justice. So the judge looked again into his book, and said: ‘According to the divine law (sheri’) it is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Therefore one of the blind men must mount the minaret and jump down on the cook who must sit below. And now for my fee.’ The fee was paid, but the blind men refused to ascend the minaret. Next came Professor Mankarios. ‘Come here; you can read,’ said the judge, ‘and see what the divine law says. It is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, is it not?’ ‘ Yes,’ said the Professor. ‘Then,’ said the judge, ‘since one eye of a true believer is equal to the two eyes of a Christian, the cook must first pull out your second eye, and then you will pull out the cook’s eye. And now for my fee.’ The Copt paid the fee and went away. Lastly came the Turk. The judge looked at his book and said: ‘It is written in the Qoran that God the Almighty can raise the dead to life; why then should you deny that He can have given life to the goose?’ So the Turk after paying his fee had to go away without his goose.”[1]
VI
“There was a judge who had a little son, of whom he was very fond. He would never eat unless his son ate with him. When the boy was asleep he used to awake him in order that they might eat together. When the judge went to the court he took ladies with him; they sat with him in the court, and he would ask them what sentence he ought to pronounce. His wife heard of this, and one day when he came to his house and wanted to eat he told her to bring the boy. She said: ‘He is asleep.’ He replied: ‘Go and wake him.’ She said: ‘If you wake him I will throw him into the cistern (kanîfa).’ He went and waked him; thereupon his wife took a brick (tûba) and threw it into the cistern. The judge thought it was
- ↑ Told me by Takla Bey.
