{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_22258/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_22258","id":"gutenberg_22258","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22258","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Adventure","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy","Category: Short Stories","Harun al-Rashid, Caliph, approximately 763-809 -- Fiction"],"text":"Produced by Al Haines\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTALES OF THE CALIPH\n\n\nBY\n\nH. N. CRELLIN\n\n\n\nAUTHOR OF\n\n'ROMANCES OF THE OLD SERAGLIO,' 'THE NAZARENES,' ETC.\n\n\n\n\nA NEW EDITION\n\n\nLondon\n\nCHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY\n\n1895\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\nTHE CALIPH AND THE PIRATES\n  The Arab Merchant's Story\n\nTHE CALIPH AND THE BLIND FISHERMAN\n  The History of the Blind Fisherman and his Brother\n\nTHE CALIPH AND ABDURRAHMAN\n  Abdurrahman's Story\n\nTHE CALIPH AND THE FIRST JAR OF OINTMENT\n  First Adventure: The Caliph and the Emir\n\nTHE CALIPH AND THE FIRST JAR OF OINTMENT\n  Second Adventure: The Caliph and Abou Hassan\n  The Story of Murad Essed, the Unfortunate Merchant\n  The Story of Abou Hassan, the Fortunate Merchant\n\nTHE CALIPH AND THE SECOND JAR OF OINTMENT\n  The Story of Hunoman\n\nTHE CALIPH AND THE SLAVE MERCHANTS\n  The Narrative of Sidi ibn Thalabi\n  The Barber's Story\n\nTHE CALIPH AND SIDI IBN THALABI--THE BANQUET\n  The Story of Mubarek, as told by Abu 'Atahiyeh\n\nTHE CALIPH AND THE MAGIC TUBE\n\n\n\n\nTALES OF THE CALIPH.\n\n\nThat stories such as those in the \"Arabian Nights,\" and fairy tales of\nevery kind, should delight us all, men and women no less than boys and\ngirls, is very natural.  We find it charming to escape for a period,\nhowever brief, from all the familiar surroundings of modern life, and\non opening a volume to pass at once into another region, where all is\nstrange, and where the sceptical glances of science never intrude to\nbanish magic and the supernatural.\n\nEmboldened by these reflections, we may forthwith commence the\nnarration of certain noteworthy occurrences concerning the celebrated\nCaliph Haroun Alraschid.  He was in the habit, as every one knows, of\nwandering very frequently through the town after nightfall in various\ndisguises to see for himself that justice was done, and also, it may be\nconfessed, by no means loth to encounter such adventures as he might\nmeet with.  Many of these have been already related, but others, no\nwhit less interesting and extraordinary, remain still untold.\n\nSome of these adventures were very diverting and naturally pleasing,\nbut others involved so many dangers and such hardships that it is\nindeed surprising that the Caliph should ever again have ventured on\nthese nocturnal ramblings.\n\nAn adventure of the latter and more serious description happened as\nfollows, and may be entitled:\n\n\nThe Caliph and the Pirates.\n\nThe Caliph, being on a tour of inspection through the various provinces\nof his empire, chanced on a certain occasion to be stopping at Bussora.\nAnd one evening, disguised, as was his wont, as a merchant, and, as\nusual, accompanied only by his faithful Grand Vizier, Giafer, he\nstrolled through the bazaars silent and observant.  Meeting with\nnothing worthy of arresting his particular attention, he wandered on\nuntil he came at length to some very narrow and mean lanes near the\nwaterside.  In one of these, and when passing the door of a low\ncaravanserai, or public-house, frequented chiefly by sailors, they\nnoticed some men approaching, who were carrying great sacks quite full,\nand so heavy that each sack was carried by two men, who, on reaching\nthe door of the caravanserai, entered.  The Caliph, tired with his\nramble, and curious to learn what might be in the sacks, beckoned to\nGiafer and followed the men into the caravanserai.  The interior was so\ndark, being lit only by a few small oil lamps, that it was at first\ndifficult to distinguish objects clearly.  However, their eyes having\nbecome accustomed to the gloom after a few minutes, the Caliph and his\nVizier, who had entered quietly and unobserved, and had seated\nthemselves on a low sofa or divan which ran round the sides of the\napartment, perceived that the company were all rough, seafaring men of\na very fierce and truculent aspect.  Among them one was seated, who\nappeared by his dress and demeanour to be the chief or captain of the\nband.  This man, addressing those who had brought in the sacks, asked\nthem what they had there.  To which they replied, \"Things from Abbas\nBey.\"  At this answer the Caliph's interest increased, inasmuch as\nAbbas Bey was a palace official; and because many things had lately\nbeen stolen from the palace, but although many suspected persons had\nbeen punished and dismissed, yet the thefts had not been certainly\ntraced to any one.  These great sacks contained, therefore, without\ndoubt, all kinds of valuable property from the palace, and Abbas Bey\nwas the traitor who had delivered it to the thieves.  The anger of the\nCaliph, who was a man prone to the fiercest bursts of passion, could\nscarcely be restrained.  Nevertheless, he managed to preserve silence\nand a calm demeanour, the more especially since he desired to learn\nwhat would next be done.  He had not long to wait, for, some wine\nhaving been given to the men who brought the sacks, the captain ordered\nthem to go at once on board, as he should set sail that very night.\nThe Caliph hearing this, whispered to Giafer that he should go out with\nthe men as they left with the sacks, and that he should instantly\nproceed to the nearest guard-house and fetch a company of soldiers,\nwith whom he should surround the house and take all within prisoners.\nGiafer, doing as he was bid, left the house with the men as they came\nout again with the sacks, and hastened to fetch the guard as the Caliph\nhad ordered.\n\nUnluckily, it happened that the captain of the pirates--for such they\nwere--being more alert and observant than his men, had noticed the\npresence of the two strangers, and had remarked the Caliph whisper to\nhis companion, and the departure of the latter.  Instantly divining\nthat their proceedings had been discovered, and that the man who went\nout had gone to betray them to the authorities, the captain whispered\nan order to the two or three who sat nearest to him, and immediately\nthey rose, fell upon the Caliph, gagged and bound him; and all so\nsuddenly and swiftly that he had no time to offer any kind of\nresistance.  Then the captain, commanding his men to bring their\nprisoner in the midst of them, proceeded at once to their vessel, which\nlay at no great distance.  The night was dark, and that band of\nwell-armed, resolute men could not easily have been overpowered, even\nhad there been any to attempt such a thing.  But, in fact, they met no\none on their short journey from the caravanserai to the waterside.  In\na few minutes, therefore, after the departure of the trusty Giafer, the\nCaliph found himself lying bound and helpless on board a ship, which at\nonce set sail and carried him he knew not whither.\n\nThe next day one of the crew came and removed the cloth they had tied\nover his mouth to gag him, and brought him some food.  Then the unhappy\nCaliph declared to the man who he was, and demanded that the captain\nshould be brought before him.  But the fellow only laughed, and going\nafterwards to the captain, said: \"The merchant you have taken has lost\nhis wits, and he proclaims himself to be the Commander of the Faithful,\nand says that we are but his slaves.\"  The captain laughed heartily and\nsaid, \"Nevertheless, he is stout and strong, and may be sold for a fair\nprice when we come to the port we are bound for.\"\n\nLeaving the Caliph to proceed on the voyage he had begun so\nunwillingly, we must return to the Grand Vizier, who, as soon as he\nfound himself outside the caravanserai, had hastened to the nearest\nguard-house, and, calling the captain of the guard, had ordered him to\nassemble his men and accompany him immediately.\n\nWhen he got back to the caravanserai he posted his men so that none of\nthe inmates should escape, and then, entering with the captain and ten\nsoldiers, was aghast to find the place empty.  At once he hastened with\nhis whole force to the waterside; but too late!  Nothing could be seen\nof the pirate ship, which was already lost in the darkness.\n\nFortunately the Vizier, always a reticent and prudent man, had not\nmentioned the Caliph, and he now ordered the company to return to their\nguard-house, merely remarking that the robbers had for this time\nescaped him.\n\nReturning to the palace, he was for some time lost in doubt as to the\nbest course for him to pursue under the circumstances.  That the Caliph\nshould escape from the clutches of the desperate gang who had carried\nhim off seemed little likely.  And yet so many and such strange\nadventures had been experienced by them both, and they had found their\nway out of so many dangerous scrapes into which the Caliph's curiosity\nand daring had involved them, that no good fortune seemed impossible.\n\nMoreover, he reflected that Haroun had at this time no son old enough\nto succeed him, while Ibrahim, his half-brother, and next heir\naccording to Moslim usage, was the Vizier's declared enemy.  His\naccession to the throne would therefore mean infallibly the destruction\nof the Vizier and his whole family.\n\nHe resolved, after much consideration, to take the boldest course as\nbeing really the safest, as indeed it frequently is.\n\nTaking with him a small escort, he left Bussora at daybreak, and\nproceeded as fast as the horses would carry them to Bagdad.  On his\narrival he wrote immediately a note to Zobeideh, Haroun's favourite\nwife; told her that the Caliph, while engaged in one of his usual\nnocturnal rambles, had temporarily disappeared, and suggested, in the\ninterest of herself and her son, that she should give out that, being\nindisposed, the Caliph had retired for a short time to one of his\npalaces in the provinces, and had confided the government meanwhile\ninto the hands of his old and trusty Vizier.  In this way, and with the\nconnivance of Zobeideh, the astute Giafer managed to retain without\nquestion the government of the country during the absence of the Caliph.\n\n\nTo return to the Caliph.  For three days the pirate ship pursued her\ncourse in fair weather, and without incident.  On the fourth day she\nsighted a merchantman, to whom she gave chase.  But the captain of the\nmerchantman, seeing his danger, crowded on every stitch of canvas he\npossessed, and having a fair wind, and an uncommonly fast ship, he kept\nso far ahead that, the sun going down, the pirate lost sight of him,\nand he escaped.\n\nThis chase had carried the pirates far out of their course, and on the\nnext day a great storm arose, and they were obliged to shorten sail and\nrun before the wind.  At length one huge wave which broke over the\nship, having swept no less than eight of the crew overboard, the\ncaptain, who found himself short-handed, gave orders that the prisoner\nshould be released, that he might do his part in the endeavour to save\nthe ship and all their lives.  The ship having sprung a leak--or,\nindeed, more probably several, for the water poured in upon them\napace--the crew, including the Caliph himself, became exhausted with\ncontinuous pumping, and the captain, therefore, descrying a coast-line,\ndetermined to run the ship boldly ashore, in the hope that some of them\nat least might be saved.  And in fact, although the ship when she\ntouched the beach was stove in and broken up by the force of the waves,\nyet the Caliph, the captain, and three of his men were washed ashore,\nand lay on the beach in a very faint and exhausted condition.\n\nHere they were found by certain natives of that region, who gave them\nfood and drink to revive them.  Then, without either binding or in any\nway ill-treating them, they conducted them along a broad and level road\nwhich ran inland towards the capital of the country.\n\nIn about an hour's time, being all wearied and thirsty, the sun being\nnow very fierce, they descried with great pleasure a village at no\ngreat distance, which was very pleasantly situated at the foot of a\nsteep hill, in the shadow of which it lay, embowered in a profusion of\npalms and date-trees.  Here the villagers were scattered in groups,\nfeasting and merry-making, it being a festival held in honour of some\nlocal magnate, whose daughter had that day been married.  The villagers\nreceived their fellow-countrymen, as also the Caliph and the pirates,\nwith every demonstration of good-will, bringing them fresh milk to\ndrink, and bread, made of a mixture of rye and oats, with plenty of\ndates, to eat.\n\nHere the whole party rested for some hours, but when their conductors\nwished again to resume their journey, the three pirates flatly refused\nto depart, saying that they were well off where they were, and would go\nno further--at least for that day.  It was intimated to them that the\nking of that country would suffer no stranger to dwell there unless he\nhad first seen him and granted his permission.  However, all was in\nvain; they no longer regarded the authority of their captain, and,\nbeing three men to one, he could not compel them to obey.  Leaving\nthem, therefore, the Caliph and the captain set out again, hoping\nbefore nightfall to reach the town where the king, who had already been\ninformed of their arrival, was expecting them.\n\nFor some distance their road lay through a pleasant and well-cultivated\ncountry, dotted at intervals by hamlets and scattered cottages, which\nwere surrounded by groves of orange-trees or clumps of dates and palms.\nAt length, as they advanced, the ground became broken and hilly, the\nroad was steep, and far in the distance they saw, on a great plateau or\ntable-land, the sparkling domes and minarets of a majestic city.\n\nThe sun was already low as they drew near to the city, and they were\ncongratulating themselves on being able to enter the town before the\ndarkness should be upon them, when suddenly they came to the edge of a\nvast and precipitous abyss, which completely severed the country they\nhad been traversing from the heights on which the city had been built.\nThe road they could see continued its course on the other side, but,\nspanning the dizzy chasm, the only bridge was the trunk of a gigantic\ntree, which lay stretched across it.  Without hesitation or difficulty\nthe natives of the country passed over, trusting themselves without\napparent concern to walk at that tremendous height along the rough\nsurface of the primitive bridge, which afforded so uncertain and\nprecarious a foothold.  The captain, having the nerves and nimbleness\nof a sailor, followed them fearlessly and safely.  But for the Caliph\nthe adventure was extremely perilous.  However, seeing the others\ncross, with his wonted intrepidity and hardihood he ventured to follow\nthem.  But on reaching the middle of the narrow and uneven footway, and\nlooking down into the tremendous depths below, becoming giddy he\nthreatened to fall headlong, and only by a strong effort of the\nresolute will that distinguished him, and steadying himself by looking\nearnestly at a fixed spot in front of him, he succeeded in reaching the\nother side in safety.\n\nShortly after passing over this dangerous bridge they began to find\nthemselves in the suburbs of the city.  On either side the road there\nwere fine houses situated in beautiful gardens, and they had not\nproceeded far before a guard met them, sent by Selim Sadek, the king.\n\nSelim was very desirous to see and speak with the two brave men who\nunaided had crossed the tree-bridge in safety--a feat no stranger\npreviously had succeeded in accomplishing.\n\nWhen they reached the palace--which was a noble and imposing pile of\nbuildings, situated on a steep hill, and overlooking not only the city,\nbut extensive plains and lakes stretching away as far as the eye could\nsee--they were shown into apartments where baths and food were prepared\nfor them.  After bathing and enjoying an excellent repast, they retired\nto rest, being greatly fatigued with their journey.\n\nThe Grand Chamberlain, after he had seen that the king's orders had\nbeen duly carried out, and that the strangers had been properly\nreceived and lodged, hastened to report to his master what had been\ndone.  Selim, on receiving his report, inquired what his guests were\nlike.  The Chamberlain replied, \"Both of them, your Majesty, are fine,\nwell-built men; and both are exceptionally brave, as their bearing,\nwhen they came to the bridge, amply proved; but in all other respects\nthey are very unlike.  The one is but a rough fellow, probably a sea\ncaptain, who stared about him in astonishment when he came into the\nhalls of your palace, although they are by no means the best.  We\nnoticed, also, that he eyed the plate, although it was but silver, not\nonly with admiration, but somewhat greedily, as though he would, if\nopportunity had offered, have gladly seized and gone off with it.  The\nother stranger, on the contrary, seemed to view the magnificence of the\npalace with the greatest indifference, and took everything, even to the\nattendance of the attendants and great officers, so much as a matter of\ncourse, that I feel persuaded,\" said the Chamberlain, \"that he must be\na very great personage, perhaps even a king, in his own country.\"\n\nThis account of the strangers given by his Grand Chamberlain inflamed\nthe curiosity of Selim to the highest degree, and the next morning\nearly he seated himself on his throne in the great audience-chamber of\nhis palace, and commanded that the two strangers should be brought\nbefore him.\n\nWhen they were come he inquired who they were, and where they were\ngoing when they encountered the storm that had wrecked their vessel.\nTo this the Caliph, who in the new robes that had been supplied them\nlooked a man of great dignity and good breeding, replied by announcing\nthat he was the Caliph Haroun Alraschid, and relating all that had\noccurred from the time he entered the caravanserai at Bussora until the\ntime when the pirate ship was wrecked.\n\nWhen King Selim heard that the man before him was the renowned Caliph\nHaroun Alraschid, whose fame had spread throughout all the world, he,\nbeing a good Moslim, came down off his high throne, and, making\nobeisance to the Commander of the Faithful--\"Sire,\" said he, \"a happy\nday is this for your servant that he should be privileged to see your\nface or to do aught for your illustrious Majesty.  And first, say by\nwhat death does it please you that this vile pirate and traitor shall\ndie?\"\n\nThe captain, who from conversations he had held with the Caliph during\ntheir journey since the wreck had become convinced of the true position\nand rank of his captive, stood silent with bowed head awaiting his\nsentence.\n\nKing Selim having led Haroun Alraschid up the steps of the throne and\nseated him upon it, would himself have stood upon the steps, but the\nCaliph bade him come up and be seated by his side.\n\nThen, looking towards the captain of the pirates, who had already been\nseized by the king's officers, he said, \"Although this man has\ncommitted that which is very worthy of death, yet because God, the most\nMerciful, has spared him in the tempest and the wreck, I also will\nspare him this once; therefore give him a hundred pieces of gold that\nhe may not be tempted by poverty further to do wrong, and let him go.\"\n\nWhen this magnanimous sentence had been pronounced, the pirate captain\nlaid his hand upon his beard and, bowing his head, said to the Caliph,\n\"O Commander of the Faithful, and you, King Selim, if from this time\nforth I rob any more, I shall deserve mercy from neither God nor man.\"\n\nThen said King Selim: \"Since the Commander of the Faithful has pardoned\nthee, and that thou mayest not further be tempted, I enrol thee, as\nthou art a brave man, among the officers of my guard.\"\n\nTherefore they invested him with the robes of his office and gave him a\nhundred pieces of gold as the Caliph had commanded, and thenceforth he\nbecame one of the bravest and most trustworthy officers of King Selim.\n\nOn the next day the Caliph inquired of the king respecting the three\nmen who had remained behind at the village festival.  But Selim\ninformed him that they had a law in that country prohibiting any\nstranger from dwelling with the people of the land until the king had\ngranted his permission.  Therefore, when the men had been found by the\nofficials of government living at that village without having first\nobtained leave and authority so to do, they would be led immediately to\nexecution.\n\n\"Then,\" said the Caliph, \"by this wholesome law your people are\nprotected from the evil influence of villains, and in this case we are\nrid of three men who were not only thieves and pirates, but lazy,\nworthless, and mutinous fellows, who refused to obey and follow even\ntheir own captain.  The action of your law has but forestalled what\nwould have been my own sentence upon them.\"\n\nThe Caliph remained a whole month with King Selim, accompanying him on\ngrand hunting expeditions, and being entertained with all the\nmagnificent and varied pleasures the royal court could devise.\n\nAt the end of that period he had intended to have set out on his return\nto Bagdad.  But just at that moment a messenger arrived from a\nneighbouring king with a very insolent message for Selim and a\ndeclaration of war.  This king, whose name was Gorkol, had asked the\ndaughter of Selim in marriage for his son.  But King Selim, being a\ngood Moslim, had refused to give his daughter in marriage to the son of\na heathen, and one, moreover, who was reported to be proficient in the\nvilest arts of magic.  Hence the declaration of war.  The Caliph, being\nnaturally of a very fierce and hasty temper, resented hotly this insult\nto his host.  He therefore announced his intention to accompany the\nlatter, who gathered together an army to chastise the insolent heathen.\n\nThe military display as the Caliph and the king left the capital was\nmost imposing.  The army consisted of twenty thousand men, half of whom\nwere infantry and half cavalry.  There were also elephants and camels\nwith stores, and a great multitude of camp-followers.\n\nFor five days they marched through Selim's dominions, and on the sixth\nday entered the territory of King Gorkol.  The frontier was marked by a\nrange of hills, and the passage of so large a force over these was a\ntoilsome and tedious operation.  The Caliph and king had each a large\ntent for his own use, and a small army of officers and attendants to\nwait on him.\n\nOn the night of the seventh day, after a very exhausting march over\ndifficult ground, the army encamped in a spacious valley into which\nthey had descended just as night was approaching.\n\nWhether the enemy managed to get at them unobserved, being stealthy and\nknowing every feature of the country, or whether the sentinels, being\nweary, slept at their post, is uncertain, but suddenly before daybreak\nthe great army was awakened by shouts and blows to find the foe was\nupon them.  In the darkness and the excitement of the moment all was\nconfusion.  Different parties of the royal troops starting hurriedly to\narms, wildly attacked each other.  The strife being furious and\nhand-to-hand was terrific and deadly; and when daylight appeared the\nenemy, pressing boldly forward to the centre of the camp, overcame all\nthe resistance of which the thinned and disorganized army was capable,\nand captured both the king and the Caliph.\n\nThe two princes were carried with every mark of indignity into the\npresence of the heathen monarch, who, insulting them with references to\ntheir defeat, demanded of them that they should abandon the Moslem\nfaith and worship the idols of the gods of his people, who had, he\nsaid, given his troops the victory.\n\nBut the Caliph answered that although Allah, whose name be praised, had\npermitted them to be worsted in the confusion of a night attack, yet\nthey still trusted in him, and they would never vary in the least\ndegree from the glorious words of the Prophet: \"Allah is God, and there\nis no God but Allah.\"\n\nHearing this, King Gorkol ordered them to be confined separately in two\ndungeons of his castle, there to remain until a great festival of the\ngods which was approaching should arrive, when he would sacrifice them\nboth to the gods whom they had dared to despise.  Locked in the gloomy\nvaults, and seeing no one but the jailer who once a day brought them\nthe scanty and hard fare necessary to keep them alive till the day of\nvengeance should come, their position seemed altogether desperate and\ntheir fate assured.\n\nBut in the case of King Selim he had, unknown to his captors and\nconcealed in the folds of his turban, a ruby of great size and of\nimmense value.  With this he hoped to be able to bribe his jailer and\neffect his escape.  And in fact so well did he manage that before a\nweek was passed he was travelling homewards in the disguise of a\nmerchant, accompanied by the jailer, who dared not remain in his own\ncountry in possession of the ruby because, according to the custom\nprevailing in that kingdom, all precious stones must be surrendered to\nthe king under penalty of death by torture.  He therefore fled with\nSelim, disguised as his slave.\n\nThe king had made great efforts to induce the jailer to effect the\nrelease of the Caliph at the same time as himself, but as Haroun\nAlraschid was in charge of another jailer, it could not be managed.\nSelim was obliged therefore, to his great grief, to leave the Caliph to\nhis fate; but he hurried back to his own dominions with the utmost\nspeed, determined to at once return with another army to avenge the\ndeath of the Caliph, whose life he could not hope to arrive in time to\nsave.\n\nThe Caliph, having about him neither jewels nor money, had no means of\npropitiating his jailer or abating the rigour and severity of the\ntreatment to which he was subjected.  Once a day only, early in the\nmorning, the jailer appeared, and, without opening the great heavy door\nof the dungeon, he opened one panel only, and through that opening\nhanded to his prisoner the two small loaves, or rather, flat cakes, and\nthe flask of water which must supply his wants till the following\nmorning.\n\nFive days had thus passed, and there seemed no possibility of the\nCaliph escaping the painful and humiliating death to which he was\ndestined by the heathen king.  The festival to be held in honour of the\ngods of the country was approaching, and two days hence the people, who\nwere already becoming greatly excited, both by religious fury and also\nby drinking great quantities of a strong and fiery spirit which they\ndistilled, were to be gratified by the sight of the sacrifice by\nhorrible tortures of their unfortunate prisoners.\n\nJust before daybreak on the sixth day, the same morning on which Selim\nand his jailer were effecting their escape, the Caliph awoke, and\nthoughts of the frightful situation in which he found himself prevented\nhim from again falling asleep.  In great distress of mind he prayed\nearnestly to God that strength might be given him to enable him to\nsustain with firmness and fortitude the pains he might be called upon\nto endure.  After which prayer he felt calmer and more composed.\nPresently, being very hungry, he tried in the dim light to find a small\npiece of bread which he had not yet eaten.  He had placed it on a\nnarrow ledge near to the place where he slept, but in the darkness he\npushed it with his hand before he had grasped it, and it fell upon the\nfloor.  Groping about to find it, his hand came suddenly upon something\nwhich felt soft and cool--an object apparently about the size and shape\nof a hen's egg, yet not hard like an egg-shell, but elastic and\nyielding readily to the pressure of the fingers.  What it was the sense\nof touch did not enable him to guess, and as yet the light was\ninsufficient to permit him to distinguish anything clearly.  And,\nmarvellous to relate, as the light increased, although all the objects\naround him became visible, yet this something which he had felt, and\nwhich he still felt to be grasped in his hand, was nevertheless not to\nbe seen.  This circumstance surprised the Caliph very much, and he sat\ncross-legged on the straw which had been placed in the corner of the\ndungeon for him to sleep on, just as he had been used to do on the\nsplendid divan in his palace, still grasping the unknown object in his\nhand, and yet still unable to see what it was.  After he had sat thus\nfor some time cogitating what this might mean, the hour came round when\nthe jailer should come and bring him his food for the day.\n\nNow it so happened that the Caliph's jailer when bringing his food had\nto pass the dungeon in which Selim had been confined.  This morning as\nhe passed he was amazed to observe that the door was unfastened, and,\nlooking in, he perceived that the vault was empty.  Fearful that his\nprisoner might likewise have effected his escape, he hurriedly set down\nthe food and ran on to the dungeon containing the Caliph.\n\nThe latter was surprised to hear his jailer running rapidly along the\npassage, and still more surprised when the man, after looking through\nthe panel, withdrew the huge bolts and, opening the door, came into the\ngreat gloomy vault, looking excitedly about him.  Then after a few\nmoments, apparently bewildered and terror-struck, he turned about, went\nout, closed the door behind him, and, without waiting to replace the\nbolts, walked quickly along the passage and disappeared.\n\nThe Caliph, although unable to guess to what he owed his good fortune,\ndid not neglect to avail himself of it.  Pushing open the door, and\nstopping to close it and bolt it behind him, he walked down the\ncorridor without knowing where and to what it might lead him.  This\npassage or corridor seemed at first sight to terminate with a dead wall\nat the end of it.  But, proceeding further along it, he presently\nperceived a side-passage turning out of it at right angles, and this\nsmaller passage, which was short, terminated in a flight of steps\nleading evidently into the castle-yard.  The door at the top of the\nsteps was partly open, and when he reached it the Caliph could hear and\ncatch glimpses of a group of soldiers standing and chatting together\nnot far from the doorway.  He stood for some moments uncertain what he\nshould do.  If he opened the door and went out, doubtless he would\nimmediately be seized; on the other hand, to stay where he was meant no\nless certain destruction, as at any moment some one might enter and\nfind him there.  He had just determined to step out boldly and risk\ndetection, in the hope that in the bustle of the castle-yard his exit\nmight pass unnoticed, when a gust of wind blew the door wide open, and\nhe stood face to face, not ten paces distant, with that group of\nsoldiers he had heard conversing.\n\nFor a moment he stood horror-struck, expecting to see them rush forward\nand secure him.  To his extreme surprise, none of them, not even those\nfacing him, took the slightest notice of his presence.  They appeared\nnot even to see him, but perhaps they took him for one of the\ninnumerable retainers of the Court; at any rate, the Caliph, plucking\nup courage, stepped out and walked quietly away.\n\nAs he was crossing the courtyard, a great mounted warrior on a powerful\nblack steed came pounding along, and would apparently have ridden right\nover the Caliph just as though he was unaware of his existence, but\nHaroun drew quickly aside, and the horse shied, thereby drawing upon\nitself many hard blows from the fierce and haughty rider.\n\nPassing out of the castle-gates, and turning eastward, as he judged, by\nthe position of the sun, the Caliph proceeded in the direction which\nwould enable him, he hoped, in due time, to reach his own country.  He\nhad not gone far when he met a rough country fellow who carried a long\npiece of wood on his shoulder, and Haroun would have been struck full\nin the face with it had he not stepped quickly on one side to avoid it.\nBut the man, although he passed close by him, neither looked at nor\nspoke to him, and seemed altogether unconscious of his presence.\n\nIt now first dawned upon the Caliph that the strange and invisible\nsubstance which he had picked up in the dungeon, and which he still\ncarried in his hand, possessed indeed the marvellous property of\nrendering him entirely invisible to other men.  This accounted for the\nremarkable panic of his jailer, who, when he looked into, and even\nentered his dungeon, failed to see him; it explained why the soldiers\nhad permitted him to leave the building unmolested, why the horseman\nhad nearly ridden over him, and why the clown who had just passed had,\nwithout knowing it, nearly brained him with his load.\n\nMuch comforted and strengthened by the discovery of this wonderful\nexemption from observation which he now enjoyed, he walked on briskly,\ntill the sun, being now high in the heavens, and the heat very great,\nhe came to a village, and entering boldly an inn there, and passing\nthrough into an empty apartment, he lay down upon a not very soft divan\nhe found in it, and straightway fell asleep.\n\nThe Caliph being tired with the walk and the excitement of the morning,\nslept so long and soundly that it was night and quite dark when he\nawoke.  And being even then but half awake he did not realize that he\nwas no longer in the castle-dungeon; therefore, perceiving that it was\nnot yet light, he turned over and went to sleep again.  In a few hours'\ntime, in the midst of a dream that he was in his own palace at Bagdad\nand presiding at some great feast, he awoke once more, saw that it was\nbeginning to be light, remembered where he was, and found himself\nexceedingly hungry.  Going, therefore, very quietly into the next\napartment, he found the innkeeper lying there soundly asleep, and on\nthe table the remains of a substantial supper.  At once seating\nhimself, the Caliph was not long in finishing the repast and assuaging\nthe pangs of hunger.\n\nHaving all his life been used to eat and drink whatever he required,\nwithout any thought of payment, it is very likely that he might have\neaten his meal and departed without the least concern or thought of the\nfact that he possessed at that moment nothing to pay for it.  However,\nit so fell out that he was enabled to recompense his involuntary host\nvery handsomely.  For after he had finished eating, and before he rose\nfrom his seat, he heard a slight rustling sound outside the room, as\nthough some one were stealthily approaching.\n\nNow the Caliph, before lying down to rest on the previous afternoon,\nhad taken the precaution to bestow the mysterious and wonderful charm\nhe had picked up, in a place of safety.  He had put it inside his\nturban, in such a way that he could feel it pressing like a soft\nelastic pad upon his forehead.  And therefore, in virtue of his contact\nwith that charm, he was still invisible to every other human being.\n\nSuch being the case, the thief peering into the room saw no one but the\nkeeper of the inn, who was sleeping very soundly.  Entering, therefore,\nwith noiseless tread, his feet being bare, he approached the sleeper,\nand extracted very dexterously a small packet of coin which he carried\nsecreted in his girdle.  With this packet the thief glided from the\nroom, and stopping outside but a single instant to place it inside the\nfolds of his own turban, he walked briskly away.\n\nThe Caliph followed him closely.  About a hundred yards from the door\nof the inn there flowed a small stream or brook, across which the only\nbridge was a couple of planks.  Just as they arrived at this point the\nCaliph took off the fellow's turban, and, with a push from behind,\nthrew him into the water.  The stream was neither deep nor swift, and\nthe thief soon picked himself up, scrambled to the other side, and\nthen, without once looking back, took to his heels, being fully\npersuaded that it was the man he had just robbed who had pursued and\novertaken him.  The Caliph, after taking the parcel of coin out of the\nturban, which he then threw away, walked quietly back towards the inn,\nwithout deigning to bestow another thought on the thief whom he had\nthrown into the water.\n\nBefore he reached the door of the inn, he saw the innkeeper, who had\nawoke and discovered his loss, rush out of the house wild and\nbareheaded, his turban having tumbled or been knocked off in his\nexcitement.  Running past the invisible Caliph, and loudly cursing all\nvillains and robbers, and especially that one who had just taken his\nmoney, he caught sight of the thief himself, scrambling up, dripping\nwet, on to the opposite bank of the stream, and, with much\nvociferation, he continued in hot pursuit.  The noise he made brought\nout, of course, all those who had been passing the night at the inn,\nand very naturally they all commenced at once to follow the pursuer and\npursued.\n\nThe Caliph then quietly entered the deserted house, and placing the\npacket of money carefully in the innkeeper's turban, where he would be\nsure to find it on his return from the chase, he left, and taking\nanother road, and one leading, as far as he could judge, in the\ndirection of his own dominions, he continued his journey.\n\nHe walked along for some hours without meeting any one except a few\npeasants, or encountering any noteworthy incident whatsoever.\n\nAt length he became tired with his long march, and the heat of the\nnoontide sun became so oppressive, that, espying a thick clump of trees\nat a short distance from the road, he gladly made his way to that\npleasant shelter, lay down on a grassy bank, with a log for his pillow,\nand composed himself to rest and sleep.\n\nOn waking, after two or three hours of very sound and refreshing sleep,\nhe found that owing to some change in his position his turban had\nfallen off.  This, in itself not very serious or remarkable accident,\ngave him on the present occasion much apprehension and concern.  For in\nhis turban he had placed, as has been mentioned, the invisible object,\nwhatever it might be, which had in some inexplicable manner conferred\nupon him also, while he was in contact with it, the condition of\ninvisibility.\n\nHe took up the turban most carefully, he felt in it, he put it on, but\nnowhere could he encounter the soft, cool sensation with which he had\nbecome familiar.  He groped laboriously all round the spot where he had\nbeen lying, but in vain.  