the fall of Adam as well as
that of Babylon, and still rolls onwards its fresh and youthful waves.
Every uncommon mark in the mouldering stones delighted him, and his
thoughts were as much engaged with surrounding objects as the young
shepherd seemed indifferent to them. Like Ali he plucked the grass
from the ruins, though not like him in order to read the inscriptions,
but to give to his goats what they were unable to reach for themselves.

Towards the evening Ali set out on his way back to Bagdad, and wandered
thoughtfully over the plain. The evening was cool and bright, and
after he had proceeded a few hundred paces, his eyes already discerned
Bagdad. He did not think it necessary to hasten, feeling sure that he
must soon reach the city, but loitered long on the charming verdant
spots in the sandy plain. The moon arose and shone so brightly, that
the night appeared almost as light as day. Hence Ali did not take any
account of the time; he felt weary, and seeing a large stone at some
distance from him in which seats were cut out, he could not resist
sitting down and, with his head resting on his hand, gazing over the
calm, clear, and cool, desert before him. The wind was rustling
through the palms over his head. Conceive his astonishment when the
wind was suddenly hushed, and when he again heard the spring ripple a
few yards off, and smelt the noxious vapours which the breezes had
before wafted to the opposite side.

Terrified, he jumped up and ran back more than a hundred yards. He saw
that a thunder-storm was suddenly approaching. By the dim moonlight,
which every moment threatened to be obscured by the black clouds, he
could scarcely distinguish the path that would lead him home. However,
he hastened onwards, and cursed the habit which, on the slightest
occasion, always misled him to shut himself up from surrounding
objects, like flowers which close in the evening, so that he did not
think where he was, or what took place near him. It grew darker and
darker, thick clouds obscured the moon, loud thunder rolled over his
head, but not a drop of rain descended. A burning wind rushed through
the desert and stirred up the sand, so that he was obliged every minute
to shut his eyes.

"Are there really evil spirits living," he said to himself, "that can
hurt man? No; innocence is the real great seal of Solomon, which not
even the terrible Eblis dares to break." He had scarcely uttered these
words than a fr