THE ARAB STORY-TELLER. 
195 
crowd. Here you Have him just as he sat, with his mustache 
in full; his eyes twinkling with fun, and a tradition in every 
wrinkle of his mouth. So pleased was he with his appear¬ 
ance on paper that he put his name to the sketch. The Arabs 
were all in ecstasies, and begged me to take them one and 
all ; but, there being about thirty of them, I had to decline, 
on the plea of having important business to attend to that 
evening. 
As I was going away, the old story-teller looked wistfully 
at me. “Well,” said I, “what do you want now, my friend?” 
“ Backshish ,” said he. 
“For what ? I’m going to put you in a book. Isn’t that 
backshish enough ?” 
“But I’ll never see the book. I’d rather have the back¬ 
shish now.” 
“ That’s strange, Hozain. Have you no pride in the honor 
of the thing ? Think of the fame it will give you! Ben- 
Hozain will be known in the remotest corners of America.” 
“ Ah, Grand Seignor, Saltan of the United States, Ben- 
Hozain is already the victim of fame. For more than forty 
years have I told stories for the public good ; Sultans have 
praised me, Pashas have applauded my romances, beautiful 
ladies have wept over my love passages, yet here I am, as 
you see, with scarce a rag on my back. When I’m dead, I 
don’t know that they’ll take the trouble to bury me.” 
“Well, Hozain, I’m sorry to hear so bad an account of your 
people. In America we take a great deal of trouble about 
our benefactors after they die. We often spend more money in 
feasting over their graves and celebrating their virtues than 
would have made them comfortable during life. Your patrons 
must be very ungrateful, and as a mark of my contempt for 
such ingratitude, I shall give you the backshish you require. 
How much will it take to make you happy ?” 
“ Only two piasters, 0 sublime Howadji! On that amount 
of money, Ben-Hozain can be the happiest man upon earth, 
for he can drink the Coffee of Delight and smoke the Pipe of 
Content for a week !” 
“ Very well, take this piece of silver, five piasters (twenty- 
