gh the country
which they had traversed, and met a pilgrim who had made the tour of the
world. They had visited every place except the sea. They turned toward the
sea. At the moment of embarking, a whale barred their passage. They
retraced their steps, and met the ogress, took a second ring from the dead
man, and departed. At a place they found sixty corpses. A singing bird was
guarding them. The travellers stopped and heard the bird say:

"He who shall speak here shall be changed into a rock and shall die.
Mahomet-ben-Soltan, you shall never wed the young girl. Ninety-nine
cavaliers have already met death on her account."

Mahomet stayed till morning without saying one word. Then he departed with
his companion for the city where Thithbirth dwelt. When they arrived they
were pressed with hunger. Mahomet's companion said to him:

"Sing that which you heard the bird sing." He began to sing. The young
girl, whom they meant to buy, heard him and asked him from whom he had got
that song.

"From my head," he answered.

Mahomet's companion said: "We learned it in the fields from a singing
bird."

"Bring me that bird," she said, "or I'll have your head cut off."

Mahomet took a lantern and a cage which he placed upon the branch of the
tree where the bird was perching.

"Do you think to catch me?" cried the bird. The next day it entered the
cage and the young man took it away. When they were in the presence of the
young girl the bird said to her:

"We have come to buy you."

The father of the young girl said to Mahomet: "If you find her you may have
her. But if not, I will kill you. Ninety-nine cavaliers have already met
death thus. You will be the hundredth."

The bird flew toward the woman.

"Where shall I find you?" it asked her.

She answered: "You see that door at which I am sitting; it is the usual
place of my father. I shall be hidden underneath."

The next day Mahomet presented himself before the Sultan: "Arise," he said,
"your daughter is hidden there."

The Sultan imposed this new condition: "My daughter resembles ninety-nine
others of her age. She is the hundredth. If you recognize her in the group
I will give her to you. But if not, I will kill you."

The young girl said to Mahomet, "I will ride a lame horse." Mahomet
recognized her, and the Sultan gave her to him, with a serving-maid, a
female slave, and another woman.

Mahomet and his companion departed. Arriving at a certain road they
separat