to the harem, that place so sacred to all the inhabitants of the East, and, having entered it with due solemnity, he there met with a scene for which he was but little prepared. Never, indeed, had it occurred to him, having gained possession of his predecessor's throne, that he was also destined to pos sess his wives. He paused and drew back when he perceived the multitude of females awaiting him as he entered the great court of the Anderoon. A long train of magnificently dres sed women was marshalled into two lines, through which he was invited to walk, and a band of singers and minstrels went before him, rending the air with songs and with the sounds of instruments. They sang the laudatory airs with which they had been accustomed to flatter their former master, in which his person was compared to every thing that was most enchanting, and in which his good qualities were exaggerated even to the attributes of divinity. Upon his approach, they all knelt down and kissed the ground. His path was spread with rich stuffs, and bottles containing sugar were broken before his feet.

Azbeaz, dazzled by the beauty of the women and abashed by the intenseness of the adulation, shrunk with dismay at what he had to encounter. It was but the other day, he thought, that I ventured to woo, and was rejected by one daughter of the moon, and here hundreds vie with each other who shall obtain the distinction of a look. But, by my beard, this will never do.. Here, fair one, said he, beckoning to one of the singers who was straining her throat most zealously in his favour, tell me wherefore do you make this extraordinary noise, and say such extravagant things?-are you all mad perchance ? »

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The slave fell at his feet, and exclaimed, You are our King, and we are your slaves.

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So is it?" said Azbeaz, shaking his head at the same time, in doubt. Well, I suppose it is so, since everybody says it; but, because I am the Shah, it does not follow that I am to be the fool of the country. Prithee, fair one," he continued to address the minstrel, you have been all singing at the top of your throats, and comparing my body to a cypress tree.

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Now look at my back, it is as crooked as a ram's horn ; how can you tell such lies? Then you assert that my eyes are as large as those of an antelope.. By the prophet, every body knows they are not larger than those of a mole; and as for my zulfs, my curls, which you assert smell of myrrh and aloes, I have only two or three coarse grey hairs belonging to me, which can only smell of my old sheepskin cap. How can you all deceive yourselves after this fashion? If I am to be your Shah, I will not be the King of lies, but the King of truth."

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Then calling the head of the eunuchs to him, gro, with a face of unrivalled ugliness, he said, If I am to command these women, you may inform them the sooner they find themselves husbands the better, both for them and me. They are none of mine. Every man sits upon his own heels, so let each have his own mate. And as for you, you may go and hang yourself, for your craft is at an end. »

Strange was all this in an eastern, and much more in a royal harem. The singing, the music, and the processions were suppressed, and any jealousy and heart-burning that might exist to obtain the new King's favour were soon crushed. The elder women, however, broke out into downright lamentation, and accused the King of cruelty and injustice; but to those who had feeling, new life accompanied by hope was opened to them, and they, longed to make themselves agreeable to objects more fitted to secure their affections than an ugly shoemaker, though he were a King.

As soon as Azbeaz was left to himself, he took the key from his girdle, and, selecting a place in the corner of the room under his own seat, he there deposited it for the present. He then desired that the grand vizier might appear before him, when he spoke to him as follows:

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It is now plain that I am the Shah. God only knows why or wherefore-but so it is. You are, as you tell me, the vizier, and, consequently I suppose, a wise man. That is not my case. I cannot call myself a wise man, for although I am the Shah, yet it is as little in consequence of my merit, as it was in consequence of having ten fingers that I became

a shoemaker. All things great and small are directed by powers of which we know nothing. Allah is Allah, and, whether we will or not, he is still Allah. Now you being the wise man, and knowing how to govern a kingdom, you will please to tell me what I am to do from one year's end to another, from morning till night, and from hour to hour. I feel that my time belongs to the country, so does my con-duct; therefore, tell me how I am to fill up one and direct the other."

