emember that the
least endeavour to contravene the conditions by amending the chance of any
one of you, will ensure the discomfiture of all."

The disciples speedily procured seven quills of unequal lengths, and
proceeded to draw them in the usual manner. The shortest remained in the
hand of the holder, he who had pleaded his filial duty to his mother.

He approached the table with much resolution, and his hand advanced half
the distance without impediment. Then, turning to the holder of the second
quill; the man with the sister, he said abruptly:

"The relation between mother and son is notoriously more sacred and
intimate than that which obtains between brethren. Were it not therefore
fitting that thou shouldst encounter the first risk in my stead?"

"The relationship between an aged mother and an adult son," responded the
youth addressed, in a sententious tone, "albeit most holy, cannot in the
nature of things be durable, seeing that it must shortly be dissolved by
death. Whereas the relationship between brother and sister may endure for
many years, if such be the will of Allah. It is therefore proper that thou
shouldst first venture the experiment."

"Have I lived to hear such sophistry from a pupil of the wise Aboniel!"
exclaimed the first speaker, in generous indignation. "The maternal
relationship--"

"A truce to this trifling," cried the other six; "fulfil the conditions, or
abandon the task."

Thus urged, the scholar approached his hand to the table, and seized one of
the phials. Scarcely, however, had he done so, when he fancied that he
detected something of a sinister colour in the liquid, which distinguished
it, in his imagination, from the innocent transparency of the rest. He
hastily replaced it, and laid hold of the next. At that moment a blaze of
light burst forth upon them, and, thunderstruck, the seven scholars were
stretched senseless on the ground.

On regaining their faculties they found themselves at the outside of
Aboniel's dwelling, stunned by the shock, and humiliated by the part they
had played. They jointly pledged inviolable secrecy, and returned to their
homes.

The secret of the seven was kept as well as the secret of seven can be
expected to be; that is to say, it was not, ere the expiration of seven
days, known to more than six-sevenths of the inhabitants of Balkh. The last
of these to become acquainted with it was the Sultan, who immediately
despatched his guards to apprehen