. For I was bringing beetroots to the Bey--large beetroots,
and many of them--and I met a man who persuaded me, saying, "Figs would
be more acceptable," so I brought figs; and you have cast them at my
head. But there were few of them, and they are soft, and I am none the
worse. If, however, I had not by good luck thrown away the beetroots,
which are hard, my skull would certainly have been cracked."

_Tale_ 46.--Timur and the One-legged Geese.

One day the Khoja caused a goose to be cooked. He was about to present
it to the King.

When it was nicely done he set off with it, but on the road he became
very hungry. If the smell of it were to be trusted it was a most
delicious bird! At last the Khoja could resist no longer, and he tore
off a leg and ate it with much relish.

On arriving in the royal presence he placed the goose before Timur the
King, who, when he had examined the Khoja's gift, was exceedingly
annoyed.

"This Khoja is deriding me!" said he. And then in a voice of thunder he
demanded, "_Where is the other leg?_"

"The geese of our country are one-legged," replied Nasr-ed-Deen, with
much gravity. "If your Majesty does not believe me, be good enough to
let your eyes be informed of the truth of what I say by looking at the
geese at yonder spring."

As it happened there were a number of geese at the fountain, and they
were all standing on one leg.

The King could not help laughing, but he called to his drummers and
said, "March towards yonder fountain, and lay your drumsticks well about
your drums."

The drummers forthwith began to drum, and they rattled away so heartily
that all the geese put down their legs and ran off in alarm.

"O Khoja!" cried Timur, "how is this? All your geese have become
two-legged!"

"It is the effect of your Majesty's wonderful drumsticks," replied the
Khoja. "If you were to eat one of them, you yourself would undoubtedly
become four-legged."

_Tale_ 47.--The Khoja Rewards the Frogs.

Khoja Nasr-ed-Deen Effendi had been riding his donkey for some miles. It
was very hot, and the Khoja dismounted to ease his beast. At this moment
they came within sight of a pond, and the donkey smelling the water set
off towards it as hard as he could canter.

The side of the pond was very steep, and in its haste the donkey would
probably have fallen in, but that the frogs set up such a terrific
croaking at its approach that the beast, in alarm, turned sharply round,
and was caught