tortured and tormented the mare on such wise; but he could learn naught save that for some while past, every day at the same time, he had entreated her after the same fashion. Hereat as they walked along, the Caliph bid his Wazir especially notice the place and order the young man to come without failing on the next day, at the hour appointed for the blind man. But ere the Caliph reached his palace, he saw in a street, which he had not passed through for many months, a newly-built mansion, which seemed to him the palace of some great lord of the land. He asked the Wazir an he knew its owner; and Ja’afar answered he did not but would make inquiry. So he consulted a neighbour who told him that the house-owner was one Khwájah Hasan surnamed Al-Habbál from his handicraft, rope-making; that he himself had seen the man at work in the days of his poverty, that he knew not how Fate and Fortune had befriended him, yet that the same Khwájah had gotten such exceeding wealth that he had been enabled to pay honourably and sumptuously all the expenses he had incurred when building his palace. Then the Wazir returned to the Caliph, and gave him a full account of whatso he had heard, whereat cried the Prince of True Believers, “I must see this Khwajah Hasan al-Habbal: do thou therefore, O Wazir, go and tell him to come to my palace, at the same hour thou hast appointed for the other twain.” The Minister did his lord’s bidding and the next day, after mid-afternoon prayers, the Caliph retired to his own apartment and Ja’afar introduced the three persons whereof we have been speaking and presented them to the Caliph. All prostrated themselves at his feet and when they rose up, the Commander of the Faithful asked his name of the blind man, who answered he was hight Baba Abdullah. “O Servant of Allah,” cried the Caliph, “thy manner of asking alms yesterday seemed so strange to me that, had it not been for certain considerations, I should not have granted thy petition; nay, I would have prevented thy giving further offence to the folk. And now I have bidden thee hither that I may know from thyself what impelled thee to swear that rash oath whereof thou toldest me, that I may better judge whether thou have done well or ill, and if I should suffer thee to persist in a practice which meseemeth must set so pernicious an example. Tell me openly how such mad thought entered into thy head, and conceal not aught, for I will know the truth and the full truth.”——And as the morn began to dawn Shahrazad held her peace till The end of the Six Hundred and Sixth Night.