ill be tried by my Ministers, and punished accordingly."

Hassan, partly to participate in their boyish amusement, and partly to
unburden his aching heart, related his sad fate to his youthful
audience. When he had finished, the boy Sultan, Ali by name, asked him
if he had received his twenty-five years. Hassan, not fully grasping
what the boy said, replied:

"Nothing! Nothing!"

"That is unjust," continued Ali, "and you shall go back to the Sultan
and ask that your twenty-five years be returned to you so that you may
plough and till your ground, and thus make provision for the period of
want, old age."

Hassan was struck by the sound advice the boy had given him, thanked
him and said he would follow it to the letter. The boys then in
thoughtless mirth separated, to return to their homes, never dreaming
that the seeds of destiny of one of their number had been sown in
play. Hassan, retracing his steps, reappeared in time at the gates of
the Palace and begged admittance, stating that he had forgotten to
communicate something of importance to his Majesty. His request being
granted, he humbly solicited, that, inasmuch as his Majesty had been
dissatisfied with his long service, the twenty-five years he had
devoted to him should be returned, so that he might labor and put by
something to provide for the inevitable day when he could no longer
work. The Sultan answered:

"That is well said and just. As it is not in my power to give you the
twenty-five years, the best equivalent I can grant you is the means of
sustenance for a period of that duration should you live so long. But
tell me, who advised you to make this request?"

Hassan then related his adventure with the boys while on his journey
home, and his Majesty was so pleased with the judgment and advice of
the lad that he sent for him and had him educated. The boy studied
medicine, and distinguishing himself in the profession ultimately rose
to be Hekim Ali Pasha.

He had one son who was known as Doctor Ali Pasha's son. He studied
calligraphy, and became so proficient in this art, now almost lost,
that his imitations of the Imperial Irades (decrees) were perfect
fac-similes of the originals. One day he took it into his head to
write an Irade appointing himself Grand Vizier, in place of the
reigning one, a protege of the Imperial Palace, which Irade he took to
the Sublime Porte and there and then installed himself. By chance the
Sultan happened to drive through St