s "Fourth Voyage."[12] The last story taken from the Arabian
Nights which we shall mention is that of "The Second Royal Mendicant,"
found in Comparetti (No. 63, "My Happiness") from the Basilicata, and in
the collection of Mantuan stories. The latter (No. 8) is entitled:
"There is no longer any Devil." The magician is the devil, and the
story concludes, after the transformations in which the peasant's son
kills the devil in the shape of a hen, with the words: "And this is the
reason why there is no longer any devil."[13]

The first collection of Oriental tales known in Europe as a collection
was the _Disciplina Clericalis_, that is, Instruction or Teaching for
Clerks or Clergymen. It was the work of a converted Spanish Jew, Petrus
Alphonsi, and was composed before 1106, the date of the baptism of the
author, the time and place of whose death are not known. The _Disciplina
Clericalis_ was early translated into French prose and poetry, and was
the storehouse from which all subsequent story-tellers drew abundant
material.[14] Precisely how the _Disciplina Clericalis_ became known in
Italy we cannot tell; but the separate stories must have become popular
and diffused by word of mouth at a very early date. One of the stories
of this collection is found in Italian literature as early as the _Cento
Novelle Antiche_.[15] Four of the stories in the _Disciplina Clericalis_
are found in Pitre and other collections of popular tales, and although
belonging, with one exception, to the class of jests, they are mentioned
here for the sake of completeness.

In one of the stories of the _Disciplina Clericalis_, two citizens of a
certain town and a countryman were making the pilgrimage to Mecca
together, and on the way ran so short of food that they had only flour
enough left to make one small loaf. The two citizens in order to cheat
the countryman out of his share devised the following scheme: While the
bread was baking they proposed that all three should sleep, and whoever
should have the most remarkable dream should have the whole loaf. While
the citizens were asleep, the countryman, who had divined their plan,
stole the half-cooked bread from the fire, ate it, and then threw
himself down again. One of the other two pretended to wake up in a
fright, and told his companion that he had dreamed that two angels had
led him through the gates of heaven into the presence of God. The other
declared that he had been led by two angels into the n