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ITH my voyage on the Ethiopian Nile a thread of romance was woven, which, in the Oriental mood that had now become native to me, greatly added to the charm of the journey. My nights' entertainments were better than the Arabian. The inoon was at the full, and although, during the day, a light northwind filled my sails, it invariably fell calm at sunset, and remained so for two or three hours. During the afternoon, I lay stretched on my carpet on the deck, looking through half-closed eyes on the glittering river and his banks. The western shore was one long bower of Paradise-so green, so bright, so heaped with the deep, cool foliage of majestic sycamores and endless clusters of palms. I had seen no such beautiful palms since leaving Minyeh, in Lower Egypt. There they were taller, but had not the exceeding richness and glory of these. The sun shone hot in a cloudless blue heaven, and the air was of a glassy, burning clearness, (ike that which dwells in the inmost heart of fire. The colors of the landscape were as if enamelled on gold, so intense, so glowng in their intoxicating depth and splendor. When, at last, the wind fell-except a breeze just strong enough to shake the creamy odor out of the purple beanblossoms-and the sun went down in a bed of pale orange light, the moon came up the other side of heaven, a broad disc

of yellow fire, and bridged the glassy Nile with her beams.

At such times, I selected a pleasant spot on the western bank of the river, where the palms were loftiest and most thickly clustered, and had the boat moored to the shore. Achmet then spread my carpet and piled my cushions on the shelving bank of white sand, at the foot of the trees, where, as I lay, I could see the long, feathery leaves high above my head, and at the same time look upon the broad wake of the moon, as she rose beyond the Nile. The sand was as fine and soft as a bed of down, and retained an agreeable warmth from the sunshine which had lain upon it all day. As we rarely halted near a village, there was no sound to disturb the balmy repose of the scene, except, now and then, the whine of a jackal prowling along the edge of the Desert. Achmet crossed his legs beside me on the sand, and Ali, who at such times had special charge of my pipe, sat at my feet, ready to replenish it as often as occasion required. My boatmen, after gathering dry palm-leaves and the resinous branches of the mimosa, kindled a fire beside some neighboring patch of dookhn, and squatted around it, smoking and chatting in subdued tones, that their gossip might not disturb my meditations. Their white turbans and lean, dark faces were brought out in strong relief by the

red fire-light, and completed the reality of a picture which was more beautiful than dreams.

On the first of these evenings, after my pipe had been filled for the third time, Achmet, finding that I showed no dispo sition to break the silence, and rightly judging that I would rather listen than talk, addressed me. "Master," said he, "I know many stories, such as the storytellers relate in the coffee-houses of Cairo. If you will give me permission, I will tell you some which I think you will find diverting." "Excellent!" said I; "nothing will please me better, provided you tell them in Arabic.. This will be more agreeable to both of us, and whenever I cannot understand your words, I will interrupt you, and you shall explain them as well as you can in English." He immediately commenced, and while those evening calms lasted, I had such a living experience of the Arabian Nights as would have seemed to me a greater marvel than any they describe, had it been foreshown to my boyish vision, when I first hung over the charmed pages. There, in my African mood, the most marvellous particulars seemed quite real and natural, and I enjoyed those flowers of Eastern romance with a zest unknown before. After my recent reception, as a king of the Franks, in the capital of Berber, it was not difficult to imagine myself Shahriar, the Sultan of the Indies, especially as the moon showed me my turbaned

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shadow on the sand. If the amber mouthpiece of my pipe was not studded with jewels, and if the zerf which held my coffee-cup was brass instead of gold, it was all the same by moonlight. Achmet. seated on the sand a little below my throne, was Sheherazade, and Ali, kneeling at my feet, her sister, Dinarzade; though, to speak candidly, my imagination could not stretch quite so far. In this respect Shahriar had greatly the advantage of me. I bitterly felt the difference between my dusky vizier and his vizier's daughter. Nor did Ali, who listened to the stories with great interest, expressing his satisfaction occasionally by a deep guttural chuckle, ever surprise me by saying: "If you are not asleep, my sister, I beg of you to recount to me one of those delightful stories you know."

Nevertheless, those nights possessed a charm which separates them from all other nights I have known. The stories resembled those of the Arabian tale in being sometimes prolonged from one day to another. One of them, in fact, was "Ganem, the Slave of Love;" but, as told by Achmet, differing slightly from the English version. The principal story, however, was new to me, and as I am not aware that it has ever been translated, I may be pardoned for telling it as it was told to me, taking the liberty to substitute my own words for Achmet's mixture of Arabic and English. I was too thoroughly given up to the pleasant illusion

to note down the story at the time. and I regret that many peculiarities of expression have escaped me, which then led me to consider it a genuine product of the age which produced the Thousand and One Nights.

