The vizier got an inkling regarding the thing,

And wickedly carried this tale to the king :—
"What they call him, I know not, nor who he may be;
In this country he lives not as suits his degree.

I have heard that to slaves his affections incline;
That he favours foul treason and worships lust's shrine.
All those who have travelled live fearless of fate;
For they have not been nurtured by monarch or State.
It is wrong that so shameless and ruined a wretch,
Disgrace to the halls of the monarch should fetch.
Of the king's gracious acts I'd forgetful remain,
Did I look on dishonour and silence maintain.
Do not think that I could not have told you before!
Not a word have I said till convinced, more and more.
One among my attendants beheld what took place,
That he clasped two, as one, in his wanton embrace.
I have told, and the monarch can judge for the best;
Such as I have examined, do you also test!"
In a nastier manner he argued like this :-
"May a wicked man's end have no odour of bliss!
When the evil disposed o'er a spark get command,
The hearts of the noble are burned with their brand.
You may kindle a fire with a spark from a torch;
And when it is done, the old tree you can scorch."
This news made the monarch so fiery and red,
That a burning, as sharp as a scythe, reached his head.
Fierce Rage held its hand in the Dervish's gore;
Yet Forbearance extended its hand out before :-
"To kill one you've reared is not manly nor bold;
And oppression succeeding to justice, is cold.
Do not injure the person brought up in your sway;
Smite him not with an arrow, since you are his stay!
To rear him in favour is wrong, I should think,
If you mean, by injustice, his life's blood to drink.

Until you were sure that his merits were sound,
In the Royal apartments no favour he found.
So now, till his vices for certain you know,
Desire not his hurt, on the word of a foe!"
The king kept this secret concealed in his heart;
For he treasured the sayings which sages impart.
The prison of secrets, oh sage, is the mind!

When you've spoken, you cannot the words again bind.
Ev'ry act of the man the king secretly spied;
In the wary one's mind a defect he descried;
For he suddenly cast on a stripling his eye,
And the "fairy face," furtively, smiled in reply.
When with soul and with life two, together, are bound,
They are telling fine tales, though they utter no sound.
The lover, you know, seems, when under love's will,
Like the dropsical man whom the Tigris can't fill.
The king was convinced of the guilt of the sage.
In a frenzy, he wished to give vent to his rage;
But with beauty of counsel and wisdom, the same;
He slowly addressed him :-"Oh man, of good name!
I thought you were wise, and was perfectly sure
That the secrets of State in your hands were secure.
I fancied you shrewd and intelligent, too;

I thought you not wicked and loathsome to view.
You do not deserve a position so fine.

The sin is not yours, but the blunder is mine ;
For, no doubt, if I foster a villanous wight,
In my private affairs he'll think perfidy right."
The man of great knowledge erected his head,
And thus to the ruler sagacious he said :—
"Since my skirt from the staining of guilt is quite clear,
From wicked maligners, I harbour no fear.

My heart never nurtured a purpose so base;

I know not who told what has not taken place."

The monarch, perplexed, said :—“Behold, the vizier !
Do not think to evade ! Show no subterfuge here!"
His hand caught his lips, as a smile on them played :
"Whatever he states does not make me dismayed.
The envious man, seeing me in his place,

Could not say aught about me but words that disgrace.
I thought him my foe at the very same hour
That the monarch appointed him under my pow'r.
When the sultan confers on me favour, alack!

He is not aware of the foe at my back.

Till the great resurrection, me, friend, he won't call,
Since in my elevation he sees his own fall.

On this subject a suitable tale I'll relate,

If you kindly will hear what your slave has to state."

Story.

(SATAN APPEARS TO A MAN IN A DREAM.)

Some one saw in a dream the malevolent one;

In stature a cypress; in visage a sun.

He viewed him. "Oh peer of the moon," he then cried,
"With no news of your beauty are people supplied.
They fancy you having a face that appals,

And depict you as ugly, on bath-chamber walls."
The Devil said, smiling, "My form is not so ;
But the pencil is held in the hand of my foe.
Their root out of Paradise fearless I threw ;

In revenge, they now paint me most hideous to view."

Though I, in like manner, possess a good name,

My foe out of malice refuses my claim.

Since my dignity caused the vizier's overthrow,
A league from his frauds it behoves me to go.

But the wrath of the king does not terrify me;
For bold is the speech that from baseness is free.
Since my letters all issue correct from the pen,
Why should I be grieved about fault-finding men?
If an agent has honestly followed his trade,
When checked by inspectors he is not afraid.
When the chief of police goes his rounds, he is sad
Whose weighing arrangements are found to be bad.”
At his speaking the king's equanimity fled;
Snapping Sov'reignty's fingers in anger, he said :-
"The culprit with cant and glib words that allure,
From his guiltiness cannot expect to be pure.
The same that I heard from your foe with surprise,
At last, I have seen you perform with my eyes.
For at Court in the circle of people around,
Your gaze on these slaves, and none other, is found."
The man of rare eloquence smiled and thus spoke :
"This is true: and the truth it is needless to cloak.
There's a meaning in this, if attention you pay;
Obeyed be your orders and strong be your sway!
Don't you see that the pauper in indigent plight,
With regret on the opulent fixes his sight?
My vigour of youth has departed at last;
In sporting and playing my life has been passed.
As I gaze on these two, no endurance have I;
For the sources of beauty and grace in them lie.
A similar rose-coloured face I did own;

Like the purest of crystal my body, once, shone.
But now, it behoves me my shroud thread to spin ;
For like cotton's my hair, and I'm spindle-like thin.
Such night-tinted curls I at one time possessed,
And my elegant coat fitted tight to my breast.
Two strings of fine pearls in my mouth held a place;
Like a wall made of bricks with a silvery base.

And look at me now! While to speak I make bold,
These have fall'n one by one, like a bridge become old.
Why should I not look with regret on these two,
Since the life I have wrecked they recall to my view?
Those days that were dear have away from me flown,
And the end of this day, too, has suddenly shown."
When this pearl, full of meaning, the sage had pierced
through-

"Than this," said the king, "none can utter more true." The king on his Pillars of State fixed his eyes,

Saying " Ask not for language and meaning more wise!
It is meet that a man on a charmer should gaze,
Who knows of such proofs to account for his ways.
By Wisdom, I swear! if I had not been slow,
I'd have punished him now, on the word of his foe."
He who hurriedly seizes the sword in a pet,
Bites the back of his hand with the teeth of regret.
To the talk of the int'rested, do not give ear!
If you take their advice, your repentance is near.
The position and wealth of the man of good name
He increased, and the slanderer suffered more shame.
By attending to what his wise counsellor said,
With goodness his name through his kingdom soon spread.
Many years he with kindness and equity reigned;
He died and his good reputation remained.

Such monarchs who foster the Faith in their sway,
By the arm of the Faith, Fortune's ball bear away.

Of these in this age not a person I see;

If one lives-only Bū-Băkăr-Sád he can be:
A prince, who is happy in nature and wise.
May the branch of his hope ever fruitful arise!

Oh king, you're the tree which doth Paradise grace!
Whose shadow falls over a marvellous space!