Justice is a Pain in the Neck¹

Bahlool’s Encounter with the Judge

(from the Tales of Bahlool)

بهلول

THE STORY GOES THAT a man hit Bahlool on his nape in public by way of scorning him. Bahlool caught the rogue by his collar and took him to the kadi. However, the man happened to be one of the kadi’s friends. The kadi declared that Bahlool may either hit the man on the back of his neck in return or take fifty dinars in damages. Bahlool, being poor, preferred to take the money. The kadi then asked the culprit whether he had the money on him already. He then got the message and asked for permission to leave the court to fetch the fine. Bahlool waited and waited in vain. He finally came up to the kadi, gave him a hard hit on the back of his neck, and said to him: “When your friend comes back with the money, take it from him in damages, your Honor.”

Endnotes

¹ Hussain Mohammed Al-Amily, ed. The Book of Arabic Wisdom (Northhampton: Interlink Books 2005), 79. ⇑