"You already know, my master," Achmet began, "that many hundred years ago all the people of Islam were governed. by a Caliph, whose capital was Baghdad, and I doubt not that you have heard of the great Caliph, Haroun Al-Raschid, who certainly was not only the wisest man of his day, but the wisest that has been known since the days of our prophet. Mohammed, whose name be exalted! rarely happens that a wise and great man ever finds a wife, whose wisdom is any

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match for his own; for as the wise men whom Allah sends upon the earth are few, so are the wise women still fewer. But herein was the Caliph favored of Heaven. Since the days of Balkis, the Queen of Sheba, whom even the Prophet Solomon could not help but honor, there was no woman equal in virtue or in wisdom to the Sultana Zubeydeh (Zobeide). The Caliph never failed to consult her on all important matters, and her prudence and intelligence were united with his, in the government of his great empire, even as the sun and moon are sometimes seen shining in the heavens at the same time. But do not imagine that Haroun AlRaschid and the Sultana Zubeydeh were destitute of faults. None except the

Prophets of God-may their names be extolled for ever!-were ever entirely just, or wise, or prudent. The Caliph was subject to fits of jealousy and mistrust, which frequently led him to commit acts that obliged him, afterwards, to eat of the bitter fruit of repentance; and as for Zubeydeh, with all her wisdom, she had a sharp tongue in her head, and was often so little discreet as to say things which brought upon her the displeasure of the Commander of the Faithful.

It chanced that, once upon a time, they were both seated in a window of the hareem, which overlooked one of the streets of Baghdad. The Caliph was in an illhumor, for a beautiful Georgian slave whom his vizier had recently brought him, had disappeared from the harem, and

he saw in this the work of Zubeydeh, wi> was always jealous of any rival to her beauty. Now, as they were sitting there, looking down into the street, a poor woodcutter came along, with a bundle of sticks upon his head. His body was lean with poverty, and his only clothing was a tattered cloth, bound around his waist. But the most wonderful thing was, that in passing through the wood where he had collected his load, a serpent had seized him by the heel, but his feet were so hardened by toil that they resembled the hoofs of a camel; and he neither felt the teeth of the serpent, nor knew that he was still dragging it after him as he walked. The Caliph marvelled when he beheld this, but Zubeydeh exclaimed, "See, O Commander of the Faithful!

there is the man's wife!" "What!" exclaimed Haroun, with sudden wrath; "is the wife then a serpent to the man, which stings him none the less because he does not feel it? Thou serpent, because thou hast stung me, and because thou hast made sport of the honest poverty of that poor creature, thou shalt take the serpent's place!" Zubeydeh answered not a word, for she knew that to speak would but increase the Caliph's anger. Haroun clapped his hand thrice, and presently Mesrour, his chief eunuch, appeared. 66 Here, Mesrour," said he; take this woman with thee, follow yonder wood-cutter, and present her to him as his wife, whom the Caliph hath ordered him to accept."

Mesrour laid his hands upon his breast and bowed his head, in token of obedience. He then beckoned to Zubeydeh, who rose, covered herself with a veil and a feridjee, such as is worn by the wives of the poor, and followed him. When they had overtaken the wood-cutter, Mesrour delivered to him the message of the Caliph, and presented to him the veiled Zubeydeh. "There is no God but God!" said the poor man; "but how can I support a wife-I, who can scarcely live by my own labors?" "Dost thou dare to disobey the Commander of the Faithful?" cried Mesrour, in such a savage tone, that the man trembled from head to foot; but Zubeydeh, speaking for the first time, said, "Take me with thee, O man! since it is the Caliph's will. I will serve thee faithfully, and perhaps the burden of thy poverty may be lightened through me." The man thereupon obeyed, and they proceeded together to his house, which was in a remote part of the city. There were but two miserable rooms, with a roof, which was beginning to fall in, from decay. The wood-cutter, having thrown down his bundle, went out to the bazaar, purchased some rice and a little salt, and brought a jar of water from the fountain. This was all he could afford, and Zubeydeh, who had kindled a fire in the mean time, cooked it and placed it before him. But when he would have had her raise her veil, and sit down to eat with him, she refused, saying, "I have promised that I shall not increase the burden of thy poverty. Promise me, in return, that thou wilt never seek to look upon my face, nor to enter that room, which I have chosen for my apartment. I am not without learning, O man! and if thou wilt respect my wishes, it shall be well for thee."

The wood-cutter, who was not natural

ly deficient in intelligence, perceived from the words of Zubeydeh, that she was a superior person; and judging that he could not do better than to follow her counsel, promised at once all that she desired. She then declared, that as she intended to take charge of his household, he must give to her, every evening, all the money he had received for his wood during the day. The man consented to this, and likewise produced a handful of copper coins, which all together amounted to only one piastre-but you must know, my master, that a piastre in the days of Haroun Al-Raschid, was four or five times as much as it is nowadays. Thus they lived together for several weeks, the wood-cutter going to the forest every day, and paying his gains every night into the hands of Zubeydeh, who kept his miserable house clean and comfortable, and prepared his food. She managed things with so much economy that she was enabled to save two paras every day, out of the piastre which he gave her. When she had amassed twenty piastres in this way, she gave them to the wood-cutter, saying: "Go now to the market and buy thee an ass with this money. Thou canst thus bring home thrice as much wood as before, and the ass can subsist upon the grass which he finds in the forest, and which costs thee nothing." "By Allah!" exclaimed the wood-cutter; "thou art a wonderful woman, and I will obey thee in every thing."

