of magic, that were my purchase.'

The old fellow smiled, and said to my black slave, 'And thou, hadst thou
this coin, what were thy purchase therewith?'

He, scoffing the old beggar, answered, 'A plaister for sores as broad as
my back, and a camel's hump, O thou old villain!'

The old man grunted in his chest, and said, 'Thou art but a camel
thyself, to hinder a true Mussulman from passing in peace down a street
of Oolb; so 'twere a good purchase and a fitting: know'st thou what is
said of the blessing given by them that receive a charity?

"'Tis the fertilizing dew that streameth after the sun,
Strong as the breath of Allah to bless life well begun."

So is my blessing on the little damsel, and she shall have her wish,
wullahy, thou black face! and thou thine.'

This spake the old man, and hobbled off while my slave was jeering him.
So I strolled through the bazaars and thought no more of the old man's
words, and longed to purchase a hundred fineries, and came to the
confectioner's, and smelt the smell of his musk-scented sweetmeats and
lemon sweets and sugared pistachios that are delicious to crunch between
the teeth. My mouth watered, and I said to my slave, 'O Kadrab, a coin,
though 'twere small, would give us privilege in yonder shop to select,
and feast, and approve the skill of the confectioner.'

He grinned, and displayed in his black fist a petty coin of exchange, but
would not let me have it till I had sworn to give no more away to
beggars. So even as we were hurrying into the shop, another old beggar
wretcheder than the first fronted me, and I was moved, and forgot my
promise to Kadrab, and gave him the money. Then was Kadrab wroth, and
kicked the old beggar with his fore-foot, lifting him high in air, and
lo! he did not alight, but rose over the roofs of the houses and beyond
the city, till he was but a speck in the blue of the sky above. So Kadrab
bit his forefinger amazed, and glanced at his foot, and at what was
visible of the old beggarman, and again at his foot, thinking but of what
he had done with it, and the might manifested in that kick, fool that he
was! All the way homeward he kept scanning the sky and lifting his foot
aloft, and I saw him bewildered with a strange conceit, as the poet has
exclaimed in his scorn:

Oh, world diseased! oh, race empirical!
Where fools are the fathers of every miracle!

Now, when I was in my chamber, what saw I there but a dress of very
cost