of
parchment. The only ornament of his apparel consisted in a large ruby of
uncommon brilliancy, which, when he approached the light, seemed to glow
with such liveliness, as if the gem itself had emitted the rays which it
only reflected back. To the offer of refreshment, the stranger replied,
'Baron, I may not eat, water shall not moisten my lips, until the avenger
shall have passed by the threshold.' The baron commanded the lamps to be
trimmed and fresh torches to be lighted, and sending his whole household
to rest, remained sealed in the hall along with the stranger, his
suppliant. At midnight, the gates of the castle were shaken as by a
whirlwind, and a voice, as if of a herald, was heard to demand his lawful
prisoner, Dannischemend, the son of Hali. The warder then heard a lower
window of the hall thrown open, and could distinguish his master's voice
addressing the person who had thus summoned the castle. But the night was
so dark that he might not see the speakers, and the language which they
used was either entirely foreign, or so largely interspersed with strange
words, that he could not understand a syllable which they said. Scarce
five minutes had elapsed, when he who was without, again elevated his
voice as before, and said in German, 'For a year and a day, then, I
forbear my forfeiture;--but coming for it when that time shall elapse,
I come for my right, and will no longer be withstood.'

"From that period Dannischemend, the Persian, was a constant guest at
the castle of Arnheim, and, indeed, never for any purpose crossed the
drawbridge. His amusements, or studies, seemed centred in the library of
the castle, and in the laboratory, where the baron sometimes toiled in
conjunction with him for many hours together. The inhabitants of the
castle could find no fault in the Magus, or Persian, excepting his
apparently dispensing with the ordinances of religion, since he neither
went to mass nor confession, nor attended upon other religious ceremonies.
It was observed that Dannischemend was rigid in paying his devotions,
by prostrating himself in the first rays of the rising sun, and that he
constructed a silver lamp of the most beautiful proportions, which he
placed on a pedestal representing a truncated column of marble, having
its base sculptured with hieroglyphical imagery. With what essences he
fed this flame was unknown to all, unless perhaps to the baron; but the
flame was more steady, pure, and lustrous, than