He had obtained great wealth by the aid of the curious lamp he had found in the most marvelous manner, but which is of small importance in comparison with what I am about to relate; and he so considered it, for he gave the lamp to a beggar when he had secured the talisman which is the subject of this sketch. [Illustration] Then be it remembered that in the land of the Sapphires and Diamonds there lived a princess of such matchless beauty no man had yet looked upon her and survived the fire of the love which was instantaneously engendered within his breast; for he could sleep neither by day nor by night, nor could he eat or drink, but could think of nothing but this lovely princess. And the final end of each was the final end of all, which was by kissing the princess on the lips, for so cold was she the chilling shock to the burning heart produced instant death. It was the serious desire of this princess when she became queen to wed, and so great was her disappointment at the death of each and every suitor she offered her realm to the man who should survive her kiss. It so happened upon the publication of that information in the daily papers of the kingdom, the number of dead bodies in the queen’s palace became so great she could not move from where she stood, and suitors were not permitted to make the attempt for the space of six months, it requiring that time to remove and properly bury the dead, which were men of valor and renown, and their deaths were much deplored. No war had ever destroyed so many mighty warriors and statesmen and poets and clergymen and priests and common men in the history of the world. It was about the end of the six months that my forefather entered the kingdom and became possessed of this information. Being at the age when all the fires of existence are strong and steady, he would have at once entered the lists had he not been awakened one dark night by the moaning of the wind. Being well versed in the language of the breezes he accurately read the message and without loss of time took to his horse and sped over the mountains. He traveled steadily onward for several days, all the while rising high and higher. But one gigantic peak remained to be scaled, when his progress was stopped by the great body of a terrible serpent so large in circumference it would have taken years to have built a bridge across it, as it extended several times around the peak. This serpent my ancestor knew to be the genii which stood guard over the treasure of which he was in search. So, leaving his horse, he crept stealthily along until he found the monster’s head and it was sound asleep. He took from his pouch two large burning glasses and calculated the distance with such nicety the fire of the sun consumed both its eyes instantly. So great was its pain it uncoiled itself from about the mountain and rushed off into the valley, not knowing whither it went.