Murad the Unlucky and Other Tales | Page 7

soon compelled me to
think of some immediate mode of obtaining relief. I sat down upon a
stone, before the door of a baker's shop: the smell of hot bread tempted
me in, and with a feeble voice I demanded charity.
"The master baker gave me as much bread as I could eat, upon
condition that I should change dresses with him and carry the rolls for
him through the city this day. To this I readily consented; but I had
soon reason to repent of my compliance. Indeed, if my ill-luck had not,
as usual, deprived me at this critical moment of memory and judgment,
I should never have complied with the baker's treacherous proposal.
For some time before, the people of Constantinople had been much
dissatisfied with the weight and quality of the bread furnished by the
bakers. This species of discontent has often been the sure forerunner of
an insurrection; and, in these disturbances, the master bakers frequently
lose their lives. All these circumstances I knew, but they did not occur
to my memory when they might have been useful.
"I changed dresses with the baker; but scarcely had I proceeded through
the adjoining streets with my rolls before the mob began to gather
round me with reproaches and execrations. The crowd pursued me even
to the gates of the grand seignior's palace, and the grand vizier, alarmed
at their violence, sent out an order to have my head struck off; the usual
remedy, in such cases, being to strike off the baker's head.
"I now fell upon my knees, and protested I was not the baker for whom
they took me; that I had no connection with him; and that I had never
furnished the people of Constantinople with bread that was not weight.
I declared I had merely changed clothes with a master baker for this
day, and that I should not have done so but for the evil destiny which

governs all my actions. Some of the mob exclaimed that I deserved to
lose my head for my folly; but others took pity on me, and whilst the
officer, who was sent to execute the vizier's order, turned to speak to
some of the noisy rioters, those who were touched by my misfortune
opened a passage for me through the crowd, and thus favoured, I
effected my escape.
"I quitted Constantinople; my vase I had left in the care of my brother.
At some miles' distance from the city I overtook a party of soldiers. I
joined them, and learning that they were going to embark with the rest
of the grand seignior's army for Egypt, I resolved to accompany them.
'If it be,' thought I, 'the will of Mahomet that I should perish, the sooner
I meet my fate the better.' The despondency into which I was sunk was
attended by so great a degree of indolence, that I scarcely would take
the necessary means to preserve my existence. During our passage to
Egypt I sat all day long upon the deck of the vessel, smoking my pipe,
and I am convinced that if a storm had risen, as I expected, I should not
have taken my pipe from my mouth, nor should I have handled a rope
to save myself from destruction. Such is the effect of that species of
resignation, or torpor, whichever you please to call it, to which my
strong belief in fatality had reduced my mind.
"We landed, however, safely, contrary to my melancholy forebodings.
By a trifling accident, not worth relating, I was detained longer than
any of my companions in the vessel when we disembarked, and I did
not arrive at the camp till late at night. It was moonlight, and I could
see the whole scene distinctly. There was a vast number of small tents
scattered over a desert of white sand; a few date-trees were visible at a
distance; all was gloomy, and all still; no sound was to be heard but
that of the camels feeding near the tents, and, as I walked on, I met with
no human creature.
"My pipe was now out, and I quickened my pace a little towards a fire
which I saw near one of the tents. As I proceeded, my eye was caught
by something sparkling in the sand: it was a ring. I picked it up and put
it on my finger, resolving to give it to the public crier the next morning,
who might find out its rightful owner; but, by ill-luck, I put it on my
little finger, for which it was much too large, and as I hastened towards
the fire to light my pipe, I dropped the ring. I stooped to search for it
amongst the provender on which a mule was