patients any good, whilst they looked upon me in the light of a divine
person, who in handwriting alone possessed the power of curing all
manner of disease.

'The doctor, seeing how ill matters were going for him, stole away with
the best face he could; but before he left the room, he stooped down,
and collecting as many of the hairs of his beard, which I had plucked
from him, as he could find, to which he cunningly added some of my own
hair, he brandished them in my face, saying, "We shall see on whose side
the laugh will be when you are brought before the cadi to-morrow; for
beards are worth a ducat per hair in Tehran, and I doubt, with all your
talismans, whether you can buy these that I hold in my hand."

'It was evident, that when his anger was cooled, out of regard to his
own reputation, he would not put his threat into execution; so the
fear of being dragged before the justice gave me no uneasiness, and
I therefore only considered how to make the most of the fortunate
circumstance which had just taken place. The report that the druggist
(who was the first in Tehran) had been brought to life, when on the
point of death, by a newly arrived dervish, was soon spread about, and I
became the object of general concern. From morning to night I was taken
up in writing talismans, for which I made my customers pay according to
their means, and in a short time I found myself the possessor of some
hundreds of piastres. But unfortunately for me, I did not meet with a
dying druggist and a piece of his paper every day; and feeling myself
reduced to live upon the reputation of this one miracle, which I
perceived to my sorrow daily diminished, I made a virtue of necessity,
and determining to make the tour of Persia, I immediately left Tehran.
To whichsoever city I bent my steps, I managed matters so adroitly, that
I made my reputation precede my arrival there. The druggist had given
me an attestation under his seal, that he had been restored to life by
virtue of a talisman written by my hand, and this I exhibited wherever I
went, to corroborate the truth of the reports which had been circulated
in my favour. I am now living upon this reputation: it supports me very
tolerably for the present, but whenever I find that it begins to rail, I
shall proceed elsewhere.'--The dervish here ended his history.

When the third dervish came to his turn to speak, he said: 'My tale is
but short, although story-telling is my profession. I am th