language, I asked him to tell me his story which he tried to do. All
I could make of it, however, came to this.

He was, he said, the son of a king who ruled over a mighty empire far
far away, across thousands of miles of sea towards that part of the sky
where the sun sank. He declared that he was the eldest lawful son, born
of the King's sister, which seemed dreadful to my ideas though perhaps
he meant cousin or relative, but that there were scores of other
children of his father, which, if true, showed that this king must be
a very loose-living man who resembled in his domesticities the wise
Solomon of whom my uncle was so fond.

It appeared, further, according to the tale, that this king, his father,
had another son born of a different mother, and that of this son he was
fonder than of my guest, Kari. His name was Urco, and he was jealous
of and hated Kari the lawful heir. Moreover, as is common, a woman came
into the business, since Kari had a wife, the loveliest lady in all the
land, though as I understood, not of the same tribe or blood as himself,
and with this wife of his Urco fell in love. So greatly did he desire
her, although he had plenty of wives of his own, that being the general
of the King's troops, he sent Kari, with the consent of their father, to
command an army that was to fight a distant savage nation, hoping
that he would be killed, much as David did in the matter of Uriah
and Bathsheba, of whom the Bible tells the story. But as it happened,
instead of being killed like Uriah, Kari conquered the distant nation,
and after two years returned to the King's court, where he found that
his brother Urco had led astray his wife whom he had taken into his
household. Being very angry, Kari recovered his wife by command of the
King, and put her to death because of her faithlessness.

Thereon the King, his father, a stern man, ordered him into banishment
because he had broken the laws of the land, which did not permit of
private vengeance over a matter of a woman who was not even of the royal
blood, however fair she might be. Before he went, however, Urco, who was
mad at the loss of his love, caused some kind of poison to be given to
Kari, which although it does not kill, for he dared not kill him because
of his station, deprives him who takes it of his reason, sometimes
for ever and sometimes for a year or more. After this, said Kari, he
remembered little or nothing, save long travellings in boats and throug