Whether the object had rolled away, or\nwhether it had been carried to a distance by the breeze, or possibly\nhad even been dissipated altogether, he could not determine.  One thing\nonly was clear and beyond conjecture--the charm was lost for ever.\n\nComing at last most unwillingly to that conclusion, he sat down\ncross-legged upon the grass as on a divan, resting his elbow upon the\nlog which had served him for a pillow, and began to consider how he\nshould manage to make his way back to his own dominions through that\nland of idolaters.  He had no idea of the distance to be traversed, but\nhe reflected that, having no longer the aid and protection of being\ninvisible, and being possessed of no money, his difficulties must\nnecessarily be great.  Moreover, he was not without considerable\nanxiety as to what might have occurred at Bagdad while he had been\nabsent.  Giafer, indeed, to whom all the details of the government of\nthe country had practically been confided for many years, he could\nthoroughly trust.  But Ibrahim, who would probably have succeeded to\nthe Caliphate, was known to hate the Grand Vizier, and would not only\nput him to death, but might also, not improbably, have taken measures\nto rid himself of Zobeideh and her son.  Oppressed by these gloomy\nthoughts the Caliph sat for a long time without moving.\n\nAt length, hearing the tramp of horses in the distance, he looked up,\nand was overjoyed to behold two men coming along the road, whom he at\nonce knew by their dress to be Arab merchants.  Each was on horseback,\nand they had with them, besides several other horses, some mules and\nasses laden with packages.  And there was also a kind of closed\ncarriage or palanquin, borne by some slaves, in which no doubt was\nconveyed a lady or female slave of great value.\n\nNow, when the Caliph saw these men approaching, he rose up quickly and\nwent to meet them.  When he drew near, he saluted them and inquired\nwhither they went.\n\nTo which they replied: \"To Bagdad.\"  And they inquired of him how it\ncame to pass that he should be on foot and alone in that pagan kingdom,\nseeing it was evident by his dress that he was a Moslim.\n\nNow, the Caliph had already learnt by experience that to proclaim his\ntrue rank would be only to court a suspicion of madness, therefore he\nreplied briefly, that he too was from Bagdad and was returning thither,\nbut that unhappily he had been taken prisoner by the idolaters, and\nrobbed of all that he had, except only the clothes upon his back.  He\nbegged them, therefore, to lend him a horse and to take him with them\nto Bagdad, in which city he had plenty both of friends and funds, and\nwhere he would reward them handsomely for their kindness.\n\nTo this they answered that since he was in distress he was very welcome\nto come with them, and that without any claim on their part for fee or\nreward, the more especially as they would be glad, while travelling\nthrough that wild and lawless country, to have another strong man of\ntheir party.  With that they lent him a horse, and he, nothing loth,\nbut glad enough to get his feet off the ground and his face turned\ntowards home, rode cheerfully along with them.\n\nThe Caliph soon discovered that the two merchants were very intelligent\nmen and agreeable fellow-travellers.  The name of the one was Abdallah,\nand of the other Ahmed.\n\nAfter the Caliph had been some time in their company, and their\nconversation had become more intimate and familiar, he ventured to\ninquire how they had fared on their present expedition, and in what\nsort of merchandize they had embarked their fortune.\n\n\"You must know,\" said Abdallah, who was always the chief speaker, \"that\nboth Ahmed and myself are well acquainted with several of the officers\nin the Palace of the Commander of the Faithful, whom Allah exalt, and\nalso of some in the Palace of Zobeideh, his favourite wife.  We always\nendeavour therefore, when trading in foreign countries, to buy such\nthings as will sell well at court.  The prices we get for our goods are\nin that way very satisfactory, although the profit we actually make is\nless than you might suppose, because all those officials who gain us an\nintroduction to the palaces must have rich presents and high fees to\nrecompense them for their trouble.\"\n\n\"And the Caliph, what sort of a man is he?\" asked Haroun.\n\n\"He is,\" answered Abdallah, \"a just man, and very brave, but fierce,\nhot-tempered, and hasty.  And as he is very apt to lose his temper,\nthose who have to do with him are very liable to lose their heads.\"\n\n\"But sometimes he is no doubt very much provoked,\" said Haroun.\n\n\"Nay,\" said Abdallah, \"when he is in an ill-humour, he would order your\nhead to be struck off as readily as he would order his dinner.\"\n\n\"I can scarcely believe that,\" answered Haroun.  \"Did you not say that\nhe loves justice?\"\n\n\"Undoubtedly,\" answered Abdallah, \"he is anxious to have a just\nadministration of the laws, and I have been told that in order to see\nfor himself what goes on, he frequently walks through the city\ndisguised as a merchant.\"\n\n\"And that,\" said Ahmed, \"I consider to be by no means commendable.\"\n\n\"On what account?\" demanded Haroun.\n\n\"Because,\" said Ahmed, \"if on one of those excursions any accident\nshould happen to the Commander of the Faithful, the State would lose\nmore than ever it gained from all his rambles and inquiries.\"\n\nHaroun could not but admit to himself the justice of this observation,\nand yet he was by no means pleased with it, as one never is with any\nreflection on our own conduct.  Therefore, when Abdallah said, that for\nhis part he thought the Caliph did quite right in determining to see\nthings with his own eyes, and that a man ought not to weigh too\nscrupulously the dangers which might lie in the way of doing his duty,\nHaroun could have embraced him in the fulness of his satisfaction.\n\n\"But,\" said Haroun, to turn the conversation, \"you have not yet told me\nwhat good or ill-fortune you have met with on this expedition, nor what\nventures you are bringing back with you to Bagdad.\"\n\nAs Haroun said this, his eye rested upon the palanquin which was being\ncarried by the slaves, and Abdallah, noticing his glance, and guessing\nthat he was curious to learn something of the occupant, began as\nfollows:\n\n\nTHE ARAB MERCHANT'S STORY.\n\n\"Before setting out on the expedition from which we are now returning,\nAhmed and I consulted long as to the countries we should visit, and\nwhat sort of goods it would be most profitable to bring back with us.\nWe at length agreed to journey through Egypt into the central parts of\nAfrica, and bring from thence some of those large and rare specimens of\nprecious stones of which we had often heard.  And we did not doubt if\nwe could secure some of these that we should be able to dispose of them\nto such advantage at the Court of the Caliph as at one stroke to make\nour fortune.\n\n\"Having agreed upon this plan we purchased and took with us such\narticles of merchandize as we judged would sell to the best advantage\nin Egypt.  In fact, on arriving at Cairo, we remained some time doing a\nvery profitable trade.\n\n\"At length, when the proper time of year came round for commencing our\njourney into the interior, we provided ourselves with the articles most\nlikely to find favour with the natives, and after two months, during\nwhich we travelled very slowly, and suffered many hardships, we reached\nthe country of a great nation or tribe of Ethiopians, at whose chief\ntown, Daarkol, we halted awhile, and did some trade by barter, but not\nmuch, the people possessing few things of any value to us except small\nquantities of gold dust.\n\n\"What we sought of them most eagerly was information concerning that\ntribe of whom we had heard, in whose country were found the diamonds,\nrubies, sapphires, and other precious stones, to obtain which was the\nobject of our journey.\n\n\"That tribe lived, it appeared, still several hundreds of miles further\nup the country, but what annoyed us much more was the information that\nthey would exchange their precious stones for nothing else than ivory,\nof the exact value of which they were very well acquainted.\n\n\"This altogether extinguished the hope with which we had started of\nmaking our fortunes by importing to Bagdad splendid specimens of\nvarious precious stones.  For when we considered the vast expense of\nprocuring large quantities of tusks, the difficulty of getting slaves\nto carry them up the country, and of feeding those slaves on so long a\njourney, together with the danger of being robbed of such cumbersome\nand valuable property by some of the many wild tribes through whose\nterritories we must pass, we were fain to conclude that we must needs\nabandon that part of our enterprise.\n\n\"As we were one day sitting in a very gloomy mood discussing this\nmatter, an African merchant with whom we had become acquainted, and who\nhappened to be passing, saluted us; and we, having invited him to be\nseated with us, 'What,' he asked, 'is that which you cannot do? for as\nI came up I heard you pronounce these words: \"No, it is not possible to\ndo it.\"'\n\n\"With that I explained to him, without mentioning particularly the\ncountry of the precious stones, that Ahmed and myself had intended to\nproceed still further into the interior to trade with the people, but\nmany of them, as we were now informed, exchanged only against ivory.\nAnd it appeared to us impossible to do any profitable trade if we must\nconvey such a heavy and valuable commodity as ivory over long distances.\n\n\"The African merchant, when he heard this, smiled, and asked, 'What\nwould you give now to anyone who should get you out of this difficulty?'\n\n\"I answered that, as it was a difficulty which we had often discussed,\nbut could see no way out of, and as it threatened to make our journey\ninto Africa comparatively unprofitable, we should be very willing to\ngive any man who could render us effectual assistance a hundred pieces\nof gold for his trouble.\n\n\"'No,' said he, 'you offer too little.  I can myself most effectually\naid you, but I must have five hundred pieces of gold.'\n\n\"We protested that we could not give so much, that we had it not, that\nit would ruin us; in short, all the pleas that merchants, as you knew,\nadvance when they are chaffering with each other.  But after several\ndays, seeing that the African merchant stood quite firm and would abate\nnothing from his price, we agreed to give him the five hundred pieces\nof gold for the secret he was to discover to us, namely, of how we\nshould provide ourselves with ivory for trading with the tribes, no\nmatter how far up the country they might be situated.\n\n\"We having on our part produced five bags containing one hundred gold\npieces in each, which we counted out to him, he produced and gave to us\nin return five small jars, each containing about two quarts of a seed\nabout twice as large as a bean.\n\n\"'Take these,' said he, 'with you; they are small and not heavy to\ncarry.  And when you are come near to the country of that people with\nwhom you wish to trade, select a piece of land about two or three acres\nin extent, and plant these seeds singly and about ten feet apart.  In\nabout a month great tubers will be observed swelling out of the ground\nwhich by the end of the second month will have increased to hemispheres\nfour or five feet in diameter.  From each of these bulbs or tubers as a\nbase great projections will be thrown out, which in five or six weeks\nwill attain the size and appearance exactly of huge tusks of the finest\nivory.  Cutting these, and stacking them for a short time to dry, you\nwill then be provided with what appears to be a splendid lot of tusks\nnot far from the place where you require them.  And should you\nexperience any difficulty in transporting them, you may apply for\nlabourers from the tribe you are about to visit, on the plea that your\ncarriers who have brought them so far have deserted and gone back.'\n\n\"Perceiving now that our African merchant was a proficient in all the\nmagical arts of his country, we wished to decline his aid, and have\nnothing further to do with him; but he flatly refused to restore our\nmoney, and left us not without uttering some threats of vengeance upon\nus.\n\n\"As we had bought the seeds at so high a price, we carried them with\nus, without, however, intending to make use of them; for we thought\nthat as true believers we ought to shun every product of the accursed\nmagic of Africa.\n\n\"But after some time had elapsed, and when at the end of a long and\ndifficult journey we approached at last the borders of that country\nwhere the people dwelt who possessed the precious stones, we halted,\nand determined at least to plant those seeds, and ascertain whether\nthey would indeed grow in the wonderful way the African merchant had\ntold us.\n\n\"Selecting, therefore, a suitable piece of ground, we planted the\nseeds, setting each singly about ten feet apart every way.  And the\nground being damp and marshy, we soon perceived the bulbs showing above\nground, and they grew apace, so that in three or four weeks after their\nfirst appearance they became great semi-spherical projections, like\nhuge round balls half embedded in the earth.  Or they might be compared\nto very gigantic onions; and about the end of six or seven weeks after\nthe seed was sown we had our ground covered with regular rows of them;\nand then from the centre of each bulb a slight projection like the tip\nof a small horn might be observed to rise.  These grew and increased\nvery rapidly, so that within a few weeks they had attained the imposing\nproportions of immense tusks.\n\n\"Cutting them and stacking them to dry, by placing ten or a dozen of\nthem together like sheaves of corn, we found that upon the most careful\ninspection they did not in any respect differ in appearance from tusks\nof the finest ivory; while their great size and symmetry of form could\nseldom be equalled by what may be termed elephant ivory.\n\n\"It now became a question whether we should use them for the purpose of\nbarter to obtain the precious stones.  Our first sentiment, as I have\nsaid, was that we, as good Moslems, would have nothing to do with the\nproductions of the infernal magic of the African.  But our interest and\nthe desire to accomplish the object of our journey by getting the\nprecious stones finally prevailed.  We argued that as we had fairly\nbought the seed, and had planted and prepared the vegetable tusks by\nour own exertions, therefore we were fairly entitled to make use of\nthem, and we decided to continue our journey to Behar, the country\ninhabited by the tribe which possessed the precious stones.\n\n\"When we arrived there we were conducted before Amavaroo, the king of\nBehar, to whom we presented ourselves as ivory merchants who had\nvisited his country desiring to exchange ivory for precious stones.\nThe king readily gave us permission to barter with his people, the more\nespecially because we had brought with us as a present for himself two\nor three of the tusks, than which he had never beheld any finer.  He\nwas lost in admiration and delighted to obtain such splendid specimens;\nand he inquired eagerly where we had left our stock.\n\n\"Acting on the suggestion made to us by the African merchant, we said\nthat it lay about three days' journey behind us.  That we had left it\nthere because our carriers who had brought it so far had deserted; and\nwe prayed him, therefore, to supply us with carriers to bring it into\nhis kingdom.\n\n\"The trouble always experienced by merchants trading in those regions\nin obtaining, and especially in retaining carriers, was so well known\nthat the king was by no means surprised at our predicament, but ordered\na sufficient number of his people to accompany us and transport our\nivory.\n\n\"The most common mode of carriage with these people is to place the\nload upon the head and, balancing it there, to walk away merrily under\ntheir burthen.  And it is surprising how heavy a load they will thus\ncarry.  But they could not manage to take our tusks in that fashion.\nThey carried them on their shoulders, four men to a tusk, three near to\nthe thick or butt end, and one near the point.  In this way we brought\nall our ivory to Behar, and the tusks were so perfect and exceptional\nin size that we could obtain almost any equivalent we pleased for them.\nAnd in fact of such marvellous size and beauty were most of the gems\nthat we got in exchange that our fortune on our return to Bagdad\nthreatened to be fabulous, and it seemed evident that it would be\nnecessary for us to wander over the whole world to the capital of every\ngreat king in order to find purchasers of such superb and unique\nspecimens.\n\n\"As we had presented many of the tusks to the king and his principal\nchiefs we had become exceedingly popular--the happy possessors of our\nivory being, no less satisfied with their bargains than we felt with\nours.  So that when at the end of two months we wished to depart,\nhaving bartered or given away all our stock, they would not let us go,\nbut insisted that we should prolong our stay for another month, during\nwhich they feasted and entertained us to the best of their ability.\n\n\"Now there was one circumstance concerning our vegetable ivory of which\nwe were ignorant, viz., that just as it was produced quickly, so it\ndecayed quickly.  Three months had sufficed to raise it from the seed,\nand within three months from the time that they came to maturity, the\napparent tusks begin to perish.  Black spots and patches appear all\nover the surface, and in the course of a few weeks the entire tusk rots\naway and is destroyed.\n\n\"It thus happened that one morning, towards the end of our three\nmonths' sojourn at Behar, the chiefs who came as usual to our house or\nhut to greet us, wore no longer the pleasant and friendly aspect they\nwere wont to do, but looked surly and fierce.  And immediately seizing\nand binding us, they carried us before King Amavaroo, who, seated on\nthe leopard's skin which served him for a throne, was looking as gloomy\nand morose as his followers.\n\n\"Then men came with the tusks they had received from us, one man\nfollowing another with his purchases, and in every tusk the black spots\nand patches of decay were beginning to appear.  To complete our ruin,\nwhen those tusks which we had presented to Amavaroo were brought into\nhis presence, they each and all were found to be in a similar\ncondition.  Both the king and his people were very naturally furious.\nThey took from us and out of our house all the jewels we had obtained,\nand gave them back to those who had exchanged them for the worthless\nivory, and then, after holding a very stormy council, they conducted us\nwith every kind of insult out of their town into the plains beyond.\nThere, having stripped us naked, they beat us with branches of nettles\nand branches of prickly holly, and finally, tying our hands and feet\ntogether, they left us to be scorched by the sun during the day, and to\nbe devoured by the wild beasts that prowled about at night.  Here we\nlay all day in a most pitiable plight, and there undoubtedly we should\nhave perished, had it not been for the gratitude and kindness of a\nslave whom, during our stay at Behar, we had many times befriended and\nprotected, as far as lay in our power, against the tyranny of a very\ncruel bully, who was his master.  This poor fellow stole away at\nsundown, came to us, freed us from our bonds, brought us some of our\nown clothes which he had managed to get hold of, and, going with us,\nbecame our guide on the slow and painful course of our journey\nnorthward.  He brought us also a small packet of very handsome stones,\nwhich had been dropped by some one during the exciting events of the\nmorning, and which he had seen and picked up on his way to us.\n\n\"This seemed at the time a perfect godsend.  There were not many\nstones--about a dozen--and they not nearly so large as many of those we\nhad received in exchange for our ivory.  At the same time they were of\nthe utmost value to us now, as we should be able to dispose of them at\nthe first place where we might meet with Arab merchants, and we should\nthus provide ourselves at least with such things as were absolutely\nnecessary for our return journey to Bagdad.\n\n\"Meanwhile, our progress was slow and our subsistence precarious,\nconsisting chiefly of such roots, fruits, and insects, as we were able\nto discover.  In this matter of catering the slave was much more\nproficient than we, and proved an invaluable aid to us.\n\n\"After many weeks of hardship and danger, we arrived at last in the\nneighbourhood of Daarkol, the town in which we had met the African\nmerchant, from whom we had bought those accursed seeds.  As the sun was\nintensely hot, and a couple of hours' walking would now bring us into\nthe town, where we could sell some of the precious stones and relieve\nour most urgent necessities, we threw ourselves down under the shelter\nof a clump of trees and were soon fast asleep.\n\n\"It appears, although we had then no suspicion of such a thing, that\nthe African merchant, who was a complete villain, had been diligently\nwatching for our return.  He had designed to surprise and overpower us,\nand take from us the precious stones we should have obtained for his\nfraudulent ivory, he getting thus at a stroke the fruits of the\nexpedition without undergoing the fatigues, difficulties, and dangers\nit necessarily involved.\n\n\"Being informed, therefore, by one of his spies of our arrival, he\nstole upon us very quietly while we slept, and bringing with him a\nparty of his slaves, he quickly overpowered us, and binding us hand and\nfoot, he robbed us of the jewels we had, and that not without horrid\nimprecations because there were so few.  After which he immediately\ndeparted, leaving us lying under the trees bound and helpless.\n\n\"Here we remained for more than two hours.  At length, as the day wore\non, and it became cooler, we perceived a party of merchants, with whom\nwe had been very well acquainted when we were at Daarkol before,\npassing along the road which was distant about two or three hundred\nyards from the clump of trees where we lay.  We shouted as loud as we\ncould, and they, hearing the shouting, came presently towards us.  They\nwere truly surprised and concerned to find Ahmed and myself, whom they\nhad known formerly as respectable and well-to-do merchants, lying\nbound, dirty, and ragged upon the ground.  They freed us, and we told\nthem of the villainy of the African merchant, and related to them all\nthat had befallen us, from the time he sold us the seeds, until the\nassault he had made upon us and the robbery he had committed that\nafternoon.  They advised us to lay our case before Lootzee, the king of\nthat country, who lived in the town of Daarkol; although, as regards\nthe African merchant, who was well known as a bad character, he would\nno doubt by this time have taken refuge in flight.\n\n\"This advice was good; but for men so completely destitute, as we now\nwere, to obtain an audience of the king was no easy matter.  Like most\nmonarchs, he was surrounded by courtiers and state officials, who must\nbe bribed with considerable presents before they would exert themselves\non behalf of any suitor or complainant, no matter how real his\ngrievance, or how urgent his case might be.  It is quite possible,\ntherefore, that we might have failed to obtain an audience, had it not\nhappened, fortunately for us, that King Lootzee was attacked just at\nthis time by a severe form of fever to which the natives of that part\nof Ethiopia are peculiarly liable.  Hearing of the king's illness, and\nknowing of a certain herb which was a sovereign remedy in that disease,\nwe procured some of the herb and prepared an infusion of it.  We then\nborrowed of some merchants of our acquaintance such sums as they would\nlend us, and sending this as a present to the Vizier or chief officer\nof Lootzee, we asked audience of the king that we might present to him\na medicine of great efficiency in his complaint.  The Vizier submitting\nour petition to Lootzee, he gave orders to admit the merchant from\nBagdad, and in short, after taking sundry doses of the medicine, the\nfever left him, and he was restored to his usual health.\n\n\"This cure so much delighted him, that he made us a present of the\nhorses, mules, and all those things which you see we have with us, and\nin addition he gave us a sum of money that we might be enabled to\npurchase something to take back to Bagdad, so that we might not, after\nall our toil and risk, return altogether empty-handed.\n\n\"For a long time we doubted and debated what we should buy.  But\nhearing one day that there was in the town a Circassian woman slave of\nsurpassing beauty, who had been captured by some marauders from a\ncaravan while on her way to Bagdad, we determined to purchase that\nslave in the hope of selling her for a great price to Haroun Alraschid,\nthe Caliph, to whom may Allah be merciful, and for whom she was\ndestined by those merchants who had been robbed of her.\"\n\n\nNow when Haroun Alraschid had heard the story of Abdallah, the Arab\nmerchant, and had learned that the occupant of the carriage or litter\nborne by the slaves was so lovely a creature, and, moreover, was a\nslave intended for himself, he would fain have seen her.  In his\ncharacter as a merchant he offered to buy her, and bid the great price\nof five thousand pieces of gold, to be paid immediately they should\narrive in Bagdad.  But Abdallah was resolute, and inflexible in his\nrefusal to part with her, or let her be seen, saying that no man either\nhad nor yet should see the face of the slave, until she should be\npresented in good time to the Caliph himself.\n\nHaroun was sorely tempted to declare himself to be the Caliph, and to\ninsist on seeing the beautiful captive, but reflecting both that it\nwould be difficult to convince Abdallah of his rank at that time, and\nalso being unwilling to lose the pleasure he anticipated in observing\nthe merchant's astonishment, when he should discover his\nfellow-traveller to have been the Caliph, Haroun controlled his natural\nimpatience, and that all the more readily because they were near their\njourney's end.\n\n\nLeaving Abdallah and Ahmed with the Caliph in their company to continue\ntheir journey, we must return to Bagdad, and to the course of affairs\nin that city since the Caliph's disappearance.\n\nGiafer, who had so long, as Grand Vizier, had the administration of the\nEmpire in his hands, managed for the first month or six weeks to\nconduct the affairs of State as usual and with unquestioned authority.\n\nBut as week after week passed without tidings from the absent Caliph,\nnot only did both Giafer and Zobeideh lose hope of his return, but\nominous rumours began to circulate secretly among the Court and the\npeople, regarding the cause of the Caliph's absence.  As a matter of\ncourse, Ibrahim, the next heir according to Moslem usage, was\nespecially active both in prosecuting inquiries as to the probable fate\nof Haroun, and also in concerting measures to effect his own accession\nto the throne.\n\nThree months had elapsed since the disappearance of the Caliph, when\none morning at the Grand Vizier's usual state reception of the Ulema\nand Emirs of the Empire, Ibrahim, addressing Giafer, said, \"Grand\nVizier, three months have now passed since we have had among us the\nglorious and august presence of the Commander of the Faithful; tell us,\ntherefore, where he is, and why he no longer appears to give audience\nand render justice to his people?\"\n\nAt this speech Giafer felt that his hour was come, for he knew that the\nprince would not have uttered those words until he had taken measures\nto seize upon the throne.\n\nTherefore he answered, \"I cannot tell where the Commander of the\nFaithful may be at this moment, but may all his subjects remain loyal\nto him, and Allah be his shield and preserver, wherever he be!\"\n\nThen said Ibrahim, \"O Giafer, the blood of your master is upon your\nhands, where have you hidden him?\"  Turning to the guards, who entered\nas he clapped his hands, he ordered them to secure the Grand Vizier,\nand continued: \"If you do not before this time to-morrow bring back\nHaroun Alraschid into this hall, I shall know what to think, and as\nsurely as I am Caliph you shall die.\"\n\nSo saying the prince seated himself upon the royal divan, and forthwith\nappointed Hafiz, a favourite of his own, to be Grand Vizier.  He next\nordered the new Grand Vizier to put Zobeideh, Haroun's favourite wife,\nand Prince Emin, her son, in prison, and declared that on the morrow,\nwhen he judged Giafer, he would also pronounce sentence on the others.\n\nThat night the new Caliph spent in feasting and revelry, but Giafer,\nand Zobeideh and her son, Prince Emin, likewise spent the hours in\ndepression and grief, looking forward to death in the morning.\n\nWhen the day dawned, and the new Caliph, after morning prayers, had\nassumed his seat on the Imperial divan, he commanded Giafer to be\nbrought before him.  Then, with a sinister smile, he demanded of the\nprisoner, \"Where is the most illustrious Caliph Haroun Alraschid?  Say,\nGiafer, what hast thou done with him?\"\n\nTo this Giafer replied, \"Haroun Alraschid, my master, is in the hand of\nGod.  But where he may be at this moment, I have told you that I do not\nknow.\"\n\n\"No one can know so well as thou where he is,\" said Ibrahim, \"for did\nhe not go to Bussora with thee and has never returned?  Doubtless thou\nhast killed him, and hast hidden his body, otherwise he would be here,\ntherefore thy life is forfeited,\" and with that he made a sign to the\nmutes, who immediately took Giafer and passed the fatal cord about his\nneck.\n\nAs they waited with trained docility for the usual sign from the Caliph\nto draw tight the silken cord and despatch their victim, a great shout\nwas heard, and outside the palace acclamations filled the air, and\ncries of--\"Haroun Alraschid returns!  Welcome, Prince of the Faithful!\"\n\nIbrahim hearing these words, after a few moments' hesitation, made the\nsign to the mutes, and Giafer's life would have ended, but on the\ninstant an officer standing by, who owed his position to the Grand\nVizier, cut through the cord with his sword.  As he did so, Haroun,\npale with anger and his eyes flashing, entered the door of the\naudience-chamber.  Ibrahim, pale as ashes, sat on the throne petrified\nwith terror.  As Haroun's eyes fell upon the shrinking prince sitting\non his throne, and on the form of Giafer kneeling with part of the\nsevered cord still about his neck, the veins stood out upon his\nforehead, and rage rendered him speechless.  He beckoned to Mesrur, the\never faithful, who instantly pulled Ibrahim from his seat, and, taking\nhim aside into an antechamber, forthwith struck off his head.\n\nThat Haroun reinstated Giafer as Grand Vizier, and took Zobeideh and\nPrince Emin out of prison, needs hardly be said.  That he received\nAbdallah and Ahmed very graciously, and that he bought the fair captive\nof them at a truly royal price, is not surprising.  But it is perhaps\nsomewhat surprising that all the dangers and hardships he underwent, in\nconsequence of his capture by the pirates, did not suffice to wean him\naltogether from such perilous adventures in the future.\n\nHe was of so daring and fearless a temper, however, that it made no\nfurther difference than this, that ever afterwards when he wandered\nabout in disguise Mesrur accompanied him as well as the Grand Vizier.\n\n\n\n\nThe Caliph and the Blind Fisherman.\n\nOne evening Haroun Alraschid sat in a splendid apartment of his palace\nin Bagdad.  The evening meal was finished, and the slaves had carried\naway the magnificent service of gold plate on which it had been served.\nThe Caliph was gloomy and ill-humoured, and the officers and attendants\nin waiting silent, vigilant, and not unapprehensive; for when the brow\nof the monarch was clouded none could tell when the storm might burst\nforth, nor whom the lightning of his wrath might strike.  Before long,\nhowever, and much to their relief, Giafer was sent for, and the Caliph,\nrising and signing his officers to leave him, wandered out alone into\nthe garden of his palace.\n\nHere Giafer on his arrival found him.  He was sitting moodily listening\nto a concert of vocal music performed by some of the ladies of his\nharem, who were posted out of sight and at some little distance in a\nsmall grove.  Just as Giafer entered the garden the Caliph clapped his\nhands and said to a slave who ran to him, \"Go, tell the singers to keep\nsilence, for I am in no humour to listen to them.\"  Then, perceiving\nthe Grand Vizier, he said to him, \"Giafer, I have sent for thee because\nI am restless and pleased with nothing this evening; suggest,\ntherefore, what I shall do.\"\n\nThen Giafer replied: \"Prince of the Faithful, if you are tired of your\npalace and of the gardens and the singing of your women, and if you\ncare not to view the dancers\"--the Caliph shook his head--\"nor to\nlisten to the tales or the poems of Abu 'Atahiyeh----\"\n\n\"Not this evening, though they are good,\" said Haroun.\n\n\"Then what say you to our sallying forth disguised into Bagdad,\"\ncontinued Giafer, \"that we may observe what goes forward, and perchance\nmeet with some adventure that may amuse you?\"\n\n\"That is what I will do,\" said Haroun, brightening up at the\nsuggestion; \"come, Giafer, let us put on the garb of merchants and go\nout.\"\n\nIn a short time Haroun and Giafer sallied forth, with the faithful\nMesrur following, also in disguise, not far behind them.  They wandered\nthrough the bazaars until they had seen a great part of Bagdad; but\nthey met with no adventure and saw nothing particularly strange or\nnoteworthy throughout all their ramble.  The Caliph, who had at first\nbeen much more cheerful, began at length to be tired with the walk, and\nagain in a somewhat ill-humour.\n\nGiafer, noticing this, proposed that they should take a short cut\nthrough the lower and meaner parts of the town, and so return to the\npalace.\n\nAs with this intent they passed the end of a narrow and steep street\nleading up from the river, they observed a man whose figure and\ncondition at once arrested the Caliph's attention.  He was a tall and\nhandsome man with the upright, dignified bearing of a soldier; he had\nregular features, a large hooked nose, and a long black moustache now\nturning somewhat grey.  His clothes were very old and ragged; over his\nleft shoulder he carried a net, and in his right hand a bag evidently\ncontaining a few fish.  He was obviously a fisherman just returning\nhome from his work on the river's bank; but what particularly attracted\nthe Caliph's attention was the fact that the man was blind.  In his\nleft hand he carried a stick with which he touched sometimes the path\nand sometimes the walls of the houses as he passed along, as though to\nassure himself of his position.  And though he was thus evidently\nblind, yet he walked forward, not timidly or slowly, but boldly and\nsteadily, as if he were very well acquainted with his route.\n\nThe Caliph at once approached him and entered into conversation.  He\nasked him whether he, being blind, caught the fish himself, or whether\nhe was aided by some one else; whether he had good fortune and caught\nmuch, and how many fish he now had in his bag.\n\nTo these inquiries the man replied that, although blind, yet he managed\nto fish very well, and usually had good fortune in the number of fish\nthat he caught, but that on this day he had been unlucky, and had only\nfive fish in his bag.  Of these he said he should sell three, and two\nhe should cook for the supper of himself and his brother.\n\n\"And what is the occupation of your brother?\" asked the Caliph.\n\n\"He, alas!\" said the man, \"is of no occupation; his back is injured so\nthat he cannot move from his bed.\"\n\n\"And you fish for the support of both?\" said Haroun.\n\n\"Of course,\" replied the man, with grave simplicity.\n\n\"Fisherman,\" said the Caliph, \"I will buy your three fish, and, since I\nam tired, we will come, I and my friend who is with me, and you shall\ncook all the five fish, and we will sup together.\"\n\n\"Sir,\" said the fisherman, \"my poor hovel is not fitted to receive\nguests; yet, if you are content to take things in the rough as you will\nfind them, come and be welcome.\"\n\n\"Fisherman,\" said Haroun, \"soldiers should be able to accommodate\nthemselves to circumstances, and I am a soldier, as I judge that you\nalso have been.\"\n\n\"Commander,\" said the fisherman, \"I have, as you suppose, served the\nCaliph, whom may Allah preserve and exalt, and in his service I lost my\nsight.\"\n\n\"Comrade,\" said Haroun, \"when we have eaten your fish, and you have\nrested, you shall relate to us the story of your life, which I doubt\nnot contains many stirring and noteworthy incidents.\"\n\nAs he was saying this they came to a very mean cottage in the narrow\nstreet, or rather lane, through which they were passing, and the old\nfisherman, entering, beckoned them with a sort of dignified politeness\nto follow him.\n\nIn the cottage, which was lit by the smoky flame of a single small\nlamp, they found, lying in a corner of the room on some rags, another\ntall, athletic-looking man, who appeared in every respect a very twin\nbrother of their acquaintance the fisherman, except as regards the\neyes, which were black, bright, and piercing.\n\n\"Mohammed,\" said the fisherman, addressing his brother, \"I bring with\nme two gentlemen I have met with; they have bought three of the five\nfish I have caught, and they will join us in our supper.  I smell the\nloaves that they are baked upon the hearth, and very quickly I will\nprepare and cook the fish.\"\n\n\"Gentlemen,\" said he, folding an old and tattered cloak and laying it\non the floor, \"there is no other divan I can offer you, therefore pray\nbe seated upon this cloak, and I will hasten to make ready your fish.\"\n\nThe Caliph and Giafer, having seated themselves, conversed with\nMohammed, who appeared to them, from the expression of his features, to\nbe suffering much pain.\n\nHe was unable, he told them, to rise, owing to an injury to his back,\nand his brother Suleiman, although blind, not only supported them both\nby fishing, but cooked their food and attended to all necessary\nhousehold duties.\n\nThe Caliph was much touched and interested by these two fine old\nfellows, their pitiable plight, their uncomplaining cheerfulness under\nsuch misfortunes, and their brotherly affection.