ts the prince
had flung himself down and was by my side. "Ah, how I adore you!" he
exclaimed, "Thelamis's love will never equal mine." The words were
hardly out of his mouth when I heard a slight noise behind, and before
we could turn round both our heads were rolling in front of us, while
the voice of Thelamis cried:

'"Perjured wretches, answer me; and you, faithless Tezila, tell me why
you have betrayed me like this?"

'Then I understood what had happened, and that in his rage, he had
mistaken me for my sister.

'"Alas," replied my head in weak tones, "I am not Tezila, but Dely,
whose life you have destroyed, as well as that of your friend." At this
Thelamis paused and seemed to reflect for an instant.

'"Be not frightened," he said more quietly, "I can make you whole
again," and laying a magic powder on our tongues he placed our heads on
our necks. In the twinkling of an eye our heads were joined to our
bodies without leaving so much as a scar; only that, blinded with rage
as he still was, Thelamis had placed my head on the prince's body, and
his on mine!

[Illustration: THE WRONG HEADS ON THE WRONG BODIES]

'I cannot describe to you how odd we both felt at this strange
transformation. We both instinctively put up our hands--he to feel his
hair, which was, of course, dressed like a woman, and I to raise the
turban which pressed heavily on my forehead. But we did not know what
had happened to us, for the night was still dark.

'At this point Tezila appeared, followed by a troop of slaves bearing
flowers. It was only by the light of their torches that we understood
what had occurred. Indeed the first thought of both of us was that we
must have changed clothes.

'Now in spite of what we may say, we all prefer our own bodies to those
of anybody else, so notwithstanding our love for each other, at first we
could not help feeling a little cross with Thelamis. However, so deep
was the prince's passion for me, that very soon he began to congratulate
himself on the change. "My happiness is perfect," he said, "my heart,
beautiful Dely, has always been yours, and now I have your head also."

'But though the prince made the best of it, Thelamis was much ashamed of
his stupidity. "I have," he said hesitatingly, "two other pastilles
which have the same magic properties as those I used before. Let me cut
off your heads again, and that will put matters straight." The proposal
sounded tempting, but was a little risky, and