ABNER, THE JEW WHO SAW NOTHING.
THIS is the story of Abner, the Jew, who by reason of his great powers of observation, instead of benefiting himself by his sagacity, brought himself into dire straits and well-nigh lost his life.
Abner, the Jew.
Abner, the Jew.
It is well known that all Jews are observant and crafty; Abner was no exception to the rule.
He was strolling one evening beyond the gateway of Morocco, glancing from right to left in case by chance he could see anything likely to be used to his advantage. He was feeling particularly well pleased with himself, for he had done a very good day’s business. He had managed to sell a sick slave for a good sum of money, knowing he would prove of little value to the purchaser, and he had bought a camel-load of gum and spices for a very low price, and expected to make a large profit, so he smiled and stroked his beard and paced up and down in a very happy frame of mind.
Presently he heard the sound of people running and shouting and a number of the Emperor’s grooms, with the Master of the Horse at their head, came along. They ran here and there in wild disorder, evidently searching eagerly for something or someone who was lost.
“Hullo, you dog of a Jew,” cried the Master of the Horse, “have you seen anything of the Emperor’s horse, a fine creature ready saddled and bridled? He has run away and is lost.”
“Ah,” answered Abner thoughtfully, “he was one of the swiftest horses you could meet, with a small, delicately-shaped hoof, silver shoes, his mane shone like gold, fifteen hands high, a tail three feet and a half in length, and his bridle bit is of pure gold.”
“Yes, yes,” cried the Master of the Horse, “you have described him exactly; tell me where we can find the Emperor’s horse.”
“But I have seen no horse,” replied Abner, smiling craftily, “how therefore can I tell you where he is?”
The Master of the Horse was about to insist upon Abner explaining this apparent contradiction, when by a strange coincidence another event occurred which prevented him.
A troop of black slaves came running towards them, crying aloud, “Hath any one seen the Empress’ lap-dog? Aline, Aline, where art thou?”
“Is it not a small spaniel with a long coat, a feathery tail, and lame in the right foreleg?”
Abner walks through the townABNER, THE JEW WHO SAW NOTHING“They ran here and there in wild disorder”(p.154)
ABNER, THE JEW WHO SAW NOTHING“They ran here and there in wild disorder”(p.154)
“Yes, yes,” cried the slaves, “of a certainty thou hast described the dog. The Empress is in a swoonon account of the loss of her favourite and will certainly not recover until Aline is restored to her; tell us, therefore, where thou hast seen the dog!”
“I have seen no dog,” replied Abner, “neither was I so much as aware that our Empress possessed one.”
Then both the stable men and the slaves of the harem fell to abusing Abner, the shameless Jew, who did not scruple to make game of his Emperor and Empress. They seized him and dragged him before the Emperor and recounted all that had happened, suggesting that most certainly the Jew had seen and stolen the animals in question.
The Jew continued to protest his innocence, but all in vain; by way of a beginning he was ordered and received fifty strokes with the bastinado upon the soles of his feet, and after that he was assured that if the horse and the little dog were not recovered he would pay for their loss with his life.
The palace was still in a high state of commotion, when a black slave came running in, breathless and exhausted, but bearing the good news that both horse and dog had been found.
The horse, fed on the best corn and oats in the Emperor’s stable, had yet preferred his freedom and a bite of grass in a green meadow, where he had been found quietly grazing.
As for the little dog, he had been found in the company of a number of mongrels whose society was quite unfit for such an aristocratic little animal as an Empress’ pet.
The Emperor now demanded an explanation fromAbner as to how he had been able to describe two animals he had never seen.
The Jew bowed low before the Emperor and made answer: “I was taking a walk in the cool of the evening in a little wood, where the soil was sandy and loose; presently I noticed the prints of small paws, the right fore-paw print making a slighter impression in the sand than the others, therefore I knew the little animal was lame. One each side of the fore-paw prints there was a slight trail in the sand which proved the animal’s ears had been long and sweeping the ground, and it was impossible to avoid knowing that the tail was long and feathery, for, in an access of joy, probably at the freedom he was enjoying, he had wagged his tail to and fro, and brushed the sand aside. Therefore I knew to a nicety the kind of dog that had passed that way.
“As far as the horse is concerned, as I was walking upon another path in the wood I noticed the tracks of a horse’s hoofs. I examined them and found them small and delicate, such as only a highly-bred horse’s hoofs would be; from the distance apart I judged that the horse had been galloping at a great rate, and I noticed a stone against which he had evidently struck one hoof and left a small silver shaving, therefore I knew he was shod with silver shoes. The path down which I was walking was seven feet wide and the palms on each side had had the dust brushed from their leaves. ‘Ah!’ said I, ‘the horse swished his tail to and fro and swept the palms with it on each side of him, therefore the tail must have been at least three and a half feet in length.’ The branches of the trees beneathwhich I was walking were some five feet from the ground and I saw that leaves had freshly fallen from them, no doubt brushed off by the horse in his flight, therefore I guessed him to be fifteen hands high. On the bushes I saw traces of golden-brown horse hair, caught here and there, and I knew then the colour of the horse that had passed that way.
“As I left the cover of the bushes I noticed a tiny mark of gold on a rock, and guessed that the runaway had had a golden bit between its teeth, which it had rubbed against the stone as it bounded past.”
“Now, by the beard of the Prophet,” cried the delighted Emperor, “that is what I call good eyesight, and no mistake. I only wish my master of the Hounds and the Chief of the Police had such eyes for a trail. Now, Master Jew, it is but fair we should reward you on account of what you have innocently suffered, and for the sake of the sagacity you have shown. As you should have paid me a hundred sequins, you shall be pardoned fifty on account of the fifty strokes you received. Now open your purse and pay me the other fifty, but remember to beware in future of how you make a laughing stock of your Emperor: if you wish to ridicule anyone, the pain in your feet may serve to remind you it would be best to make a butt of one of lesser degree!”