,
"do not hinder me, for the cause of my turning back is yonder
barber of ill-omen sitting there." When the host heard this, he
wondered and said, "How comes this young man, who is from
Baghdad. to be troubled in his mind about this barber?" Then we
looked at the young man and said to him, "Tell us the reason of
thine anger against the barber." "O company," replied he, "there
befell me a strange adventure with this barber in my native city
of Baghdad; he was the cause of the breaking of my leg and of my
lameness, and I have sworn that I will never sit in the same
place with him nor tarry in any city of which he is an
inhabitant. I left Baghdad, to be rid of him, and took up my
abode in this city and lo, I find him with you! But now not
another night shall pass, before I depart hence." So we begged
him to sit down and tell us what had passed between him and the
barber in Baghdad, whereat the latter changed colour and hung
down his head. Then said the young man, "Know, O company, that my
father was one of the chief merchants of Baghdad, and God had
vouchsafed him no child but myself.
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