He had a long white beard, of which he was extremely proud, until one day a man, who was a wag, came up to him and said: '"Excellency, we have been wondering: When you go to bed, do you put your beard inside the coverings or out ?" 'The Pasha thought a moment, but he could not tell, for it had never come into his head to notice such a matter.

He promised to inform his questioner upon the morrow.

But when he went to bed that night he tried the beard beneath the bedclothes and above without success.
Neither way could he get comfort, nor could he, for the life of him, remember how the beard was wont to go.

He got no sleep on that night or the next night either, for thinking on the problem thus presented to his mind.

On the third day, in a rage, he called a barber and had the beard cut off.