logical skill and the stern justice of their Sovereign.

On the first day of the second month the same festival was repeated.
It was again proclaimed that every one should eat, drink, and rejoice,
but that none should on any account touch anything but what happened
to be set before himself. The nobles assembled; the troops stood in
order of parade; the people had taken their places in the
amphitheatre. The King was on his throne, and surveyed the scene
around with attentive eyes. At this moment a foreigner came, all
hastily and dusty from his journey, to the door of the amphitheatre,
and his loud inquiries as to the meaning of the splendid scene before
him were heard distinctly even where the King sat. An old woman, near
the entrance, explained to him the meaning of the feast, but forgot to
inform him of the regulations as to meddling with dishes at a distance
from one's own place. The man took his place, and shortly afterwards
stretched out his hand to seize something a little way off. "Hold!"
cried at once a thousand voices; "hold, or you will be hanged."

The man, who had no very pure conscience to sustain his nerves, took
it for granted his fate was sealed; and, without a moment's delay,
began leaping over the benches, in the hopes to make his escape. The
King nodded; he was arrested and placed before the throne. "Who art
thou?" said Smaragdine, "and wherefore hast thou come into our
states?".

"My name," answered he, "is Osman. I am by profession a gardener, and
have come hither to seek for certain rare trees and flowers."

"Holla, there!" cries the King, "bring hither quickly my tablet
_Romla_ and the steel pen, and speedily will the truth see daylight."

With this, Smaragdine began to study the tablet attentively: she kept
her eyes for some moments fixed upon the sky, and then said, "Hateful
churl, thou liest! Thy name is Hirvan the Kurd, and by profession thou
art a thief. Confess the truth, wretch!"

The man's colour changed; his tongue refused its office; at length he
confessed the truth. The King ordered him to be hung immediately, his
carcass and head to be treated as had been done with those of the
Giaour. The people returned with quickened appetites to their dinner,
and admired more than ever the wisdom and rectitude of their Prince.

The first day of the third moon brought with it the usual
proclamation, the usual feast, and the usual consequences. A stranger
appears, who, not knowing the law of th