ABSTRACT
IT is related, O auspicious King, that there was once long ago in a city of China a prosperous and merry-minded tailor. He was fond
of pleasure and it was his custom from time to time to go out with his wife for a walk through the streets and gardens to look at the life of the city. One day, when they were returning home in the evening after a long pleasure jaunt, they met a hunchback of such droll appearance that neither grief nor melancholy could live for a moment in his presence, and the saddest man would have laughed aloud on seeing him. The tailor and his wife were so greatly amused by the little fellow's sallies that they asked him to come back home with them and spend the night as their guest. The hunchback accepted and, when they had all arrived at the shop, the tailor hurried out to the market and managed to buy, before it closed, some fried fish, bread, limes, and a great cake of white sesame sweetmeat for dessert. When he had brought these back and set them before the hunchback, all three sat down to eat.
