words; it is no proof of courage to thrust thy fist into another man's
face:--Though thou art able to tear the scalp off an elephant, if
deficient in humanity, thou art no hero. The sons of Adam are formed
from dust; if not humble as the dust, they fall short of being men."

* * * * *


XLIV

A facetious old gentleman of Bagdad gave his daughter in marriage to a
shoemaker. The flint-hearted fellow bit so deeply into the damsel's lip
that the blood trickled from the wound. Next morning the father found
her in this plight; he went up to his son-in-law, and asked him, saying:
"Lowborn wretch! what sort of teeth are these that thou shouldst chew
her lips as if they were a piece of leather? I speak not in play what I
have to say. Lay jesting aside, and take with her thy legal
enjoyment.--When once a vicious disposition has taken root in the habit,
the hand of death can only eradicate it."


XLV

A doctor of laws had a daughter preciously ugly, and she had reached the
age of womanhood; but, notwithstanding her dowry and fortune, nobody
seemed inclined to ask her in marriage:--Damask or brocade but add to
her deformity when put upon a bride void of symmetry.

In short, they were under the necessity of uniting her in the bonds of
wedlock to a blind man. They add, that soon after there arrived from