bazar!" cried Kalum,
leading his clerk into the shop; "really, that is what I call being on
hand at the right time, and the right kind of interference too. Why,
the fellow was laid out as flat on the ground as if he had never stood
on his legs, and I--I should have had no use for a barber again to comb
and oil my beard, if you had arrived two minutes later! How can I
reward you?"

It had been only a momentary sensation of pity which had governed
Said's hand and heart; but now that that feeling had passed, he
regretted that he had saved this wicked man from a good chastisement. A
dozen hairs from his beard, thought Said, would have kept him humble
for twelve days. And now the young man thought best to make use of the
favorable disposition of the merchant, and therefore asked to be given
one evening in each week for a walk or for any other purpose he
pleased. Kalum consented, knowing full well that his clerk was too
sensible to run off without money or clothes.

On the following Wednesday, the day on which the young men of the best
families assembled in the public square in the city to go through their
martial exercises. Said asked Kalum if he would let him have this
evening for his own use; and on receiving the merchant's permission, he
went to the fairy's house, knocked, and the door was immediately
opened. The servants seemed to have prepared everything before his
arrival; for without questioning him as to his desire, they led him
upstairs to a beautiful room, and there handed him the lotion that was
to disguise his features. He moistened his face with it, and then
glanced into a metallic mirror; he hardly recognized himself, for he
was now sunburnt, wore a handsome black beard, and looked to be at
least ten years older than he really was.

He was now conducted into a second room, where he found a complete and
splendid costume, of which the Caliph of Bagdad need not have been
ashamed, on the day when he reviewed his army in all his magnificence.
Together with a turban of the finest texture, with a clasp of diamonds
and a long heron's plume, Said found a coat of mail made of silver
rings, so finely worked that it conformed to every movement of his
body, and yet was so firm that neither lance nor sword could find a way
through it. A Damascus blade in a richly ornamented sheath, and with a
handle whose stones seemed to Said to be of priceless value, completed
his warlike appearance. As he came to the door, armed at al