of the ape, the barber dipped
his cloth into the basin and proceeded to wash the head and face of his
unwilling and in every sense ugly customer. But directly the ape felt
the wet cloth touch his skin he snatched it instantly from the hands of
the barber and commenced tearing it in pieces. And before the barber
could attempt to rescue even the fragments of his washing cloth the
mischievous little creature slipped quickly off the bench on which he
had been seated, and running rapidly on all fours among the crowd,
suddenly jumped upon the back of a small boy who had been hitherto
enjoying the fun and laughing very heartily at the antics of the
monkey. This last prank, however, frightened the small boy very much,
and he ran about wildly, with the ape seated on his shoulders,
screaming loudly. As the monkey held on bravely, with each hand
grasping firmly a handful of the boy's hair, the little fellow had some
excuse for making an outcry. The barber, however, very soon recaptured
his troublesome charge, and reseated him on the bench to undergo the
usual barbarous routine of washing and shaving.

"Meanwhile the crowd beside laughing had, of course, encouraged the
barber to pursue his task by many questions and exclamations, such as,
'Why don't you make haste to shave the gentleman?' 'Take care you
don't cut his precious chin!' 'Barber, is your hand steady?' and so
forth.

"In answer to all these jeers the barber only smiled and said,
'Patience, the little gentleman is somewhat scared by your noise and
ugly faces, but he will sit quietly enough presently.'

"And marvellous to behold, when the barber had replaced him again the
third time on the bench, the ape sat still, as solemn as the Cadi
himself, and allowed himself to be both washed and shaved, moving no
more than though he were dead and stuffed.

"This astonished the crowd very much and they applauded loudly, till
the man who had at first accused the barber of murdering his brother
cried out that it was sorcery, and that this accursed barber must be in
fact a foul magician, since he could not only kill good Moslims, but
shave misshapen apes. On this the fickle crowd were moved against the
barber, and would have fallen upon him and done him an injury had I not
interfered on his behalf.

"'Stop,' said I, 'I will inquire of the barber, and he shall confess to
me by what means he has caused the ape to sit still and permit himself
to be shaved. If he has employe