rocure four
more fish. The fisherman asked for three days, which were granted, and
he then cast his nets in the lake, and again caught four different
coloured fish. The sultan was delighted to see he had got them, and
gave him again four hundred gold pieces.

As soon as the Sultan had the fish he had them carried to his room with
all that was needed to cook them.

Then he shut himself up with the grand-vizir, who began to prepare them
and cook them. When they were done on one side he turned them over on
the other. Then the wall of the room opened, but instead of the maiden
a black slave came out. He was enormously tall, and carried a large
green stick with which he touched the fish, saying in a terrible voice,
"Fish, fish, are you doing your duty?" To these words the fish lifting
up their heads replied, "Yes, yes. If you reckon, we reckon. If you
pay your debts, we pay ours. If you fly, we conquer, and are content."

The black slave overturned the pan in the middle of the room, and the
fish were turned to cinders. Then he stepped proudly back into the
wall, which closed round him.

"After having seen this," said the Sultan, "I cannot rest. These fish
signify some mystery I must clear up."

He sent for the fisherman. "Fisherman," he said, "the fish you have
brought us have caused me some anxiety. Where did you get them from?"

"Sire," he answered, "I got them from a lake which lies in the middle
of four hills beyond yonder mountains."

"Do you know this lake?" asked the Sultan of the grand-vizir.

"No; though I have hunted many times round that mountain, I have never
heard of it," said the vizir.

As the fisherman said it was only three hours' journey away, the sultan
ordered his whole court to mount and ride thither, and the fisherman
led them.

They climbed the mountain, and then, on the other side, saw the lake as
the fisherman had described. The water was so clear that they could
see the four kinds of fish swimming about in it. They looked at them
for some time, and then the Sultan ordered them to make a camp by the
edge of the water.

When night came the Sultan called his vizir, and said to him, "I have
resolved to clear up this mystery. I am going out alone, and do you
stay here in my tent, and when my ministers come to-morrow, say I am
not well, and cannot see them. Do this each day till I return."

The grand-vizir tried to persuade the Sultan not to go, but in vain.
The Sultan took