and fairest of all the Sultan's wives, and to
whom he had looked with hope to
recompense him for his many disappointments,
made as bad a Howsa Kummauns as any of
the rest. The unfortunate Taxedtaurus took
this so much to heart that he fell into a
profound melancholy, secluded himself from
observation, and for some time was so seldom
seen or heard of that many of his great officers
of state supposed him to be dead.

Shall I never, said the unhappy Monarch,
beating his breast in his retirement in
the Pavilion of Failure, and giving vent
to his tears, find a Howsa Kummauns,
who will be true to me! He then quoted
from the Poet, certain verses importing,
Every Howsa Kummauns has deceived
me, Every Howsa Kummauns is a
Humbug, I must slay the present Howsa
Kummauns as I have slain so many others, I am
brought to shame and mortification, I am
despised by the world. After which his
grief so overpowered him, that he fainted
away.

It happened that on recovering his senses
he heard the voice of the last-made Howsa
Kummauns, in the Divan adjoining. Applying
his ear to the lattice, and finding that that
shameless Princess was vaunting her loyalty
and virtue, and denying a host of facts—
which she always did, all night—the Sultan
drew his scimitar in a fury, resolved to put
an end to her existence.

But, the Grand Vizier Parmarstoon (or
Twirling Weathercock), who was at that
moment watching his incensed master from
behind the silken curtains of the Pavilion of
Failure, hurried forward and prostrated
himself, trembling, on the ground. This Vizier
had newly succeeded to Abaddeen (or the
Addled), who had for his misdeeds been
strangled with a garter.

The breath of the slave, said the Vizier,
is in the hands of his Lord, but the Lion will
sometimes deign to listen to the croaking of
the frog. I swear to thee, Vizier, replied
the Sultan, that I have borne too much
already and will bear no more. Thou and
the Howsa Kummauns are in one story,
and by the might of Allah and the beard
of the Prophet, I have a mind to destroy ye
both!

When the Vizier heard the Sultan thus
menace him with destruction, his heart
drooped within him. But, being a brisk and
ready man, though stricken in years, he
quoted certain lines from the Poet, implying
that the thunder-cloud often spares the leaf
or there would be no fruit, and touched the
ground with his forehead in token of
submission. What wouldst thou say? demanded
the generous Prince, I give thee leave to
speak. Thou art not unaccustomed to public
speaking; speak glibly! Sire, returned the
Vizier, but for the dread of the might of my
Lord, I would reply in the words addressed
by the ignorant man to the Genie. And what
were those words? demanded the Sultan.
Repeat them! Parmarstoon replied, To hear
is to obey:

THE STORY OF THE IGNORANT MAN AND
THE GENIE.

Sire, on the barbarous confines of the
kingdom of the Tartars, there dwelt an
ignorant man, who was obliged to make a
journey through the Great Desert of Desolation;
which, as your Majesty knows, is
sometimes a journey of upwards of three score
and ten years. He bade adieu to his mother
very early in the morning, and departed
without a guide, ragged, barefoot, and
alone. He found the way surprisingly steep
and rugged, and beset by vile serpents and
strange unintelligible creatures of horrible
shapes. It was likewise full of black bogs
and pits, into which he not only fell himself,
but often had the misfortune to drag other
travellers whom he encountered, and who
got out no more, but were miserably stifled.

Sire, on the fourteenth day of the journey
of the ignorant man of the kingdom of the
Tartars, he sat down to rest by the side of a
foul well (being unable to find a better), and
there cracked for a repast, as he best could, a
very hard nut, which was all he had about
him. He threw the shell anywhere as he
stripped it off, and having made an end of his
meal arose to wander on again, when
suddenly the air was darkened, he heard a frightful
cry, and saw a monstrous Genie, of
gigantic stature, who brandished a mighty
scimetar in a hand of iron, advancing towards
him. Rise, ignorant beast, said the monster,
as he drew nigh, that I, Law, may kill thee
for having affronted my ward. Alas, my
lord, returned the ignorant man, how can I
have affronted thy ward whom I never saw?
He is invisible to thee, returned the Genie,
because thou art a benighted barbarian; but
if thou hadst ever learnt any good thing
thou wouldst have seen him plainly, ami
wouldst have respected him. Lord of my
life, pleaded the traveller, how could I learn
where there were none to teach me, and how
affront thy ward whom I have not the power
to see? I tell thee, returned the Genie, that
with thy pernicious refuse thou hast struck
my ward, Prince Socieetee, in the apple of
the eye; and because thou hast done this, I
will be thy ruin. I maim and kill the like of
thee by thousands every year, for no other
crime. And shall I spare thee? Kneel and
receive the blow.

Your Majesty will believe (continued the
Grand Vizier) that the ignorant man of the
kingdom of the Tartars, gave himself up for
lost when he heard those cruel words. Without
so much as repeating the formula of our
faith—There is but one Allah, from him we
come, to him we must return, and who shall
resist his will (for he was too ignorant even to
have heard it), he bent his neck to receive the
fatal stroke. His head rolled off as he finished