e flayed alive and let shoes be made of his skin."
The vazir ejaculated on this but one word, "Origin."
Said the next: "Let him be hacked into pieces and his
limbs cast to the dogs." The vazir said, "Origin."
Another advised: "Let him be forthwith executed, and his
house be levelled to the ground." Once more the vazir
simply said, "Origin." Then the king turned to the rest,
who declared each according to his opinion, the vazir
noticing each with the same word. At last a young man,
who had not spoken hitherto, was asked. "May it please
your Majesty," said he, "if you ask my opinion, it is
this: Here is an aged man, and honourable from his
years, family, and position; moreover, he served in the
king your father's court, and nursed you as a boy. It
were well, considering all these matters, to pay him
respect, and render his old age comfortable." Again the
vazir uttered the word "Origin." The king now demanded
what he meant by it. "Simply this, your Majesty,"
responded the vazir: "You have here the sons of
shoemakers, butchers, executioners, and so forth, and
each has expressed himself according to his father's
trade. There is but one noble-born among them, and he
has made himself conspicuous by speaking according to
the manner of his race." The king was ashamed, and
released the vazir.--A parallel to this is found in the
Turkish _Qirq Vezir Tarikhi_, or History of the Forty
Vezirs (Lady's 4th Story): according to Mr. Gibb's
translation, "All things return to their origin."

I am strongly of opinion that the foregoing story is of Buddhistic
extraction; but however this may be, it is not a bad specimen of Eastern
humour, nor is the following, which the eloquent bird tells the lady
another night:

_Of the Man whose Mare was kicked by a Merchant's Horse._

A merchant had a vicious horse that kicked a mare, which he had warned
the owner not to tie near his animal. The man carried the merchant
before the kazi, and stated his complaint. The kazi inquired of the
merchant what he had to say in his own defence; but he pretended to be
dumb, answering not a word to the judge's interrogatives. Upon this the
kazi remarked to the plaintiff that since the merchant was dumb he could
not be to blame for the accident. "How