an outlet; but there was a thick metal door which he could
not open. He was now very much embarrassed, for he began to feel
hungry, and could find nothing that would serve him for food. He
examined the walls, to see if he could discover any concealed outlet.
He tried to open the windows, that he might put his head out to see if
there was anybody in the building beneath, to whom he might cry out.
There was no door: he could not open the windows; and as far as he
could stretch his sight in every direction, he could see nobody. He
threw himself in despair on the pillow on which he recovered his
consciousness, and wrung his hands, and wept, and cried,

"I am, then, imprisoned--imprisoned in a dungeon where splendour and
riches are lavished around! Of what avail is it that these walls are
built of precious stones? that this lattice is of fine gold? that this
cage is of gold, and hangs on a golden chain? I am as much a prisoner
behind golden lattices as I should be behind iron."

As hunger pinched him still more, he cried out, "How much rather would
I be in the vilest prison, with the coarsest food, than be confined in
this splendid hall, where I must die of hunger!"

Then he again called out of the lattices, in hopes that his voice
might be heard, and aid brought; but nobody appeared, and no one
answered him. When he again threw himself, weeping, on his couch,
after such useless attempts, he observed that the white bird fluttered
restlessly in its prison, and pecked on the golden dish, where food
was placed, without finding any.

"Poor brother in misfortune!" said Haschem, "you shall not suffer
want; I will take care of you: come, I will bring you assistance."

He took the pans from the cage, and filled one with water from the
urn, the other with grain from the gold box which the old man had
given him. Scarcely had he hung the last on the cage, when, on turning
round, he saw a table behind him covered with costly viands. He was
astonished, and could not understand how all this had happened; but
still it was not long before he attacked the meats with the zest of a
young man who has fasted for several days. Although these viands were
altogether different from those he had been accustomed to taste in his
father's house, still they all appeared excellent. He ate till he was
fully satisfied, and then took a golden cup from the table, with which
he quenched his thirst with pure water from the urn. Afterwards he
threw himself