selves and then ran towards Mobarec with their bludgeons,
who, without more ado, took to his feet and was soon lost in the
darkness of the forest.

Having baffled his pursuers, Mobarec sat down to rest and to think over
what he had seen.

"I suppose," said he to himself, "that these people were trying to make
a king by burning a white child until he became black, for I could see
that they were not going to eat it. I have been told that in some parts
they will only have black kings, and I am certainly in one of these
parts."

Musing over this idea for a long time, he at last fell asleep, and
dreamt that he had arrived at a large city, where the people had crowded
to meet him, and that he was placed on a magnificent throne, crowned
king, and had married his dear princess.

Then he thought he was in a magnificent bed-chamber, and that the
sheets of his bed were fringed with fine lace; but purposing to raise
the richly embroidered clothes a little higher, as he felt cold, he
placed his hands on some stinging nettles, which made him wake and look
around.

The day was already commencing; the timid rabbit was lurking about the
dew-spangled leaves; the linnets were hopping about from branch to
branch, and the wheels of some market carts were heard creaking in the
distance.

Mobarec got up, and looking at himself in the waters of a passing
stream, he was surprised to see that he had a golden crown on his head.
It was, however, but the morning sun shining through the thick foliage
above him.

"I was a slave last night," exclaimed Mobarec; "this morning I am a
king."

He noticed the direction from which the noise of the cart wheels
proceeded, and hurrying thither, he soon came within sight of some
people who were carrying their wares to market.

Mobarec gradually approached them, and, seeing him advance, they
dropped their baskets, and would have run away if fear had not deprived
them of the power to do so.

"Be not afraid," said the nigger, "for I am your king. Hitherto you have
had to work for the rich, but now the rich shall work for you. There
shall be no poverty in my kingdom, no hunger, and no sorrow. Bad
husbands shall take the place of the asses at the mills, and quarrelsome
wives shall have a borough to themselves. Go," continued he, addressing
the crowd, "and tell the inhabitants of the city that I am approaching."

"Long live the king!" shouted his hearers. "Long live the good king who
will free us from