one but the master of
Zadok may enter. Thou mayst go in any time it may please thee, for it is
thine."

"I would enter into it now," said Aben Hassen the Fool.

"Thou shalt enter," said Zadok. He stooped, and with his finger-point he
drew a circle upon the ground where they stood; then he stamped with his
heel upon the circle. Instantly the earth opened, and there appeared a
flight of marble steps leading downward into the earth. Zadok led the
way down the steps and the young man followed. At the bottom of the
steps there was a door of adamant. Upon the door were these words in
letters as black as ink, in the handwriting of the old man who had gone:

"Oh, fool! Fool! Beware what thou doest. Within here shalt thou find
death!"

There was a key of brass in the door. The King of the Demons turned the
key and opened the door. The young man entered after him.

Aben Hassen the Fool found himself in a vast vaulted room, lit by the
light of a single carbuncle set in the centre of the dome above. In the
middle of the marble floor was a great basin twenty paces broad, and
filled to the brim with money such as he had found in the brazen vessel
in the garden.

The young man could not believe what he saw with his own eyes. "Oh,
marvel of marvels!" he cried; "little wonder you could give me boundless
wealth from such a storehouse as this."

Zadok laughed. "This," said he, "is nothing; come with me."

He led him from this room to another--like it vaulted, and like it lit
by a carbuncle set in the dome of the roof above. In the middle of the
floor was a basin such as Aben Hassen the Fool had seen in the other
room beyond; only this was filled with gold as that had been filled with
silver, and the gold was like that he had found in the garden. When
the young man saw this vast and amazing wealth he stood speechless and
breathless with wonder. The Demon Zadok laughed. "This," said he, "is
great, but it is little. Come and I will show thee a marvel indeed."

He took the young man by the hand and led him into a third room--vaulted
as the other two had been, lit as they had been by a carbuncle in the
roof above. But when the young man's eyes saw what was in this third
room, he was like a man turned drunk with wonder. He had to lean against
the wall behind him, for the sight made him dizzy.

In the middle of the room was such as basin as he had seen in the two
other rooms, only it was filled with jewels--diamonds and rubies and
e