f the Faithful, and you, King Selim, if from this time
forth I rob any more, I shall deserve mercy from neither God nor man."

Then said King Selim: "Since the Commander of the Faithful has pardoned
thee, and that thou mayest not further be tempted, I enrol thee, as
thou art a brave man, among the officers of my guard."

Therefore they invested him with the robes of his office and gave him a
hundred pieces of gold as the Caliph had commanded, and thenceforth he
became one of the bravest and most trustworthy officers of King Selim.

On the next day the Caliph inquired of the king respecting the three
men who had remained behind at the village festival. But Selim
informed him that they had a law in that country prohibiting any
stranger from dwelling with the people of the land until the king had
granted his permission. Therefore, when the men had been found by the
officials of government living at that village without having first
obtained leave and authority so to do, they would be led immediately to
execution.

"Then," said the Caliph, "by this wholesome law your people are
protected from the evil influence of villains, and in this case we are
rid of three men who were not only thieves and pirates, but lazy,
worthless, and mutinous fellows, who refused to obey and follow even
their own captain. The action of your law has but forestalled what
would have been my own sentence upon them."

The Caliph remained a whole month with King Selim, accompanying him on
grand hunting expeditions, and being entertained with all the
magnificent and varied pleasures the royal court could devise.

At the end of that period he had intended to have set out on his return
to Bagdad. But just at that moment a messenger arrived from a
neighbouring king with a very insolent message for Selim and a
declaration of war. This king, whose name was Gorkol, had asked the
daughter of Selim in marriage for his son. But King Selim, being a
good Moslim, had refused to give his daughter in marriage to the son of
a heathen, and one, moreover, who was reported to be proficient in the
vilest arts of magic. Hence the declaration of war. The Caliph, being
naturally of a very fierce and hasty temper, resented hotly this insult
to his host. He therefore announced his intention to accompany the
latter, who gathered together an army to chastise the insolent heathen.

The military display as the Caliph and the king left the capital was
most imposing.