46 Tales of the Dead. 



females upon whose unveiled countenances I had sacrilegiously gazed. 

 It was, however, decided that this momentary stain should be carefully 

 concealed from the knowledge of his highness ; and an aga having or- 

 dered me to be conducted with all possible secrecy from within the re- 

 doubtable enclosure, I was marched off to undergo the penalty which 

 my heinous offence had merited. 



" Perhaps, ladies and gentlemen, you may require a description of the 

 punishment of impalement. The instrument employed on such occasions 

 is sharp and pointed, and, placed on the top of one of our loftiest monu- 

 ments, is not unlike one of those spiral conductors with which you un- 

 believers blindly defy the fury of the elements, and even the immutable 

 decrees of destiny. Upon this instrument was I placed astride ; and that 

 I might be enabled to preserve my equilibrium, to each of my feet were 

 attached two heavy iron balls. My agony was intense; the iron slowly 

 penetrated my flesh; and the second sun, whose scorching rays now began 

 to glitter on the domes of Constantinople, would not have found me alive 

 at the hour of noon, had not the iron balls by some accident been disen- 

 gaged from my feet : they fell with a tremendous crash, and from that 

 instant my tortures became more endurable. I even conceived a hope 

 that I should escape with life. Nothing can surpass the beauty of the 

 scenery around Constantinople : the eye rests with delight on the broad 

 expanse of ocean, sprinkled with green islands, and ploughed by ma- 

 jestic vessels. Spite of my sufferings, the view which I enjoyed was 

 sublime. From the eminence on which I was perched, I could easily 

 perceive that Constantinople was the queen of cities. I beheld at my 

 feet her brilliant mosques, her beauteous palaces, her gardens suspended 

 in the air, her spacious cemeteries, the peaceful retreat of opium-eaters 

 and hydromel- drinkers ; and in the height of my gratitude for the glo- 

 rious sight which the intercession of the prophet had procured me, I in- 

 voked the God of true believers. Doubtless my prayer was heard. An un- 

 believing dog I crave your pardon, I mean a Christian priest delivered 

 me, at the peril of his life, and transported me to his humble dwelling. 

 When my wounds were sufficiently healed I returned to my palace. 

 My slaves prostrated themselves at my feet. The next morning I bought 

 the first women that presented themselves, dipped my pipe in rose water ; 

 and if I occasionally thought on his highness and his janizaries, it was 

 prudently to remind myself that women must be purchased such as 

 Allah has made them, and, above all, to recollect that God is God, that 

 Mahomet is his prophet, and that Stamboul is the pearl of the East." 



Such was the Mussulman's tale. Fatigued by the length of his re- 

 cital, he fell back listlessly upon the cushions of the sofa, in the volup- 

 tuous attitude of a true believer that blesses his prophet for all things, 

 trusts all to fate, and smokes his pipe at noon. The venerable Turk was 

 the living personification of calm and blissful content, one of those 

 models from which the genius of a Raphael or a Titian might have traced 

 the portrait of a being without care, without desire, without even a 

 thought ! Oh, how I sometimes envy the repose of a luxurious Maho- 

 metan couched on his Persian carpet, and plunged in that delicious 

 eastern doze which seems to spare the prophet's lazy votary even the 

 trouble of closing his eyes ! v 



Stories, like accidents, follow each other in rapid succession. A tale 

 of interest related with naivete exercises a singular influence on the minds 

 of the listeners : it draws them together, as it were, by a community of 



