execution, and as I was dragged along, the common people nearly
overwhelmed me with stones.

As I advanced to the pile, I perceived the Cadi and his officers were
seated before it. He commanded me to be brought again before him ere I
was bound to the pile.

"Art thou," said he, "wretched magician, willing to bring forth the
Princess, or thy friend, who are concealed by thy wicked arts, or must
the sentence of our law be executed upon thee?"

"O judge," said I, "since my tale will not gain credit with thee, at
least let me know by whose accusation it is that I am brought before
thee, and who it is that accuses me of magic or sorcery. Am not I
Bennaskar, the wealthy merchant of Delhi? and where are my accusers?
Who dare say aught against my fame? You came into my house by night,
you seized my person, you inflicted on me the punishment of a slave;
you cast me into a dungeon, and condemned me to the flames; and all
this without the appearance of a single witness against me: wherefore,
O Cadi, I appeal unto the righteous Sultan of the East, and I hope my
fellow-citizens will not suffer me to be executed while no proofs of
guilt are brought against me."

"Young man," answered the Cadi, "your appeal is unnecessary, for I am
not desirous of destroying my fellow-creatures without a cause. Your
plea were just and proper, did not your own confession contradict your
present assertion. Yesterday you declared that you were not Bennaskar,
and to-day you say you are; wherefore out of your own lips I have
convicted you of falsehood; whereas, had you really been Bennaskar the
merchant, and not a magician, there had been no need of two different
accounts of yourself."

The people, hearing this distinction of the Cadi, applauded their
judge; and one and all cried out that I was a magician, and deserved
the flames.

The guards were then ordered to bind me on the pile, and I was led up
and fixed to a post by the chains which had been fastened on my body
the day before; and now, amidst the acclamations of the mob, was the
pile kindled, and the smoke and the flame surrounded the unfortunate
Mahoud.

In a moment the crowd and the heavens disappeared from my sight, and I
found myself in the body of a toad, at the bottom of the pile. I
hopped forward out of the flames, and with difficulty hid myself
beneath a stone in the street.

The crowd, having waited till the pile was consumed, carried the ashes
out of the city, and scattered them