centre. This, when removed,
disclosed a flight of stone steps which led to a large room richly
furnished and lighted by tapers. On a pile of cushions, covered with
tapestry, sat the boy. He looked up, startled and frightened at the
sight of a stranger in such a place, and to soothe his fears, I at once
spoke: "Be not alarmed, sir, whoever you may be. I am a king, and the
son of a king, and will do you no hurt. On the contrary, perhaps I
have been sent here to deliver you out of this tomb, where you have
been buried alive."

Hearing my words, the young man recovered himself, and when I had
ended, he said, "The reasons, Prince, that have caused me to be buried
in this place are so strange that they cannot but surprise you. My
father is a rich merchant, owning much land and many ships, and has
great dealings in precious stones, but he never ceased mourning that he
had no child to inherit his wealth.

"At length one day he dreamed that the following year a son would be
born to him, and when this actually happened, he consulted all the wise
men in the kingdom as to the future of the infant. One and all they
said the same thing. I was to live happily till I was fifteen, when a
terrible danger awaited me, which I should hardly escape. If, however,
I should succeed in doing so, I should live to a great old age. And,
they added, when the statue of the brass horse on the top of the
mountain of adamant is thrown into the sea by Agib, the son of Cassib,
then beware, for fifty days later your son shall fall by his hand!

"This prophecy struck the heart of my father with such woe, that he
never got over it, but that did not prevent him from attending
carefully to my education till I attained, a short time ago, my
fifteenth birthday. It was only yesterday that the news reached him
that ten days previously the statue of brass had been thrown into the
sea, and he at once set about hiding me in this underground chamber,
which was built for the purpose, promising to fetch me out when the
forty days have passed. For myself, I have no fears, as Prince Agib is
not likely to come here to look for me."

I listened to his story with an inward laugh as to the absurdity of my
ever wishing to cause the death of this harmless boy, whom I hastened
to assure of my friendship and even of my protection; begging him, in
return, to convey me in his father's ship to my own country. I need
hardly say that I took special care not to inform