the King was kept
waiting, and he became very angry. When she appeared before him, he
would not even look at her. "You care nothing for me, but only for the
jewels and fine clothes you wear," he cried. "Take with you those that
are the most precious to you, as I promised you, and return to your
father's house. I will no longer have a wife who cares only for my
possessions and not at all for me."

Very well; the girl was willing to go. "And I will be happier in my
father's house than I was when I first met you," said she. Nevertheless
she begged that she might spend one more night in the palace, and that
she and the King might sup together once again before she returned
home.

To this the King agreed, for he still loved her, even though he was so
angry with her.

So he and his wife supped together that evening, and just at the last
the Queen took a golden cup and filled it with wine. Then, when the
King was not looking, she put a sleeping potion in the wine and gave
it to him to drink.

He took it and drank to the very last drop, suspecting nothing, but
soon after he sank down among the cushions in a deep sleep. Then the
Queen caused him to be carried to her father's house and laid in the
bed there.

When the King awoke the next morning he was very much surprised to
find himself in the peasant's cottage. He raised himself upon his
elbow to look about him, and at once the girl came to the bedside, and
she was again dressed in the coarse and common clothes she had worn
before she was married.

"What means this?" asked the King, "and how came I here?"

"My dear husband," said the girl, "your promise was that if you ever
sent me back to my father's house I might carry with me the thing that
had become most precious to me in the castle. You are that most
precious thing, and I care for nothing else except as it makes me
pleasing in your sight."

Then the King could no longer feel jealous or angry with her. He
clasped her in his arms, and they kissed each other tenderly. That
same day they returned to the palace, and from that time on the King
and his peasant Queen lived together in the greatest love and
happiness.

THE HISTORY OF ALI COGIA

FROM THE ARABIAN NIGHTS

In the city of Bagdad there once lived a merchant named Ali Cogia.
This merchant was faithful and honest in all his dealings, but he had
never made the holy pilgrimage to Mecca. He often felt trou