but could enjoy all things—sober, but with
the means of pleasure around her—calm, but
never opposed—patient, but never
disappointed; in fact, she had all the qualities
that would have made poverty acceptable,
and yet wealth and honours ever increased
around her. What he meant was, that she
had never been tried, only he could not doubt
that in whatever position placed she would
triumph.

The merchant Zara possessed a country
house out on the borders of the Nile, in the
midst of a garden where pomegranate trees
and orange trees and sweet lemon trees and
bananas, with palms and sycamores, combined
to throw a pleasant shadow upon the earth.
There he dwelt with his family during the
summer months, riding on his mule to the
city in the morning, and returning in the
evening. One day Martha and Mina were
sitting in a little kiosque overhanging the
banks of the river, which was resplendent
in the sun, when a large barque, with many
rowers, came rapidly down the stream. On
the roof of the cabin sat an old man, dressed
in a costume strange to Egypt. He was
looking eagerly at the houses on the banks of
the stream, as if seeking some sign. When
he came exactly opposite the kiosque, he half
rose, and, in a loud voice, commanded the
steersman to guide the boat to the land. A
few minutes afterwards he stood at the gate
of the garden, saying, " Blessings be on Mina
the perfect, and on Martha the happy! This
is the term of my voyage, and I beg to be
allowed to rest under these beautiful trees
until the master of the house returns from
Cairo."

Martha and her daughter came veiled from
the kiosque, wondering at the old man's
knowledge of their names, and impatient to
ask for an explanation. They admitted the
stranger, who saluted them politely, and sat
down on a bench under a sycamore. The
gravity of his manner restrained their
questions, and they contented themselves with
ordering coffee and pipes and sherbet to be
brought from the house, that the stranger
might be refreshed. All the time it was only
the example of Mina, however, that restrained
the inquisitiveuess of Martha, and she now
and then whispered:—" Daughter, shall I
provoke him to speak? " But Mina always
shook her head, and so they remained ignorant
of the meaning of this visit until the
arrival of Zara. The stranger, on perceiving
the merchant, saluted him by his name, saying:
"Oh Zara, I have travelled during two
months for the sake of seeing thee and thy
family, and by the blessing of Providence my
desire is now fulfilled."

Then, he related, speaking softly and
sweetly in that calm evening in the garden,
through which the beams of the setting sun
shone in golden streaks, that his name was
Sahel, that he was vizier of one of the kings
of Abyssinia, who had a son called Michail,
perfect in knowledge and understanding, and
excellent in beauty. When the time came
that this king wished to persuade his son to
marriage, the young man objected that none
of the princesses whom he had seen, or of
whom he had heard, possessed the qualities
which would satisfy him. His father smiled,
and said: " So it is always with the young.
They think that none but angels are fit to be
their companions, and so it must be that they
regard themselves as angels too. When life
reveals to us our true value we become less
fastidious, and fancy we have grown corrupt
whilst we have only become humble.
However, seek my son and thou shalt find."
Michail had already formed his opinion on all
the maidens of his people who were of
sufficiently high birth to attract his notice. He
might, perhaps, have found beauty and virtue
enough in lower regions, but when men are
placed on the summit of a mountain their
fellow- creatures in the plain are diminished
to dwarfs. So, at first, the young prince
looked forward, not without some melancholy,
to a life of celibacy. A worthy monk, learning
his state of mind, advised him to take the
vow, and for a moment he was disposed to
do so; but on closely questioning his own
heart he determined instead to make one
more effort, and seek to discover a wife
worthy to share his high position.

His mind being full of these ideas, he retired
one night to rest in a pavilion situated in a
quiet corner of the garden of his father's
palace. Here he slept to the music of his own
thoughts; but, though he slept, he seemed to
see the forms around him almost as clearly
as when awake—the elegant dome, the
pendent lamp, the slender pillars with the
branches of beautiful trees gently waving
between them. Suddenly he heard a rustling
sound, as if invisible birds were fluttering
around. Then he thought he made out
the forms of women overhead, but so vague
and indistinct that he saw the gilded roof
through them. Then he heard a voice which
said:

"What news of our sister, oh, Ginnee! of
the Christians?"

"She is beautiful and happy," was the
reply.

"But what of the prince whom her father,
in his vanity, chose for her husband? Has
he come to woo her?"

"There is no prince worthy of her, unless
it be this one."

"Let us betroth her to him."

Then all the spirits speaking together, said,
or sang:

"We betroth Mina, the daughter of Zara
and his wife Martha, who are now in Cairo,
of Egypt, to the prince Michail. Accursed
be he if he take any other maiden to wife.
Let him send a messenger for her. She will
be found sitting with her mother in a kiosque
on the banks of the Nile." Then they
described the place, and the hour, and the