astirma. The Cadi had forgotten its existence. "Ah, to be sure!" he
cried. "I gave it my major-domo for safe keeping."

'He called that servant, and commanded him to give the basket of
bastirma to the Jew there waiting. The major-domo bowed his head,
folded his hands upon his breast, and said: "I ask forgiveness, O my
lord. The basket still remains, but the bastirma was so excellent
that, having tasted but a piece of it, I wanted more, so that, in
fact, I ate it all upon the journey. I wish to pay the price of it to
this young Jew."

'The Cadi thought his servant's offer fair enough, but the young Jew
went mad. Flying at the throat of the major-domo, he flung him to the
ground, and tried to tear the soul out of his body with his teeth and
nails. The Cadi called upon the bystanders for help. The Jew was
dragged with difficulty from his victim. Then the Cadi asked:

'"Why, pray, did you attack my servant in that savage way?"

'"That man," said the Jew, still white with rage, and pointing with
his tallow finger at the major-domo, who had risen from the
ground--"that man contains my grandfather."

'"What words are these? Explain yourself!" the Cadi cried.

'"Three weeks ago, O gracious Excellency, my grandfather died in
Stambul. It had ever been his dearest wish to be buried in the Holy
City, near the scene of judgment; and that wish of his was law on us
his offspring. But how could we fulfil it? How, I ask? No skipper,
whether Nazarene or Muslim, would receive a dead Jew on his ship for
less than the corpse-weight in gold. And we are poor. To take him
overland was quite impossible. And so my father and my mother in
Stambul cured his dead limbs, and made of them bastirma, and sent him
hither in the way thou knowest. It follows that thy servant has
committed a most dreadful crime. Let him be killed, I pray, and
buried in the tomb we have prepared, that so my grandfather's great
wish may be fulfilled."

'The major-domo was more dead than living as he heard that story. He
rent his clothes and fell down on the ground insensible.

'The Cadi answered the young Jew with wisdom, saying: "Thou art
entitled to the price of one basket of bastirma, and no more, from
this my servant; but he, on his side, has a right to all thou ownest.
What wealth can ever compensate him for the haunting fear that on the
Last Day he may rise inextricably mingled with thy worthy grandfather?
Go, I say, and never venture to approach him any more,