\n\n\"Suleiman,\" he said, \"has promised after supper to relate to me your\nhistory; and I desire to hear it,\" he added, \"not simply from motives\nof curiosity, but because I hope to be able to help you both and\npossibly to set right any wrongs or injustice from which you may have\nsuffered.\"\n\nThe fish and hot cakes Haroun enjoyed more than all the sumptuous\nrepasts which were prepared for him at his palace, novelty and fatigue\ngiving a whet to his appetite.  And these being consumed and the frugal\nmeal finished, he reminded Suleiman of his desire to learn the\nparticulars of his history.\n\nSuleiman, saying that there was little to tell, but that he was quite\nwilling to tell that little, began as follows:\n\n\nTHE HISTORY OF THE BLIND FISHERMAN AND HIS BROTHER.\n\n\"As poor as we now are,\" said Suleiman, \"our father was an officer much\ntrusted by El Hadi, the late Caliph.\"\n\nAt this name Haroun looked very black, for El Hadi had desired to set\nHaroun aside in favour of his own son Jaafer.  However, the blind\nfisherman perceived nothing of this, but continued--\n\n\"Our father had three sons--myself, the eldest, and Mohammed, my\nbrother here present, and by another wife, Moussa, his youngest boy,\nand, as often happens, his favourite.  My father was but seldom in\nBagdad, being almost constantly engaged abroad in one foreign war or\nanother.  Very early in life Mohammed and I accompanied him, and were\nentrusted with important posts under him in the armies he commanded.\n\n\"Not to weary you with a long catalogue of our battles, I tell you at\nonce that about five years ago our father was killed in a very hotly\ncontested fight, in which, just when our men were giving way before a\nfurious charge of the enemy's cavalry, our father rallied them and led\nthem in person against the foe, thereby securing victory for us, but\nfalling himself in the very charge which secured it.\"\n\n\"Gallant man!\" exclaimed the Caliph.  \"And what did El Hadi do for the\nsons?\"  Seeing that Suleiman did not answer--\"Nothing!\" he muttered,\n\"and Haroun has never known of the matter.\"\n\n\"This battle,\" continued Suleiman, \"having broken the power of the\nenemy, and the war being at an end, Mohammed and I returned to Bagdad,\nintending to share the property left by our father between ourselves\nand Moussa, our younger brother, in three parts or equal shares, as we\nhad understood our father to desire.\n\n\"But on our return we found that Moussa, who holds the position of a\nCadi, or judge, had already taken possession of the whole of the\nproperty, and he altogether refused to share it in any way with us,\nalleging that our father had promised to leave him all that he had.\n\n\"This assertion we knew to be false.  And El Hadi having died just at\nthat time, and the new Caliph being supposed to mislike both him and\nhis adherents, we applied to Ali ibn Moulk, the Governor of Bagdad,\nasking him to consider our case and enforce a just division of our\ninheritance.  But Ali, though he took whatever presents we could afford\nto give him, did nothing, having no doubt received from Moussa still\nhandsomer presents than it was in our power to afford.\n\n\"Seeing that our cause in no way advanced, we, who had always been used\nto an active life, soon got tired of waiting in idleness the good\npleasure of the Governor, and therefore applied for and obtained\ncommands in an army sent by the new Caliph against a province that had\nrevolted.\n\n\"For three years we were employed in distant expeditions, and at\nlength, at the end of that time, when storming a fortress held by a\nbody of insurgents, a splinter entering one of my eyes destroyed the\nsight of it, and the inflammation extending from it not long after\ndestroyed the sight of the other, rendering me totally blind; while\nMohammed, poor fellow, still more unfortunate, was hurled backwards\nfrom the walls of the same fortress and injured his back so severely,\nthat he has been unable to get about, and has suffered constant pain\never since.\n\n\"When we got back to Bagdad from this most unlucky campaign, our money\nbeing almost exhausted, I called again upon Moussa, and, relating to\nhim what had befallen us, I asked him once more to make a fair and\nequitable division of the inheritance with us.  But he once more\nrefused to do so, repeated his assertion that all the property had been\nleft to him, offered me a hundred dinars, which I angrily refused, and\nsent a slave to guide me, as he said, into the quarter of the town\nwhere I was then living.  He evidently made a sign to the slave whom he\nsent with me, for I quickly perceived that he was conducting me, not\ntowards that part of the town in which my caravanserai was situated,\nbut along the steep streets leading down to the river.  When we got on\nto the bank of the stream, and almost at the water's edge, he said he\nmust return to his master, telling me to continue straight forward, and\nthat I should find the road all clear.  Greatly incensed at the perfidy\nof this villainous slave, I suddenly seized him and flung him into the\nriver before me.\n\n\"I was about to retrace my steps, when a voice near to me exclaimed:\n'Halloo! some one has cast himself into the river, and my nets will be\ndestroyed.'\n\n\"'Cannot you see,' I said, 'that I threw that scoundrel into the river?'\n\n\"'Nay,' said the voice, 'I cannot see, for I am blind.'\n\n\"'Allah be merciful to us!' I cried.  'Art thou also blind?'  And I\ntold him my history as you have heard it, and why I had flung the slave\ninto the water.  By the way, what became of the fellow I know not--he\nwas probably carried away by the stream, for I heard no more of him.\n\n\"Then I asked the blind man what it was that he had said of his nets\nbeing broken.\n\n\"He answered, 'I am a fisherman, and I doubt not but the rascal will\nhave destroyed some of my nets, but never mind that, so long as he got\nhis deserts.'\n\n\"'What! can a man that is blind be a fisherman?' I exclaimed.\n\n\"'Certainly,' he replied; 'I have caught fish for my living this ten\nyears, and I will teach you to fish, if you like.'\n\n\"I thanked him, and gratefully accepted his offer.\"\n\n\"And thus it came to pass,\" said Suleiman to Haroun and Giafer, \"that I\nbecame a fisherman, and by this means have been enabled to maintain\nboth Mohammed and myself for the last two years.\"\n\nThe emotions experienced by the Caliph and the Grand Vizier as they\nlistened to Suleiman's narrative were not altogether the same.\n\nHaroun was so infuriated when he heard of the hard-hearted iniquity of\nthe Cadi, and the taking of bribes and refusal of justice by Ali ibn\nMoulk, the Governor of Bagdad, that he could scarcely restrain himself\nfrom summoning Mesrur and sending at once for their heads.\n\nOn the other hand, Giafer listened to the accusations against the\nGovernor of Bagdad, who was a personal friend of his own, with the\ngreatest consternation.  Therefore, being anxious at any rate to gain\ntime, Giafer, at the end of Suleiman's discourse, whispered to the\nCaliph, earnestly entreating him to preserve his incognito, and to\nsuspend his decision at least for the present.\n\nWhen they came out of the fisherman's cottage, having paid him for the\nfish, and promised to communicate with him again shortly, Giafer urged\nupon the Caliph the injustice of condemning the Governor of Bagdad,\nwithout giving him the opportunity to reply to the charge brought\nagainst him by Suleiman.\n\n\"Giafer,\" said the Caliph, \"I hear what you say, and I grant your\nrequest.  Ali ibn Moulk shall have the opportunity provided for him, to\nclear himself from this charge in the best possible way, viz., by\nactually refusing to take a bribe, and by actually executing justice on\nMoussa the Cadi.  I will myself provide him with that opportunity.  But\nlook you, the Governor of Bagdad is your friend, I know; you gave him\nhis office, did you not? and now you are pleading his cause.  Very good\nso far, but see that no rumour of this night's story reaches his ears,\nneither by a message, nor by a little bird, nor even by a dream; for if\nhe hear of it I will take off your head also, by Allah I will, by Allah\nI will, by Allah I will; therefore look to yourself, my Giafer.\"\n\nWhen the Grand Vizier heard this burst of rage, his heart sank within\nhim.  He had undoubtedly intended to convey a friendly warning to Ali,\nbut he felt now that it would be dangerous and useless, and he was\ncompletely convinced that Ali's fate was sealed.\n\nEarly next morning the Caliph sent for the Grand Vizier, and said to\nhim--\n\n\"Giafer, go dress yourself as you were dressed last night, take a\nhundred pieces of gold with you and give them to Suleiman, and tell him\nto repair immediately to the Governor of Bagdad, and demand from him\njustice in the matter of his inheritance.  And mind, not one word more\nnor less.\"\n\nGiafer touched his head in token of implicit obedience to the commands\nof the Caliph, and going at once, carried to Suleiman the hundred\npieces of gold, and the message that he should immediately make another\napplication to the Governor of Bagdad.\n\nSuleiman was very unwilling to go to the Governor, saying, that to seek\nfor justice in that quarter was but like fishing in a gutter where a\nman could catch nothing, but must lose his time and his bait.\n\"However,\" he concluded, \"since your friend sends me this money, as you\nsay for no other purpose, I will carry it to the Governor and bestow it\nas he desires.\"\n\nDirectly after the Caliph had despatched the Grand Vizier to Suleiman,\nhe called an officer and sent him with a message to the Governor of\nBagdad, instructing the officer to observe carefully any applications\nwhich might be made to the Governor for justice, and report the\nparticulars on his return.\n\nThat evening Haroun again disguised himself, and went, with Giafer and\nMesrur in attendance as before, to visit Suleiman and Mohammed.\n\nOn reaching the cottage he demanded of Suleiman how he had fared in his\napplication to the Governor.\n\n\"At first,\" said Suleiman, \"he received me very roughly, but when I\nproduced the gold he became more civil, and promised to see what he\ncould do for me.  As he has told me the same on each previous occasion,\nI do not build many hopes on that promise,\" said Suleiman, smiling.\n\"But he was very urgent to find out where I had obtained the money I\ngave him, and when I told him that a gentleman whom I had met had lent\nme the money, he said--\n\n\"'It is well, get from him another hundred, and your case may be\nmanaged.'\n\n\"But, sir,\" said Suleiman to the Caliph, \"I will take no further coin\nfrom you, for the rapacity of the Governor is like a bottomless pit\nthat would swallow all that you have.\"\n\nWhat Suleiman told him agreed perfectly with the report of the officer\nwhom Haroun had sent to Ali that morning.\n\n\"Suleiman,\" said the Caliph, \"I believe you are right; moreover, I\nthink I can forward your suit better than by sending any more gold\npieces to Ali.  To-morrow morning one of my slaves will bring you a\nbundle of clothes: dress yourself in them, and in the evening come\nboldly to the house of the Governor, and bring with you the ring I now\nplace upon your finger.  When you arrive give the ring to one of the\nGovernor's officers with this message: The bearer of this ring demands\nan audience of the owner of it.  Meanwhile here are ten pieces of gold\nto relieve you of the necessity of going out fishing till I see you\nagain.\"\n\nSuleiman thanked Haroun warmly for his generosity and kindness, and the\nCaliph and Giafer returned to the palace.\n\nThe following morning the Caliph sent an officer to the Governor of\nBagdad with a message informing him that Haroun would sup with him that\nevening.  Delighted with such a mark of royal favour and condescension,\nAli ibn Moulk prepared a most sumptuous entertainment; he had a great\ntent erected in the garden of his palace, and singing women and dancing\ngirls in readiness to amuse his august guest.\n\nIn the evening Haroun Alraschid arrived in state at the palace of the\nGovernor, and found the gardens illuminated with thousands of small\nlights, and every conceivable preparation made to receive him.\n\nSeated on a splendid divan in the great tent in the garden, the Caliph\nlistened sometimes to the songs of a number of the best singers of\nBagdad, who were stationed a short distance away and out of sight, and\nconversing sometimes with the Grand Vizier, the Governor of Bagdad, and\nother great officials who were with him in the tent.  After he had been\nseated thus for some time, an officer of the Governor's household came\ninto the tent and said a few words to him in an undertone.\n\n\"What is that?\" demanded the Caliph.  \"Officer,\" said he, \"do you not\nknow that where I am present no message can be brought except to me?\"\n\nThe officer bowed, and said at once, \"A man in the uniform of an\nofficer of the guard gave me this ring and bade me bring it in and say,\n'The bearer of the ring is here, and demands an audience of the owner\nof it.'\"\n\nThe Caliph asked for the ring; then putting it on his finger, he said,\n\"The ring is mine, admit the man who brought it.\"\n\nAmidst the silence of all, the officer returned immediately with\nSuleiman leaning on his arm, the tall, dignified form of the old\nsoldier showing to great advantage in the splendid uniform in which he\nwas now attired.\n\n\"Suleiman,\" said the Caliph, as he entered, \"you are welcome.\"\n\n\"Ah,\" said Suleiman, \"my friend, you are here; and you will speak to my\nlord the Governor on my behalf.\"\n\nAll present were so much astonished to hear this old blind officer\naddressing the Caliph in that frank, bold way as \"my friend,\" that they\nknew not what to say.\n\nThe Caliph looked at the Governor of Bagdad, who was speechless with\nterror, and said fiercely, \"You hear this man!\"\n\nThe officer on whose arm Suleiman was leaning whispered to him\nhurriedly, \"It is the Caliph; it is Haroun himself.\"\n\n\"Ah,\" said Suleiman, aloud, \"then my cause is safe; I need say no more.\"\n\n\"Ali ibn Moulk,\" continued the Caliph, in a voice thick with passion,\n\"Governor of Bagdad, into your hands has been committed the task of\ndoing justice in this city.  What then shall be done to him who denies\njustice and who takes bribes; who takes the last coin from the poor and\nthe oppressed, and yet gives no heed to their petitions for redress?\nAllah pay me for it if I permit such iniquity.\"  Then turning to\nMesrur, who stood behind him, he said, \"Take him out.\"\n\nMesrur with his assistants immediately seized Ali, and, taking him out\ninto the garden, severed his head from his shoulders with one blow of\nhis sword.\n\nWhen the Governor of Bagdad had been taken out of the tent, the Caliph\nsaid, \"Bring in now Moussa the Cadi.\"\n\nMoussa, who had during the evening been arrested by order of the\nCaliph, and had been brought to the palace of the Governor of Bagdad,\nwas now brought in under guard.\n\nHaroun ordered the Cadi at once to make over formally the whole of his\nproperty to his two brothers, Suleiman and Mohammed, the Caliph adding\nwith his usual grim humour, \"As you are a man of the law, it is fit\nthat you do justice in a legal way.\"  And then added, addressing\nMesrur, who had just entered, \"And now impale him.\"\n\nMesrur immediately advanced towards the Cadi to take him out and\nexecute the doom pronounced by the Caliph.\n\nBut Suleiman said, \"He is my brother, the son of my father; let me pray\nyou at least to spare his life.\"\n\nThen the Caliph said, \"For thy sake, Suleiman, I spare him; let him be\nsent to the army in the field and enrolled as a common soldier.  Thus,\nat any rate,\" he added, \"he may earn an honest living.\"\n\n\"Emir,\" said the Caliph to Suleiman, in conclusion, \"for such is your\nrank henceforth, your brother Mohammed has been conveyed by my order in\na litter to your house, and there you will find him duly provided for.\nAnd I desire that you yourself attend me at the palace three times a\nweek at least, that I may have the benefit of your conversation and\ncounsel.\"\n\nThe blind fisherman, now a rich Emir and a prime favourite with the\nCaliph, saluted his sovereign and was silent.\n\n\n\n\nThe Caliph and Abdurrahman.\n\nWhen seated in his palace at Bagdad, Haroun Alraschid could look across\nthe river Tigris, down to which his garden sloped, and could watch the\nbustle, the arrival and departure of soldiers, courtiers, and citizens,\nwhich was incessantly taking place in the courtyard of the Grand Vizier's\npalace, which was situated opposite to him on the other side of the river.\n\nSometimes, when he was tired of the occupations and amusements offered by\nhis own palace and gardens, he would, instead of sending for Giafer to\ncome to him, mount his horse and proceed to pay an informal visit to the\nGrand Vizier.\n\nOn one of these occasions, when Haroun was seated in the audience-chamber\nof the Grand Vizier's palace, he said, \"I have more than once, when on my\nway to visit you here, remarked a certain small house and garden situated\nnear the river, and the walls being low I have while riding past observed\nan old man sitting in the garden, whose appearance has attracted my\nattention.  He is a fine tall man, with a long white beard and a handsome\nbenevolent cast of countenance, but what has chiefly struck me is the\nlook of calm and serene cheerfulness and contentment which he always\nwears, although he is old, and, judging by the place he lives in, by no\nmeans rich.  He interests me, I feel curious to hear the story of his\nlife, which I do not doubt would contain many strange and noteworthy\nincidents, therefore bring him this afternoon with you to my palace that\nI may question him and satisfy my curiosity concerning him.\"\n\nGiafer of course promised to obey the royal command, and accordingly on\nthe same afternoon when proceeding to the Caliph's palace he called at\nthe little house which had been indicated to him and asked to see the\nowner.  The slave who opened the door was greatly surprised and not a\nlittle frightened when he recognized the officer on horseback with his\nnumerous attendants, who inquired for his master, as no less a personage\nthan the Grand Vizier himself.\n\nGiafer dismounted, and being shown at once into the little garden,\ndiscovered sitting there placidly enough the venerable form of the old\nman of whom the Caliph had spoken.\n\n\"Sir,\" said Giafer, \"our master, the Caliph, has ordered me to bring you\nwith me to-day to the palace, as he wishes to speak with you.  I have\ntherefore brought with me a led horse, so that if it should not be too\nfatiguing for you to mount you may ride with me to the palace.\"\n\n\"My lord,\" said the old man, who was quite unembarrassed, and who was\nstrong, and stooped but little in spite of his years, \"I accept, with\nmany thanks, your kind offer of a horse, and will accompany you at once\nto wait upon the Prince of the Faithful, since he so wills it.\"\n\nThe mounting was somewhat difficult, but when once seated on horseback,\nthe old man rode so well and with such an aspect of ease and natural\ndignity, that he pleased his escort and astonished his neighbours, who\nwatched his departure, much marvelling for what purpose he had been sent\nfor to the palace.\n\nOn his arrival he was received very graciously by the Caliph, who told\nhim that he had frequently observed him sitting in his little garden, and\ndesired that he would relate the particulars of his life and fortune.\n\n\"Sire,\" said the old man, \"I have but little to tell your Majesty, and\nscarcely anything that deserves your notice; but at your command I will\nwith pleasure narrate the few noteworthy incidents of my life, and that\nas briefly and faithfully as possible.\"\n\n\nABDURRAHMAN'S STORY.\n\n\"My name,\" said the old man, \"is Abdurrahman, and fourscore and three\nyears ago I was born in this city, not very far from the spot where I now\ndwell.  My father, who was a merchant, and fairly prosperous, furnished\nme, when I was twenty years of age, with a stock of goods with which to\ncommence to trade, and, as young merchants are wont to do, I departed to\ntry my fortune in foreign countries.\n\n\"The first country I visited was Persia, and arriving at Shiraz, the\ncapital, I remained for many months engaged in selling, at the best\nprofit I could obtain for them, the goods I had brought with me from\nBagdad.\n\n\"At length, having disposed of almost all my stock, I began to consider\nwhat kind of merchandize it would be most advisable that I should buy to\ntake back with me, and trade with on my return.\n\n\"But as I sat one day in the shop of a jeweller of my acquaintance in the\nbazaar, a circumstance occurred which at once put to flight all ideas of\nan early return to my native land.\n\n\"A young lady entered, whose fine apparel and elegant bearing immediately\nattracted my attention.  Two slaves waited on her, and stopped outside\nthe shop while she entered.\n\n\"Why I should have been especially attracted by this young lady I should\nprobably have found it difficult at that moment to explain.  But my eyes\nwere no longer under my control, and I thought surely no one ever moved\nmore gracefully.  I was young then, and a young man's imagination, like a\nhigh-mettled steed, soon runs away with him.  Yet, being young, and\nprobably in those days not altogether ill-looking, it is not unlikely\nthat the lady was, on her side, not at all displeased to observe my very\nevident admiration; and taking pity upon me, or rather, I should say,\ndetermined instantly to complete her conquest, she contrived, as though\nby accident, to remove her veil for one moment, exposing thus to my\nastonished gaze a countenance of the most surpassing beauty.\n\n\"After purchasing sundry articles from my friend the jeweller, and giving\nthem to her slaves to carry home for her, she left the shop, not without\nbestowing upon me a parting glance, which penetrated my heart and filled\nme with the most delicious and indescribable excitement.\n\n\"As soon as she was gone I inquired eagerly of my friend who this\ndazzling young beauty was, and whereabouts she lived.\n\n\"'She is,' he said, 'the daughter of Mazoudi Khan, a very rich man, who\nlives in a fine house not far from the palace of the Shah himself.  I\nshould advise you,' he added, 'to forget as soon as possible that you\nhave ever seen her, for you know the proverb, \"He who lifts his eyes too\nhigh, is apt to fall and break his neck.\"'\n\n\"The advice was no doubt good, but as well might a man in a fever be\nadvised to keep cool.  As well might a man parched with thirst be advised\nto shun water and to think no more of it.  I had seen her face, the face\nof the first beautiful woman it had ever been my lot to behold.  I was\ntwenty-one years of age, and my prudent acquaintance advised me to forget\nher!\n\n\"My lord, you may guess how I lay awake all that night, and how I\nreturned as early next day as I decently could to the shop of my friend,\nin the ardent, if rash, hope of again meeting the object that now\nconstantly engrossed me.\n\n\"The young lady, who was nowise disposed to avoid me or break my heart,\ncame to the shop still earlier than on the previous day, and, while\nexamining some jewels, she listened, without any sign of disapproval, to\nthe few but passionate words of admiration and love which I ventured to\naddress to her.\n\n\"'Sir,' she answered, 'if I should say that I feel displeased at what you\ntell me, it would not be true; but, alas! it is useless for you thus to\naddress me.  My father is about to marry me to a friend of his, who is\nvery rich and nearly as old as himself.'\n\n\"With that the lovely creature shed tears, and presently choosing some\njewels, she went away, leaving me full of grief and distracted with anger\nand jealousy.\n\n\"After this I met her again several times in the same place, and, to my\nutmost consternation, learned at length that her marriage with Mirza Aga,\nher father's old friend, would take place in a fortnight.\n\n\"At first I implored her in my desperation to fly with me from Persia,\nand accompany me to my home at Bagdad.  But with much good sense she\npointed out that this was impossible; that we should both infallibly be\ncaught before we could get three parasangs away from Shiraz, and be\nbrought back to certain death.\n\n\"I was altogether at a loss what to do, but finally I bought a large,\nold-fashioned house, situated in a very retired and lonely position in\nthe suburbs of the city, and determined, if possible, to persuade my\ncharmer to retire with me to that retreat, where I doubted not we might\nremain undiscovered until the fury of her father should abate.\n\n\"The house I bought was surrounded by a very high wall, and had a large\nquadrangle within laid out as a garden, with fruit-trees and fountains of\nclear water.  I furnished the place handsomely, and bought several slaves\nto attend upon us.  But, alas! I could find no opportunity to take the\nlady thither, she being always accompanied by at least two of her\nfather's slaves, who jealously guarded her.\n\n\"The day fixed for her marriage with the ancient bridegroom having\narrived, I loitered about ready to follow and observe the bridal\nprocession, being in a state of mingled rage and despair not easy to\ndescribe.\n\n\"Now among the Persians it is the custom when the wedding-day arrives\nthat the friends of the bride shall escort her from her home towards the\nhouse of her husband, while he, on his part, comes with his friends to\nmeet her.  As soon as he sees his bride he throws an orange or other\nfruit at her, and rides off again towards his house, and whosoever\ncatches him before he arrives there, is entitled to his horse and clothes\nor a ransom in lieu of them.\n\n\"The distance which the bridegroom thus advances to meet his bride,\nvaries in each case according to circumstances.\n\n\"The lady Perizadeh, being the daughter of so influential a man as\nMazoudi Khan, it was arranged that Mirza Aga, who was her inferior in\nrank, should advance two-thirds of the distance that had to be traversed.\n\n\"It thus happened that when the two cavalcades encountered each other,\nand the bridegroom, according to custom, threw the orange and rode off,\nhe had some considerable distance to ride.  As your Majesty is aware, the\nPersians are to be reckoned among the best horsemen in the world; but\nMirza Aga was no longer young; and whether it were owing to that, or\nwhether his horse was in fault, I know not, but before he had ridden far,\nwith all the members of the two parties pursuing him at the top of their\nspeed, his horse suddenly stumbled, and he was thrown upon his head and\nkilled on the spot.\n\n\"During the scene of confusion which followed, while all were crowding\nround the fallen man, to render help or to endeavour to ascertain the\nnature and extent of his injuries, the bride was left for the moment\nalone and unguarded.  Seizing the opportunity, I sprang up behind her on\nher horse, and turning at once down a side street, was in a few seconds\nout of sight, and reached in safety the house I had bought, and which I\nhad, as I have said, prepared for our reception.\n\n\"As soon as the bride was missed--which, owing to the excitement and\nconfusion, did not occur immediately--it was of course assumed that she\nhad, when frightened by the accident, turned round and ridden back again\nto her father's house.  Mazoudi Khan therefore went home at once to see\nand console her; but when he found that she had not returned, he\ndespatched his whole retinue in different directions, to scour the\ncountry in search of the robbers who had, as he supposed, carried off his\ndaughter.\n\n\"Even when his followers came back unsuccessful, he still expected\nshortly to recover his child, as he entertained no doubt that the bandits\nwould find means before long to communicate with him respecting her\nransom.\n\n\"Meanwhile, we lived with the utmost privacy in the house I had\npurchased, never going outside the walls, or doing anything whatever to\nattract attention to us.\n\n\"In this way a whole year passed by.  A son was born to us, and I named\nhim Diraz.  And the lovely Perizadeh and myself continued as enamoured of\neach other, and as happy in each other's society, as we had been at first.\n\n\"About a twelvemonth after the day--ever memorable to me--on which I had\neffected the capture of the destined bride of the unfortunate Mirza Aga,\nI happened to hear that Mazoudi Khan was seriously ill, the loss of his\ndaughter, whom he tenderly loved, having depressed his spirits to an\nalarming degree.\n\n\"After much debate we determined that Perizadeh, taking her baby with\nher, should go to her father and implore his forgiveness for both of us.\nI sent her, clad as handsomely as I could afford, with a slave to carry\nthe baby, and two other slaves to attend upon her; and I waited the\nresult of the interview between her and her father with no little anxiety.\n\n\"I knew that a proud and wealthy man like Mazoudi Khan would have\nrejected, with much disdain, a young and unknown merchant like myself,\nhad I demanded his daughter in marriage; but I hoped now, that the sight\nof his child whom he mourned as lost, and of his grandchild--towards whom\na grandfather's heart is always especially open--would soften him, and\ncause him to relent.  In this I was not disappointed.\n\n\"He sent for me, forgave me, welcomed me as his son-in-law, and appointed\nus a house near to his own.\n\n\"And not long afterwards he obtained for me an official post at the\nPersian Court, where I remained happy and contented for the space of\ntwenty years.\n\n\"By that time, both my father-in-law and my lovely Perizadeh had died,\nand my son Diraz, now grown a fine young man, was entered as a gholam,\nthat is, one of the royal body-guard.\n\n\"Ten years more passed by uneventfully, and I looked forward confidently\nhoping to see my son appointed to the government of a province, or some\nother position of dignity and emolument.  But, alas! just when this\nseemed most certain, an indiscretion, an act of madness on the part of my\nunhappy son, brought ruin on us both.\n\n\"Among the women at that time in the harem of his Majesty the Shah, was a\nvery beautiful slave, who had been captured during a war which had been\nwaged against an infidel nation, whose territory extends beyond the\nnorthern frontier of the Shah's dominions.\n\n\"This slave, beautiful as the full moon, Diraz, rash and presumptuous\nyouth that he was, managed to catch sight of, and immediately he became\ndesperately, recklessly enamoured of her.\n\n\"Forgetting the duty we owed to our master the Shah, and taking advantage\nof his official position as gholam shahee, which enabled and authorized\nhim to travel by post at speed, pressing horses as he went, he managed to\nsteal the beautiful slave, and got such a start before her loss and his\nabsence were discovered, that he was not overtaken, but escaped with her\nout of the kingdom.\n\n\"When the Shah heard of the matter, he very naturally was furious----\"\n\n\"Very naturally, indeed,\" said the Caliph, with a grim smile.\n\n\"Well, very naturally also,\" continued Abdurrahman, \"his Majesty sent for\nme, upbraided me for having such a son, and ordering all that I had to be\nconfiscated, commanded me to leave his kingdom forthwith, and find and\nbring back my son and his slave.\n\n\"In great grief I retraced my steps mechanically to my house, but a\ngholam, bearing the royal edict, had arrived there before me, and my own\nslave repulsed me from my own door.\n\n\"I set out, therefore, at once on my journey northwards, travelling not\nlike my son had done, by relays of the swiftest horses that could be\nforced into the service, but slowly and wearily on foot.  It took me many\nweeks to accomplish the distance he had traversed in a few days; but not\nto inflict upon you the tedious incidents of my journey, I will only say\nthat I arrived at length in that region to which I believed my son had\ncarried the beautiful slave.  Not without considerable risk, on account\nof the hatred felt by all the people of that infidel nation, against true\nbelievers, I succeeded in reaching the capital, where I soon learnt on\ninquiry, that a gholam of the Shah of Persia had arrived recently,\nbringing with him a lady of extreme beauty, who was, it appeared, the\ndaughter of the king of that country.\n\n\"The king had received his daughter, and my son also for her sake, with\nevery demonstration of joy and satisfaction.  And the young people,\nmarried, and very happy, were now living in the royal palace.\n\n\"I managed soon to let my son know of my arrival, and he came at once to\nthe khan where I was staying, and welcomed me with much affectionate\ndelight; all the more because since his departure from Shiraz he had\nbegun too late to consider the vengeance with which the incensed Shah\nmight only too probably visit me in consequence of his misdoing.\n\n\"He conducted me forthwith to the palace, and introduced me to my\ndaughter-in-law, the beautiful slave with whom he had eloped; and also to\nhis father-in-law, the king of that country, who received me very\ngraciously, and bestowed upon me, in recompense for the loss I had\nsustained, a fine house and a thousand purses of gold.\n\n\"The country in which we now were was a mountainous one, and very bleak\nand cold in the winter; and my son Diraz had not been there six months\nbefore he took so violent a chill that he died after a few days' illness.\n\n\"About a month later the princess, my daughter-in-law, gave birth to a\nfemale child.  Nothing now was so dear to me as my little granddaughter,\nand when, five years afterwards, both my daughter-in-law and the king her\nfather were carried off by a fever which was very prevalent and fatal in\nthat country, I determined to return with my grandchild to my native\ncity, there to spend my remaining years in peace.\n\n\"We journeyed very slowly, stopping for months together in many of the\ncities on our way.  At length we arrived safely in Bagdad, and settled\ndown in the little house and garden by the river, where I live in peace\nand contentment with my granddaughter as my only companion; she is my\ntreasure and the brightness of my house.\"\n\n\"The young lady,\" said the Caliph, \"must by this time be old enough to be\nmarried: if I find her a husband will you provide her a dower?\"\n\n\"Sire,\" said Abdurrahman, \"when I die, and I am now old, what little I\nhave will be hers, but till then her only dower consists of two small\njars of ointment.\"\n\n\"What jars are those?\" asked the Caliph; \"and where did you get them?\"\n\n\"The jars,\" answered Abdurrahman, \"were entrusted to me by my\ndaughter-in-law just before her death.\n\n\"'Preserve them carefully,' she said, 'and unopened, for the ointment\nthey contain is most precious, and of a rare and even magical efficacy.\nWhen my little girl is old enough for marriage offer them for sale, but\ntake not less than a thousand pieces of gold for the one jar, and not\nless than ten thousand pieces for the other.  If no one can be found\nwilling to pay that price for them do not part with them, keep them\nrather, and direct that they be buried with you.'\n\n\"I have never yet,\" continued the old man, \"offered the jars of ointment\nfor sale, and truly it seems so improbable that any one will ever be\ninclined to pay so preposterous a price for them, that doubtless they\nwill be interred with me as the princess, my daughter-in-law, requested.\"\n\n\"By Allah, not so!\" said the Caliph; \"I will buy them myself.  And your\ngranddaughter, who I take it on your word is a very charming young lady,\nI give with her dower of eleven thousand pieces of gold to the son of\nGiafer.\"\n\nThe Grand Vizier and Abdurrahman bowed and touched their foreheads in\ntoken of entire submission to the will of the Prince of the Faithful.\n\nThe Caliph then dismissed them with the injunction to make preparations\nfor solemnizing the marriage as soon as possible.\n\n\n\n\nThe Caliph and the First Jar of Ointment.\n\n\nFIRST ADVENTURE:\n\nTHE CALIPH AND THE EMIR.\n\nA few days after the marriage of Abdurrahman's daughter with the son of\nthe Grand Vizier, the Caliph ordered his treasurer to bring him the two\njars of ointment which he had bought of Abdurrahman.\n\nWhen he saw them they were so very small that he could not avoid an\nexclamation of surprise.\n\n\"By Allah,\" said Haroun, \"but the old man has had a good price!\"\n\nAlthough the jars were both very small, yet they were not of the same\nsize, one being half as large again as the other.\n\n\"And,\" said Giafer, \"I must inform your Majesty that the larger jar is\nthat which cost a thousand pieces of gold, and the smaller ten thousand\npieces.\"\n\n\"Hand them to me,\" said the Caliph, \"that I may see them more closely.\"\n\nThen holding the jars in his hands, he read the inscription on the\nlarger jar: \"The Ointment Marvellous.  This jar to be opened by no one\nbut the purchaser thereof, who will be informed by a writing contained\nin the jar of the uses and wonderful properties of the ointment.\"  On\nthe smaller jar were the words, \"Most Marvellous Ointment,\" and\nfollowing those words an inscription precisely similar to that on the\nlarger jar: \"This jar to be opened by no one but the purchaser thereof,\nwho will be informed by a writing contained in the jar of the uses and\nwonderful properties of the ointment.\"\n\nWhen he had read the inscriptions on the jars, the Caliph handed back\nthe smaller jar to the Grand Vizier, and ordered him to return it to\nthe treasurer to be carefully preserved until he should require it.\n\nThen opening the larger jar, he took out a writing he found immediately\ninside.  This was folded, and upon the outside was written, \"To be read\nby the purchaser of the ointment only.\"\n\nThe Caliph therefore opened it and read these words: \"Whosoever thou\nart who hast bought this small jar of ointment for the price of one\nthousand pieces of gold, being as yet ignorant of the power and virtues\nof the ointment, rejoice, for thy faith and liberality are not wasted.\nWhensoever thou shalt anoint thine eyes with the ointment in this jar,\nfor the space of three hours afterwards thou shalt see through all\nsolid substances that lie fifty feet in front of thee as though,\ninstead of being opaque and dense as stone or brick, they were clear\nand translucent as a diamond of the first water.  But of this power\ntell no man anything, lest thou lose it.\"\n\nWhen the Caliph had read these words, he sat some time silent.  The\nGrand Vizier standing beside him was curious to learn the secret of the\nointment, and wondered at the long silence of his master.\n\nAt length the Caliph rose, and placed the jar of ointment with his own\nhands in a cabinet which he locked, and of which he himself kept the\nkey.