said the Genie; and as he spoke there stood eleven more
youths before Abdallah, as like the first as so many pictures of the
same person, and each youth bore in his hands a box like the one that
the monster had given Abdallah. "Will my lord have anything further?"
asked the Genie.

"Let me think," said Abdallah. "Yes; I know the town well, and that
should one so rich as I ride into it without guards he would be certain
to be robbed before he had travelled a hundred paces. Let me have an
escort of a hundred armed men."

"It shall be done," said the Genie, and, waving his hand, the road where
they stood was instantly filled with armed men, with swords and helmets
gleaming and flashing in the sun, and all seated upon magnificently
caparisoned horses. "Can I serve my lord further?" asked the Genie.

"No," said Abdallah the fagot-maker, in admiration, "I have nothing more
to wish for in this world. Thou mayest go, Genie, and it will be long
ere I will have to call thee again," and thereupon the Genie was gone
like a flash.

The captain of Abdallah's troop--a bearded warrior clad in a superb suit
of armor--rode up to the fagot-maker, and, leaping from his horse and
bowing before him so that his forehead touched the dust, said, "Whither
shall we ride, my lord?"

Abdallah smote his forehead with vexation. "If I live a thousand years,"
said he, "I will never learn wisdom." Thereupon, dismounting again, he
pressed the ring and summoned the Genie. "I was mistaken," said he, "as
to not wanting thee so soon. I would have thee build me in the city a
magnificent palace, such as man never looked upon before, and let it be
full from top to bottom with rich stuffs and treasures of all sorts. And
let it have gardens and fountains and terraces fitting for such a place,
and let it be meetly served with slaves, both men and women, the most
beautiful that are to be found in all the world."

"Is there aught else that thou wouldst have?" asked the Genie.

The fagot-maker meditated a long time. "I can bethink myself of nothing
more just now," said he.

The Genie turned to the captain of the troop and said some words to him
in a strange tongue, and then in a moment was gone. The captain gave the
order to march, and away they all rode with Abdallah in the midst. "Who
would have thought," said he, looking around him, with the heart within
him swelling with pride as though it would burst--"who would have
thought that only this morning I was