THE CALIPH’S CONTEST

Many good stories have come to us from the palace of the happy caliph. In his day
Baghdad was the greater city in the world. Men came to Baghdad from the far ends of the earth.
They told the caliph about many strange things. He heard stories of men with tails, of horses the
size of the dogs, and of sea monsters that could swallow ships. All these things seemed
impossible. But men swore that they had seen them with their own eyes. Before long, the caliph
came to believe that there was nothing that was really impossible. The world, he decided, was a
very strange place.

Once, just for fun, the caliph offered a prize to anyone who could tell him something that
was truly impossible. The prize was to be a thousand gold coins. The money was to be given to
the person who could make the caliph say, “That was impossible”. He set a date for the contest
and had the prize money placed in a glass jar above the palace door. The contest excited the
people of Baghdad. Men, women, and children set themselves to thinking of something that
could never really happen. At last the great day came. Thousands of people stood before the
palace. A band played as the caliph walked out onto the steps.

A famous clown was the first to try. He rushed forward at once. “Protector of the
People”, he cried “news has just come that the moon has fallen to the ground! A hundred of your
cities had been destroyed!”

Now, the caliph did not believe for instant that the moon had crashed into the earth. He
felt sure that the clown had made the story up. But still, the story, was possible.

The caliph looked down his nose at the clown. “The moon has fallen you say?” he asked
in a calm voice. “Well that is possible.”

The crowd laughed until the clown left.

Next came a man of great wisdom, the caliph’s doctor. The people were surprised to hear
a loud noise come from under the doctor’s coat. But his face looked so sad that no one laughed.
The crowd was silent as he reached under his coat and took out a day-old pig. He held the little
pig up to the caliph by one leg.

“Protector of the People”, said the doctor, “I have just come from your wives. The truth
must be known. Your third wife has just given birth to this pig!

The caliph looked at the pig with care. Then he nodded “Yes, that is possible”, he said.
The crowd laughed once more, and the doctor, too, left the steps. A famous fortune teller was the
next person to try. “I have studied that the stars find that will happen to you, Protector of the
People,” he told the caliph. “And now, at last, I have found the truth. In the next four days you
will grow a long, long tail. In a month your body will be that of a monkey.”

98
 “That is possible,” agreed the caliph. He could hardly keep from laughing. But you will
want to live like a monkey, too,” went on the fortune teller. “You will hide in the woods, where
you will have seven years, eight months, three weeks, and six days before you die.” The fortune
teller stopped speaking. The people had suddenly become very noisy. Through the crowd was
coming a well-known good-for-nothing. His name was Omar, and he had often made the caliph
laugh. Now Omar was dressed in rags. His back went bent under the weight of two huge stone
jars. He climbed the steps and set the jars at the caliph’s feet.

“Protector of the People”, Omar began, “you are the best ruler in our land has ever had.
Everyone knows you have brought peace and happiness to the world.” “That is possible”, said

the caliph. “Yes”, said Omar, “you have marched at the head of our armies and put your own life
in danger. Once you spent all your money to defeat our wicked enemies”. The caliph smiled and
nodded, for he knew that this was true.

“My own father, bless his name, told me this,” Omar went on. “When you had used all
your money, you went out and borrowed money to help save the country.” “That is also
possible,” agreed the caliph, for Omar was still speaking the truth.

Omar went on in a loud voice. “From my father, Protector of the People, you borrowed
these two stone jars, filled with gold-twenty thousand gold of pieces in all. And you told my
father, upon your honor, that you would return the money to his son on this very day!”

“Omar—!” cried the caliph. Suddenly he bent over, holding his sides with laughter. He
know that the game was over. He could easily say it was possible for the moon to fall, for his
child to be a pig, or for him to turn into a monkey. But he could not tell Omar that he owed him
a twenty thousand pieces of gold. He knew Omar would want the money right away. It would be
cheaper to pay him the prize.

“You’re a sly fox, Omar,” the caliph said finally. You have fooled me. I knew your
father. He was a good-for nothing like yourself. No, I am not going to give you twenty thousand
gold pieces. I am going to say: “THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE!”

99