\n\nGiafer, whose curiosity was fully aroused by the taciturnity of Haroun\non this occasion, could not help asking, \"Is your Majesty satisfied or\ndisappointed with your purchase of the ointment?\"\n\n\"It remains to be proved,\" said the Caliph, smiling, \"whether the\nointment is as valuable as is asserted.  When the proper opportunity\npresents itself, I will test it.  Meanwhile, Grand Vizier, the proverb\nis never to be forgotten, 'The inquisitive are ever in danger.'\"\n\nAfter this Giafer perceived that it would be wiser to say no more.\n\nThey then conversed some time on various public questions and State\naffairs, and at length, when dismissing Giafer, the Caliph said, \"Do\nnot fail to come at the usual hour this evening that we may wander\ndisguised through Bagdad, as I have already arranged to do.\"\n\nGiafer arrived at the palace punctually at the hour appointed by the\nCaliph, and, disguised in the habits of merchants, Haroun and his\nVizier sallied forth according to their wont, accompanied only by\nMesrur, who followed them at a short distance.\n\nBefore leaving the palace, Haroun Alraschid, retiring for a few moments\nfrom his attendants, had applied to his eyes some of the ointment out\nof the jar he had placed in his cabinet.\n\nOn reaching the streets and looking about him, he discovered to his\ngreat joy and contentment that the efficacy of the ointment had been\nnowise exaggerated by what was stated in the writing which he had found\nwithin the jar.\n\nWherever they went he could see, instead of the mere blank outer walls,\nthe interior of the dwellings, and the inhabitants of every house\nemployed in any avocation that they might happen at that moment to be\nengaged in.  In one room he would see three or four men seated\ntogether, the evening meal being finished, and discussing quietly the\noccupations of the day or the prospects of the future.  In another room\nthe women of the family would be visible to him, with their faces\nuncovered; thought of horror and insult for the men could they but have\nguessed it!  Here, some were eating sweetmeats, sipping sherbet and\ngossiping.  There, others were engaged adding to their charms by\nstaining their eyelids, dyeing their hair, or other adornments of the\ntoilet which it is not lawful for men to imagine, much less to behold.\n\nThe Caliph walked along this evening looking first on this side, then\non that, and appeared so much interested with all he saw that he seemed\naltogether oblivious of Giafer's existence, and spoke to him never a\nword.\n\nGiafer found the walk rather dull.  And the more dull he found it the\nmore surprised he was at the unusual patience exhibited by the\nCommander of the Faithful, who uttered no impatient exclamations, but\nwhose countenance bore an expression of satisfaction and interest far\nenough removed from any kind of irritability or ill-humour.\n\nThey had wandered in this way for a long time through many of the\nleast-frequented and least-interesting thoroughfares of the city, the\nGrand Vizier scarcely knowing whether he were more bored by the walk or\nastonished at the evident satisfaction of his master, when suddenly the\nCaliph stood still, leaning against the wall of a house and staring\nintently at the blank wall of the house immediately opposite.\n\nAfter they had stood thus for some minutes, the Caliph looking fixedly\nand with evidently increasing interest and excitement at the dead wall\nopposite, Giafer became seriously alarmed, fearing that his master had\neither lost his wits or was going to have a fit.  He was, in fact, so\nmuch frightened by the extraordinary behaviour of the Caliph, which had\ncontinued all the evening, that he continued to stand beside him and\nwatch him, himself motionless and speechless.\n\nAll at once the Caliph, still gazing intently before him, grasped\nGiafer by the arm and whispered to him as though others were present--\n\n\"Go, take Mesrur with you; go round that house, down the turning\nyonder, and arrest them as they come out of the gate.\"\n\nFor a moment Giafer, who seriously believed that the Caliph had become\ndemented, hesitated.  But the habit of obedience prevailed, and putting\nhis hand to his head, the usual sign of implicit devotion to the royal\nwill, he beckoned Mesrur, whose figure at a little distance from them\nwas the only living object visible in the street, and they disappeared\ntogether down the narrow turning which the Caliph had indicated.\n\nWe must now explain what it was that caused the Caliph to remain so\nlong gazing at the house before the outer wall of which he was standing.\n\nAs he came along the street he saw in the garden of the house, which\nlay immediately behind the high wall in front of him, a sight very\ndifferent from any of those which had hitherto been disclosed to him.\n\nLying on the grass beneath a wide spreading tree in the middle of the\ngarden was the apparently lifeless form of a very beautiful young lady.\nHer clothes were of the finest materials, and her neck, arms, and\nankles were adorned with magnificent jewellery, composed of gold,\ndiamonds, pearls, and other precious stones.  Standing beside her, and\nlooking down upon her with a disturbed and angry countenance, was an\nold man, richly dressed, and evidently the master of the house, whose\nface, now distorted with passion, must at all times have worn a fierce\nand malevolent expression.  After thus standing and watching her for a\nfew minutes the old man, stooping down, took hold of her hand, as\nthough to ascertain that she were really dead; and when, as he released\nit, the arm fell heavily again to the earth, he again stood\ncontemplating for some minutes the youthful and lovely figure at his\nfeet.  Presently he clapped his hands, and some slaves appearing, he\ngave them some brief directions, on receiving which they went again\ninto the house, returning shortly with a great empty sack or bag.  In\nthis they placed gently and carefully enough the body of the young\nlady, and lifting the sack, carried it between them towards a side gate\nopening into a narrow lane that ran down by one side of the walled\nenclosure which formed the garden of the mansion.\n\nThe Caliph saw the old man point with his finger to this side gate,\nevidently bidding them carry forth their burden at that entrance.\n\nIt was at this moment that he had grasped the arm of the Grand Vizier,\nand had whispered to him the order to proceed at once with Mesrur and\narrest the men he should find coming along the lane.\n\nGiafer, as we have seen, after a brief hesitation went back to where\nMesrur was standing, and acquainting him rapidly with the Caliph's\norder, they crossed the street and entered the lane as they had been\ncommanded.\n\nThey had not proceeded many steps down the lane before they met the\nslaves bearing the great sack.\n\nGiafer and Mesrur drawing their swords, demanded sternly what they had\nthere, and whither they were going.\n\nThe slaves, when they saw two men with drawn swords barring the way,\nput down their burden quickly and would have fled, but Mesrur\nexclaimed--\n\n\"Stop, for I will cut down the first man among you that dares stir hand\nor foot.\"\n\nThen one of the slaves answered and said, \"Sirs, we are carrying this\npackage by order of our master, therefore please to let us pass.\"\n\nBut Giafer said, \"Slaves, who is your master?  And what have you in\nthis sack, and whither do you carry it?  I command you, in the name of\nthe Prince of the Faithful, to answer these questions truly.\"\n\n\"Sir,\" said the slave who had spoken already, \"our master is the Emir\nBargash ibn Beynin, who lives in this house at the side of which we are\nstanding, and he will, if he chooses, tell you what is in the sack and\nwhither it is going, but we dare not say anything.\"\n\nThe Grand Vizier might probably have returned a very rough answer to\nthis speech, or even have cut down the slave who uttered it, but at\nthat moment the Caliph himself entered the lane, accompanied by a guard\nof soldiers, who happened to be patrolling the city in that direction,\nand whom the Caliph had summoned to his assistance.\n\nDirecting some of the soldiers to escort the slaves and their burthen\nto the palace, he ordered the officer of the guard with the rest of his\nmen to enter the house of the Emir, and to conduct him also at once to\nthe palace.  He furthermore strictly charged the officer to permit the\nmaster of the house to hold no communication whatever with any of its\ninmates before leaving, and as soon as possible to send a guard to\nseize and hold possession of the place until the Caliph's pleasure\nshould be known concerning it.  After giving these orders Haroun\nAlraschid returned with Giafer to the palace.\n\nWhen he had changed his clothes and assumed his seat on the imperial\ndivan, he commanded the Emir to be brought in before him.  Then,\naddressing him, he said with a stern expression--\n\n\"This evening my officers have stopped and arrested a party of slaves\nbelonging to your household, who were carrying in a sack the body of a\nyoung lady.  They say that they carried it from your house by your\ncommand.  Explain to me, therefore, who the lady is, and what your\nslaves were ordered to do with her.\"\n\nThe Emir Bargash ibn Beynin, having prostrated himself before the\nthrone of the Caliph, replied--\n\n\"Prince of the Faithful, I hasten according to your command to declare\nto you the whole truth concerning the young lady whose body my slaves\nwere carrying in the sack.  That young lady was my niece.  She was\nPersian by birth, my nephew having married her while staying in that\ncountry, and brought her back with him about a year ago, when he\nreturned to his native land.  For the last three or four months they\nhave been staying with me in my house in this city.  I must here inform\nyour Majesty, though I say it with sorrow and regret, that my nephew,\nwho is a man of violent passions, ever treated his young wife with\nscandalous severity and harshness.  Often, but in vain, I have\nremonstrated with him as to his conduct.  At length, this evening, when\ngoing into my garden, I found my niece lying there lifeless.\nEverywhere I sought my nephew, but could not find him.  I was convinced\nthat he had in some way been the cause of his wife's death, and that he\nhad fled to escape the consequences of his barbarous act.  But, being\nmyself not a little apprehensive of the danger which might threaten\nmyself if the dead body were discovered in my house, I confess that I\nordered my slaves to remove it and place it in the river.\"\n\nThe Caliph listened with much attention to the account given him by the\nEmir.  After the latter had finished his narration, Haroun Alraschid\ndismissed him with the injunction immediately to make diligent search\nfor his nephew, and to arrest him and bring him at once to the palace\nas soon as he could find him.\n\nThe Caliph being now very tired retired to rest.\n\nMeanwhile the body of the young lady, which had been carried to the\npalace, was taken to the women's apartments, the ladies of the harem\nbeing all of them devoured with curiosity to see the fair unknown.\nWhen the body had been taken out of the sack in which it had been\nplaced, all were astonished at the extreme beauty of the stranger, and\nthe richness and value of her dress and ornaments.  At length one of\nthe ladies who were gathered together around her declared, after\nlooking at her attentively and placing her hand over her heart, that\nshe was convinced that life was not yet extinct.  Resorting to all the\nremedies of use in cases of prolonged fainting fits, consciousness was\nat last restored, and, after partaking of some slight nourishment, the\nlovely patient fell into a natural sleep, during which she was watched\nwith sympathizing eyes by several eager volunteers.\n\nEarly next morning, as soon as the Caliph had risen and was dressed,\none of the Chamberlains of the palace acquainted him with the recovery\nof the young lady, and that she was now so much better that she was\nsitting and conversing with the other ladies in the harem.\n\nThe Caliph immediately sent the Chamberlain to announce that his\nMajesty was about to pay them a visit.  When the Caliph entered the\napartment where she was, the young lady, with all the ladies of the\nharem who were sitting with her, rose to receive the Commander of the\nFaithful, and prostrated themselves before him.\n\nBidding them rise, and placing the young lady on the divan near to him,\nhe inquired after her health; and when she answered that she was much\nbetter, and nearly recovered from her illness of the previous evening,\nhe told her to relate to him the occasion of the serious and almost\nfatal fainting fit into which she had fallen.\n\n\"Sire,\" said the young lady, with tears in her eyes, \"all my trouble,\nand the fact that I am now here, arises from the vile conduct of a\nrelative, from whom I had every reason to expect very different\ntreatment.\n\n\"My father was a wealthy merchant, living at Teheran, and I his only\ndaughter.  He gave me the name of Abadeh, and spared no expense to\nrender his house and garden--where I lived until I was sixteen years of\nage--as bright and charming as it is possible for any young girl to\ndesire.\n\n\"Nothing I wished for was denied me; and when one day, while on my way\nto the bath, I saw Suliman, the nephew of the Emir Bargash ibn Beynin\nof Bagdad, who was visiting Teheran, and could neither rest nor he\nhappy because I was continually thinking of him, my dear father no\nsooner had learned the cause of my disquiet than he arranged a marriage\nbetween us, giving Suliman such a handsome dower with me as made him\nthink himself a very fortunate young man.\"\n\nHaroun Alraschid, who was a very polite man among ladies, here\ninterposed the remark that Suliman had much cause to consider himself\nfortunate, irrespective of the dower.\n\nAbadeh, blushing at the Caliph's compliment, continued--\n\n\"For a whole year we lived very happily together, when, on the death of\nmy dear father, my husband, no longer having any inducement to remain\nin Persia, determined to return to his native country.\n\n\"After a journey marked by no noteworthy incident, we arrived at length\nin Bagdad.  Hiring a house next to that occupied by my husband's uncle,\nthe Emir Bargash ibn Beynin, we have resided there now nearly a year,\nin the greatest contentment and happiness, and constantly visited by\nthe Emir, who has always professed to be extremely pleased with our\nsociety.\n\n\"Yesterday evening, however, he sent one of his female slaves to bid me\ncome at once to his house, as Suliman was suddenly taken ill.\n\n\"I was just dressed to receive my dear husband, whose return I every\nmoment expected.  I hurried down therefore from my chamber just as I\nwas, forgetting even in my excitement to throw my yashmak over me, and\ncrossing the narrow yard between our houses, I entered the Emir's\ngarden.\n\n\"He met me in the midst of the garden, and in answer to my eager\ninquiry for my husband, he said: 'You cannot see him, it is too late;\nhe is dead.'\n\n\"'Impossible!' I cried; 'it cannot be, take me to him at once.  Let me\nat least try what can be done for him.'\n\n\"Then this Emir--this wicked, this infamous man--took me in his arms,\nin spite of my struggles, and kissed me and said: 'Think no more of\nSuliman, who is gone, and whom you will not see again.  Now you belong\nto me--I love you, I have loved you for months, and never more shall we\npart.'\n\n\"As he said these things, and I perceived his villainy, which I had\nnever even suspected until that moment, and thought how he had possibly\nmurdered his nephew, of whom he had pretended to be so fond, I fainted\noff in the arms of the perfidious wretch, who, finding that I continued\nso long insensible, no doubt concluded that I was dead.  Indeed, I\nremember nothing more until I found myself here in the palace, and most\nkindly tended and watched.  What has become of my dear husband I know\nnot; but oh, sir!\" said she, falling down before the Caliph, \"find him,\nfind him for me again if it be possible, and punish the Emir as he\ndeserves!\"\n\n\"Rise,\" said the Caliph, \"rise, beautiful lady, and be comforted.  If\nSuliman be alive he shall be restored to you.  And whether he be alive\nor dead the doom of the Emir is certain.\"\n\nSo saying, he at once went out of the harem, and summoning Giafer, he\nsaid: \"Send at once and fetch the Emir Bargash ibn Beynin.  And let\nsome officers go also and bring hither, if they can find him, Suliman,\nthe nephew of the Emir, who lived in the next house to him.\"\n\nAn hour afterwards the officers returned, and reported that they could\nfind neither the Emir nor, his nephew.  The former, taking some of his\nslaves with him, had left his home about an hour before the arrival of\nthe officers sent to arrest him, and no one knew whither he had gone.\nWhile as for his nephew, Suliman, he had left home on the previous day,\nand had not since been heard of.\n\nWhen this account was brought to the Caliph, he was furious.\n\n\"Go,\" said he, to the Grand Vizier, \"destroy the house of that vile\nscoundrel, the Emir Bargash ibn Beynin; leave of it not one stick or\nstone upon another.  And bring me both the Emir and his nephew--dead or\nalive I will have them.  Two days I give you to seek them, and if you\nfail to find them, by Allah, your head shall not remain above your\nshoulders.\"\n\nGiafer trembled at the rage of his master, and went forth out of the\npalace knowing no more where to look for the Emir and his nephew than\ndid the Caliph himself.\n\nAt first he said to himself, \"I may as well go home to my own house and\nset my affairs in order, for in two days I must die, for how can I find\nin this great kingdom the two men I am in search of?  I might as well\nseek in a sand-heap two particular grains of sand.\"\n\nHowever, as he rode along very slowly and moodily, it suddenly occurred\nto him--\"It is at least my duty to do at once that part of the Caliph's\norder which is feasible.\"  Therefore, sending for the proper workmen,\nhe proceeded immediately to the Emir's house, and superintended its\nentire demolition.\n\nAfter some hours' work the house was pulled down, and there remained\nonly some small portion of a very thick wall, which separated the house\nfrom some out-buildings.  While proceeding with the destruction of\nthis, the workmen came upon a doorway or opening, which had but\nrecently been bricked up, the cement being still damp; and when they\nhad removed this, they discovered a small cell or chamber situated in\nthe thickness of the wall, in which was seated a living man.\n\nHe, being brought to the Grand Vizier, declared that he was Suliman,\nthe nephew of the Emir, and said that his uncle--for what cause he knew\nnot--had barbarously caused him to be seized and buried alive where\nthey had found him.  He begged that he might be allowed at once to\nreturn to his own house, where his wife would be anxiously expecting\nhim.\n\nThe Grand Vizier, overjoyed to have thus secured one at least of those\nwhom he had been commanded to apprehend, would not lose sight of him\nfor one moment, but carried him forthwith to the palace.\n\nThe Caliph was considerably mollified by the production of Suliman, in\nwhose fate the narrative of Abadeh had so much interested him.  He\nlistened with rising indignation to the account Suliman gave of the\nbehaviour of his uncle towards him, and once more ordering the Grand\nVizier to find and arrest the Emir, he commanded the Grand Chamberlain\nto conduct Suliman to the apartment occupied by Abadeh.\n\nThat faithful wife was sitting disconsolate, scarcely daring to hope\nagain to behold her husband, when the Grand Chamberlain, coming softly\nto the door, ushered in Suliman himself.\n\nWe will not attempt to intrude upon the transports of this happy pair\nin again rejoining each other.  At length Suliman learnt from the lips\nof his wife the motive and object of his inhuman and treacherous uncle,\nin causing him to be immured in that fatal cell, from which he had been\nso marvellously released.\n\nBut while Suliman and Abadeh were thus discussing the conduct and\nperfidy of the Emir, the unhappy Grand Vizier had to resume the\ndifficult and hazardous task of discovering his hiding-place.  Two\ncircumstances served to encourage him, and to make the execution of the\nCaliph's order seem somewhat less difficult than it had at first sight\nappeared.  The first circumstance was the wonderful way in which\nSuliman had been delivered, as it were, into his hands, in the most\nstrange and altogether unexpected manner; and the second circumstance\nwas the fact of the Emir having taken certain slaves away with him.  He\nhad no doubt taken away those slaves who had been employed to immure\nhis unfortunate nephew, and with the object of leaving no one who could\nthrow any light on the fate of his victim.  Why he had fled was not so\nclear, but probably some whisper of the resuscitation of his niece at\nthe palace had come to his ears.\n\nCogitating these things the Grand Vizier returned to his palace, and\nimmediately gave orders that the public criers should make proclamation\nin every part of the city, that a reward would be given to any one\ngiving information leading to the capture of the Emir Bargash ibn\nBeynin, namely, two thousand pieces of gold if he were taken alive, and\none thousand pieces on the recovery of his body if he were dead.\n\nThe next morning, soon after the Grand Vizier had risen, one of his\nofficers came to him and said, \"There is a man whom we found very early\nthis morning at the Gate, who desires to speak with your Highness.\"\n\nThe Grand Vizier, divining at once that it might be one of the slaves\nof the Emir, said, \"Bring him in.\"\n\nWhen the man was brought in, he prostrated himself before the Grand\nVizier, and said--\n\n\"I can tell your Highness where the Emir Bargash ibn Beynin has gone,\nbut promise me first that no harm shall be done me.\"\n\n\"Cursed slave!\" cried the Grand Vizier, in the utmost excitement,\n\"inform me instantly where that villain your master is to be found, or\nby the life of the Caliph I will have you impaled upon the spot.\"\n\n\"My lord,\" answered the slave, terrified by the impetuosity and threats\nof the Grand Vizier, \"have patience and hear me.  Yesterday morning my\nmaster took me and three other slaves of his, and going to a khan in a\nremote part of the city he ordered us to lie down and sleep, or at any\nrate keep quiet till he called us.  During the day he assumed the garb\nof a merchant, and we heard him arrange with some other merchants, whom\nhe met at the khan, to leave with them very early this morning in a\ncaravan, which sets out with the intention of proceeding towards\nPersia.  Yesterday evening I heard the crier proclaim the reward that\nyou offer for the capture of my master, and therefore during the night\nI made my escape, and came here.  But again I implore you----\"\n\n\"No more,\" said the Grand Vizier, interrupting him; \"if the Emir\nescapes your life shall answer it, but if he is captured you shall have\nthe reward, and free pardon for your crimes, be they what they may.\"\n\nThen calling an officer he ordered him to take a score of horsemen,\nmounted on the swiftest steeds to be found in his stables, and bring\nback the master of this slave, and the other slaves that were with him.\n\nThe officer bowed and immediately departed, taking with him the slave,\nin order to be able more certainly to identify the man wanted by the\nGrand Vizier.\n\nIt was not long before the small and well-mounted body of cavalry\novertook the caravan, which necessarily travelled very slowly.  As soon\nas the Emir observed them approaching he guessed that they had been\nsent to apprehend him, and putting spurs to his horse, he attempted to\nseek safety in flight.  The cavalry came on like the wind, the few\nforemost horsemen passed the caravan safely, but the others getting\nmixed up with the camels and asses, composing the train of the caravan,\nwho straggled in all directions, being frightened by the noise of the\npursuers, a scene of inextricable confusion for some time ensued.\n\nMeanwhile the Emir, who was mounted on a powerful horse, which was\nfresh, while those of the soldiers were already considerably blown,\nkept the lead easily, and appeared to have every chance of distancing\nhis pursuers altogether, and effecting his escape, when the Vizier's\nofficer, reining in his horse, discharged an arrow, aimed so accurately\nthat the Emir's horse was wounded.  This changed the relative\nconditions, and before long the Emir, finding that his horse was\ndisabled and could do no more, dismounted, and putting his back against\na tree, drew his sword, and prepared to offer stubborn resistance.  All\nhis efforts were however in vain; being overpowered by numbers, he was\nseized and disarmed, but not before he had managed to inflict severe\nwounds upon two of his assailants.\n\nHaving bound him, they returned slowly to the spot where they had left\nthe caravan.  This was being gradually restored to order, and the\nofficer collecting his men and securing the slaves and goods belonging\nto the Emir, left the caravan to proceed again on its way, and hastened\nback with his prisoner to Bagdad.\n\nDirectly the Grand Vizier was informed by a soldier, who was sent on in\nadvance of the party, of the capture of the Emir, he went out at once\nto meet him, and conducted him straightway to the palace of the Caliph.\n\nAt the moment of the Grand Vizier's arrival, Haroun Alraschid was\nseated on his throne in the splendid chamber of audience, holding a\npublic reception of the Imaums, Viziers, Emirs, Governors of Provinces,\nand other great functionaries of his kingdom.\n\nWhen the Grand Vizier announced to the Caliph that the Emir Bargash ibn\nBeynin was a prisoner, and awaited under guard the commands of his\nMajesty, Haroun Alraschid, looking round the audience-chamber with a\nstern expression of countenance, said, \"Let the Emir be conducted into\nour presence.\"\n\nAnd when the Emir, preceded by the Marshal of the Palace and guarded by\nten soldiers, entered the magnificent apartment, and stood before his\nsovereign in the midst of that illustrious assemblage, the Caliph thus\naddressed him:\n\n\"Emir! three times over you have forfeited the life whose opportunities\nyou have abused and the station whose fair name and dignity you have\ndisgraced.  You have coveted and attempted to take the wife of your\nneighbour, and that neighbour a near relative of your own, whom you\nwere bound in honour to cherish and protect.  You have attempted to\ntake the life of your nephew, and that in the most atrocious and\ncold-blooded way.  And, finally, you have lied to me, and attempted to\ndeceive your sovereign and the Head of your Faith.  Now, therefore, in\nthe face of this assembly I pronounce upon you my sentence.  Your\nhonours and your goods are forfeited, and I bestow them upon Suliman,\nyour nephew, against whom you have acted so basely.  For yourself,\nthree times shall you ride through Bagdad with your face to the tail of\nthe camel, while the criers make this announcement, 'Behold the reward\nof an assassin,' and after the third journey they shall smite off your\nhead.\"\n\nThe Caliph then gave Mesrur the usual sign to remove the prisoner.\n\nAfter being paraded three times through the streets of Bagdad in the\nmanner the Caliph had ordained, the executioner struck off his head,\nand thus perished that vile and infamous miscreant, the Emir Bargash\nibn Beynin.\n\n\n\n\nThe Caliph and the First Jar of Ointment\n\n\nSECOND ADVENTURE:\n\nTHE CALIPH AND ABOU HASSAN.\n\nOne evening not long after the execution of the Emir, Haroun Alraschid,\nwhen about to indulge in one of his nocturnal rambles, determined again\nto make trial of the marvellous properties of his magical ointment.\nBefore sallying forth, therefore, with Giafer, always his faithful\ncompanion in these adventures, he retired privately to his cabinet and\nanointed his eyes with a small portion of the contents of the little\njar.\n\nOnce more on passing through the streets of his capital the interior of\nthe houses and the occupations and amusements of his subjects were\nrevealed to him.  In some houses he saw feasting and merriment, in some\nmourning and death.  In the dwellings of the rich there was to be seen\nfine clothes and jewellery, in the hovels of the poor squalor and rags.\nAnd so constantly varied and animated were the scenes which by virtue\nof the ointment he was enabled to observe, that he walked on for more\nthan an hour without experiencing either fatigue or weariness.\n\nAt length, as he was passing a certain mean-looking house in one of the\nless important thoroughfares, his attention was attracted to a scene\nwhich caused him to stop before the house; and, resting in the\nobscurity of a great recessed doorway on the opposite side of the way,\nto observe with much interest what took place in the room before him.\n\nIt was a large room, and but dimly lighted by a single oil lamp placed\nupon the table.  A great number of packages were lying in a confused\nheap on one side of the room; and on a raised divan near to the table\nand facing the door of the apartment sat an old man of no very inviting\nappearance.  About his head he wore an old turban, not very clean and\nput on in a careless and slovenly manner.  His eyes were shielded and\nconcealed by a large green shade, as though the light even of the one\noil lamp were too strong for him.  His clothes were plain, but much\nbetter than his head-gear; his form seemed slight and wiry, and Haroun\nnoticed that his hands, which were small and plump, were adorned with\nseveral very handsome and valuable rings.\n\nBetween this large room occupied by the figure just described and the\ndoor in the wall of the house was a small ante-room or lobby, in which\nwas seated on the bare floor a little ill-looking hump-backed slave,\nwhom the Caliph, whose memory for faces was remarkable, immediately\nrecognized as a mute who had been under the orders of Mesrur, and who,\nin consequence, it was supposed, of some punishment inflicted upon him,\nhad fled from the palace some months previously.  The sight of this\nslave caused Haroun to be additionally curious to learn what might be\nthe business of his present master.  The occupation of the mute was\nobvious.  He sat in the lobby at the door of the house ready to open it\nfor any one who might wish to enter.\n\nThe Caliph had but few moments to wait before the figure of a man\ncarrying a small bundle crept stealthily up the street and stood at the\ndoor.  Pressing what looked like the head of a large bolt on the\nsurface of the door, a piece of wood on the inside was slightly raised.\nOn this sign the mute rose, and opening the door just sufficiently wide\nto allow the man to enter, he closed it quickly, and immediately led\nthe way into the large room where the old man sat by the lamp.  The\nnew-comer placed his bundle on the table, and having opened and\ndisplayed its contents, which consisted of some jewellery and some\npieces of fine cloth, he packed it up again and deposited it with the\nother packages upon the floor.\n\nThe old man, who had sat quite motionless, and whose lips did not once\nmove, proceeded to count out certain coins on to the table; these the\nother took, also apparently in silence, and forthwith departed, leaving\nthe house and passing down the street in the same stealthy and furtive\nmanner in which he had arrived.\n\nThe Caliph and Giafer remained some time concealed thus in the black\nshadow of the doorway where they were standing; Giafer being half\nasleep, and supposing his master to be resting where they were simply\nbecause he was tired.  The Caliph, however, was watching the\nproceedings of the old man and his slave.  One after another half a\ndozen visitors arrived, were admitted on giving the same signal, showed\nthe contents of their several bundles, deposited them on the same heap,\nwere paid in silence by the old man, and thereupon went their way.\n\nThere was no departure from the uniformity of this procedure, excepting\nthat when any one arrived and gave the signal while another was still\noccupied with the old man, the mute took no notice whatever of the\nsignal, and in every case the man wishing to enter seemed at once to\nunderstand why his signal remained unanswered, and waited patiently\nuntil the door was opened for the other to depart.\n\nThe Caliph, who had at first been somewhat puzzled by the strangely\nconducted traffic which he here observed, had guessed before long that\nthe actual business of this disreputable old merchant was that of\npurchasing from the thieves, which always infest a large town, whatever\nplunder they might have to dispose of.\n\nThere was no haggling as to price.  The terms on which the transaction\nwas based were evidently very simple.  The thief displayed his wares;\nthe old man paid him what he chose, and clearly the thief, whose market\nfor his ill-gotten goods was likely to be very limited, was satisfied\nto accept what the buyer chose to award.\n\nThe Caliph was not ill-pleased to have discovered the nefarious trade\nwhich was being here carried on, and determined to have the house\nclosely watched in future, in the hope of thus noting and securing a\ngreat number of the most expert and artful thieves in Bagdad.\n\nAs he moved out of the obscurity of the doorway revolving these things\nin his mind, a ragged and decrepit beggar, who had just dragged himself\nwith slow and weary steps to this spot, begged an alms in the\nprofessional whine common to his class.  The Caliph gave him a small\npiece of silver, and then watched him as he crossed the road and\nentered a dilapidated and wretched hovel, which stood close by the\nouter wall of the house of the dealer in stolen goods.\n\nThe inside of the hovel consisted of one small room, containing no\nfurniture of any kind but a litter of rags in one corner, which\nevidently served the old beggar as a bed.\n\nThe old man, when he had entered and lighted his lamp, pushed some of\nthese rags aside with trembling hands, and raising a piece of the dirty\nand half-rotten flooring, he produced a stout and rather heavy hag.\nOut of this he took in succession several smaller hags, each evidently\nfull of money; and having pleased himself with handling and gloating\nover his treasure, he added the coin which the Caliph had just given\nhim, together with several others, the produce of that day's exertion,\nto the contents of one of the bags, and then carefully replaced the\nwhole in its hiding-place, and covering the board again with the rags,\nlay down to sleep.\n\nThree hours had now elapsed since the Caliph had anointed his eyes with\nthe magical ointment, and the increased power of vision it conferred\nupon him began rapidly to vanish.  Therefore he turned to go back to\nthe palace, laughing within himself as he thought, \"Thieves, beggars,\nand misers, a goodly company have I become acquainted with to-night!\"\n\nThe streets were now silent and deserted, and all honest people were\nalready in bed and asleep.  But he had not proceeded far before he came\nto a door which was partly open, and through which he could see across\na courtyard a great house brightly lighted, and could hear the voices\nof the guests within very merrily laughing and conversing.  Moreover, a\nvery delicious aroma of cooking assailed his nostrils, and reminded him\nthat he was both hungry and tired.  Bidding Giafer knock at the door,\nhe told the slave who appeared to go to his master and say that two\nmerchants, strangers in the town, and who had lost their way, craved to\nbe partakers of his hospitality.\n\nReturning shortly, the slave conducted them across the courtyard, and\nushered them into a room handsomely furnished and brilliantly lighted,\nin which ten young men were seated, all very merry and evidently\nenjoying a plentiful supper, which they washed down with good wine.\n\nOne of the ten, evidently the host, a young man with finely formed\nfeatures and black eyes, bright and piercing, addressed the Caliph and\nGiafer as they entered.\n\n\"Merchants and strangers,\" said he, \"you are welcome to our party.  Be\nseated, I pray you, and by your diligence in eating and drinking,\nendeavour to make up for the time you have lost.\"\n\nThen the company having saluted them, and they having saluted the\ncompany, by placing their hands across the breast and bowing the head\nin the customary manner, the Caliph and Grand Vizier sat down, and the\nslaves who waited continued from time to time to bring them plenty both\nto eat and to drink.\n\nWhen the slave who attended on the Caliph had set a handsome goblet of\nsilver before him and had filled it with wine, the Caliph raised the\ngoblet, and said--\n\n\"We thank you, gentlemen, and you, sir, especially, who are master of\nthis house, for the welcome you have given us, and your kindness in\nadmitting us to be partakers of your feast.  And we beg that you will\ncontinue that merry conversation in which we heard you engaged when we\nventured to interrupt you and to intrude on your agreeable society.\"\n\n\"Gentlemen,\" said the host, whose name was Abou Hassan, \"you must know\nthat during several evenings on which the present pleasant company have\npreviously assembled, we have entertained each other by a relation of\nsuch parts of the history of each of us as the narrators have judged\nmight prove interesting.  Just before you entered the eighth of our\nparty had finished an account of his experiences, which gave rise to\nthe merry discussion which you heard.  There now remain but two of us,\nMurad Essed and myself, who owe our stories to the company, and I will,\ntherefore, by your leave, at once invite Murad to begin.\"\n\n\nTHE STORY OF MURAD ESSED, THE UNFORTUNATE MERCHANT.\n\nThe young man addressed as Murad, and who wore a frank and jovial\nexpression of countenance, began as follows:\n\n\"It gives me much pleasure to relate to this good company those\nvicissitudes and misfortunes which have earned for me the designation\nof 'The Unfortunate Merchant,' because we shall then be favoured with\nan account of the history of our host, who has lately been known as\n'The Fortunate Merchant.'  His good fortune and his great wealth are\nindeed surprising, and are no more due to the inheritance bequeathed to\nhim by his ancestors than my poverty is owing to what was bequeathed to\nme by mine.  So far is that from being the case, that on the death of\nmy father, who was one of the leading merchants of Bagdad, I found\nmyself the possessor of an immense fortune.  