The Shaving of Shagpat | Page 5

thou rollest as one reft of his
wits?'
He answered her, 'I bewail my condition, which is beggary, and the
lack of that which filleth with pleasantness.'
So the old woman said, 'Tell me thy case.'
He answered her, 'O old woman, surely it was written at my birth that I
should take ruin from the readers of planets. Now, they proclaimed that
I was one day destined for great things, if I stood by my tackle, I, a
barber. Know then, that I have had many offers and bribes, seductive
ones, from the rich and the exalted in rank; and I heeded them not,
mindful of what was foretold of me. I stood by my tackle as a warrior
standeth by his arms, flourishing them. Now, when I found great things
came not to me, and 'twas the continuance of sameness and satiety with
Baba Mustapha, my uncle, in Shiraz,--the tongue-wagger, the endless
tattler,--surely I was advised by the words of the poet to go forth in
search of what was wanting, and he says:
"Thou that dreamest an Event, While Circumstance is but a waste of
sand, Arise, take up thy fortunes in thy hand, And daily forward pitch
thy tent."
Now, I passed from city to city, proclaiming my science, holding aloft
my tackle. Wullahy! many adventures were mine, and if there's some
day propitiousness in fortune, O old woman, I'll tell thee of what befell

me in the kingdom of Shah Shamshureen: 'tis wondrous, a matter to
draw down the lower jaw with amazement! Now, so it was, that in the
eyes of one city I was honoured and in request, by reason of my calling,
and I fared sumptuously, even as a great officer of state surrounded by
slaves, lounging upon clouds of silk stuffs, circled by attentive ears: in
another city there was no beast so base as I. Wah! I was one hunted of
men and an abomination; no housing for me, nought to operate upon. I
was the lean dog that lieth in wait for offal. It seemeth certain, O old
woman, that a curse hath fallen on barbercraft in these days, because of
the Identical, whose might I know not. Everywhere it is growing in
disrepute; 'tis languishing! Nevertheless till now I have preserved my
tackle, and I would descend on yonder city to exercise it, even for a
livelihood, forgetting awhile great things, but that I dread men may
have changed there also,--and there's no stability in them, I call Allah
(whose name be praised!) to witness; so should I be a thing unsightly,
subject to hateful castigation; wherefore is it that I am in that state
described by the poet, when,
"Dreading retreat, dreading advance to make, Round we revolve, like to
the wounded snake."
Is not my case now a piteous one, one that toucheth the tender corner in
man and woman?'
When she that listened had heard him to an end, she shook her
garments, crying, 'O youth, son of my uncle, be comforted! for, if it is
as I think, the readers of planets were right, and thou art thus early
within reach of great things--nigh grasping them.'
Then she fell to mumbling and reciting jigs of verse, quaint measures;
and she pored along the sand to where a line had been drawn, and saw
that the footprints of the youth were traced along it. Lo, at that sight she
clapped her hands joyfully, and ran up to the youth, and peered in his
face, exclaiming, 'Great things indeed! and praise thou the readers of
planets, O nephew of the barber, they that sent thee searching the Event
thou art to master. Wullahy! have I not half a mind to call thee already
Master of the Event?'

Then she abated somewhat in her liveliness, and said to him, 'Know
that the city thou seest is the city of Shagpat, the clothier, and there's no
one living on the face of earth, nor a soul that requireth thy craft more
than he. Go therefore thou, bold of heart, brisk, full of the sprightliness
of the barber, and enter to him. Lo, thou'lt see him lolling in his
shop-front to be admired of this people--marvelled at. Oh! no mistaking
of Shagpat, and the mole might discern Shagpat among myriads of our
kind; and enter thou to him gaily, as to perform a friendly office, one
meriting thanks and gratulations, saying, ''I will preserve thee the
Identical!'' Now he'll at first feign not to understand thee, dense of wit
that he is! but mince not matters with him, perform well thy operation,
and thou wilt come to great things. What say I? 'tis certain that when
thou hast shaved Shagpat thou wilt have achieved the greatest of things,
and be most