Accept, therefore, as a token
of my gratitude, the slender purse accompanying this letter. It contains
five thousand piastres, so that if ever I visit you again I may find you
in better circumstances. God help you in all things!
"Your grateful servant,
"JANAKI."
"Now, didn't I say he was mad?" exclaimed Halil, after reading through
the letter. "Who else, I should like to know, would have given me five
thousand piastres for three red onions?"
Meanwhile, attracted by the noise of the conversation, a crowd of the
acquaintances of Halil Patrona and the money-changer had gathered around
them, and they laid their heads together and discussed among themselves
for a long time the question which was the greater fool of the
two--Janaki, who had given five thousand piastres for three onions, or
Halil who did not want to accept the money.
Yet Halil it was who turned out to be the biggest fool, for he
immediately set out in search of the man who had given him this sum of
money. But search and search as he might he could find no trace of him.
If he had gone in search of someone who had stolen a like amount, he
would have been able to find him very much sooner.
In the course of his wanderings, he suddenly came upon the place where
three days previously he had had his tussle with Halil Pelivan. He
recognised the spot at once. A small dab of blood, the remains of what
had flowed from the giant's head, was still there in the middle of the
lane, and on the wall of the house opposite both their names were
written.
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