It was so large and I was\nso young and inexperienced that I imagined that it could never be\nexhausted.  I bought a grand house, with fine rooms and wide gardens.\nAh! my dear Abou Hassan, this very house where we now are was the\nhouse.  I fitted it with all kinds of handsome and luxurious furniture.\nI bought slaves to wait on me, and in my harem; ah! gentlemen, in our\ndreams we picture nothing better.  The Caliph himself might have envied\nme.\n\n\"Well, gentlemen, for two years I lived like a Sultan.  I denied myself\nnothing, and never gave one thought to the expense.  At length, one day\nafter completing the sale of a large quantity of merchandize, which had\nbeen stored in his warehouses by my father, I was induced to consider\nthe state of my affairs, and I found that in these two years I had\nexpended the half of my fortune.\n\n\"This caused me to reflect seriously on my situation and mode of life.\nAt this rate, what with women, wine, and gambling, I should soon have\nnothing left.\n\n\"I determined to reform.  I sold a number of my slaves; I reduced my\nestablishment; I became very economical; I gave my little wine parties,\nas some of you may remember, only once a week instead of every evening.\n\n\"But, besides effecting these little alterations, what I principally\ndid was this: I divided my remaining fortune into two equal parts.\nWith the one half I proposed to embark in trade, while I retained the\nother half to live upon and to provide against accidents.\n\n\"Well, the money I devoted to trade I invested in such sorts of\nmerchandize as I judged to be most suitable, and shipping them in a\nvessel bound for Egypt, I sent with them a letter to an old friend of\nmy father, a merchant living there, asking him to dispose of the goods\nto the best advantage, and forward to me in return, by the same vessel,\nsuch kinds of produce as he thought would prove most saleable in Bagdad.\n\n\"Six months passed and I had no tidings of my venture.  A year elapsed,\nand still I heard nothing of it.  But, in fine, and not to weary you,\nhaving written by another vessel to inquire of my friend, I learnt at\nlength that my goods had arrived safely and had been sold to realize a\nconsiderable profit, and that other goods had been shipped to me in\nreturn, but the vessel bringing them has never more been heard of, and\nwhether she foundered or was captured by pirates I know not.\n\n\"Thus I had spent and lost three-quarters of the fortune left to me by\nmy father, and the remaining fourth was rapidly diminishing under the\npressure of current expenses.\n\n\"It was at this time, when walking along one day very moodily and in\nill-humour, lamenting my extravagance and losses, and cogitating how I\nmight with the small remainder of my capital retrieve my position, that\nI was accosted by a Seyed Hajji.\n\n\"'Sir,' said he, 'I have for many months past often observed you as you\nwalked this way, and during all that time your countenance has been\nunclouded and merry, but the past few days a great change has come over\nyou, and you walk with downcast eyes, melancholy and preoccupied.  If\nyou will tell me what is the trouble that has befallen you, perhaps it\nmay be in my power to render you some assistance.'\n\n\"'Holy pilgrim,' said I, laughing, for I was amused by the man's\nimpertinent curiosity respecting my affairs, 'the trouble that has\nbefallen me is very serious, being no other than the loss of the\ngreater part of my fortune.  If you can show me the way of so employing\nthe remainder as to regain what is lost, you are indeed the prince of\nHajjis, and such an one as a man can expect to meet with but seldom.'\n\n\"'My son,' said he, 'I pardon your incredulity, which is very natural.\nBut you should reflect that youth knows less than age; and moreover,\nthat a man like myself who has three times made the pilgrimage to the\nHoly Cities and to the Tomb of the Prophet, may have learnt some\nsecrets which are hidden from those who have remained at home, and who\nhave spent their time in dissipation and drinking.'\n\n\"'Holy pilgrim,' I answered, somewhat abashed, 'what you say is very\ntrue.  Therefore, if you know of any magic or charm by which a man who\nis nearly ruined may retrieve his fortune, I pray you to disclose it.'\n\n\"'Gently, my son,' said the Hajji, 'the impulsiveness of youth hurries\nyou too fast.  I can tell you no more here in the open bazaar; but come\nto my house and you shall hear of a way of getting gold which will\nfairly astonish you.'\n\n\"I went, therefore, with the old man, and after passing through the\nworst part of the town, and along many narrow and dirty lanes, we came\nat length to a mean and ruinous hovel, into which the Hajji entered.\n\n\"When I looked round and saw the extreme poverty of the place, I could\nnot help observing to my companion, that for one possessed of a\nmarvellous method of getting gold, this lodging appeared somewhat\nunsuitable.\n\n\"'Do not,' said he, 'jump hastily to conclusions.  Listen patiently to\nwhat I have to tell you, and this and much else will be explained.'\n\n\"Then taking a small flask from a shelf, he held it up before me, and\nexclaimed, 'Behold the magic water of wealth, by means of which palaces\nand slaves, and fair ladies, and all that man longs for may be\nobtained!'\n\n\"Then, in a more sober tone, he continued, 'Look, my son, the virtue of\nthe water contained in this flask is such that any metal steeped in it\nis quickly converted into gold.  Of this,' he said, 'I will give you\nspeedy proof.'  And so saying, he took a small piece of lead about two\nounces in weight, and holding the flask which contained only a small\nquantity of liquid, at an angle, he slipped the lead in carefully, and\nsetting the flask in a corner and covering it with a cloth to, exclude\nthe light, he left it thus for about ten minutes, to allow the liquid\nto permeate the mass, and effect the marvellous transformation.\n\n\"Then uncovering the flask, he showed that the liquid had entirely\ndisappeared, and in place of the lump of lead was a lump of pure gold\nof equal magnitude.\n\n\"I was, of course, greatly delighted with this easy process of\nconverting lead into gold, and I demanded eagerly of the Hajji how much\nof this liquid he possessed, and what he demanded for it.\n\n\"'My son,' said he, smiling, 'you are truly very simple.  If I had\nplenty of this magic water, why should I live in the poor place in\nwhich you find me?  Or why, if I had it, should I part with it for less\nthan its weight in gold--which, indeed, is less than the worth of it?\nNo; I have never had more than what was contained in this one small\nflask, and the last drop of that I have, as you see, now made use of.\nBut although I have no more of the water, I have a secret of almost\nequal value.  I know where the water came from, and whence it may be\nobtained.  It springs from the bowels of the earth, in a sterile and\nuninhabited country more than a hundred days' journey from Bagdad.  To\nget there will be both difficult and costly, as one must pass through\nthe territory of a race of Infidels whom one must bribe freely in order\nto ensure one's safety.  The question is, Dare you attempt it, and will\nyou furnish the money for the enterprise?'\n\n\"I reflected some time on this proposition, and, finally, seeing no\nbetter way of recruiting my shattered fortune, I determined to\naccompany the Hajji to the country of the fountain of the water of gold.\n\n\"In order to raise the funds necessary for this expedition, I sold all\nthat I had; the remainder of my merchandize, my slaves, my furniture,\nand my house.  By this means I obtained a sum amounting to four\nthousand pieces of gold; and, taking with us only a few camels laden\nwith water-skins to hold the magic water, and two slaves bought by the\nHajji, we set out on our journey.\n\n\"For three days we pursued our way without incident, and on the evening\nof the third day after partaking of a good meal and some wine we had\nbrought with us, which the Hajji, owing to his sacred character, would\nnot touch, I laid down under some trees near which our horses and\ncamels were picketed, and slept very soundly.  So long did I sleep that\nwhen I awoke the sun was high in the heaven.  The day was very hot, and\nthe place was very quiet; for looking round I could see nothing of my\nSeyed Hajji, of the slaves, the horses, or the camels.  All had\ndisappeared, and with them had gone my money also.\n\n\"Thus, by the will of Allah, was I reduced to the utmost poverty.\n\n\"I made my way back to Bagdad slowly and suffering much hardship.  But,\nthanks to the goodness of Allah, and to my friend Abou Hassan and some\nothers, I lack neither good fellowship nor good living, and although I\nam styled the unfortunate merchant, I contrive to laugh and be merry in\nspite of fate, and shall listen with pleasure and without envy to the\nvery different career of Abou Hassan, the fortunate merchant, and our\nmunificent host.\"\n\n\nTHE STORY OF ABOU HASSAN, THE FORTUNATE MERCHANT.\n\nWhen Murad Essed had finished speaking all eyes were fixed upon Abou\nHassan, who said: \"We have all listened with interest to the story of\nour friend Murad Essed, showing how a rich man may become poor; I have\nnow in my turn to show you, by a relation of my own experience, how a\npoor man may become rich.\n\n\"But in telling you my history, I should weary you if I were to recall\nall the particulars of my early struggles.  It will be sufficient to\nsay that of all that I now possess I inherited nothing, and that only\nseven years ago I was as badly off as Murad Essed is at present.  About\nthat time I became acquainted with an old merchant who imparted to me\nthe secret of the success I have since then obtained.  This secret, you\nwill be perhaps somewhat disappointed to learn, consists neither in a\ncharm nor in any kind of magical art or sorcery.  It is comprised\nsimply in a particular mode of dealing, and one, in fact, completely\nopposed to that which is in general use.\n\n\"You know that it is the common habit of merchants when they buy\nanything to offer much less for it, and when they sell anything to ask\nmore for it than the price which they think it is worth.  And only\nafter a long time spent in haggling and bargaining, they conclude their\nbusiness.\n\n\"But by the advice of my old friend, the merchant, I adopted, and have\nconstantly adhered to, a totally different plan.  When I buy anything I\nname what I consider to be a fair price for it; the seller either\naccepts my offer at once and without discussion, or refuses.  No man\never refuses the price I offer more than once, because it is my rule\nnever to deal again with a man who has once refused to deal at my\nprice.  In like manner, when I sell anything, I fix the price I will\naccept and rather destroy the goods than part with them for any other\nprice than that I have put upon them.\n\n\"This is the whole secret of my success.  My story is, you see, a very\nbrief one; the origin of my fortune appears very simple when I discover\nit to you; but that the plan, simple as it may seem, has its merits,\nyou may convince yourselves by looking round you.\"\n\nAbou Hassan, as he said this, waved his hand, indicating the handsome\nroom in which they were sitting, and beyond it, seen through the gilded\narches at the end of the apartment, the garden outside, where the moon,\nwhich had now risen, was illuminating with its enchanting light the\ntrees, whose branches were heavy with various fruits, the fountains\nsplashing into their marble basins, and, finally, in the distance, a\ngroup of girls of marvellous beauty who had just entered the garden\ndancing and singing.\n\n\"Behold,\" said he, rising, \"the nymphs of paradise beckon us from the\nbanquet and the wine bowl to other pleasures.\"\n\nBut the Caliph, when Abou Hassan and his other guests had risen from\nthe banqueting-hall to go into the garden, sat lost in reverie.\n\nAs Abou Hassan had waved his hand to direct the attention of his guests\nto the splendid results of his new system of trading and his\nmagnificent surroundings it flashed upon the mind of the Caliph that he\nhad seen that hand before.  The shapely fingers, and the rings\ncontaining many precious stones of unusual size and beauty, recalled to\nhim irresistibly the hands of the old man with his face shielded by the\nhuge green shade over his eyes, whom he had been watching earlier in\nthe evening.\n\nSo Abou Hassan, the Fortunate Merchant, the young and sparkling host of\nthis gay party, was identical with the villainous purchaser of stolen\ngoods, whose base pursuits the ointment had revealed to him.  The new\nplan of naming one price and taking no other had been practised only\nwith those who feared justice and practised robbery.\n\nThe Caliph, absorbed in these thoughts, observed nothing that was going\non about him until Abou Hassan approached him, and, addressing him,\npersonally requested him to rise and accompany himself and his friends\ninto the garden.\n\nThen the Caliph, rising and thanking Abou Hassan for his hospitality,\ndeclared that now the moon was up he must pursue his journey, and,\ntaking leave together with Giafer, he left the house of the Fortunate\nMerchant and returned immediately to the palace.\n\nThe next evening, being desirous to continue his observation of the\nprosperous though illicit trade of the Fortunate Merchant, the Caliph\nstationed himself as before with Giafer in the dark recess of the\narched gateway opposite the room to which the thieves resorted.\n\nAt first the room was empty.  A number of parcels still lay strewn upon\nthe floor; the table was there, and the lamp stood upon it, burning\nwith a small and dim flame that lighted the place badly, but the\nmysterious and silent figure with his slovenly turban, great green\nshade over the eyes, and with the small hands and bejewelled fingers,\nwas absent.  The Caliph could see the misshapen mute lying in the\nante-room perfectly motionless and taking not the slightest notice of\nthe usual signal given two or three times by men who came furtively to\nthe door desiring to enter.\n\nAt length, just as the Caliph was beginning to speculate whether the\nman could possibly have become suspicious and have effected his escape,\nAbou Hassan came quickly along the street, hastening evidently to the\nhouse where he was to assume his disguise and enter on his business.\nAs he arrived almost exactly opposite to the spot where Haroun and\nGiafer were standing in the obscurity of the great gateway, there\napproached from the right or opposite direction that same old beggar\nand miser who had accosted the Caliph on the previous evening.  On\nperceiving some one before him he began immediately to solicit alms in\nthe whining tone common to his class.\n\n\"An old man,\" he said, \"a very old man, my lord, ragged, hungry,\nwithout shelter.\"\n\nAbou Hassan, as he heard the voice, exclaimed--\n\n\"What! is it thou, my father?  How often have I entreated thee to\naccept a provision for thine age which I can so well spare?\"\n\n\"Speak no more of it, my son,\" said the old man with vehemence and in\nquite another tone of voice to that he had employed before.  \"I knew\nthee not, or would have asked nothing of thee, and will accept nothing\nfrom thee.  From the hands of him whose lips are stained with wine, who\nhas spurned the precepts of the Prophet and forgotten the lessons of\nhis youth, I will accept no favour, and will give to him no blessing.\"\n\n\"Go, then, old precisian!\" exclaimed Abou Hassan, fiercely; \"cling to\ndisgrace, and practise beggary; and yet, remember, one word can change\nyour state, banish poverty, and summon plenty.\"\n\nThe old man proceeded on his way, muttering inaudibly, and Abou Hassan\nstood watching his retreating figure.\n\nAfter a few moments of apparent indecision he followed the old man.\nWhen the latter entered the miserable hovel in which the Caliph had\nobserved him on the previous evening, Abou Hassan, after a short pause,\npushed open the door and entered also.\n\nHaroun, who was curious to learn what passed between the beggar and his\nson, followed Abou Hassan along the street, and with Giafer and Mesrur\nentered the house immediately after him.\n\nThe old man, who was rather deaf, had not heard his son enter.  And\nwhen the Caliph and his two companions followed noiselessly and stood\nin the deep shadow of the entry, they saw the old man kneeling on the\nfloor, and holding in his trembling hands the bag containing his little\nhoard, to which he was adding some small coins received that day.  Abou\nHassan stood looking down upon him with an expression of contemptuous\namusement.\n\nAfter gazing silently for a few moments at the kneeling figure he\nexclaimed, \"So, so, the beggar therefore plays the miser also!  You\nspurn my offers, and, refusing gold and ease and leisure, hug that poor\nbag of worthless copper in this filthy den.\"\n\nSo saying, he kicked contemptuously the bag which the old man,\nterrified at the apparition of his son, still held in his hand, and its\ncontents were thrown upon the floor.\n\nAt this the old man gave a loud yell, and calling out \"Thieves,\nthieves, they are robbing me! they are robbing me!\" began to scramble\nabout after the scattered coins.\n\nAbou Hassan, springing upon him and whispering fiercely, \"Villain!\nwretch! who is robbing thee?  Wouldst thou bring the neighbours upon\nme?\" pulled out a dagger, and would in his fury have stabbed his father\nhad not the Caliph at that instant made a sign to Mesrur, who seized\nhis arm and held him fast.  But Abou Hassan, who was a young and very\nvigorous man, struggled violently, and, managing for one moment to free\nhis right arm, he stabbed himself to the heart.\n\nThus perished the Fortunate Merchant, closing, as so many do, a life of\ncrime by a death of violence.\n\nThe next day the Caliph ordered Abou Hassan's house and all that he had\npossessed to be confiscated.  The house and gardens, which were\nexceedingly magnificent, he retained for his own occasional use, while\nthe immense quantities of valuable goods stored in the warehouses\nbelonging to Abou Hassan he ordered to be sold, and the proceeds to be\ndistributed, one half to the mosques of the city, and the other half to\nthe poor.\n\nUpon the old beggar and miser, who steadfastly refused to take any part\nof his son's great wealth, the Caliph conferred a small pension,\nsufficient to provide for the few wants of one so long accustomed to a\nlife of hardship.  Indeed, so strong is the force of habit, that at his\ndeath, a few years later, he was found to have saved a considerable\nportion even of this small annuity.\n\n\n\n\nThe Caliph and the Second Jar of Ointment\n\nFinding that but little of the ointment was left in the first and\nlarger of the two jars which he had purchased of Abdurrahman, Haroun\nAlraschid put it away in his cabinet, determining to use no more of it\nuntil some occasion of pressing need should arise.  And sending for his\ntreasurer he commanded him to produce the second and smaller of the two\njars, that he might open it and ascertain the virtue possessed by the\nointment in that jar.\n\nAs in the case of the former jar, he found immediately within the\nsecond jar when he opened it a narrow strip of parchment, on which was\nwritten:\n\n\"Hail to thee, purchaser of this ointment most marvellous and magical!\nRub but a little of it behind each of thine ears and thou shalt\nforthwith understand the language of all birds and beasts, even as\nSolomon, the great king and the wisest of men, understood them.\nNevertheless, at the first word of human speech that thou utterest\nafter thou hast applied the ointment the power of understanding the\nspeech of birds and of beasts shall depart from thee.  For so it is\ndecreed by the maker of the ointment according to the nature of the\nmagical art in conformity with which it is compounded.\"\n\nWhen the Caliph had read these words and reflected how small a quantity\nof ointment the little jar contained, and how precarious was the power\nit conferred, liable as it was to be extinguished at any moment by a\nhasty word, he determined to refrain from testing it until a suitable\noccasion should present itself.  Placing it therefore in a small chest\nor coffer, he entrusted it to a certain slave, whom he ordered to carry\nit carefully and be in attendance with it at all times, so that\nwhenever the opportunity of making trial of its virtue should arrive\nthe ointment might be at hand and in readiness.\n\nAbout this time it happened that Zobeideh, Haroun's favourite wife, had\nprepared a magnificent entertainment at the splendid palace which the\nCaliph had erected for her.  And, as it happened, the next evening\nafter Haroun had opened the second jar of ointment, he attended\nZobeideh's entertainment.  As he entered the gardens of the palace he\nperceived Zobeideh seated on a raised seat or throne in the middle of\nthe garden, with groups of her women in their most gorgeous apparel\nsurrounding her.  They all rose and went forward to meet the Caliph as\nhe entered, while others, scattered in parties about the grounds, made\na concert of vocal and instrumental music for his diversion.  As he\nseated himself on the throne with Zobeideh by his side the scene was\nvery charming.  The arcades enclosing the gardens with their marble and\ngilded columns were festooned with many coloured lights, lanterns hung\nin the trees, illuminating the gardens and the lofty fountains, which\nbroke into ten thousand sparkling jewels and fell splashing into the\nwide marble basins at their base.\n\nAfter sitting for some time watching this brilliant scene the Caliph\nrose and wandered slowly through the grounds, until at length he came\nto a grove of trees, so artfully enclosed by gilded lattice work\nconcealed by climbing plants that it formed an aviary vast in size and\nfilled with birds of every kind and hue.  In this delightful retreat a\nnatural concert greeted him of feathered songsters darting to and fro\nand singing lustily.\n\nTwo little silktails perched upon a neighbouring branch particularly\nattracted his attention.  He had seated himself on a mossy bank in a\nretired nook, close by the spot chosen by the chatterers for their\nlively and very animated conversation.  Being curious to know what they\nwere talking of, and convinced that the present offered as favourable\nan opportunity for listening to bird-talk as any he was likely to meet\nwith, the Caliph ordered the slave who carried it to bring him at once\nthe little jar of ointment, and applying some behind each ear as the\nwriting contained in the jar had directed, he prepared to maintain a\nstrict silence and listen attentively.  As soon as he had applied the\nointment he found that he understood the conversation of his little\nneighbours as clearly as though they had been expressing themselves in\nthe purest Arabic.\n\n\"What!\" said the one bird to the other, \"is it possible that you can be\nso deluded and mistaken?  Desire to be a man!  I am truly surprised and\nshocked at so absurd and degrading a notion.  If now you had expressed\na wish to be one of the nobler animals, a lion or a tiger, for\ninstance, I might have excused you.  But a man!  Only consider how low\nin the scale of creation the creature is!  Not only is he confined to\nthe earth like other animals, and unable to range as we do through the\nair, but consider how miserable a slave he is, how he has to toil from\nmorning to night to supply his mere necessities.  No wonder his throat\ngives forth only harsh and unmeaning sounds, instead of the nobler roar\nof the lion or the bright and cheering song notes of us birds!\nMoreover, the unfortunate creature is evidently cursed by Allah, being\nalone among all creatures left naked and defenceless.  The beasts have\nwarm and beautiful coats of fur provided for them, and they find their\nfood without work or toil.  While as for ourselves, we find insects and\ngrubs and worms all delicious eating, and that without stint or\ntrouble; and as regards the covering of our bodies, I think without\nvanity these lovely feathers are not only as warm as the fur of\nanimals, but much prettier and more becoming.\"\n\nSaying this, the silktail looked back over her glossy and radiant\nplumage with such a self-satisfied glance as made the Caliph smile.\n\n\"Whereas,\" she continued, \"that unfortunate creature, man, being left\nby bountiful Nature naked and cold, has to cover himself as best he may\nwith a sorry patchwork of shreds and tatters such as he can contrive to\nprocure either from vegetable fibres, the tissue of silkworms, or the\nfurs or feathers he is driven to secure by force or stratagem either\nfrom beasts or from ourselves.  In almost every particular the wretched\ncreature is a mere drudge, slaving continually for others and getting\nnothing by his toil for himself.  Who planted this charming grove, who\nwaters and tends it?  Man.  And who enjoys the use and benefit of it?\nSurely ourselves.  Who made the pretty lattice-work that encloses it?\"\n\n\"And shuts us in,\" said the other.\n\n\"And shuts the falcon and the vulture out,\" continued the first\nspeaker; \"why, our poor friend and servant, man.  And do you desire to\nshare that servitude?\"\n\n\"My dear mother,\" replied the other bird, \"I admit that what you say of\nman is for the most part very true; in many things he appears to act\nwith great stupidity.  For instance, he has planted this pleasant grove\nand supplies it with water, and has fenced it in very carefully, and\nfor no purpose apparently or any use that it is to him.  He comes now\nand then and looks at his work without uttering a sound, as mute as a\nfish and not half so active and joyous.  And yet, though he is a\nmelancholy drudge enough, he effects great things.  By his very\nweakness and his naturally defenceless condition he has been rendered\nso cunning and so full of contrivances that he manages to subdue even\nthose free and noble animals, the lion, the tiger, and the leopard, and\nto capture and destroy even such mighty birds of prey as the vulture\nand the eagle.  See, too, what huge and surprising nests he is able to\nfashion, such as that hard by this very grove.\"\n\n\"My child,\" said the mother bird, \"you confuse the ruler of these\nanimals with those over whom he rules.  The one has indeed a fine nest\nand an easy life, but the others are lodged very differently, and\nlabour from morning till night.\"\n\n\"I confess,\" said the younger bird, \"that it was rather of the prince\nthan of his subjects that I was thinking when I wished to be a man.\nOnly consider how enviable a position he enjoys, with so many beings\nunder his command, and with so many fine gardens to live and take his\npleasure in.\"\n\n\"And with so charming and faithful a wife to prepare entertainments for\nhim,\" said the older bird, sarcastically.  \"I wonder how the prince you\nfoolishly envy would have looked if he had seen her only yesterday\nevening as we did with another man at her feet?\"\n\n\"Allah! is it true?\" thundered out Haroun Alraschid, in a terrible rage.\n\nThe sudden movement and exclamation frightened the little birds, who\nflew swiftly away.  A matter of the less consequence, as the Caliph had\nby speaking destroyed the spell, and could have understood no more of\nthe dialogue even had it continued.  But he was in fact far too angry\nand excited at the moment to notice this or anything else.\n\nClapping his hands to summon his slaves and attendants, he commanded\nthe palace of Zobeideh to be instantly surrounded, and all who might be\nfound therein at once to be made prisoners.  This hasty measure\nproduced, as might have been expected, no results.  No one was arrested\nbut those belonging to Zobeideh's household, and all, as a matter of\ncourse, professed entire ignorance of the entrance at any time whatever\nof any man within the sacred precincts of Zobeideh's palace.\n\nHaroun, in the first transports of his rage, contemplated ordering\nevery man in Bagdad between fifteen and fifty years of age to be\nexecuted.  But the Grand Vizier having hinted that some difficulty\nmight be experienced in executing so wholesale an order, and, moreover,\nthat the actual culprit might very probably even in that case manage to\neffect his escape, the Caliph decided to cause Zobeideh to be brought\nbefore him that he might interrogate her himself.\n\nWhen that unhappy princess entered, and, throwing herself at his feet,\nasked him in what way she had offended or aggrieved his Majesty, Haroun\nreproached her bitterly.\n\n\"Woman,\" said he, \"have I not loaded you with favours, and bestowed\nupon you with unstinting hand all that your imagination could fancy or\nyour heart desire?  Ungrateful, like all your race; faithless, like all\nyour sex; you have fawned upon me to my face, and betrayed me behind my\nback.  Say, is it not so?\"\n\n\"My lord,\" she answered, \"whoever has told you aught to my discredit\nhas foully lied.  I have ever been faithful to your Majesty, and happy\nis the man, be he prince or slave, who has a wife no less faithful than\nI have been.\"\n\n\"Accursed woman!\" retorted Haroun, fiercely, \"notwithstanding this\nconfident tone on your part, I know you to be guilty; therefore tell me\nat once who was that man whom you dared to receive in your garden\nyesterday, or, by Allah! into the Tigris in a sack you shall go as\nthough you were but the meanest of my slaves.\"\n\nZobeideh, perceiving from these words that concealment was impossible,\nand well knowing from the fiery temper of the Caliph that he was quite\ncapable of executing his threat to the letter, replied as follows:\n\n\"Since the Commander of the Faithful has discovered, I know not how,\nthat I gave audience to a man yesterday in the garden of my palace, I\nwill confess to the Commander of the Faithful, to whom all things are\nrevealed, the name of the man whom I saw.  It was Hunoman, my\nfoster-brother.  He is the son of my nurse, and we were brought up\ntogether as young children, and loved each other as children love, the\nsister the brother, and the brother the sister.  At seven years of age,\nhis father having died, an uncle took him to India.  Only two days\nsince he returned, and, learning this from the old nurse, his mother, I\nbecame desirous to see once more the little playfellow of my childhood,\nto behold the man I had always thought of as a brother, and hear from\nhis own lips an account of the countries and peoples he had visited,\nthe dangers he had encountered, and the manner in which he had\ncontrived to escape from them.  I heard that he had brought some rare\nand valuable presents for me.  I determined that he should present them\nin person.  In this I did wrong, but, in the name of the most merciful\nGod, I appeal to the Caliph for mercy, both for my foster-brother, who\nconsented to see me only after much persuasion and with the utmost\nunwillingness, and also for myself, who am guilty of no other sin than\nthe indulgence of curiosity, which is a sin that so magnanimous a king\nas your Majesty will be able to pardon in a woman.\"\n\nHaroun, who thought that Zobeideh was now telling the truth, and who\nwas in truth by no means displeased to find his suspicions concerning\nher conduct to be unfounded, asked with great calmness--\n\n\"What said you is the name of this man?\"\n\n\"His name,\" said Zobeideh, \"is Hunoman.\"\n\n\"And where is he to be found? for I must see him.\"\n\n\"He is staying at present with his mother, Siveree, my nurse, to whom I\nhave given a small house near the river side.\"\n\nThe Caliph clapped his hands, and to the officer who entered he said--\n\n\"Go at once and bring Siveree, a woman belonging to the household of\nthe Lady Zobeideh, and her son, who is called Hunoman, and who is at\npresent staying with her.\"\n\nThe officer saluted and went out, saying to himself as he went, \"The\nLady Zobeideh he terms her.  Her affairs go well.  She is a clever\nwoman and knows how to humour the Caliph.  Soon she will be again the\nprime favourite, and more powerful than ever.\"\n\nWhen the officer returned with Hunoman and his mother, the latter was\nconducted to an apartment in that part of the palace which was set\napart for the women, while Hunoman himself was at once brought into the\npresence of the Caliph.\n\nHaroun, looking sternly at Hunoman, who was a stout man of middle\nheight, and not unprepossessing appearance, said--\n\n\"I have been informed of your temerity in entering a certain garden,\ninto which you must have known very well that it was fatal to you to\nenter.  But, before passing such a sentence upon you as you must feel\nthat you deserve, I desire to hear the particulars of your career, and\nwhat you may have to urge in your defence.\"\n\nHunoman prostrated himself before the Commander of the Faithful and\nreplied as follows:\n\n\nTHE STORY OF HUNOMAN.\n\n\"Oh, Prince of the Faithful, whose life may Allah prolong, the story of\nthe life of your slave, who is incapable of even thinking of aught that\nshould touch the honour of your Majesty, is very full of dangers and\nescapes.\n\n\"At the age of seven years I was taken by my uncle, Amanoolla, to the\ncountry of the Emperor of the Indies, from which I have but just\nreturned.\n\n\"My uncle was a worker in gold and silver, and so expert at his craft\nthat he never lacked work, and was enabled, not only to support his\nfamily with ease, but to save money.  He had a son named Omeda, and as\nwe grew up, Amanoolla taught us both the art of fashioning all kinds of\nornaments in the precious metals.  But beside his son Omeda, my uncle\nhad also a daughter, Bebee, who was one of the most beautiful girls man\ncan possibly imagine.  From the time we were all children together I\nhad entertained the hope or dream of one day making her my wife.\nTherefore, when I was already seventeen years of age and a good\nworkman, I ventured to ask my uncle to give me Bebee, my cousin, for my\nwife.  But my uncle was very wroth, and said--\n\n\"'My daughter, who is fourteen, and more beautiful than any young girl\nfor fifty miles round, may expect to be the wife of a rajah or even of\na sovereign prince, and not of a young workman without ten pieces of\nsilver.'\n\n\"With that, Amanoolla, fearing to have me any longer so near his\ndaughter, bade me begone and earn my living by my craft in some other\npart of the country.\n\n\"I departed, therefore, and leaving with sorrow my uncle and Omeda, and\nespecially the neighbourhood of the charming Bebee, I travelled until I\ncame to a town twenty days' journey from them, and there I remained\nworking at my trade, very taciturn, very lonely, and unable to forget\nmy disappointment.\n\n\"In the town in which I had settled there lived a wealthy Rajah, Gholab\nKhan, for whom I often made various ornaments both of gold and of\nsilver.\n\n\"Thus it came to pass that Sojah, his principal wife, saw me through a\nlattice window on several occasions when I carried the ornaments I had\nmade to the palace of the Rajah.  And, unhappily, she took a most\nviolent fancy to me.\n\n\"One day, as I sat at my work, a female slave entered, and said--\n\n\"'Hunoman, happy man that you are, listen to me.  My mistress, who is\nno other than Sojah, the wife of Gholab Khan himself, has seen you and\nlikes you.  She has sent me, therefore, to say, to-morrow morning about\nthe time of morning prayer two slaves will come to you bringing with\nthem a large basket with hangings for one of the rooms in the palace.\nGet into the basket and fear nothing, for the slaves will bring you to\nme.'\n\n\"When the messenger from Sojah had gone I could do no more work that\nday for thinking of the adventure which awaited me on the morrow.  I\nwent out and wandered about the town until late, but even when at last\nI lay down for a long time I could get no sleep.  However, when it\nbecame light I at last fell asleep, and so heavily that it was late\nwhen I woke.\n\n\"I was scarcely dressed, and it was nearly time to expect the slaves of\nSojah with the big basket, when two slaves sent by the Rajah himself\nappeared, and saying their master wanted me, hurried me off to the\npalace.  I was greatly frightened from apprehension that the Rajah had\nby some means discovered his wife's intention and was taking summary\nmeasures to defeat it.  To my great relief, instead of being taken\nbefore the Rajah or ordered forthwith to execution, I was shown into a\nsmall room in which I sometimes worked, and told immediately to\ncomplete some repairs for some of the ladies of the household.\n\n\"At the time I congratulated myself that matters were no worse, but\nthey were bad enough for me as the sequel proved.  For when Sojah's two\nslaves got to the palace and informed their mistress that they had\ncalled for me as arranged, but that they could not find me, she became\nas furious as a tigress baulked of her prey.  She did not doubt that I\nhad slighted her and kept out of the way on purpose to avoid her\nmessengers.  She determined to be revenged.\n\n\"A few days afterwards, therefore, her two slaves with the large basket\nsuddenly appeared at my shop, and seizing me, they instantly gagged me,\nbound me, threw me into the basket, and carried me off to their\nmistress.\n\n\"The two slaves knocked at a little door leading to a small garden\nattached to the harem of the Rajah's palace; and taking the basket into\na secluded part of the garden they set it down, and lifting me out they\nlaid me gagged and bound as I was upon the grass.  They then retired;\nand Sojah, who had been watching all they did through a lattice, now\ncame to me, and began to upbraid me as I lay gagged and helpless on the\nground.\n\n\"'Wretch,' she said, 'who hast dared to slight a woman who deigned to\ncondescend to take notice of so mean a thing as thou art, unworthy of\nthe form of a man; I will instantly deprive thee of it!  So saying, she\ntook a handful of dust and, pronouncing over it the words: 'Kahoothie\nKaventho,' she threw it upon me, exclaiming, 'Quit the shape of man and\ntake that of a horse!'\n\n\"Immediately I was changed into the animal she mentioned, and calling\nher slaves, she commanded them to take me at once to the stable and\nthere to secure me.  And this cruel and vindictive woman, not content\nwith having deprived me of human form and converted me into a\nfour-footed dumb creature, would frequently come into the stable where\nI was, and after ordering her slaves to secure me firmly would beat me\nsavagely, uttering all the time torrents of vituperation and abuse.\n\n\"For some months I had to endure all the miseries which the malignant\nhumour of Sojah could inflict upon me.  At length, seizing the first\nopportunity which offered for making my escape, I managed to throw the\nslave who was riding me, and fled with the speed of the wind.  