He forthwith did as Zubeydeh ordered, and was now enabled to give her three or four piastres every evening. She presented him with a more decent garment, and added butter to his pillau of rice, but still preserved such a strict economy, that in a short time he was master of three asses instead of one, and was obliged to hire a man to assist him in cutting wood. One evening as the asses came home with their loads, Zubeydeh remarked that the wood gave out a grateful fragrance, like that of musk or ambergris, and upon examining it more closely, she found that it was a most precious article-in fact that it had been cut from one of those spicy trees which sprang up where the tears of Adam fell upon the earth, as he bewailed his expulsion from Paradise. For at that time the juices of the fruits of Paradise still remained in his body, and his tears were flavored by them-which was the cause of all the spices that grow in the lands of Serendib and India. beydeh asked of the wood-cutter: "To whom dost thou sell this wood?" and from his answer, she found that it was all

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purchased by some Jewish merchants, who gave him no more for it than for the common wood with which she cooked his rice. "The accursed Jews!" she exclaimed; "go thou to them immediately, and threaten to accuse them before the Cadi of defrauding a son of the Faith, unless they agree to pay thee for this wood henceforth, twelve times as much as they have paid before!"

The man lost no time in visiting the Jewish merchants, who, when they saw that their fraud had been discovered, were greatly alarmed, and immediately agreed to pay him all that he demanded. The wood-cutter now brought home every night three donkey-loads of the precious wood, and paid to Zubeydeh from one to two hundred piastres. She was soon able to purchase a better house, where she not only gave the man more nourishing food, but sent for a teacher to instruct him how to read and write. He had so improved in appearance by this time, and had profited so well by the wise conversation of Zubeydeh, that he was quite like another person, and those who had known him in his poverty no longer recognized him. For this reason, the Caliph, who soon repented of his anger towards Zubeydeh and made every effort to recover her, was unable to find any trace of him. Mesrour sought day and night through the streets of Baghdad, but as Zubeydeh never left the wood-cutter's house, all his search was in vain, and the Caliph was like one distracted.

One day, as the wood-cutter was on his way to the forest, he was met by three persons, who desired to hire his asses for the day. "But," said he; "I make my living from the wood which the asses carry to the city." "What profit do you make upon each load?" asked one of the men. "If it is a good load I often make fifty piastres," answered the wood-cutter. "Well," said the men, we will give you two hundred piastres as the hire of each ass for one day." The wood-cutter, who had not expected such an extraordinary offer, was about to accept it at once when he reflected that he had obeyed in all things the advice of Zubeydeh, and ought not to take such a step without her consent. He thereupon requested the men to wait while he returned home and consulted his wife. "You have done right, O my lord!" said Zubeydeh: "I commend your prudence, and am quite willing that you should accept the offer of the men, as the money will purchase other asses and repay you for the loss of the day's profit if the persons should not return."

Now, the three men were three celebrated robbers who had amassed a vast treasure which they kept concealed in a cave in one of the neighboring mountains. They hired the asses in order to transport this treasure to a barque in which they had taken passage to Bassora, where they intended to establish themselves as rich foreign merchants. But Allah, who governs all things, allows the plans of the wicked to prosper for a time, only that he may throw them into more utter ruin at the last. The robbers went to their secret cave with the asses and loaded them with all their spoils-great sacks of gold, of rubies, diamonds and emeralds, which the beasts were scarcely strong enough to carry. On their way

to the river below Baghdad, where the boat was waiting for them, two of them stopped to drink at a well while the other went on with the asses. Said one of the twain to the other: "Let us kill our comrade, that we may have the greater treasure." He at once agreed, and they had no sooner overtaken the third robber than the first, with one stroke of his sabre, made his head fly from his body. The two then proceeded for a short distance, when the murderer said: "I must have more than half of the treasure because I killed our comrade." "If you begin by claiming more than half you will in the end claim the whole;" said the other robber, who refused to agree. They presently set upon each other with their swords, and after fighting for some time, both of them received so many wounds that they fell dead in the road.

The asses, finding that no one was driving them any longer, took, from habit, the road to the wood-cutter's house where they arrived safely, with the treasure upon their backs. Great was the amazement of their master, who, at Zubeydeh's command, carried the heavy sacks into the house. But when he had opened one of them, and the splendor of the jewels filled the whole room. Zubeydeh exclaimed: "God is great! Now, indeed, I see that my conduct is acceptable to Him, and that His hand hurries my design more swiftly to its completion." But as she knew not what had happened to the robbers, and supposed that the owner of the treasure would have his loss proclaimed in the bazaars, she determined to keep the sacks closed for the space of a moon, after which, according to the law, they would become her property if they had not been claimed in the mean time. Of course, no proclamation of the loss was made and at the end of the moon she