te an easy matter, for the two storks had had but
little practice as yet.

'Oh, my Lord!' gasped the Vizier, after a couple of hours, 'I can get on
no longer; you really fly too quick for me. Besides, it is nearly
evening, and we should do well to find some place in which to spend the
night.'

Chasib listened with favour to his servant's suggestion, and perceiving
in the valley beneath them a ruin which seemed to promise shelter they
flew towards it. The building in which they proposed to pass the night
had apparently been formerly a castle. Some handsome pillars still stood
amongst the heaps of ruins, and several rooms, which yet remained in
fair preservation, gave evidence of former splendour. Chasid and his
companion wandered along the passages seeking a dry spot, when suddenly
Mansor stood still.

'My Lord and master,' he whispered, 'if it were not absurd for a Grand
Vizier, and still more for a stork, to be afraid of ghosts, I should
feel quite nervous, for someone, or something close by me, has sighed
and moaned quite audibly.'

The Caliph stood still and distinctly heard a low weeping sound which
seemed to proceed from a human being rather than from any animal. Full
of curiosity he was about to rush towards the spot from whence the
sounds of woe came, when the Vizier caught him by the wing with his
bill, and implored him not to expose himself to fresh and unknown
dangers. The Caliph, however, under whose stork's breast a brave heart
beat, tore himself away with the loss of a few feathers, and hurried
down a dark passage. He saw a door which stood ajar, and through which
he distinctly heard sighs, mingled with sobs. He pushed open the door
with his bill, but remained on the threshold, astonished at the sight
which met his eyes. On the floor of the ruined chamber--which was but
scantily lighted by a small barred window--sat a large screech owl. Big
tears rolled from its large round eyes, and in a hoarse voice it uttered
its complaints through its crooked beak. As soon as it saw the Caliph
and his Vizier--who had crept up meanwhile--it gave vent to a joyful
cry. It gently wiped the tears from its eyes with its spotted brown
wings, and to the great amazement of the two visitors, addressed them in
good human Arabic.

'Welcome, ye storks! You are a good sign of my deliverance, for it was
foretold me that a piece of good fortune should befall me through a
stork.'

When the Caliph had recovered from his surprise,