The Argosy, August 1905 — page 191: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

#? pecs, oF ie r. i) Cz 4 4 o La - « so as ™ " Pat * “, Mesrour opened a lane er through the throng, and liph then discovered a young man in evening dress attempting to walk on his hands while he balanced his feet gracefully in the air. The amateur acrobat had marked out a small circle on the asphalt, and his immediate pur- pose appeared to be to accomplish the feat of walking about it in the inverted position deseribed without touching his feet to the ground. Three times the caliph saw the young man lose his balance before he had com- pleted the circuit; and at each failure the unsuceessful acrobat gravely rose, as gravely tossed a silver coin into the erowd, and then betook himself once more to his manumotory progress. At the fourth trial the young man com- pleted the circuit without touching his feet to the pavement, whereupon he rose, bowed to the spectators with prac- tised grace, and, taking up his sill hat from the center of the circle, passed it about among the crowd with the air of an yam. talking up the collection. At this end to the performance the throng hastily dispersed. The young man showed neither surprise nor morti- fication at this response to his enter- prise, and Haroun al Raschid, forget- ting the responsibilities of his disguise, threw a purse of sequins into the hat. The young man halted, and with marks of lively astonishment on his face took the purse from the hat, scrutinized the coins closely, tested one with his teeth, and, his doubts satisfied, put the purse in his pocket and the hat on his head. As he was turning to walk away, the caliph, oyercome with curiosity, de- tained him. “Pardon me,” he said, “ but may I ask the reason why a young man of your appearance and habit should per- form so extraordinary an action? ” The young man looked doubtfully at the caliph for a moment, and then with an exquisite bow replied: “1 observe that you are a journalist. Nevertheless, as you are the first man to show financial appreciation of my efforts, and have thereby saved me from the last refuge of despair, I do not feel at liberty to refuse your request. I 4 - ft a - * ee =e" - a © en ae . “7 THE TALE OF TRUTHFUL UNFORTUNATE, «0? Gadd y i > p ‘aaa ee : * ® place myself in the keeping of your ie tae in here and haye one on me, while I tell you tor “tay. ee you the story of my He led the Commander of the Faith- ful and Mesrour to a neighboring café, and when they were seated at the table before the foaming schooners of zem- ‘ zem, he began his tale. “You behold before you,” he said, “the miserable victim of a malignant gemie, ruined by the affliction of an in- YJ tempestivitous veracity.” “ Bismillah!” interrupted the caliph. “Say that over in Arabic.” “The curse laid upon me,” explained the young man, “takes the form of an irresistible impulse to tell the truth at the most unseasonable times.” “The Koran,” said the caliph se- verely, “teaches us that the truthful man is blest of Allah.” “That may very well be,” admitted the young man, “for we are told that he blesses also the poor and the sick. Yet however grateful the pursuit of truth may be to Allah, I have proved that it is ruinous to the life and for- tunes of man. Listen: My father was a merchant of Balsora, and by a steady attention to the business of Morganeer- ing amassed a splendid fortune. . “For many years the wisdom of Providence denied him a son, but in his old age Allah listened to his prayers and : vouchsafed him an heir who, he fondly supposed, was to transmit his name and wealth to future generations. But alas! In pursuing his plans for consolidating all the water-powers of the earth int» the ownership of one company, he had seized upon one of the cataracts of the Caucasus that had been reserved by the King of the Genii for his own use. 80 when the festivities that celebrated my hirth were held, with all the magnii- cence of display for which my father was noted, the King of the Genii en- tered the hall and with royal condescen- sion said: “<7 will endow your son with a precious possession. He shall be able to speak nothing but the truth.’ x3 “My father was overjoyed at this mark of favor, and offered on the spot to consolidate the properties of the genii into a single corporation, and to un ‘ E oy Sie ‘ eo a + comicbooks.com -" i ae mee