d
again he shook his head, and shuddered. But being fully persuaded that
he had gained his point, he thought it safest to change the subject;
and accordingly he did so as soon as he had emphatically and earnestly
entreated the sultan not to say a word of the secret he had been led
to impart, or, at all events, not to let it be known that _he_ had
given any information on the subject.
When the doctor was gone, the sultan fell into a reverie on the
advantages and disadvantages of his bear learning to read. When he
went to bed, the same train of thought kept him awake; and after a
sleepless night, he sent early in the morning for the patriarch. The
venerable Mar Yusef lost no time in obeying the summons. Taking his
patriarchal staff in his hand, and followed by his two deacons with
their heads bare, and their hands crossed on their bosoms, he silently
bent his way towards the palace, pondering in his mind on all the
various things he could think of as possible causes for his being
wanted by the sultan. The sultan dismissed all his attendants; and as
soon as he and the patriarch were alone, he beckoned him to approach,
and when the aged ecclesiastic had come quite close, and again bowed,
not only out of respect, but instinctively, as one does who expects a
whisper, the sultan said in a low, earnest tone: 'You know my bear?'
'I do, please your sublime highness,' replied Mar Yusef; 'and a very
fine bear he is.'
'I know that,' answered the sultan; 'but the matter is this,' and he
lowered his voice, and increased the earnestness of his tone: 'You
must teach him to read.'
'To read!' exclaimed the patriarch, thunderstruck. 'To read! the thing
is impossible.'
'Of course, I knew you would say that,' said the sultan; 'you must do
it, however, or it will be the worse for you and for all your people.'
'Most willingly would I do that, or anything lawful, to shew my
respect for your sublime highness,' said the astonished patriarch;
'but, as I have already had the honour to observe, the thing is
impossible.'
'Don't tell me,' said the sultan. 'I know more about the matter than
you imagine. There is no use in trying to conceal it. I know upon
undoubted authority, that you have taught bears, and many of them, I
daresay, of less capacity than mine. I shall send him to you this
evening, and if you do not bring him back in six weeks able to read,
it will be as I have already told you--at your peril, and to the ruin
of all that
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