Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 May 1877 — A Legend About Coffee. [ARTICLE]

A Legend About Coffee.

There is a legend about coffee —a legend in which a pious Mussulman is the hero. The Mussulman used to get sleepy during his devotions, and so he prayed to Mohammed, who came to his aid. Mohammed sent him for advice to a goatherd, who took a hint from his goats. He observed that when these animals ate the berries of a particular tree they got frisky and excited —bounded about all the night, in fact. The Mussulman took the hint, ate the coffee berries, slept less, and no doubt prayed better. That was the legend. That coffee, how- . ever, was sold in the streets of Cairo toward the end of the sixteenth century is not a matter of legend, but history. In fact, it was not only sold, but it was forbidden to be sold. An Arabian historian recounts that in the year 1538 a case was attacked by the authorities and the customers who were found! on the spot hurried! off to prison, from which they were not liberated till they had: each received seventeen strokes with » stick, for the encouragement of others.. And, in fact, this raid served the purpose so excellently that five and twenty years aftevward the town of Cairo could boast of more than 2,000-shops where coffee might be bought. —Exchange.