"'

So when he had bent his body to the King, he proclaimed the new wonder;
and the King seemed not to observe the hawk, and said, 'From what city
art thou?'

He answered, 'Native, O King, to Shiraz; newly from the City of Shagpat.'

And the King asked, 'How is it with that hairy wonder?'

He answered, 'The dark forest flourisheth about him.'

And the King said, 'That is well! We of the City of Oolb take our
fashions from them of the City of Shagpat, and it is but yesterday that I
bastinadoed a barber that strayed among us.'

Shibli Bagarag sighed when he heard the King, and thought to himself,
'How unfortunate is the race of barbers, once honourable and in esteem!
Surely it will not be otherwise till Shagpat is shaved!' And the King
called out to him for the cause of his sighing; so he said, 'I sigh, O
King of the age, considering how like may be the case of the barber
bastinadoed but yesterday, in his worth and value, to that of Roomdroom,
the reader of planets, that was a barber.'

And he related the story of Roomdroom for the edification of the King and
the exaltation of barbercraft, delivering himself neatly and winningly
and pointedly, so that the story should apply, which was its merit and
its origin.

GOORELKA OF OOLB

When Shibli Bagarag had finished his narration of the case of Roomdroom
the barber, the King of Oolb said, 'O thou, native of Shiraz, there is
persuasion and sweetness and fascination on thy tongue, and I am touched
with compassion for the soles of Baba Mustapha, that I bastinadoed but
yesterday, and he was from Shiraz likewise.'

Now, the heart of Shibli Bagarag leapt when he heard mention of Baba
Mustapha; and he knew him for his uncle that was searching him. He would
have cried aloud his relationship, but the hawk whispered in his ear.
Then the hawk said to him, 'There is danger in the King's muteness
respecting me, for I am visible to him. Proclaim the spirit of prophecy.'

So he proclaimed that spirit, and the King said, 'Prophesy to me of
barbercraft.'

And he cried, 'O King of the age, the barber is abased, trodden
underfoot, given over to the sneers and the gibes of them that flatter
the powerful ones; he is as the winter worm, as the crocodile in the
slime of his sleep by the bank, as the sick eagle before moulting. But I
say, O King, that he will come forth like the serpent in a new skin,
shaming the old one; he slept a caterpillar, and will come forth a
butterfly; h