esty; the story I am going to relate
is well known throughout all Chaldea."

HISTORY OF THE KING OF HARAM, AND OF THE SLAVE.

The King of Haram, uneasy at the manner in which his Viziers and Cadis
administered justice in the provinces of his empire, went one night
from his palace disguised, and only escorted by two eunuchs. By chance
he passed near a dungeon, from whence he heard a plaintive and
lamentable voice. He learned that this place served as a prison, in
which criminals condemned to death were shut up; and approaching
nearer it in order to hear distinctly the doleful accents, which
appeared to come from the bowels of the earth, he heard these words:

"O powerful Allah! Thou who watchest constantly over the unfortunate,
stooping under the burden of his misery, wilt Thou suffer innocence,
falsely accused, to sink under presumptions which a fatal destiny hath
heaped upon it? Infinite mercy! none of Thy creatures are
insignificant in Thy eyes; Thou hearest the cries of a worm; listen to
that of Thy slave; and if my death is not determined by Thy
providence, arrest the stroke with which I am threatened."

A silence, interrupted only by sighs, succeeded this prayer. The King
of Haram returned to his palace with a heart moved by these
lamentations, and a spirit troubled with this adventure. In vain did
he seek repose: the idea of the death of an innocent person agitated
him, and he only waited the return of day to clear up this mystery.

As soon as the sun had enlightened the earth, he called together his
ministers, and described to them the place from which the cries came
that had excited his pity. They informed him that the unfortunate
person confined in this dungeon was destined to die that very day upon
the scaffold. They gave him an account of his trial, from which the
crime appeared clear, and two witnesses certified that the slave, whom
his Majesty had heard, was the perpetrator of it. The King of Haram
could not resist what human justice reckons evidence, and immediately
confirmed the order for his execution.

The slave, convicted of the crime, was taken from the dungeon: he
walked to punishment with a firm and modest countenance; his hands
bound, and his eyes lifted up to Heaven, which was now his only hope.
He was at the foot of the scaffold; the executioners were preparing to
strip him of his clothes, when an unexpected noise entirely changed
the aspect of this scene of death. A hostile party, havi