two
sons. These overtures being indignantly rejected, the mothers, as in
all Eastern tales, turn the tables by informing their husband that his
sons had made indecent proposals to them. In consequence they are sent
off to be slain in the desert, but, from the circumstances which occur
there, the executioner spares their lives, and returns with their
clothes steeped in a lion's blood, reporting that he has carried out
the king's instructions, and quoting their last message to their
father:

'Women are very devils, made to work us dole and death;
Refuge I seek with God Most High from all their craft and
skaith.
Prime source are they of all the ills that fall upon mankind,
Both in the fortunes of this world and matters of the faith.'

The king at once recognises their innocence, and mourns over their
loss, building two tombs in their memory, called the Houses of
Lamentations, where he spends his days weeping.

Meanwhile the two youths, left to their own devices by the
executioner, journey onward, arrive at a city, become separated, go
through all sorts of adventures, all of a most thrilling description,
and are finally re-united. The closing scene brings all the characters
of the romance together at the same place, and the grandfathers,
fathers, and sons all meet once more, but no further mention is made
about the two mothers, who so deeply injured their own offspring.

Ala Aldin Abu Al-Shamat.--This story is of considerable interest, for
it begins with a recipe for an aphrodisiac, and contains many
allusions to Eastern manners and customs. Born of wealthy parents at
Cairo, details are given of Ala Aldin's youth and boyhood, and of how
the wish to travel and to trade was instilled into his mind by his
young companions, at the instigation of a crafty old sinner, Mahmud of
Balkh. With some reluctance his father at last allows him to start,
and going first to Damascus, then to Aleppo, he is robbed of all his
property just before he reaches Baghdad, and very nearly loses his
life into the bargain, but his good fortune saves him on two
occasions. Arrived at Baghdad, his adventures begin, and they follow
each other with considerable rapidity. He first is married to Zobeidah
the Lutist, on the understanding that it was for one night only, and
that he was to divorce her the next morning, so that she might be
re-married to her former husband. But when the time comes, Ala Aldin
and the lady find