"Ah, gentlemen," said the owner of the vase, suspending his lamentations,
and looking at the dress of the pretended merchants, "I see that you are
strangers: you do not know how much cause I have for grief and despair!
You do not know that you are speaking to Murad the Unlucky! Were you to
hear all the unfortunate accidents that have happened to me, from the
time I was born till this instant, you would perhaps pity me, and
acknowledge I have just cause for despair."

Curiosity was strongly expressed by the sultan; and the hope of obtaining
sympathy inclined Murad to gratify it by the recital of his adventures.
"Gentlemen," said he, "I scarcely dare invite you into the house of such
an unlucky being as I am; but if you will venture to take a night's
lodging under my roof, you shall hear at your leisure the story of my
misfortunes."

The sultan and the vizier excused themselves from spending the night with
Murad, saying that they were obliged to proceed to their khan, where they
should be expected by their companions; but they begged permission to
repose themselves for half an hour in his house, and besought him to
relate the history of his life, if it would not renew his grief too much
to recollect his misfortunes.

Few men are so miserable as not to like to talk of their misfortunes,
where they have, or where they think they have, any chance of obtaining
compassion. As soon as the pretended merchants were seated, Murad began
his story in the following manner:--

"My father was a merchant of this city. The night before I was born he
dreamed that I came into the world with the head of a dog and the tail of
a dragon; and that, in haste to conceal my deformity, he rolled me up in