r ad Deen to be secured in a sort of
cage, and laid on a camel. The vizier and his retinue began their
march, and travelled the rest of that night, and all the next
day, without stopping In the evening they halted, and Buddir ad
Deen was taken out of his cage, in order to be served with the
necessary refreshments, but still carefully kept at a distance
from his mother and his wife; and during the whole expedition,
which lasted twenty days, was served in the same manner.

When they arrived at Cairo, they encamped in the neighbourhood of
the city; Shumse ad Deen called for Buddir ad Deen, and gave
orders, in his presence, to prepare a stake. "Alas!" said Buddir
ad Deen, "what do you mean to do with a stake?" "Why, to impale
you," replied Shumse ad Deen, "and then to have you carried
through all the quarters of the town, that the people may have
the spectacle of a worthless pastry-cook, who makes cream-tarts
without pepper." This said, Buddir ad Deen cried out so
ludicrously, that Shumse ad Deen could hardly keep his
countenance: "Alas!" said he, "must I suffer a death as cruel as
it is ignominious, for not putting pepper in a cream-tart?"

"How," said Buddir ad Deen, "must I be rifled; must I be imprisoned in
a chest, and at last impaled, and all for not putting pepper in a
cream-tart? Are these the actions of Moosulmauns, of persons who make
a profession of probity, justice, and good works?" With these words he
shed tears, and then renewing his complaint; "No," continued he,
"never was a man used so unjustly, nor so severely. Is it possible
they should be capable of taking a man's life for not putting pepper
in a cream-tart? Cursed be all cream-tarts, as well as the hour in
which I was born! Would to God I had died that minute!"

The disconsolate Buddir ad Deen did not cease his lamentations;
and when the stake was brought, cried out bitterly at the horrid
sight. "Heaven!" said he, "can you suffer me to die an
ignominious and painful death? And all this, for what crime? not
for robbery or murder, or renouncing my religion, but for not
putting pepper in a cream tart."

Night being then pretty far advanced, the vizier ordered Buddir
ad Deen to be conveyed again to his cage, saying to him, "Stay
there till to-morrow; the day shall not elapse before I give
orders for your death." The chest or cage then was carried away
and laid upon the camel that had brought it from Damascus: at the
same time all the other camels were