Storia do Mogor 24: CHAPTER II · OF THE TOWN OF SMYRNA
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 24
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- English
CHAPTER II · OF THE TOWN OF SMYRNA
24.1
SMYRNA is a Turkish port where we stayed seven days. There is a mingling of many nations there — namely, Italians, French, English, Dutch, and many Armenian merchants, who all live by the borders of the sea. At the time when we were at this port it happened that a Turk gave several blows with a stick to the captain of an English vessel. The Englishman swallowed the affront while he remained in the town waiting to embark, and after he had got a little way out to sea he bombarded the town and fled.
24.2
They tell here a story which merits to be recorded at this place by reason of the wit and ingenuity which it displays. At Aleppo, a town of Arabia, dwelt a merchant, a Hebrew by race, the richest of all those in the town. The Bassa (pasha) or governor wanted to despoil this Hebrew, and sought an opportunity of so doing without injuring his own reputation. He thought the best, the most refined, and the fairest way would be to send for him to his palace, and in the course of conversation point out to him that there were three different religions — one taught by Moses and accepted by the Jews, one taught by the Messiah and observed by the Christians, and the last promulgated by Mahomed and followed by the Turks. He would then ask the Jew which of the three was the true religion. Because, should the Hebrew reply that the religion of Moses or of Christ was the true one, he thereby decided at the same time, by implication, that the religion of Mahomed was false. If the Jew replied ' Yes, that is so,' then the governor would have him seized, and confiscate all his goods. On the other hand, if the Hebrew, out of respect or through fear, answered that Mahomed's religion was the true one, he would force him either to adopt Mahomedanism or lose his life. In that last case he would become master of all his goods.
24.3
The Jew, perceiving the force of the argument, sharpened his wits, and asked permission to tell the story of what had happened some time before. There was a father, said the Hebrew, who had three [4] sons, heirs to the whole of his great riches, and among his jewels there was a precious stone of an unusual size, and therefore greatly valued. The three sons knew that their father had this precious stone ; they also knew that it was beyond price, and that it could never be sold for its proper value. Thus each of them hoped to inherit it on his father's death. The latter, knowing his children's thoughts, and desirous of pleasing them all, so that at his death there should be no discord among them nor dispute, sent for a lapidary, and, showing him the stone, gave an order to make two imitation stones of the same size, and the same in every detail as the true one. The lapidary made these two stones so perfectly that when the three were placed together, it was impossible to tell which was the true one.
24.4
When he was at the point of death, the father sent for the best-beloved of his children, and made over to him the true stone, enjoining him to preserve secrecy, so that neither his brothers nor the governor of the town should trouble him. He acted in the same way with the other two sons, telling them to keep it a secret, and delivering to each an imitation stone, which he declared to be the true and only one. By this means all three were contented, each being persuaded that he had the true stone which he coveted. In the same manner, said the Hebrew to the Bassa (pasha), the Lord our God has sent forth three laws : one to the Jews, one to the Christians, and another to the Turks. Of these one is true, and the others false; but as to which is the true one we know nothing, each believing that it is the one he holds. God alone, who gave them, knows which it is, just as the father, who bestowed the stones, knew which was the true one. The Bassa (pasha), seeing the ingenuity with which the Jew had answered, thereby breaking the net in which he had resolved to catch him, praised him for his answer, and abandoned his designs against the goods of that sharp-witted merchant. We remained seven days at Smyrna; after that we started with a caravan for the town of Burca (Brusa). On the road we suffered much from cold, owing to the large amount of snow, and we arrived in eight days in good health.