The grand vizier, a self-sufficient personage, squared his elbows and inflated his person, preparatory to giving an appropriate reply to the King's inquiry. He began, as usual, with fine phrases, and, having once got well into his subject, he knew not where to stop. First, he descanted largely upon etiquette, upon the science of rising up and sitting downupon going out and coming in-upon speech and forms of speech-upon appropriate dress, when the taj, or crown, is to be worn, when the cap with the shawl, or when the plain cap-upon the close vesture, short coats and ample cloaks--upon receiving ambassadors, sitting near or far off; in short, so entirely did the grand vizier make it manifest that the kingly office was more made up of precedents and old forms than of the actual workings of the brain, that Azbeaz cried out, with a long yawn:

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Very difficult is all this to recollect! If this it is to be a King, I shall never make a good one. He then stopped the vizier, who would willingly have continued his lecture, and said: What you have said is no doubt perfectly right-so be it. However, there is one thing in which I want to try my hand, and that is justice. I wish to try it immediately. You must, in the first place, order my brother Sakalchok, the jeweller, to appear before me; in the next, you will send (to a house which he designated) for five old men who live there or thereabouts; and in the third, you must discover and bring to me a youth, who, on the day that I was sorely beaten by the late Shah, bound up my wounds and took care of If I am to be a King, let me try what a King can do. » He had not waited long ere it was announced to him that

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his brother was in attendance. As soon as Sakalchok appeared, he fell on his face in the most abject manner, and, having kissed the ground, arose and stood in the attitude of one condemned to death. Azbeaz, having desired him to draw near, addressed him in the following words:

1 "We all must bend to destiny, which is nothing else than the decress of Allah, and, therefore, I make no apology for being your King, although I am your youngest brother. Had you behaved as you ought to have done when I was in humble circumstances, you would not stand before me in the abject, and, consequently, disgusting position in which you now appear. You would have come with your nose up and your cap on one side, and have rejoiced at my elevation; instead of which you bear envy, hatred, and malice in your heart, and concluding that such passions equally possess me, you appear like a criminal worthy of death before me. Shame upon you! As a brother I say this. Now I will speak to you as a shoemaker. Have you brought, sir, the sum of money you owe me? I have made shoes for you and your family for years, and have not received one farthing. Pay me instantly, or otherwise you shall incur the utmost rigour of the law."

Sakalchok, upon hearing these words, became elated, for he hoped by the payment of this debt to be quit of further punishment.

"As I am your Majesty's slave,» said he, whatever your Majesty may order I am ready to pay. The debt is a poor one, not worth your Majesty's notice. Let me double or triple the amount. Your slave is ready.»

"I only ask for my own," said Azbeaz, «for that which, when I was poor and powerless, you constantly refused to pay me. I know the sum well. It was one hundred and fifty piastres and ten copper coins. I want that and no more. » The trembling Sakalchok with pleasure counted out the money, and placed it before the Shah.

« Well-this is well. You have now settled the account with the shoemaker; you have now to deal with the Shah. I am the Shah, and as such, I am the source of justice and

the support of what is right. You have behaved as a cruel unnatural, unjust, proud and arrogant man. Unnatural and cruel as a relation, unjust as a citizen, proud and arrogant in your general conduct. For these delinquencies I intend to reprove you. Your pride must be humbled, you must be taught the miseries of unjust dealing. I, as the Shah, destitute you from your public employment of court jeweller, and I become the steward of all your wealth, as long as it shall seem fit for me to be so. Learn from this what injustice means. You shall forthwith be installed in my shop, and there you may make shoes as I have done. Thus you will learn humility, and know what it is to labour for your bread. Go. I have said it. »

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At hearing these words, the unfortunate Sakalchok fell on his face in despair. Pity, oh pity, he exclaimed; forgive me, forgive my past faults; take everything, but spare my money. I cannot make shoes. As your slave is less than the least, he implores you to reflect that he never made a shoe in his life. »

« Go-learn!» exclaimed the inflexible Azbeaz; upon which his brother was dragged away, and orders were given that the royal commands should be enforced.

The five old men were next brought into the presence, and even at a distance, the moment they had caught a glimpse of the King on his musnud, they fell to the ground and touched the pavement with their foreheads.

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« Come forward, old men," exclaimed Azbeaz; it will be time to humble yourselves when you have heard what I have to say. "

They all arose, and, covering their bodies over carefully, sidled onward till they stood immediately facing the King, with their heads down, looking more dead than alive.

"Perhaps you will recollect certain words," said Azbeaz, which I once pronounced in the form of a prediction; neither of us then suspected how soon they would come true. Now had you behaved to me with the civility and kindness which are due from God's creatures one towards the other, what necessity would there be for your present abject condition? You