ad obtained
the ring.

'The ring was given to me by my dearest friend when I first set out upon
an arduous pilgrimage not yet completed. There is but one person in the
world, except the donor, to whom I would part with it, and with that
person I am unacquainted. All this may seem improbable, but all this is
true. I have truth alone to support me. I am destitute and friendless;
but I am not a beggar, nor will any suffering induce me to become one.
Feeling, from various circumstances, utterly exhausted, I entered a
coffee-house and lay down, it may have been to die. I could not sleep,
although my eyes were shut, and nothing would have roused me from a
tremulous trance, which I thought was dying, but this plunderer here,
who would not wait until death had permitted him quietly to possess
himself of a jewel I value more than life.'

'Show me the jewel.'

The youth held up his hand to Honain, who felt his pulse, and then took
off the ring.

'O, my Fatima!' exclaimed Abdallah.

'Silence, sir!' said Honain. 'Page, call a jeweller.'

Honain examined the ring attentively. Whether he were near-sighted, or
whether the deceptive light of the covered bazaar prevented him from
examining it with ease, he certainly raised his hand to his brow, and
for some moments his countenance was invisible.

The jeweller arrived, and, pressing his hand to his heart, bowed before
Honain.

'Value this ring,' said Honain, in a low voice.

The jeweller took the ring, viewed it in all directions with a
scrutinising glance, held it to the light, pressed it to his tongue,
turned it over and over, and finally declared that he could not sell
such a ring under a thousand dirhems.

'Whatever be the justice of the case,' said Honain to Abdallah, 'art
thou ready to part with this ring for a thousand dirhems?'

'Most certainly,' said Abdallah. 'And thou, lad, if the decision be in
thy favour, wilt thou take for the ring double the worth at which the
jeweller prizes it?'

'My lord, I have spoken the truth. I cannot part with that ring for the
palace of the Caliph.'

'The truth for once is triumphant,' said Honain. 'Boy, the ring is
thine; and for thee, thou knave,' turning to Abdallah, 'liar, thief, and
slanderer!--for thee the bastinado,[21] which thou destinedst for
this innocent youth. Ibrahim, see that he receives five hundred. Young
pilgrim, thou art no longer destitute or friendless. Follow me to my
palace.'

The arched chamber was of gr