In order to fill up some of the long hours of listlessness which
oppressed us, I encouraged him to recite all his stories, one by one,
not forgetting the one which he had related with so much effect in
the caravanserai of the sultan's reservoir, and we found this a very
agreeable mode of closing the day.

I feel, O reader, that you also may partake of that same dullness
which oppressed me; and I think it but fair that I should endeavour to
dissipate it, in the same manner as mine was by the dervish,--therefore
I will repeat the story which he related to me; and, whether it amuses
you or not, yet perhaps you will be glad to know how the mind of a poor
prisoner, in the sanctuary at Kom, was diverted from its miseries.

[Illustration: The baked head. 23.jpg]

STORY OF THE BAKED HEAD

The present Khon-khor of Roum[79] is a staunch Mussulman and a rigid
upholder of the true faith. Upon his coming to the throne, he announced
his intention of doing away with many customs common to the infidels,
which had crept into the administration of the state during the reign
of his predecessor; and he thought it his duty to endeavour to restore
things to their primitive simplicity and to adopt a mode of government
purely Turkish. Accordingly he resumed a custom which had almost got
into disuse,--that of going about the city in _tebdil_, or disguise; and
he was so careful about the disguises which he adopted, and the people
whom he admitted into his secrets on these occasions, that he took all
sorts of precautions, and invented all sorts of schemes of secrecy, in
whatever related to his dresses, and the characters in which he chose to
appear.

It is not long ago that considerable discontent prevailed throughout
Turkey, and rebellion threatened to break out in Constantinople itself.
He was then very anxious to ascertain the temper of the public mind;
and, in his usual wary manner, determined to get a suit made that would
make him undiscoverable by even his own immediate attendants.

He usually sent for different tailors at different times, and in
different places. On this occasion he ordered his favourite slave,
the white eunuch Mansouri, to bring him one of no repute, with all
the requisite secrecy, at midnight, in order that he might receive
instructions about a dress.

The slave in great humility made his _bash ustun_ (on my head be it),
and went his way to execute the command.

Close to the gate of the _Bezesten_, or cloth-m