ick up. For eider-ducks and frogs they had no appetite, for they
feared with such dainty morsels to ruin their stomachs. In this
pitiable situation their only consolation was that they could fly, and
accordingly they often winged their way to the roofs of Bagdad, to see
what was going on therein.

On the first day they observed great commotion and mourning in the
streets; but on the fourth after their transformation, they lighted by
chance upon the royal palace, from which they saw, in the street
beneath, a splendid procession. Drums and fifes sounded; on a
richly-caparisoned steed was seated a man, in a scarlet mantle
embroidered with gold, surrounded by gorgeously-attired attendants.
Half Bagdad was running after him, crying, "Hail, Mizra! Lord of
Bagdad!" All this the two storks beheld from the roof of the palace,
and the Caliph Chasid exclaimed,--

"Perceivest thou now why I am enchanted, Grand-Vizier? This Mizra is
the son of my deadly enemy, the mighty sorcerer Kaschnur, who, in an
evil hour, vowed revenge against me. Still I do not abandon all hope.
Come with me, thou faithful companion of my misery; we will go to the
grave of the Prophet; perhaps in that holy spot the charm may be
dissolved." They raised themselves from the roof of the palace, and
flew in the direction of Medina.

In the use of their wings, however, they experienced some difficulty,
for the two storks had, as yet, but little practice. "O Sire!"
groaned out the Vizier, after a couple of hours; "with your
permission, I can hold out no longer; you fly so rapidly! Besides, it
is already evening, and we would do well to seek a shelter for the
night."

Chasid gave ear to the request of his attendant, and thereupon saw, in
the vale beneath, a ruin which appeared to promise safe lodgings; and
thither, accordingly, they flew. The place where they had alighted for
the night, seemed formerly to have been a castle. Gorgeous columns
projected from under the rubbish, and several chambers, which were
still in a state of tolerable preservation, testified to the former
magnificence of the mansion. Chasid and his companion went around
through the corridor, to seek for themselves a dry resting-place;
suddenly the stork Mansor paused. "Lord and master," he whispered
softly, "were it not foolish for a Grand-Vizier, still more for a
stork, to be alarmed at spectres, my mind is very uncomfortable; for
here, close at hand, sighs and groans are very plainly percept