must be a fool,' said the Cogia. 'How should I know my right side in
the dark?'

One day they said to the Cogia, 'Pray what may be your horoscope?' Said
the Cogia, 'I was born under the sign of the He-goat.' 'O Cogia,' said
they, 'there is no such sign as the He-goat.' Said the Cogia, 'When I
was a child my mother had my horoscope taken, and at that time the Kid
was in the ascension.' 'O Cogia,' said they, 'that's all right; but a
kid is one thing and a he-goat is another.' Said the Cogia, 'O you
simpletons! Forty or fifty years have passed since then. Must not the
kid have become an old goat?'

One day whilst the Cogia was holding an oration at the Castle of Siouri,
he was contradicted by the Soubashi or Superintendent. Shortly after, it
happened that the Soubashi died and was buried; whereupon they said,
'Come, Efendi, preach a sermon over him.' 'You must find some one else,'
said the Cogia. 'He won't mind my words, for he always contradicts me.'

One day two men were sitting together in a shop before their houses,
engaged in discourse. Their houses abutted upon each other, and it so
happened that a dog came and deposited his dirt on the ground in the
middle of the street before their houses. Said one, 'It is nigh your
house.' 'Nay, my good friend,' said the other, 'it is nearest to your
house, so you must go and take it up.' So they got into a dispute; and
not being able to settle it, they went before the Tribunal. Now it
happened that the Cogia had come that day to pay a visit to the Cadi, and
sat beside him. Said the Cadi to the Cogia, 'Do you decide upon their
dispute.' Thereupon the Cogia said to them, 'Is not that street a public
way?' 'It is,' said they. 'Then,' said he, 'one half of the perfumery
belongs to you two and the other half to the Cadi.'

One day the Cogia put a yoke upon a calf which he had; the calf ran here
and there. Forthwith the Cogia, seizing a stick, fell to banging his ox.
'O Cogia,' said the people, 'why do you beat the ox; how can he be in
fault?' 'All the fault is his,' said the Cogia, 'if he had taught him
the calf would have known how to turn.'

One day as the Cogia was travelling in the Derbend he met a shepherd.
Said the shepherd to the Cogia, 'Art thou a faquir?' 'Yes,' said the
Cogia. Said the shepherd, 'See these seven men who are lying here, they
were men like you whom I killed because they could not answer questions
which I asked. Now, in the first p