a sick child in her arms.  The old man, as he laboured under the weight of the colt, kept groaning, “O Allah!  O Allah!” and, supposing him to be a dervish, the woman asked him to pray for the recovery of her child.  In compliance, the old man said:  “O Allah!  I beseech thee to shorten the days of this poor child.”  “Alas!” cried the mother, “why hast thou made such a cruel prayer?” “Fear nothing,” said the old man; “thy child will assuredly enjoy long life.  It is my fate to have the reverse of whatever I pray for.  I implored Allah for assistance to carry me over this hill, and, by way of help, I suppose, I have had this colt imposed on my shoulders.”

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Jami tells this humorous story in the Sixth “Garden” of his Baharistan, or Abode of Spring:  A man said the prescribed prayers in a mosque and then began his personal supplications.  An old woman, who happened to be near him, exclaimed:  “O Allah! cause me to share in whatsoever he supplicates for.”  The man, overhearing her, then prayed:  “O Allah! hang me on a gibbet, and cause me to die of scourging.”  The old trot continued:  “O Allah! pardon me, and preserve me from what he has asked for.”  Upon this the man turned to her and said:  “What a very unreasonable partner this is!  She desires to share in all that gives rest and pleasure, but she refuses to be my partner in distress and misery.”

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We have already seen that even the grave and otiose Turk is not devoid of a sense of the ludicrous, and here is another example, from Mr. E. J. W. Gibb’s translation of the History of the Forty Vezirs:  A party of Turkmans left their encampment one day and went into a neighbouring city.  Returning home, as they drew near their tents, they felt hungry, and sat down and ate some bread and onions at a spring-head.  The juice of the onions went into their eyes and caused them to water.  Now the children of those Turkmans had gone out to meet them, and, seeing the tears flow from their eyes, they concluded that one of their number had died in the city, so, without making any inquiry, they ran back, and said to their mothers:  “One of ours is dead in the city, and our fathers are coming weeping.”  Upon this all the women and children of the encampment went forth to meet them, weeping together.  The Turkmans who were coming from the city thought that one of theirs had died in the encampment; and thus they were without knowledge one of the other, and they raised a weeping and wailing together such that it cannot be described.  At length the elders of the camp stood up in their midst and said:  “May ye all remain whole; there is none other help than patience”; and they questioned them.  The Turkmans coming from the city asked:  “Who is dead in the camp?” The others replied:  “No one is dead in the camp; who has died in the city?” Those who were coming from the city, said:  “No one has died in the city.”  The others said:  “For whom then are ye wailing and lamenting?” At length they perceived that all this tumult arose from their trusting the words of children.