To have one’s life depend upon the safe preservation of a talisman may not always be a blessing, as appears in a Kalmuck story. A Khan who owned such a talisman thought that he had concealed it so effectively that no one could find it, and hence he did not hesitate to make the discovery of its hiding-place a crucial test of the skill of a wise man who came to visit his court. The sage proved equal to the emergency and found the talisman while its owner was asleep, but was so rejoiced at the successful accomplishment of the task that he very irreverently clapped a bladder on the sleeping Khan’s head, who was so much enraged at the indignity that he ordered the wise man’s immediate execution. However, the latter quickly made use of the magic power over the Khan’s life that the possession of the talisman gave him, and cast it down so violently as to break it. No sooner had this happened than blood spurted from the Khan’s nostrils and death overtook him.[650] Agate amulets still find favor in Spain, a number of interesting examples having recently been acquired in that country by Mr. W. L. Hildburgh, many of them being offered for sale in small stalls, both in the capital, Madrid, and in other of the Spanish cities.[651] In a number of cases these amulets are milky white agates, this hue recommending their use as lactation amulets. In one specimen, however, secured in Seville, the agate showed seven concentric white stripes, probably indicating that it had been used as a charm against the Evil Eye as well as to favor the secretion of milk. For the latter purpose, in lieu of agate, white glass beads are often sold, a dealer in a small stall in Madrid having in his stock a string of fifty such beads which he sold one by one to the women who had faith in their efficacy; agate beads of combined grayish, reddish and white coloration are also to be found. Quite an ambitious type of these popular amulets is figured by Mr. Hildburgh (Pl. i, p. 64, fig. 7). This is a triple pendant, with chain attached for suspension, the upper part being an agate grayish-white and reddish, probably rendering it at once a lactation amulet and one serving still another use as a woman’s amulet. The middle of this pendant was of blue glass banded with other colors, and the terminal was of black glass, spotted blue, yellow and red; both of these glass objects are supposed to have served against the Evil Eye. Thus this particular amulet combined a number of virtues.