ellous change.
He saw the stone melt, and begin to grow flexible and soft. He saw it
become warm, and the cheeks and lips grow red with life. Meantime a
murmur had begun to rise all through the palace. It grew louder and
louder--it became a shout. The figure of the queen that had been stone
opened its eyes.

"Who are you?" it said.

Aben Hassen the Fool fell upon his knees. "I am he who was sent to bring
you to life." he said. "My father turned you to cold stone, and I--I
have brought you back to warm life again."

The queen smiled--her teeth sparkled like pearls. "If you have brought
me to life, then I am yours," she said, and she kissed him upon the
lips.

He grew suddenly dizzy; the world swam before his eyes.

For seven days nothing was heard in the town but rejoicing and joy. The
young man lived in a golden cloud of delight. "And to think," said he,
"if I had listened to that accursed Talisman of Solomon, called The
Wise,' all this happiness, this ecstasy that is now mine, would have
been lost to me."

"Tell me, beloved," said the queen, upon the morning of the seventh
day--"thy father once possessed all the hidden treasure of the ancient
kings of Egypt--tell me, is it now thine as it was once his?"

"Yes," said the young man, "it is now all mine as it was once all his."

"And do you really love me as you say?"

"Yes," said the young man, "and ten thousand times more than I say."

"Then, as you love me, I beg one boon on you. It is that you show me
this treasure of which I have heard so much, and which we are to enjoy
together."

The young man was drunk with happiness. "Thou shalt see it all," said
he.

Then, for the first time, the Talisman spoke without being questioned.
"Fool!" it cried; "wilt thou not be advised?"

"Be silent," said the young man. "Six times, vile thing, you would have
betrayed me. Six times you would have deprived me of joys that should
have been mine, and each was greater than that which went before. Shall
I now listen the seventh time? Now," said he to the queen, "I will show
you our treasure." He called aloud, "Zadok, Zadok, Zadok!"

Instantly the ground shook beneath their feet, the dust rose in clouds,
and Zadok appeared, as black as ink, and with eyes that shone like coals
of fire.

"I command you," said the young man, "to carry the queen and myself to
the garden where my treasure lies hidden."

Zadok laughed aloud. "I hear thee and obey thee, master," said he.

He