thus perished that vile and infamous miscreant, the Emir Bargash
ibn Beynin.

The Caliph and the First Jar of Ointment

SECOND ADVENTURE:

THE CALIPH AND ABOU HASSAN.

One evening not long after the execution of the Emir, Haroun Alraschid,
when about to indulge in one of his nocturnal rambles, determined again
to make trial of the marvellous properties of his magical ointment.
Before sallying forth, therefore, with Giafer, always his faithful
companion in these adventures, he retired privately to his cabinet and
anointed his eyes with a small portion of the contents of the little
jar.

Once more on passing through the streets of his capital the interior of
the houses and the occupations and amusements of his subjects were
revealed to him. In some houses he saw feasting and merriment, in some
mourning and death. In the dwellings of the rich there was to be seen
fine clothes and jewellery, in the hovels of the poor squalor and rags.
And so constantly varied and animated were the scenes which by virtue
of the ointment he was enabled to observe, that he walked on for more
than an hour without experiencing either fatigue or weariness.

At length, as he was passing a certain mean-looking house in one of the
less important thoroughfares, his attention was attracted to a scene
which caused him to stop before the house; and, resting in the
obscurity of a great recessed doorway on the opposite side of the way,
to observe with much interest what took place in the room before him.

It was a large room, and but dimly lighted by a single oil lamp placed
upon the table. A great number of packages were lying in a confused
heap on one side of the room; and on a raised divan near to the table
and facing the door of the apartment sat an old man of no very inviting
appearance. About his head he wore an old turban, not very clean and
put on in a careless and slovenly manner. His eyes were shielded and
concealed by a large green shade, as though the light even of the one
oil lamp were too strong for him. His clothes were plain, but much
better than his head-gear; his form seemed slight and wiry, and Haroun
noticed that his hands, which were small and plump, were adorned with
several very handsome and valuable rings.

Between this large room occupied by the figure just described and the
door in the wall of the house was a small ante-room or lobby, in which
was seated on the bare floor a little ill-looking hump-backed s