id the farrier, "the dawn will not bring forth two hundred
thousand horseshoes, and my head will pay the penalty."

Late that night there was a tremendous knocking at his door. The poor
farrier thought that it was an inquiry as to how many horseshoes were
already made, and trembling with fear went and opened the door. What
was his surprise, when on opening the door and inquiring the object of
the visit, to be greeted with:

"Haste, farrier, let us have sixteen nails, for the Minister of War
has been suddenly removed to Paradise by the hand of Allah."

The farrier gathered, not sixteen but forty nails of the best he had,
and, handing them to the messenger, said:

"Nail him down well, friend, so that he will not get up again, for had
not this happened, the nails would have been required to keep me in my
coffin."

OLD MEN MADE YOUNG

In Psamatia, an ancient Armenian village situated near the Seven
Towers, there lived a certain smith, whose custom it was, in
contradiction to prescribed rules, to curse the devil and his works
regularly five times a day instead of praying to God. He argued that
it is the devil's fault that man had need to pray. The devil was
angered at being thus persistently cursed, and decided to punish the
smith, or at least prevent his causing further trouble.

Taking the form of a young man he went to the smith and engaged
himself as an apprentice. After a time the devil told the smith that
he had a very poor and mean way of earning a living, and that he would
show him how money was to be made. The smith asked what he, a young
apprentice, could do. Thereupon the devil told him that he was endowed
with a great gift: the power to make old men young again. Though
incredulous, after continued assurance the smith allowed a sign to be
put above his door, stating that aged people could here be restored to
youth. This extraordinary sign attracted a great many, but the devil
asked such high prices that most went away, preferring age to parting
with so much money.

At last one old man agreed to pay the sum demanded by the devil,
whereupon he was promptly cast into the furnace, the master-smith
blowing the bellows for a small remuneration. After a time of vigorous
blowing the devil raked out a young man. The fame of the smith
extended far and wide, and many were the aged that came to regain
their youth. This lucrative business went on for some time, and at
last the smith, thinking to himself that