hing in the crystal, he dropped the practice. There came a
day, however, when they were overtaken by a dreadful dust storm. From
across the wide stretch of sand, the wind raged, the sky and sun were
blotted out, the air was laden with dust, and the small pebbles and
stones carried in the wind cut them until they cried with pain. Shelter
there was none.

In fear and pain they ran here and there, and when after several hours
of misery, the storm had passed, they could not see each other. They
were lost in the cruel desert, with no food, and worse still, no water.
Sobbing in despair, Ahmed straggled on. He went like one in a dream.
Time after time he fell tripping over rocks and bushes, but he pressed
onward. Then came a time when he could go no further, and he lay down
to die.

For a long time he slept, and then he was awakened by being shaken.
Looking up, he saw an old man smiling and saying: "Why, it's little
Ahmed, the son of Abdullah, the Soap Seller. Don't you know me, Ahmed?
I am your uncle. Don't cry because you have lost your way. Come, take
my hand and we will soon find your father."

Now Ahmed wondered why he had never seen or even heard his father speak
of this particular uncle, but he took the old man's hand, and together
they set forth. Mile after mile they went, but no trace of his father
could be found. Then he sat down crying, and said: "I am so tired, I
can go no further." And the old man replied: "Sleep, my son, while I
keep watch."

But just as Ahmed was closing his eyes, the old man turned, and Ahmed
saw that he had thin legs like those of a sheep. "The Ghool! the
Ghool!" he shrieked, and fainted. Then this wicked ogre of the desert
began to open Ahmed's coat in order to suck his blood.

But another cry answered that of the boy, and then appeared on the
scene a beautiful young woman, carrying in her harid a necklace of gold
and silver beads. Casting but one glance at the beads, the old man flew
swifter than the wild sheep of the mountains, for the sight of metal
rendered him powerless to do harm.

Of course, it was the princess whose life Ahmed had saved in Meshed.
The King, her father, happened to be returning from a pilgrimage, and
to give a fright to her servants, she had scampered off the track, and
thus had found Ahmed. At her request, Ahmed became one of the King's
followers, and together with his father, whom they found the next day,
they journeyed to the capital.

Some three days' marc