Two slaves now entered bearing the rug; and when they had spread it upon the floor, it was found to be perfectly put together. "By Allah!" gasped Garrofat, "he must be a genie." Doola was the first to recover from the general surprise, and stepping quickly to his brother's side he whispered in his ear. Now the counsel must have been pleasing; for Garrofat chuckled and thus addressed the prince. "Let me congratulate you," he said with a grin, "but before I can consider you as a suitor for the hand of Azalia, I must have further proof that you are as wise as you pretend. Else, would I be false to my duty as her guardian. "Now just before your entrance we were considering a question of grave importance to the welfare of the kingdom. You will observe that there hangs on the wall beside you what appear to be four charts, but which are really the parts of one chart. Know then that this kingdom consists of eight provinces; ruled over by the eight emirs you see here assembled. Now these eight emirs are so jealous of each other that fierce battles occur whenever two of them chance to meet upon the road. Only our presence now restrains them. Anxious to put an end to these disgraceful brawls within the kingdom, the great Rajah Onalba had drawn yonder plan of the eight provinces. On it as you see he laid down roads running north and south, and east and west. Other roads cross these in every direction, so that any one of the eight emirs might leave his castle and travel by any route across the kingdom without passing the castle of another emir on the way. Now by some misfortune the chart was cut into four pieces before the roads were built, and we have never been able to arrange them in their original position. There on the wall are the four pieces. The lines represent the roads, and the eight spots the castles of the emirs. This matter must be adjusted at once, and as you are a suitor for the hand of Azalia I expect you to prove your claim to wisdom by solving the puzzle of the chart." [Illustration: THE EIGHT PROVINCES.] [Illustration: THE EIGHT PROVINCES.] [Illustration: THE EIGHT PROVINCES.] When Garrofat had concluded, Bright-Wits, in obedience to the counsel of Ablano, expressed his willingness to attempt the solution of this new riddle. Whipping from the gates to be the penalty of failure. At a signal from the vizier, the audience was now dismissed; Bright-Wits bearing away to his apartments the pieces of the torn chart. _The reader may cut out the four pieces of the chart which he will find on a page at the back of the book. Cut along the dotted lines and endeavour to arrange the four parts so that no two castles will appear on any straight lines. He can thus learn Bright-Wits' chance of success._ CHAPTER III BRIGHT-WITS LEARNS THAT HIS MARRIAGE WITH AZALIA DEPENDS ON THREE FOUNTAINS AND THREE GATES IN THE PALACE GROUNDS