d after I am
through, you will receive '_the customary_.'" Now "the customary"
consisted of twenty-five blows, which he was accustomed to lay on
without making any mistake in the count. He took for this purpose the
long stem of a cherry pipe, unscrewing the amber mouth-piece, and
belaboring me harder than ever before. When the five-and-twenty strokes
were completed, he commanded me to pay attention, and told me the story
of Little Muck.

The father of Little Muck--whose proper name was Mukrah--was a poor but
respectable man, living here in Nicaea. He lived nearly as solitary a
life as his son now does. This son he could not endure, as he was
ashamed of his dwarfish shape, and he therefore allowed him to grow up
in ignorance. Little Muck, though in his sixteenth year, was only a
child; and his father continually scolded him, because he who should
have long since "put away childish things," still remained so stupid
and silly.

However, the old gentleman got a bad fall one day, from the effects of
which he shortly died, and left Little Muck poor and ignorant. The
unfeeling relatives, to whom the deceased had owed more than he could
pay, drove the poor little fellow out of the house, and advised him to
go out into the world and seek his fortune. Little Muck replied that he
was ready for the journey, but begged that he might be allowed to have his
father's clothes; and these were given him. His father had been a tall,
stout man, so that the clothes did not fit the little son very well; but
Muck knew just what to do in this emergency: he cut off every thing that
was too long, and then put the clothes on. He seemed, however, to have
forgotten that he should have cut away from the width as well; hence his
singular appearance just as he may be seen to-day--dressed in the large
turban, the broad sash, the baggy trousers, the blue cloak, all heirlooms
from his father, which he has ever since worn. The long Damascus poniard,
that had also belonged to his father, he stuck proudly in his sash, and,
supported by a little cane, wandered out of the city gate.

He tramped along merrily the whole day; for had he not been sent out to
seek his fortune? If he came across a broken bit of pottery glistening
in the sun, he straightway put it into his pocket, in the full belief
that it would prove to be the most brilliant diamond. When he saw in
the distance the dome of a mosque all ablaze with the sun's rays, or a
lake gleaming like a mirror