The astonishment of the caliph cannot be equalled; he could not contain himself, and burst into violent fits of laughter. At last, having resumed a serious air, he said to the vizier, that since his slave had occasioned so much confusion, he merited an exemplary punishment. “Sire,” replied the vizier, “I cannot deny it; yet his crime is not inexcusable. I know a history, far more surprising, of a vizier of Cairo, called Noureddin [10] Ali, and Bedreddin Hassan, [11] of Balsora. As your majesty takes pleasure in hearing such stories, I am ready to relate it to you; provided, that if you find it more wonderful than the circumstance which occasions me to tell it, you will remit the punishment of my slave.”--“With all my heart,” returned the caliph, “but you have undertaken a great enterprize, and I do not think you can save your slave, for the story of the apples is a very singular one.” Giafar then began his story in these words. THE HISTORY OF NOUREDDIN ALI, AND BEDREDDIN HASSAN. Commander of the Faithful, there was formerly a sultan in Egypt, who was a great observer of justice; he was merciful, beneficent, and liberal, and his valour made him the terror of the neighbouring states. He provided for the poor, and protected men of learning, whom he raised to the first employment in his state. The vizier of this sultan was a prudent, wise, and penetrating man, skilled in literature and all the sciences. This minister had two sons, handsome in person, and resembling their father in talents. The eldest was named Schemseddin [12] Mohammed, and the youngest Noureddin Ali. This last, in particular, possessed as much merit as can fall to the lot of any individual. The vizier, their father, dying, the sultan sent for them, and having put on each the dress of a common vizier, “I regret your father’s death,” said he, “and feel sincerely for your loss; and as I wish to prove it to you, I invest each of you with the same dignity, for I know you live together, and are perfectly united. Go, and imitate your father.”