“My lord and master,” he whispered softly, “ridiculous as it may appear for a vizier, not to mention a stork, to be afraid of ghosts, there is no doubt I feel an uncomfortable sensation of fright, for can you not hear a weird groaning and sobbing noise close at hand?” The Caliph listened and heard the unmistakable sound of human weeping. Anxious to solve the mystery he hastened towards the spot from which the sound proceeded. The vizier seized him by the wing and begged him earnestly not to place himself in the way of fresh danger, but the Caliph carried a brave heart beneath his stork’s feathers and, disengaging himself from his companion, though with the loss of some feathers, he hurried along the dark corridor. Presently he came to a door which was closed, but not fastened, and from behind which he distinctly heard the sound of sighing and weeping. He pushed the door open with his beak and stood astounded upon the threshold. In a ruined chamber, lighted only by the rays of the moon, which streamed through a little casement window, he saw a large owl. Tears streamed from her great brown eyes, and with hoarse screeching voice she bemoaned her sorrows, but no sooner did she perceive the Caliph and his vizier than she uttered a cry of joy; daintily wiping the tears from her eyes with her brown-tinted wings, she spoke to them, to their utter astonishment, in excellent Arabic-- [Illustration: _He bowed his long neck._ (P. 20.)] “Welcome, O ye storks,” she cried, “you come to me as tokens of my deliverance, for it was once prophesied to me that great good fortune would befall me through the intervention of two storks.” As soon as the Caliph had recovered from his astonishment, he brought his thin feet together and bowed his long neck in an elegant attitude. “Owl,” said he, “after what you have said, may I consider myself to be in the presence of a companion in distress? But alas! your hopes that we may be able to assist you are in vain. You will recognise our helplessness when you have heard our story.” The owl begged him to recount it, and the Caliph made her acquainted with all that had befallen them. CHAPTER IV.