The Hunchback

There once was a hunchback who was the talk of the town, everybody loved him, and he was one of the Sultan's favorites. One night he was invited over for dinner at a newly married couples house, and he was very entertaining. The night did not end well, though. He choked on a fish bone and died. The couple panicked and did not want to be blamed for his death, so they decided to deposit him in their neighbor's place, a Jewish doctor. They pushed him in through an open window and went back home.

When the Jewish doctor came home he tripped over the body and knocked it down the stairs, so he thought he had killed him. He also panicked, and became afraid for his family, so he too hatched a plan to get rid of the body. He took him down the road and popped him over the fence of some rather slovenly people, who did not take good care of their yard and had all sorts of rats and cats running about.

When the owner came back he hit the hunchback rather hard in the head with the door. He panicked thinking that he had killed the hunchback, and decided he needed to hide the body. This fellow was a little bit different from the other fellows, he figured the best place was in plain site, so he propped him up along the street against a wall.

Well eventually a severly inebriated fellow came by to take a leak on the wall. He thought the hunchback was some perv trying to watch him pee, so he punched him as hard as he could. The hunchback fell over, and then the drunk got scared and realized he was dead. He started to struggle with the body when a palace mameluke came shambling by. They promptly arrested the man and took him to the sultan.

The next day there was a public hearing for the man, where he told his story. Before he could finish though the slovenly man stepped forward and confessed that he had actually killed the hunchback. He then started into his story, but before he finished the Jewish doctor came forward and confessed to the deed. He started to explain how he had accidently knocked him down the stairs when the married couple came forward and confessed that he had choked on a fish bone at their house. The royal physician was called in and sure enough there was the fish bone. The sultan decided that the husband must die because clearly the wife was his responsibility, even if it was her fault. Meanwhile the physician had removed the bone and was rubbing salve on the hunchback's throat and wounds. A little while latter the hunchback woke up a little dazed and cranky, but alive. Each of the people to atone for their deeds were recquired to tell the sultan and hunchback a story. The execution was cancelled, and everybody went their seperate ways until the great sunderer finally truly came for all of them.