re on the point of executing, prayed that he might be
informed of his crime. "Your crime," said the king, "is your unlucky
countenance, which is the first object I saw this morning, and which has
nearly caused me to fall from my horse." "Alas!" said the man, "by this
reckoning what term must I apply to your Majesty's countenance, which
was the first object my eyes met this morning, and which is to cause my
death?" The king smiled at the wit of the reply, ordered the man to be
released, and gave him a present instead of cutting off his
head.--Another Persian story is to the same purpose: A man said to his
servant: "If you see two crows together early in the morning, apprise me
of it, that I may also behold them, as it will be a good omen, whereby I
shall pass the day pleasantly." The servant did happen to see two crows
sitting in one place, and informed his master, who, however, when he
came saw but one, the other having in the meantime flown away. He was
very angry, and began to beat the servant, when a friend sent him a
present of game. Upon this the servant exclaimed: "O my lord! you saw
only one crow, and have received a fine present; had you seen _two_, you
would have met with _my_ fare."[38]

[38] This last jest reappears in the apocryphal Life of Esop,
by Planudes, the only difference being that Esop's
master is invited to a feast, instead of receiving a
present of game, upon which Esop exclaims: "Alas! I see
two crows, and I am beaten; you see one, and are asked
to a feast. What a delusion is augury!"

It would seem, from the following story, that an old man's prayers are
sometimes reversed in response, as dreams are said to "go by
contraries": An old Arab left his house one morning, intending to go to
a village at some distance, and coming to the foot of a hill which he
had to cross he exclaimed: "O Allah! send some one to help me over this
hill." Scarcely had he uttered these words when up came a fierce
soldier, leading a mare with a very young colt by her side, who
compelled the old man, with oaths and threats, to carry the colt. As
they trudged along, they met a poor woman with a sick child in her arms.
The old man, as he laboured under the weight of the colt, kept groaning,
"O Allah! O Allah!" and, supposing him to be a dervish, the woman asked
him to pray for the recovery of her child. In compliance, the old man
said: "O Allah! I beseech thee to shorten the days o