sland to him, and found
from them just where the other desert island lay upon which the boat
with Selim the Baker in it had drifted.

Then, when he had learned where it was to be found, he sent armies and
armies of men and built on that island palaces and houses, and planted
there orchards and gardens, just like the palaces and the orchards and
the gardens about him--only a great deal finer. Then he sent fleets and
fleets of ships, and carried everything away from the island where he
lived to that other island--all the men and the women and the children;
all the flocks and herds and every living thing; all the fowls and the
birds and everything that wore feathers; all the gold and the silver and
the jewels and the silks and the satins, and whatever was of any good
or of any use; and when all these things were done, there were still two
days left till the end of the year.

Upon the first of these two days he sent over the beautiful statue and
had it set up in the very midst of the splendid new palace he had built.

Upon the second day he went over himself, leaving behind him nothing but
the dead mountain and the rocks and the empty houses.

So came the end of the twelve months.

So came midnight.

Out went all the lights in the new palace, and everything was as silent
as death and as black as ink. The door opened, and in came the nine
men in red, with torches burning as red as blood. They took Selim the
Fisherman by the arms and led him to the beautiful statue, and there she
was with her eyes open.

"Are you Selim?" said she.

"Yes, I am Selim," said he.

"And do you wear the iron Ring of Wisdom?" said she.

"Yes, I do," said he; and so he did.

There was no roaring and thundering, there was no shaking and quaking,
there was no toppling and tumbling, there was no splashing and dashing:
for this island was solid rock, and was not all enchantment and hollow
inside and underneath like the other which he had left behind.

The beautiful statue smiled until the place lit up as though the sun
shone. Down she came from the pedestal where she stood and kissed Selim
the Fisherman on the lips.

Then instantly the lights blazed everywhere, and the people shouted and
cheered, and the music played. But neither Selim the Fisherman nor the
beautiful statue saw or heard anything.

"I have done all this for you!" said Selim the Fisherman.

"And I have been waiting for you a thousand years!" said the beautiful
statue--on