کوتوله‌ای از بصره

Chapter six

The Dwarf of Basra

A man lived in the city of Basra and sold fish. One night, the fish seller met a dwarf in the street. The fish seller liked funny stories and the dwarf knew a lot of good stories. So the fish seller invited him to his house for dinner.

‘My wife is cooking a big fish tonight,’ he said. ‘Come and eat it with us.’

The dwarf was hungry and the fish was good. The fish seller’s wife gave him more and more food.

‘You’re only a little man,’ she said. ‘You have to eat a lot of food. Then you’ll be big.’

Her husband laughed and hit the dwarf on the back. He did this in a friendly way, but the dwarf had a lot of food in his mouth. A large piece of fish went down the wrong way inside him.

The dwarf felt very ill. He couldn’t speak and his face turned first red, then blue. He fell onto the floor and didn’t move. The fish seller was afraid.

‘The dwarf is dead,’ he thought. ‘I don’t want a dead man in my house. It was an accident, but there will be questions. The people will take me to the judge. What will the judge say? What will happen to me?’

‘Let’s get the dwarf out of our house,’ said his wife.

The fish seller thought. Then he carried the dwarf outside. A doctor lived across the road on the first floor. The fish seller climbed the doctor’s stairs and sat the dwarf down outside his door. Then he made a loud noise and ran away.

The doctor opened his door quickly. But when he did this, the door hit the dwarf hard. The dwarf fell down to the bottom of the stairs. The doctor ran downstairs after him, but the dwarf didn’t move.

‘This little man is dead!’ he said. ‘It was an accident, but what will everybody say?”

He’s a doctor but he kills people.” Nobody will come to me again. What am I going to do?’

Then he had an idea. He looked up and down the street. It was late, and nobody was outside. An old bird seller lived in the next house.

‘I know,’ thought the doctor. ‘I’ll throw the dwarf over the wall into the old bird seller’s garden. Then the dwarf will be his problem, not mine.’

The dwarf went over the wall easily and came down near the birds. The birds started to make a loud noise. From inside the house, the old bird seller heard the noise.

‘Somebody is hurting my birds,’ he thought. He ran outside and saw the dwarf on the ground near the birds. He started to hit him hard on the head.’ Thief!

What are you doing with my birds?’ he shouted. ‘Tell me!’

But the dwarf didn’t speak. He didn’t move. Then the old bird seller was afraid and looked at the dwarf again.

‘This little man is dead,’ he thought. ‘I hit him, but I didn’t want to kill him. What will the judge say?’

Then he had an idea. He looked out of his garden. Nobody was outside. He carried the dwarf down the street to a big house. A very rich man lived in that house. He put the dwarf in front of the rich man’s door. Then he ran home.

The rich man was out for the evening with friends. When he came home, he found the dwarf in front of his door.

‘Wake up!’ he shouted angrily. ‘You can’t sleep here!’

He began to kick the dwarf hard. The dwarf didn’t wake up, but other people in the street heard him. One man came out of his house, and said, ‘Stop! Stop! You’ll kill that little man!’

The rich man stopped and looked down at the dwarf. But the dwarf didn’t move.

‘You see?’ said the other man. ‘Now he’s dead.’

People looked out of their windows and shouted, ‘He killed the dwarf! Let’s take him to the judge!’

They took the rich man and the dwarf to the judge. It was the middle of the night and the judge was asleep. But he woke up and came outside. He looked at the dwarf and listened to the people.

The judge said to the rich man, ‘You killed him. So now you have to die.’

The bird seller heard the judge’s words. ‘Please, sir’, he said. This man didn’t kill the dwarf. I did it. I hit him on the head. I didn’t want to kill him, but he died. I left him by this man’s door.’

‘All right,’ said the judge. ‘So you have to die.’

When he heard this, the doctor thought, ‘I don’t like this old bird seller. But he can’t die. I did it - not him.’

‘Wait!’ said the doctor. The old man didn’t kill the dwarf. I killed him. I opened my door too quickly and pushed the dwarf down the stairs. Then I threw him into the old bird seller’s garden.’

‘When will we get to the end of this?’ asked the judge. ‘So you have to die.’

‘No, no,’ said the fish seller. I killed the dwarf. It was an accident but I was afraid. I put him in front of the doctor’s door. Some food went down the wrong way inside him and I hit him. I’ll show you.’

The fish seller hit the dwarf on the back. But when he did this, a large piece of fish jumped out of the dwarf’s mouth. The dwarf opened his eyes. He wasn’t dead!

‘What happened?’ he said. ‘Where am I?’

Then the judge spoke for the last time.

‘The dwarf isn’t dead,’ he said, ‘so nobody has to die. But you kicked and hit this little man. Each man will pay him fifty gold pieces.

Now go home, and be kinder in future.’ Sheherezade’s next story was long and she told it for two nights. The sultan couldn’t kill her. He had to hear the end of the story first.