ho advised your
return to your native air, and the magpie which urged you not to
fight."

"I," said Ebony, "was the vulture who plucked the eagle, the
rhinoceros which thrust its horn into the elephant, the peasant who
beat the ass, the merchant who gave you the camels to hasten you to
your ruin; I raised the bridge you crossed; I bored the mountains for
you to pass; I was the physician who advised you to proceed, and the
raven which encouraged you to fight."

"Alas! And remember the Oracle," added Topaz; "If you turn to the east
you will turn to the west."

"Yes, here they bury the dead with their faces turned westward," said
Ebony. "The Oracle was plain; why did not you understand it? You
possessed and you possessed not; for you had the diamond, but it was a
false one, and you did not know it; you got the best of it in battle,
but you also got the worst, for you must die; you are Rustem, but you
will soon cease to be so. The Oracle is fulfilled."

Even as he spoke two white wings appeared on the shoulders of Topaz,
and two black wings on those of Ebony.

"What is this that I see?" cried Rustem. And Topaz and Ebony replied:
"We are your two genies." "I," added Topaz, "am your good genie."

"And you, Ebony, with your black wings, are apparently my evil genie."

"As you say," replied Ebony.

Then suddenly everything vanished. Rustem found himself in his
father's house, which he had not quitted, and in his bed where he had
been sleeping just an hour.

He awoke with a start, bathed in sweat and greatly scared. He shouted,
he called, he rang. His servant Topaz hurried up in his night-cap,
yawning.

"Am I dead or alive?" cried Rustem. "Will the beautiful Princess of
Cashmere recover?"

"Is your Highness dreaming?" said Topaz calmly.

"And what," cried Rustem, "has become of that cruel Ebony, with his
two black wings? Is it his fault that I am dying so dreadful a death?"

"Sir, I left him upstairs, snoring. Shall I call him down?"

"The villain! He has been tormenting me these six months. It was he
who took me to that fatal fair at Cabul; it was he who stole the
diamond the Princess gave me; he is the sole cause of my journey, of
the death of my Princess, and of the javelin-wound of which I am dying
in the prime of youth."

"Make yourself easy," said Topaz. "You have never been to Cabul. There
is no Princess of Cashmere; the Prince has but two sons, and they are
now at school. You never had any diamond. Th