t it well to summon thee here, that
thou mightest set a guard over Shagpat, and shield him from the
treacheries that beset him.'

When Kadza had ceased speaking, the Genie glowered at her awhile in
silence. Then said he, 'What creature is that, Kadza, which tormenteth
like the tongue of a woman, is small as her pretensions to virtue, and
which showeth how the chapters of her history should be read by the holy
ones, even in its manner of movement?'

Cried Kadza, 'The flea that hoppeth!'

So he said, ''Tis well! Hast thou strength to carry one of my weight, O
Kadza?'

She answered in squeamishness, 'I, wullahy! I'm but a woman, Genie,
though the wife of Shagpat: and to carry thee is for the camel and the
elephant and the horse.'

Then he, 'Tighten thy girdle, and when tightened, let a loose loop hang
from it.'

She did that, and he gave her a dark powder in her hand, saying, 'Swallow
the half of this, and what remaineth mix with water, and sprinkle over
thee.'

That did she, and thereupon he exclaimed, 'Now go, and thy part is to
move round Shagpat; and a wind will strike thee from one quarter, and
from which quarter it striketh is the one of menace and danger to
Shagpat.'

So Kadza was diligent in doing what the Genie commanded, and sought for
Shagpat, and moved round him many times; but no wind struck her. She went
back to the Genie, and told him of this, and the Genie cried, 'What? no
wind? not one from Aklis? Then will Shagpat of a surety triumph, and we
with him.'

Now, there was joy on the features of Kadza and Karaz, till suddenly he
said, 'Halt in thy song! How if there be danger and menace above? and
'tis the thing that may be.'

Then he seized Kadza, and slung her by him, and went into the air, and up
it till the roofs of the City of Shagpat were beneath their feet, all on
them visible. And under an awning, on the roof of a palace, there was the
Vizier Feshnavat and Baba Mustapha, they ear to lip in consultation, and
Baba Mustapha brightening with the matter revealed to him, and bobbing
his head, and breaking on the speech of the Vizier. Now, when he saw them
the Genie blew from his nostrils a double stream of darkness which curled
in a thick body round and round him, and Kadza slung at his side was
enveloped in it, as with folds of a huge serpent. Then the Genie hung
still, and lo! two radiant figures swept toward the roof he watched, and
between them Noorna bin Noorka, her long dark hair borne fa