After\ngalloping for many coss, I became completely exhausted, and lay down in\nan open field near the roadside to rest.\n\n\"I had not lain there many minutes, and was still panting and blown,\nwhen I saw a party of rough-looking men advancing.  Two of them were\nmounted, and these rushing upon me before I could rise and make off,\nthey easily secured me and took me along with them.  The two mounted\nmen having sold me to one of those on foot, soon afterwards left us,\nand I proceeded in company with the others, carrying my new master on\nmy back.\n\n\"I soon discovered that the men who had seized me, and who took me home\nwith them to their village, formed part of a gang belonging to a\nreligious sect known in some parts of the country by the name of Thugs\nor deceivers, and in other parts of the country by the name of\nPhansigars or stranglers.  I had thus an opportunity, such as no man in\nhuman form could have, of observing their idolatrous religion and\nrevolting practices.  These wretches worship a patron goddess, the\ndeity of destruction, called Kalee.  Their trade from father to son for\ngenerations is murder and robbery, and they believe that their goddess,\nto whom they offer part of their plunder, surrenders into their hands\nevery one of their unhappy victims.\n\n\"I had not long been with them before a day was appointed for the\ncelebration of one of their religious, or rather superstitious, rites.\nThis was the consecration of the holy pickaxe, the implement always\nused by these men for burying those whom they have slain.  A fakir,\nversed in all the learning of the Thugs, was seated, when the\nauspicious day arrived, with his face turned to the west, and placed\nthe pickaxe in a brass dish which was set before him.  In this he\nproceeded to wash the axe, with four solemn and several washings.\nFirst, in water; secondly, in a mixture of sugar and water; thirdly, in\nsour milk; and fourthly, in spirit.  These four ablutions being\nfinished, the fakir replaced in the brass dish the pickaxe together\nwith a cocoa-nut, some cloves, white sandal-wood, and sugar.  Then\nkindling a fire of dried cow-dung and mango-wood, the fakir taking the\npickaxe, and holding it in both hands, passed it seven times through\nthe fire.\n\n\"The pickaxe, being now duly consecrated, was taken by Jowahir, my\nmaster, who, holding it by the point, said, 'Thugs, shall I strike?'\nthen as they said, 'Strike, Jemadar!' he struck the cocoa-nut with the\nbutt end of the pickaxe and broke the nut in pieces.  This was hailed\nby all as a propitious omen from the great Bhowanee or goddess, and a\npart of the nut having been burnt in the fire, portions of the rest of\nit were given to all the men present, and the rite was at an end.\n\n\"The pickaxe having thus been prepared, it only remained to make use of\nit; and accordingly, on the following day in the morning, Jowahir as\ntheir leader, holding the pickaxe to his breast by the left hand, and a\nbrass jug filled with water in his right hand, moved slowly in the\ndirection indicated by the fakir, to a field outside the village, and\nthere standing with his gang assembled about him, he lifted his eyes\ntoward heaven, and said: 'Great Goddess, universal mother! if this our\nmeditated expedition be fitting in thy sight, vouchsafe us help, and\nthe signs of thy approbation.'  All present repeated this prayer after\nJowahir, and then waited for the omens or auspices.\n\n\"Within a quarter of an hour the omen on the left hand, which must be\nfirst heard, and which they term Pilhaoo, was vouchsafed to them.  An\nass brayed, which they took to be a very good omen.  And when very soon\nafterwards another ass brayed upon the right hand, furnishing them with\nThibaoo, or the omen on the right hand, their satisfaction was very\ngreat, for they said openly that after omens so favourable success was\nabsolutely assured.\n\n\"Jowahir now put down the jug containing water upon the ground, and\nsitting down beside it remained in that posture, and with his face\nturned in the direction in which they were to proceed, for the space of\nseven hours, during which time the others made all things ready for the\njourney.\n\n\"When at length they started Jowahir mounted on my back, and I being\nthe only horse they had, the rest of the party walked.\n\n\"For two days they proceeded on their journey without meeting any\ntravellers; and on the second day, therefore, they detached two of the\ngang, Bular and Khosala, to act as their Bykureea or spies, to\nendeavour to discover any parties of travellers who might be staying at\nthe serais or inns, or traversing the roads in that neighbourhood.\n\n\"In the afternoon the spies returned, and reported that in a serai not\nfar off they had found a party of three travellers who were resting,\nand proposed to start the next morning at daybreak to proceed on their\njourney along the highroad to the north.\n\n\"Upon receiving this intelligence, Jowahir himself and Oozerah, another\nof the band, went forward to the serai to act the part of Sothas or\ninveiglers, and try and persuade the travellers to leave the high-road\nand take some other road leading through the jungle, and more suited to\nthe Thugs' atrocious designs.\n\n\"When we arrived at the serai Jowahir saluted the travellers, one of\nwhom was an old man, while the other two were men in the prime of life.\n\n\"Jowahir, after conversing some time upon indifferent subjects, said,\nthat he was journeying northwards, and that he had intended to have\nproceeded along the direct road to Oulinpore, the next large town; but\nthat he had been told by some merchants who had just come southwards by\nthat road, that provisions were so dear and water so scarce, that he\nhad determined to make a slight detour to avoid that part of the road.\nThe three merchants, who had themselves intended to proceed by the\ndirect road to Oulinpore, were naturally interested in Jowahir's\ndecision, and began to discuss warmly the merits of the two routes.\n\n\"As they were talking the rest of the gang made their appearance, and\nacted as though entire strangers to Jowahir and Oozerah as well as the\nothers.  The two younger travellers agreed with Jowahir that it would\nbe wiser to avoid the direct road to Oulinpore; but the old man was for\nkeeping to that road as they had intended to do.  When the rest of the\ngang arrived, they were informed of the question in dispute, and they\nat first supported the old man's view energetically, and declared that\nthey were resolved like him to keep to the direct road.\n\n\"At length, however, after much talking they affected to give in and to\nbecome convinced by Jowahir's representations and arguments.  Seeing\nthem all now united against him, the old man could hold out no longer,\nand submitted his judgment to that of the others.  It was late before\nthis agreement was arrived at, and all lay down to rest, promising to\nstart together at daybreak next morning.\n\n\"Very early indeed, and long before daybreak, Jowahir roused the whole\nparty, and persuading them that being tired they had overslept\nthemselves, and that the day was just about to break, he got them at\nonce on the way.\n\n\"He confessed after a while that he must have been in error, and that\nit was really earlier than he had supposed.  'No matter,' said he, 'we\nshall have made all the better progress by the time the sun has risen.'\n\n\"In fact, before the sun was hot upon them, they had got far into the\njungle, and were at a great distance from any other human beings.\n\n\"At length, when they approached the half-dried-up bed of a stream\nthrough which they must ford, Jowahir proposed that they should first\nsit down by the margin and rest and eat before proceeding further.\nThis proposal was readily agreed to by all.  But by the side of each of\nthe three hapless and unsuspicious travellers, there sat down in\napparent amity and good fellowship two members of the gang, one of whom\nwas really the Ghumgeea or holder of hands, while the other was the\nPhansigar or strangler.\n\n\"Suddenly, and without affording the poor wretches a moment's warning,\non a sign from Jowahir, the holder of hands seized on the man with whom\nhe was amicably conversing, and the strangler, passing the roomal round\nhis neck with the speed of lightning, strangled him in an instant.\"\n\n\"What,\" asked the Caliph, \"is a roomal?\"\n\n\"It is,\" replied Hunoman, \"simply a strip of cloth.  Although the\nstranglers are termed Phansigars, from phansee, a noose of cord, yet in\npractice they scarcely ever use a cord, which if it were found upon\nthem would at once betray and convict them; they employ instead, to\neffect their murderous purpose, the roomal, a strip of cloth which\nappears innocent and harmless enough--it might be a turban or a waist\ncloth--but which in their expert and practised hands is equally\neffectual.\n\n\"After killing the travellers, stripping them, and burying the bodies,\nthe murderers and thieves divided the few coins and other property\nfound upon them.  But when making this division in certain proportions\naccording to their usage, these strange monsters did not neglect to set\napart a small sum as an offering to Kalee their goddess; and when,\nafter this and several other murders, all characterized by similar\nfeatures of treachery and baseness, they returned to their village,\nthey proceeded at once to celebrate Tapoonee, or a solemn rite of their\nmost vile idolatry.\n\n\"A cloth was spread upon a clean spot of ground.  Upon this cloth was\nplaced the consecrated pickaxe and a piece of silver as an offering to\nthe goddess.  On the cloth Jowahir took his place, and seated with him\nalso on the cloth were seven Phansigars or stranglers, no Ghumgeea, or\nany member of the gang of a grade inferior to an actual and experienced\nstrangler, being admitted to sit on the cloth.\n\n\"Jowahir then took some goor or sugar, which had been purchased with\nthat part of the plunder set apart for the goddess, and placed it\nreverently in a hole in the ground.  Having so done, he clasped his\nhands devoutly and prayed as follows: 'Great Goddess, we pray thee to\ngrant us plunder, as thou hast to our fathers before us, and fulfil our\ndesires.'\n\n\"All repeated this prayer, and a portion of the goor or sacred sugar\nhaving been given to each of those who sat on the cloth, Jowahir gave\nthe signal for strangling, as though a murder were about to be\ncommitted, upon which they eat in solemn silence the portions of goor\nthey had received, washing it down with a draught of water.  Thus ended\nthe Tapoonee or sacred feast.\n\n\"I will not weary and disgust your Majesty by relating all the series\nof monotonous crimes or superstitious observances which I saw during\nthe two years I remained with these people.\n\n\"When that period had elapsed, and while engaged in prosecuting the\nthird expedition which they had undertaken since I had been with them,\na circumstance occurred which resulted in freeing me from my miserable\nand degraded condition, and restoring me to the form and dignity of a\nhuman being.\n\n\"One day, a day ever memorable to me, the spies returned and announced\nto Jowahir the Jemadar and our gang of bandits, that they had met\nadvancing along the road towards our present encampment a party of\ntravellers whose appearance promised a rich booty.  These travellers\nconsisted of a Rajah, whose name they had ascertained to be Gholab\nKhan, who was on a journey accompanied by his wife and about a dozen\nservants.\n\n\"This news, which powerfully affected me, was the occasion of a vast\ndeal of discussion and recrimination among the band of Thugs.  Some\nwere for awaiting the arrival of the Rajah, and requesting to be\nallowed to travel in his company for the sake of protection, after\nwhich the first favourable opportunity might be taken to murder the\nwhole party and seize all the money and rich clothes and stores they\nwould be sure to have with them.  As far as numbers were concerned,\nthis enterprise was quite feasible, for the gang of Jowahir Jemadar, or\nour gang, as I may term it, had met with and joined the gang of Ramphul\nJemadar, and together they counted nearly thirty men.\n\n\"But the two Jemadars differed entirely as to the course to be pursued.\nWhile Ramphul advocated joining and murdering the Rajah and his party,\nJowahir, on the other hand, contended that as it was absolutely\nforbidden by the principles of their religion to kill a woman,\ntherefore, the wife of the Rajah being with him, the party ought to be\npermitted to escape.\n\n\"'If once,' he said, 'Phansigars, abandoning their immemorial\ntraditions, took to killing women, or disregarding omens, what good\nluck could they expect, or how could they escape capture and\ndestruction?'\n\n\"The dispute waxed hot, and continued until the spies announced the\nnear approach of the Rajah and his party, on which they hurriedly\nagreed as a compromise that they should join if possible the Rajah's\nparty, and afterwards either slay or spare them as might be by further\ndiscussion determined.\n\n\"Having despatched about half their men in advance, that their numbers\nmight not appear too formidable and perhaps alarm the travellers, the\ntwo Jemadars waited, in their assumed character of peaceful and timid\nmerchants, the arrival of Gholab Khan.\n\n\"On seeing him they saluted him respectfully, and, professing great\nuneasiness concerning the lonely and little-frequented character of\nthat part of the country which lay immediately before them, they begged\nas a great favour to be allowed to join his party.\n\n\"To this request Gholab Khan very readily acceded, and the united party\nproceeded amicably together, the Rajah and the two Jemadars riding and\nconversing with each other, while the rest of the Thugs accompanied and\nmade themselves very agreeable to the Rajah's followers.  The latter\nwere armed, whereas the peaceful and inoffensive-looking Thugs carried\nno weapon, but had with them only the innocent roomal, which they knew\nhow to wield when the moment should arrive with such swift and fatal\ndexterity.\n\n\"Now when Sojah, the Rajah's wife, peeping from her palanquin, saw me,\nshe instantly recognized me, and telling her husband that she had taken\na great fancy to the merchant's horse, because it so much resembled one\nshe had lost two years previously, she begged him to buy it for her.\n\n\"The Rajah, always anxious to oblige his wife, who had great influence\nover him, began at once to negotiate with Jowahir.  And the latter, who\nwished to keep on good terms with his destined victim, was persuaded\nvery easily to exchange me for another horse offered him by the Rajah\nand ten pieces of silver.  I thus passed once more into the possession\nof the cruel and vindictive Sojah.\n\n\"This filled me with despair, and I looked forward with dread to a\nrepetition of the barbarous treatment I had before endured at her\nhands.  But time had apparently softened her resentment, and changed\nher feelings towards me.  Perhaps she thought that the misery I had\nundergone during more than two years would render me more complaisant\nand ready to yield to her desires; at any rate, she received me with\njoy and treated me with kindness, and, taking an opportunity that same\nevening to come alone to the place where I was picketed with the other\nhorses, she stooped down, and taking a handful of dust she threw it\nover me, pronouncing the same magical formula as before, and then bade\nme leave that form of a horse and resume my own proper shape as a man.\n\n\"Immediately the transformation took place.  But, well knowing that the\nRajah and his whole party were doomed to almost inevitable destruction\nby the large gang of Thugs in whose company they then were, I perceived\nthat my only chance of escape lay in turning the magical art of this\nvile woman against herself.  Therefore, no sooner had I resumed my\nnatural shape, and stood before her once more in the form of a man,\nthan I bowed low as though to salute her with the greatest deference,\nand suddenly seizing a handful of dust I threw it over her, pronounced\nthe magical words: 'Kahoothie Kaventho,' and said, before she could\nrecover from her surprise, 'Quit the shape of woman of which you are\nunworthy and take that of a mare.'  What the nature of the charm might\nbe, or by the aid of what demon the change took place, I know not; at\nany rate the incantation was effectual, and as I pronounced the words,\nSojah disappeared and a beautiful mare stood before me.\n\n\"Without the loss of a moment I saddled and bridled her, and rode off,\nat first slowly and quietly, but afterwards as fast as possible along\nthe road we had just come, and in the opposite direction to that which\nwas to be taken early next morning by the Rajah and my late master,\nJowahir.\n\n\"I had been riding for more than an hour, and was still proceeding very\nrapidly, when my mare suddenly stumbled and threw me over her head on\nto the ground.  I fell heavily and must have remained a long time\nunconscious, for when I came to myself I found myself lying on a soft\nrug in a small apartment in which two other men were sitting.  These\nmen, as I afterwards discovered, were priests of one of the heathen\nreligions of that country, and the house in which I now lay was close\nto the temple containing the idol or image of the god whom they\nworshipped.  The name of the older of these priests was Soobulda, and\nthat of the younger, Esuree; and although idolaters, they saved my\nlife, and showed me as long as I was with them no little kindness.\n\n\"They had found me lying senseless on the road, and had carried me to\ntheir house which was close by, and on my recovering consciousness they\ninvited me to stay for some days until I should desire to resume my\njourney.  I accepted their invitation all the more gladly because I had\nno money and knew not where to go.\n\n\"But what chiefly troubled me, as it would have done your Majesty or\nany true believer, was to see these men prostrate themselves before the\nwooden image which was their idol.\n\n\"One night, therefore, while Soobulda and Esuree slept, I went into the\ntemple and threw down the idol.\n\n\"Next morning early, Soobulda came to me and said, 'A great calamity\nhas befallen us, for the god is wroth, and his image is cast down and\nlies upon the floor of the temple.'\n\n\"Then I answered, comforting Soobulda, and said, 'It is no matter, only\ntake the image and put it in its place again, and all will be well.'\n\n\"Three times I threw down the image, and three times Soobulda came in\nthe morning, and told me what had been done.  The third time Soobulda\nand Esuree came both of them together, and accused me of having thrown\nit down.\n\n\"Then I said: 'Why, what sort of a feeble creature must this god of\nyours be, if these three times I can cast down his image, and he remain\nunable to prevent me or to punish me?'\n\n\"After that I told them of Allah, the true God, and of Mohammed, the\nProphet of God.  And the two priests believed, and left the idol lying\non the ground where I had thrown it down.\n\n\"Fearing to remain any longer in that part of the country, Soobulda and\nEsuree left their house a few days afterwards, and agreed to go with me\nto visit my Uncle Amanoolla, whom I had not seen for a long time, and\nwhose daughter Bebee I had not forgotten.\n\n\"We travelled slowly, stopping from time to time at various towns on\nour way, in some of which I got work at my craft, and thus earned money\nto help us to continue our journey.\n\n\"All this time I told Soobulda and Esuree much concerning the Moslem\nfaith, and they assumed the garb and practised the ablutions, and\nrecited the prayers of true believers.\"\n\n\"In that, by Allah, you did right,\" exclaimed the Caliph, \"and I grant\nyou your life for so doing.\"\n\nHunoman bowed and continued:\n\n\"At one town where we stayed, it happened that when the morning came on\nwhich we had arranged to depart, I had still some work by me which I\nhad not finished, and I agreed therefore with Soobulda and Esuree, that\nthey should start first and proceed leisurely, and that I would hasten\nafter them and overtake them at their first halting-place.\n\n\"This was done, and when soon after midday I came up with them, I\nfound, that having enjoyed a meal and two hours' rest, they were just\npreparing to resume their journey.  At the little serai or inn where\nthey were, they had met with ten other travellers, and the whole party\nwere now about to set out together.\n\n\"Hastily eating some food I had brought with me, I started with the\nothers, and falling into conversation with our fellow-travellers, we\nformed a very sociable gathering.\n\n\"But during the afternoon, and when we had been some time in company, I\nhappened to overhear one of our fellow-travellers say a few words in a\nlow tone to another, which I instantly recognized as being of the\npeculiar dialect used by the Phansigars.  We were in the hands of a\nparty of Thugs, and escape seemed impossible.\n\n\"I looked round at my friends, desiring to warn them of our desperate\nsituation; but even that was not feasible, for each was surrounded by\ntwo or three of the strangers, so that I could say nothing to them\nwhich would not be overheard.\n\n\"However, it mattered little, for even had they known of our danger\nwhat could be done?  Three men against ten desperate ruffians would\nhave no chance, and on the least indication of suspicion on our part\nthey would, I knew, attack and kill us at once, at all hazards.  The\nonly hope remaining for us seemed to me to be that we should meet some\nother party of travellers, whose protection we might claim.  Of this,\nhowever, there would appear to be but very faint hope indeed.\n\n\"Our road passed through a jungle, wild and desolate, where we might\nperhaps disturb a tiger, but could hardly expect to come upon a man.\nThe air was hot and sultry, it seemed to me more oppressive than I had\never before experienced.  Everything around us was still, and as we\ntrod along the sandy road even our footsteps made scarcely a sound that\ncould be heard.\n\n\"Soobulda and Esuree chatted pleasantly with their companions,\nsuspecting nothing.  As for me, I had become silent and thoughtful, and\nprayed inwardly to Allah to deliver us from this danger.\n\n\"At length one of those who walked with me, and whom I took to be the\nleader of the band, proposed that as I had had no rest and seemed to be\ntired, we should halt and rest by the side of a small stream we were\nthen passing.  I perceived at once that we had arrived at the bele, or\nplace of execution.  The Phansigars always send a man on to choose the\nbele carefully beforehand.  No place could be more suited to their\npurpose.  It was lonely as a desert; so remote from every human track\nor habitation that no shriek of a victim could be heard by any one, and\nthe loose sand by the margin of the stream would yield readily to the\nsacred pickaxe when the roomal had done its fatal work.\n\n\"We sat down, and beside each of us three sat three others, two of whom\nwere the holders of hands, while the third was the Bhurtote or\nstrangler, as I knew only too well.\n\n\"The leader strolled carelessly to and fro, preparing to give the\nsignal.  Already I seemed to feel the pressure of the strip of cloth\nabout my neck, to anticipate the short and ineffectual struggles of the\nunfortunate victims, to feel the kicks of those wretches on my back,\nand then in a few moments all would be over.\n\n\"At this critical moment, just as the leader paused in his walk and\nopened his lips to pronounce the words which would have been the signal\nto his followers, and would have sealed our doom--he sneezed.  I saw a\nlook of mingled rage and disgust pass round the party.  One of the most\nstringent and disabling of all omens had occurred.  No Thug would\ndespatch his victim after such a manifestation of the wrath of the\ngreat Bhowanee.  Our lives would be spared, held sacred indeed for this\ntime, by these ruthless murderers.\n\n\"Very shortly afterwards, the gang, on some pretext of having to take\nanother road, separated from us, and we pursued our way without further\nincident to the dwelling of my Uncle Amanoolla.\n\n\"Arrived there, I found that my Cousin Bebee had been married some time\nsince to a rich merchant in the neighbourhood.  My uncle received me\ngladly, and made my two friends, Soobulda and Esuree, welcome for my\nsake, and for the sake of the true faith of Islam which they had\nadopted.  He had prospered greatly since I left him, and had acquired\nmuch wealth, so that at his death, which happened about six months\nafter my return, he left me a considerable sum with which to commence\nto trade.\n\n\"I had, however, a great desire to revisit the land of my birth; I\nbought, therefore, many things which would be esteemed rare and\nvaluable in Bagdad, where about a week ago I arrived safely.\n\n\"Of the command I received through my mother from Zobeideh, to appear\nbefore her and relate my adventures, I have already informed your\nMajesty, and have now only to await the sentence which the Commander of\nthe Faithful may see fit to pronounce upon me.\"\n\n\"I have already,\" said Haroun, \"granted you your life because you have\nled two men to embrace the true faith of Islam.  But moreover, since I\nam not used to send away those I pardon with empty hands, I appoint you\nGovernor of my province of Egypt.  Giafer shall immediately prepare the\npatent of investiture, and you are to start at once.\"\n\nHunoman thanked the Commander of the Faithful for his munificence, and\npromised instant obedience to this and every order he should receive.\n\nThus the Caliph pardoned and rewarded Hunoman, the foster-brother of\nhis favourite wife, Zobeideh; but perhaps he was not unwilling to\nseparate them as far as Bagdad is from Cairo.\n\n\n\n\nThe Caliph and the Slave Merchants\n\nThe consequences which had resulted from the first and only trial which\nhe had made of the magical and marvellous properties of the ointment\ncontained in the second jar had been so little pleasing to the Caliph,\nand had so nearly caused the death of his favourite wife Zobeideh, that\nhe had no inclination to test it further at present.  He placed it,\ntherefore, in his cabinet, together with the other jar, until some\noccasion should arise on which he might desire to make use of them.\nYet, although he was prejudiced against making further trial of the\nointments, he continued to undertake from time to time his occasional\nnocturnal rambles in company with Giafer.\n\nOne evening, after they had wandered for a long time in their usual\ndisguise as merchants through the streets and bazaars of the city, they\nturned into a large caravanserai, and sat down to rest themselves.\nThere was a great number of merchants collected within the hospitable\nwalls of the caravanserai, and close by the Caliph and Giafer sat two\nmen, with whom they were destined to become better acquainted.\n\nNot long after the Caliph and his companion had entered and seated\nthemselves, one of these two men by a glance drew the attention of his\nfriend to the new-comers, and they began very shortly a dispute, which\nappeared to wax very warm indeed, respecting the merits of two female\nslaves which they possessed, and as to the pre-eminence of whose rival\nattractions they were quite unable to agree.  They vociferated and\ngesticulated and appeared to get so angry with each other, that in\ntheir mutual fury they seemed ready to tear each other to pieces.\n\nAt length the Caliph interposed with a good-humoured smile, and said--\n\n\"Gentlemen, if you will pardon a stranger for interfering in your\ndispute, I would suggest that the best and most effectual mode of\ndeciding as to the relative merits and value of your two slaves would\nbe to call in some disinterested man as umpire between you.  Now I and\nmy friend are merchants, not only very well qualified to judge of the\nbeauty and accomplishments of your slaves, but also quite ready to\noffer you a good price for them, because, as we have the entrance to\nthe palace of the Caliph, the Grand Vizier, and other great personages,\nwe are in a position to bring them to the very best market, and obtain\na higher price for them than any one else.\"\n\nThe two merchants who had acted their parts in the pretended quarrel\nwith no other object than to elicit some such proposal, now willingly\naccepted it.\n\n\"Come with us then,\" they exclaimed, \"and your verdict shall decide our\ndispute.  The slave for whom you are willing to bid the highest price,\nshe shall be judged to be incontestably the better.\"\n\nOn this the two merchants rose, and conducting the Caliph and Giafer\nthrough many narrow streets and lanes in a part of the town they did\nnot remember to have been in before, they stopped at length before a\ngreat gateway, on the door of which they gave three peculiar knocks.\nThe door was opened by a huge black African slave, who grinned horribly\nas he saw his masters and the two strangers, and who, having admitted\nthem, carefully closed and fastened the door behind them.\n\nThey were ushered at first into a large room, having a wide and\nhandsome divan, on which the merchants begged them to be seated.\nAnother African slave, as large, black, and, if possible, even more\nhideous than the first, brought them refreshments and sweetmeats,\ntogether with silver goblets, into which he poured very good wine.\n\nAfter they had sat some time in this room, the Caliph proposed that\nthey should proceed to inspect and pass judgment on the two beautiful\nfemale slaves.  The slave merchants therefore conducted the Caliph and\nGiafer to a smaller apartment elegantly fitted up, where, on a divan of\nthe richest materials and most exquisite workmanship, was seated an\nIndian slave of the rarest beauty.\n\nThe Caliph, who was ever an enthusiastic admirer of lovely women, stood\nfor some moments lost in astonishment and delight.\n\n\"Surely,\" said he, at length, \"you have nothing more beautiful that you\ncan show us.  I must have this slave, and will give you ten thousand\npieces of gold for her.\"\n\n\"If you are pleased with this slave,\" said one of the merchants,\nwithout noticing the Caliph's offer, \"what will you say of the other?\"\n\nThen leading the way from the room of the beautiful Indian, which was\nsplendidly upholstered with hangings and furniture in crimson and gold,\nhe led the way through a short passage to another room, where all the\nfittings were of silver and dark blue.  In this room, instead of the\nblack-haired and dark-eyed Indian, sat a Persian beauty, whose hair was\nlight and fine as new spun silk, and whose lustrous blue eyes and\nabsolutely perfect form defy description.\n\nThe Caliph stood entranced at the sight.  At length he exclaimed--\n\n\"From what country does that lovely creature come?  Is she really a\nwoman, or is she not rather a fairy whom some enchantment has brought\namong us?\"\n\n\"If,\" said the slave merchant, \"you bid me ten thousand pieces of gold\nfor the slave in the other room, how much will you offer for this?\"\n\n\"I will give you,\" said the Caliph, \"forty thousand dinars, and not\nthink her dear at that price.\"\n\n\"Asmut,\" said the merchant to his companion, \"did I not tell you that\nmy slave girl was better than yours?  And behold this honest merchant\noffers four times as much for her as for your Indian.\"\n\n\"It is easy enough,\" retorted the other, \"for some fellow you pick up\nin the bazaar, and who has not probably a thousand dinars in the world,\nto talk of ten thousand for this slave, and forty thousand for that.\nIt will be time to defer to his opinion, I think, when we see the\nthousands he talks of so glibly.\"\n\n\"Without doubt,\" said the first speaker, \"this honourable merchant\nwould not offer a price, however large, for the slaves, unless he were\nable to find the money.  If he has not so much he can probably borrow a\npart of it.  Therefore, let both of these merchants lodge here with us\nto-night, and to-morrow they may either fetch or send for the gold, and\nthe bargain may be concluded.\"\n\nBut the Caliph exclaimed with his usual impetuosity--\n\n\"By Allah, there shall be no to-morrow in the matter.  I will send for\nthe money at once, and the slaves shall be mine.\"\n\nTo this Asmut replied, \"By your leave, not so fast.  We desired,\nindeed, that you should set a price on each of the slaves that we might\ndecide our dispute as to which of them is the better.  But I by no\nmeans intended or bound myself to accept any sum you might mention for\nthe slaves, whom I am in no hurry to dispose of.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" said the Caliph, who was quite unused to the chaffering of\nmerchants, although he had assumed the garb of one, \"if the price I\nhave named does not content you, name your own price, for, in short,\nthe slaves I will have.\"\n\nAsmut, after a few moments' consideration as to the highest sum he\ncould ask without going beyond what it seemed possible to obtain from\nthis very frank and eager buyer, said--\n\n\"The prices you have named, although no doubt large, are, in my\nopinion, so much below the real value of two beauties of such\nsurpassing excellence, that I must insist on twice as much as you have\noffered, namely, twenty thousand dinars for the one and eighty thousand\nfor the other.\"\n\nThe Caliph laughed and said, \"Verily you are not a merchant for naught,\nand you do not underestimate the worth of your own wares.\nNevertheless, I will give you your price.\"\n\nThe slave merchants could make no objection to this prompt agreement to\ntheir terms; on the contrary, it suited their plans very well.  Yet, in\norder to appear indifferent and little anxious to conclude the business\nwith any undue haste and precipitancy, Asmut said--\n\n\"To-morrow, however, will be early enough to produce the money.  It is\nnow dark and grows late, and besides, whom can you send?\"\n\n\"I have a man whom I can send,\" said the Caliph, \"for my servant will\nhave followed us here, and I will despatch him at once for the money.\"\n\nAnd in fact Giafer, going to the gate, beckoned to Mesrur, who had\nfollowed them as usual, and who was waiting for them outside, and not\nfar from the house he had seen them enter.\n\nThe Caliph, taking out his tablets, wrote a few words to his treasurer,\nbidding him send at once by Mesrur, and in the hands of two slaves, the\nsum of one hundred thousand dinars.  This note he delivered to Mesrur,\nwho saluted his master and immediately departed on his errand.\n\nThe Caliph and Giafer then seated themselves on the divan in the large\napartment into which they had been shown on first entering the house,\nand, together with the slave merchants, passed the time in conversing\nand discussing again the unique beauty of the two ladies whom the\nCaliph was to purchase.\n\nWhen Mesrur returned, bringing with him two slaves carrying the hundred\nthousand dinars in fifty bags, there being two thousand dinars in a\nbag, they were shown at once into the large room where the merchants\nand the Caliph were sitting.\n\nAs the slaves deposited the bags on the floor the slave merchants, as\nalso the Caliph and Giafer, rose and stood by them, Asmut so placing\nthe lamp as that they could all see him count the money as they stood\ntogether.\n\nHe proposed to count the money in one of the bags, and that he should\nthen proceed to weigh the other bags against that which had been\ncounted.  While all were watching him as he poured out and counted the\nmoney with much noise and many loud exclamations from both merchants as\nto the lightness of some of the coins, neither the Caliph, Giafer,\nMesrur, nor either of the slaves, perceived that behind them, barefoot\nand noiseless as camels, a number of huge and powerful black slaves had\nentered the room.\n\nSuddenly Asmut, seizing the empty bag and dashing it on the floor,\nexclaimed, \"I will count no more!\"\n\nThis being the signal, no sooner had he uttered the words than the\nslaves seized the Caliph and his companions, threw them down, and\nbefore they could either struggle or cry out had securely bound and\ngagged them.\n\n\"A good haul for one night's fishing,\" said Asmut, coolly; \"a hundred\nthousand dinars and five men, who will doubtless sell very well after\ntaking a voyage, that is not so bad.\"\n\nThen ordering some of the slaves to be ready to take the prisoners down\nto the river as soon as the dawn should appear, Asmut and his partner\npersonally superintended the removal from the room of the bags of gold.\n\nVery early in the morning, as soon as it began to be light, a party of\nthe black slaves who had bound the Caliph and his followers came to\nthem, and unbinding their legs escorted them down to the river, where a\nship belonging to the slave merchants lay ready to receive them.\n\nTheir prospects of escape out of the clutches of the slave merchants\nwho had robbed and kidnapped them seemed slight indeed.  Giafer and the\nfaithful Mesrur being included in the capture, seriously diminished the\nchance of any effectual measures for their relief being promptly\nundertaken, and a fatal period of delay was rendered all the more\nprobable in consequence of the Caliph's well-known fondness for seeking\nadventures in disguise.  When the morning should come, and it was\nperceived that they had not returned to the palace, it was only too\nlikely to be assumed that they were still engaged in the prosecution of\nsome adventure in which the Caliph would not desire to be interrupted.\nFilled with these painful reflections, the Caliph, together with\nGiafer, Mesrur, and the two slaves, accompanied the black slaves who\nformed their guard, and proceeded towards the river.\n\nThey had nearly reached the bank of the stream, and their case seemed\naltogether hopeless, when suddenly they met advancing towards them from\nthe river a man habited as a merchant, and in personal appearance\ncuriously resembling the Caliph himself.  He was accompanied by two\ncompanions, and seeing several men bound and gagged being marched along\nunder charge of the black slaves, he stopped and demanded in a firm and\nauthoritative tone who they were and whence they were going.\n\nAt the sight of this man the blacks appeared to be seized with a sudden\npanic; the Caliph heard them say to each other hurriedly and with\nterrified looks, \"It is the son of a Slave[1] himself.\"  And\nimmediately they turned about and fled at their utmost speed.\n\nThe stranger and his two companions at once released the prisoners, and\ninquired how it came to pass that they found them thus bound and gagged.\n\nThe Caliph answered him: \"Sir, we have suffered this indignity and\nviolence at the hands of two rascally and deceitful slave merchants.  