is opinion. He exclaimed that I was not worthy of
the _kalaat_ (the dress of distinction), which fortune had cut out,
fashioned, and invested me with. 'So, because the Shah thinks it fitting
to destroy a faithless slave,' said he, 'in whose guilt you have at most
only half the share, you think it necessary to abandon the excellent
station in life to which you had reached, and to begin again the
drudgery of an existence lower and more uncertain than even the one
which I enjoy. Well' (making a pause), 'there is no accounting for the
different roads which men take in their search after happiness: some
keep the high road; some take short cuts; others strike out new paths
for themselves; and others again permit themselves to be led on without
asking the road: but I never yet heard of one, but yourself, who, having
every road and every path thrown open to him, preferred losing his
way, with the risk of never again finding it.' And then he finished by
quoting a reflection of the poet Ferdusi, applicable to the uncertainty
of a soldier's life, by way of consoling me for the vicissitudes of
mine, saying, '_Gahi pusht ber zeen, gahi zeen ber pusht_ (sometimes a
saddle bears the weight of his back, and sometimes his back the weight
of a saddle).'

Whilst we were conversing, a caravan appeared on the road from Ispahan,
and making straight for the caravanserai, took up its abode there for
the night.

'Come,' said the dervish, who was a merry sociable fellow, 'come,
forget your sorrows for the present; we will pass an agreeable evening,
notwithstanding we are in the midst of this dreary and thirsty desert.
Let us get together the travellers, the merchants, and the mule-drivers
who compose the caravan, and after we have well supped and smoked I will
relate to you a story that has recently happened at Stamboul, and which
I am sure cannot yet have been imported into Persia.'

Most willingly did I accede to his proposal; for I was happy to drive
melancholy from my thoughts at any rate, and we strolled into the
building together.

Here we found men from different parts of Persia, unloading their beasts
and putting their effects in order, settling themselves in the different
open rooms which look upon the square of the caravanserai. A dervish,
and a story-teller too, was a great acquisition, after the fatigue and
dullness of a journey across the Salt Desert; and when we had made a
hearty meal he collected them on the square platform in