eth him performeth a service to mankind
ranking next my vanquishing of the Roc.'

Then they heard her say, 'And it is thy will we teach him the mysteries
of the Sword, and that which may be done with it?'

And they heard the Voice answer, 'Even so!'

After that the Voice was still, and soon the Antelope returned from
behind the curtain, and the youths caressed her with brotherly caresses,
and took a circle of hands about her, and so moved to the great Hall of
the gorgeous Tree, and fed her from the branches. Now, while they were
there, Shibli Bagarag advanced to the Antelope, and knelt at her feet,
and said, 'O Princess of Aklis, surely I am betrothed to one constant as
a fixed star, and brighter; a mistress of magic, and innocent as the
bleating lamb; and she is now on a pillar, chained there, in the midst of
the white wrathful sea, wailing for me to deliver her with this Sword of
my seeking. So, now, I pray thee help me to the Sword swiftly, that I may
deliver her.'

The youths, her brothers, clamoured and interposed, saying, 'Take thy
shape ere that, O Gulrevaz, our sister!'

But she cried, 'He is betrothed! not till he graspeth the Sword. Tell
him, the youth, our conditions, and for what exchange the Sword is
yielded.'

And they said, 'The conditions are, thou part with thy spells, all of
them, O youth!'

And he said, 'There is no condition harsh that exchangeth the Sword; O ye
Seven, I agree!'

Then she said, ''Tis well! nobility is in the soul of this youth. Go
before us now to the Cave of Chrysolites, O my brothers.'

So these departed before, and she in her antelope form followed footing
gracefully, and made Shibli Bagarag repeat the story of his betrothal as
they went.

THE SWORD OF AKLIS

Now, when they had made the passage of many halls, built of different
woods, filled with divers wonders, they descended a sloping vault, and
came to a narrow way in the earth, hung with black, at the end of it a
stedfast blaze like a sun, that grew larger as they advanced, and they
heard the sea above them. The noise of it, and its plunging and weltering
and its pitilessness, struck on the heart of Shibli Bagarag as with a
blow, and he cried, 'Haste, haste, O Princess! perchance she is even now
calling to me with her tongue, and I not aiding her; delayed by the
temptation of this crown and the guile of the Brides.'

She checked him, and said, 'In Aklis no haste!' Then she said, 'Look!'
And lo, fronting t