bove
his head, and at one blow severed it from his body. Immediately,
seeing the blood start from his veins, I ran out of the enclosure,
fearing lest any one of his company should overtake me, and flew till
I reached the city of Delhi, where I subsisted that night and this day
on the alms of the Faithful, till I met my Sultan and his Vizier in
the habit of two fakeers."

"And what," said the Sultan, "has made thee thine own accuser, since
the life you took was in your own defence? If thy tale is true, his
blood rests on his own head, who was the aggressor; but the story is
so singular, that I shall detain thee till my Vizier and a party of
soldiers be sent to search the enclosure you have mentioned."

The Vizier then gave orders for the guard to mount their horses, and
the Sultan resolved to accompany the Vizier, the fakeer being carried
between two of the guards to point out the scene of the encounter.

The party having arrived at the iron gate of the enclosure, Horam,
with ten of the guards, went in on foot, and marched with the fakeer
to the tomb where he heard the voices, and whence the young man had
issued forth.

As they approached the tomb they beheld the body of the young man on
the ground, and his head at a distance.

The guards, entering the tomb, found no one within, but at the upper
end they saw a stone case supported by two blocks of black marble. The
stone case was covered with a flat marble, which the guards could not
remove from its place.

The Vizier, being acquainted with these particulars, returned to the
Sultan, and related to him what the guards had discovered. But Misnar,
recollecting the many devices which the enchanters had prepared to
ensnare him, was very doubtful what course to take.

On a sudden the moon, which shone exceeding bright, was overcast, and
the clouds appeared of a glowing red, like the fiery heat of a burning
furnace; hollow murmurs were heard at a distance, and a putrid and
suffocating smell arose; when, in the midst of the fiery clouds, the
black form of a haggard and hideously distorted female became visible,
furiously riding on an unwieldy monster with many legs.

In an instant the clouds to the east disappeared, and the heavens from
that quarter shone like the meridian sun, and discovered a lovely
graceful nymph, the brightness of whose features expressed the
liveliest marks of meekness, grace, and love.

"Hapacuson," said the fair one, addressing herself to the h