this barber will do it!'

And the King of Oolb peered on Baba Mustapha, crying, 'Even this fellow I
bastinadoed!'

And the King of Gaf, that was Kresnuk, famous in the annals of the time,
said aloud, 'I'm amazed at the pertinacity of this barber! To my court
he came, searching some silly nephew, and would have shaved us all in
spite of our noses; yea, talked my chief Vizier into a dead sleep, and so
thinned him. And there was no safety from him save in thongs and stripes
and lashes!'

Now, upon that the King of the City cried, 'Be the will of Allah
achieved, and the inviolacy of Shagpat made manifest! Thou barber, thou!
do thy worst to contaminate him, and take the punishment in store for
thee. And if it is written thou succeed, then keep thy filthy life:
small chance of that!'

Baba Mustapha remembered the poet's words:

The abyss is worth a leap, however wide,
When life, sweet life, is on the other side.

And he controlled himself to the mastery of his members, and stepped
forward to essay once more the Shaving of Shagpat. Lo, the great Hall
was breathless, nought heard save the splashing of the fountain in its
fall, and the rustle of the robe of Baba Mustapha as he aired his right
arm, hovering round Shagpat like a bird about the nest; and he was
buzzing as a bee ere it entereth the flower, and quivered like a
butterfly when 'tis fluttering over a blossom; and Baba Mustapha sniffed