The Jeffersonian Democrat. [volume] (Chardon, Ohio) 1854-1865, 1860-05-18
The Jew Of Hannah.

trade in goats hair, determined TO make O |
pilgrimage 20 Mecca. His family consisted |
OF his wife and two slavos and as the lady |
insisted on not being left behind, the good
man resolved to sell off his stock of goats
hair, to take all his household with him, and
to shut up until his return. Tho only diff. |
fculty that presented itself was what to do
with bis money. He did not like to run the |
risk Of being robbed Of it in his journey
through the desert; he did not like TO
leave il in an empty house, aud there we're
not any of his friends to whom he wished 10
trust the secret of his wealth. After much
deliboration he placed it in separate parcels
at the bottom of five large earthern jars,
which he then filled up with butter, and on
bis departure sent them to the house of one
of his neighbors, jew named Mousa, to
keep till his return, telling him that It was
u stock which no had laid in for winter con-
sumption. The Jew, however. from the
weight Of the jars and other circumstances,
suspected that they contained something
more valuable; aud as soon as Mustaphs
was fairly on his way to Damascus to join
tho caravan, he ventured to open them I;
when finding bis expectations realized, he
took out the gold and filed them up again
with butter so carefully, that nobody could
tell they had been disturbed. The poor
Turk, on his return from the pilgrimage,
soon found out the trick that bis neIgh6or
had practced upon him but as the jars
we're exactly in :he same apparent state as
when he lett them, and as there was no evi.
dence as to their contents, it was plain that
no legal process could give him any legal re.
dress.
He therefore set about to devise some
other way of Furnishing the Jow, and OF re-
covering, il possible his property and in
the meantime be did not communicate bis
loss to any person but bis wife, and enjoined
on her tho strictest secrecy. After long
consideration, q plan suggested itself. In
one of his visits to the neighboring town OF
HONS where he was in the habit of going to
sell his goats hair to the manufacturers of
the mashlkhs, for which that place is famous.
he fell in with troop of gipsies, who had
with them an ape OF extraordinary eagacitV.
He prevailed on them to sell him this ami
NAL conveying it privately to his house.
shut it up in room to which no one but
himself had access. He then went to the
bazaar and bought one of the dark scanty
robes and small caps or kdipdks, with a
speckled handkerchief tied closely round il,
which is the described costume of tho Jews
throughout the Tarkish empire. This dress
he took care invariably to put on whenever
he went to visit hs ape; and as he always
carried him his meals, and indeed never al.
lowed any other person to SEQ him, the an
imal in the course of u few weeks became
extremely attached to him, jumping on his
neck and huggiDg and caressing him as soon
as he entered the room. About this time,
as no was walking along the streets one day,
he mot a lad. the son OF the Jow Mousa, and
having enticed him into his house by the
promise of some figs, he shut hun up close
prisoner in n detached apartment in his gar
den, at such distance from the street, and
from the other houses in tho town, that the
boy could not discover to any one tho place
of his confinement. The jew, after several
days search, not being able TO gain any
tidings OF him. concluded that he had either
been drowned, or had strayed out of tho
town and fallen into the hands of some wan :
dering Bedouins and as he was an only
child, fell into state of the greatest despair
J till at length he heard by accident, that just
about the time that the boy was missing, he
had been seen walking in company with
Hadgi Mustapha. The truth instantly
flashed on his mind, and he recognized in
:he loss of his son some stratsgem which
the Turk had planned in revenge for the
affair of the 5utter-jars. Ho Immediately
summoned him before the Cadi accused him
of having the boy in his possession, and in.
sisted on his immediately restoring him.
Mustapha at first streuuously denied the
| fact but when one of the witnesses posi-.
| lively declared that he saw the boy go into
hiR house, and when the Cadi was about to
pronounce his decree, that he should bring
| him into court dead or alive--"Ydh allah. ei
Allah !" he exclaimed, 'there is no God but
Allah, and his power is infnite; he eau
work miracles wnen il seemeth good in his
sight IL is true, effendi," continued he
ADDRESSING himself to the Cadi, that when
saw the Jew Mousa's son passing by my
house and for the sake of the old friend
ship subsistipg between his father aud any.
self, invited him to come iD and TO oal
some figs which had just been gathering
Tho boy, however, repaid my hospitality
with rudeness and abuse nay. he even
blasphemed the name of our holy prophet
but scarcely had the words passed his lips
when. to my surprise and horror, he waf
suddenly changed into monkey. In that
form will produce him; and as proof that
what ! tell you is true, you viii! see that he
will Immediately recognize his father" AT
this instant a servant who was waiting on
the outside, let loose the ape into the divan
who seeing that the Jew was the only per
son present in the dress to which he was &C.
custOned, mistook him for bis master
Jumped upon him, and elung round his neck
with all the expressions of fondness which the
child might have been supposed to exhibit
on being restored to his parent. Nothing
more was wanting to convince the audienct
of the truth of Mustaphas story. "A mir
acle, real miracle !" they cried out, ''great
is Allah and Mahoinet ia his prophet and
tho jew was ordered to take the monkey
, and retire from the court. A compromise
was now his only resource; and accordingly
as soon as il was dark, and he could 90 uD
observed. he repaired to Mustapha's house
aud offered, if he would liberate bis son, tc
restore all the money which he had taken
from the butterjars Tho Turk having at
tai ned his object, consented to releas,< hii
prisoner; but in order to keep up his owu
credit, he stipulated that the child should
bo removed privately, and that the father
with his whole family, should Immediately
quit the place. The popular belief in the
miracle thus remained mistaken and &C
great was the disrepute into which the JewI
fell in consequence of this adventure, thai
: they oil departed one after the other, and
: none have ever since been known to reside
in Hannah.
TRUSTING to luck is trusting to time, ant
|, time is the most unreliable of all things with
ira frnita