I\nwill presently relate to you all the details of our adventure, but\npermit me first to despatch my servant on a piece of very urgent\nbusiness.\"\n\nThen turning to Mesrur he took him aside, and said, \"Go instantly,\nseize the two slave merchants and execute them at once; send the slaves\nand plunder you find in their house to the palace, and raze their house\nto the ground.\"\n\nMesrur departed at once to the nearest guardhouse to procure help to\ncarry out the orders of the Commander of the Faithful.  And it need\nscarcely be said that he had never received a command from his Majesty\nwhich he executed with so much alacrity and good-will.\n\nAfter having despatched Mesrur on this errand, the Caliph turned to the\nmerchant and his companions, and said--\n\n\"It is now time, gentlemen, that I should thank you for your\nintervention on our behalf, and that I should explain to you how it\ncame to pass that we found ourselves in the plight from which you\nreleased us.\"\n\nBeginning, then, by saying that he and his friend had entered a certain\ncaravanserai to rest themselves, and had there met the slave merchants,\nhe related all that had befallen them, but said nothing to indicate his\ntrue rank as Caliph and Commander of the Faithful.\n\nAfter Haroun had thus explained to the merchant, who both in dress and\nfeatures so much resembled himself, the history of his own position, he\nasked him whether he could in any way account for the sudden panic\nwhich had seized upon the slaves directly he had appeared and addressed\nthem.\n\nThe merchant, who resembled Haroun Alraschid, not only in personal\nappearance, but in a certain frank and bold bearing, laughed and said--\n\n\"My name is Sidi ibn Thalabi, and I am, as my dress bespeaks me, a\nmerchant.  But having the good fortune to be both in stature and\nfeatures not only like yourself, which strange to say I certainly am,\nbut also, which is more to the point, like our Caliph, God be his\nshield, I have been tempted in one thing to imitate his illustrious\nexample.  The Prince of the Faithful is in the habit, as I dare say you\nmay have heard, of seeking adventures and seeing life in the disguise\nof a merchant.  People, who would feel constrained in the presence of\ntheir sovereign, speak and act naturally in the presence of a simple\nmerchant, the equal of themselves.  This pleases the Caliph, and\naffords him the gratification and amusement of observing men as they\nare.  As Prince of the Faithful he sees them only as they pretend to\nbe.  Well, I have the same fancy, only in the contrary direction.  I\nknow how men act when they accept me as their equal, I play at being\ntheir Prince and then watch their behaviour.  Taking advantage of the\nCaliph's well-known fondness for masquerading as a merchant and of my\npersonal likeness to him, it is very easy to allow the impression to\nget about that I am he.  This accounts for the precipitate flight of\nthe slaves.  Having seen me no doubt on sundry occasions in my barge\nupon the Tigris, and having been told by some of those busy-bodies who\naffect to know every one and everything that I was the Caliph in\ndisguise, they no sooner saw me just now and heard me demand who you\nwere than they ran away, dreading the punishment they so richly\ndeserve.\"\n\n\"It appears to me,\" said Haroun, \"that the amusement in which you\nindulge is a somewhat dangerous one.  The Caliph is, I am told, of a\nfierce and rather hasty temper; should he learn by chance of your\npranks, it might cost you your head.  However, that is your affair.\nFor myself, I am indebted to your temerity for my liberty and probably\nfor my life, therefore I have certainly no cause to quarrel with it.  I\nshall be delighted to form one of your company in any further\nadventures you may undertake, and meanwhile should hear with pleasure\nan account of any that may have already befallen you.\"\n\nTo this Sidi ibn Thalabi replied, \"I shall gladly conduct you to my\nboat on the Tigris, whither I was going when I had the good fortune to\nmeet with you.  And when we are seated there at our ease and have\npartaken of some food, of which you must stand greatly in need after\nyour night's lodging with the slave merchants, I will tell you how it\nhappened that I obtained the reputation of being the Prince of the\nFaithful, and some incidents that have occurred in consequence.  But\nfirst,\" he continued, \"let me introduce my friend and companion, who is\nindeed no other than my brother-in-law Abraha, but whom the people who\ntake me to be the Caliph insist upon regarding as the Grand Vizier.\"\n\n\"Yussuf,\" said Haroun, addressing Giafer by that name in order to\nfurther their disguise and continue what gave promise of proving a very\nentertaining misunderstanding, \"I am sure you will salute with due\nrespect the person of this Grand Vizier, who is, I doubt not, as good a\nman or even a better than Giafer himself.\"\n\n\"Friend Hamad,\" replied Giafer, speaking to Haroun in the style and by\nthe name they had previously agreed upon, \"I salute with pleasure both\nour new acquaintances, and am ready to believe that Abraha is no less\nworthy to be really Grand Vizier than Sidi ibn Thalabi is to be really\nCaliph.\"\n\nHaroun perceived both from the manner and the answer of Giafer that the\nsham Grand Vizier was a joke not quite to his liking.  This amused\nHaroun not a little, and he employed the time as they walked towards\nthe river in further light and playful discourse upon the topic.\n\nAddressing Abraha, he said, \"You must be pleased, sir, to excuse any\nroughness or want of good manners and politeness on the part of my\nfriend Yussuf; he is perhaps a little bit jealous of the good fortune\nof one who has been regarded as the Grand Vizier.\"\n\nAbraha, who was a rather dull and stolid personage, accepted these mock\napologies with such imperturbable gravity and sincerity that Haroun was\ndelighted with him.\n\nSaluting Haroun very solemnly, the sham Grand Vizier said, \"Sir, I beg\nthat you will give yourself no concern respecting the language or\ndemeanour of your friend Yussuf.  I dare say he is a good plain man,\nhowever unused to the company of high personages, and in any case I am\nable to make allowances for any whiff of passing ill-humour or\njealousy.\"\n\nDuring this conversation between Haroun and Abraha, Giafer and Sidi ibn\nThalabi had fallen a little way behind and were walking and talking\ntogether.  A little way behind these came the two slaves whom Mesrur\nhad brought to the slave merchants with him to carry the gold pieces.\n\nWhen the party arrived at the bank of the Tigris, Haroun, stepping\naside, beckoned the slaves to him and despatched them to the palace\nwith a note addressed to the Grand Chamberlain.\n\nIn this note he informed that functionary that he should not return to\nthe palace for some hours, and commanded him to send the two slaves at\nonce, under guard and without allowing them to speak to any one, to a\ntown fifty days' journey from Bagdad, he having no mind to entrust the\nsecret of his last night's adventure to the indiscreet tongues of the\nslaves who had participated in it.  Having thus got rid of the slaves,\nHaroun and Giafer accompanied their new acquaintances, Abraha and Sidi\nibn Thalabi, on board the ship or pleasure barge belonging to the\nlatter.\n\nAfter they had been seated for some time, and had appeased their hunger\nby partaking of a very substantial breakfast, Haroun said to Sidi ibn\nThalabi--\n\n\"I must now remind you of your promise to tell me something of your\nrecent experience.\"\n\nUpon which Sidi ibn Thalabi spoke as follows:\n\n\nTHE NARRATIVE OF SIDI IBN THALABI.\n\n\"I must first tell you, friend Hamad,\" he began, for Haroun and Giafer\nwere known to him only by their assumed names of Hamad and Yussuf--\"I\nmust first tell you how it came about that I was induced to personate\nour sovereign lord, Haroun Alraschid, whom may Allah preserve, and from\nwhose ears may the story of my presumption be hidden for ever.\"\n\n\"I should say,\" said Haroun, \"that he is never likely to hear of it,\nunless you communicate it to him yourself.\"\n\n\"In that case I should be safe enough,\" said Sidi ibn Thalabi.\n\"However, to resume, what put the idea into my head in the first\ninstance was this.  I was one day coming down to the river to spend the\nday on board my boat, when I called at the shop or stall of a fruit\nmerchant in the bazaar to buy some fruit.  I sat down in his shop while\nI selected what I required and bargained as to the price.  I was\nsurprised, in the first place, to find that instead of asking five or\nsix times the value of the fruit and abating his demand by degrees, as\nis commonly the custom, the merchant, who treated me with extreme\ndeference, begged me to choose whatever fruit I pleased and pay him for\nit as much as I might consider it to be worth.\"\n\n\"'What,' said I, 'do you leave the price to be fixed by me?  Suppose I\ngive you but half the value of it?'\n\n\"'Sir,' answered the man, 'Allah forbid that your slave should venture\nto put aside the veil in which you choose at this moment to envelop\nyourself.  Nevertheless, I am very sensible of the honour you have done\nme in entering my shop and conversing familiarly with me, and truly the\nshop and all it contains are altogether at your service.'\n\n\"'For whom do you take me, or mistake me,' said I, 'that you treat me\nto so many compliments and good offers?'\n\n\"'Sir,' he replied, 'I have seen his Majesty the Caliph, whom may Allah\nprotect, ride by so often, both when he is going to and returning from\nthe Mosque, that it would be very strange if I could fail to recognize\nhis features, no matter what disguise he may choose to assume.\nHowever, I will say no more, a merchant and no more than a merchant you\nare if you will it so.  To what place does it please you that I should\nsend you the fruit?'\n\n\"I denied again that I was the Commander of the Faithful, no matter how\nmuch my features might resemble his; but perceiving that the man\nretained his own opinion of my identity and received my disclaimers\nonly out of politeness, I thought it not worth while to argue the\nquestion with him further, but desired him to send the fruit to me,\nSidi ibn Thalabi, on board this boat.  At the same time, I must confess\nthat I so far yielded to the weakness of being flattered by being taken\nfor the Caliph in disguise that I gave the fruit merchant two dinars\nfor fruit which was not worth one quarter of that sum.\n\n\"On receiving the money, which he did with much humbleness and many\nprofound salutations, the merchant said--\n\n\"'Sidi ibn Thalabi, as so you desire to be called, I give you many\nthanks for your liberality, and I pray you not to be offended with me\nif I seize the present opportunity to beg a favour of you.'\n\n\"'If,' said I, 'it is in my power to do what you wish, I assure you\nthat, far from taking offence, I shall oblige you gladly.'\n\n\"'Your kind words,' said the merchant, 'fill me with joy, because my\nrequest is entirely within your power to grant.  I have an only son,\nlet him come to you and employ him in any office for which you may\njudge him to be fit.'\n\n\"'On condition,' I answered, 'that you bear in mind that I am simply\nSidi ibn Thalabi and no one else, I am ready to see and employ your son\nif you so desire.'\n\n\"The fruit merchant vowed that no word of either himself or his son\nshould betray the belief that I was any other than what I represented\nmyself, namely, Sidi ibn Thalabi, a retired merchant taking his ease in\nhis boat upon the Tigris.  On this understanding the young man came to\nme, and finding him to be a very agreeable and well-educated young\nfellow, I have employed him in the office of my secretary.\n\n\"Being possessed of property at Bussora and other towns, I am often\nabsent from Bagdad, and only occasionally take my pleasure here on my\nboat just as the humour seizes me.  Whether misled by these absences,\nor whether accepting his father's opinion without question, I know not,\nbut I soon discovered that, not only did my new secretary believe me to\nbe the Caliph, but that he had spread this rumour of me among a great\nnumber of the river-side population.  Perhaps he discovered that he\nhimself was in consequence held in greater esteem, Allah alone\nknows--at any rate he hesitated not to spread the false report\nconcerning me.\n\n\"It thus came to pass that, not only was I often received in any\ncompany in which I chanced to find myself with an amount of respect and\ndeference to which I was really by no means entitled, but people who\nwere strangers to me asked me to social gatherings and feasts under the\nmistaken notion that they were thereby securing themselves personal\nintercourse with the dreaded and illustrious Haroun Alraschid himself.\n\n\"As often as possible I refused these invitations, but could not avoid\nnow and then coming into a mixed society, where I soon perceived that\nmy fame had preceded me.  On those occasions, should any dispute arise,\nit was not uncommon for my authority to be confidently appealed to, and\nmy verdict to be implicitly accepted.  This very naturally brought me\nmore than once into a position of considerable difficulty.  For, on the\none hand, no disclaimer on my part would avail to convince those who\nappealed to me that I was not really the Caliph; and, on the other\nhand, I well knew myself to be quite powerless either to enforce my\ndecision or to punish those who were clearly guilty, and both deserving\nand expecting to be sentenced.\n\n\"An incident that occurred only two days since will illustrate what I\nhave been saying.  I was on my way to the river accompanied by Abraha\nonly, when passing through a street in the lower part of the town we\ncame upon a crowd of people shouting and gesticulating and making a\ngreat hubbub.  In the centre of the crowd there was one man who was\ndragging another along violently and crying out constantly, 'Come\nbefore the Cadi, you villain! come before the Cadi, you villain!'  All\nthe others, as is usual in such cases, were crying out some one thing,\nsome another.\n\n\"When the crowd perceived us the hubbub was redoubled, and all we could\ngather from the confused noise was that they were appealing to me to\narbitrate between them.  I made a sign, therefore, that they should be\nsilent, and there being at a short distance from the spot where we met\nthe crowd a small open space with a fountain in the middle of it, I led\nthe way thither, and seating myself on the steps of the fountain, the\ntwo men stood before me, and the crowd gathered round to hear what was\nsaid and witness what would take place, the people never doubting but\nthat when I should have examined the case I should pronounce judgment\non the offender.\n\n\"When I asked the man who had hold of the other, and who was evidently\nthe complainant, to state what was the matter, he exclaimed very\nvehemently--\n\n\"'This man, this rascally barber, whom your Greatness sees here before\nyou, has murdered my brother.  He a barber!  He is a plunderer! he is\nan assassin!  Do justice upon him, therefore, and condemn the ignorant\nwretch to the punishment he so richly deserves.'\n\n\"'Not so fast, not so fast,' said I; 'tell me more calmly, and with\nparticulars, in what way has this barber murdered your brother?'\n\n\"'Your Greatness,' said the man, 'it was in this wise.  My brother had\nbeen working in the heat of the sun, and the sun had doubtless inflamed\nhis blood so that he became stupefied and unconscious.  I went,\ntherefore, for a barber that he should come and bleed my brother, and\nrestore his senses to him.  Now as ill-luck would have it the first\nbarber I lighted upon was this pestilent fellow.  When I found him he\nwas engaged in shaving a customer, and because that customer was a good\none he would not leave him to attend to my brother, but first finished\nhis shaving and then came with me.  Having first delayed so long, when\nat last he was come he bled my brother not once but three times, and\ntwo hours afterwards my brother died.  I say, therefore, truly that he\nhas killed my brother, and deserves to be termed butcher rather than\nbarber.'\n\n\"Having listened to this complaint, I said, addressing the barber, 'You\nhear what this man alleges; let me hear, therefore, what reply you can\nmake and how you will defend yourself from the charge which has been\nbrought against you.'\n\n\"The barber, who like most of his class did not lack assurance and had\nwords at command, was not slow to answer.\n\n\"'Sir,' said he, 'the accusation which this man brings against me, and\nhis assertion that I am ignorant and do not understand the duties of my\noffice, are both of them groundless and absurd.  I have not been a\nbarber for fifteen years without knowing very well how to let blood as\nwell as how to shave; and if this man's brother is dead, it is in spite\nof what I did for him, and not in consequence of it.  As to what is\nalleged of my delay, I deny it altogether.  I did but give three or\nfour strokes of my razor, which was all that was needed to finish the\noperation of shaving in which I was engaged when this man called for\nme, and it is only his furious impatience that has magnified a few\nseconds into a serious delay.  As to the bleeding, I did indeed take\nfrom him six ounces of blood; in one cup I received two ounces, in a\nsecond cup two ounces, and in a third cup two ounces.  But that\nquantity was by no means too much.  Moreover, that which was received\ninto the first cup coagulated in twelve minutes, that which was\nreceived into the second cup in twenty-two minutes, while that which\nwas in the third cup was not completely coagulated in thirty-five\nminutes; now what does that prove?'\n\n\"'It proves,' said the other, 'that you are, as I have told you\nalready, a bungler and murderer, for is not my brother dead of your\nbleeding, and you deserve to lose your head?'\n\n\"'Sir,' said the barber to me, 'this man simply raves, as you will have\nobserved.  Every baker and tailor knows more in his own conceit of\nbleeding than a barber of fifteen years' experience like myself.  They\nare able to pass judgment as to the question of too much or too little\nwithout hesitation and with the utmost exactness.  It is a story as old\nas King Ad--the more ignorant they are the more sure they be.\nPresently they will discover that men should never be let blood at all,\nforgetting that we bleed our horses also,[2] and find it does them\ngood.  And, for myself, I know after fifteen years' experience how much\nto take both from the healthy and from the sick.'\n\n\"'Accursed barber,' interrupted the other, fiercely, 'I believe verily\nthat thou canst neither bleed without killing nor shave without\ncutting.'\n\n'\"As for my bleeding,' retorted the barber, in a rage, 'I have bled\nmany score without accident or ill-result, excepting only your brother,\nwho was a drunkard and as good as dead before ever I saw him; while as\nfor my being able to shave without cutting, I will have you to know\nthat there lives no creature on this earth, from an ape to the\nillustrious Caliph himself, whom may Allah preserve and exalt, that I\nwill not shave without giving him so much as a scratch.'\n\n\"'That,' said I, willing to end the dispute between the two men, 'is a\nvery bold challenge on the part of the barber.  The Caliph indeed can\nbe scarcely got to submit himself to the test, but we will get an ape,\nand if this honest man shaves him, as he says he can, without\ninflicting a scratch, I will adjudge him to be a very proficient barber\nand an adept in each branch of his trade, both bleeding and shaving.'\n\n\"The people, who are easily led and amused, received my decision with\ndelight.  They cried out, 'An ape! an ape!'  All were desirous to see\nhow the creature would submit himself to the operation of being shaved.\nEven the man who had lost his brother could not altogether refrain from\na grin of satisfaction at the thought of the troublesome task the\nbarber had before him.\"\n\nHaroun Alraschid smiled and stroked his beard, saying, \"Sidi ibn\nThalabi, that was a happy inspiration, and extricated you cleverly from\nwhat threatened to become for you a rather embarrassing position.\"\n\nSidi ibn Thalabi acknowledged this compliment to his sagacity by a low\nbow, and continued--\n\n\"For the people to find an ape on which the barber could exhibit his\nskill was no easy matter, none knew where such an animal could be\nprocured.  However, I was able myself to get them out of this\ndifficulty very speedily.  A merchant of my acquaintance had I knew\nmany strange birds and beasts which had been brought to him at sundry\ntimes by the various ships and caravans which conveyed his merchandize.\nTo him I applied, stating what I required, and was able to purchase a\nlittle ape who appeared very suitable for our purpose.\n\n\"This little animal was really very young, as its constant and restless\nactivity sufficiently proved, but it had the appearance of a small aged\nAfrican, with deeply wrinkled forehead and cheeks and a sparse beard of\nshort white hairs.  When this creature was placed in the hands of the\nbarber, its behaviour gave promise of affording us all the\nentertainment we could desire.\n\n\"It was the duty of the barber to perform the various functions of his\noffice in the customary manner.  He had first to wash the head and\nface, and then to proceed to shave just as in the case of any one else.\nFor this purpose the barber produced a metal basin, which he filled\nwith water from the fountain; and the ape having been accommodated with\na seat on a low bench in the middle of the open space round which the\npeople were assembled, the barber set down the basin beside him.  For a\nfew moments the little creature sat regarding the basin with an\nexpression of great gravity and wisdom, but just as the barber, having\ndipped a piece of cloth in the water, was wringing it out preparatory\nto commencing the operation of washing, the ape suddenly seized upon\nthe basin with both hands and turned it upside down, apparently with\nchildish curiosity to examine the other side.\n\n\"The effect of this movement was to pour all the contents of the basin\nover the ape's own legs, which disconcerted him very much, and the\nbarber stooping down to pick up the basin which the ape had dropped,\nthe little creature nimbly sprang upon his shoulders, and with its wet\nlegs round the barber's neck he employed himself in taking off the\nman's turban, which he first placed on his own head and then\nimmediately afterwards snatching it off again he threw it on the ground.\n\n\"At these antics the crowd of course laughed loudly, but the barber,\nwho was a man of much good temper and self-control, simply took the ape\noff his shoulders, and having seated him again as at first, he\nproceeded to pick up and replace his turban, and refill the basin.\n\n\"Putting the water this time out of reach of the ape, the barber dipped\nhis cloth into the basin and proceeded to wash the head and face of his\nunwilling and in every sense ugly customer.  But directly the ape felt\nthe wet cloth touch his skin he snatched it instantly from the hands of\nthe barber and commenced tearing it in pieces.  And before the barber\ncould attempt to rescue even the fragments of his washing cloth the\nmischievous little creature slipped quickly off the bench on which he\nhad been seated, and running rapidly on all fours among the crowd,\nsuddenly jumped upon the back of a small boy who had been hitherto\nenjoying the fun and laughing very heartily at the antics of the\nmonkey.  This last prank, however, frightened the small boy very much,\nand he ran about wildly, with the ape seated on his shoulders,\nscreaming loudly.  As the monkey held on bravely, with each hand\ngrasping firmly a handful of the boy's hair, the little fellow had some\nexcuse for making an outcry.  The barber, however, very soon recaptured\nhis troublesome charge, and reseated him on the bench to undergo the\nusual barbarous routine of washing and shaving.\n\n\"Meanwhile the crowd beside laughing had, of course, encouraged the\nbarber to pursue his task by many questions and exclamations, such as,\n'Why don't you make haste to shave the gentleman?'  'Take care you\ndon't cut his precious chin!'  'Barber, is your hand steady?' and so\nforth.\n\n\"In answer to all these jeers the barber only smiled and said,\n'Patience, the little gentleman is somewhat scared by your noise and\nugly faces, but he will sit quietly enough presently.'\n\n\"And marvellous to behold, when the barber had replaced him again the\nthird time on the bench, the ape sat still, as solemn as the Cadi\nhimself, and allowed himself to be both washed and shaved, moving no\nmore than though he were dead and stuffed.\n\n\"This astonished the crowd very much and they applauded loudly, till\nthe man who had at first accused the barber of murdering his brother\ncried out that it was sorcery, and that this accursed barber must be in\nfact a foul magician, since he could not only kill good Moslims, but\nshave misshapen apes.  On this the fickle crowd were moved against the\nbarber, and would have fallen upon him and done him an injury had I not\ninterfered on his behalf.\n\n\"'Stop,' said I, 'I will inquire of the barber, and he shall confess to\nme by what means he has caused the ape to sit still and permit himself\nto be shaved.  If he has employed magic he shall be dealt with\naccordingly, but if not, why should he be punished on the accusation of\none who hates him and may be envious of his skill?'\n\n\"Speaking thus to the crowd I calmed them, then bringing the barber\nalong with us we hastened at once to the river and came on board my\nbarge.\n\n\"When we had safely arrived here, after giving the barber something to\neat and drink, I pressed him to tell me how he had contrived to render\nthe monkey suddenly so quiet and docile, a feat which had appeared as\nsurprising and as inexplicable to me as to the others.\n\n\"'Sir,' said the barber, 'I have during my life travelled through many\ndistant countries and taken part in many strange adventures, but I\nconfess that among all the singular and marvellous things I have seen\nor have collected, nothing is more strange nor more valuable than that\nby means of which I have been enabled to exhibit to you the spectacle\nwhich you have witnessed this morning.'\n\n\"I pressed him once more to tell me what this rare and precious thing\nmight be and how he became possessed of it.  Upon which the barber,\nsaluting me as his protector and deliverer, who had saved him from the\nfury of the crowd, consented readily to impart his secret to me, and\nspoke as follows:--\n\n\nTHE BARBER'S STORY.\n\n\"'It is now about three months since I was called early one morning to\nbleed a man who was reported to be insensible.  Now, notwithstanding\nall that that fellow asserted in his rage this morning, I am a barber\nand the son of a barber, and understand my craft very thoroughly.\nTherefore, taking with me whatever I might be likely to require to let\nthe man blood and restore him to consciousness, I started at once.\n\n\"'On arriving at the house, which was a very poor one, to which I had\nbeen summoned, I found the patient an old white-bearded man, and also a\nphysician whom I knew very well, and who practised in that part of the\ntown.\n\n\"'He had sent for me to bleed the man, but he was evidently puzzled\nextremely by many features of the case the like of which he had never\nbefore encountered.  The patient was indeed unconscious, yet he\nexhibited few or none of the symptoms generally characteristic of that\nstate.  He was not lying down, but sitting up.  His face wore the\nexpression not of one dead or dying, but of a man transfixed with rage\nand horror.  His eyes wide open were staring upon us with an expression\nof impotent rage, as though he were witnessing some outrage which he\nwas powerless to prevent.  His mouth was opened as though uttering a\ncry, but no cry came out of his mouth.  He did not breathe heavily, he\ndid not appear to breathe at all.  He had the appearance of a man who\nin the midst of some violent emotion had suddenly been turned into\nstone, or rather into some plastic material possessing very peculiar\nproperties.  For we found that, while every limb yielded readily to\npressure and could be placed easily in any posture we pleased, it did\nnot on being released fall to the ground, but maintained the attitude\nin which it had been placed as though it were modelled in wax or carved\nin stone.\n\n\"'All this was so surprising that I suppose I ought not to have been\nsurprised, as certainly I was, when I found that no blood flowed when I\nattempted to bleed him.  The man seemed to be decidedly not dead--and\nyet decidedly not alive.  We could make nothing of him.  And after a\nwhile the physician being called away to attend to some one else, left\nme to watch this strange case, and act as I should see fit.\n\n\"'For a long time I sat and vigilantly observed the striking figure\nbefore me, in appearance so full of life and passion, in reality so\ncompletely inert.\n\n\"'As you may suppose, I was not alone.  The small room was crowded with\nthe neighbours of the old man, who had long known him, and among whom\nhe was reported to be a miser, who though living in apparent poverty\nwas really very rich.  I could see that many did not confine their\ninquisitive glances to the old man himself, but looked eagerly about\nthem to discover if possible in some corner of the mean apartment that\nstore of hidden wealth which they had persuaded themselves that it\ncontained.  After a time these visitors departed one after the other,\nperceiving neither any alteration in the condition of the old man nor\nany signs of his reputed riches.\n\n\"'When they had all left, I still sat looking attentively at him, lost\nin astonishment and marvelling what would be the end of so singular and\nunheard-of a trance.  Without the least warning, so suddenly that I was\nnot a little startled, the full stream of life seemed to return upon\nhim in an instant.  It had been arrested as suddenly and for many\nhours--and now in a moment, before one could swallow one's spittle, it\nresumed its course as though the interruption had never taken place.\nTo the mouth half opened all this time utterance was at length\nrestored, and suddenly as I sat watching him he cried with a loud\nvoice--\n\n\"'\"Seize them!  They have it!  Ah, wretches! the curse of Allah be upon\nye!  To rob an old man! a poor man!  Yes, they are gone, the robbers,\nthe villains!  My savings, my savings!  The small savings of a long\nlife.  Ah! the cursed villains, the cursed villains! seize them, seize\nthem!\"\n\n\"'Thus the old fellow raved on, beating his breast, tearing his hair\nand his beard, and speedily recalling by his cries and lamentations all\nhis neighbours who remained within hearing.  Getting some of these to\nassist me, again I attempted to bleed him, and this time successfully.\nThis quieted him, and presently we laid him down much calmer, though\napparently extremely exhausted.\n\n\"'We could learn nothing more from him than that three men had entered\nhis room on the previous evening and had robbed him of all that he\npossessed; but what became of them, or how he had fallen into the state\nof trance in which he had been discovered, he could not explain.\n\n\"'I had now given up much more time than I could afford, and seeing no\nchance of getting paid under the circumstances, and there being nothing\nfurther I could do for the unfortunate old creature, I left him in the\nhands of his neighbours and took my departure.\n\n\"'I had not gone far when I observed lying on the ground a small\ncamel's-hair brush of very peculiar appearance.  It was flat, in\nbreadth about the width of two fingers, and the hairs of the brush as\nlong as a man's little finger.  I picked it up, wondering for what\npurpose it could be used, and thinking it might possibly prove of\nservice on some future occasion, I carried it home with me.\n\n\"'Several days passed, and I had forgotten not only the little brush\nthat I had picked up, but even the episode of the old man and his\nstrange trance, when one afternoon a man presented himself to be\nshaved, who, after some desultory discourse on passing topics,\nmentioned that he had heard of my attendance on the old miser, and\ninquired as to the condition in which I had found him, and all the\nparticulars of the affair.\n\n\"'When I had related to him the whole of the circumstances--excepting\nonly the finding of the little brush as I came away, an incident so\ntrifling that I no longer remembered it--he inquired, with some\neagerness, I thought, whether I had found anything in the old man's\nroom.  I had picked up the brush not in the room, but outside the\nhouse, and the very fact that I had done so having for the moment\nescaped my recollection, I answered at once--\"No, I found nothing; and,\nin truth, it seemed to me that some people had probably forestalled me,\nand left nothing for me or any one else to find.\"  The man laughed at\nthis, as though it were a very good joke.  At that instant, the finding\nthe little brush occurred to my mind, and I determined now in my turn\nto ascertain, if possible, whether it were that he was in search of.\n\n\"'I asked him, therefore, whether he had heard of any valuable being\nmissed from the old man's room, as he had questioned me about it.\n\n\"'\"Not exactly that,\" he said.  \"A good deal of valuable property might\nhave been taken, he supposed,\" and again he laughed, \"from the old\nman's room, but he was not concerned about that.\"\n\n\"'\"No,\" thought I, \"for you probably know where to find it.\"\n\n\"'\"What I wish to recover,\" continued the man, \"is not an article of\nvalue at all, only a little brush that a friend of mine dropped in the\nconfusion, and which he is very anxious to get again, because it\nbelonged to his father and his grandfather before him.\"\n\n\"'\"I fear,\" answered I, \"that you will not find it in the old man's\nroom, because I looked about the place, and I noticed a good many other\nkeen eyes doing the same, and nothing of any kind was to be seen.\"\n\n\"'\"No, there is no brush there now,\" said he; \"you may be sure I have\nascertained that for myself before applying to you.  If you did not see\nit, I fear it is lost beyond recovery, and I would pay handsomely for\nit too, if I could find it.\"\n\n\"'\"Why,\" said I, \"as to that, you need make but little fuss over the\nloss of a little brush; a single dinar will buy you five score of them.\"\n\n\"'\"True,\" said he, \"but the little brush I am in search of was of a\nspecial make, such as men in these days know not how to fashion.\"\n\n\"'\"After all,\" said I, \"it is but a matter of shape and fancy, for\nthere can be no great difference in value between two brushes of the\nsame size.\"\n\n\"'\"However that may be,\" said the man, \"if by talking with your\ncustomers you can discover this little brush, and procure it for me, I\nwill give you a good price for it.\"\n\n\"'\"What do you call a good price?\" I inquired.\n\n\"'\"I will give you,\" he said, \"ten dinars for it.\"\n\n\"'He looked at me very hard, to observe what effect this offer would\nproduce, for no doubt, in spite of my denial, he suspected that I had\npicked up the brush.  But I reflected that the brush must have some\nvery special value, or he would not so readily have offered ten dinars\nfor it.  If I held back, by and by he would offer twenty.\n\n\"'I therefore answered quietly--\"It is a large sum for a small brush,\nif I should hear of it I will let you know.\"\n\n\"'\"In a week or ten days I will come again,\" he said, \"perhaps by that\ntime you may be able to find it.\"\n\n\"'He probably named a week or ten days in order not to appear too\neager, and also to give me time to pretend to have succeeded in my\nsearch.\n\n\"'A week passed and a fortnight, and still he did not return.  Indeed\nhe never came back, and whether he was captured by the police--for I\nhave no doubt he was one of the thieves who had robbed the old\nmiser--or whether he and his gang had been obliged on account of some\nother crime to fly from Bagdad, I do not know; one thing only is\ncertain, I have never seen him again.\n\n\"'Nearly three months had elapsed, and I had almost ceased to expect\nthe reappearance of the man, and even to regret that I did not accept\nhis offer of ten dinars for the brush at the time he made it, when one\nafternoon, a few days ago, a man came to me suffering from a growth or\nwen on the back of his neck, close to the spinal cord.  He desired that\nI should paint this with a certain remedy or lotion I have for such\ntumours.  Finding the lotion, which I had not used for some time, but\nnot the brush with which I was accustomed to apply it, I took hold of\nthe little brush which I had picked up, and made use of that.  The\nhairs of this brush were so much longer than those in my old brush,\nthat I had not proceeded far before I happened accidentally to pass the\nwet brush across the spine.  Immediately the man became fixed in the\nattitude in which he happened to be as I was operating upon him.  His\nfeatures retained the expression precisely which they wore at the\nmoment the wet brush had touched the spine, and, in short, the man was\nin a trance exactly similar to that in which I had found the old miser\nthree months before.\n\n\"'I had discovered the virtues of the brush.  At first I was a good\ndeal frightened, not knowing how long the trance might continue.\nHowever, after the lapse of twelve hours, the man recovered\nconsciousness again, and the complete use of all his faculties just as\nsuddenly as the old miser had done three months previously.\n\n\"'I persuaded the man that he had fallen asleep during the operation of\nanointing his tumour, and that I had housed him for the night out of\nkindness.  For this he thanked me sincerely, allowed me to bleed him\nfor the good of his health, and to wash and shave him, and paying me\nhandsomely for all I had done for him, departed with much satisfaction.\n\n\"'This morning, therefore, when I happened to give utterance to that\nrash boast of being able to shave successfully any living thing--a\nboast you so cleverly turned against me--I determined to make good my\nwords by virtue of the camel's-hair brush.'\"\n\n\"And what,\" asked Haroun of Sidi ibn Thalabi, \"what has become of the\nbrush? did you not buy it of the barber?\"\n\n\"I endeavoured to do so,\" answered he, \"but the barber declared that\nunless the Caliph himself seated upon his throne should demand it, he\nwould never part with it on any terms to any man.\"\n\n\"I think, friend Sidi ibn Thalabi,\" said Haroun, \"that the barber is\nright.  