s well stuffed with cushions, and the sides
were not forgotten. His cheeks were puffed out to the utmost, and his
eyes rolled superbly. At last the moment came for him to go on his
knees, when he had to be let gently down by those near him, but his
efforts to bow his head, now top-heavy with a couple of shirts for a
turban, were most ludicrous, as he fell on one side in apparently vain
endeavours. The spectators roared with laughter till the tears coursed
down their cheeks; but that black and solemn face remained unmoved,
and at the end of the prescribed motions the pseudo-great man
apparently fell into slumber as heavy as himself, and snored in a
style that a prize pig might have envied.

"Afuk! Afuk!" the deafening bravos resounded, for Fattah had excelled
himself, and was amply rewarded by the collection which followed.

A tale was next demanded from a jovial man of Fez, who, nothing loth,
began at once--

"Evening was falling as across the plain of Haha trudged a weary
traveller. The cold wind whistled through his tattered garments. The
path grew dim before his eyes. The stars came out one by one, but no
star of hope shone for him. He was faint and hungry. His feet were
sore. His head ached. He shivered.

"'May God have pity on me!' he muttered.

"God heard him. A few minutes later he descried an earthly star--a
solitary light was twinkling on the distant hillside. Thitherward he
turned his steps.

"Hope rose within him. His step grew brisk. The way seemed clear.
Onward he pushed.

"Presently he could make out the huts of a village.

"'Thank God!' he cried; but still he had no supper.

"His empty stomach clamoured. His purse was empty also. The fiendish
dogs of the village yelped at him. He paused discomfited. He called.

"Widow Zaidah stood before her light.

"'Who's there?'

"'A God-guest'

"'In God's name, then, welcome! Silence there, curs!'

"Abd el Hakk approached.

"'God bless thee, my mother, and repay thee a thousand-fold!'

"But Zaidah herself was poor. Her property consisted only of a hut and
some fowls. She set before him eggs--two, hard-boiled,--bread also. He
thanked God. He ate.

"'Yes, God will repay,' she said.

"Next day Abd el Hakk passed on to Marrakesh. There God blessed him.
Years passed on; one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Abd el Hakk
was rich. Meludi the lawyer disliked him. Said he to Widow Zaidah--

"'Abd el Hakk, whom once thou succouredst, is rich. The two