ndness we
will devote ourselves to your service, and will do whatever you wish."

'"What is the cure for your blindness?"

'"Not far from this place," they said, "a cow comes up from the great
sea to graze; a little of her dung would cure us. We should be
eternally your debtors. Do not let the cow see you, or she will
assuredly kill you."

'With renewed strength and spirit I went to the shore. There I watched
the cow come up from the sea, graze, and go back. Then I came out of
my hiding, took a little of her dung and conveyed it to the peris.
They rubbed it on their eyes, and by the Divine might saw again.

[Illustration: THE DOG & HIS ATTENDANTS]

'They thanked heaven and me, and then considered what they could do to
show their gratitude to me. "Our peri-king," they said, "has a
daughter whom he keeps under his own eye and thinks the most lovely
girl on earth. In good sooth, she has not her equal! Now we will get
you into her house and you must win her heart, and if she has an
inclination for another, you must drive it out and win her for
yourself. Her mother loves her so dearly that she has no ease but in
her presence, and she will give her to no one in marriage. Teach her
to love you so that she cannot exist without you. But if the matter
becomes known to her mother she will have you burned in the fire. Then
you must beg, as a last favour, that your body may be anointed with
oil so that you may burn the more quickly and be spared torture. If
the peri-king allows this favour, we two will manage to be your
anointers, and we will put an oil on you such that if you were a
thousand years in the fire not a trace of burning would remain."

'In the end the two peris took me to the girl's house. I saw her
sleeping daintily. She was most lovely, and I was so amazed at the
perfection of her beauty that I stood with senses lost, and did not
know if she were real or a dream. When at last I saw that she was a
real girl, I returned thanks that I, the runner, had come to my goal,
and that I, the seeker, had found my treasure.

'When the peri opened her eyes she asked in affright: "Who are you?
Have you come to steal? How did you get here? Be quick! save yourself
from this whirlpool of destruction, for the demons and peris who guard
me will wake and seize you."

'But love's arrow had struck me deep, and the girl, too, looked kindly
on me. I could not go away. For some months I remained hidden in her
house. We did not dare