led to the staircase, but we had great difficulty in
raising it, because the prince had fastened it down underneath with the
plaster he had brought with him.

My uncle went first, and I followed him. When we reached the bottom of
the stairs we stepped into a sort of ante-room, filled with such a
dense smoke that it was hardly possible to see anything. However, we
passed through the smoke into a large chamber, which at first seemed
quite empty. The room was brilliantly lighted, and in another moment
we perceived a sort of platform at one end, on which were the bodies of
the prince and a lady, both half-burned, as if they had been dragged
out of a fire before it had quite consumed them.

This horrible sight turned me faint, but, to my surprise, my uncle did
not show so much surprise as anger.

"I knew," he said, "that my son was tenderly attached to this lady,
whom it was impossible he should ever marry. I tried to turn his
thoughts, and presented to him the most beautiful princesses, but he
cared for none of them, and, as you see, they have now been united by a
horrible death in an underground tomb." But, as he spoke, his anger
melted into tears, and again I wept with him.

When he recovered himself he drew me to him. "My dear nephew," he
said, embracing me, "you have come to me to take his place, and I will
do my best to forget that I ever had a son who could act in so wicked a
manner." Then he turned and went up the stairs.

We reached the palace without anyone having noticed our absence, when,
shortly after, a clashing of drums, and cymbals, and the blare of
trumpets burst upon our astonished ears. At the same time a thick
cloud of dust on the horizon told of the approach of a great army. My
heart sank when I perceived that the commander was the vizir who had
dethroned my father, and was come to seize the kingdom of my uncle.

The capital was utterly unprepared to stand a siege, and seeing that
resistance was useless, at once opened its gates. My uncle fought hard
for his life, but was soon overpowered, and when he fell I managed to
escape through a secret passage, and took refuge with an officer whom I
knew I could trust.

Persecuted by ill-fortune, and stricken with grief, there seemed to be
only one means of safety left to me. I shaved my beard and my
eyebrows, and put on the dress of a calender, in which it was easy for
me to travel without being known. I avoided the towns till I reached
the k