ore your sublime
highness--such things should not be talked of; but it is natural that,
although I know very little about them, I should consider the practice
and the purpose bad, when they belong to what I consider a bad people:
at the same time, if your sublime highness thinks fit to tolerate
them, it is not for your faithful slave to say a word about it. I
should be sorry that your sublime highness should not extend to your
Christian subjects the same toleration and paternal kindness my own
people enjoy.'

'What in the world do you mean?' said the sultan. 'What have the
Christians to do with my bear?'

'Nothing at all,' replied the Jew with great earnestness; and he
added, with a sigh, 'that is the very thing I am thankful for. It is
such a remarkable creature, that there is no saying what might come of
it.'

'Come of what?' said the sultan.

'Why,' said the Jew, in a humble and very confidential tone, 'your
sublime highness is of course aware, that among the many curious
secrets the Christians possess, they have one which enables them to
teach bears to read.'

'You don't say so?' exclaimed the sultan. 'How do they contrive it?'

'Ah,' replied the Jew with an internal shudder, 'that is more than I
can tell your sublime highness. I don't suppose that half-a-dozen of
your subjects, except themselves, are aware of the fact; and few even
among the Christians know the secret. I only obtained the little
knowledge I have by accidental circumstances, which put me upon the
inquiry; and I was a long while before I could feel perfectly certain
that they actually did the thing. _How_ they did it, and _why_, I have
never been able to learn. It is one of their greatest secrets, one of
their deepest, and therefore, I suspect, one of their most pernicious
mysteries. I do not suppose that any man among them would confess it
to save his life--not even the old patriarch, if he were put to the
rack.'

'It is very strange,' said the sultan, after a pause.

'It is wonderful,' said the physician with much emphasis.

'What is the harm of it?' exclaimed the sultan abruptly after a pause.
'Why should not bears read as well as men, if they are capable of
learning?'

'Most true and most wisely said,' replied the Jew. 'If they were
taught to read good books, it would probably mend their manners. But
if that were all, why should there be so much mystery about it? why
should these people do it so secretly, and deny it so stoutly?' an