nds aghast at the
bare notion. No, friend, thy head has not a leg to stand on. Wouldst thou
retain it, it behoves thee to show that it will be more serviceable to the
owner, namely, myself, upon thy shoulders than elsewhere. This may well be.
Hast thou peradventure any subtleties in perfumery? any secrets in
confectionery? any skill in the preparation of soup?"

"I have condescended to none of these frivolities, O king. My study hath
ever consisted in divine philosophy, whereby men are rendered equal to the
gods."

"And yet long most of all for purple!" retorted the monarch, "as I conclude
from perceiving thou hast after all preferred the latter. Thy head must
indeed be worth the taking."

"Thy taunt is merited, O king! I will importune thee no longer. Thou wilt
indeed render me a service in depriving me of this wretched head, hideous
without, and I must fear, empty within, seeing that it hath not prevented
me from wasting my life in the service of vanity and luxury. Woe to the
sage who trusts his infirm wisdom and frail integrity within the precincts
of a court! Yet can I foretell a time when philosophers shall no longer run
on the futile and selfish errands of kings, and when kings shall be
suffered to rule only so far as they obey the bidding of philosophers.
Peace, Knowledge, Liberty--"

The King of Ayodhya possessed, beyond all princes of his age, the art of
gracefully interrupting an unseasonable discourse. He slightly signed to a
courtier in attendance, a scimitar flashed for a moment from its scabbard,
and the head of Sorianus rolled on the pavement; the lips murmuring as
though still striving to dwell with inarticulate fondness upon the last
word of hope for mankind.

It soon appeared that the principle of life was essential to the
resplendence of the Purple Head. Within a few minutes it had assumed so
ghastly a hue that the Rajah himself was intimidated, and directed that it
should be consumed with the body.

The same full-moon that watched the white-robed throng busied with the
rites of incremation in a grove of palms, beheld also the seven dragons
contending for the body of Marcobad. But, for many a year, the maids and
matrons of Rome were not weary of regarding, extolling, and coveting the
priceless purple tissue that glowed in the fane of Jupiter Capitolinus.

THE FIREFLY

A certain Magician had retired for the sake of study to a cottage in a
forest. It was summer in a hot country. In the