But now that I have heard the story of the barber, which is a\nvery strange story, and has interested me greatly, I must for the\npresent leave you, and return to my house where my people will be\nanxiously awaiting me.  I hope, however, to have the pleasure very\nshortly of receiving you in my own house, and till then I bid you\nfarewell.\"\n\n\n\n[1] The Caliph was commonly so designated by the vulgar.\n\n[2] A common Arab practice.\n\n\n\n\nThe Caliph and Sidi ibn Thalabi\n\nTHE BANQUET.\n\nOn the next morning after Haroun Alraschid had given the customary\naudiences to his Viziers and the great officers of his kingdom, he\nordered Mesrur to send and fetch Kaseem, the barber whose story Sidi\nibn Thalabi had related to him.\n\nKaseem, on being introduced into the audience-chamber, and seeing the\nCaliph in his royal robes seated upon the throne, made no doubt but\nthat he was in truth the same man as that Sidi ibn Thalabi who had\nrescued him from the mob, and to whom he had spoken on board the boat.\n\nWhen, therefore, Haroun said to him, \"Kaseem, I have been told that you\nhave a certain small brush of potent virtue.  Give it to me.\"\n\nKaseem answered, smiling, \"Your Majesty is, I know, very well informed\nindeed as to all the circumstances concerning that brush, and I am very\nhappy, not only from loyalty, but also from gratitude to one Sidi ibn\nThalabi, whom may Allah bless and reward, to be able to present to your\nMajesty a thing which you desire to possess.\"\n\nSaying this, he offered the little brush, which Haroun took with his\nown hands.\n\nThen the Caliph, turning to the Grand Vizier, said:\n\n\"I appoint Kaseem to be the Court Barber; see that he has robes and\nutensils given him suited to his office, and pay him every month a fee\nof one hundred dinars.\"\n\nThe Caliph, having ordered further an immediate present of a thousand\ndinars to be given to Kaseem, sent him away very well satisfied.\n\nHaroun next commanded Giafer to prepare in the splendid house and\ngarden which had belonged to Abou Hassan, the Fortunate Merchant, a\ngreat banquet and entertainment to be given that evening, and to which\nSidi ibn Thalabi and his brother-in-law, Abraha, were to be invited by\nHamad and Yussuf, the names assumed by himself and Giafer.  All those\nwho were invited to meet Sidi ibn Thalabi were informed that it was\nHaroun's pleasure to give this entertainment in the assumed character\nof a merchant, and that he would be known and was to be addressed as\nHamad, and Giafer as Yussuf.\n\nAmong the guests were Murad Essed, the Unfortunate Merchant whom Haroun\nhad met, and whose story he had heard in this very house.\n\nMurad Essed, like Sidi ibn Thalabi and Abraha, knew Haroun only in his\nassumed character as a merchant.  There were, however, other guests who\nwere very well acquainted with both the Caliph and the Grand Vizier.\nThere was, for instance, the singer and composer, Ishak ibn Ibrahim el\nMosili, a great favourite of Haroun's; and the blind poet, Abu\n'Atahiyeh, with several others.\n\nThe splendid saloon, with its open arcade on one side, looking out over\nthe charming central garden, held on this evening a very merry party.\nNever since the time of its late owner, Abou Hassan, the Fortunate\nMerchant, had it beheld a scene so gay.\n\nThe banquet was varied and well served, the wines of the rarest\nvintages, and the hours passed speedily and pleasantly enough,\nenlivened by a constant succession of tales and songs.\n\nMurad Essed was the first that was called upon by Haroun as the host to\nrelate a story to the company.\n\n\"Murad Essed,\" said Haroun, \"there are, I think, none here present\nbeside you, myself, and my friend Yussuf, who are acquainted with the\nstory of Abou Hassan, the Fortunate Merchant, the former owner of this\nhouse.  Will you, therefore, oblige us by relating it to us?\"\n\nWhen Murad Essed had, in response to this invitation, related the story\nof the Fortunate Merchant and his tragical fate, Haroun addressed\nhimself to Abu 'Atahiyeh, and said: \"Abu 'Atahiyeh, do you now compose\na few verses, and Ishak ibn Ibrahim el Mosili shall sing them.\"\n\nAbu 'Atahiyeh, who was sitting next to Ishak, having dictated some\nlines, and Ishak having written them down, the latter sang them to a\nfavourite air of Haroun's, being accompanied on the lute by Isaac, the\nmost famous of all the players on that instrument.\n\nThe lines were these:\n\n  \"O, LOVELY STARS!\"\n\n  \"O lovely stars!  O lovely stars!  O lovely stars in the sky!\n  Your eyes are bright, your eyes are bright, and yet you are\n        wondrous shy!\n\n  You none are men, you none are men, but every one a she;\n  And but at night, and but at night, your beauty we men may see!\n\n  The staring gaze, the staring gaze, of insolent Day you shun;\n  In veils of light, in veils of light, hid from the face of the Sun.\n\n  The swarthy Night, the swarthy Night, he alone may be your spouse;\n  His harem wide, his harem wide, no other lover allows.\n\n  The Caliph's self, the Caliph's self, has no bevy one half so fair;\n  Nor lodged so well, nor lodged so well, as ye in your palace of air!\"\n\n\n\"Bravo, bravo! well worded and well sung, by Allah!\" cried Haroun, as\nIshak ibn Ibrahim el Mosili concluded the verses.  Then taking two\nsplendid golden goblets which stood before him, he commanded them to be\nfilled with wine, and presented one to Abu 'Atahiyeh, and the other to\nIshak ibn Ibrahim el Mosili.\n\n\"Take each of you,\" said the generous Caliph, \"the goblet that I send\nyou; it is yours.  And, by Allah and the beard of the Prophet! if I\ncould but find twenty such poets and singers, most willingly would I\nfind twenty such goblets for them.\"\n\nThe other guests were no less pleased than the host himself with the\nverses of Abu 'Atahiyeh, and the singing of Ishak ibn Ibrahim el Mosili.\n\nPresently the Caliph, addressing Abu 'Atahiyeh, said: \"You have made us\nsome verses, now tell us a tale, for I know that your store of tales is\nwithout end.\"\n\n\nTHE STORY OF MUBAREK,\n\nAS TOLD BY ABU 'ATAHIYEH.\n\n\"There once lived a young man whose name was Mubarek.  He was the only\nson of a rich merchant at Bagdad, commonly known as Bereydah abou\nMubarek.\n\n\"To the great grief of his father, Mubarek, when he was twenty-three\nyears of age, developed such a longing to travel and visit those\nforeign countries of which he had so often heard from other\nmerchants--his father's friends--that nothing could persuade him to\nremain quietly in Bagdad.  Bereydah abou Mubarek, having therefore\nfurnished his son with such sorts of merchandize as would be most\nsuitable to trade with in the countries he was about to visit, took\nleave of him with much emotion and many injunctions both as to his\npersonal conduct, and the management of his affairs.\n\n\"After passing through several countries most frequently traversed by\ncaravans belonging to the merchants of this city, and where he saw\nnothing but what is familiarly known to all here present, and met with\nno adventure I need pause to describe, he set sail in a merchantman,\nbound for the coast of India.\n\n\"He had not been at sea more than three days when a violent storm\narose, and the force of the hurricane, driving the ship altogether out\nof her course, she found herself at length off a coast altogether\nunknown to the captain, and in spite of his exertions she was blown in\nshore, and became very shortly a total wreck.\n\n\"Mubarek, who fortunately succeeded in reaching the land, although with\nthe loss of all that he possessed, wandered about for some time in a\nmost forlorn and starving condition.  At length, meeting some natives\nof the country, he was conducted by them to a large town on the coast,\nwhich was the capital of the kingdom.  Here, in a very magnificent\npalace situated in the midst of extensive and fragrant gardens, lived\nAhesha the Queen.  An idolater, like all her subjects, she was,\nalthough an exceedingly beautiful woman, cruel, vindictive, and a\nproficient in all the arts of magic.\n\n\"Mubarek, as a stranger, being brought before her, as the laws of that\nkingdom required, she immediately fell violently in love with him,\nwhich was the less to be wondered at, inasmuch as he was a young man of\npleasant features, a striking figure, and considerable personal\nattractions.\n\n\"Ahesha, having commanded the stranger to be led to the bath, and\narrayed in rich robes appropriate to one occupying the position of a\nVizier or Prince, she invited him to join her in partaking of a\nsumptuous repast, and afterwards to accompany her in strolling through\nthe charming gardens which surrounded her palace.\n\n\"Mubarek, consoled for the hardship and dangers of the shipwreck and\nthe loss of his merchandize by so flattering and distinguished a\nreception, and by the society of a woman and Queen of so much beauty,\nwandered with her alone through the most retired walks of the garden.\n\n\"Coming at length to a grassy seat in the cool shade of a spreading\ntree, they sat down.\n\n\"'Tell me,' said she, 'whether you are capable of loving a woman like\nme, as a woman and a Queen should be loved?'\n\n\"'I love you,' he replied, 'with all the passion of youth, with all my\nsoul.'\n\n\"'But,' said she, 'a Queen must be loved alone.  She cannot consent to\ndivide the love of a man with any other woman.'\n\n\"'My charming and incomparable Queen,' he exclaimed, 'by Allah and the\nProphet of God! there is no woman that can stand beside you.  The man\nwho is so happy as to possess you can want no other woman.'\n\n\"Ahesha laughed scornfully, and said, 'What an oath is that which you\nuse!  I laugh at your Allah and his Prophet.'\n\n\"Mubarek was a young man of very hot blood and fierce passions, and\nbeing brought up a strict Moslim, he was so much enraged at the Queen's\nscoff, that no sooner were the words out of her mouth, than drawing\ninstantly a jewelled dagger which she wore at her girdle, he plunged it\ninto her heart.\n\n\"Then seeing the Queen lying at his feet with the blood gushing out of\nher breast, he repented of his hasty act, but it was too late.  He\nperceived moreover that should he be discovered in that situation by\nthe enraged attendants of the beautiful Queen, he would be put to\ndeath, probably with torture.  At the same time, he knew neither where\nhe could find a place of safety nor how he should manage to obtain food\nfor the support of life in the midst of that city of idolaters.\n\n\"Wandering about the extensive gardens and groves surrounding the\npalace, and expecting every moment to fall in with some party of the\nroyal guards who would seize him and take him prisoner, he came at\nlength, in a very retired part of the woods, to a small cavern or\ngrotto, and being very tired, he there laid himself down and very soon\nfell asleep.\n\n\"When he awoke the air was cool and fresh.  The stars, still\ndiscernible, were fading in the light of the approaching dawn; and as\nhe left the grotto he hastened, drawn by an indefinable and insensible\nimpulse, to seek the place where he had left the body of the heathen\nQueen.\n\n\"With some difficulty he again found the spot which had been the scene\nof the love-making and the sudden tragedy on the previous day.  The\nbody of the Queen was no longer there.  It had evidently been\ndiscovered and removed by her people.  But precisely where her blood\nhad streamed out upon the ground a small shrub was growing, which\nalready bore a great number of bunches or clusters of a small fruit\nresembling currants.  Feeling very hungry he gathered a quantity of\nthis fruit and eat it as he walked.  To his great surprise,\nnotwithstanding that he had but just risen from a long rest and sound\nsleep, he began to feel excessively drowsy, and selecting a secluded\nand shady nook, he lay down and at once again fell asleep.\n\n\"He must have slept several hours, as when he recovered consciousness\nthe sun was high in the heavens.  But although it was apparently about\nmidday he presently noticed that he did not experience any sensation of\nheat.  It gradually dawned upon him, moreover, that, although perfectly\nconscious and able to reason and reflect and to distinguish clearly\neverything around him, this state of consciousness was wholly separate\nfrom and disconnected with the body.  In fact, looking down he\nperceived his body lying stretched upon the grass, and still wrapped\napparently in the total oblivion of the profoundest sleep.\n\n\"While he was yet lost in astonishment at the marvel of this strange\ncondition, a fairy or spirit of the air stood beside him, and\naddressing him said--\n\n\"'Mubarek, why do you stand thus gazing upon the ground?  Say, to what\nplace shall we go?  With so many lovely and charming scenes to which we\ncan resort, we need not remain fettered to this earth.'\n\n\"'Fairy,' answered Mubarek, 'the choice rests with you.  Take me with\nyou wheresoever you will.'\n\n\"'Mubarek,' said the fairy, 'look up and tell me which star we shall\nvisit.'\n\n\"Mubarek, looking up, found that the brightness of the noonday sun no\nlonger obscured his vision, but that the stars also appeared clearly to\nhim sparkling in all their myriad hosts throughout the heaven.\nSelecting modestly one of the smaller stars, a mere point of light\nglistening in the distance, he said--\n\n\"'We will go there.'\n\n\"In a moment, not with the speed of lightning, for the lightning lags\nand travels slowly, but in a moment and with the speed of thought, the\nswiftest of all travellers known to man, they passed at once through\nall the vast immeasurable space which lay between that little world and\nthis.\n\n\"On their arrival, after they had time to look about them and realize\nthe peculiarities of their novel surroundings, Mubarek perceived that\nin this strange world the light was not derived from any one fixed\npoint, such as our sun, but came in a steady and evenly diffused\nbrightness from every part of the clear and luminous vault of heaven.\nBut, notwithstanding that the heat under that cloudless sky and glowing\nfirmament must have been very great, yet to the inhabitants of that\nworld, whose bodies are composed of quite other elements than ours and\nhave a much higher temperature, the atmosphere, hot as it would appear\nto us, seems always cool and refreshing.\n\n\"At the place where Mubarek and his fairy companion had alighted there\nwas situated a great and populous city.  Its arrangements and\nmagnificence were such that no city that has ever existed on our earth\ncould be compared with it.  In its wide thoroughfares and ample\nsquares, planted with fine trees, gay with an infinite variety of\nmany-tinted flowers, and adorned with lofty and ever-springing\nfountains of cool and sparkling liquid, which, as Mubarek afterwards\ndiscovered, was not water but the purest liquid glass, every dwelling\nwas a palace.  In that happy country there were no mean and squalid\nhouses and no poor people.\n\n\"Mubarek and the fairy alighted in one of the noble squares of this\ngreat city, and after they had been standing only a few minutes looking\nabout them in unfeigned wonder and admiration at all they saw, several\nof the inhabitants approached them, and bidding them welcome, offered\nto conduct them to the mansion which had been prepared for their\nreception.\n\n\"'How,' asked Mubarek, 'is it possible that any house can have been\nprepared for me, seeing that until this moment I have had no idea or\nintention of coming hither?'\n\n\"'Let not that surprise you,' said one of those who had addressed them:\n'Allah, whose power and beneficence extends to every place, has\nordained that we who are privileged to live in this delightful world,\nwhere it is always light, and where we are never weary and want for\nnothing that is necessary for our subsistence, should ever occupy\nourselves with the happy task of preparing, not only all the luxuries\nand conveniences which we ourselves may desire, but also fair abodes\nfor those whom he may from time to time allow to come among us.'\n\n\"Saying this, they conducted Mubarek and the fairy to a spacious and\nbeautiful palace which stood not far from the spot where they were\nstanding.\n\n\"The house, like all those in this city, appeared to be composed of\nimmense blocks of crystal or translucent marble of many hues.  The\ngreat pillars that supported the arches, the massive walls, the\nglistening roof with its domes and minarets, all were composed of the\nsame unique and costly material.\n\n\"Entering the hall of the palace through the wide portal, on each side\nof which, standing open, were two curiously carved doors of some\nsubstance resembling mother-of-pearl, they passed through the various\napartments of the palace--all large, stately, and furnished handsomely.\n\n\"One peculiarity of this building which immediately attracted their\nattention was that there were no windows, sufficient of the perpetual\nand never-clouded brightness of the heavens passing through the\nsemi-translucent substance of the walls to afford a subdued and\npleasant light to those within them.\n\n\"Mubarek, seating himself, at the invitation of his friendly\nconductors, on a couch covered with a fine soft fabric of a kind such\nas he had never seen before, expected that the slaves who attended in\nthis superb palace would shortly appear to do his bidding, and prepare\nsome kind of refreshment for himself and those who had brought him\nthither, and who declared him to be the owner of the place and\nthemselves to be his guests.\n\n\"As, however, after sitting and conversing for some time, no servant\nmade his appearance, he imagined that perhaps in that country no slave\nwould dare to present himself even to tender his services without\nawaiting the signal from his lord.  Mubarek therefore clapped his hands\nto summon the attendants.  No one appeared, however, and those who sat\nwith him looked surprised, and said--\n\n\"'What is the meaning of that action?  Why do you clap your hands?'\n\n\"'I wish,' said he, 'to call the slaves, who, no doubt, are in\nattendance in some ante-chamber.'\n\n\"'What,' asked the others, 'are slaves?'\n\n\"'The servants, the attendants,' explained Mubarek, 'those who do the\nwork of the house, who wait upon us, who cook our food and bring it to\nus.'\n\n\"'There are,' said the others, smiling, 'no such creatures in this\nworld.  All the inhabitants of these houses, no matter how large or\nfine they may be--and all our dwellings are spacious and\nmagnificent--do whatever work may be necessary, and are ever ready to\nexert themselves in the interest both of themselves and of others.\nBesides,' the speaker continued, 'we have so many forces and\ncontrivances, unknown perhaps in the region whence you come, that,\nalthough we have plenty of work, without which we might be dull, we\nhave no drudgery.'\n\n\"'That is all very easy to say,' replied Mubarek, 'but who then kills\nthe animals you eat, cooks them, and serves your table?'\n\n\"'What!' exclaimed the other, in surprise, 'do you kill and devour each\nother?'\n\n\"'No,' answered Mubarek; 'not each other, but other animals, such as\nthe camel, the sheep, and the goat.'\n\n\"They heard this avowal with almost the same disgust as we should an\navowal of man-eating, and explained that in their world they neither\nkilled nor ate any living thing.\n\n\"'We have,' they said, 'fruits pleasing to the palate and nourishing to\nthe body.  These we gather, each one for himself, and should regard a\nman who required some one to gather his food for him very much as you\nwould regard a man so lazy as to want some one to put it into his mouth\nfor him.'\n\n\"Saying this, they rose, and Mubarek and the fairy with them, and\ntaking each a plate or dish, every one of which was fashioned out of a\nsingle piece of the same beautiful and many-tinted crystal as composed\nthe walls of their dwellings, they proceeded to gather in the garden\nwhich surrounded the palace all kinds of fruit.\n\n\"This fruit seemed to Mubarek to consist of all sorts of precious\nstones--the topaz, the jasper, the onyx, the carbuncle, the emerald,\nthe ruby, and many others, and having brought their plates filled with\nthis fruit into the house, these strange people sat down and ate them\nwith much relish, praising highly their delicious flavour and\nnutritious qualities.\n\n\"They then replaced the plates, unsoiled by the repast they had\ncontained, and prepared to show Mubarek and the fairy the beauties of\ntheir marvellous city.\n\n\"Instead of mounting on horseback like men, or being carried in litters\nlike women, these singular beings had but to press a knob or spring on\na pillar standing before the house, and straightway a gentle breeze\narose and carried them smoothly, and swiftly or slowly as they pleased,\nwhithersoever they desired to go.\n\n\"In this easy and pleasant manner they journeyed through the city and\nwere received by all they met with the most friendly and affectionate\ngreetings.  In every house they entered they were welcomed with frank\ncordiality, and at once, without ceremony or embarrassment, fell to\nassisting the host in any work at which he might chance to be engaged,\nor discussing any topic of interest that might occur to them.\n\n\"After paying many of these visits and admiring the extraordinary\nrichness and variety of architecture, furniture and utensils to be\nobserved in every one of the dwellings of this happy and intelligent\nrace, Mubarek said with some astonishment--\n\n\"'In all this vast and incomparable city through which you have so long\nconducted me, one thing I observe to be lacking.  Among all this\nmultitude of houses, every one of which is well worthy of being styled\na palace, I have not seen, and you have not shown me, a single mosque,\na single building that is,' he explained, 'dedicated to the service of\nAllah.'\n\n\"'Truly,' said they, looking upon him with amazement, 'some of your\nremarks and questions are more surprising to us than anything we can\nsay or show can appear to you.  Is it possible that any people can\nbuild any house that is not to be dedicated to the service of Allah,\nand if not, what can be the meaning or necessity of such a building as\nyou allude to?'\n\n\"'Have you, then,' asked Mubarek, 'no religion?'\n\n\"'What is that?' said they; 'the word is new to us.'\n\n\"'Do you not,' asked Mubarek, 'serve God?'\n\n\"'Allah forbid that it should be otherwise,' said they.  'He has\ncreated us and placed us in this world, and what He wills we do.  We do\nnot comprehend your meaning.'\n\n\"Perceiving this to be indeed the case, Mubarek did not continue to\nspeak of religion.  With these people to do what they conceived to be\nright was part of their life, and to do either less or more was to them\nincomprehensible.  Their life was their religion, their work was their\nprayer, and their enjoyment was their praise.\n\n\"Mubarek and the fairy spent a very long period in visiting and viewing\nall the beauties and wonders of this strange world.  How long a period\nthey had no means of estimating, since there light is perpetual as on\none bright morning that never knows an end.\n\n\"At length, not because they were tired, for weariness is there\nunknown, Mubarek determined again to return to the house that had been\ngiven him.  He desired to enter upon the regular performance and\nenjoyment of the duties of the new existence in this other world.  But\nthey were told that first each might select a wife or partner of his\nlabours and his pleasures.\n\n\"For this purpose a great number of the women were assembled, each more\nlovely than the fairest woman man has ever seen, and all clad in such\ngauzelike glistening robes as would make the finest fabrics of this\nworld look coarse and homely.\n\n\"In this regard alone, however, are the men in that world stinted.\nEach has but one wife.  Mubarek found the difficulty great of choosing\nonly one.  Yet, having made his choice, he soon became contented with\nhis lot.  For in that bright world, where illness is unknown and labour\nnever wearies, woman continues always gay and fresh and pleasant.  She\ntalks as much perhaps as her sisters in less-favoured worlds, but never\nlearns to scold or grumble or complain.\n\n\"The fairy, however, or spirit of the air, who had brought Mubarek\nthither, would not accept a house or choose a wife or settle anywhere.\nA restless and inconstant being, it preferred to wander forth and view\nwith never-sated curiosity the ever-varying marvels displayed by other\nworlds.\n\n\"A long time passed, a time unmarked by any of the changes and small\nvicissitudes that we encounter here.  No night succeeding day, and\nbringing with it unconsciousness and rest.  No procession of the\nseasons--autumn, winter, spring; but one long summer, whose heat,\ninstead of seeming oppressive or exhausting, appeared ever cool,\nrefreshing, and exhilarating, filled with a stream of life, not\nfluctuating and intermitting, but constant and untiring.\n\n\"Such then was the existence of Mubarek, till one day, happening to\ndrop and dash in fragments a superb crystal vase which he himself had\nfashioned with much delightful labour as a present for his wife, the\nold fierce impatience of his native land and race caused him to break\nout into fearful imprecations.\n\n\"At once, as though on the involuntary rupture of some mysterious spell\nor charm, he found himself, with a rapidity equal to that by which he\nhad mounted to that distant world, transported back to this.  He was in\nhis own body which he had left sleeping on the ground, and in the very\nspot at which he had left it sleeping.\n\n\"At first he was so dazed and confused by the recollection of all that\nhe had experienced that he scarce remembered where he was.  By and by\nbecoming more composed, he recognized the danger of remaining in the\ngrounds of the palace whose Queen he had stabbed, and making his way by\npaths as little frequented as he could find to the sea-coast, he beheld\nwith joy a ship sailing at no great distance from the shore.  Making\nsignals of distress, they put out a small boat and brought him on board.\n\n\"The vessel chanced to be one bound for Bussora, whither in due time\nMubarek arrived, and hastening to Bagdad, found his father, now an old\nman, and who had long mourned his death, still alive and overjoyed to\nagain behold his son.\n\n\"Bereydah abou Mubarek dying not long after his son's return, Mubarek\nsucceeded to his father's fortune and his father's house, and lived\nquietly and happily in Bagdad during the remainder of his days.\"\n\nThe story of Mubarek being ended, and the company having thanked Abu\n'Atahiyeh for having related it to them, the Caliph, in his character\nas host, addressed himself to Sidi ibn Thalabi.\n\n\"Friend Sidi ibn Thalabi,\" he said, \"none of the good company here\npresent, excepting only ourselves, has heard the story of the barber\nand the camel's-hair brush; will you therefore do us the favour to tell\nit?\"\n\n\"Friend Hamad,\" replied Sidi ibn Thalabi, \"there is, I am persuaded, no\none so churlish as to refuse to do aught that he may be requested to\ndo, with the object of amusing your guests at this hospitable and\nmagnificent banquet.\"\n\nWhen Sidi ibn Thalabi had concluded the story of the barber and the\ncamel's-hair brush, many of those present were as anxious as Haroun had\nbeen when he first heard it, to know what had become of the little\nbrush, and whether Sidi ibn Thalabi had bought it of the barber.\n\n\"No, gentlemen,\" said Sidi ibn Thalabi; \"the barber altogether refused\nto sell the brush on any terms, or at any price, and declared that he\nwould never part with it unless the Caliph himself, seated upon his\nthrone and arrayed in his royal robes, demanded it of him.\"\n\nWhile Sidi ibn Thalabi was concluding his tale, the Caliph had observed\nthat one of the black slaves in attendance was showing all the teeth he\npossessed--and a very sound white set they were--in a capacious grin of\nenjoyment of the circumstances that were being narrated.  Therefore,\ntaking the little brush, and moistening it in a vase of water that\nstood near, he handed it to Giafer, and bid him in a whisper apply it\nto the top of the fellow's spine.\n\nGiafer, rising as though to leave the room, stole behind the black\nwithout being noticed by him, so absorbed was he in what was being\nsaid.  Quickly passing the brush down the back of the neck, the\nAfrican, in his attitude of rapt attention, and with his wide grin of\nunfeigned delight, became at once fixed and unchanging, as though he\nwere an image in black marble.\n\nThen Haroun, turning to Sidi ibn Thalabi, said: \"There is one man at\nleast whom you have delighted; behold the power of the brush!\"\n\n\"What!\" exclaimed Sidi ibn Thalabi, \"is the barber present?\"\n\n\"The barber is not present,\" said Haroun, \"but only the brush.\"\n\nAs he said these words, Giafer, with a low bow, placed the brush again\nin his hands.\n\n\"Allah, be merciful to us!\" exclaimed the astonished Sidi ibn Thalabi.\n\"Why, it can be no other than the Caliph himself!\"\n\n\"It is no other,\" said Haroun, \"yet fear nothing; I have forgiven you\nany pranks in which you may have indulged in my name, but would have\nyou discontinue them henceforth; therefore I appoint you Governor of\nSyria; the dawn will soon appear, start for your province in the\nmorning.\"\n\nSidi ibn Thalabi having thanked his Majesty for his gracious and\ngenerous gifts, Haroun, turning to Murad Essed, the Unfortunate\nMerchant, said:\n\n\"This house, once your own, and all it contains, I give to you, and my\ntreasurer shall to-morrow bring you ten thousand dinars, with which you\nmay recommence to trade; may you be in the future more cautious and\nmore lucky.\"\n\nThe guests then departed, and the entertainment of Hamad the Merchant\nwas at an end.\n\n\n\n\nThe Caliph and the Magic Tube.\n\nOne day, as Haroun Alraschid sat in one of the apartments of his\npalace, which overlooked a great public square of the city, he observed\na large crowd of people surrounding a man, who, sometimes looking\nthrough a small tube he held in his hand, and sometimes addressing the\nthrongs around him, seemed to attract in a high degree their interest\nand attention.\n\nAfter watching this scene for some little time, the Caliph became\ncurious to learn what the properties or merits of the tube might be,\nand sent therefore to fetch the man into the palace.  When he entered,\nHaroun saw that he was a fine young man, whose countenance bore a\npleasing expression, while his dress, by its foreign and unusual\ncharacter, plainly proclaimed him to be a traveller.\n\nThe Caliph demanding of him what might be the peculiarity of that tube\nwhich he had seen him exhibiting to the people, the man replied:\n\n\"This tube which I hold in my hand, although it is in appearance a very\ncommon, ordinary tube, possesses, in fact, powers so wonderful, that I\ndoubt not but that your Majesty will be greatly astonished as I exhibit\nthem to you.\n\n\"Having rendered an important service to a powerful Magician with whom\nI became acquainted while I was in India, he presented me with this\ntube, and initiated me into the proper manner of using it.  By\nadjusting it in a particular way, the details of which I am not\npermitted to divulge to any one, I am enabled, on looking through the\ntube, to observe what is taking place either in distant parts of the\nworld or even future events which shall take place in remote kingdoms\nafter the lapse of many ages.\"\n\n\"Almirvan,\" said the Caliph--\"for such is, I am told, your name--if\nyour magical tube can disclose the distant scenes you speak of, it will\ninterest me much, and you may expect with full confidence an adequate\nreward.  But if your tube be in truth but a mystification for the\nvulgar, under cover of which you palm off the monstrous and incredible\nfictions of your imagination, why, you had better confess to me the\ntruth at once, and depart, because, should I discover later that it is\nso, I will cause your tube to be broken and your head to be removed\nfrom your shoulders.\"\n\n\"Sire,\" replied Almirvan, \"of the truth of that which my magic tube\ndiscloses to me I am fully persuaded, and am very willing to relate to\nyour Majesty plainly, and without addition or concealment, whatever I\nmay observe when I look through the tube.  And first I must ask your\nMajesty to say whether the scene I am to witness is to be distant in\nspace only, or also in time.\"\n\n\"Almirvan,\" said the Caliph, \"I have already heard so much from the\nlips of so many travellers concerning the manners and customs of other,\nand even distant, countries, that your magic tube will probably have\nlittle that is new to inform me about them.  Therefore, look far into\nthe future, and tell me what you see; but once more I warn you to be\ncareful that you add nothing for the purpose of astonishing.  I am\ntired of hearing of men who walk with their heads under their arms--of\nmen as tall as trees, or short as pigmies, or other such like\ntravellers' monstrous stories.\"\n\nThe traveller, after muttering certain words of prayer or incantation,\ngazed for some time steadfastly through the tube, and then, as though\ndescribing slowly and with difficulty a scene upon which he was\nlooking, he said--\n\n\"I see distant, far distant, by reason of the countless leagues and\nmany centuries that intervene, a strange and populous country.  The\nland is bright and pleasant, and verdant everywhere, for water is\nabundant; the white cliffs upon the frontier glisten in the water, the\nland is an island of the sea.  The inhabitants are unbelievers\nevidently, and rude and barbarous, for their women go about with naked\nfaces, and every man that passes may gaze upon the best of them.  The\ndress of all, both men and women, is strange and hideous, and one looks\nin vain for the well-folded turban, or the decent modest yashmak.\n\n\"This odd people have horses, and very good ones, but seldom ride them;\nbecause for the most part they have machines like chariots, made with\nwheels and of many various shapes; and in these they sit, and cause the\nhorses to draw them.\n\n\"But stranger than all this, they have a creature of amazing strength\nand huge size, which, though larger than an elephant, is swifter than a\nbird.  On the back of this terrible creature, which is thirty or forty\nfeet long, and whose stomach is like a fiery furnace, two or three men\nwill stand without fear, even when it is running at its utmost speed.\nMost remarkable of all, they feed the creature from behind.\"\n\n\"What!\" exclaimed the Caliph, \"is this your travellers' tale?\"\n\n\"Sire,\" said Almirvan, \"it is truly wonderful, but I describe to you\nthat only which I behold.  At the back of the creature there plainly\nappears to be an opening, leading into its fiery stomach, and therein\nthe men upon its back do place the food of the creature, which appears\nto consist of great blocks of black marble.\"\n\n\"Oh, Almirvan, unhappy traveller! what hast thou done that thou\nshouldest be tired of thy life?\" said the Caliph.  \"What wouldest thou\nhave me believe--that in the farthest islands of the sea, or in\nremotest ages yet to come, this monster of thine, huger than an\nelephant, fleeter than a bird, and swallowing great pieces of stone\nfrom behind, can by any possibility exist?\"\n\n\"Your Majesty,\" answered Almirvan, \"the people must without doubt be\nvery skilful magicians.  But most assuredly I affirm that I see them\nthrough this tube, doing not only all that I have related to you, but\nharnessing the creature to long strings of immense chariots, and\ncausing it to convey in this way both themselves and their merchandize\nfrom place to place.\"\n\n\"At what speed didst thou say that the creature goes?\" asked the Caliph.\n\n\"It goes with the speed of the wind,\" answered Almirvan.\n\n\"And therefore the people and their heavy merchandize go also with the\nspeed of the wind?  Is this your truthful tale?  Why, every lie\noutstrips its predecessor.\"\n\n\"Your Majesty,\" said Almirvan, \"I say but what I see.\"\n\n\"Almirvan,\" said the Caliph, \"what further dost thou see?\"\n\n\"I see,\" replied Almirvan, looking again through the magic tube, \"many\ngreat and marvellous works erected in all parts of their country by\nthis indefatigable and patient people.  Many bridges spanning every\nstream, and others crossing even arms of the sea, and that at such a\nheight that the largest ships can pass full sail beneath them.  Great\ncities stud the land like jewels on the scabbard of the Caliph's\nscimitar.  Fine palaces and noble mosques, or buildings of that\ncharacter, abound, but most singular and beautiful of all is a palace\nformed entirely of crystal, which stands amid gardens adorned with\nfountains, and every facet of whose transparent walls glistens in the\nsun.  But another circumstance that much attracts my notice is that all\nthe country is covered with a marvellous network, like a gigantic\nspider's web, composed of fine metallic thread.  By this means and by\nthe aid of some incomprehensible magic the people communicate with each\nother with lightning-like rapidity, and no matter how great the\ndistance that may separate them.  But, indeed, this is less surprising\nthan another contrivance that they have, by means of which two men as\nfar apart as Bussora from Bagdad converse at their ease and by word of\nmouth, each evidently hearing the very voice and words of the other.\"\n\nWhen the Caliph heard this statement, so astounding, so audacious, he\nwas filled with rage.\n\n\"What!\" he exclaimed, \"can your magic tube, when it pretends to show us\nfuture times and other nations, invent no more probable and coherent\nwonders?  What breath shall these men have, and what chests and throats\nmust they be, if one man standing in Bagdad shall make another at\nBussora hear him?\"\n\n\"Take from him,\" said the Caliph to an officer in attendance, \"his\nmagic tube and break it in pieces.  As for the fellow himself, let him\nbe carried three times through the streets of the city mounted upon a\ncamel and seated with his face to the tail, and let this proclamation\nbe made by the criers: 'Thus shall it fare with the man who invents\nlying tales and wonders, deceiving the people and pretending to magical\npower which he does not possess.'  After he has been carried three\ntimes round the city in this manner, let him be scourged and beheaded\nas a warning to others.\"\n\nThus perished miserably Almirvan, the owner of the magic tube.  But\nwhether he lied more than other men, and whether his punishment has\neffectually deterred others from following his pernicious example, we\nwill not attempt to determine.\n\n\nFINIS.","title":"Tales of the Caliph","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":54684}