Hmmm. Proud Babylonian? I feel the material. No, that won't do. I pull a shirt out of its package and whack it several times against one of the tent poles.

This, of course, brings the proprietor running. Sir! Sir! You a crazy man. You tear it, you buy it. You stretch it, you buy it. YOU NOT GET IT BACK IN PACKAGE, you buy it. That pure silk. A dazed moth flies out of the shirt after being whacked on the post. See.....That a silk moth. You buy?

We get all kinds of merchants from the Silk Route. This one seems able to talk his way around every situation. I judge the material with my fingers and say, I'm looking for something stronger. That's why I was, er, testing it against the pole.

I have stronger, he says, much stronger. Come see.

I follow him to a pile of shirts, indeed, much stronger. They are in fact a heavier weave and a stronger fiber. I am not satisfied, This won't do. I'm looking for a much heavier weave. The fiber is in fact, not strong enough. Perhaps something in metal. The weave should be tight enough that a lion's claw can't penetrate it. Maybe something in a nice bronze.

Picking myself up off the ground outside the tent, I stand, raise a clenched fist up to the flap of the tent and yell, Go back to the Orient, ya danged foreigner. I then turn, somewhat embarassed, realizing Oops, this is the orient