* *

There is an analogous story to this of the Golden Apparition in an
entertaining little book entitled, _The Orientalist; or, Letters of a
Rabbi_, by James Noble, published at Edinburgh in 1831, of which the
following is the outline:

An old Dervish falls ill in the house of a poor widow, who tends him
with great care, and when he recovers his health he offers to take
charge of her only son, Abdallah. The good woman gladly consents, and
the Dervish sets out accompanied by his young ward, having intimated to
his mother that they must perform a journey which would last about two
years. One day they arrived at a solitary place, and the Dervish said to
Abdallah: "My son, we are now at the end of our journey. I shall employ
my prayers to obtain from Allah that the earth shall open and make an
entrance wide enough to permit thee to descend into a place where thou
shalt find one of the greatest treasures that the earth contains. Hast
thou courage to descend into the vault?" Abdallah assured him that he
might depend on his fidelity; and then the Dervish lighted a small fire,
into which he cast a perfume: he read and prayed for some minutes, after
which the earth opened, and he said to the young man: "Thou mayest now
enter. Remember that it is in thy power to do me a great service; and
that this is perhaps the only opportunity thou shalt ever have of
testifying to me that thou art not ungrateful. Do not let thyself be
dazzled by the riches that thou shalt find there: think only of seizing
upon an iron candlestick with twelve branches, which thou shalt find
close to the door. That is absolutely necessary to me: come up with it
at once." Abdallah descended, and, neglecting the advice of the Dervish,
filled his vest and sleeves with the gold and jewels which he found
heaped up in the vault, whereupon the opening by which he had entered
closed of itself. He had, however, sufficient presence of mind to seize
the iron candlestick, and endeavoured to find some other means of escape
from the vault. At length he discovers a narrow passage, which he
follows until he reaches the surface of the earth, and looking for the
Dervish saw him not, but to his surprise found that he was close to his
mother's house. On showing his wealth to his mother, it all suddenly
vanished. But the candlestick remained. He lighted one of the branches,
upon which a dervish appeared, and after turning round an hour he threw
down an asper (about thre