sed of having entered into a conspiracy against the Aga of the
Janissaries, and stealing his head, for the purposes of baking, shaving,
and roasting it, and that they should be condemned to pay the price
of his blood; but as the kabobchi had been the immediate cause of the
tumult by treating the head with such gross and unheard-of insult, and
as he was a Greek and an infidel, it was further resolved that the Mufti
should issue a _fetwah_, authorizing his head to be cut off: and placed
on the same odious spot where he had exposed that of the Aga of the
Janissaries.

It was then agreed between the sultan and his grand vizier, that in
order to appease the Janissaries a new Aga should be appointed who was
agreeable to them, and that the deceased should be buried with becoming
distinction. All this (except killing the Greek, who had fled) was done,
and tranquillity again restored to the city. But it must further be
added to the honour of the sultan, that he not only paid every expense
which the tailor, the baker, and the barber were condemned to incur, but
also gave them each a handsome reward for the difficulties into which
they had so unfortunately been thrown.

I have much curtailed the story, particularly where Mansouri proceeds to
relate to the sultan the fate of the head, because, had I given it with
all the details the dervish did, it would have been over long. Indeed
I have confined myself as much as possible to the outline; for to have
swelled the narrative with the innumerable digressions of my companion a
whole volume would not have contained it. The art of a story-teller
(and it is that which marks a man of genius) is to make his tale
interminable, and still to interest his audience. So the dervish assured
me; and added, that with the materials of the one which I have attempted
to repeat, he would bind himself to keep talking for a whole moon, and
still have something to say.

CHAPTER XLVI

He becomes a saint, and associates with the most celebrated divine in
Persia.

At length Mirza Abdul Cossim himself, having heard much of my sanctity,
took an opportunity, when visiting the shrine of the saint, to send for
me. This was an event which I contemplated with apprehension; for how
could I possibly conceal my ignorance from one who would certainly put
my pretensions of knowledge to the test?--an ignorance so profound, that
I could scarcely give an account of what were the first principles of
the Mohamedan