The Barber’s Tale of His Sixth Brother

My sixth brother was named Schacabac. Like the rest of us he inherited a hundred silver drachmas from our father. He thought that a large fortune, but ill luck soon swept it away and left him begging in the streets. Because he spoke smoothly and had good manners, he actually did well in that hard trade, and he took special care to befriend servants in big houses so that he might one day speak to their masters.

One day he passed a splendid mansion with servants lounging in the courtyard. Guessing it might yield a rich harvest, he went in and asked whose it was. “Can’t you see it belongs to a Barmecide?” a servant answered—for that family was famous for generosity. The porters politely told him to go in and speak to the master himself.

Schacabac thanked them and was shown into a grand hall where the Barmecide sat in state. My brother kissed the ground and wished him long life. The host asked his name and his business. Schacabac answered that he was poor and hungry and had come to beg a bite. “You arrive at the right hour,” said the Barmecide; “dinner is about to be served.” He clapped; servants filed in as if bearing basin, towels, and a long train of dishes—yet every hand was empty. The Barmecide mimed washing and drying and invited his guest to do likewise. Then he pressed bread and salt on him from bare plates, praised an imaginary soup, called for lamb, stews, and sweets course by course, and begged Schacabac not to be shy. My brother matched him gesture for gesture—chewing air, wiping his mouth, even asking for a second helping of a stew that was not there—until the host called for wine. Schacabac pretended to drink deep, grow merry, and at last tipsy; then he stood, struck the Barmecide a light blow, and begged pardon as a man overcome by the “wine.” Far from anger, the Barmecide laughed until he wept, praised such perfect manners and wit, and commanded that every dish they had only imagined be brought in earnest.

From that day Schacabac was treated as a familiar friend. The Barmecide clothed him from his own wardrobe, trusted him with the house, and let him manage affairs for twenty years. When that generous master died without heirs, everything passed to the prince. Officials even stripped my brother of goods that had been given him as his own. As poor as he had ever been, Schacabac decided to throw in his lot with a caravan of pilgrims heading for Mecca. On the road Bedouins fell on the party, plundered it, and took the pilgrims captive. My brother was held captive by a man who treated him cruelly day after day, hoping to force a ransom out of him—though Schacabac kept explaining that his family had nothing to send. At length the Bedouin grew tired of the useless cruelty, loaded him on a camel, and left him on the crest of a high barren mountain to live or die as chance allowed. Later a caravan bound for Bagdad told me where he lay. I went at once, found him, and brought him back to town in a deplorable condition.

Where this story comes from

This story comes from Andrew Lang’s The Arabian Nights Entertainments (1898), translated from Antoine Galland’s French. It is part of the Arabian Nights, not an Indian tale. It is told by the talkative barber of Baghdad, one of the characters in “The Little Hunchback”, as the last of the stories about his six unlucky brothers.

The host is a Barmecide. Lang’s preface explains that the Barmecides were a real and powerful family in Baghdad, at the court of Caliph Haroun al Raschid. The imaginary feast is the best-known part of the story.

Read the original: Andrew Lang, The Arabian Nights Entertainments (Project Gutenberg #128, The Story of the Barber’s Sixth Brother)

Suggested for older readers within ages 9–12 with an adult: a comic imaginary feast is followed by confiscation, kidnapping, cruel captivity and abandonment.

Who can afford the joke?

The host has food available; Schacabac is hungry and needs his favour. Pretending to be drunk lets the guest briefly turn the joke back on its maker without openly rejecting hospitality. The long friendship that follows offers security only while the patron lives. The final rescue by his brother gives a different kind of support after wealth and status have failed.

Trace his sources of security

List inheritance, servants’ goodwill, the patron’s favour and his brother’s help. Which can disappear without Schacabac choosing it? Use the sequence to explain why the ending is more than a lesson about good manners.

Talk about it

• Why did Schacabac pretend to eat food that was not there?
• Why do you think the Barmecide was pleased, not angry, when Schacabac struck him?
• The Barmecide’s joke could have been cruel. Was it a kind joke or an unkind one? Explain.

Related stories

• The Barber’s Story of His Fifth Brother — the barber’s tale of another unlucky brother who daydreams his fortune away
• The Tale of Prince Agib — another Arabian Nights tale told by one of the story’s own characters
• Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves — a poor Arabian Nights man whose luck changes when he discovers treasure