" Again the
vazir uttered the word "Origin." The king now demanded
what he meant by it. "Simply this, your Majesty,"
responded the vazir: "You have here the sons of
shoemakers, butchers, executioners, and so forth, and
each has expressed himself according to his father's
trade. There is but one noble-born among them, and he
has made himself conspicuous by speaking according to
the manner of his race." The king was ashamed, and
released the vazir.--A parallel to this is found in the
Turkish _Qirq Vezir Tarikhi_, or History of the Forty
Vezirs (Lady's 4th Story): according to Mr. Gibb's
translation, "All things return to their origin."
I am strongly of opinion that the foregoing story is of Buddhistic
extraction; but however this may be, it is not a bad specimen of Eastern
humour, nor is the following, which the eloquent bird tells the lady
another night:
_Of the Man whose Mare was kicked by a Merchant's Horse._
A merchant had a vicious horse that kicked a mare, which he had warned
the owner not to tie near his animal. The man carried the merchant
before the kazi, and stated his complaint. The kazi inquired of the
merchant what he had to say in his own defence; but he pretended to be
dumb, answering not a word to the judge's interrogatives.
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