t, only ten times more pitiless and forbidding in the
visionless darkness; the wind soughed through the gorge with fearsome
sighs, and rustlings and whisperings, and the bushes and grasses that
grew in the ledges of the cliffs seemed to him like living creatures
that danced and beckoned, shadowy and indistinct. An owl laughed 'Hoo!
hoo!' almost in his face, as he peered over the edge of the gulf, and
the old man threw himself back in a perspiration of horror. He was
afraid! He drew back shuddering, and covering his face in his hands he
wept aloud.

Presently he was aware of a gentle radiance that shed itself before him.
Surely morning was not already coming to hasten and reveal his disgrace!
He took his hands from before his face, and saw before him two lovely
beings whom his instinct told him were not mortal, but were Peris from
Paradise.

'Why do you weep, old man?' said one, in a voice as clear and musical as
that of the bulbul.

'I weep for shame,' replied he.

'What do you here?' questioned the other.

'I came here to die,' said Wali Dad. And as they questioned him, he
confessed all his story.

Then the first stepped forward and laid a hand upon his shoulder,
and Wali Dad began to feel that something strange--what, he did not
know--was happening to him. His old cotton rags of clothes were changed
to beautiful linen and embroidered cloth; on his hard, bare feet were
warm, soft shoes, and on his head a great jewelled turban. Round his
neck there lay a heavy golden chain, and the little old bent sickle,
which he cut grass with, and which hung in his waistband, had turned
into a gorgeous scimetar, whose ivory hilt gleamed in the pale light
like snow in moonlight. As he stood wondering, like a man in a dream,
the other peri waved her hand and bade him turn and see; and, lo! before
him a noble gateway stood open. And up an avenue of giant place trees
the peris led him, dumb with amazement. At the end of the avenue, on the
very spot where his hut had stood, a gorgeous palace appeared, ablaze
with myriads of lights. Its great porticoes and verandahs were occupied
by hurrying servants, and guards paced to and fro and saluted him
respectfully as he drew near, along mossy walks and through sweeping
grassy lawns where fountains were playing and flowers scented the air.
Wali Dad stood stunned and helpless.

'Fear not,' said one of the peris; 'go to your house, and learn that God
rewards the simple-hearted.'

With the