Soft Cushions

While spying a beautiful slave girl, a young thief penetrates the harem in which she is imprisoned and, when apprehended, announces that he wants to buy her. Though she dreams of winning the favor of the sultan, she is attracted to the thief. He robs his partners, a fat and a lean thief, to raise the money; but just as he is about to marry the girl, the partners expose his fraud. The police judge takes a look at the girl, confiscates her and the plunder, and orders the young thief's decapitation. But the notary remembers that the thief has promised to pull the sultan's whiskers, thus automatically moving the case to the Wazir's court; the Wazir also falls for the girl and orders an execution. The thief escapes, and disguised as the Wazir, he saves the life of the sultan, winning forgiveness for his sins; and as Wazir he purchases the slave girl for his wife. —Pamela Short