Hindus, Ganapati, as I knew they called him,
their god of wisdom and the remover of obstacles according to their
creed.

"Even as I looked, methought that the eyes of the idol twinkled
knowingly and entreatingly at me. After a moment I saw that this fancy
was but due to the play of the flames on jewels, comprehending which, I
said to myself that the little fat man might perchance be of some
considerable value. So I plucked him from his resting-place, not without
difficulty, for the base of the idol was fastened by iron clamps to the
altar, and only just in time before a surge of fire and smoke swept
through the vestibule. Then, without more ado, I carried forth this
Ganapati, wrapped in a cotton cloth I had gathered from one of the slain
priests, and tied it to the saddle-bow of my horse, which had been
standing tethered under a tree close at hand.

"Thus did it come about that, a full month later, I was seated in my
home, in a secret inner chamber that served me as a treasury, and to
which the only access was through the women's quarters. And before me on
a stool rested the cross-legged figure of the four-armed and
elephant-headed god, fat, complacent, smiling, to all appearance
recovered from the fatigues of a journey of near a hundred leagues and
thoroughly contented amidst his new surroundings. The idol was of
bronze, and the eyes, which at times gave it such life-like semblance,
were clusters of rubies set around with white sapphires.

"And it followed that, day after day, after the siesta hour, I found
myself in the company of this accursed idol--for accursed it came to be,
bringing me misfortunes and ruin, as my story will unfold. No doubt it
was by my own doing that the wrath of Allah was brought down upon my
head. For had not I, a follower of the Prophet, and therefore a despiser
of graven images in every shape or form, come to treat this monstrous
and misshapen creature, half man, half beast, as a sort of familiar,
even greeting him on my entry with the words with which I might have
saluted a living unbeliever, 'May your days be peaceful,' spoken in
goodnatured jest, of course, and without one thought at the time of the
sacrilege of which I was guilty? Yea, I would pat the fat little fellow
on the head, and, when the humour seized me, would show him my hoard of
gold mohurs, even jingle before him a bag of silver rupees, or ask his
opinion on the colour and quality of some gem, speaking words of
foolishness