o
sat with closed eyes meditating inside of himself.

The old man opened his eyes, the whites of which were as yellow as
saffron, and wrinkled his face into innumerable cracks and lines. Then
he closed his eyes again; then he opened them again; then he cleared
his throat and began: "There was once upon a time a man whom other men
called Aben Hassen the Wise--"

"One moment," said Ali Baba; "will you not tell us what the story is
about?"

Old Bidpai looked at him and stroked his long white beard. "It is," said
he, "about--"

The Talisman of Solomon

There was once upon a time a man whom other men called Aben Hassen
the Wise. He had read a thousand books of magic, and knew all that the
ancients or moderns had to tell of the hidden arts.

The King of the Demons of the Earth, a great and hideous monster,
named Zadok, was his servant, and came and went as Aben Hassen the Wise
ordered, and did as he bade. After Aben Hassen learned all that it was
possible for man to know, he said to himself, "Now I will take my ease
and enjoy my life." So he called the Demon Zadok to him, and said to the
monster, "I have read in my books that there is a treasure that was one
time hidden by the ancient kings of Egypt--a treasure such as the eyes
of man never saw before or since their day. Is that true?"

"It is true," said the Demon.

"Then I command thee to take me to that treasure and to show it to me,"
said Aben Hassen the Wise.

"It shall be done," said the Demon; and thereupon he caught up the Wise
Man and transported him across mountain and valley, across land and
sea, until he brought him to a country known as the "Land of the Black
Isles," where the treasure of the ancient kings was hidden. The Demon
showed the Magician the treasure, and it was a sight such as man had
never looked upon before or since the days that the dark, ancient ones
hid it. With his treasure Aben Hassen built himself palaces and gardens
and paradises such as the world never saw before. He lived like an
emperor, and the fame of his doings rang through all the four corners of
the earth.

Now the queen of the Black Isles was the most beautiful woman in the
world, but she was as cruel and wicked and cunning as she was beautiful.
No man that looked upon her could help loving her; for not only was
she as beautiful as a dream, but her beauty was of that sort that it
bewitched a man in spite of himself.

One day the queen sent for Aben Hassen the Wise