llent workman. But one day,
Selim, the sultan's brother, who was travelling through Alexandria,
sent a festival-garment to his master to have some change made in it,
and the master gave it to Labakan, because he did the finest work. In
the evening, when the apprentices had all gone forth to refresh
themselves after the labor of the day, an irresistible desire drove
Labakan back into the workshop, where the garment of the sultan's
brother was hanging. He stood some time, in reflection, before it,
admiring now the splendor of the embroidery, now the varied colors of
the velvet and silk. He cannot help it, he must put it on; and, lo! it
fits him as handsomely as if it were made for him. "Am not I as good a
prince as any?" asked he of himself, as he strutted up and down the
room. "Has not my master himself said, that I was born for a prince?"
With the garments, the apprentice seemed to have assumed quite a
kingly carriage; he could believe nothing else, than that he was a
king's son in obscurity, and as such he resolved to travel forth into
the world, leaving a city where the people hitherto had been so
foolish as not to discover his innate dignity beneath the veil of his
inferior station. The splendid garment seemed sent to him by a good
fairy; resolving therefore not to slight so precious a gift, he put
his little stock of money in his pocket, and, favored by the darkness
of the night, wandered forth from Alexandria's gates.

The new prince excited admiration everywhere upon his route, for the
splendid garment, and his serious majestic air, would not allow him to
pass for a common pedestrian. If one inquired of him about it, he took
care to answer, with a mysterious look, that he had his reasons for
it. Perceiving, however, that he rendered himself an object of
ridicule by travelling on foot, he purchased for a small sum an old
horse, which suited him very well, for it never brought his habitual
quiet and mildness into difficulty, by compelling him to show himself
off as an excellent rider, a thing which in reality he was not.

One day, as he was proceeding on his way, step by step, upon his
Murva, (thus had he named his horse,) a stranger joined him, and asked
permission to travel in his company, since to him the distance would
seem much shorter, in conversation with another. The rider was a gay
young man, elegant and genteel in manners. He soon knit up a
conversation with Labakan, with respect to his whence and whither