THE CAMEL TRADER OF BABYLON

THE CAMEL TRADER OF BABYLON

The hungrier one becomes, the clearer one 's mind works- also the more sensitive one becomes  to the odors of food.
  Tarkad the son of Azure , certainly thought so. For two whole days he had tasted no except two small figs purloined from over the wall  of a Garden. Not another could he grab before the angry woman rushed forth and chased him down the street. Her shrill  cries were still ringing in his ears as he walked through the market place .They helped him to restrain his restless fingers from snatching the tempting fruits from the baskets of the market women.
           Never before had he realized how much food was brought to the markets of Babylon and how good it smelled. Leaving the market, he walked across to the inn and paced back and forth in front of the eating  house. Perhaps here he might meet someone he knew; someone from whom he could borrow a copper that would gain him a smile from the unfriendly keeper of the inn and, with it, a liberal helping .without the copper he knew all too well how unwelcome he would be.
    In his abstraction he unexpectedly found himself face to face with one man he wished most to avoid, the tall bony figure of Dabasir, the camel trader . Of all the friends and others of whom he had borrowed small sums, Dabasir made him feel the most uncomfortable because of his failures to keep his promise to pay promptly.
   Dabasir's face lighted  up  at the sight of  him. "Ha! 'Tis Tarkad, just the one I have been seeking  that he might pay the two pieces of copper which I lent to him before that. we are well met. I can make good use of the coins this very day . What say, boy? what say"
   Tarkad stuttered and his face flushed. He had  naught in his  empty stomach  to nerve him to argue with the outspoken Dabasir . " I am sorry, very sorry." he mumbled weakly, "but this day I have neither  the copper nor the silver with which I could repay."
     "Then get it," Dabasir insisted . "Surely thou canst get hold of a few coppers and a piece of silver to repay the generosity of an old friend of thy father who aided thee whenst thou was in need ? "
      " Tis because ill fortune does pursue me that I cannot pay.''
"Ill fortune! wouldst blame the gods for thine own weakness . Ill fortune pursues every man who thinks more of borrowing than repaying. Come with me , boy, while I eat. I am hungry and I would tell thee a tale."
    Tarkad flinched from the brutal frankness of Dabasir, but  here  at least was an invitation to enter the coveted doorway of the eating house.
 Dabasir pushed him to a far corner of the room where seated themselves upon small rugs.
When Kauskor, the proprietor, appeared smiling , Dabasir addressed  with his usual freedom , "Fat lizard of the desert , bring to me a leg of the  goat, very brown with much juice , and bread and all of the vegetables for I am hungry and want much food. Do not forget my friend here . Bring him a jug of water. Have it cooled, for the day is hot."
     Tarkad's heart  sank . Must he sit here and drink water while he watched this man devour an entire goat leg? He said nothing . He thought of nothing he could say.