Halil the Pedlar | Page 7

placed it beneath the carpet, and beside it lies a purse of money which I meant to have sent along with the letter. Now, however, I cannot turn back for it. I pray you, therefore, go back to your house, take this letter together with the purse, and hand them both over to the person to whom they are addressed--and God bless you for it!"
Halil at once turned round to obey this fresh request as quickly as possible.
"Give also the money to him to whom it belongs!" said the Greek.
"You may be as certain that it will reach him as if you gave it to him yourself."
"And promise me that you will compel him to whom the letter is addressed to accept the money."
"I will not leave his house till he has given me a voucher in writing for it, and whenever you come back again to me here you will find it in my possession."
"God be with you then, honest Mussulman!"
"Salem alek!"
Halil straightway ran home, clambered up to the roof by means of the rope-ladder, found both the letter and the money under the carpet, rejoiced greatly that they had not been stolen during his absence, and thrusting them both into his satchel of reeds without even taking the trouble to look at them, hastened off to the bazaar with them, where there was an acquaintance of his, a certain money-changer, who knew all about every man in Stambul, in order that he might find out from him where dwelt the man to whom the letter entrusted to him by the stranger was addressed.
Accordingly he handed the letter to the money-changer in order that he might give him full directions without so much as casting an eye upon the address himself.
The money-changer examined the address of the letter, and forthwith was filled with amazement.
"Halil Patrona!" cried he, "have you been taking part in the Carnival of the Giaours that you have allowed yourself to be so befooled? Or can't you read?"
"Read! of course I can. But I don't fancy I can know the man to whom this letter is directed."
"Well, all I can say is that you knew him very well indeed this time yesterday, for the man is yourself--none other."
Halil, full of astonishment, took the letter, which hitherto he had not regarded--sure enough it was addressed to himself.
"Then he who gave me this letter must needs be a madman, and there is a purse which I have to hand over along with it."
"Yes, I see that your name is written on that also."
"But I have nothing to do with either the purse or the letter. Of a truth the man who confided them to me must have been a lunatic."
"It will be best if you break open the letter and read it, then you will know what you have got to do with it."
This was true enough. The best way for a man to find out what he has to do with a letter addressed to him is, certainly, to open and read it.
And this is what was written in the letter.
"WORTHY HALIL PATRONA!
"I told you that I was a poor man, but that was not true; on the contrary, I am pretty well to do, thank God! Nor do I wander up and down on the face of the earth in search of herds of cattle stolen from me, but for the sake of my only daughter, who is dearer to me than all my treasures, and now also I am in pursuit of her, following clue after clue, in order that I may discover her whereabouts and, if possible, ransom her. You have been my benefactor. You fought the drunken Janissary for my sake, you shared your dwelling with me, you made me lie on your own bed while you slept on the bare ground, you even took off your kaftan to make my couch the softer. Accept, therefore, as a token of my gratitude, the slender purse accompanying this letter. It contains five thousand piastres, so that if ever I visit you again I may find you in better circumstances. God help you in all things!
"Your grateful servant,
"JANAKI."
"Now, didn't I say he was mad?" exclaimed Halil, after reading through the letter. "Who else, I should like to know, would have given me five thousand piastres for three red onions?"
Meanwhile, attracted by the noise of the conversation, a crowd of the acquaintances of Halil Patrona and the money-changer had gathered around them, and they laid their heads together and discussed among themselves for a long time the question which was the greater fool of the two--Janaki, who had given five thousand piastres for three onions, or Halil who did not want to accept the money.
Yet Halil it was who turned out to be the biggest fool,